# OLD BIRD



## inletboy9 (Jun 20, 2007)

Hello and a happy new years to all. I went out for a little afternoon woodie hunt, an to a great suprise got my first banded wood duck. An I know alot of you have had luck on many bands and this is my question to all that has. When I called the info in this bird turned out to be banded thirteen years ago. Has anyone killed a bird of this age. Just imagine the things this bird has seen and the miles it put on his wings.
For those asking. It was a wood duck drake banded in SD and killed in SC. Imagine that south to south


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

That seems like a very common flight path for woodies. My dad shot a woodie in western MN that was banded two years earlier in SC. Almost any banded wood duck I've heard of being taken in the MN, ND, SD area was banded in one of the Carolinas.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Does the amount of black on a hen mallard's bill depict anything of its age? I shoot a hen this year and alomst its whole bill was black.


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## ndwaterfowler (May 22, 2005)

Congrats on the band! I'm not sure how old Woodies get but that seems pretty old to me for a duck.

Chris


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

diver_sniper said:


> That seems like a very common flight path for woodies. My dad shot a woodie in western MN that was banded two years earlier in SC. Almost any banded wood duck I've heard of being taken in the MN, ND, SD area was banded in one of the Carolinas.


I've helped band Wood ducks in Northern MN twice the last two summers. One of my buddies shot a banded drake mallard in North Dakota that was 13 as well.


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## brianok (Jan 5, 2008)

I shot a Blue goose last spring in ND that was banded over 14 years ago. I'd say that's a mature eagle head.


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

That is incredible, who would think they could live so long. I wonder how many decoy spreads those birds have seen? A 14 yo snow goose is a real trophy. :beer:


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

I don't know if it's accurate or not, but i have been told by a very seasoned snow goose hunter (he spends about 60 days in the field every fall and everything he can in the spring) that the average age of a snow goose making the migration is 13 years old. Maybe he's full of bs, but that's what he told me he has read in various articles.


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

I shot a blue goose last year that was at least 13 years old when shot, and it was by far the most average looking goose we got last spring. We shot a lot that were bigger, but I don't know if size has anything to do with age when it comes to S&B's. I know that 1 and 2 year old birds are lanky and boney, but I'm not sure how much of size has to do with habitat conditions throughout the migration. That goose was banded in Kentucky so maybe the food isn't that great in the eastern part of the migration.


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## blja0601 (Aug 9, 2007)

congrats on the band thats sweet, i read in outdoor life mag that the oldest bird on record was a drake mallard that was over 24 years old.


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## Horker23 (Mar 2, 2006)

they got records of banded snows that lived longer than that. I seen records of local canadas that live to be 20!


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## chris lillehoff (Jan 9, 2006)

goosebusters said:


> I shot a blue goose last year that was at least 13 years old when shot, and it was by far the most average looking goose we got last spring.


mertz all your birds are average lol


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## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

I just talked to a guy in town here who shot a honker this year that was banded in '91 and banded not far from where it was shot here in northeast SD.


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## Horker23 (Mar 2, 2006)

yea i shot a lesser this year that was banned in 2001 or earlier from Nunavut.


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## gunnertim (Jul 1, 2007)

inletboy9 said:


> When I called the info in this bird turned out to be banded thirteen years ago. Has anyone killed a bird of this age. quote]
> 
> I got a bluebill that is 20+ years old, check this out http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/homepage/long1290.htm
> 
> ...


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