DUCKS, HUNTERS AND RAINFALL AT 2 SITES IN SOUTHERN INLAND NEW-SOUTH-WALES

Duck hunters have been surveyed on the opening morning of duck seasons since 1972 at Lake Cowal and Barrenbox Swamp in southern inland New S outh Wales. Mean numbers of ducks shot per hunter on opening morning r eflected the numbers of ducks at the sites two to three weeks previous ly. At Barrenbox Swamp, but not at Lake Cowal, mean bag sizes were inv ersely related to recent local rainfall. Mean bag sizes on opening mor ning at Lake Cowal and Barrenbox Swamp did not diminish following redu ction of the opening-day bag limit from 20 to 10 ducks per day in 1988 . Generally, numbers of ducks and mean bag sizes at Lake Cowal and Bar renbox Swamp have not declined or increased since 1972 (exceptions are increased numbers but decreased bag sizes of Pacific black duck at Ba rrenbox Swamp, and increased bag sizes of maned duck at Lake Cowal). A t neither hunting site were numbers of ducks related to mean bag sizes in the previous year. In summary, hunting does not appear to be adver sely affecting numbers of major species of game ducks at either Lake C owal or Barrenbox Swamp.