Waterfowl Hunters Urged to Report Banded Birds
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Waterfowl hunters are encouraged to use a toll-free number – 1-800-327-BAND – to report banded ducks, geese and doves they harvest. Callers will be requested to provide information on where, when and what species of waterfowl were taken, in addition to the band number. This information is crucial to the successful management of waterfowl.
John Dunn, Game Commission Game Bird Section supervisor, also stressed that reporting leg-bands helps the Game Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service learn more about waterfowl movements, and survival and harvest rates that are critical to population management and setting of hunting regulations. Each year, nearly 380,000 ducks and geese and 30,000 mourning doves are banded across the United States and Canada.
“Information provided by hunters is essential in our efforts to properly manage this resource,” Dunn said. “By reporting the recovery of a leg-band, hunters not only assist in managing the resource, but also have an opportunity to learn interesting facts about the bird they harvested.”
Dunn noted that the toll-free reporting program is beginning to pay big dividends. Under the old reporting system, less than one-third of the recovered banded birds were reported by hunters. Now, with the new toll-free system in place, band reporting rates are estimated to have stabilized at 60 to 70 percent. This increase allows more information to be obtained from the program and can reduce costs associated with banding waterfowl.
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