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Wigeon Harvest Study: What the Numbers Say

| by Topics: Hunting, Waterfowl Harvest

wigeon-harvest-study

Do you love hunting Wigeon in California? 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 Wigeon is.

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

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

Where are the Most Wigeon Being Shot?

We discovered that hunters who hunt Wigeon in California are the most likely to harvest the most amount of Wigeon per hunt, followed by in Washington and Texas. Since 2021, those in California have harvested 197,118 Wigeon, whilst in Washington and Texas, hunters have harvested 75,382 and 71,733, respectively.

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

  1. California – 197,118
  2. Washington – 75,382
  3. Texas – 71,733
  4. Oregon – 55,418
  5. Utah – 28,702
  6. Oklahoma – 27,249
  7. Idaho – 22,129
  8. Montana – 18,830
  9. North Dakota – 18,829
  10. Louisiana – 13,904
  11. Minnesota – 12,911
  12. North Carolina – 12,520
  13. Arkansas – 10,454
  14. South Dakota – 8,643
  15. Kansas – 7,511

(Sources: USFWS Harvest Survey, AGFC, TPWD)

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

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

Waterfowlchoke editors, after reviewing the data, said:

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

“It’s interesting to see those in California harvesting so many Wigeon – 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 Pacific Flyway! We’re planning to make this research a recurring thing, so that we can track how Wigeon harvests in the US are changing – who knows, maybe Washington will surpass California this time next year.”

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