To return to the Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference website, go to http://www.midwestfw.org/ The following schedule and room names are subject to change (as of February 1, 2017). Please check back for updates.
Presenters: Presenters for technical presentations are either the primary author (the first name listed in the abstract), or are indicated with an asterisk next to their name. Please note: the conference schedule is hosted by Sched.org which allows you to search within the schedule, and filter the schedule to show sessions only occurring on a certain date or within a track. You can also build your own schedule by creating a free account with Sched.org by selecting "SIGN UP" in the top right corner.
AUTHORS: Craig A. Miller, Brent D. Williams - Illinois Natural History Survey
ABSTRACT: The Illinois Waterfowl Hunter Harvest Survey has been collecting waterfowl harvest and crippling data from hunters since 1981. Lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting in Illinois beginning with the 1994 waterfowl season. We employed time series analysis to investigate efficacy of non-toxic (“steel shot”) regulations on waterfowl crippling rates for ducks and geese among Illinois hunters across the 33 years of waterfowl harvest data. Crippling trends prior to 1994 (R2 = -0.356) suggest the same trend in decline as that from 1994 to the present (R2 = -0.353); however, number of crippled ducks was greater prior to the lead shot ban. Crippled ducks per 100 ducks bagged showed a steady trend prior to the ban (R2 = 0.001) and declined after the ban was in place (R2 = -0.617) with number of crippled ducks greater prior to 1994. Standardizing crippled ducks per hunter per day produced differing trends: Cripples were greater and trend line showed declining rate (R2 = -0.153) prior to the ban; trend for crippled ducks (R2 = -0.540) showed greater rate of decline following the ban. Trends for geese showed crippled geese per year increasing (R2 = 0.478) prior to the ban, and declining afterwards (R2 = -0.178). Trends for crippled geese per 100 bagged were similar to ducks: R2 = 0.0003 prior to the ban and R2 = 0.-535 after it was in place. Trend for crippled geese per hunter per day was increasing prior to the ban (R2 = 0.142) and declined afterwards (R2 = 0.331). Discussion will focus on effectiveness of lead shot ban on waterfowl crippling in Illinois and use of harvest data for trends.
