Ducks Killed Per Band

[RedEyed Duck]

Well we have asked how many bands and where they are from. Over the years, how many birds have you fellas seen killed for each band that was taken? I just mean how many did you shoot for each band that you harvested, but how many your hunting party shoots as well. That is if you have or recollect that info.

[RedEyed Duck]

I will tell you that I have not seen a band killed since the 99-00 season, but I know that the next one just might be the one!

[chopper30]

Well last year we killed 638 and only 2 bands.

This year we are up to 613, and again we have killed 2 bands. But there is still time to kill some more this year!

[dukbum]

well still counting....no bands when i have been wif anybody hunten i need to find me sum band hunten buddies....this one time at band camp.....

[Chipper]

Chopper

I need to come check out what ya'll are doing different than us. ya'll are wearing them out compared to us. We haven't hunted hardly at all this year but the last two years we only killed a little over 400. I don't think anyone has even hunted our land this year. Did have a guy kill a double banded bird this season though. I'll be there Friday trying them out though.

Chipper

[Hambone]

It just depends alot on luck. This year, I have seen 3 banded birds shot. One of this year's bands was mine, and it was the first that I have killed in at least 3 or 4 seasons. On the other hand, a few years ago, I killed 3 banded ducks in a week. I have heard folks say that a good rule of thumb is one band for every hundred or so ducks, but I think the average runs more like one for every couple of hundred, when you look at it on a long-term basis.

[Anatidae]

Kelly....it varies for us. I'll give you a break-down when I get to my records.

But there are gaps of 200 birds between bands, then there was one season we took 5 banded birds in a span of two weeks (out of 70 mallards), between Anne and myself. I'm sure you remember the story I wrote where I got one band, then the next weekend Anne shot 2 one morning and 1 on the next day, then I got another one, the next weekend. That's highly unusual, but shows that luck runs in cycles. That was also during the middle of January 2001, I think......our best year (by the numbers).

This year, the first duck I pulled the trigger on was banded.......haven't killed but 12-15 ducks since then, but I can live with that, trusting that there will be better years, ahead.

I'll follow-up, later.

[gyver]

got 2 bands 2 weeks apart with the same first 4 #'s.
waiting to get the2nd certificate back.

[Anatidae]

O.K., Kelly.........I don't know what all this means , but here's the number of birds killed between bands. This is Anne's and my combined total number of birds between bands collected by either of us (if that makes any sense). BTW.....she generally kills more birds than I do.

11 , 62, 42, 375 , 97, 214 , 28, 6 , 0 , 33, 114 , 223 , 13 , 109, 22 and counting .

[RedEyed Duck]

Anat, who shot the evil ( ) band?

Alright guys, how many days afiled did you spend for each band? Just curious as to the average # of days you have spent for each band as well? What months have more bands been harvested in Nov., Dec. or Jan.? Is that consistent with your overall duck #'s? Lets get the juices flowing here, sorry Anat. got me started.

[mottlet]

Well, let's see....

I've got four bands...I'm twenty-three years old and have been carrying a shotgun to woods since I was ten.

BUT, all four bands were bagged while I was in high school, two out of the same hole. I haven't got the foggiest idea how many birds I've killed since then or how many I was killin' back then. But it wasn't many.

So in conclusion, back when I didn't kill many birds, I had a higher success rate with bands than I do now when I kill more. Kinda skews the data a bit don't it?

mottlet

[Anatidae]

Geez......I'll have to go back and count the number of days, now.

11 mallards an 1 wood duck killed in the month of January = 13
1 mallard and 1 wood duck killed in the month of December = 2
1 wood duck killed in the month of November = 1

No bands taken in Canada...most were in a 30-mile radius, back home.....all taken in Mississippi.

I killed the duck that broke that terrible 375-duck dry spell during 2 of our 3 most productive (in numbers killed) years.......yet, none were banded. Go figure! It was a cripple that the dog got for us......that woulda been a terrible thing to go thru such a dry spell and loose a cripple....and never knowing it was banded. Since then, I just assume every duck I cripple and don't recover, is banded. We killed 3 banded ducks in January of that season, followed by the season we killed 5 in 2 weeks........so that kinda made-up for the long wait, the previous 3 years.

We can analyze this until our wives throw us out.....and we won't come-up with anything significant about probabilities related to killing banded ducks, huh? I just think it's interesting how it works-out and some of the stories behind the recoveries. Bottom line is.......it has to do with 'opportunity' and a lotta luck to kill banded birds.

[RedEyed Duck]

I agree completely about not coming up with anything after soaking in all this info. However, I too find it very interesting. I also agree about the stories behind the bands. One of the bands our crew harvested in the 99-00 season was a hen mallard. Now let me tell the rest of the story. One of our younger members (I think he was 19 at the time) brought a college buddy. We had a group of @ 20 mallards work great, all the way to having several sit on the water before shooting into the back of the group. One hen in particular landed right in front of the blind only about 10-15 yards out. We began shooting at the group and several birds fell, as well as the hen on the water, she never had a chance. The guest waterswatted her on his first shot. Guess he decided to take the sure thing. If he had not been there, that band would never have been harvested 1. because it was a hen and 2. because she was sitting on the water while fat heads were still coming in with the landing gear down.

That really gives some validity to the "one that got away" theory. I still don't go around shooting hens or waterswatting, unless they are already crippled, but makes ya wonder. I really wish that they would stop banding hens altogether, but thats not my decision

Hope everyone on the board shoots a band or two these last few days.

[Anatidae]

.......and then there's the greenhead that landed 15 feet from the boat (already considered 'dead' because Anne and I BOTH saw the band on its leg), but there were 30 more working in behind him. @guys in the other boat next to us didn't see the band, but knew the duck was on the water......and were waiting for the rest of the bunch to swing around front. Well......the banded duck got nervous and took flight. I wasn't going to let it get out of there alive, so i shot ......3 times ......missed all three shots because I never got down on the gun ......just gawking at the band.

Yeah, I ruined the chances at the rest of the bunch for everybody else, but I've seen it a 1000 times........one duck gets nervous.....hauls butt......and takes everybody else with him...and nobody gets a shot at anything but a memory.

I never will live that down......but would probably make the same choice again (knowing the other 2 guys probably woulda done the same thing if they'd known the duck was banded.

But you can't count the ones that got away. I think that duck was somewhere in that dry spell of 375 birds between bands.

The other thing......if I had lost the cripple that ended the 375 streak.....it would have increased that number to 472 'til the next band.

[Anatidae]

Mottlet......I killed some like that back before I started keeping records (for all that does)......and it seems like sometimes you just get lucky and kill banded birds when there aren't that many ducks around in those years. I can't explain it, either.

Then there's the 3 years between '97-'98 season and '99-'00 season, when the Fall Flight was at it's highest and we got a good migration of birds South.......and had our 3 highest number of birds killed in those 3 seasons and didn't take a band until January of the 3rd record year (and killed 5 in 2 weeks). There's just no way to project probabilities with so many variable that can influence a phenomenon that can only be described as 'luck'. But opportunity obviously plays a major role in the formula. That, and having some semblance of a mallard migration in the month of January.