WaterfowlChoke

Choke Tubes for Duck and Goose Hunting

Gadwall Harvest Study: What the Numbers Say

| by Topics: Hunting, Waterfowl Harvest

gadwall-harvest-study

Do you love hunting Gadwalls in Texas? 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 Gadwalls is.

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

So, to look deeper into the Gadwall harvest, we decided to do some research into just how many Gadwalls 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 Gadwalls.

Where are the Most Gadwalls Being Shot?

We discovered that hunters who hunt Gadwalls in Texas are the most likely to harvest the most amount of Gadwalls per hunt, followed by in Arkansas and Louisiana. Since 2021, those in Texas have harvested 236,739 Gadwalls, whilst in Arkansas and Louisiana, hunters have harvested 187,498 and 125,329, respectively.

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

  1. Texas – 236,739
  2. Arkansas – 187,498
  3. Louisiana – 125,329
  4. Oklahoma – 94,930
  5. North Dakota – 76,674
  6. Tennessee – 64,904
  7. California – 60,446
  8. Oregon – 55,418
  9. Mississippi – 39,179
  10. Utah – 34,250
  11. South Dakota – 32,843
  12. Kansas – 30,623
  13. Missouri – 30,325
  14. Minnesota – 21,787
  15. Montana – 18,830

(Sources: USFWS Harvest Survey, AGFC, TPWD)

The data showed that the Gadwall hunters sticking to the marshes and lakes of Texas are most likely to harvest a Gadwall. Shockingly, Arkansas Gadwall hunters have fallen drastically on the harvest list and you have to wonder if they will even see a Gadwall 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 Gadwalls

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

states-that-shoot-the-most-gadwalls

Waterfowlchoke editors, after reviewing the data, said:

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

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

Related

Latest Posts