It's not so much how long you have been hunting, but WHERE you hunt. I have been hunting for 23 years, and I have 6 bands. I shot my first band about 10 years ago...then two weekends ago I shot 5 bands in two days. They obviously did some banding around where I hunt and I laid into them (I shot three geese from one group...all banded. Obviously a family). But in the last two weeks...nothing. So I consider myself in the right place at the right time, and lucky enough to pull out a threesome when it counted. Still, I wear my bands with pride and remember each fondly everytime I put my lanyard on.