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Black Duck Harvest Study: What the Numbers Say

| by Topics: Hunting, Waterfowl Harvest

states-that-shoot-the-most-black-ducks

Do you love hunting Black Ducks in Maryland? 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 Black Ducks is.

Harvesting a Black Duck 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 Black Ducks their specialty, and you’d be surprised just how many Black Ducks have been harvested in America since the turn of the millennium.

So, to look deeper into the Black Duck harvest, we decided to do some research into just how many Black Ducks 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 Black Ducks.

Where are the Most Black Ducks Being Shot?

We discovered that hunters who hunt Black Ducks in Maryland are the most likely to harvest the most amount of Black Ducks per hunt, followed by in Virginia and New York. Since 2021, those in Maryland have harvested 13,736 Black Ducks, whilst in Virginia and New York, hunters have harvested 10,412 and 9,183, respectively.

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

  1. Maryland – 13,736
  2. Virginia – 10,412
  3. New York – 9,183
  4. Michigan – 5,939
  5. New Jersey – 5,771
  6. Maine – 3,504
  7. Massachusetts – 3,435
  8. Ohio – 3,266
  9. North Carolina – 2,550
  10. Pennsylvania – 2,322
  11. Connecticut – 2,035
  12. Indiana – 1,399
  13. Vermont – 1,340
  14. New Hampshire – 1,157
  15. Rhode island – 1,068

(Sources: USFWS Harvest Survey, AGFC, TPWD)

The data showed that the Black Duck hunters sticking to the coastal marshes and bays of Maryland are most likely to harvest a Black Duck. Shockingly, Rhode Island Black Duck hunters have fallen drastically on the harvest list and you have to wonder if they will even see a Black Duck 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 Black Ducks

When looking at which shotgun people had used to harvest a Black Duck, 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 Black Ducks, and discovered that December was the most common, with 43% of Black Ducks 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.

black-duck-harvest-study

Waterfowlchoke editors, after reviewing the data, said:

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

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

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