During the summer of 2009, THE D7 Crew again claimed title to the Coveted GOLDEN ROCKET award by banding more wood ducks than any other Wildlife Management crew in NC. THE D7 crew banded 327 wood ducks, 233 more ducks than the Andrews crew, who was this year's runner-up. All other crews across the state combined to band 421 wood ducks over the summer. The "preseason" wood duck banding effort proved difficult for all crews as repeated flooding occurred in areas that had seen low water levels for the last few years. Several of our best duck trapping sites were simply gone, washed away or flooded throughout the trapping season. We were able to adapt by seeking out new sites and employing our new productive trapping technique of "drop netting". The drop net can be employed where there is not enough space for the traditional rocket net, and can be left in place and employed as soon as high waters recede at a flood prone site. Here are some examples of sites where we caught and banded ducks using drop nets.
Above is a "lean-to" drop net made from river cane poles.
Above is a small "hoop" net suspended from a cable, and the two pictures below are of larger hoops suspended from overhanging trees.
Above is a hoop suspended from a wooden bipod over a particularly challenging site to trap, and below is another very small hoop suspended from a tree.
Our goal for next year is to reduce our time invested in wood duck banding by 1/2 and still retain this MAJOR award here in our trophy case.
Above is a "lean-to" drop net made from river cane poles.
Above is a small "hoop" net suspended from a cable, and the two pictures below are of larger hoops suspended from overhanging trees.
Above is a hoop suspended from a wooden bipod over a particularly challenging site to trap, and below is another very small hoop suspended from a tree.
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