Hunter Harvest Green Bay - In Person

Protocol for Distributing Hunter Surveys near Green Bay and Lake Michigan

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT: A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control Number. Public burden for the collection of this information is estimated to average five to ten minutes per response. Comments regarding this collection of information should be directed to the Bureau Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, [email protected].

ESTIMATED BURDEN STATEMENT: We estimate the survey will take you 50 minutes to complete, including time to read instructions, gather information, and complete and submit the survey. Comments regarding this collection of information should be directed to the Bureau Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, [email protected]. OMB NO. 1028-XXXX Expiration Date: xx/xx/xxxx

Arrive at your specified launch before or at 08:00 (8:00 AM) on the survey day and remain at the launch until 13:00 (01:00 PM). Upon arrival to the launch, you should fill out the SURVEYOR DATASHEET – [Year] as outlined and then conduct the in-person survey following the protocols listed below:

1) Upon arrival to the launch, fill out the SURVEYOR DATASHEET – [Year]. Include launch surveyed, surveyor name(s), survey date, survey start time (should be 08:00), survey end time (should be 13:00), number of vehicles with trailers present at the start of the survey, number of vehicles with trailers that arrive during the survey, number of vehicles with trailers present at the end of the survey, survey attempts to hunting parties, number of successful surveys (surveys where a hunter completes the survey, or a fisherman tells you they were fishing [see comments below]), and comments that you have regarding that days survey. The comments section will be below your entries each day. Comments can be anything from the weather, no boats present, which vehicles are present on a regular basis, etc. Comments are open but realize I may contact you if I have questions. Even though we will be getting a tally of the vehicles with trailers that arrive during the survey, any information on boats that go out during the survey and remain after the survey would be helpful (e.g., three boats arrived at 10:00 and one of those boats returned while two did not return by the end of the survey).

2) Survey Distribution –

Our research team is looking for support from hunters in two ways: (1) in identifying the species harvested on the open waters of Lake Michigan and Green Bay, and (2) gathering input on future season frameworks. Because we are collecting two different information metrics, hunters should be made aware that there are two different survey parts. The harvest survey (HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year]) will be collected at each visit, while the input for future season frameworks (HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE –[Year]) will only need to be answered once for the entirety of the [year] hunting season. In addition, harvest information will be collected at the boat level but we would like each individual hunter to fill out a HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year]. Information at the boat level for the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] would also be accepted if an individual(s) does not feel comfortable filling out the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year]. The following outlines how the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] (2a and 2b) and the HUNTER QUESTIONNARIRE – [Year] (2c, 2d, and 2e) should be distributed. Follow these protocols when conducting the in-person portion of the survey:

a) Hunter Harvest Datasheet

Approach hunter(s), introduce yourself, and ask them if they are willing to participate in a harvest survey and provide input on Wisconsin duck season regulations for the Open Water Zone. Hunters should be made aware that there are two survey parts with a statement like the following, “Researchers are seeking information on harvest and future season regulations. Information on harvest will be collected throughout the entirety of the [year] hunting season, while input on future season frameworks will only be collected once.” A short information sheet explaining the importance of the surveys will also be available for you to distribute. Preferably, we want to target the captain of the vessel, as we only need to complete one HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] per returning boat. However, we would like each individual hunter to fill out the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] at least once during the season (see more information regarding this in sections 2c, 2d, and 2e).

If answer is “No”, then reply: “Thank you for your time.” And mark as an attempted survey on the SURVEYOR DATASHEET – [Year].

If the answer is “Yes”, then proceed with addressing the questions on the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] (section 2b) and the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] (section 2c).

b) Only one HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] needs to be filled out per returning boat. The HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] can either be filled out by one person from the hunting party or by you working through the survey questions with the hunter(s) and filling out the form yourself. Some hunters may prefer that you fill out the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year], as they will be in a hurry and/or working on their equipment. Questions, with explanations for each, on the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] are:

Launch name – name of launch being surveyed

Surveyor(s) – name(s) of individual(s) conducting the surveys that day

Main vessel and/or captain – name of vessel or captain that the hunting party provides; this should remain the same throughout the entire survey for each boat

Date – written in day/month/year format (e.g., 07/November/2021 or 07/Nov/2021)

Coordinates where hunted – latitude and longitude, or any geographic coordinates, for the location where hunters hunted

If they do not wish to disclose exact location, please describe location from port of departure – in lieu of coordinates, a general statement of location where hunters hunted (e.g., hunted 2 miles east of Gull Marina, Sheboygan, WI in approximately 50 feet of water)

