Bands...
 

I need to figure out how it is that I can hunt birds for seasons on end, and I've never shot a banded bird... Is it more the area and how close to preserve you are or is it luck?

RE: Bands...
 

alot of luck, my dad has been duck hunting for 30 years and only has gotten one banded bird, meanwhile hes gone on hunts and dropped birds out of the same flock as his partners and even in the same flock hed get the un-banded birds, meanwhile i have been hunting(where i actually shoot) for 5 years, and in my fourth year i got a drake mallard that was banded as an adult in Alberta Canada in 2000, i got it in 2007, BIG drake lol

RE: Bands...
 

Its LUCK. My best friend and I took his little brother once. A couple woodies came in and sat down so we let the little brother shoot the drake on the water,( his first duck and he was 10) and you guessed it, banded!!!We had been hunting that swamp for 3-4 years and wore the wood ducks out and never a band before, for that matter never one since... also his gun broke when he shot so he couldn't shoot anymore that day! Talk about fate...

RE: Bands...
 

It has a ton to do with where you hunt. If you hunt close to where the DNR is banding them, then you are likely to kill them, particularly in the north. Consider Jeff Foiles and all his guys who run around with their lanyards that are covered in bands. Well, these guys hunt in close proximity to banding sites.

I have never killed a banded duck - ever. And it is a rare thing when anyone I hunt with kills them either. Therefore, I believe it has a lot to do with where you are.

RE: Bands...
 

Luck.. They say once you get that first one they just come in droves after that..

RE: Bands...
 

I can understand the luck in shooting one.... but shooting 5 in a day... what's there to brag about anymore?

RE: Bands...
 

both of my geese bands come from were banded incanada, into NY. anyone know of a site that you could use to find how much banding is going on where? or stats on avg distance traveled before killed. Basically stats on bird banding

RE: Bands...
 

i think it depends greatly on your location. I live near the jack miner sanctuary and hunted not far from it. This year we shot 9 jack miner bands (me and my buddy got 5 on one day, me with 3 and him with 2) We got 2 federal bands also. One from quebec and one from michigan. Its basically just luck though by shooting the right bird with a band.

RE: Bands...
 

not saying that I do, but when feildblindor pithuntingdoes anyone else let them land and scope them out for bands while on the ground walking around, then jump shooting them if you do find a banded bird?? how successfull of a tactic is this?

RE: Bands...
 

I would say that wouldn't be that effective ... wasteing your time looking for bands might just lose you a shot at the birds. You probably wouldn't even be able to tell if they were banded or not unless you were within about 10 yards...even less in a picked corn field. To me that might even take a little bit out of it...when I picked up my first band it was one of the best feelings in the world.

As for the original question, location definatly increases your odds a lot. If you hunt with 15 miles of a banding site, obviously your going to shoot more bands than someone 100 miles away from one. I've shot 2 banded geese so far. My dad has been hunting for 40 years and has shot one duck band until last year. Between the two of us we shot 4 bands last year, 3 of them out of the same flock. The 3 from the same flock had band numbers within 5 numbers of each other, and all were banded in the same flock. There's a lot of luck involved.

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I would like to just shot one jack miner band!!! 9 thats awsome!!

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The first goos hunt I wnet on we killed 8 gesse and they were all banded. Went back the next day and killed 5 more and 4 of them were banded. Haven't been back since. I would like to find time to go this fall.

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Luck, I hunt in Michigan and have shot 5 bands in two years and been hunting for12 years. First one was2006 seasonand it was a goose 1 year old. Then a friend took me to his field to duck hunt, were he has been hunting for 10 years and has never seen a band. First set of birds come in I took 3 mallards and one was banded 7 years old. I shot 3 bands this2007 seasonand 1 goosewas from the east side of Canada and the other was shot 30 mileseast of were it was banded 9 years ago. The last one this year will tell everyone that it is luck to get a band unless you hunt near a golf course. Shot a Blue Bill that was banded in Jan.1988 out of New York. The bird Hatched 1987 or earlier. This bird is now the oldest blue bill on record 20 years and 5 months as stated by the USGS.

RE: Bands...
 

Killed a Banded woodie this past year. Hes now mounted in a glass case on my dresser.:)

RE: Bands...
 

It depends on where banding has taken place. Last season in Sask, I shot a banded mallard over a pond that produced 5 bands the week before. One of the guides hunted NW Sask for 21 yrs and only shot three banded birds.

Basically it's luck....

RE: Bands...
 

I guess that would work if you just want to kill banded birds. Personally, I don't waterfowl hunt because they are banded, or because its trendy, or because its cool.... when a group of ten mallards bomb out of the clear blue sky to come into my decoys, to tune of my call... and I can make them hover 15 feet off the water and pick out a nice drake and watch the dog I trained from 7 weeks old make a to hand retrieve... thats why I waterfowl hunt. The noise coming off the wings from a group of 20 geese as they rip over your head low to circle around downwind one last time before committing to the decoys.... thats why I waterfowl hunt. I'd miss all that if all I thought about was banded birds.


Bands are great and all, and I guess I feel this way because I have been lucky to kill more than my share already... but I think there is nothing more gaudy or flat out ***** than someone with two lanyards full of bands actually going hunting.... especially if they are wearing camo everything, shooting camo guns...face paint etc etc... then turn around and put the equivelent of sleigh bells around their neck.... why not just have a bon fire? You'd keep warm at least...

