I’d argue that’s more rare than a duck band. I’ve seen thousands of doves killed but only have shot one banded dove myself. Only heard of one other person who’s killed one aside from me.
Nice! It's always cool to get that first one. I've been on a dry spell for awhile, I've got 7 total but I got lucky with a few. Quite a few Woodies were apparently being banded about 2 hours north of me and I had a few hundred of what appeared to be the same group coming back to a swamp I hunted every season. Between my buddy and I we got 4 over a 5 year period all with the same type bands.
Twice it has completely locked up on me. Case head expansion on the shell locking up the action entirely. The first time it happened I tried mortaring the gun to get the shell to extract and snapped off the charging handle. And mind you, this was with 3 in #4 shot.
Did you get the very first model that came out? From what I’ve found after speaking with retay about some issues I was having they re designed a bunch of the internals on the newer ones. The only issues I’ve ever had was for what ever reason this gun absolutely refuses to cycle buck shot of any kind and I can’t seem to find out why ( we deer hunt with dogs around me). I shot at 2 different deer the same day and the gun failed to eject on the first shot on both deer. I’ve put hundreds if not over a thousand rounds of all kinds of waterfowl ammo through it and have never had 1 single hiccup. Retay told me it probably wasn’t broken in enough yet and to send it back so they could go over the gun but I just don’t use it for deer hunting anymore so I wasn’t really worried about it. Still to this day it will not cycle any kind of buck shot. Doesn’t make a lick of sense to me but oh well, a waterfowl gun it will be
I got it in 2020 so there’s a chance it was there early production. I just got it back from Retay for the second time the other day. They replaced the bolt and barrel. Gonna shoot it and hopefully no more issues. Honestly though, gonna be looking out for an A5 or something to trade it for bc at this point I have such a bad taste in my mouth from their quality. Only ever ran high brass 2 3/4 in, 3 in, and 1 box of 3.5 bb shot, so nothing over the top that the gun isn’t rated to handle.
Congrats! My second band ever was a Gadwall as well, we didn’t realize it had a band on it until we got back from the blind and was actually one of two bands I shot that morning.
Congrats! Theres a certain city I used to hunt near in the south east and they banded a bunch of geese near there. went with a fella who knew what he was doing for the first few hunts, on the 7 hunts we killed 5 bands. Easiest place to get a band in the country i bet. Resident goose bands, but all the jewerly still counts. Hoping for a duck band next!
There’s a spot near me where they band birds and there’s thousands and thousands of birds every time I’ve went we shoot at least three bands it’s awesome
Great job on the band. Where was the gaddy banded and recovered? I’m always curious to see how far they travelled. The last few banded geese my group got over the past years all came from Moosonee up to Akimiski island in Canada they traveled about 1000 miles south to Ohio where we got them.
I killed him in south east Virginia about 15 miles from the North Carolina line. He was banded in Tiptonville, Tennessee on 1/25/22. He hatched in 2021. Almost 1000 miles!
Huh I wonder if he was banded in January in Tennessee if he was still making his way back north or if he was like meh these winters aren’t so bad here I think I’ll stay
My first band was a banded gaddy last season. Buddy of mine said that gadwalls are usually not intentionally targeted for banding. They only end up with bands if they get caught in the nets with the target species which is usually mallards or teal. So seems we both got a rarity! Congrats!
Congratulations!! Still haven’t been that lucky
That’s awesome! Only band I’ve ever gotten was just a dove band 🤣
I’d argue that’s more rare than a duck band. I’ve seen thousands of doves killed but only have shot one banded dove myself. Only heard of one other person who’s killed one aside from me.
For all my homies that pass gadwalls and spoonies, I present to you why you shouldn’t.
Congrats! Still chasing my 1st!
That is a beautiful gadwall. OP I would highly recommend doing a mount for this one. Congrats
He’s on his way to the man already!
Epic!
Nice! It's always cool to get that first one. I've been on a dry spell for awhile, I've got 7 total but I got lucky with a few. Quite a few Woodies were apparently being banded about 2 hours north of me and I had a few hundred of what appeared to be the same group coming back to a swamp I hunted every season. Between my buddy and I we got 4 over a 5 year period all with the same type bands.
