The band dance

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah, it was a good morning.

At first legal Thomas and I had ducks working the decoys. A pair came in and I dropped both. Thomas, who was in the middle of loading his gun when they dropped in our spread and didn't get a shot, tells me one of them is banded. I say no way you could tell in this light. Again he says "I think I saw a band when it was coming in." As I pick up the duck I look and see. That little stinker is right. He has never claimed a duck had a band before so I have to just shrug my shoulders and say the kid has good eyes. Here lately I've questioned him several times only to find out he was right and I was wrong. I need to stop it. I wish I had a picture but the camera didn't make it in my bag. At first Thomas was upset he didn't shoot it but he got over that quickly. I did tell him he's got a whole lifetime of seasons to get bands in front of him, while I have used a lot of mine up. That gave him hope.

That was the good part of the hunt. I'll just end here and not go into any details of my immediate need for a new shotgun :)

Eric
 
Eric,

Congrats on the band. Can only imagine how exciting that must have been.

I too find myself relying more on what my son sees. It sure helps haveing some backup!

Have a great season!

-Bill
 
Eric,
Very cool but it sounds to me that instead of a news shotgun, you might consider new glasses. ;) It's those younger eyes they have. Looks like you might be moving into the arena of "old coots" who can't see as well. I've "read about" that group. ;0
Later partner, congrats on the band. Too Cool!
Lou
 
It's a violation of Hitch law to not take your camera duck hunting, and it's a felony if you're hunting with your kid!!!

Very creative explanation on the "lifetime of hunts left" answer.

I'll bet he can piss a stream 4 or 5 times as far a distance as you too.

Cool story.

Hitch
 
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Eric it does help if you wear a pair of 7x50,s Ha.ha.
take care
Eddie.
 
Congrats on the band Eric. Yep next time you both are shooting, Thomas can claim to have seen a band on "his" bird and you won't be able to claim otherwise! hehe


I'll just end here and not go into any details of my immediate need for a new shotgun :)
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Ok, I smell a story here and I can't believe no one has yet pressured you for it. So consider yourself pressured and cough up the story. What did you do, back the truck over your present one?
 
Dave

Didn't back up over it or put it on the bottom of the river. The trigger assembly is not working properly. I broke it open in the field and found a spring danging from nowhere, a pin worn down or damaged, and another part failing to remain in position. I managed to work it all back and get the hammer working again. Tried to reassemble the gun and the trigger assembly pins that hold it in the action wouldn't go back. They've always been a PITA. Tried bumping the pin with a tree. Didn't work. Upped the force and the stock broke off. A flimsy hollow piece of metal is all that holds it on. Not anymore. As much as I love the feel of the gun I'm done with it. Not going to mess with it again. It broke two seasons ago and I had to drive 3 hours to a gunsmith that would work on it. Parts were expensive difficult to get. Got it back and it started messing up last season, same issue as above. I paid $500 and got 8 seasons from it. At $62.50 a season it was a good gun. Not going to throw any more time or money into it. So now I am back to using my trusty 870, an even better value. I will get a new gun at a later time. Bought a planer on Friday, trashed a gun on Sunday. Not good timing. Will wait for a value rather than rush into anything. I am warming up to the idea of a Benelli M1, a Citori, or even an original 870 Wingmaster.
 
You broke your gun in half? I bet Thomas had a good laugh over that. I hope you didn't slip on your language as I can just hear him telling his buddies at school "Then the F#@%&ing spring popped out so he wrapped the G** Da***ed thing around a tree"!
 
"Tried bumping the pin with a tree. Didn't work. Upped the force and the stock broke off."

__________________________________________________


Since it's not my gun, now thats a funny story!
I've got a Benelli NovaI will sell you cheap! :)
 
I hope you didn't slip on your language
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Slip? There was no slip. There was a 120 second non-stop machine gunning blasting assualt of almost every word in the book. Thomas and I have an agreement. What happens in the blind stays in the blind.

Eric
 
I'm still new here . . .
Is it faux pas to ask what kind of ducks and what kind of gun?!

Good stories all the way, Eric!

NR
 
Nick

Nope, not faux pas to ask about guns and ducks. However it is faux pas to tell stories like mine :) I'm still laughing over Harker's description of Thomas telling the story to his schoolmates.

