# Banding in Utah



## Jeff Bringhurst (May 20, 2009)

Last weekend I was able to harvest my first banded duck. I posted a photo of the COA on Facebook and an interesting thread followed that shed a lot of light on the banding program here in Utah. I thought it was informative so I am sharing it here.





Jeff Bringhurst February? Interesting time for banding.
10 hours ago · Like · 2

Dustin Gleed When do you band the ducks Richard?
10 hours ago via mobile · Like

Rob Rasmussen Good information. Thanks Rich. Does the DWR always trap them or do you have help from property owners?
9 hours ago · Like · 1

Richard O. Hansen Here is my attempt at answering your questions.......We band ducks both in the summer and in the winter. The ducks that are banded in the summer give us a lot better data because they only have to survive a couple of months before hunters harvest them and because they are typically locally produced, so we find out where "OUR" ducks migrate to. The downside is that we are so busy with habitat management that we don't have much time in the summer to put forth a large banding effort and a good night banding will only produce 100 banded ducks.
9 hours ago · Unlike · 4

Richard O. Hansen In the winter time the ducks are much easier to capture and are willing to go to bait. Last February we banded over 1,000 mallards with a moderate effort. The problem with winter banding is that a good majority of these birds are not "OUR" birds, they are migrating birds that are actually just wintering here. Also, the ducks banded in February have to survive all the way to next hunting season to be harvested so we can get data. We see some cool data on where they may have been from when we see band returns the next hunting season from Canada, Montana or Idaho, but the data is not as useful as data from summer banded ducks.
9 hours ago · Unlike · 4

Richard O. Hansen To answer Rob's question.........I do have some great volunteers and property owners that assist me. Waterfowl are federally protected and I have the banding permit, so I always have to be present when the birds are handled and banded.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

Congrats Jeff!


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## sarghunter (Sep 7, 2011)

Congratulations, the 1ST of many more...................


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## kev (Feb 7, 2008)

I can't be sure, but I'd bet that I was there the day that bird was banded. I have some pictures on my old computer, so I'd have to dig them up. If its the day I remember, we were banding in conjuction with a bird flu study that the FDA was doing. They were swabing all the birds to test for the Avian Influenza virus, as well as banding them. 
The birds were captured with a net gun, over bait, at a farm just outside of Tooele.
It was pretty cool to see. If I'm remebering right they banded a bunch of pintails and mallards, and even one GWT that day.
Very cool!

Later,
Kev


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## Fish2relax (Mar 3, 2011)

Congatulations on the band. I've never shot a banded duck in 40+ years of hunting. I've got a few goose bands and 1 collar which was pretty exciting. Still hoping for that elusive duck band though. Great post and very insightful. Thanks.


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## gander311 (Dec 23, 2008)

I'm pretty sure I was there that day for the banding of that bird also (same project Kev mentioned) Date seems right, and there was a lot of pintails in the net, so it's cool to see one locally harvested if that is the case.
Thanks for sharing.


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