Analysis of Methods Used in Determining Game Kill

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Abstract
Reasonably accurate kill figures are necessary to sound game management. A variety of methods that have been used in this field are reviewed. Illinois experience with hunting club reports, calculations based on acreage and upon band returns, and license and application reports is set forth. The principal methods are further discussed and evaluated and recommendations are made. Author''s summary: "Almost every state has attempted to obtain state-wide aata on game kill, and almost every state has done so by means of application reports, license reports, or questionnaires. Since return of the report forms is incomplete, practically all states have compensated for non-reporting hunter by assuming that his kill is the same as that of the reporting hunter. Data presented in this paper reveal that this practice results in erroneously high figures because the proportion of successful hunters who report is greater than the proportion of unsuccessful ones. Furthermore, most hunters, especially those who have bagged many game animals, exaggerate their kill figures. There is also a tendency for hunters to report for their home counties game kills made in ''foreign'' counties. A partial correcting factor for these errors might be obtained from local kill data, which, for example, could be collected through checking stations. Obtaining data from a sample of non-reporting hunters, as practiced in Indiana, provides a possible correcting factor for differences in the kill of reporting and non-reporting hunters but not for exaggerated reported kills. Because state-wide methods of obtaining kill data through application reports, license reports, or questionnaires are open to appreciable error, it may be more expedient for game management purposes to use checking stations, county-wide interview surveys, or special calendars[long dash]adapted for recording game kill data[long dash]to obtain pertinent game kill statistics.".

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