How many of you have actually shot a banded bird?

[gander]

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.

[Cullbuck]

I have 4, 2 mottled ducks, a pintail, and a greenwing teal. ive seen probably a dozen that my buddies have shot including a banded dove.

[Smart]

Jealous of you guys with a mottled band. I've killed a few in coastal areas including a beautiful drake I mounted, but never shot a banded one.

[gander]

Jealous of you guys with a mottled band. I've killed a few in coastal areas including a beautiful drake I mounted, but never shot a banded one.

It's funny, most my buddies that duck hunt seriously down here have a couple banded mottled ducks it seems and I believe all of us would kill for one of those banded mallards like you have killed. My brother has about 10 bands I believe now and duck hunts more than anyone I know and he has surprisingly only killed one banded mottled duck I believe but has killed 4 banded mallards.

[Jtrisler]

I shot a banded wood duck several years ago. He was banded in Ohio that same year and made his way to Louisiana during the winter.

[Smart]

by far the largest number of bands are on mallards. If you're not shooting a lot of mallards, your chances go way down.

This is the truth. You gotta hunt the species they band the most. They made up the majority for us by a large margin.

[jdg13]

I have 3 goose bands and one neck collar. One was double banded. Another guy wanted to claim it so i gave him the $10 reward band. I killed a banded mottle duck a couple years ago. I was told they didn't have any info on it and that sometimes they fly off before the bander records it.

[Tykam]

One GWT drake that was banded in North Dakota for me and a Pintail drake for my buddy that was banded in Alaska. Both in Central Texas. We have shot somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 ducks and 2 were banded. .2%

[Kmart49]

I have one mallard drake and one Ross's band. I've also shot a banded dove around Waco.

I've witnessed a handful of other bands be taken. When I was 13 or 14 I was on a hunt when we killed a mallard that had a backpack/gps unit on it. We were hunting the La'Anguille river in NE Arkansas and someone had noticed the backpack when the group made their first swing. That was pretty cool!

[Duckologist]

After 42 years, I got 1 mottled duck, 1 pintail hen, 1 wood duck hen and 1 Eastern Gobbler.

[texaslongshot]

i have one

[Smart]

It's funny, most my buddies that duck hunt seriously down here have a couple banded mottled ducks it seems and I believe all of us would kill for one of those banded mallards like you have killed. My brother has about 10 bands I believe now and duck hunts more than anyone I know and he has surprisingly only killed one banded mottled duck I believe but has killed 4 banded mallards.

Yes it is. lol.... We want what we don't have...


My holy grails were a cinnamon teal, a banded pintail and a banded mottled. Got my banded pintail on a deer lease farm pond, of all places, in the DFW area. Funny thata 3 acre farm pond/tank produced it after chasing them along the coast where I'm from and then hunting the big water lakes up here in North Texas in my 18 years of waterfowling.

[bowtechbandit]

I have a mallard drake and a green wing teal hen. have been on hunts over the years where several have been killed. mainly mallards. we would usually let who ever in the group have the band if they never had got one.

[droebuck]

I duck hunted hard for 20 years. Took me 15 years to kill one and I got three in the last 5 years. 1-Whistler and 2-Mottled ducks.

[Mexico]

In my youth waterfowl was my passion. Hunted hard 12 years or so, shot 1 Wood Duck Drake and 1 Snow Goose with a band in all those years.