Old Duck

[hntndux]

My buddy got the info from a mallard he shot at our club on the 17th and found out it was 12yrs old! That old boy has a few decoy spreads in his time... My oldest was an 8yr old mallard I took at Joice Island.

What's the oldest bird you have taken or know of?

[MQ]

A buddy has an 11 year old sprig (when shot) that was banded in Alberta hanging on his wall...

[buckhunter]

I shot a banded mallard two years ago it was 13 yrs lod the band was very thin

[benelliblaster]

A couple of years ago I shot a banded blue goose in Missouri. When the band info came in the mail, it said that my blue goose was 16 years old!! Now thats a very old, wise bird, well.....not too wise because I dropped him when he was funneling into our spread with about 100 of his buddies. Maybe geese start to lose some sense in their old age just like us humans. I knew that he was an old one, because I pulled the band off his leg with my own two hands! It was so thin and worn out I couldn't believe it had stayed on that long.

[KID CREOLE]

My first banded duck was a mallard I shot at Kern, the ban was 9 yrs old and the bird was mature when banded, the duck was one of the smallest mallards I've ever shot!

[mouthcallinmatt1]

I've only been lucky enough to get 1 band in my 23 years hunting waterfowl. It was a 1st year honker. My grandpa shot a snow last year that was banded 16 years prior but it didn't say that it was a 1st year bird at that time so it could have been older. I know of one guy that shot a banded snow at Wister that was, if I recall correctly, 21 or 22 years old. I know it was one of the two. No wonder those snows stay high most of the time. I hunted yesterday and watch juvys tried and peel out of formation to come take a look only to be drawn back by the older and wiser adults.

[YORT40]

My banded duck info. was not very interesting,

I shot a banded greenhead @ the beginning of Dec. I e-mailed the band # in, hoping to hear that the bird had came from Alberta or somewhere from abroad. The info. was mailed to me stating that the duck was a gaddie banded in 2001 too young to fly, from Lee Vining. (20 miles away). The real resident duck.

[THBailey]

I got a widgeon several years ago that had worn its band for 11 years, and I got a honker tht had its band for 6 years and "was mature when banded" according to the report card from NWS.