RULEVILLE (AP) — A duck, who had been tagged eight years ago in Japan, was shot by a man hunting earlier this month in the Mississippi River Delta.

Conservation officials believe this is the first time a duck tagged in Japan has been shot in the state. The other Japanese-banded ducks killed in the United States were mostly on the West Coast.

Japan is about 6,700 miles away from north Mississippi.

On Jan. 3, Freddie Scott of LaGrange, Ga., was duck hunting near his lease in Ruleville when he shot the duck. Scott noticed the Japanese tag on the bird and contacted Jeffrey Lee, a wildlife biologist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pearl.

After further research it was confirmed the duck was banded near Niigata, Japan, on Feb. 16, 2000.

The pintail drake was banded by a member of the Japanese Bird Banding Association, on Hyoko Lake, near the northwestern coast of Japan.

To reach Mississippi, the bird likely flew over Alaska instead of going across the Pacific Ocean.

The bird was estimated to be at least 8 years old.