hatchet jack

Sell my Ducks Bands? NEVER!!! NUFF SAID

Hatchet Jack

SwampTHING

Ive been hunting fowl 20 years.. all of it done within 30 or so miles of Jack Miners, I can count on my 2 hands the number of bands ive killed.

Michigan Ohio and Illinois would be my choices in the U.S. for bands.. and this year inCanada its in the southern ontarioarea. I know a group of 4 guys that have killed about 50 this year!

SwampCollie

Yes and no.

It is sort of like non-typical deer and double bearded turkeys. One place might have tons of them, and a mile down the road you will never seen one.

It helps for one if you have a lot of resident geese. Large groups of these birds will often be rounded up and banded. Other than that, its really all luck.

One other thing, if you are near a MRP preserve, you can get a lot of run-off from ones that get away! I have about 15 bands from two different places I have hunted near in the past. But, those days are over now, very few MRPs are banding birds anymore. The SCWA (South Carolina Waterfowl Assoc.) used to band all of their release birds, so about 75% of the mallards we killed in SC were banded (SCWA bands), however, we also killed a hen with an SWCA band on it up here on our place in VA...so they get around!

mike.

i live near jack miners too. a banded mallard was shot in a pond right behind my bush by my one buddy. im new to waterfowl so i havent even killed my first bird lol. at jack miners, ive counted about 20 neck banded geese. too bad we cant hunt there. my buddy has a feild a consession over from miners, we hunted it a few times this year but the geese wouldnt land. next year we're going there alot more

SwampCollie

I have only seen one Jack Miner band actually on a bird.

It was four summers ago, and I was doing some volunteer work banding birds. We always do banding in the summer, when the geese are molting, and are flightless. Anyhow, this was a big bunch of residents. We rounded up about 100 or so that day, and sure enough, one had a Miner band on it! Whoever gets that bird is going to get something very special, a Miner band, and a Fed band!

One other buddy killed one a few seasons ago in NC. But they are the Crown Jewel of bands! I am kind of suprised that people would sell them...for someone like me in the South, taking a bird with a Miner band is a once in a lifetime thing...maybe even several lifetimes!

mike.

i didnt even know you guys knew about miners.

Crimson1

I've shot 3 banded mallards, 1 of which was a Jack Miner band. I've been hunting birds for about 6 years now and I feel very fortunate to take what I have so far. No amount of money could replace these items for me, the bands will be in my family for as long as I'm around.

SwampTHING

Mike every SERIOUS waterfowler knows about Jack Miners. Theyre band is the HOLY GRAIL of waterfowling.. there is no bigger trophy in waterfowling than a bird with a Jack Miner band on it!

SwampCollie ive been involved in a couple banding sessions at Jack Miners. The pictures I posted,, the older gentleman is Kirk Miner. That session was december 5/05. We put bands on about 30 birds that were already federally banded and released an easy 50 that were previously miner banded.

There is a couple guys local that sell them. 1 is a guy who owns a marsh about a mile from the refuge,, Id bet 50% or better of the ducks he kills are banded.. he makes alot of $$ selling them.

mike.

lol thats kool. just didnt no people down south knew about him. well i drive by their every once and a while to look at all the geese and to see how many bands ( necks and leg bands) i can see. theres alot of geese there. well i live near it sorta, like 5 minutes and the birds sometimes fly over my feild, depending on the direction of the wind. i have a friend that has an uncle that lives a consession over from miners and the geesee fly right over it, he just bought a dozen bigfoot decoys and im going to by some ghg full bodies. i know a bunch of people that have shot banded geese and ducks from miners. its not that rare but its not really common to get a band. hopefully i get a banded bird as my first bird next season. season ended on last thursday so i still got quite a ways until next season. i need to buy a call to practice with but i cant get any around here really

DPSchouest

Out of the twenty something years my godfather has been hunting, he got his first band last month. I believe it was on a mallard. He was so thrilled about it. Why would anyone want to sell something that they were probobly so happy about when they got it? Why wont they keep them and savor the memory?