In my experience, killing banded birds is 75% location and 25% luck. Every single mallard duck I shot in South Carolina (when I lived there... and there weren't many mallard ducks either) was banded by the SCWA, or some private plantation... basically they were chicken mallards, released for hunters, who escaped the rich to come die at the hand of the poor college kid with funny looking decoys and duck calls with a slight VA mountain accent. I know a few guys who hunt in proximity to large parks where geese are banded in the summer... during the resident goose season in sepetember, they count the number of geese they killed... and list how many WEREN'T banded... in six days of hunting last year they killed over 125 geese... six without bands.... they put them together on a jump rope and said that they've been at it for six years and they are trying to get 50 in perfect sequential order.... then need two more to finally hit 50 IN ORDER! To me... whats the point.. where is the magic in it? Bands are just a nice perk.... shouldn't be the point of the exercise.

RE: Bands...
 

SwampCollie, maybe im wrong but it seems like yourknocking people who put their bands on their lanyards? I've read another of your posts that seem to imply the same thing ....

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I don't know either but I had my heart broken today. I was playing golf and as I was walking to the next tee there must've been 20 geese feeding around the tee box...you guessed it! I counted 13 bands in those geese! I lay on my back, in my blind for 6 months and don't get any. I go play golf and count them until I have to pull off my shoes to finish counting!:D

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Absolutely I am. I think it totally undermines the entire hunting experience. It puts a quantity on hunting. People who do things like that (whether they admit it or not) are doing so just to show off... look at how many banded birds I've killed... look at me look at me.... thats just the cultural/emotional part of why I think its stupid and gay.

Moreover, if you are actually trying to kill ducks... why would you hang something that shines and jingles around your neck... after spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on camoflauge and concealment? Think about it?

Lastly... I have lost a lion's share of stuff in the swamp over the years.. lost a cell phone among other things this year. And I have, in the past, had my call lanyard take a swim when leaning over to pull the dog back in the boat. Bands to me are special memories, and I keep them in the house on a lanyard full of old calls I had when I was just starting out in the early 1990s... no more than a kid. I've lost count now, but I'm well over 35 ducks and a dozen geese. It brings back good memories for me... I can replace the duck calls I use now... though I'd rather not.. which is why I have a floating lanyard (bands sink you know). But I cannot replace those bands... why would I risk losing them just to show off?

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I have been duck hunting for about ten years and have never killed a banded bird, I got friends that seem to kill al least one or two a year.

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Right now I am averaging 1 band out of every 650 honkers that I harvest. So I'm not overly productive on getting my hands on bands. I'm in a terrible area for shooting banded birds. I've been in on a grand total of 4 honker bands, out of those 4 we had to draw names for 3 of them, didn't know who shot them. I was never lucky enough to draw one of those bands. Then as fate would have it, A loner came in 2 seasons ago on my side of the spread, and I shot it, and when my dog brought it to my blind, I noticed some BLING BLING on it. :D

This spring I got my first ever snow goose band by myself as well. I've been in on many snow goose bands/collars, but never killed one by myself (that we know of anyway).

No duck bands for me yet.

RE: Bands...
 

Well, reading all of this I'm gonna say its definitely location. These guys that shoot 15 bands a season are near areas they do it... I can go out and kill a slew of ducks... never shot one band.
Either which way I'm with swamp, I don't see where they make you a better hunter in anyway, I think its just location.

RE: Bands...
 

Its based mostly on luck. Here in South Florida, where the greenheads never show up, its even more difficult. In my years of hunting, I have only gotten 1 band on a Florida Mottled Duck. Friends have gotten bands on teal and an occasional ringneck.

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I have been hunting waterfowl since 1958. I've hunted east and south western Ontario as well as Saskatchewan and Queces. In all those years i have collected 1 (one) band.

And believe me i have taken my fair share of birds.

Like Swamp collie and others have said, i personally don't feel left out because i don't have a mess of bands.

RE: Bands...
 

Well, I've never shot a band... But today at one of the ponds in my neighborhood was a banded mallard; very pretty. That's the only wild mallard that I've seen in my neighborhood. Every other mallard are wonderbread mallards.

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Rammer I am very envious of your statisical record keeping abilities... I was proud of myself for keeping track just of how many birds I shot last season... and who knows how many I've shot total... thats impressive and I mean that too brother!

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I used to duck hunt all the time in Upstate NY and i never once saw a banded bird. I duck hunted in Ga in 2004 and i saw one banded bird but it was in a friends yard next to his pond. He said the same wood duck pair had shown up 3 years i a row...he knew the pair because the drake wore the same colored band for the last 3 years. Oh well...better luck in the future.

RE: Bands...
 

Thank you! The last couple seasons I have let my waterfowl hunting slip a bit. I haven't gone near as much, and my bird count is WAAAY down. I'm going to make that up though this season.

So far the tally for '08 (extended honker season at Pierre) on honkers is 47.
spring snow geese - 15 w/ 1 band :D

My trick to keeping track is taking my digital camera, then when I upload my pics I date the folder and put them into '08 Waterfowl folder, etc. ;)

RE: Bands...
 

Thats not a bad way to go about it Rammer.

Being in SD, you can let your waterfowling slip a bit and still be miles ahead of everyone else when it comes to #s... I've been to Arkansas and I've been to MO, but I think if I ever went to Montana or either of the Dakotas I'd never come back east again.

RE: Bands...
 

Yeah, its some mighthy fine hunting here. Only problem is it is getting tougher and tougher to get access to fields. 7 years ago when I got into waterfowl hunting seriously, no one was doing it. Now there are TONS and TONS of people hunting ducks/geese. Its almost a competition to beat the others to the landowners to get permission. Some of the landowners won't even let anyone hunt anymore (places I hunted exclusively for years), they got tired of all the ppl coming to their doors asking permission day in an day out.

If you ever make a SD trip let me know, I'd be glad to hook ya up with some fields! :D

RE: Bands...
 

Ive been hunting for 2 seasons and only managed to get1 banded goose.