Duck and goose bands

How many do you have? Waterfowl hunted for 25 years in Arkansas and Texas and never got one. Started hunting them later on in my life and finally quit when my favorite Lab had to be put down and lost interest after that. Sure wished I would have gotten at least one. If you got any let's see them and the stories that you can tell about them.

I have 3 bands. Shot a banded redhead, and the band was so old and weathered you could only see a few letters on it. Shot a banded woodduck that was banded in LA. Also shot a banded snow goose, that was an adult when banded, and it had been banded for 12 years. So that was probably a 15+ year old bird.

I have been on a few more hunts that collared and banded geese have been killed on. It is always a fun surprise.

Molly 2007 Thanksgiving morning..Quick hunt at a local metromess lake while my turkey was cooking...It was the only bird I shot that morning..



Molly 2015 Teal opener…About a 7 iron from the boat ramp.

I've had 5 shot in front of me. None by me that I can confirm.

First one, buddy and I are hunting a local lake. Had a pair of mallards come in, drakes on my side, hen is on my buddies side, at the last minute they cross and I end up shooting the hen and my buddy shoots the banded drake.

Second one we are hunting a lease pond with the landowner, he is on his first duck hunt and shoots a banded mallard hen.

Third one, hunting a private pond with a couple buddies that don't get to hunt very often. Super slow day, had a widgeon drake come and land in the dekes. My buddy tells me to shot em, I tell them to shoot, after a few moments of us telling each other to shoot the widgeon gets off the water and my buddy pulls up to shoot. Banded widgeon drake

4th and 5th, we are on a goose hunt in the panhandle, shoot 40 something white geese and 20 something dark geese that morning. Ended up with 1 banded Ross and 1 banded snow. No telling who shot them, think we had 7 orn8 guns in the spread that morning.

Bands are few and far between in the southern states.

Not a big duck hunter, only have been a few times. First duck I ever killed was a banded Red Head at Harbor Island early one morning. Have some buddies that are hard core duck hunters and have never killed a banded bird, showed them my bird and they just shook their head.

I'll get in before my buddy DUKFVR jumps in. I have 25 bands and 3 neck collars. On 3 different occasions I've killed 2 banded birds during the hunt, on 1 hunt I shot a pair of banded breeding specks, on another hunt I shot a pair of banded breeding snows, and on the other I shot a banded speck and banded blue.

I've been hunting waterfowl seriously for about 16 years (since I was able to drive myself). I have 3 mallards, 2 bwt, 2 mottled ducks, and a pintail. Also have a mourning dove. Most of these died within a 7 year span. I'm currently on a 4 year dry spell. The last year I killed a band, I killed 2 in a 3 week span.

Have never killed a banded migratory bird. Only peoples racing pigeons that were out of place with feral flocks.

Only one for me. I dropped a mallard Drake that buzzed us when I was 17 or 18. Hunting on the Oklahoma side of the river. It was my turn to shoot first and it was a long shot. I had a good 4 or 5 foot lead on him and remember being surprised at how dead he fell. Was a long wade, but when I got there I yelled back to the others that he was banded. My cousin said thought he saw the band catch the light right before I shot.

8 for me.
2 from Arkansas, 1 from Tawakoni, and 5 from the Red River. Was on a hunt at the Red several years back and we shot 3 bands in one hunt. I lost all 3 coin flips. lol. So couldve been more.

I've killed 6. 4 mottled ducks, 1 blue wing and one speck. The day I shot the speck my brother had shot a banded mallard that morning as well. I also had my first two bands stolen while I was in college when my truck was broken into and my calls were stolen.

My dogs first duck hunt I was hunting with a buddy on some of our family property south of Winnie. We had killed 10 teal and he had killed his mottled duck, a pair of mottleds came in, I jumped up, missed the first two shots and sailed the bird on the 3rd. My dog took off and found him in a cane patch about 120 yards away. As he was running back the birds leg dropped down and I saw the band. Same dog, 2 years ago, his 13th year and our final hunt of the season. Was hunting with the same buddy and two other guys on my friends property and we killed another mottled duck that fell in some cane. We pulled there after the hunt and I sent Gauge in to see if he could hunt it up. Slow and steady he worked his way through and emerged with the bird. As he made his way to the boat, the leg dropped down and we saw the band. Gauge's health has seriously declined since then and I haven't been able to bring him on a duck hunt since. So it is likely that the last bird of his first duck hunt ever and the last bird of his last duck hunt ever were banded mottled ducks with the same buddy there, 12 years apart.

Five or six I think. Never kept any of the bands. wasn't that big of a deal to me. All of them out at my family's property in Wood County.

First one was a Mallard hen in the late '80s. Back then you had to call the Fed Fish & Game people to give your report.

One I remember the best was a Woodie hen. I had invited about six guys out for an annual duck hunt. Sat morning we split into two groups, buddy and me in the pot hole and the rest in the flooded tall grass.
Good morning, everyone got at least one. I shot the Woodie hen and when I retrieved her I she had good coloring and then saw the band, cool. When we all got back together we were looking at all the birds and one of the other guys had shot a really nice looking Woodie drake. I thought the drake and the would look really good together.
A little later in the morning I saw the guy who shot the drake talking to my buddy that had invited him out and I had a feeling what it was about. The guy that shot the drake then walked up to me and hesitantly asked me if he could buy the hen, along with the band. I told him that wouldn't be legal but he could have it. He got them mounted together and he sent me pictures.

I have around 100 in my possession. 50 to 75 that I shot or was part of shooting.

Few of my grandpas old bands and a couple of brant toe tags.

18 year old skimmer band I found on the beach in MX and a redhead bad worn to the point of missing numbers. Couple snow and blue red collars that took a beating.

One unreported redhead band drakes inside this Thunder Bay redhead decoy that a friend shot and put inside the decoy he carved and gave me.

I’ve probably had 25 more shot out of my blind that went to a kid or first time hunter. I’m be had 3 kids Kill 4 banded ducks on their first hunts with me.

Now that is a collection. Never expected anyone to have that many.

I estimate I’ve killed 350 or so ducks since I started duck hunting 13 years ago. Killed 1 banded red in that time on the coast 4 years ago.
This doesn’t account for the people hunting with me and this is the only band I’ve recovered.