How can they be this clueless???

[Kaiser878]

The day after christmas I shot a banded ringer. I got on the internet and reported it and when you report them on the net they tell you where they were banded. Well after completing all the paper work I submitted it. 2 days later I get an email saying there has been a discrepency and the paper work couldnt be processed. At the bottom it gave a USGS employee name and her number! I call the number today to see what this "discrepency" was all about. I was informed by an employee at the USGS that their records show that Ringneck ducks shouldnt be in ohio yet.:confused: So I think to myself, these are the same people who are donig studies and are regulating our seasons based on their studies!!!! I informed the lady that we have been killing Ringneck ducks since november, and its been this way for several years! How can the USGS be this clueless about ducks and their migrations????? After I talked with the lady the conversation must have taken care of the discrepency and she said it would be processed tonight!

[MuskyHunter]

Even if it were a King Eider, because she says it shouldn't be in Ohio doesn't me it's not in Ohio.

These are the same people who counted the canvasbacks.

[twells]

I too have had issues when reporting bands. Last January, I shot a banded drake mallard in the flooded timber down in stutgart, AR. I reported the band over the phone, and waited and waited. I never received a cert.?? Then in Oct of this year, 2008 I receive a letter phone the Dept of the Interior with a little envelope and a letter asking me to mail the band in to them because their records show that the reported band number should be on a drake goldeneye. I call the lady up and politely tell her that I will not be sending in the band and I re-verify the numbers with her. She asks that I send the band in so they can see it with their own eyes (yeah, ok..) I am still "waiting" to get around to that one. So I shoot another banded duck in Nov, and this time I am hesitent to report it because I don't want to be HARRASSED again by these people. I report the band and sure as heck, 5 days later here is another letter about the previous band that i called in during the 2007-2008 hunting season and another little envelope with a letter asking me to send the band in.. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

I am torn, because I feel that as a hunter it is my duty to help with the data by reporting bands, but I am going to have a hard time calling in my next band after all of this run around!

[Mark Brendemuehl]

Try reporting it via the internet. Maybe that will go better. Understand that it is obviously a clerical error on their end, but, they don't know that.
If it makes you feel any better, years ago back when you could actually shoot bluebills, had a warden come down and ask why on earth we were shooting Ruddy ducks??? Not knowing what he meant, we said it must have been a different group on the lake he had seen, but, they are legal so who cares? He then pointed to the end of the boat and said "Right there." He was pointing to hen bluebills. After suggesting he grab a LeMaster guide and rethink it, he conceded he was wrong.

On a similiar subject, anyone know what happens if you shoot a hybrid? Like a mallard/pintail cross.... pintails are split season here. What does that count against on your limit? Anyone?
Mark

[Corey Sorensen]

I believe a Hybrid is counted as whatever you choose it to be whether it is a pintail or mallard (in the case of a Mallard/Pintail hybrid).......I have also heard guys say they go by what characteristic the bird show more of, but I have never seen this happen with my own eyes so I don't know if that's true........We have shot a couple black/Mallard hybrids and if we have our 4 mallards (limit in michigan) then we count it as a black, if we have our 1 black (limit) then we count it as a mallard......

[Yooper350]

Cut them some slack guys. When as many numbers are entered as what the USGS enters for bird banding there are bound to be a couple mistakes, all it takes is bumping one key and it throws things off big time. There are just trying to confirm any mistakes they made and right things,no different than anyone else who's ever entered a wrong digit when inputting data.

[Jeff Gudenkauf]

The people that are doing the studies, counts and banding are not the same people that are answering phones and sending band data out to hunters.

You're most likely speaking to part-time help, temps or interns that are doing nothing more than punching data into a computer. My guess would be a good number of them wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between a duck or goose in flight.

I will say they are definitely slower this year than in past. I've reported 6 bands this year and have yet to received a single certificate. I'm not sure if it was because of the late banding done this year, an increase in the amount of banding done now days, the switch over to the computer system or some other issue, but they seem to be much slower and having much more difficulty locating the correct band info.

Cut 'em some slack - it's not the end of the world.