Waterfowl hunting has long been essential for funding conservation in the United States, but fewer people are participating now than in previous decades. In an effort to reverse this decline, wildlife agencies in South Dakota and Nebraska introduced the two-tier duck hunting regulation designed to make hunting more accessible. This new regulation’s goal is to simplify bag limits making it easier for first time hunters to begin. This study examines hunters’ attitudes toward the two-tier duck hunting regulation, focusing on the experiences and the satisfaction of first-time hunters as compared to those with more experience. We analyzed survey responses from 418 participants across Nebraska and South Dakota, using ordinal regression to assess satisfaction across seven area components, including how easy it was to enroll for Tier II, report harvests, and comply with regulatory requirements. Our findings indicate that first-time hunters were more satisfied overall than their more experienced counterparts, especially regarding harvest reporting and regulatory compliance. Analysis of satisfaction levels among a population with diverse experience levels highlights these positive experiences and reinforces the importance of considering first-time hunters when making management decisions. Agencies can create a welcoming environment for first-time hunters by making processes simpler and offering support, helping to attract and keep new hunters while preserving the tradition of hunting and the conservation funding it provides.

Maddy Vasquez holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology, with minors in Natural Resource Management and Chemistry, from Bellevue University. Her experience includes work on plant biodiversity in native grasslands, algae, and plant DNA research. Her research passion centers on understanding how humans connect with the natural world. Maddy is driven by the question of how managers can inspire people to appreciate and contribute to conservation efforts, emphasizing the human role in sustaining natural ecosystems. Maddy is a MS in Natural Resource Sciences candidate in SNR.