The gun was a Franchi 612. I got it in 2000 and have always loved its light weight. For a lower priced semi-auto I had good service out of it until the plunger broke at the end of the 2006/07 season and it's been downhill since. As for ducks it was a typical North Alabama hunt with gadwall and a mallard or two.

Eric
 
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I'm still laughing over Harker's description of Thomas telling the story to his schoolmates.
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Harker's reply had me on the floor also. Just too easy to envision that in my mind.
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O.K., please excuse my ignorance and stupid question being isolated way up/over here in Nova Scotia.

Do I gather that shooting a banded duck is a big deal? Why?

I shot a young eider drake last fall with its feathers just starting to come in good. A typical looking or classic young drake. I called the number on the tag, gave them location, sex, etc .....

They sent me an info card telling me that I shot a female eider. I'll give the taggers the benefit of the doubt and presume that telling male vs. female in chicks is a tough call? Not that it has ever occurred to me to gaze at the ass of dead eiders ... especially after they have been scalded!
 
From my perspective, shooting a banded duck is like winning the lottery. It's just a really neat trinket that very rarely comes around. Plus you get to learn a little about where that particular duck came from, how old it may have been, and it allows the hunter to participate in the management and research of waterfowl.

Of course, there seems to be a growing number of killers (not hunters) far more interested in bands than hunting . . . "Did you shoot a band?" I hate hearing that on a video. Apparently a lanyard full of bands must compensate for "other deficincies".

do you get a lot of banded birds, Philip? I haven't gotten many - my last was a neck banded Ross' goose in March 2004 and I got a 13+ year old drake Canvasbck in the mid 90s. Sometimes it's hard to know who got the banded bird, so I've seen a few others in the bag - a honker, a goldeneye, etc. I even found the band of a pelican - sans pelican - laying on the beach where I hunted in High School.

NR
 
To tell you the truth Nick, I've never paid that much attention. I remember bands on sea ducks in the past but really not `how many' or when. I do specifically recall another band around 3 - 4 years ago. The quantity of ducks that I shoot personally isn't that high as with fixing up the old family house on the island, fish sheds, boat slip ways, wharfs, on and on,..... the time for fun has been some what limited.

The transvestite duck that I shot last year was a 2 year old duck banded along the south shore of Quebec.
 
Since I hardly ever shoot a banded duck, my philosiphy is that I shoot the smarter ducks.

You see a banded duck was dumb enough to get caught once (some times twice) and get a nice little tarsel band for his or her unfortunate capture. Then they are released into the wild to fly past my blind and get shot so that some lucky hunter can do a band dance--- for shooting a dumb duck. ;0)

A very good friend of mine sat in my blind the other day an shot 2 banded mallards, both in sequential #'s from new brunswick. He missed so many birds this year but those two, he hasn't stopped talking about. I congratulated him on shooting the two dumbest ducks on the pond.


BTW Eric, Congrats on the band.
 
Talking about a band dance,here's one for you. While hunting snow geese a couple of seasons ago,in Dover Delaware,I pulled off a 3 for 3 shot. It was fast and quick and hard to mark the spots ,but all three 3 snows fell into the phragmitis(like tall cane stuff).Well my trusty companion BUSTER my yellow lab saw the birds fall and off he went .Shortley he returned with #1, back in again he goes in and returns with #2,so I told him theres one more and sent him into the frag again.This time NO bird.After repeated tries ,nothing.After doing a little look see around i saw that the snow had cleard the tall frag and made it to open water and had time to swim way to far for BUSTER to see it beyond the tall frag. I decided 2 out of 3 snows was plenty for me and called it a day,but Noooo not BUSTER. As I walked off ,I noticed BUSTER was not at my side. After several calls to him out he comes with a dead snow that some one else had shot maybe 3 or5 days ago with green moss on it, so I took it from him and chucked it far ito the reeds.As we walked off together I noticed he slipped off again.Back he comes with the same snow goose and drops it at my feet.As I looked down My eyes almost poped out this time the goose layed belly-up revealing a nice leg band, I praised GOOD BOY BUSTER . thus the true story of how BUSTER got first leg band on his own, witch he still proudly wears on his collor for all to see. I love my lab and I'm proud to have him as one of the family. That day we fiested on a couple of BIG MACS at mickey d's Cas & Buster, proud members of this web.
 
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