Record number of waterfowl hunters respond to survey

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Waterfowl Section recently announced the results of the 2015 waterfowl hunter survey, and more hunters than ever are putting in their two cents and reporting satisfaction with the state’s waterfowl seasons.
“It’s a great data set we can look at for estimating opinions,” said Larry Reynolds, the department’s water study leader. “We have a plus or minus 2 percent error rate because sample size is so high.”
Responses were received from 7,382 hunters, the highest number of participants since this research effort began in 2010. The survey has been hosted in partnership with LSU’s School of Renewable Natural Resources, and hunters are asked about waterfowl hunting activity, experience with the past hunting season, satisfaction with changes in the waterfowl hunting zones, zone boundaries, possible new zone boundaries and attitudes on particular waterfowl hunting policies.
Surveys were randomly mailed to 5,000 hunters, 2,500 printed surveys with follow-ups to be completed and mailed back and 2,500 postcards with Internet pass codes to be completed online, and emails were sent to about 25,000 waterfowl hunters, asking then to take the online survey. The survey was also posted online and open to all Louisiana waterfowl hunters.
“We finally got to a survey format that saves money, and the results from email and random mail out surveys are very similar,” Reynolds said. “This will help us in the future to collect data without spending a lot of money. The email survey is cheap but the random mail out is the gold standard — it’s the best data to collect. The open web is always badly biased. These hunters are more dedicated, the best informed and they seek out the survey. It’s a lousy sample.”
The email survey garnered the most returns with 4,873 valid responses. The open web survey had 1,480 valid responses followed by the random mail survey with 603 responses. The mixed mode survey had the least valid responses with 426 returns.
In addition to getting the most responses for the survey, Reynolds also noted a change in trends for the light fronted, speckle belly goose season and bag limits.
“It was different than in the past,” Reynolds said. “Most time hunters want to change to a longer season over a higher bag limit — opinions are stronger for a longer season. This year there was larger support for higher bag limit over a longer season.”
“We asked hunters about a 74 day season with three birds or an 88 day season with two birds. Waterfowl hunters normally chose the longer season, but that is not the case with specklebellies. Hunters chose the 74 and three by a wide margin, even when the sample numbers were restricted to just goose hunters.”
The survey results found that 85 percent of Louisiana waterfowl hunters don’t hunt specifically for geese, a finding that Reynolds said is due to the lack of geese on public hunting land, and even the most dedicated goose hunters, those who hunt 20 or more times just for geese each season, still favored the 74 and three split.
Reynolds said he did field several phone calls from guides who preferred the longer season.
“Guides are paid by the day, not by the bird,” Reynolds added.
Information gathered in the survey will be used to plan waterfowl season regulations starting with the 2016-2017 seasons.
The following are figures from the survey. The part of St. Landry Parish east of U.S. 167 is located it the East Zone, and the area west of U.S. 167 is located in the Coastal Zone.
— 80 percent of Louisiana hunters hunt in one zone; only about 1 percent hunt in all three zones.
— 65 percent of hunters responding are satisfied or very satisfied with the zone alignment as it is currently.
59 percent of hunters were satisfied with the 2014-5 hunting seasons; Coastal Zone hunters were most satisfied with 67 percent responding that they were either satisfied or very satisfied.
Consolidated numbers from random mail, email, mixed mode, open web
— Demographics, avidity and success: Average percent of female participants - 2.8 percent; average age - 43.7; average number of days hunted for season - 16.6; average harvest of ducks for season - 50.2; average harvest of geese for season - 6.4; and average harvest per day, ducks and geese - 3.4.
— Percentage respondents by zone most frequented: Consolidated: Coastal - 57 percent, East - 31 percent and West - 7 percent.
— Goose hunters by survey method: did not goose hunt - 80 percent; goose hunted one to five days - 14 percent; and hunted more than five days - 6 percent.
— Waterfowl hunter satisfaction, 2005 random mail survey compared to the 2015 random mail survey: Very satisfied - 19 percent; satisfied - 38 percent; average/neither - 21; dissatisfied - 14 percent; and very dissatisfied - 8 percent. Number of satisfied hunters has had biggest gain since 2005, up from 7 percent and the number of very dissatisfied decreased the most, down 44 percent.
— Overall satisfaction with the 2014-2015 Louisiana waterfowl season: Coastal: very satisfied - 24 percent; satisfied - 43 percent; average/neither - 15 percent; dissatisfied - 14 percent; and very dissatisfied - 5 percent. East: very satisfied - 11 percent; satisfied - 39 percent; average/neither - 19 percent; dissatisfied - 21 percent; and very dissatisfied - 10 percent. Coastal sample size: 3,957; east - 2,160; and west - 489.
— Satisfaction with zones by zone hunted most frequently, geographic boundaries: Coastal: very satisfied - 18 percent; satisfied - 50 percent; average/neither - 23 percent; dissatisfied - 4 percent; and very dissatisfied - 5 percent. East: very satisfied - 13 percent; satisfied - 49 percent; average/neither - 29 percent; dissatisfied - 5 percent; and very dissatisfied - 4 percent.
— Which zone system prefer? Coastal: current East-West-Coastal Zones - 34 percent; East-West-Coastal Zone with expanded east zone - 7 percent; two-zone North-Coastal - 23 percent; and no preference, 36 percent. East: current East-West-Coastal Zones - 31 percent; East-West-Coastal Zone with expanded east zone - 10 percent; two-zone North-Coastal - 30 percent; and no preference - 29 percent.
— Would you prefer a separate two-zone system for goose hunting, possibly having season dates and splits different from duck zones? Coastal zone: yes - 28 percent; no - 17 percent and no preference - 56 percent. East zone: yes - 23 percent; no - 14 percent and 63 percent - no preference.
To view the full report visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/action-items.