Swan Hunting. Whats up with that?

[Rockymtnx]

While I was looking up different hunting seasons, I came across a hunt I did not know existed. I am kind of shocked that it does.
Does anyone have some sort of history on this?

http://wildlife.utah.gov/news/02-07/swan.php

Swans can be hunted in a number of states in the U.S. I've eaten them and they are delicious.

[Rockymtnx]

I was always under the impression that swans would have been a federally protected bird Canada/US wide.
I would've guessed that a 20 lb / 20year old bird would have been like eating a piece of rawhide.

I believe "sand hill cranes "can be hunted in some States in the U.S also.

[WTBooner]

Sandhills can be hunted in Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well.

They can be hunted a few hundred miles to the east in Saskatchewan. I've hunted them a couple times around Last Mountain Lake and they are a blast. Actually used decoys for them once, that was pretty cool. Most of the hunting is pass shooting though.

LOOK at that you learn something new everyday .I DIDNT KNOW THIS thank's for shareing.

[buckshoot]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

The can be hunted a few hundred miles to the east in Saskatchewan.

Hope you are talking about cranes and not swans, because this would be a huge change since I left 2 years ago.

Yup...sandhill cranes to be exact!

[ex811]

I can't see the point in hunting swans...not allot of them around. Same with cranes...lots of other stuff to shoot at. Besides...swans gotta taste tough and those beaks on cranes look like they can poke a dogs eye out!

Originally Posted by ex811

I can't see the point in hunting swans...not allot of them around. Same with cranes...lots of other stuff to shoot at. Besides...swans gotta taste tough and those beaks on cranes look like they can poke a dogs eye out!

Depends where you live obviously and in the areas they are hunted, the populations warrant doing so. Truth is, a crane hunt in Alberta is only one signature away. Not sure where you get the idea there aren't enough of them. Maybe not where you hunt but certainly in their flyways there are good populations of them. And yes, I've eaten both and of the two swan is my favourite but nothing wrong with a crane either. I'd take a swan on the dinner table over a goose any day. But yes, retrievers for cranes are not reccommended.

I saw a swan recently at the Tawayik Lake picnic area in Elk Island park a few weekends ago...

Apparently the early settlers out East enjoyed eating swans. That caused the population to collapse (something I read while I was visiting Ste. Marie among the Hurons this Summer). They had one hanging in the smokehouse at the fort... Wouldn't mind trying it sometime.

To put it in perspetive ex811, more than 50,000 sandhill cranes fly through Last Mountain Lake alone each fall.

buffalo...we have two species of swans that are seen here in Alberta. The tundra swan is quite abundant and the trumpeter swan is the rare one although I've started seeing more in the past few years.

[Redfrog]

I'd love to have a Sandhill season here. "Ribeye in the sky" yummy.

There was no shortage of swans in B.C. along the coastal flyway. I 've never tried them, but I've eaten a lot stranger things

[Rockymtnx]

Sheep has the Sandhill Crane season not been brought to the table as a resolution at AFGA conferences?
Any ideas why it was defeated?

Resolutions are only suggestions to to the government. They can decide to act upon them or not. It's my understanding that a crane season is in the works but has not received ministerial approval yet.

[duffy4]

AS I understand it, Whooing cranes migrate through Alberta (but not Sask.) and I think F&W don't want any hunters having a "Woops a whooper!" experience.

Same reasoning for swans in Alberta. The trumperters pass through B.C. and Alberta?? So no swan season there or here. Only the more common Tundras in Sask. and Man.

I'm thinking we have enough geese in Alberta to keep hunters pretty busy shooting to their heats content.

Sask. has a spring white goose season. But large numbers of the somewhat rarer Rosses goose (looks like a small snow) move through AB. in the spring. They want to protect the Rosses, so no spring white goose season in AB.
Robin in Rocky

Likely more whooping cranes in Sask than here but I have heard that about the swans.

[ABDUKNUT]

Originally Posted by Rockymtnx

I was always under the impression that swans would have been a federally protected bird Canada/US wide.

They are protected, by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, since 1918.
Hunting them is allowed in a number of States, including Alaska, where I have shot a few.

I see Whooping cranes most years in SK in the Spring. They are a very rare bird, and like to mix in with the sandhills cranes. Clearly different, a little larger and pure white as opposed to the greyish/brownish Sandhill crane.

