Band Tales: Expect the Unexpected

The Hunt

Wingshooting practice makes us better shooters, and hunting the same locations allows us to refine our tactics. Still, one should always be prepared for the unexpected, as Chris Wilson was when he set out for a late season duck hunt.

“Where I hunt, it’s usually just a duck hunt,” said Wilson. Still, there is a small population of resident Canadas in his part of southeast Oklahoma. He and his hunting companions occasionally get the bonus goose including some bands, all of which were applied less than 20 miles from where they hunt.

This particular hunt was fairly routine, at least to start. “We were doing good, shooting mallards and wigeon from a low spot on the edge of a wheat field near the river,” Wilson recalled. “We’d been hearing some geese in the distance. I figured they were loafing in the river and we wouldn’t even see them. I didn’t even have any geese decoys out.”

As it so often happens, Wilson and his pal decided to call the hunt and were picking up decoys when they heard the geese get up. They jumped back in the blind just in time to see the birds come out of the river, flying straight toward the hunters. Wilson’s buddy had already put his gun in its case and was skeptical enough of the possibility that he failed to uncase it.

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Wilson, on the other hand, was better prepared. When a pair of birds sailed in he shot them both. Before his dog had returned with the first, Wilson saw the band. He sent his dog for the second bird and was admiring his prize when his buddy yelled, “Look, that bird’s banded too!”

Reporting the bands had become something of a routine as well, as were the expected results. However, Wilson was totally unprepared for the reply: both birds were banded in Churchill Manitoba. “I never expected them to have come from somewhere else, let alone Canada,” he said. He then looked online to track their journey. “These birds flew 1,700 miles, crossing flyways and ending up on the Red River in Oklahoma.” He then wondered if they had just gotten lost, or if perhaps there is a population for whom this journey is part of their routine.

The Bands

BAND#: 1158-51357

SPECIES: Canada Goose (F)

BANDED: 8/05/2015

Near Churchill, MB

RECOVERED:

1/07/2021 

1.4 mi SSW of Albany, OK

 

BAND#: 1188-65278

SPECIES: Canada Goose (M)

BANDED: 8/02/2019

Near Churchill, MB

RECOVERED:

1/07/2021 

1.4 mi SSW of Albany, OK

If you have a particularly interesting story or band recovery tale, CLICK HERE to fill us in on the whole story and we might use it as one of our next Band Tales.