Black Powder Geese

[Bowhunter57]

I've been waterfowling seriously for 13 years now and I don't have a single band to show for it. My buddies hunting all around me have plenty of bands here and there, but none for me... I'm starting to think I'm cursed.

JBrown,
I hate to be the one to pass this along to you, but as I understand it, the state has stopped sending out the certificates for banded birds. It used to be that when you shot a bird with a band, you could get online and type in the band number, e-mail it and they would send you a certificate. It would state who banded the bird, where it was banded and its' age/sex/breed.

I have 3 of them for Canadian Geese that I've shot. :smiley_bril: A buddy of mine shot a mallard with a band on it and later found out that it had been banded 4 days earlier, in Wisconsin.

Keep after it and you'll get one!!! I would think that it would be easier to find a band on a goose than a duck, but I could be wrong. :smiley_chinrub:

Bowhunter57

 

[Bowhunter57]

Sounds like work!!!

It is, but very rewarding when you get something. I used to have an original 12 gauge SxS with damascus barrels. You'd spend 10 minutes loading it and 2 seconds shooting it. :smiley_depressive: After about 3 or 4 reloads, your hands are filthy dirty, like you'd been playing with a brick of coal. I took it to a sporting clays and shot the 5 stand with it...the guy that was running the clay bird thrower said he could take a nap between the times it took me to reload the thing. :smiley_crocodile:

As I recall, the lead was nuts for shooting rabbits because a BP load would only be about 800 f.p.s. Even so, it was fun. BP shotguns absolutely shake the ground with a deep thump, like a cannon. They definately turn some heads when they go off. :smiley_blink:

I gave some serious thought to purchasing a 10 ga. SxS, for goose hunting, but got talked out of it. However, that was back when waterfowl hunting had just changed over to non-toxic shot and it was tough to get any birds with a modern shotgun...let alone BP. I would think that using a bag of Hevi-Shot would make a huge difference. Not to mention, there is an outrageous selection of choke tubes available, these days.

Bowhunter57

 

[Ohiosam]

I hosted a clay pigeon shoot one time an a friend brought his 16 guage English SxS ML. It was a hoot, I think everyone broke at least on bird with it.