Transmitter and Banded Mottled Duck

Delta Duckman

Button Buck
Our first split down here in SE Louisiana has been way off our regular pace. Despite the slow action most of us in the duck club keep going out in the marsh duck hunting as often as we can with the hopes things will turn around and we might have a hunt that gets the blood going.

I have been duck hunting 42 years. Saturday the duck Gods smiled on me with the shooting of a Mottled duck with a transmitter on its back and a band on the leg, a first for me.

We were sitting there rather bored and about 8:30, we see a pair of Mottled ducks pass a good distance to the left side. Hit the duck call which is usually a waste of time they both come towards us one in range, I had the Benelli ready for the shot and knocked it down. Me and my buddy cranked up the boat to go get it and we were shocked at what we saw. Cha Ching!!!

There is a phone number to call on the band and a phone number to call on the transmitter.Me - Mottled.jpgPic 2.JPG
 

TH7

Eight Pointer
Very cool. What all does the transmitter track? Looking forward to hearing more on where the duck has come from and been.
 

dobber

Old Mossy Horns
Our local duck club put one of them (similar) on a teal and tracked it, that little bugger went as far north as Labrador and as south as Argentina over the year, amazing how far they go
 

Cootmeurer

Six Pointer
About fifteen years ago a buddy shot a Canada with a tracking collar. Just like yours, awesome trophy of a lifetime.

And, just like you, he got a dummy collar for his trophy with return of the real one.

I have heard they are using even smaller trackers for fish now. Basically those chips that you have on a credit card - implanted into a fish and then they put readers out near the mouths of rivers and other places they may congregate. Seems to work because the chip never needs power - only the reader - and these are getting stronger and able to read chips at greater distance. I would think that might work eventually for waterfowl too, if they can identify choke points or major congregating areas.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
even smaller trackers


there are trackers about as small as you want to get,,,,the folks at ATS make some cool ones,,,they used to do dog tracking gear as well,,,I still have my old ATS system,,,,been researching a "tracker" for that dang tortoise

the loggers are bigger,,,but just transmitters get down right tiny
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
About fifteen years ago a buddy shot a Canada with a tracking collar. Just like yours, awesome trophy of a lifetime.

And, just like you, he got a dummy collar for his trophy with return of the real one.

I have heard they are using even smaller trackers for fish now. Basically those chips that you have on a credit card - implanted into a fish and then they put readers out near the mouths of rivers and other places they may congregate. Seems to work because the chip never needs power - only the reader - and these are getting stronger and able to read chips at greater distance. I would think that might work eventually for waterfowl too, if they can identify choke points or major congregating areas.

Great bird!

Yes, those are called PIT tags, very small pill shaped tags you insert with a needle or its very likely an acoustic tag which has a little more range and can be used in saltwater. Pretty neat system but not nearly as call as following the GPS track of an animal!
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
Great bird!

Yes, those are called PIT tags, very small pill shaped tags you insert with a needle or its very likely an acoustic tag which has a little more range and can be used in saltwater. Pretty neat system but not nearly as call as following the GPS track of an animal!

I’ve put hundreds of PIT (passive integrated transponder) in sturgeon. And also put a few acoustic tags in’em as well. Short version, anything with a PIT tag basically needs to be handled or extremely close in order to scan. PIT tags in wildlife/fish are geared more towards recapture data for population estimates whereas acoustic tags are more for travel/migration data. But even with acoustic tags, they still have to swim/walk within range of wherever the receiver is placed. Not sure about terrestrial stuff but on our acoustic receivers, the range was about 250 yards.
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
I was waiting for your response! I,ve put a lot of PITs in snakes and a fair amount of fish, mostly just for mark recapture studies. The work they do with fish where they have them swim though the gates is fascinating to me.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
I was waiting for your response! I,ve put a lot of PITs in snakes and a fair amount of fish, mostly just for mark recapture studies. The work they do with fish where they have them swim though the gates is fascinating to me.

We put about 20 acoustic receivers from the start of the TN all the way down below Chattanooga. Even mounted one to the side of a tug/push boat that moves barges up and down the river. It’s all fun and games till your on the water with a storm coming up and all you gotta do is down load the data from the last receiver and it pops up with 75,000 “pings” to download. ?????
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
Awesome stuff on that Kill. and , he may have picked up that miller bottle on the bank ridding the waterway of trash. never assume the worst.
 

Delta Duckman

Button Buck
I have posted that picture on a few hunting websites and 1/4 of the comments are about the beer bottle. Hmmm

So I must tell a true story. About 5 years ago me and my buddy are duck hunting on the same lease and two Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents drive up in a boat to the blind. Like the transmitter, only time this has happened in my life. One of them gets out of the boat and comes in the blind with us. We have a shelf in the blind for holding our boxes of shells and other stuff. It was a warm morning and our favorite beverage is going down good and there six empty bottles in plain view on the shelf. Game warden goes through our shell buckets to make sure no lead, of course we are good then he checks the licenses and stamps. Good on that too. He says "good luck gentlemen" and they drove off.

It's south Louisiana....
 

Wanchese

Twelve Pointer
A lot of people drink in the blind. As far as I know it's not illegal as long as your not on Gamelands or Wildlife Refuge. I don't hunt with them, they don't hunt with me. Not my problem, so I tend to mind my own business.
 

Cootmeurer

Six Pointer
I’ve put hundreds of PIT (passive integrated transponder) in sturgeon. And also put a few acoustic tags in’em as well. Short version, anything with a PIT tag basically needs to be handled or extremely close in order to scan. PIT tags in wildlife/fish are geared more towards recapture data for population estimates whereas acoustic tags are more for travel/migration data. But even with acoustic tags, they still have to swim/walk within range of wherever the receiver is placed. Not sure about terrestrial stuff but on our acoustic receivers, the range was about 250 yards.

Yes, the acoustic tags were what I was thinking of. I had listened to a podcast where they were using them to track atlantic salmon in Scotland and Norway. The podcaster mentioned that they might also have some value for waterfowl around certain areas of mass congregation, because the acoustics work so much better with water (thinking leg bands/inserts). As I understand them, they are not useful for land/air applications.
 

JD1107

Guest
Go back north.

Awesome job man, congrats.
What the heck does being from the north have to do with his comment?? If he doesn’t approve of beer in his blind so be it, but again what in the heck does that have to do with being from the north? Ever been?? Because I know a heck of a lot of folks that enjoy a cold beer in their duck blinds up north just like y’all southern folks... I just wonder when some will move past the north/south thing. Lived there for 21 years before moving south and can’t remember one conversation starting with “them damn confederates”.. I stopped counting how many times I’ve heard damn Yankees in the last 10 years..
 

JD1107

Guest
Congrats on the band and hunt! Thanks again for sharing I enjoy your videos!
 

JD1107

Guest
Yep and that reason is that the south lost and even after alllll these years ya still can’t get over it.. moving on not trying to clog up the duckmans thread. congrats again on the trophy!
 

Gus

Six Pointer
Yep and that reason is that the south lost and even after alllll these years ya still can’t get over it.. moving on not trying to clog up the duckmans thread. congrats again on the trophy!

Yeah that's it.
Couldn't have anything to do wit " I hated living up North so I moved South and now I'm doin my level best to make it suck as much as where I left".
 
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