Great last evening of duck season
 

After shooting my first round of winter league today (with a Beretta, sorry), I decided to close out duck season where I shot those birds in the other post and by the way, the bigger goose in that photo was banded as an adult in 2005 so jerky for sure. Anyway, it was warm for here and a strong breeze kicked up and ducks started moving. Made a nice double on mallards and when young Josey went for the livelier of the two it dove and swam under the ice. It popped up a good 200 yards away but it was worn out and we got it. Killed another two green heads one at a time, a fully feathered cock sprig and a mini goose, barely larger than the ducks. One greenhead was banded in 2007 in NW Territories, Canada. I have shot a lot of banded ducks and geese but most were banded in Colorado. That was unique for here. The 32" gun performed well and so did I only missing one duck (but not entirely). I could easily have shot one more duck for the limit and some large geese but the strap holds 6 and it was full so I used the last 20 minutes to pick up my stuff. I figured why be greedy, I was well pleased with what I had. :)
I should have photographed the Sangre de Cristos for you guys as they really lived up to their name tonight but left the camera in the truck. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a photo and post it.
-plc-

that was a great hunt...that sure is a nice kitchen you got there..kinds reminded me of my grandma s kitchen back in the early 1950 s..yep one fine stove there...and pretty ducks and geese too... charlie

great picture, I like the stove as well, reminds me of some of the old farm kitchens from when I was a kid.

Is it me or does that second picture look like it came from a doll house it just looks out of scale . like it though

Nice work! I'm envious on the bands, two in one day is a real treat.


Destry

Nice shooting Peter. Great photos too.

Dennis

Destry,
The bands were one day apart. The big geese that were on my truck was from Saturday. The banded duck, mini goose, etc. was yesterday. But yeah, I felt pretty lucky to get a full dress sprig and a banded greenhead the same day. That sprig must have a six inch tail. Always been my favorite duck.
-plc-

I killed three banded geese in one day years ago and killed two banded mallard drakes in Quebec the last morning this past September. I can't complain really, I've gotten quite a bit of jewelry over the years. I wear them on my lanyard like every other hillbilly braggart that I know. To me they're like shooting a big buck or the equivalent, a real trophy, and I like to show them off.

What's your most oddball band and your oldest? My most oddball is a greenwing teal, my oldest was a goose. He'd been banded as an adult eleven years before I shot him, but only five miles away from where the deed was done. I've also got a pair of BASC bands that I killed on mallards in Ireland, that was quite day as well.

And you've got me beat on the mini goose even without the band. In all the goose hunting I've done, I even used to be a guide, I've never shot one of the lesser races. Giants and the standard size, that's it!

Well the most I've gotten in one day was 3 as well on mallards, but they used to band them right here so the Canadian band is a trophy for me. Most of the geese were banded in COlordo as well. The oddest are two. On geese, I shot a banded giant and a full year later shot another one only one band number apart. Both banded same day in North Park about 300 miles from us. On ducks, oddest one was a female redhead also killed on my place. I forget where it was banded. I too, like a hillbilly, wear the duck bands on my dog whistle lanyard the goose bands on my goose call. I counted and I have 22 duck bands and 8 goose bands, not like the guys in Stutgart but ok for me. Onse when liveing in Fort Collins area I had a great goos pit and killed 4 sub species of Canadas in one day. I have a photo but it is not digital. They were a giant, western, interior or great basin, and a Richardson's, that being the midget goose. My photo has them all laid out like mama, papa, baby,etc. with my beloved and deadly 870 meatmaster.

Well it is a farm kitchen and for you old appliance fans, here is another picture when the range had recently been cleaned. Something I need to do soon! Notice the cat exiting and the oven thermometer in the photo tells me it was about 350 degrees so pretty warm underneath.
Second photo is of our new fangled gas range we use during warmer times of the year. You may spot the 1934 toast master toaster in that photo as well.
We enjoy antiques but they must pull their own weight. Don't start me on cast iron.
-plc-

I've got 8 goose bands on my lanyard these days as well, and about a dozen ducks. My original lanyard with all my bands killed in younger days went missing when somebody broke into my truck and stole my shooting bag. There were half a dozen more geese and about the same in ducks including a wood duck band and a Jack Miner goose.

I used to know a couple guys from Kentucky that had double and triple strings of wood duck bands. They lived in an area that did huge studies on them and banded hundreds every year. So in the early season, nearly every one they killed had a band. My wood duck band actually came out of this area but I killed it in Illinois.

My teal band has a fun story. We were hunting opening morning in Ontario a few years ago. One of the guys with us took a snap shot at a bunch of bluewings that buzzed by and knocked one down. Well don't you know it was banded, first teal band I'd ever seen shot. Exactly a week later, on the exact same point, with the exact same group of hunters, I did the exact same thing, but on a bunch of greenwings. Mine was banded as well! We figured they'd both been banded recently right there on the lake. Well we were wrong big time, his had been banded on the prairie as a duckling and mine had been banded the January before in South Carolina.

Off that same point a couple season before I killed a mallard drake that was banded. He'd been ringed exactly 30 days before on an almost perfectly straight line dead west of there in Wisconsin. I think he must have been lost, he certainly wasn't traveling anything like south anyway.

Up in Quebec they do a lot of banding on the area we hunt so every year we always get at least one band. There are a ton of blacks up there and I'm sure they band them as well but I've never seen one shot that had a ring. Every one we've ever killed that was locally done was a mallard drake. Don killed a hen mallard three years ago but it had been banded in Vermont! I guess they just band drake mallards in Quebec, it's kind of weird......

does that "new fangled" one have a removeable divider between the two ovens?

