I grew up hunting SETX around the Winnie/High Island/Labelle areas. Spent about 5 years in Lubbock guiding hunts. We killed thousands of ducks/geese/cranes in Lubbock and not one time did I ever have a banded bird killed up there. I have killed 6 banded birds myself, 4 mottled ducks banded from Louisiana to Matagorda, one specklebelly that was banded in Deadhorse Alaska and one banded teal that was banded in Nunavut Canada 17 days before I shot it in High Island Texas. I have been around for about two dozen other times when friends have killed banded birds. I've lost a few flips for birds and if I'm hunting with a new hunter nowadays and we both shoot at a bird that ends up being banded I typically just go ahead and concede it to them. I actually lost a flip for a banded tree duck that me and my brother had both "shot". I had a buddy there who said he didn't even shoot at the group but when he realized we were going to draw for it he wanted in and he ended up winning. It was no big deal and he was pumped, just never could figure out why he'd want a band from a bird that he had not even shot at.
I had a group of friends that hunted an old ricefield just down the dirt road from some of our property that had a big group of tree ducks move in and over the first split one season they killed 17 banded tree ducks. It was one big group that stayed together from a banding location in Louisiana.
I had a group of friends that hunted an old ricefield just down the dirt road from some of our property that had a big group of tree ducks move in and over the first split one season they killed 17 banded tree ducks. It was one big group that stayed together from a banding location in Louisiana.
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