re: Waterfowl Hunter Survey Closes Tonight

Keep banding those doves north of Ferriday . Pretty exciting picking one up with the band , even though it only migrated about 5 miles south .

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Wouldn't the obvious answer be to somehow mix it in with the purchase of a license or stamp?

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When something "obvious" is not being done, there is usually a reason why.

Most licenses are sold at retail outlets like Wal-Mart, Academy, etc., and there are problems with adding things to the sales transaction. We have constant problems with retailers NOT properly doing the HIP registration because they say it "slows down the line". Even when we pay them to collect that information, they sometimes skip the questions by answering "no" for you to save time. If LDWF Kiosks, On-line, or Regional Offices were the sources of licenses, then we might tie the survey to license sales.

In the end, participation will always be voluntary, and our decisions will be informed by those who choose to participate. With that in mind, having data from 7,000 people is more important than having a higher response rate IF 1) those 7,000 people came from a random sample of all duck hunters and 2) we can do it for a reasonable cost.