Wildlife board considers crane hunt
January 15, 2011

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission will consider this month whether to open a hunting season on the thousands of sandhill cranes in the state.



The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency proposed a draft of a hunt plan last year, which was approved by the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyway Council. The Tennessean reported that the commission will determine whether to continue with the plan following a two-day meeting next week.

A total of 60,000 are estimated in the eastern part of the country, according to Tim White, TWRA's game bird program coordinator, and about 11,000 were counted last week on the Hiwassee Refuge in East Tennessee. A similar proposal has been made in Kentucky.

Some bird watchers say the gray, red-capped birds that can stand 5 feet tall are more valuable to the state for viewing than hunting.
TWRA proposes issuing 733 permits allowing three cranes per hunter, with a season this December and January 2012. Hunting would also be allowed only in southeast Tennessee, centered on the Hiwassee Refuge, about 30 miles northeast of Chattanooga.

Cyndi Routledge, of Clarksville, grew up in a family of hunters who ate what they took and said while she supports TWRA, she doesn't support crane hunting.

"I don't think it sets a good precedent for the state of Tennessee," she said. "More folks are out there with their cameras and binoculars today than their shotguns."
But the executive director of Tennessee Wildlife Federation, which has been pushing for the hunting, said it's a question of why not hunt?

"It's historically how we manage and use wildlife. When things are considered good table fare, when they've traditionally been hunted and you have a healthy population, we've always said we'll hunt them."

Experts say sandhill crane hunting, if approved, needs to be done responsibly with an eye toward keeping healthy population levels.
David Aborn, who teaches biological and environmental science at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, helped write the plan. But he noted that without an adequate monitoring system in place, it may be premature to talk about hunting.

"We really don't have a good handle on population sizes in the different states and reproductive successes," he said. "There's no evidence they're overpopulated. It's not like whitetail deer, where you really need hunting to manage the population."

Melinda Welton, a Williamson County bird biologist and a leader in the Tennessee Ornithological Society, said the TWRA should focus on developing the cranes as a watchable wildlife feature. Up to 8,000 visitors have come from in and out of state to the annual crane festival held at the Hiwassee, which occurs this weekend.

"I think it would broaden the base that is needed by the agency, showing they're just as enthusiastic about the potential of watchable wildlife as hunted wildlife," she said.
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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com

I have about a thousand using my farm right now. I'm 30 miles (as the crow files from southeast TN). They're eating me out of house and home. Apparently they don't know the corn is for the deer.

We've been seeing lesser Sandhill's in middle TN for over a decade. Although not common in middle TN, we do have them. The usual count for SE TN is around 75,000 birds. There is no shortage of Sandhill Cranes. A season could have been opened years ago. Texas has them by the thousands. They decoy well, respond to calling and dekes, and are very sporting and extremely wary. They are excellent table fare.
LDK

@Kathi
Wow Kathi that is good news....I am sure it will have a positive impact on managing the flock.

@LDK
Absolutely correct about sandhill cranes being excellent table fare. Taste very much like prime rib if cooked properly.


Here are some pictures that I took in Texas. We shot both Lesser and Greater sandhills out of the same field.

Hunting was done from layout blinds with silhouette decoys all around us. This only worked during early morning as these things have excellent eyesight.




We tagged each one of them right away.



Completely stretched out this one had a wingspan of about 7 feet.



Lesser is on the left.



Comparison of Lesser vs Greater side by side. Lesser's body was good 30% smaller and it was an old old bird.



My mount back from the taxidermist.



The rust color spots are not natural...the cranes pick up iron-rich mud and put it in their feathers to "decorate" themselves. Then mud washes away and leaves that beautiful rust color behind. It is amazing !!!

The vote was shelved for two years. Bird watchers voiced strong opposition to a hunting season so our timid game department backed up like a crab. Where did all the men with grit go? We could use a few about now.
LDK