# reward bands and black duck!!!!



## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

a couple of things i saw this morning while banding ducks with 2 of my 3 kids (8 years old and 6 years old).

We were out at 6:30 this morning and were done banding and back to work/school by 10:00 am. It was a blast. My kids loved it, the game and fish employees were curtious and great to us. Thy banded somewhere around 450 ducks this morning and a couple of the highlights for me where the netted black duck(which i've never seen) and the 2 netted mallards that had reward bands for $50 each. Mainly the birds were hen mally's though with a few pinnies mixed in. I'd say 90% hen mallys, 9% drakes, .9% pinnies and 1 black duck. Those were the only species we saw.

The main highlight for me was watching my kids get excited about helping round up and tag the birds. My daughter loved the release. She'd wait till it got tagged, carry it down to the water, and set it in there like an egg. Then it would rip out of there and she would laugh. good times.

Anyway, if you ever get the chance to take some kids to do this i highly recommend it.


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

So somewhere in North Dakota there is a banded black duck?!?!? All I have to say is DIBS!!!


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## slough (Oct 12, 2003)

I went duck banding about 5 years ago at Agassiz NWR in NW Minnesota and we banded several black ducks I remember. So they're definitely out there...can't say I've ever seen one while hunting, not sure I'd be able to recognize one on the wing and not just pass on it thinking it's a hen mallard.


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## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

I shot a black duck two seasons ago here in northeast SD. I had also shot two hutchie (lesser honkers). The black was almost the same size as the two geese. It looked like every brown feather was outlined with a black marker. 
Very neat bird. I'm too cheap..i ate it.


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

> I'd say 90% hen mallys, 9% drakes, .9% pinnies and 1 black duck.


 :-? Do you think you mistaked a bunch of drakes for hens due to the eclipse plumage stage they're currently in? I really hope you did anyway. 

That's awesome your kids are getting to do experience something special like that. :beer:


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

bandman said:


> > I'd say 90% hen mallys, 9% drakes, .9% pinnies and 1 black duck.
> 
> 
> :-? Do you think you mistaked a bunch of drakes for hens due to the eclipse plumage stage they're currently in? I really hope you did anyway.
> ...


negative. they were hens. I talked to some of the game/fish guys and gals about it and they said they hadn't seen the species sway this far one way in a while. But they did say they had been getting more drakes in other netting areas. I don't know if it means there are a pile more suzies than drakes overall though, i'm not the biologist.

j


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## universitywaterfowler (Jul 15, 2007)

God thats going to be rough on a blind man like me.
They called me the Hen Slayer back home because I always managed to kill the hen. Not on purpose, I just need glasses and refuse to wear them.
Once took the only hen out of a flock of 6 mallards, almost hung the gun up that day.
Seems I am not affecting things to much though, should be a great hatch next year.


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## mallardrocker (Nov 29, 2006)

what do u think whas going to happen if you shoot one species all the time?


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## schlag (Jan 25, 2006)

Never shot a Blackduck in ND, but did see one. It was in with Mallards. Could see it plain as day about 100 yds up on a clear day. Really looked cool and out of place.


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## james.hunter (Sep 5, 2007)

there is allot of black duck around the Grand forks area in october, i shot four of them last year. They are very good looking duck, and they taste great. no bands though. :beer:


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

I would venture to say that if youve hunted in ND long enough youve probably passed on a black. I see at least one every year. Only shot one though. Mostly I realize it after im empty :-? . If youre not looking for them, they can blend into a big flock of mallards pretty well.


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

I'm putting some photo's from this year on here today....Here are some of the photo's from our duck banding experience....including the black duck.....and the reward banded drake mallard.....


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Awesome pics man!

Thanks for sharing!

I tell you what.. if anyone wants to get more kids hooked on hunting, take them on a field trip where they get to band and release the birds back into the wild. THAT will get them hooked forever!



Ryan


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Great pictures. Thanks :beer: 
Dan


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

GREAT PICTURES!! Great to see others getting their kids out there especially the girls! Great job!!! :beer:


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## saza (Apr 4, 2007)

ok this might sound kind of wierd but how do you band the ducks i was just asking my boyfriend whose been hunting since he was 12 and he said he didnt even know. i know how you band them but how do you catch them? wierd i know but itd be nice to know! =) thanks


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## Booster (Sep 8, 2003)

shoot them right under the wing and perform CPR on them until they come too then you band them......simple right?

no really you put out a huge net with a bunch of seed in the middle and when a lot of ducks enter the net you set off the net and it captures most of them....that is how I have seen it done anyway.


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