There’ s still time for the Trump administration to take the Banding Lab off the chopping block, but should that cut come even close to becoming a reality, I suspect that elected officials will hear once again the unified voice of hunters and conservationists who are finding their voice at a time when it’ s needed. •
Statewide 888-505-0451
Local 701-258-0451
Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart, and it was a memorable one. Did I win? No. Top ten? Not even close. I didn’ t make it to the second round, but it was pretty cool to share a small, cramped trailer full of all the biggest names in competitive duck calling before it was my chance to blow on the stage set up on Stuttgart’ s Main Street.
What made the trip so special was getting to hunt with a gentleman who has since become a dear friend, Mark Smith. A buddy and I joined
Mark at his camp on Willow Lake, which sits just off the White River southeast of Stuttgart. We arrived at the camp in the dark, so when the first rays of sunlight hit the lake in the morning, I was taken aback by the sight of cypress trees and buckbrush. We shot a limit of mallards that morning, including one drake I ambushed from the left side of a large permanent blind known as“ The Ritz.”
My yellow Lab at the time, Deke, retrieved the drake, and the blind erupted in hoots and hollers when we
saw the band.
The mallard was banded 3 years earlier near Stettler, Alberta, in an area of grass and wetlands that’ s part of the Prairie Pothole Region. Since being banded, that drake had likely made the roughly 2,000 mile journey to Arkansas each fall before making the 2,000 mile return journey to Alberta in the spring. Imagine what that bird saw in those flights?
Band recoveries like mine are a perfect example of why the waterfowl banding program has proven to be one of the most important tools for waterfowl biologists and managers. The discovery of the different flyways, the ability to connect the dots between duck production in the Prairie Pothole Region and those ducks harvested in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and beyond, the ability for conservation organizations like Ducks Unlimited to target habitat efforts in those areas most beneficial to waterfowl. All of those things have been possible because of the banding program housed at the Bird Banding Laboratory.
There’ s still time for the Trump administration to take the Banding Lab off the chopping block, but should that cut come even close to becoming a reality, I suspect that elected officials will hear once again the unified voice of hunters and conservationists who are finding their voice at a time when it’ s needed. •
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Page 16, Dakota Country, September 2025 www. dakotacountrymagazine. com