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Mallard Harvest Study: What the Numbers Say

| by Topics: Guides, Hunting, Waterfowl Harvest

mallard harvest study results

Do you love hunting Mallards in Arkansas? We’ve got some good news for you….

At WaterfowlChoke we love everything about hunting ducks, whether it’s making the perfect shot, learning to call effectively, or buying the best choke tube, we want to help people in every aspect of duck hunting – so we know as well as anyone how important harvesting mallards is.

Harvesting a mallard is the most iconic achievement in duck hunting, especially when it’s a memorable hunt or you get a banded bird. However, there are a few people who have made harvesting mallards their specialty, and you’d be surprised just how many mallards have been harvested in America since the turn of the millennium.

So, to look deeper into the mallard harvest, we decided to do some research into just how many mallards are harvested each year and what areas shoot the most – here’s what we found.

For this research, we looked at the adaptive harvest reports for each state in 2021 in the United States, to reveal which American states are best for harvesting mallards.

Where are the Most Mallards Being Shot?

We discovered that hunters who hunt mallards in Arkansas are the most likely to harvest the most amount of mallards per hunt, followed by in Washington and Missouri. Since 2021, those in Arkansas have harvested 363,875 mallards, whilst in Washington and Missouri hunters have harvested 215,115 and 146,598, respectively.

The fifteen states that harvested the most mallards, and the number each state has recorded for 2021, are as follows:

  1. Arkansas – 363,875
  2. Washington – 215,115
  3. Missouri – 146,598
  4. Wisconsin – 137,041
  5. North Dakota – 136,507
  6. California – 136,289
  7. Montana – 127,437
  8. Oklahoma – 121,739
  9. Oregon – 119,984
  10. Idaho – 112,842
  11. Minnesota – 107,860
  12. Illinois – 91,989
  13. Kansas – 89,442
  14. Michigan – 74,043
  15. Utah – 68,427

(Sources: USFWS Harvest Survey, AGFC, TPWD)

The data showed that the mallard hunters sticking to the flooded timber and rice fields of northeastern Arkansas are most likely to harvest a mallard. Shockingly, Texas mallard hunters have fallen drastically on the harvest list and you have to wonder if they will even see a mallard on the average duck hunt.

More Waterfowl Harvest Studies
Harvest studies are conducted by the USFWS each year in the U.S. to gauge the number of ducks and geese that are taken by hunters. This aids in setting bag limits and managing migratory bird populations from year to year. Below are the most common migratory species with available harvest data. Please click the links below to see how many birds were harvested and where.

The Most Common Shotgun Used for Harvesting Mallards

When looking at which shotgun people had used to harvest a mallard, the 12-gauge was revealed as the most commonly used shotgun, with over 80% of hunters choosing it. A 20 gauge and a 10 gauge shotgun rounded off the top three, with 20 gauge being the second most popular.

The 28 gauge came in fourth place with 12% usage, while the 410 bore came fifth, with 5%.

We also delved into which month people had been harvesting the most mallards, and discovered that December was the most common, with 43% of mallards harvested. The months of November (33%) and January (24%) came in second and third. This is likely due to duck season timing by state and hunter participation levels peaking at certain months.

mallard harvest study

Waterfowlchoke editors, after reviewing the data, said:

“As any duck hunter will know, harvesting mallards is a lifetime achievement – unless you’re a well-known hunting guide, an amateur hunter with multiple limit hunts on mallards is quite the accomplishment.

“It’s interesting to see those in Arkansas harvesting so many mallards – especially when the hunter participation is lower than several other States – you have to wonder what tactics they’re using out there on the Mississippi Flyway! We’re planning to make this research a recurring thing, so that we can track how mallard harvests in the US are changing – who knows, maybe Washington will surpass Arkansas this time next year.”

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