# leg bands



## Hair Trigger Gun Dogs (May 5, 2007)

Do you guys heat up leg bands to make them easier to bend and put on a lanyards or do you just use a pliers?


----------



## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Pliers works fined.


----------



## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

I'm not quite sure what these leg bands are that you speak of.


----------



## Hair Trigger Gun Dogs (May 5, 2007)

Sniper, I hear ya... these guys with bands all up and down their lanyards must live by banding sites, which has been discussed before. I was pretty stoked to get the band. We pulled this bird out of a flock. My only thoughts were, "How many more birds out of that flock were banded?"


----------



## Bloodyblinddoors (Oct 25, 2006)

Bands are aluminum. Aluminum is a very weak metal. Use a flathead screw driver or a coin. Then just pinch it onto the lanyard with you fingers.

Bands are not as uncommon as they used to be though I'm still proud of mine. The only "rare" bands left in my opinion are duck bands still, Minor bands, and reward bands. Kneck collars are still very rare too in my kneck of the woods and I'd be proud to get one. We dont get any snows around here. I got a kneck collared Ross' in SD but I'd trade that for a collared canada in my area in a heart beat. One of my clients got a collared Honker about 5 years ago but thats the only one I've ever seen taken.


----------



## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

Cut the leg and the band will slip right off... No need to bend the band IMO.

Congrats on the band!


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Bloodyblinddoors said:


> Bands are not as uncommon as they used to be though I'm still proud of mine. The only "rare" bands left in my opinion are duck bands still, Minor bands, and reward bands.


Maybe in Sota :wink:

I know a lot of people who whack a lot of birds in nodak with few to no bands. I did talk to some guys in nodak a couple weeks ago from indiana near a banding site that said half the birds they shoot are banded. They dont even call the info in anymore because they are all fom the same spot <10 miles away.


----------



## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

DeltaBoy said:


> Cut the leg and the band will slip right off... No need to bend the band IMO.
> 
> Congrats on the band!


He's talking about putting it on his lanyard.


----------



## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

I've seen two neck collars that have been taken where I hunt. Each was taken off a Canada by two separate farmers about 4 miles apart from each other. Both of them looked at me just puzzled when my eyes lit up and I started to closely inspect them when they showed me. Both guys said they thought nothing of it. Just a piece of plastic hanging off their dinner, I'm surprised the even kept them. I don't think either was called in.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure a coin or a needle nose pliers will do the trick


----------



## Hair Trigger Gun Dogs (May 5, 2007)

Yeah, farmers are just wired differently. It's in their blood. They spend all year working off the land, seeing these animals all of the time. I get the feeling that farmers (my relatives anyway) think hunting is kind of silly. Like they think, "Why sit in the middle of the muddy field to chase those dumb birds?" I guess I can't blame them... if I look back at it... I can see why they think it's silly. But, gosh darn it... I'm too far gone to care...


----------



## mike. (Dec 14, 2006)

i got 3 miner bands a few weeks ago (that day i shot 4 with 3 bands and they were my 7th ducks ever shot since i just got into it last year) I do live near the sancutary though, about 5 minutes from my house but the place i was hunting was a town over. Its still lucky to get one. 2 of the ones i got were a pair which i shot with two shots. I found the first one since it landed in the water, i pick it up and its banded. Couldnt find the other since it landed in weeds but when i found it, it was also banded. Both were 07 bands, which i helped band earlier and the other band i shot out of a flock was really worn out but after reporting it, i found out it was an 04 band (100th year anniversary), i should have gotten one of the ducks mounted. Im already regreting it.


----------



## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

How do you get neck collars off? :lol:

Good luck witht the bands,
Dan


----------



## Bandcollector02 (Oct 4, 2005)

It does seem like there are a lot of banded geese around. I see them in the metro area of the twin cities all the time around lakes and one time even in an urban neigborhood (damn thing just standing there made me want to stop the car and chase it down) :lol: . 
A friend of mine claims every other goose at a local golf course he sees has a band and believes the birds are banded there. I can't vouch for it though (not much of a golfer). 
I got my first band in 2005 (off a Canada from Illinois), and a friend of mine has two (all three of these, his two and my one, were taken in the NW twin cities). 
It is insane though, you hear some of these old timers who have hunted for 35 years without ever getting a band.


