Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The largest-sized disturbances in 1972 (averaging 1,502 birds) were caused by hunters having a blind built directly onto the boat. The second largest disturbance factor on average was the authors' observation study. The value of 372 birds per disturbance is probably out of proportion to the actual disturbance effect on the lake because all disturbances the authors created were tallied. Hunters utilizing floating blinds, who were the most numerous type of hunters on the lake, caused an average disturbance of 232 birds. Non-hunting disturbance factors caused fewer and smaller disturbances than hunters did during the hunting season. However, in pre-season observations, fishermen created five disturbances averaging 537 birds per disturbance.