By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bruceross@wi.rr.com
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s December, 2020 Newsletter edition.
Outdoor activities continue to be popular as people have some more time on their hands and seek some break from the stresses of pandemic living. Waterfowling is a part of that trend, enjoying a surge of participants.
Courtesy of our DNR Migratory Game Bird Ecologist, Taylor Finder, here are some factoids on waterfowling in the Badger state this year.
- Over the past five years, Wisconsin waterfowl stamp purchases have averaged 52,750, reflecting a slow decline since 2000, when 56,118 people purchased the stamps.
- In 2020, (as of last week) waterfowl stamps sales jumped to 56,193, a 12% increase over last year – nearly the same level as 20 years ago!
Not all purchasers of waterfowl stamps are duck hunters, though. The DNR estimates a small percentage of non-hunting conservationists – frequently bird-watchers – purchase stamps to contribute to the habitat work that the duck stamp funds.
But there’s even more to the story. Taylor says that “each Conservation Patron license holder also receives a duck stamp. We did a study several years ago and found about 30% of the CP license holders actually waterfowl hunt.”
- This year nearly 55,000 conservation patron licenses were purchased – an increase of 4% from last year.
- If you do the math, you’ll find that Wisconsin can boast of approximately 73,000 waterfowl hunters in 2020. That explains the busier boat launches!
While some hunters may complain about the additional hunters in the marshes or fields, that may be short-sighted. Without sufficient numbers of hunters to buy duck stamps and sustain the funding for habitat that it provides, fewer birds will be available and accessible. And those two factors are what surveys tell us are the critical factors in hunter satisfaction.
While this year’s increase in stamp purchases will increase the funding available for habitat work next year, WWA surveys also show 85% of members support a modest increase – $5 – in the fee itself. Why would they support paying a little more to enjoy their passion? Because they realize this small investment can yield significant improvements in the things they care about most: accessibility and opportunity. Read: Waterfowl-Stamp-Fee-Increase-Supported-by-Hunters and Waterfowl-Stamp-supports-critical-breeding-habitat-1 for more information.
Data sources: Wisconsin DNR and 2020 WWA Member Survey