----------



## Bandcollector02 (Oct 4, 2005)

Funny and sad story I just thought of. The Outdoor News, publishe in MN, has a section called "Cuffs and Collars". It's basically one full page of the paper that gives conservation officer reports from the previous week. One officer last year reported checking a group of three hunters during the early goose season. They had shot three geese one morning, all of which were banded. Upon further investigation, (I can't remember the exact details) the officer found at least one guy didn't have a licence, and I believe two were hunting without plugs in their guns. Funniest part of the story...... So the conservation officer proceeded to cite these clowns, and to top it off, confiscated all three banded birds :lol:. Talk about stupid :withstupid: (in regards to the hunters). Serves em right!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Bloodyblinddoors (Oct 25, 2006)

I remember many years ago when it was *extremely* rare to get a banded anything in MN. Now it seems banded honkers are not so rare.

05 stats:
We harvested 403 geese.
7 were banded.

06 stats:
305 geese harvested.
8 Banded.

This season:
232 harvested so far.
3 Banded.

These geese were either banded in IL, IA, MN, WI, MO, or Manitoba.
Oldest of them all was shot this year and was banded in 01. Was shot with it's mate wich was also banded on the same day one number appart.


----------



## Trapperjack (Feb 25, 2007)

USAlx50 said:


> Bloodyblinddoors said:
> 
> 
> > Bands are not as uncommon as they used to be though I'm still proud of mine. The only "rare" bands left in my opinion are duck bands still, Minor bands, and reward bands.
> ...


That is one of the biggest myths out there! Guys think that just because the bird was banded locally it doesn't give the biologists any good information. Those banded birds are just as important as one that is several years old banded 1,000 miles away. Most all the flyway information has been known for years but the bands now are used a lot for harvest information and by not reporting your local giant bands actually can hurt you in the long run if the Interiors that migrate through your state take a major dip in population. TURN IN ALL BANDS!!!


----------



## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

> TURN IN ALL BANDS!!!


Right on!


----------



## Bandcollector02 (Oct 4, 2005)

Who said anything about bands not being biologically important???????? :huh:


----------



## huntersmith44 (May 14, 2003)

I got my first band ever this weekend. It was a drake mallard, and I considered myself very lucky to get it. I have never shot a banded bird ever, and i have killed alot of birds in the past 5 or so seasons. The neat part was that I shot it in central North Dakota and it was banded in Maryland, that is along ways to travel if you ask me.


----------



## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

huntersmith...I don't know all the details. In fact, maybe you did call it in already. But, it probably says Laurel, MD on the band. That is not where it was banded, FYI. Call in the band and let us know where it came from. It's always a nice suprise to see a leg iron on a bird when you pick it up. Good job! Our group is still bandless in '07.


----------



## huntersmith44 (May 14, 2003)

Yea i did call it in and I am waiting on the information to come. I didn't realize that Laurel Maryland isn't actually the location it was banded in. I guess since it is my first band i just kinda assumed it was banded there. Thanks for settin me straight T Shot.


----------



## Bloodyblinddoors (Oct 25, 2006)

Central ND? My guess is it was banded in ND. I'm not spilling any more beans but let us know what you find out.


----------



## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

This is my 21st year of waterfowling and for the last 9 years i've hunted three days a week. Without being arrogant...I shoot my share of birds. More ducks than geese but a good number of both. But...I just shot my 4th band this year. That is it. It was banded two miles from where I shot it. Wow huh. 
I get pretty excited when i see one. My father on the other hand lives farther north and east and a little closer to a banding area. He shot 3 last year and one this year (goose) that was double banded including a $100 reward band. 
I guess you see those guys on tv that have tons of jewelry...its because they hunt close to a banding area-that's why??
I was also told because the birds in the southern states are a lot more concentrated. Not as much water/potholes etc so they have more banded birds bunched together???


----------



## Trapperjack (Feb 25, 2007)

Bandcollector02 said:


> Who said anything about bands not being biologically important???????? :huh:


_They dont even call the info in anymore because they are all fom the same spot <10 miles away._

Maybe I'm not good with English.


----------



## Gooseguy10 (Oct 10, 2006)

One of my students started hunting geese up here in north of Duluth (MN) this year. Him and his dad have shot two geese so far, both were from the same flock, both were banded. One of them was worth $100. He got the information back already.....both were banded in Winnepeg, one in 2004 the other in 1999.


----------



## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

I am from ND and rarely does anyone in my group shoot a banded bird and I have never harvested one. I have maybe been on one or two hunts where a banded bird had been shot and I hunt anywhere from 30-50 days a season. They are starting to put DU bands on some of the nuisance geese (make them more desireable to hunt), some buddies of mine last year on opening day shot 8 geese 7 were banded, and I told them about the field I was kicking myself for that one. Last year a buddy of mine shot a goose with a personalized band on it, this guy in NE owns a golf course and bands the geese with his phone number on it. My buddy called him and told the guy he was ****** he said "you shot my pet" he was yelling at my buddy, then broke out in laughter and told him he was just kidding. It was fun watching him squirm and try to tell him he lived two states north.


----------

