How many bands.

[River Hunter]

2 bands in 20 years

[Anatidae]

Well....I don't actually shoot 'bands'.........just ducks. If they happen to be banded, thena that's just a bonus. But I HAVE missed two banded ducks that were inside of 15yds....over the years......and stood there with an empty gun and watched'em fly-off, unscathed.

As rare as it is to kill a banded duck, and as much as I hate myself for occasionally taking a marginal shot.....I always tell myself "All the ducks I've ever crippled and not retrieved?......every one of'em was banded.

Think about that, next time you see one leg on a bird drop and watch it fly-off to die somewhere.....or give-up the search for one that sailed-down 200yds away. It's amazing how your priorities change......(at least it is, to me).

[RIP EM]

Lot of "TRUTH" in that post Randy !
I have 1 band in 17 yrs. or so of duck hunting ! Had no clue "he" was banded, until my buddie said "Well,... I shoulda just shot up in the air,... that way I could claim this band" !

Every duck I have crippled, and let get away, since then,... has been banded,.... no doubt in my mind !

I know "where your comin from", on that one !

BTW,... I don't band hunt either ! Like you said,... it's just an added bonus ! Plain and simple !

Rip Em !

[louisiana duckman]

Nine bands in 20 years of hunting


1-mottled duck in 1997
1-woodduck in in 2000
1-blue wing teal-in 2000
6-mallards from 1992 -2002

with my last one being 19 years old banded in minnesota in 1983 and I killed it in 2003

ROLAND
TEAM ECHO..............wannabe

[4DUKHTN]

I killed a hen wood duck on opening morning this past season. She happened to be banded. That is my first and only in the 8 years of hunting since I have moved back to Mississippi.

[champcaller]

With my luck, all the ducks I have crippled they have probably been the ones with million dollar bands.

[Anatidae]

Yeah....it's kinda wierd, 'Rip'.......the only ducks that I knew had leg bands on (before I shot 'at' them).....got away. That tells you something doesn't it? That I got greedy and lifted my head and gawked at the jewelry. Oh, it was a sickening feeling......but not as sickening as what Anne went through. She actually saw the band on his leg the same time I did......and passed it up, waiting for the other 30 fatheads to follow this one down to the water. He sat there about 3 seconds......15yds from the boat.......then took-off and was high-tailing it outa there. I've had that happen before......when one bird gets nervous and boogey's on outa there......"and carries the rest of the working bunch WITH him......honey"

..........and I had to miss him 3 times. Anne never even raised her gun. Now, you might say, "that's pretty tough"! Actually, she was so furious because I BLEW the rest of the bunch.....she couldn't move a muscle, she was so 'torqued'.

It WAS kinda selfish on my part, though. "WELL....... I just wanted to do 'my part' in providing valuable banding data for future studies, ya know?" ....... ....... ....... NORMAN!! (huh??) ...... ...... ....... (still not buyin' it, is she?) .....

[mudsucker]

Does the band that came with my twirley count? Matthew's roto-duck band!

[hwy61DuckCamp]

1 band.....30 years hunting.....

Ive always been suspicious of those "Dandys" you see at the casinos in Tuniker or at the 5 star pay to hunt duck camps....with 50 bands on their lanyards !!

Somebody is buying them things on E Bay ! And it shure isnt me !

[RIP EM]

Me neither 61 !

Good for us ! Sides,... WHAT DA HELL WOULD A "STO BOUGHT" BAND BE !?!?

Can't figure that one !

Rip Em !

[SoftCall]

I'll second what Anat said. I shot a greenhead last year and crippled the bird. He was flying strong though and I assumed that he would recover. I watched the bird circle 300 yards out and come a full 180 degrees. The bird stayed 300 yards away and landed right by a pivot. I sent the dog and she came back with a very much alive but flightless 5 year old greenhead that had been banded in Alberta 3 years earlier. If I had been paying attention to other birds or searching the skies instead of watching the duck, I would have never recovered it - or thought to attempt recovery for that matter.

Also, I found a cripple last year with this on his foot....



This bird had gotten tangled in some twine in a field. It collected burrs in the twine, got stuck in the v of some willow limbs, broke it's leg and was trying to escape when I heard it splashing. I would have released the bird (after recovering the band) if the leg hadn't been broken. I added him to my strap without firing a shot. Hatched last summer and banded last summer. I am sure it was inexperience that caused him to make such a blunder

Watch every suspected cripple and try to recover every bird.

[River Hunter]

I hunt the opening teal season in ar with a guy that guides for a living and his freaking laynard could not hold another band there must have been 30 or so with halve of them colored

[dukbum]

ya....sumthings up with them AR boys they be short-stopping them banded ducks from us MS boys. i hunt with a guy from AR a couple times a year and he had to add a seperate piece of leather about 2 foot or so to his laynard just to hold the extra bands cause the other part of the 20 foot laynard was glowing with all kind of colors.....colors i never seen before! i ask him ever year to just let me borrow a few i will give em back after season

[marionfd708]

dont think we stop dukbum.
i have been huntin 22 years and have yet to get a band..oh well can't eat a band anyhow.

[dukbum]

oh i know.....just messing with ya boys up thar that was another thing i always ask him is "how many times you tried to boil them things and eat em?" he always tell me that if you can boil them for about a week they will get down to crunchy