I'm curious about the bandings. I've never gotten too involved in duck hunting, so I'm interested to learn about the bands. Who bands the birds? Is there someone you send or report the band to when you bag one of the banded birds?
The birds are banded up North by several different people as part of the North American Bird Banding Program. Basically, when you kill a bird that is banded, you call 1-800-327-BAND and they give you a questionnaire consisting of bird species, sex, location found, status of bird when found (in case you just happen to find them :/). You give them the #s that's on the band, and they trace it back to where it was banded, when, and by whom. Once they attain all of this information they send you a certificate telling you all of the above information.
Basically, what the whole program is for is to monitor populations, setting hunting regulations, restoring endangered species, studying effects of environmental contaminants, and addressing such issues as Lyme Disease, bird hazards at airports, and crop depredations (Yes, all of this stuff came off of the certificate I'm looking at lol).
It's a pretty neat deal. Sometimes you get lucky enough and kill a duck that has a reward band on it, which is an extra band on the other leg that is usually work some cash.
