I knew I liked taking them off.....

[MarketHunter]

But as it turns out, waterfowl bands are almost as much fun to put on. Thought I'd share a few pics from a recent goose banding project that Jim, Russ, and I got involved in at Point Mouillee State Game Area here in Michigan.



Starting the roundup......



This is just towards the end of the roundup when we had them cornered and were heading the flock towards the pen. The little ones are too young to fly yet, and the adults are changing out their primary feathers so they're flightless. Out of all these birds, only four got up and flew off.



Here's one of us all just as we closed up the pen. I went out with the pen building crew, we set this up on a mud flat they'd been baiting for several days. You'll see me there on your left wearing my ever present bib overalls and duckbill cap. That's Jim just to my left (your right) in the waders and white visor.



We had about 220 in the pen when it was all over. We released about 15 or so right away that were too little to band. There were 17 that had bands on them already, these numbers were recorded and the birds released. We ended up actually banding 209.



Here's one that any fowler worth his salt would love to see over the gunbarrels. Double banded, one federal, and one $100 reward. This was one of the ones we caught that had already been banded previously.



In this one we've started the banding process, I'm in the pen catching geese and handing them out. You can see Jim coming up along behind one of the other guys carrying a goose. He's the one with the white visor and his bald head poking out the top.



There's our friend Russ in the grey DU t-shirt working on the banding line. That's the head biologist (Joe) next to him. You've got to admire two guys who are willing to spend a whole day sticking their fingers up bird assholes.



Heyyyyyy check this out!!!! I don't know who those guys were but they sure are friendly, look at this new bracelet they gave me. And they all kept saying they hoped they'd see me again in the fall for some reason.......

Maybe more pics to add later, Russ is supposed to email me the ones his Dad took. Thanks to the guys off Michigan-Sportsman for posting these originally.