pheasant band?

[DeerHunter]

A friend of mine shot a very young pheasant that had wire tie around one of it's legs. Does anyone know who did this banding and why? It didn't have any tag, just the zip tie. Young bird...Marshall County. My only guess is it's a farm raised bird that may have been released for a youth hunt. Thanks, Jay

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

Wow. Here's an old post that didn't get any responses.

Jay, your guess about the origins of the band is as good of one as I can come up with. Usually when state wildlife organizations band birds, they use bands with identification numbers, so this was probably some game farm's way of identifying its birds. Back in the early 1980s, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission experimented in raising pheasant for release at Willife Management Areas in the state. Those birds had small aluminum bands with ID number and a note to contact the Game and Parks if the band was found. I have three or four of those that I picked up over the years (one I found in the mud on a lake shore and the other were given by me by a guy who harvested some of the birds shortly after the banding experiment).

Interesting find for your buddy, though!

 

[JNRBRONC]

When I was training bird dogs I learned that if you wanted to use game birds for training purposes, you were supposed to band them to show that they were of domestic origin. I think the bands were a dime a piece (from the DNR?). I used pigeons doused in pheasant scent because they were free (net my own at night in the barn) and you didn't have to tag them. I would guess that the "hunting preserves" have to band the birds they release as well. It might have been one of those as well.

 

[kansasbowhunter]

You are right Bronc... I used to run Field Trials and all of the birds (ducks and pheasants not pigeons) had to be banded. We bought metal bands that were all sequentially numbered.

Mark...

 

[DeerHunter]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments.