There is a significant risk that local breeding populations of Sandhill Cranes can be overharvested. Since the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership established the Eastern Migratory Population of Whooping Cranes in , at least one in 10 deaths have been caused by shooting.
This has clearly delayed the success of the reintroduction, and a Sandhill Crane hunt would likely increase the risk further. The accidental shooting of Whooping Cranes is a threat to their successful reintroduction into Wisconsin and the eastern United States.
This small and young population is highly vulnerable to any deaths of adult breeding birds. Young Whooping Cranes are mottled brown and can be easily mid-identified as Sandhill Cranes, especially in the early morning and low light typical of hunting conditions.
Most of the 9, members of the International Crane Foundation are strongly against the hunt due to the cultural and social values they place on this charismatic species.
Our staff and members include avid waterfowl hunters and farmers who do not favor a Sandhill Crane hunt. Cranes evoke a strong cultural and spiritual connection for many people in Wisconsin and around the world. When Sauey completed his research in , their number had dwindled to During the intervening years the Sibe population had gradually declined, even though reproduction as determined by the number of cinnamon-brown juveniles had been high.
Sauey knew they were the same birds he had studied that winter by the distinctive molting patterns of the juveniles as they made the transition from cinnamon-brown to white. There was an opportunity to save these cranes , he thought. But Ambassador Eliot left Afghanistan later that year, and his successor was assassinated not long afterward. Travel to Afghanistan was suspended for Americans, and the Soviet Union invaded the country two years later in Conflict in the region continues to this day, all but preventing any kind of preservation efforts.
However, there is one thing we do know for certain about the Siberian Cranes that migrated to India: their decline was undoubtedly the result of hunting along their 3,mile migration route across Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
In another population of twelve Sibes was discovered wintering on the Caspian Sea lowlands of Iran. Sibes were perhaps once widespread in the profuse wetlands between the Alborz Mountains and the Caspian, where dense vegetation also provided habitat for the recently extinct Caspian Tiger.
However, in , this group of cranes was restricted to a small complex of flooded rice fields surrounded by strips of forests where trappers would set ingenious traps for ducks and geese. Shooting was not allowed because it scared birds away from the traps. So, ironically, it was a haven for the Sibes. But the limited wetland within the trapping complex only provided habitat for three to four breeding pairs of Sibes and their offspring.
Territorial when paired, mates vigorously chase intruders from their feeding areas, and I would guess that many sub-adults were shot as they were forced from lowland rice fields. Consequently, the population hovered dangerously between ten and twelve birds for about fifteen years. Young Whooping Cranes have some brown plumage in late summer and early fall, gradually acquiring adult plumage through the winter months. Thus, during a fall harvest, a young Whooping Crane associating with a Sandhill Crane flock could be mistaken for a Sandhill Crane.
Even adult Whooping Cranes and Sandhill Cranes can be difficult to distinguish under bright light conditions in autumn after Sandhills have undergone their molt. Sandhill Cranes can cause considerable agricultural damage, primarily to field corn and potatoes, which has generated some negative sentiments from the agricultural community. In Wisconsin, depredation by cranes occurs primarily on seedling corn, and to a lesser extent on potatoes. Currently, shooting of Sandhill Cranes is granted to farmers with demonstrated crop damage via agricultural damage shooting permits.
These permits are typically issued in the spring and early summer, when crop damage is most likely. Although some proponents of a Sandhill Crane hunt have suggested that a fall harvest might provide a partial solution to the crop damage issue, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources WDNR and International Crane Foundation ICF have determined that even a carefully regulated autumn hunt would not be an effective deterrent to cranes causing spring crop damage.
Researchers from ICF have been investigating non-lethal methods to reduce agricultural damage by Sandhill Cranes. They determined that common methods of deterrence, such as propane cannons that create loud noises and other similar responses, are often not effective at controlling or preventing crop damage by cranes ICF Corn seeds treated with this compound are unpalatable to cranes.
Not all animal species need to be managed with a goal of having a sufficient population so that they can be hunted. Aldo Leopold was a hunter for much of his life. But Leopold went far beyond simply teaching land and wildlife management. Although he valued conservation for the practical benefits that accrued from practicing it, he went far deeper. He realized that our relationship to the natural world — to the land — is much, much more. It underpins how we live our lives at a deeper level, beyond the strictly utilitarian concerns of natural resources policy, or wildlife management.
Leopold intuited that ethics compels people to work together so that all in the community could benefit. One of his main points was that the community was not composed of humans only, but that it included other elements such soils, waters, plants, and animals; or collectively: the land.
The Sandhill Crane is a symbol, one that reminds us of Leopold, one that reminds us of his teachings, and one that we can hold onto and protect. That may be enough. This relates to a more complex view of the ethics of hunting. The hunting of Sandhill Cranes in Wisconsin may be biologically defensible but may not be from a cultural, societal, philosophical, or spiritual standpoint.
Many see wild creatures not merely as sources of food, but as members of a complex, biodiverse natural world, and which provide intellectual, emotional, and spiritual enrichment. These viewpoints are equally valid, and represent the views of many citizens, although they may not be examples of the views of all people who do not choose hunting.
Some support legal and managed hunting of widespread and abundant game species but not necessarily hunting for this species. A Sandhill Crane hunt is being proposed for the state of Wisconsin. Hunting along with habitat changes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reduced Sandhill Cranes in Wisconsin to an estimated 25 breeding pairs. Sandhill Cranes have a different life strategy than most game birds, including longer life span, higher adult survival, lower percentage of juveniles in the population, and lower number of chicks fledged annually.
Because of their life strategy, Sandhill Cranes need long periods of time to recover from population declines. It is imperative to have a reliable means to measure population abundance. Sandhill Cranes can cause considerable agricultural damage, but a regulated autumn hunt for Sandhill Cranes would not be an effective deterrent to cranes causing spring crop damage.
Not all animals need to be managed with a goal of having a sufficient population to be hunted. There will be a daily bag limit of two birds with a possession limit of four.
Minnesota joins a growing list of states that allow some sandhill crane hunting. The ideal population is about , During migration, the cranes often cause crop damage. Fall migrants feed in agricultural fields, primarily small grains and waste corn.
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