Bird Banding Manual Hunting Seasons Survived Code

Hunting Seasons Survived Code

This code is used in encounter data to indicate the number of hunting seasons experienced by a game bird after it was banded. Although the number of seasons may be roughly equivalent to the age of the bird in years if it was banded as an HY or L, one cannot assume that they are equal. For example, a bird banded in October 1988 and shot in October 1989 would have experienced (but not necessarily survived) two hunting seasons.

The hunting season survived (HSS) code is calculated as follows:

for birds recovered January 1 through July, it is computed as the difference between the year banded and the year recovered.

for birds recovered August 1 through December, it is computed as the difference between the year of banding and recovery plus 1.

for birds recovered with letter dates (day code 51-81), or "how obtained" codes 50, 56, and 98, no calculation of "hunting season survived" code can be made; a value of 99 is assigned to these records.

for birds recovered with some inexact date codes (e.g. "summer" or "winter" no calculation can be made and a value of 98 is assigned to the recovery record.

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