Hunting for Sandhill Cranes

I don't hunt them but they are hunted here in Kansas. This is info from KDWP;

Sandhill cranes have been hunted in Kansas since 1993 . Hunting is permitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in nine of the 10 states in the Central Flyway. The sandhill cranes that migrate through Kansas, and sometimes winter here, are part of the Mid-continent Population. This population is one of nine in North America and by far the largest with about 500,000 birds. Hunters must take an online test on identification of Sandhill cranes . We also get Whooping cranes  here .  Whooping cranes and sandhill cranes are similar in size and shape, but whooping cranes are white with black wing tips. The penalty for shooting a whooping crane is a fine of up to $100,000 and/or up to one year in prison.

 

This is obviously a dumb question, but the article didn't say.... Do people eat them? Obviously, why else would you want to hunt it, but I've never heard of having Christmas Crane.

 

Have not ate one either...  hear they are good.
Here is a recipe from the net;
http://www.showmesnowgeese.com/articles/EntreeStyleSandhillCrane.htm

 

I would hunt with my dad when I was a kid. He would have me shoot some of these for his friends. They cleaned and ate them. We didn't.

 

I believe they're protected in FL. There's a Florida subspecies which is protected.

 

Yeah, they have to be protected I think because they are so very very dumb and irritating. I don't know of anybody who likes them; it's like they know they're protected or something.

 

They are supposed to be delicious; ribeye of the sky.

 

I live in the Texas Panhandle and they migrate through here. They are good eating, and I like the way that they fold up and tumble through the air when shot.

 

I haven't been in this subforum for a while (I think I forgot about it) and so am late to this thread but I just wanted to ask, Bert, if you have seen many of those sandhill cranes in our area. The original article indicated that there are a lot of them on the Hiwassee but I don't recall having seen many if any of them in that area.

Blue herons, on the other hand, are everywhere. Several times a week for much of the year we will have blue herons that think our pond is an all you can eat fish buffet. Usually it is just one at a time but sometimes there will be two of them. I like seeing other waterbirds up there and we don't mind 'sharing' a minnow or two but those gangly things just stand there and eat - and seem to keep other waterbirds from coming around while they are there. I wish there were an open season on them. I wouldn't go hunting them but I wouldn't have to - I'd just like to have a chance at the ones that get in our pond.

 

People seriously eat those things.....? (shakes head)

You learn something new everyday.

 

Is there something that people DON'T eat?
*shrug*