Sand hill crane hunting in Alberta

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by ganderblaster

I sure hope so with the cranes! I never thought I would be disappointed about an increase in legal hunting opportunity, but raising the pintail limit to 8 per day while many states are dropping to one seems a little extreme. The poor things fly first and get pounded to heck enough as it is IMO. Also disappointed not to see an increase in the white front goose limit. I’m no scientist but I see no shortage of white fronts. In fact according to their pop estimate I see nearly a 1/4 of the flyway population in one morning scout at peak season😂. That’s within a half hour scout and meanwhile during that time they are seeing white fronts already as far south as Missouri. My guess is within the next 10 years if they don’t raise the daily bag limits they will have a speck conservation season as well lol.

Last thing you want in your area is an 8 bird speck limit while Sask stays at 5!!!

I agree that the specks are doing very well and can certainly support a higher limit,,, but American freelancers love speck hunting and western Sask draws a lot of American goose hunters that target specks. If Alberta bumps to 8 before Sask does, you will certainly see a lot more competition for shoots from American freelancers coming westward into Alberta.

[Pikebreath]

Hopefully this reincarnation of the Alberta crane hunt goes through this time.

FWIW, large numbers of sandhill cranes do migrate through Alberta but there not a lot of places in Alberta in the fall where the cranes actually stage / stop over long enough that cranes could be successfully targeted like we can target geese or ducks. Most sandhill cranes seem quite determined to get to Sask to stage in numbers.

One might be able to find a dedicated crane hunt close to the Sask border.

The Alberta harvest would be a small fraction of the crane harvest in Sask,,,, and most cranes shot in Alberta would likely be shot as the opportunity arises, such as when a migrating flock decides to stop for a quick overnight bite or drink and buzzes a goose spread.

[shooter12]

I saw thousands of cranes usually in September in Birch Hills country when they are migrating south .
They are usually half mile up in the skies and I can enjoy watching them all day
long.
I never saw them on the ground within a shotgun range shot, so have a question for you guys.
How do you hunt them?

S12

[ganderblaster]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

Last thing you want in your area is an 8 bird speck limit while Sask stays at 5!!!

I agree that the specks are doing very well and can certainly support a higher limit,,, but American freelancers love speck hunting and western Sask draws a lot of American goose hunters that target specks. If Alberta bumps to 8 before Sask does, you will certainly see a lot more competition for shoots from American freelancers coming westward into Alberta.

Excellent point.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Cranes tend to climb into the thermals and then fly long distances south when wrong/cold weather hits. They generally flock up then flock off to the US in numerous bunches, bet I saw 30-40 flocks at one time last year.

[lannie]

Originally Posted by shooter12

I saw thousands of cranes usually in September in Birch Hills country when they are migrating south .
They are usually half mile up in the skies and I can enjoy watching them all day
long.
I never saw them on the ground within a shotgun range shot, so have a question for you guys.
How do you hunt them?

S12

I hunted them with a guide in Southern Saskatchewan and we were using decoys and it worked well. What i thought was odd was they way they fell when hit, wings on the side and feet first.

[ferrarifarms]

We can shoot 10 Specs daily in California but no swans. We can also shoot 20 white geese daily so 30 total a day if the stars line up.
And we cant shoot Sandhills here at all either.
And the season ends today,

[Faststeel]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

Last thing you want in your area is an 8 bird speck limit while Sask stays at 5!!!

I agree that the specks are doing very well and can certainly support a higher limit,,, but American freelancers love speck hunting and western Sask draws a lot of American goose hunters that target specks. If Alberta bumps to 8 before Sask does, you will certainly see a lot more competition for shoots from American freelancers coming westward into Alberta.

Be nice to do some thing about USA Free Lancers....IMHO

[karateka]

after reading all the posts about how good eating they are, I would look forward to hunting sand hill cranes.

[TROLLER]

Originally Posted by Chuck_Wagon

Alberta has had a previous sandhill crane hunting season.
It was open for one fall then closed again the next year.
1998?, somewhere in that time frame.

Actually they listed it in the regs and then cancelled it a few weeks prior to season opener.

Was still guiding at the time and had booked on hunt that was to include the Cranes. grrr

One thing to keep in mind is if you hunt with a dog a wounded crane will tear it up. They will come into a goose spread from time to time.

[Chuck_Wagon]

Originally Posted by TROLLER

Actually they listed it in the regs and then cancelled it a few weeks prior to season opener.
Was still guiding at the time and had booked on hunt that was to include the Cranes. grrr
One thing to keep in mind is if you hunt with a dog a wounded crane will tear it up. They will come into a goose spread from time to time.

Oh, is that what happened.

I remember there was a season because the brothers and I wanted to give it a try. We were going to make four decoys and set them up as two pairs separated by a bit of distance. I vaguely recall that the crane decoys should be setup closer to the treeline of the field edges and not out in the middle of a field?

I could not recall why we did not try it, but with your post, I assume we did nothing because the season was canceled before it even opened.

[Big Grey Wolf]

I like the old sand hill crane story how to cook them" First you put large rock inside , bake for six hours then throw the crane away and eat the rock"

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

I like the old sand hill crane story how to cook them" First you put large rock inside , bake for six hours then throw the crane away and eat the rock"

You really do like fiction.

[Rook]

Fido is ready to go crane retrieving.

[scruffy]

I was hunting with the Slammer for sandhill cranes one time. We offered the farmer a bird if we got one. There were hundreds and hundreds in his field. He looked shocked and asked how many hours would it take to cook one?

He then said he would ask his wife but then just told us that he did not want one. I love hunting cranes and hope to do more of it in the future .. And they are tasty .. and spectacular when they come out of the sky ..