FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources reminds dove, waterfowl and other migratory birds hunters to complete their Harvest Information Program survey before hunting this fall.
“The information gathered by the Harvest Information Program (HIP) allows us to determine how many birds hunters took; then we can determine the harvest,” said John Brunjes, migratory bird program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “This information helps to set our migratory bird regulations.”
The process takes less than 5 minutes. To begin, visit the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website at www.fw.ky.gov and click on the “My Profile” tab on the top left corner of the page.
You then answer a few questions about your migratory bird harvest last year. Once finished, you are assigned a confirmation number.
“Even if you didn’t hunt migratory birds such as doves or waterfowl last year, you still need to fill out the questions on the survey,” Brunjes said. “It gives us data on the number of migratory bird hunters.”
The implementation of the HIP survey in Kentucky improved the veracity of the data that biologists use. “We changed systems,” Brunjes said. “We went from completely unreliable data to extremely accurate data. In the absence of good data, we have to be more conservative in our migratory bird regulations, which means less opportunity for hunters.”
Brunjes said Kentucky’s HIP system is under consideration for implementation on a national scale. “They are considering it because of the improvement in our harvest data,” he said.
In addition to a HIP confirmation number, migratory bird hunters need a valid Kentucky hunting license and a Kentucky Migratory Game Bird-Waterfowl Permit to be legal hunters.