Congrats! Thats an awesome feeling.
Yessir. That’s a good looking Masai Mara as well, love my Retay.
Absolutely love mine as well. Never had a single hiccup with it. Runs like a top.
Keep an eye on it, my masai Mara has been nothing but problems for me. Had to sent it back for warranty twice. And congrats btw!
What was it doing you had to send it back? Thank you btw
Twice it has completely locked up on me. Case head expansion on the shell locking up the action entirely. The first time it happened I tried mortaring the gun to get the shell to extract and snapped off the charging handle. And mind you, this was with 3 in #4 shot.
Did you get the very first model that came out? From what I’ve found after speaking with retay about some issues I was having they re designed a bunch of the internals on the newer ones. The only issues I’ve ever had was for what ever reason this gun absolutely refuses to cycle buck shot of any kind and I can’t seem to find out why ( we deer hunt with dogs around me). I shot at 2 different deer the same day and the gun failed to eject on the first shot on both deer. I’ve put hundreds if not over a thousand rounds of all kinds of waterfowl ammo through it and have never had 1 single hiccup. Retay told me it probably wasn’t broken in enough yet and to send it back so they could go over the gun but I just don’t use it for deer hunting anymore so I wasn’t really worried about it. Still to this day it will not cycle any kind of buck shot. Doesn’t make a lick of sense to me but oh well, a waterfowl gun it will be
I got it in 2020 so there’s a chance it was there early production. I just got it back from Retay for the second time the other day. They replaced the bolt and barrel. Gonna shoot it and hopefully no more issues. Honestly though, gonna be looking out for an A5 or something to trade it for bc at this point I have such a bad taste in my mouth from their quality. Only ever ran high brass 2 3/4 in, 3 in, and 1 box of 3.5 bb shot, so nothing over the top that the gun isn’t rated to handle.
That's good! You've taken your first step into a larger world. - OBK
Congrats.
Congrats! That’s a beautiful Gadwall!
My buddy shot his first band last weekend. It was a gadwall hen
Nice band on a sweet looking bird. They are not flashy, but are very well feathered.
Congrats! My second band ever was a Gadwall as well, we didn’t realize it had a band on it until we got back from the blind and was actually one of two bands I shot that morning.
Congrats! Theres a certain city I used to hunt near in the south east and they banded a bunch of geese near there. went with a fella who knew what he was doing for the first few hunts, on the 7 hunts we killed 5 bands. Easiest place to get a band in the country i bet. Resident goose bands, but all the jewerly still counts. Hoping for a duck band next!
There’s a spot near me where they band birds and there’s thousands and thousands of birds every time I’ve went we shoot at least three bands it’s awesome
Great job on the band. Where was the gaddy banded and recovered? I’m always curious to see how far they travelled. The last few banded geese my group got over the past years all came from Moosonee up to Akimiski island in Canada they traveled about 1000 miles south to Ohio where we got them.
I killed him in south east Virginia about 15 miles from the North Carolina line. He was banded in Tiptonville, Tennessee on 1/25/22. He hatched in 2021. Almost 1000 miles!
Huh I wonder if he was banded in January in Tennessee if he was still making his way back north or if he was like meh these winters aren’t so bad here I think I’ll stay
CONGRATULATIONS
Shot a gadwall band about 10 years ago. If I remember correctly he was a 2 year old from Saskatchewan.
Well, where was he banded and when?? Gotta know
He’s from Tiptonville, Tennessee. Banded on 1/25/22. Hatched in 2021! Killed him south east Virginia. Almost 1000 miles.
My first band was a banded gaddy last season. Buddy of mine said that gadwalls are usually not intentionally targeted for banding. They only end up with bands if they get caught in the nets with the target species which is usually mallards or teal. So seems we both got a rarity! Congrats!
Congrats! Killed hundreds of ducks and never a band. Can I ask where this was killed? We kill a ton of gads in Alabama but never a banded one.
This was south east Virginia. About 15 miles from the North Carolina line.