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Old 09-13-2017, 08:34 PM
gloszz gloszz is offline
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Default Sandhill crane season?

I have been seeing cranes in the Calling lake area, tons of them and also by Big Lake. Flying all day and now at 8:30 to and fro. Curious why Alberta won't open a season for them. Thoughts?
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Old 09-13-2017, 08:39 PM
snowman160 snowman160 is offline
 
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Won't be a season in Alberta for many yrs if ever.thats from a reliable source.unfortunetly.
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Old 09-13-2017, 08:40 PM
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It might well relate to not wanting folks to shoot the Whooping Cranes. Sure, the two don't look much alike, but I'd bet there are a good number of swans shot in our province every year by morons who can't tell them from a Snow Goose. Not to mention that at sloughs in the Calgary area, I have found shot gulls, grebes, night-herons, etc.
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Old 09-13-2017, 09:09 PM
Battle Rat Battle Rat is offline
 
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Originally Posted by alacringa View Post
It might well relate to not wanting folks to shoot the Whooping Cranes. Sure, the two don't look much alike, but I'd bet there are a good number of swans shot in our province every year by morons who can't tell them from a Snow Goose. Not to mention that at sloughs in the Calgary area, I have found shot gulls, grebes, night-herons, etc.
Ya I guess whooping cranes use the same migration route.
There's more than a healthy population of swans so I don't know why AB doesn't capitalize and sell a few tags for them.
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Old 09-13-2017, 09:16 PM
gloszz gloszz is offline
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Ya I guess whooping cranes use the same migration route.
There's more than a healthy population of swans so I don't know why AB doesn't capitalize and sell a few tags for them.
Exactly, there is a season in Montana for Tundra swans, they literally come into my spread in the spring so I may as well shoot a few swans if the snows dont want to.
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Old 09-13-2017, 11:38 PM
270person 270person is offline
 
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they literally come into my spread in the spring so I may as well shoot a few swans if the snows dont want to.
Snow geese shoot swans?
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Old 09-13-2017, 11:40 PM
270person 270person is offline
 
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Originally Posted by alacringa View Post
It might well relate to not wanting folks to shoot the Whooping Cranes. .

That's exactly where there is no Sandhill season in Ab. Sask gets to shoot the "ribeyes of the sky" but not sure if other provinces do as well.
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Old 09-13-2017, 11:58 PM
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Redfrog Redfrog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alacringa View Post
It might well relate to not wanting folks to shoot the Whooping Cranes. Sure, the two don't look much alike, but I'd bet there are a good number of swans shot in our province every year by morons who can't tell them from a Snow Goose. Not to mention that at sloughs in the Calgary area, I have found shot gulls, grebes, night-herons, etc.
Not sure how any of this would be affected by a sandhill season. Those idiots who shoot these birds don't care about seasons or anything else.
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Old 09-14-2017, 07:09 AM
saskbooknut saskbooknut is offline
 
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Other than local closures to protect Whooping Cranes, Saskatchewan seems to manage just fine with a Sandhill crane season.

I won't say that there has never been a Whooper shot, because there has - but it is rare indeed.

Still, having the major migration route through Last Mountain and a stop over in Radisson area, we still manage to harvest Sandhill Cranes without endangering protected Whoopers.

I suspect history and politics in play in Alberta, rather than biologically based management of the species.
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Old 09-14-2017, 09:36 AM
gloszz gloszz is offline
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Quote:
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Snow geese shoot swans?
Yea dude, them snows tend to steal shotguns from the hunters as a way to really embarrass them.
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Old 09-14-2017, 09:46 AM
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I don't know if it still exists but Manitoba had a sandhill season since at least the 80's when I started hunting.
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Old 09-14-2017, 01:09 PM
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I still dont get the whole "you might shoot s whooping crane" bit that's like saying you might shoot a moose while elk hunting. I have seen whooping cranes while hunting Sandhills in sask and I can tell you that there is no way you will mistake the two. There must be some other politics at play but I'm not sure what they would be.
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Old 09-15-2017, 12:42 AM
Pikebreath Pikebreath is offline
 
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Originally Posted by tikka250 View Post
I still dont get the whole "you might shoot s whooping crane" bit that's like saying you might shoot a moose while elk hunting. I have seen whooping cranes while hunting Sandhills in sask and I can tell you that there is no way you will mistake the two. There must be some other politics at play but I'm not sure what they would be.
Yes you're right about that. Public opinion against the proposed hunt a few years ago was much greater than public support for the hunt.

Sandhills do nest sporadically in northern Alberta,,, as there has been very little study on this population, antis were able to exploit the idea that a crane season might negatively impact the population of Alberta nesting cranes.

Despite the fact thousands of cranes pass through Alberta. they do not stage in significant numbers for any length of time in Alberta during the fall like they do in Sask. Targeting cranes in Alberta would be difficult. Any cranes that would be killed would be as the occasional opportunity arises, The suspected provincial harvest if there was a season would only be few hundred cranes annually.

Last edited by Pikebreath; 09-15-2017 at 12:49 AM.
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Old 09-15-2017, 06:45 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tikka250 View Post
I still dont get the whole "you might shoot s whooping crane" bit that's like saying you might shoot a moose while elk hunting. I have seen whooping cranes while hunting Sandhills in sask and I can tell you that there is no way you will mistake the two. There must be some other politics at play but I'm not sure what they would be.
If there were only 400 moose left in the world, I'm guessing there would be some serious restrictions.
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Old 09-15-2017, 08:34 AM
Mhunter51 Mhunter51 is offline
 
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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.
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Old 09-15-2017, 10:22 AM
Pikebreath Pikebreath is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Mhunter51 View Post
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.
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Old 09-15-2017, 11:12 AM
Headdamage Headdamage is offline
 
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A lot of Sandhill cranes fatten up on the Yellowknife landfill, I don't think I'd eat one.
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Old 09-16-2017, 04:34 PM
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several large flocks flew over the farm near orion on saturday. very noisy birds heading south.
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Old 09-16-2017, 08:04 PM
grouse_hunter grouse_hunter is offline
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Originally Posted by Headdamage View Post
A lot of Sandhill cranes fatten up on the Yellowknife landfill, I don't think I'd eat one.
You could say the same about geese. A trip out to Saskatchewan for crane hunting is on my bucket list. I must taste the rib eye of the sky at least once.
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Old 09-16-2017, 08:10 PM
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Old 09-16-2017, 09:23 PM
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You just have to cook it properly.. I used to hate steak too because our parents had to have everything well done and it tastes terrible..a breast done to a medium rare is a melt
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Old 09-16-2017, 09:41 PM
robson3954 robson3954 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gloszz View Post
Exactly, there is a season in Montana for Tundra swans, they literally come into my spread in the spring so I may as well shoot a few swans if the snows dont want to.
I see thousands of swans in the fall it seems; I don't think a small lottery type draw would hurt.
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  #23  
Old 09-16-2017, 09:42 PM
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If you don't want to hunt or eat a Sandhill crane, that hardly seems to be justification to not support those hunters that do.

There is no other reason why Alberta does not have a Sandhill season other than F&W not supporting hunters in expanding this viable opportunity.

Have a look at this Whooping Crane migration map.

Saskatchewan wildlife managers have the skill the implement a Sandhill crane hunt while protecting Whoopers...

And Alberta Can't?
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