What is the Most out-of-this-world thing You----

R

Rob Robertson

Active member
What is the Most out-of-this-world thing You have been a part of in
Waterfowling?
I will start.
I was hunting a small lake next to a peanut field near Davidson,
Oklahoma. A single mallard comes in and I take it. He was Banded near
Alzada, Montana. Almost one year later I was invited by a Ducks Unlimited
Chairman to hunt his Duck Club lake near Thackerville, Oklahoma. He said
since I was his guest I got first shot. A single Mallard comes in and I
take it. He is Banded. I get to work, call in the number and then enter
the number in my hunting notes. I could not believe what I was seeing. I
shot the very next number to the band from the year before. Consecutive
band numbers in Consecutive years 870 miles from where they were banded.
At lakes 118 miles apart. I dont even want to try and figure the odds on
that. To Me that is Out-of-this-world.
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Don't spend any money on lottery tickets cause you used up all of your once in a lifetime good luck.
 
Wow, that is a heck of a thing. I can't believe many others have that type of band story.

Tim
 
Back in the 03-04 season, I was pretty hung up on shooting greenheads. One morning while driving to my honey hole with Chili's head resting on my lap, I made the decision to shoot what ever came in regardless. This included always trying to shoot drakes by the way.
Anyway, the first four ducks that I took that day were drake widgeons. Since there were plenty of birds around I didn't have long to wait when a mixed flock of gadwalls and mallards approached my area. I got on my call and coaxed them a bit closer for a better look. It was then that I made the decision that if they came back around I would go after the greenheads. The duck gods were with me because this flock of about 18 to 20 birds flew directly overhead at about 30/35 yards. I picked out a drake mallard on the left side of the flock and watched him crumple, then swung to the right side of the flock and nailed another greenhead over there.
Chili dashed out and brought back the first drake. I sat in my old rusty folding chair with my mouth wide open looking at this banded bird. I was so intent on reading the number sequence that I didn't pay attention to Chili who was sitting next to my side holding the other greenhead in her mouth. When I finally looked down at her and saw that this bird was also banded you can imagine my amazement. One was from Colorado and the other from North Dakota.
That was quite the year because I ended up shooting 9 banded ducks.
Al

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My brother and I went out last season for the canada goose coastal opener and got pretty lucky. We dropped four geese out of the first flock and all four were banded. Two were in sequence and a third was just a few numbers off. The fourth was pretty close to one I got the year before. They were all resident birds banded in NJ by the same bander.
 
Acouple of years after they started the resident goose season in pa, I shot a triple and two were banded. After initial shock of two birds having bands and the fact of shooting the triple. I looked at the bands and found the numbers were in order. Turned out they were banded that year in Ontario, Canada as juvies. I guess they were undocumented. HaHa


Gene R.
 
A black duck with a transmitter attached using a harness. This bird was "tagged" in Ohio and harvested in southern Ontario a year later.

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That is sweet Paul. I took My Youngest Son several years ago when He shot a transmitter on a Pintail. She flew by Us ten times. My Son said can I shoot her (slow morning). I gave in and said if she comes back one more time take her. He did. I was in shock when I picked her up.

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I haven't been involved in a lot of band recoveries, so the ones that I have participated in have been pretty memorable.

My first banded bird was a drake canvasback in 1994. The band was paper thin and the numbers were illegible. I asked everyone I could think of what to do, and the only answer I could get was to send the actual band in. The chance of never seeing "my" band again was greater than I could stand, so I kept hanging on to it and asking folks whenever the opportunity arose. In 1998 when I went to college and started playing on the internet, I started searching for band info and found out that worn bands are not all that uncommon and USGS has a protocol for their processing and returning. I sent the band to Maryland, where it was "etched" with acid and they returned the band to me with the certificate indicating the canvasback as at least 13 years old when I shot it. It was banded on the Chesapeake Bay. Interestingly, the other banded canvasback from our spot was also banded on the Chesapeake Bay.

My second banded bird was a neck banded Ross' goose. It was spring of 04, my first year as a full fledged SoDak resident. I was hunting with my brother and cousin and another friend. We were pass shooting and I wandered off to get under the birds. It was very windy that day, a common feature of good pass shooting days, and a flock came over. I shot and hit one, but the one that I hit was not the one I was pointing at. It was wing tipped and coasted over the rest of my group but they didn't shoot. They were more confident than I that it was coming down quickly. When I returned to the group my brother asked if there was anything different about the goose I shot, and I replied, "not that I noticed." He said it was neck banded, and I assumed he was pulling my leg, as I thought a neck band would have been obvious. But then again, it wasn't the goose I was focused on! Sorry for the craptastic pic, it was a bad digital print that I scanned quite a while ago.

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Man 'O man. You guys are showing the band info with the area where the bird was shot. That sure helps us internet lurkers figure out where to go for banded ducks, heheheh.
 
Ask me and I'll take you hunting anytime. The places I hunt are all public and all well known. Your chances of shooting a banded bird there are about the same as everywhere else.
 
Neat story, Nick. I was talking with a federal biologist who was telling me about a number of neck banded Ross' geese that were coming out of the Chihuahuan area of Mexico. They couldn't figure out why it was so high until they did a little investigating. Seems that some of the richer locals found out that with a rifle, scope, and a spotting scope they could up their odds. They would sit along fence rows and wait for the birds to come in and feed, then pick off only the banded ones.
Al
 
I agree with Paul just said. Almost all of my banded birds have come from public land hunts. What you said made me think of the chief waterfowl biologist from Bosque del Apache. I was helping him band one day and when I released a particular banded greenhead, I said, "Now make sure to fly to my area tomorrow morning." The biologist laughed----however, the first banded duck that was retrieved that year from that day of banding was his. He happened to go duck hunting the very next day about 40 miles north on the Rio and his first duck down was a banded greenhead and he had banded it the day before. So on his certificate it shows a one day travel time!
Al
 
Thanks for the invite Paul. I know the internet is hard to read tone, but my comment was tongue in cheek about all the back and forth that went on here some time back about posting general locations of hunting locations and how it helps the internet lurker find where to hunt without doing any real duck hunter work.

By the way, you are welcome to come with me hunting if you ever get down to Arkansas. Trip.
 
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