PJ Whitehead, P Bayliss and RE Fox

Abstract

Results of mail-card surveys of registered shotgun owners in the Northern Territory during 1984 and 1985 arereported. Responses were used to generate estimates of seasonal and daily bags of waterfowl, the level ofhunter activity, and a crude estimate of hunter numbers. In 1984 the mean seasonal bag was 73.2 birds takenover 10.3 hunter-days, which fell to 21.4 birds taken in 6.3 hunter-days during the 1985 season. The magpiegoose was taken most frequently, constituting 84% of 1984 and 79% of 1985 bags. Hunting activity wasconcentrated in the Darwin area at small, readily accessible sites. Estimates of total seasonal harvests arederived to provide an indication of the scale of hunting mortality. All estimates are based on relatively lowreturns and improved targeting of surveys is desirable to increase sample size and reliability.