I once had a GM made one from the fifties that was so big you could heat treat a smart car in :rotf:

I hunt about 25 miles west of the Jack Miner refuge in Canada, so Miner bands are reasonably common to us. Old Miner bands used to fetch long money on ebay, until some jerk began counterfeiting them

You know where I hunt John, and it's not much further than that either. But we've never shot one on a goose or a duck. I guess the Miner birds just don't trade back and forth on St. Clair much. It's odd, we've often commented on it.

DLH

Only one oven. The one on the left is a "grillevator" broiler. The top has a griddle between the burners. it is an O'Keefe and Merrit brand. Top of the line in "48". The grillevator has a lever that raises the broiler up and down. Very classy!

Good story on the bands. They have started banding cinnamon teal here this year but we never kill any as they leave before season and return after.

Here are a couple more shots of the geese showing size difference.
I hang my birds a good week to 10 days so still have them fully clothed. Upon closer inspection I saw I do have 3 sub species of Canadas. A Giant, a Western and a Richardson's. Here they are all 3 together with a greenhead and ammo box for scale. One of the big guy and little guy together and the little guy with a mallard to show how small he is. I promise no more of these.

I said to my father one day, musing about the old things in the house, why do I like them around? He said, "I don't know. Maybe it's because we want to know where we came from."

Those Monarch ranges are great. Very well made and long lasting. All we get in Alaska are the lesser Canadians that are barely larger than a mature greenhead.

AWESOME PICTURES and great stories from both you and Destry. The stories are great when paired with pictures. Just fantastic. What a terrific group of gun lovers and hunters.

Peter, I really agree with you on the sprig. They are so striking to watch fly and even though it is quite frustrating when they circle the decoys endlessly, it is a real treat to watch them.

In January we'll see male groups courting a female and flying around the rice fields. Included is a picture that caught just such a group two years ago flying over the blind. We didn't shoot.....it was so sweet just watching them.

It's funny to me, out here in the Midwest a full plumage drake pintail is a once every 10 years (maybe) sort of deal. I can count on one hand the ones I've shot in all my gunning. But you get out on the West Coast and they're everywhere. The last one I was in on shooting was banded if you can believe it. My buddy Nate and I doubled up on it and I'd killed a banded mallard drake the day before so he kept it.

DLH

I have never shot a banded duck. Almost everyone who has shot as a guest on my ranch has shot a banded bird. A buddy shot a goose with a neck band. The neighbor shot a bird with a band which resulted in a money reward when he sent it in, or so he claimed. Maybe it's true; no idea. The bird flew off my place and he shot it over his pond....one of his workers could not wait to tell me. It is mentioned every year. Have to admit, it was pretty funny.

Even one of my hispanic workers got a banded bird....a giant drake mallard. We were in the blind together on a slow afternoon when the drake came right in. I was up on that bird with the reflexes of a 25 year old, but forgot to load the gun (like a 61 year old). Click and click watching it fly off. The 25 year old mexican kid stood up and dropped it at 50 yards. He is a natural.

Three days later the kid and the local sheriff go out and the sheriff gets a banded snow goose. Bet he'll be patrolling extra this year. Like he says "we treat everyone equally when it comes to patrolling property....just some more equally." Both fish and game wardens and the local hi-way patrol guys are given free hunting.

Oh well, closing duck camp and migrating south to the beach for the balance of winter and spring. Better luck next year. I plan on living well over 100 years old and should be able to hunt till the end. There is no doubt I will shoot a banded bird one day. Just gotta remember to put shells in the gun.

Wow, I can't believe you've never shot one! My buddy David had hunted all his life, started younger than I did, and never killed one till he was over 30.

They do put money reward bands on ducks, Kaas killed one up in Quebec that was $100 bucks a couple seasons back.

The goose neck band always eluded me, I had one try to land in the decoys once when I was out of the pit with no gun. Now they don't put them on much anymore, so I'll probably never kill one.


Destry

Destry;

Two rules when waterfowling......
1. If you are having a slow day and nothing is happening the surest way to bring birds into the dekes is to either go out and rearrange the dekes or to start to pick them up.
2. The most important. NEVER get out of the pit or go retreive a bird without a gun in hand.:nono::rotf:

Hopefully, Destry, we both get the elusive trophies prior to the end of our hunting days. May that not come for a very long time!

...or peel your waders down to pee, guaranteed to bring in the birds.

When living on a farm in VA, I set up some decoys in a corn field for my wife, who rarely hunts by the way, and went back to the house. I heard her attempting to call some geese and looked over in time to see her make a double with her POS Remington 1187. One of those birds, which were her first geese had both a leg band and a neck band. We still have it.

I was guiding at the time and it was technically after shooting hours. But, that being said, if I'd have had gun in hand the bird would have fallen. I was so close to the goose I could see the band was green and was one of the very early riveted type so the bird had to be ancient. I can still just see it in my minds eye.....

Destry

Here is my $100 band, shot on a local pond. The picture doesn't show it but the drake was double banded both legs. The feds wanted both band numbers before paying up.

I'm guessing the money band was green or red or yellow?

D

The green band is $100, the gold band is $50 and the red band is $25. I was lucky enough to shoot a drake mallard with a green band in '07 on the Pymatuning (PA) WMA, it also was double banded.

Ah ok, I haven't seen enough of them to know that the colors mean different denominations. Nice work!

Destry