Bad deal, it was your bird 100%

Tom needed a throat punch...and so did your friend for being such a nancy and not speaking up

What would be really perfect was if tom was reading this now.. #tommytommerson #Dbag #whatarethesepoundsignsforanyway

You got screwed. post his # and see how many texts he gets haha (kidding here). Hope the good lord blesses you and your pup with a double banded mallard sometime soon.

As long as I had a shotgun in my hand, he wouldn't be getting that bird. I would've waited til we got back to the ramp to say anything about it, so I was assured I would have a ride home, but he wouldn't have gotten the bird. Even if I had to call the GW for him stealing your game.

So if Tom drove you somewhere and introduced you to your future wife, would he have dibs on her too?

Tom's a douche...

I've been waterfowling for over 40 years and have never shot a banded anything. Took a young guy hunting w/me last year. I got a mallard drake that sailed 400+ yards. My young pup is just beginning to take a cast and I couldn't get him on the other side of the river channel and too deep to wade. Young guy had a kayak in his van, hikes back 1/2 mi. and drags yak back down to waters' edge. Paddles over to other side and starts hiking. Next thing I hear he's hootin' and hollarin', I think, ok he found it. Then he starts hollarin' again, I think, oh good God it's got a band! Sure enough, he gets back and it's a banded drake! He hands it to me and says nice shot, I hand it back and say nice retrieve! No way I would have had that bird w/o him and his yak. No gray areas to me, just right and wrong...Tom's a douche.

Dude what did you give him the bird for? I would have told him to get effed.

Tom is a jerk, and Bob has no backbone.
I'd love to shoot a banded duck, but one someone else shot would have no sentimental value to me.

Would you have lost?

I doubt I would have lost, but to me its not worth losing my composure over. Im out there to enjoy the hunt and work my pup...not to act like a d*ck. Id like to think Im better than that.

What a doosh-a-saurus. I would have simply said, no. If it was a bird that was taken out of a group and unable to determine who harvested the bird, It's the right thing to do to give the host the band. Otherwise, GFY, pal.

You should of "spit some Beachnut in that dude's eye"

Was he a guide or something? I've only heard of that kind of poop from guides...

Ain't no way I'm wearing a band on my lanyard that some other person clearly shot. You shoot it, it's your's. Even if my dog retrieved the bird, the band is your's, IMO.

Wish we knew his real name. I'd bet he never gets an invite from anyone else again...

Iv always agreed with the guide gets the band... but this was not the case. Next time break the leg and don't tell anyone till later.

I wouldn't give my band to a guide either. If I pay a couple hundred bucks to duck hunt and I shoot a band I'm not giving it to the guide. I dont thibk a guide should try to keep it anyways. I wouldn't have given it to this douche either, I would have walked back before giving him my band.

To me its a good gesture or thank you to a guide that put you on ducks.. id offer a band to the guide either way...

I would have kept it because I killed it. Tom probably lets his wife eat the meat other men have killed.

I can't see why Tommy would want someone else's band. I've never shot a banded bird, or been with anyone who has while I was there, but it makes no sense to want it from you, especially to the point of fisticuffs.

I've been in a situation where it's better to do what you did. It's not worth throwing fists over, guns are involved, you've got to ride in his boat back and possibly his truck and you've got to go home to your family and your job. As much of an experience getting a band would be, it's not worth physically fighting over and potentially being sued for kicking his butt.

It would have been nice for Bob to step up, as the only guy that knows you both, and tell Tommy to stop being a loser. That's what he sounds like to me. A loser.

X2. That guy quickly showed his true character. Just remember-it's just a piece of metal. If you can get the numbers you can get a duplicate certificate. You can then get an exact duplicate made by national band and tag for $50.

I agree that the solo shooter gets it. 2x last year we shot banded birds that I was 99.9% sure I shot. Both times I had a hunter that had never gotten a band. They took em and I even played up the-you got this one. I wasn't even shooting at that one. I guess it's all about what drives you inside. Others happiness or your own.

This is simple, in the eyes of the law who did that duck belong to?

Back when I guided I had a guy shoot a very nice banded pintail drake. I took his picture with it and smiled all the way home knowing I had a repeat client for as long as I ran my business! Jerks are jerks, some just duck hunt.

^^ All of this

I am not a duck hunter.

But why in the heck would anyone (hunter or guide) want a band off of a duck SOMEONE ELSE KILLED??

Makes zero sense. Just goes to show the downfall of hunting these days where it's all about the trophy-even to the point of ruining someone else's experience to get it.

I would have told Tom to go fly a kite! If one can indefinitely determine who shot the "banded" bird, then it belongs to the shooter.