In States that do get a migration of cranes, namely Whoopers, the large public hunting areas that are State or Federally controlled will be closed if Whoopers are present. These things are tracked up and down the flyway, and the big waterfowl refuges are closely monitored with daily fly-overs.

A guy was convicted of shooting a Whooping crane, among other things, 2 years ago in TX and he was fined $25,000.

[ABDUKNUT]

Originally Posted by duffy4

Sask. has a spring white goose season. But large numbers of the somewhat rarer Rosses goose (looks like a small snow) move through AB. in the spring. They want to protect the Rosses, so no spring white goose season in AB.
Robin in Rocky

You're correct about the Ross, but the more true reason we don't have a Spring goose season is because the geese we get are the mostly white phase birds that nest up in AK, YT and Russia. It's the 'mid-continent' population that is to be reduced through the Conservation Order (Spring season). Most of these birds come from the big nesting colonies in the Candian Arctic, and near Churchill, MB.

There's lots of Ross in SK too, as many as in AB, and you aren't allowed to shoot them in the Spring. If you ever intend to try SK spring hunting, youd better learn to tell the difference between a Ross and a Snow, it's easy in theory but can be the Devil in the field. For this reason, we hammer the crap outta the blues as much as we can.

[ex811]

Sheephunter...I'd trade you a goose for a swan...if it taste good then I say shoot em. Swans do fly through the areas I hunt late in the year, but I'm not sure if the numbers would warrent a hunt. Probably worth the reaseach as I noticed that the populations are definetly increasing yearly. No Cranes however, guess I'm too far West for them.
I think it's a sentimental thing with me...when growing up I remember feeding the swans in the destruction of bombed out canals...cute little things. And those Cranes look way to much like that Storck that brought me into this world.

[Rockymtnx]

I live near Wetaskiwin and a couple years ago we had a younger Whopping Crane who spent the summer in our slough. What a noisy bird he was.
We had a lot of people come take a look at him. I will try and find a picture of him to post.
Apparently the younger Whooping cranes will not go as far north in the first year as the elders do.

[Chet]

I remember seeing a swan laying in a stubble field on the way to church when I was a kid. All I could think about all through church was that swan so when church got out I convinced my Mom to let me go check it out. When I got close to it I could see it had a broken wing and his buddy was dead. Apparently they had hit the power line flying at night. I called the Game Warden who was a family friend and we captured the one with the broken wing and it became a resident of the Calgary zoo.

Heart warming story... but I would probably still hunt them if there was a season.

Chet

[Tundra Monkey]

Eating swans.....ahhhhhh YOU BET!!! The reason that there isn't too many of them around is because they were the chosen food of royalty.....awesome eats. They mate for life.....so get both of them. Illegal up here for non-beneficiaries.......but good eats non the less!!

PLEASE don't shoot the whooping cranes!! Not too many of them left in the world. You'll see them in AB and SK. Their summer area is the salt flats around Fort Smith......and there is not too many of them left....they hang with the pelicans.

Take a good look at the sandhills....if there is a bigger white one with them....consider yourself lucky.....one of the little things that we get to appreciatte.

Monkey

[Grizzly Adams]

I think swans only migrate through Alberta, on the way to the arctic. We get huge flocks around here in the spring, that follow the melting ice north.
Grizz

[ABDUKNUT]

Swans migrate through BC, AB, SK, MB, and ON.

[ABDUKNUT]

2000: A Florida teen shoots two whooping cranes to death with a rifle. Sentence: 75 days in jail, 200 hours of community service possibly including working with bird and, oddly enough, revocation of his drivers license for two years.
1991: A Texas man kills a whooping crane on a dare and buries the evidence. Sentence: 60 days in jail, $15,000 fine, $8,100 restitution. His companion, who made the dare, gets 20 days in jail.
1989: A Texas lawyer shoots a whooping crane hen that had just arrived from Canada with her first chick. He says he thought the crane was a snowgoose. Fine: $15,000 plus $6,480 restitution.

The penalty for the unlawful take of an endangered species is a fine of up to $100,000 and/or up to 1 year in jail. If you see anyone shoot a whooping crane, you may be eligible for a reward up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest of that person.

[Tundra Monkey]

$2500 and the right to kick his @$$