I'm going to be honest with you. When we launched The State of Waterfowl Hunting survey, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would hunters actually take 10 minutes to fill out a survey? Would the data tell us anything we didn't already know?

The answers came fast. Responses started hitting within minutes. Then hours. Then days. Hunters from across North America, from every flyway, filling out every question and leaving open-ended responses that are some of the most raw, honest things I've ever read about this sport.

And the patterns emerging from the data are something no federal survey, no industry report, and no social media argument has ever captured.

I'm not going to give you the full picture here. That's what the white paper is for. But I want to share a few things we're seeing, because I think if you care about waterfowl hunting, you'll want to be part of this.

Something Nobody's Talking About

Here's a number that should stop every hunter, every brand, and every conservation group in their tracks.

When we asked hunters to rate whether they'd recommend waterfowl hunting to a friend, the average score came in at 4.1 out of 5. That's strong. Hunters love this sport. They believe in it. They want other people to experience it.

But when we asked those same hunters to rate their actual season satisfaction? 3.2 out of 5.

Read those numbers again. Hunters would recommend the sport at a rate that's almost a full point higher than their satisfaction with their own season. They believe in waterfowl hunting more than their experience of it.

That gap is the entire story of this sport right now. And nobody had that data before this week.

What Hunters Say Is Actually Wrong

We gave hunters a list of challenges and asked them to pick their top three. The results weren't subtle.

Nearly half of all respondents say fewer birds is their number one challenge. Not cost. Not access. Not time. The birds aren't showing up. And this isn't just one flyway talking. It's coming from every corner of the data.

Crowding is right behind at 44%. More hunters fighting over the same public land, less room to hunt the way this sport is meant to be hunted. Cost of gear at 34%. Cost of access at 27%. Limited time at 26%.

But here's what makes this data different from a social media argument: we have the cross-tabs. We can see how these challenges vary by flyway, by experience level, by age, by whether someone hunts public or private. The white paper will break all of that down. What I can tell you now is that the picture is more nuanced and more interesting than any comment section has ever captured.

91%. Let That Sink In.

I'll admit, this one surprised me. 91% of waterfowl hunters in our survey shoot a semi-automatic shotgun. 7% pump. 1% over/under.

That's not a trend. That's a conclusion.

Benelli leads the market at 44%. Beretta at 30%. Browning and Winchester tied at 17%. Italian semi-autos have won waterfowl hunting, and the data proves it in a way that no forum debate ever could.

On clothing, Sitka dominates at 55%. Three times any competitor. But here's the finding the brands should really be watching: Chene, a relatively new player, is already capturing share and generating the most passionate brand loyalty comments in the open-ended responses. One hunter literally wrote, "Sitka, but I'm buying Chene stuff now." That's a brand migration data point you won't find anywhere else.

Steel shot still leads at 66%. Bismuth is growing at 12%. Tungsten is barely registering. The full spending data, broken down by category, flyway, and income level, will be in the white paper. What I can tell you is that the numbers are going to surprise a lot of people.

The Voices That Matter Most

The stats are compelling. But the open-ended responses are what keep me up at night. When you ask hunters what would make waterfowl hunting better, they don't hold back.

Season timing. Draw systems. Federal refuge management. The cost of access. The pressure created by social media culture. Hunters connecting the dots between water policy and bird numbers. A professional guide worried about his livelihood. These aren't hot takes. These are data points from real hunters who took the time to tell us what matters to them.

And every one of these voices makes the dataset stronger.

The social media backlash is real. Multiple hunters, independently and unprompted, raised it. Spot burning. Sky scraping. Influencers who don't respect the tradition. It's a thread running through the data that the white paper will explore in depth.

What's Coming

Everything I've shared here is just the surface. The full white paper will include:

The white paper will be published free. No paywall. No email gate. Available to every hunter, conservation group, and brand in the space. We're putting it in front of organizations like California Waterfowl, Delta Waterfowl, and Ducks Unlimited so the data actually goes somewhere that matters.

The Dataset Is Incomplete Without You

Here's the truth. The data we have right now is compelling. But it's skewed toward the Pacific Flyway. We need hunters from the Mississippi Flyway, the Central Flyway, and the Atlantic Flyway. We need first-year hunters and 30-year veterans. We need public land grinders and private club members. We need guides and weekend warriors. We need people who crushed limits and people who barely got out.

Had a slow season? That response is just as important as a 50-day season with a full freezer. Maybe more important. The honest picture is the useful one.

Every response shifts the data. Every response adds nuance. Every response makes it harder for anyone to ignore what hunters are actually experiencing out there.

Already Took It? Help Us Reach Every Flyway.

If you've already filled it out, thank you. Now share it. Send it to your crew. Drop it in your duck camp group chat. Post it in your waterfowl hunting groups. Text it to the guys you hunt with. The more hunters who take this, the louder the data speaks.

We didn't build this to collect data and sit on it. We built it because this sport deserves a real, honest, comprehensive portrait told by the people who actually live it. And the only way that works is if enough of us show up.

This is how we give waterfowl hunting a voice.

The State of Waterfowl Hunting is an ongoing research project by Hunt Bums. The survey is open now at huntbums.com. Follow @huntbums on Instagram for updates and early findings.