Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhunter51
A juvenile Whooping crane looks very much like a sandhill crane and that I believe is why Sandhill season is closed in an area when Whooping cranes are spotted. I wouldn't think the juveniles would fly by themselves but groups of Whooping cranes do mix with flocks of Sandhills therefor giving an chance of an accidental shooting.
|
While whooping cranes nest along the Alberta NWT border, their migration path takes them more through Sask than Alberta. You are far more likely to encounter a whooping crane in Sask during hunting season than you would in Alberta.
As has been pointed out, Sask has a sandhill season and there has been minimal if any impact on the whooping cranes because of the way the hunt is administered in Sask.
Support for a crane season in Alberta is not that strong even from the hunting community in Alberta... Quite simply there is no history of a crane season,,, the rumour has it that cranes are inedible (despite claims to the contrary by crane hunters who call them "ribeye of the sky"),,, and the fact the majority of Alberta waterfowlers seldom get an opportunity to actually shoot cranes when they are hunting over most of Alberta anyways.