Unretrieved shooting loss of mourning doves in north-central South Carolina
1977; Wiley; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1938-5463
Autores Tópico(s)Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
ResumoUnretrieved loss for mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) in north-central South Carolina was between 27 and 41 percent of the retrieved kill for the 1973 through 1975 hunting seasons based on 1,396 doves shot by 281 hunters. Dove hunters hunted in groups, fired 8.6 shots per retrieved dove, and engaged in a substantial number of illegal activities. Increased dove populations and hunter bag resulted in increased unretrieved loss, numbers of shots per bagged bird, and illegal activities. Retriever dogs increased the efficiency of dove hunters. Knowledge of unretrieved shooting loss for mourning doves is vital to establishing accurate statistics on dove hunting mortality. However, this parameter has received surprisingly little attention. The most extensive study took place in the southeastern states (Southeastern Assoc. of Game and Fish Commissioners, Tech. Bull. 1, 1957); however, these data were collected by questioning hunters during a bag size survey, and were not weighted for differences between states. During the 197375 hunting seasons, I conducted a study of dove hunting in north-central South Carolina. The purposes of this study were to estimate mourning dove unretrieved loss and to describe some aspects of hunter behavior. After the first year, I expanded the study to include an evaluation of the accuracy of my unretrieved loss estimate. I wish to express my gratitude to K. P. Burnham, R. A. Coon, and C. F. Kimball, Migratory Bird and Habitat Research Laboratory, for many helpful suggestions regarding data analysis and manuscript preparation.
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