A Limit and A Band
I am still pretty green when it comes to waterfowl hunting. However, there is one thing I know, the two goals of knocking birds out of the sky, is to get your legal limit for the day, and the other is to get a banded bird.
For goose hunters chasing Canada geese, that magic limit is 8 geese per person hunting that day. Reaching this limit is the ultimate show of prowess for a hunter. There is no other real way to show success beyond perhaps dabbling in a variety of birds also called mixed bag shooting. To accomplish this takes an intersection of preparation, shooting skills, and in my case, luck.
The bands are a tracking system, it’s a simple serialized metal band wrapped around the leg of a duck or goose. The simple explanation is that young waterfowl are caught and banded. At that time, the location, species, sex, and approximate age are recorded. A lot of birds are banded each year, but they represent only a small portion of the waterfowl population. If an individual is fortunate enough to encounter one, most commonly by shooting it, but in some cases, if a clear enough photo can be taken to read the band (shoutout to my bird watching friends), the serial number is to be called in. You tell them where, when, and how you encountered it, and they tell you their information, which is already pretty fascinating to me. They also send you a certificate to thank you for your participation. To my knowledge, they use this information to understand life span and mortality rates among waterfowl. For duck and goose hunters, that little metal band is a very coveted possession. The bands are often clamped onto a hunter’s lanyard as both a power display and a lucky charm.
Well, with all that said, I managed to get double lucky this fall. It started like most waterfowl hunts, I asked my buddies to take me out. As luck would have it, my buddies Dylon and Tyler were free, Dylon’s father-in-law, Andrew, also came. We decided on an afternoon hunt because that was the only time we were all free. We grabbed the goose trailer and went. The goose trailer is the greatest luxury I am aware of, a trailer loaded with waterfowl gear at all times, just hook up and go, THAT is living. If I ever win the lotto I’m going to have a different trailer for everything I do. We got to our spot just as the rain started to come in. We considered shutting it down right then and there, but well, we were all there and it looked like it might all clear up. As we were putting out the last of the decoys birds were starting to come in and the rain started to slow.
We jumped into our blind and got organized. It took exactly one pass of birds for me to realize 2 things. 1. I was rusty, very rusty. 2. Andrew knew what he was doing, I watched him nail a double with a Remington 870 (shooting 2 birds in 1 pass with a pump-action). I hadn’t met him before that day and was unsure of his experience, he clearly had more than me. Anyone of any skill level would of course be welcome, but it’s nice to know I’m still the least experienced in the blind. As the evening progressed it became clear we were really onto something with this spot and this spread. The geese came in in waves. As time went on I shook off some of the rust. Eventually, the thought occurred to us that we may be getting close to our limit. Inbetween passes of birds we took a minute to count them up. For four people we were allowed 32 geese, we were sitting in the mid-20s. We decided to start keeping closer track. As luck would have it, we managed to hit our limit. Sadly, as we packed our decoys and gathered up our empty shotgun shells off the ground, birds were still flying over and having a look at us.
We got back to the shop and the reality hit us, cleaning that many birds was going to be a real chore… Well, nothing to it but to do it. We all set to work on cleaning. As we were working we were chatting and I was asking a bit about bands and how rare they were. Dylon had explained that he worked briefly for an outfitter, a professional taking paid clients out nearly every day would see about 2 bands a year. Almost at the same moment, I noticed something flash from across the table, the bird Andrew was cleaning had a band on it and no one had noticed. I gave an immediate “hey look look LOOK!” there was silence, then a lot of celebration. It was the first band any of us had gotten, and everyone else there had nearly a decade under their belt. Dylon looked like he might do a flip he was so excited. We immediately checked all the other birds just in case. From there we went online and turned in our information on the band. When it asked for the hunter, we had no idea who had downed the birds (statistically it wasn’t me). So we opted to put “Primula Outfitters” it’s sort of a joke among our group. The area we hunt used to be called Primula, according to the old farmers in the area. There’s also a bit of animosity toward outfitters so it’s kind of a joke against them. Local outfitters get paid thousands for a hunt, my buddies get the occasional case of beer as payment. Although the standard is to clamp the band onto your lanyard we didn’t know who it belonged to so we just decided to put the band, still on the goose’s foot, on a plaque and hang it on the wall of Brad’s shop. He didn’t come with us on this hunt, but he often does come with us, we hunt on his family’s land and use his shop every time. There you have it, I was able to get double lucky on my first hunt of the season and hit two big waterfowl milestones in a single outing.
We were informed that it had been banded near Edmonton in 2017, it was a male, and at the time of banding it was too young to fly.
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