D. H. Brakhage

We estimated total harvest, hunter participation, hunter success, and age-sex composition of the wood duck (Aix sponsa) harvest during Florida's special September duck seasons, 1989-1995. We sent mail questionnaires to a sample of Florida's duck hunters to estimate harvest and hunter participation, and collected wings to estimate age-sex composition of the wood duck harvest. An average of 3,555 (SE =178) hunters participated annually, and hunter-days averaged 8,082 (SE = 473). During years when teal (Anas discors,A. crecca) were included in the season, hunter participation and wood duck...

The failure to recognize heterogeneity in band-recovery and survival rates can lead to biased estimates and spurious inferences regarding population status. We examined band-recovery data for sources of variation in recovery and survival rates of mottled ducks (Anas fuhigula) in Florida. Distances between banding and recovery sites were small (median = 38 km), suggesting that mottled ducks live much of their lives within the same drainage basin. Recovery rates varied among regions of banding, perhaps because of spatial heterogeneity in bandreporting rates. Cohort-specific survival rates...

Mortality of lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) from commercial trotlines was studied on Lake Okeechobee, Florida, from November 1985 to March 1986. Of 27 scaup removed from 118 trotlines, 81% were hooked in body parts other than the mouth. An estimated 7,458 scaup, or 8% of the estimated average winter population of 97,071, were killed during 5,675 man-days of fishing. Potential impacts on scaup populations are discussed.