Number of hunters in party – a count of the hunters in the party; include captain only if hunting

County and State of residence for each hunter – County and State of residence for everyone in the boat, including captain

Time hunting began – time when hunters began hunting on a 24hr clock; if they state they started at regulations start time, then just write in “start of hunting” and we will extrapolate from the regulations

Time hunting ended – time when hunting ended on a 24hr clock; should be before arriving at the launch but you can use launch arrival time for this if hunters don’t have a time when hunting ended

Group harvest record – divided by species, sex, number harvested, and number unrecovered/crippled; IMPORTANT – check if you, as the surveyor, verified the harvested species at the top of the Group Harvest Record section; if the check box is left blank, we will assume that the species and number of each species harvested was only reported by the hunters and that you did not verify this harvest; in some instances hunters may only report 5 crippled birds but may not know the species or sex, in these cases ask them to be as specific as possible and take notes (e.g., hunters were unable to recover 2 unidentified ducks or hunters crippled one drake goldeneye and two scaup)

Hunter comments – section for any additional comments that hunters provide/make

Surveyor comments – section for any surveyor comments related to this specific survey; surveyor comments might include if all members of the hunting party filled out the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] or all hunters already completed the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year]

Do you wish to be acknowledged as participating in the survey – yes/no question if hunters would like to be acknowledged for participating in the survey

How would you like to be acknowledged – how hunter(s) or hunting group would like to be acknowledged if they answered yes to the question above; please do not accept any fictitious or demeaning names

Key Notes:

It is likely that many hunters will be surveyed multiple times throughout the course of this survey. Therefore, you must ask hunters to keep their boat/captain name the same for the entire year when filling out the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year]. This will aid us in determining how many different boats are hunting these open water environments.

The last question you should ask the hunters is if they wish to be acknowledged for participating in the study (as outlined on the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year]). If they answer “Yes”, then collect what information the hunter wants to be used for acknowledgment (i.e. name, business name, etc.) which can be recorded on the acknowledgement line of the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year]. Thank them for their time and the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] should be complete.

If they answer “No”, then mark that on the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] and say, “Thank you for your time” and the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] should be complete.

c) Following, or during completion of the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year], ask the hunter(s) if they have already completed a HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] during the [year] hunting season. You are likely to receive two answers, “Yes” or “No”, but may also get a response of “Yes, but I’d like to change my answers.”

If the answer is “Yes”, then you have no further questions and the survey is complete.

If the answer is “No”, then proceed to 2d.

If the answer is “Yes, but I’d like to change my answers”, then proceed to 2e.

d) If the answer was “No”, then please provide each hunter with the HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year]. We ask that each hunter fill out their own individual HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] but ask that you, as the surveyor, verify that their name is legible. We will accept answers at the boat level if an individual, or individuals, do not feel comfortable filling out the questionnaire, but please have the person filling out the questionnaire note how many people were in the boat that day.

e) If the answer was “Yes, but I’d like to change my answers”, then provide the hunter with a new HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] and make it clear to them that any earlier versions that they submitted will be removed from analysis.

Once the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] and HUNTER QUESTIONNAIRE – [Year] are filled in, that survey is complete, and you can move on to the next boat.

Reminders on Survey - Remember to be cordial and that the hunter is doing this voluntarily, we cannot force them to give us their harvest information. Once the survey is complete, hunters may ask you how other hunters are doing. It is fine to be modest, but do not tell them other hunter’s names or provide other harvest reports to them. If there is something interesting to note, then do so in the comments section of the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year]. Please try to get as many hunters as possible on a survey day.

Overall Notes –

-We will treat every vehicle with a boat trailer as a potential hunter. Some may be fishing, but a trailer will constitute a “hunting vehicle” for our purposes. We can also note hunting from fishing activities when conducting surveys (see next point).

-In order to separate hunting from fishing activities, we will treat all boats the same. Therefore, you will need to fill out the HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] for every attempted survey. You can anticipate that a few vessels may be fishing. In the event that a returning vessel was fishing (e.g., you begin introducing yourself and asking if they will participate in the survey and they respond, “No, I was fishing not hunting”) fill out a HUNTER HARVEST DATASHEET – [Year] and write “Vessel was fishing” across the front of the datasheet. In these cases, identifying a vessel name or asking if they wish to be acknowledged is not necessary. Be sure to thank those individuals for their time and look for the next boat coming in.