Going to Edna,Texas on my 1st Sandhill Crane hunt in two days. I have elected to grab one of my cannons-Remington SP10 and use F and T steel shot also taking a bunch of WingmasterHD BB as there is the possibility of Snow Geese.

Thoughts?

Other than thoughts of jealousy, only one:

Pull out way in front of them. They are huge birds, and they are flying faster than it appears.

Have a great hunt, and please post the hunt details and pictures when you get back.

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:


Pull out way in front of them. They are huge birds, and they are flying faster than it appears.

Spot on. They look slow but they are moving.

Use lead or hevi-shot. #4 buck is nice if they aren't decoying.

also if you wound one, dont just run up on it and try to grab it, keep shooting it untill its head is down, they are mean and will poke the crap out of you or your dog if you let them..... they make awesome mounts too, specially the greaters, they stand 4 ft tall if you get a really big one

If youl are hunting over decoys...let them land first....when you get up to shoot, they are a little slower than when landing. Number twos will take care if them..or BB's. Lead them good so you head/neck shoot them...the breast meat is the best of all eating. They call them the Ribeye's of the sky and they are not kidding...they Are damn good!

I'll be hunting with an outfit called Avian Skies. They have a 100% success rate on crane hunts this 2013-2014 season. The hunting is from a blind with a deek spread. Will said one bird actually hit the blind Wednesday. From what I understand they are shooting them just about when their feet hit the ground.

I thought this would be an opportunity to use some of the GIANT steel shot-F&T-that I have accumulated. I patterned that stuff after the season ended last year. Due to the large amount of shot and it being a cannon(10ga) I figured 50yds was a better distance than the usual 30yds. More choke seemed to really destroy the pattern with the larger sizes.

Gato, I have BB,#2,and #6 Hevishot 1-3/4oz@1300fps. The choke restrictions(Imp Cyl, Lt Mod)shown are for lead. They patterned at 50yds as follows:

IC BB 56 hits
IC #2 117 hits
IC #6 137 hits

LM BB 62
LM #2 120
LM #6 199

Just for grins I also patterned the SKEET tube with everything I had at the time(#6,#2,BB are Hevi)(BBB,T,F are steel 1-5/8@1350fps) with the following results:

#6 122
#2 80
BB 52
BBB 47
T 47-Same average as BBB.....Guess which one I'll be using.....T
F 35

Shooting the BBB, T, or F through Imp-Cyl or Lt-Mod really destroyed the patterns. There was lots of stringing--vertical, horizontal, and diagonal and some where little at all hit the target.

The targets I used are available from Midway. They consisted of a mallard centered in a 30" circle. I added a 3" orange dot to the center. I did my shooting from a bench rest and held dead on. Needless to say I was a little sore afterwards. When the season is over this year I intend to do the same testing with #6,#4,#2 and BB through an Imp-Mod and a Patternmaster tube.

Andy

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Collector:
If youl are hunting over decoys...let them land first....when you get up to shoot, they are a little slower than when landing. Number twos will take care if them..or BB's. Lead them good so you head/neck shoot them...the breast meat is the best of all eating. They call them the Ribeye's of the sky and they are not kidding...they Are damn good!

After reviewing the data it would appear that Hevishot #2 or BB with a Lt-Mod choke may be the best combination after all.

I'll be hunting Saturday and Sunday. I might just try both combinations.

Were it not for the Snows that sometimes accompany Sandies, I'd be using lead!

Andy

In the event something dreadful happens I'll have as backup my trusty Citori 16ga, choked Lt-Mod and Imp-Mod, stoked with 1-1/4oz #4 Hevishot @1300fps.

Andy

Got #2 hevishot for my 10.. same for the 12.. bring 'em on...

I wondered if people ate them or they were just sport hunted. No hunting of them around us as they are protected here. They have been known to get a bb in the ass from a pellet gun to discourage raiding the fish pond. Does not hurt them and serves the purpose to move them along. At least that is what I hear.

Jimatcat joined me for the hunt on Saturday and we had a blast.

I tried T and quickly decided to save that for varmints or maybe conservation season.
BB Wingmaster worked best. The one bird that got away had a trashed wing from a load of T. That was one tough SOB. It ran like a penguin well over 1000yds and disappeared into the brush. Two hunters from Colorado along with myself and our guide walked for an hour looking for the bird and were not able to recover it.

Saturday they were coming in with wings cupped and feet hanging. About 20ft off the ground they were seeing something and flaring off. That's when we'd hammer them.

It is unimaginable how much shot these things can absorb, feathers going everywhere, and fly away like nothing happened.

When aiming about 6ft in front of them the fall stone dead. Trying to make body shots is like pissing in the ocean to make the tide come in.

One of the guys from Colorado-"Spanky" was using Winchester Blindside 12ga3". That shot sure is funny looking. It looks like little dice. It killed those birds like lightening.

The shots we were presented with would have in my opinion been near imposible with my skill level and dainty 16. Maybe if the birds had actually landed could I have taken them with it-maybe. Bill Granberry(father of the owner)was our gracious guide and "bird dog" on saturday. He would run out to get the birds we dropped. Sometimes he would swing his shotgun like a bat if they still had some fight left in them. He worked his butt off calling and retrieving birds.

I decided to hunt sunday too. I had the money in my pocket and I was having fun. We went to a different location about 20 miles away next to a corn field. It was just three hunters and the owner of Avian Skies sunday morning. It should be noted the owner Will Granberry is a world champion crane caller. There was a goose roost about a half mile away and they were acting like geese making shitloads of noise. Still we managed to get our limits.

I am already planning to go back in a week or two. Sandhill crane season is over. Light Goose Conservation Season starts the 26th and I can't wait to go back for a goose smash.

Now to remember how to upload pics to photobucket from my phone.

If you are a facebooker, "like" Avian Skies and see pics put up today and yesterday.

These people are running a 1st class operation.

Edna is about 115 miles west of Houston, Texas on I-59

I cooked some when I got home sunday evening. It was FANTASTIC!

Definitely ribeye of the sky!

Best wild bird I have ever eaten.