Have people been shooting alot of banded geese this early season?

[stcloudgooseslayer]

Man...this year has been awesome with all the banded geese we have been shooting in central minnesota....whatever happened to banded geese being trophies-few and far between. years past we were getting on average 1 band out of 20 geese, now it seems like 1 out of 4 or 5...unbelievable. Called in a couple of bands yesterday and they said one of the birds I shot, was banded on a recreational lake in mora...didn't know the DNR banded geese on recreational lakes, only thought they banded on refuges. Have the numbers been good for everyone or should I go out and buy a powerball ticket tonight!!!!!

[shae1986]

If it was me i would go get a powerball ticket. Starting September last year to today we have killed around 105 honkers and we havent seen a band. The last band i got was 2 years ago on some late season birds. But it also might be where you shoot birds, there isn't any banding in the area we hunt but usually every year we kill one in the late season, but last year was the exception, hopefully not this year.

A. Shae

[IceHawk]

Our group of 4 have shot 10 banded honkers already this year. Most of the birds were family groups banded locally. Any Jewelry is a true bonus can't wait to possibly score on some more.

[stcloudgooseslayer]

Your definetly right icehawk...those are some pretty good numbers as well...hopefully I can get the old lanyard full of jewelry by the end of the season!!! Good luck

[FlyingV]

Yes. We have shot 27 geese so far and 5 of them have been banded. We are also hunting the central part of the state.

[fishin5]

I think what you're seeing is you are in an area that the DNR banded family groups...and they haven't left the area yet. We have had "slugs" of bands this year 2 or 3 at a time. and then nothing for a week.

But we did get 2 $100 reward bands!!!!

"Honey, I need some money. OK I"ll go huntin!!

[Flick]

Bands over on the ND side are virtually non existent. I know guys that have shot hundreds of geese to never even see a band. The only ones I do hear of being shot are from MN.

[HunterLee]

Couple guys i know that hunt around hitterdal got 4 bands out of one flock. Got my first goose band ever. Waiting for the results. Wished the bunch that i decoyed in woulda came in better, probly more bands in the bunch.

[Fish&Fowl]

2 bands so far this year out of 20-some odd geese. It had been a very long time since I'd seen jewelry before that. Waiting to get the results on where the birds were banded, hopefully when I get home this weekend it'll be there.

[Dahitman44]

Some guys from our group got 3-4 banded geese. They were hunting north of Hawley.

[nitroant]

The guild I have been hunting with has seen 5 leg bands for 78 geese and 1 neck band. This has been mostly west metro hunting. Have not heard back about where they were banded. I saw a post on a different thread about a group that got 10 bands out of 15 birds in one hunt, so there must be a fair amount of family banding going on.