Three banded greenheads and one glorious morning in Saskatchewan, Canada

I want to go to Vegas and play craps with Bob Welsh. Through a duck hunter’s eyes, he must be the luckiest guy in town. I am going to place bets right on top of whatever he bets on--and judging by his luck, I should walk away with a fist full of chips.

Bob Welsh, a Chicago native and avid waterfowler, killed three banded greenheads on one morning in Saskatchewan, Canada this October. What’s more, all three were banded as part of Dr. Osbourne’s banding program; two of which were banded this past February, at, you guessed it, White Oaks Duck Woods. I am no mathematician, but maybe there is one that will read this blog. Can somebody please run the stats on what the likelihood is of killing 3 banded greenheads on one day… over 1300 miles away from where the ducks were banded? It must be in the one-in-a-quadrillion type category! Two of the three banded birds were banded at White Oaks Duck Woods near Augusta, Arkansas in February of 2018 and the third was banded in south Arkansas in February of 2017.

Apparently, Mr. Welsh, and his hunting buddies found a massive roost holding tens of thousands of mallards the evening before his hunt. Like any wise waterfowler, they did not hunt the roost. They found a spot about a half a mile away that the ducks were using during the day. According to Mr. Welsh, it was a darn near perfect hunt. Mallards came in all morning, two and three at a time. One of the banded greenheads was killed first thing that morning, one, mid-morning, and the final duck recovered had the third band on his leg. I would have to agree with Mr. Welsh, this was a picture-perfect hunt. Now, I am just waiting on his invite to Vegas.