Sandhill Crane

[irodguy]

A friend of mine is going hunting this weekend. He is planning to shoot an extra Sandhill Crane for me.

I was thinking about roasting it like a goose. Anybody have any other suggestions?

[Gifted Gourmet]

perhaps this one?

[fifi]

You can shoot sandhill cranes???

[irodguy]

You can shoot sandhill cranes???

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Well as long as you don't get caught

Just kidding. Sandhill's are not endangered. So yes in the state of Texas you can bag up to six. My friend has a lease West of Dallas. Evidently the farmers hate the critters, they eat quite a bit of grain.

Now there is evidently a rule that you have to use steel shot instead of lead.

This is the same friend who always bring exotic meats to my events. So he is hunting for some new "perfectly normal beast" this weekend.

[irodguy]

perhaps this one?

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Yep I had noticed that one. I think the going thought is that we will roast one in a similar fashion and then smoke one.

[Gifted Gourmet]

the going thought is that we will roast one in a similar fashion and then smoke one.

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and when the police arrive, unannounced, will you plead "we are only smokin' crane" ??

[handmc]

Shooting a crane? I used to hunt waterfowl, but there is something just decidedly wrong about shooting a crane. It is like using a u236 Space modulator. Why kill awesome beauty?

Its not like it will taste good.

[jayt90]

Shooting a crane? I used to hunt waterfowl, but there is something just decidedly wrong about shooting a crane. It is like using a u236 Space modulator. Why kill awesome beauty?

Its not like it will taste good.

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The Sandhills may not be endangered, but they are useful in bringing back the extremely endangered whooping cranes, by taking care of transplanted eggs.

However, if the extra bird is bagged and given to you, is it unethical to accept it? Some of us would pass on the opportunity, others would accept the already dead bird greedily...

[fifi]

Well, if it is legal it must be ok. And I would cook it rather than waste it. (I come from a hunter culture of "if you shoot it you eat it".) Next question... Do they taste good?

On the nuisance factor... I fail to see that some cranes could be a real threat to those hundreds of square miles of grain. Sheesh.

[rancho_gordo]

Yikes! My mother's house is a shrine to these cranes. She lives near a sanctuary and spends most evening watching them fly in at sunset during the season. She even trained to be a docent at the park. They really are the most beautiful things.

I think I won't tell her about this thread!

[mighty quinn]

on my visits to florida, i've seen these birds hanging around strip malls eating trash in the parking lots. you want to EAT these things?? aren't cranes revered in some cultures?? aren't they relatively slow?? is this really sport?? dude, shoot pidgeons instead!

Edited November 25, 2004 by mighty quinn (log)

[RETREVR]

It is very important to identify the bird. More so than in general waterfowling. The last thing you want to do is hit a wooping crane. Waterfowlers make huge contributions every year to fund habitat, environmental legislation, and research.

I do not know a lot about the cranes. I do know that snowgeese are over-running tundra habitat that is crucial to the nesting success of birds that have dwidling populations. The goose is beautiflul, and shooting twenty of them may seem grizly to some. However, it serves a purpose.

There are arguments as to how effective humans can be when we try to find an artificial equilibrium in nature. Save that for another forum. My point is that hunting quotas are set without much consideration for how pretty the bird is and how well it eats.

[irodguy]

My friend is a member of all the sportsman conversation groups. I am sure he would not be hunting these critters if there is a problem with under population.

Now that being said he is a bubba with lots of fire power, but a considerate bubba who eats what he shoots. Last year he bought me back 2 wild Turkeys. Now those were great!

[Smithy]

Well, if it is legal it must be ok. And I would cook it rather than waste it. (I come from a hunter culture of "if you shoot it you eat it".) Next question... Do they taste good?

On the nuisance factor... I fail to see that some cranes could be a real threat to those hundreds of square miles of grain. Sheesh.

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I come from the same "don't shoot it unless you plan to eat it" ethic (and would therefore cook and eat it, if offered)...and yet, my grandfather, who passed that ethic to my father, who in turn passed it to me, used to shoot hawks on sight. Hawks were a threat to the farm fowl, and were in direct competition with humans for the food the humans were trying to cultivate. My father, in his turn, used to encourage my cousins to shoot the blackbirds who were ruining our grape crop. So I guess it's a matter of perspective as to what's being ruined. Given a good enough population, "just a few" can really wreak havoc on a crop.

All that said, I too was surprised that sandhill cranes were legal game.

So what do they taste like? (Folks who want to say 'Somewhere between a bald eagle and a whooping crane' need not respond )

[Adam Balic]

Not sure that they will taste all that interesting, they seem to have been a status dish in the UK until they were hunted a little too much. I would cover the breast and legs in slices of back fat (or fatty bacon) then plain roast for as short a time as possible. That way you will actually get to taste the bird, which would be the point of eating an odd beasty no? If you plan on sharing I would inform your guests ahead of time as there is a good chance they will freak if just served without warning.

White Storks are rare in Europe and consequently symbols of beauty etc etc. While in Morocco I saw plenty and they were basically acting like very large feathered rats. All perspective I guess.

[jsolomon]

A friend of mine is going hunting this weekend.  He is planning to shoot an extra Sandhill Crane for me. 

I was thinking about roasting it like a goose.  Anybody have any other suggestions?

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Don't shoot those things! I like watching them come through my state when they migrate!

Edit to remove invective

Edited November 25, 2004 by jsolomon (log)

[RETREVR]

A friend of mine is going hunting this weekend.  He is planning to shoot an extra Sandhill Crane for me. 

I was thinking about roasting it like a goose.  Anybody have any other suggestions?

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Don't shoot those things! I like watching them come through my state when they migrate!

Edit to remove invective

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Quite a leap in logic that someone shooting a legal gamebird is going to deprive you of the beauty of the sandhill migration.

[rancho_gordo]

Well, I couldn't resist. i had to tell my mater about this thread and she just about **** her old pants!!!! Apparently the fine here is $10,000 for shooting one and there are sanctuaries set up to protect them, not just here but all over the country. They are one of only two indigenous cranes to the US! Throughout the evening she'd turn to me and say, "Really?", thinking I was kidding that someone would hunt them. She lives in a big hunting area, by the way.

Personally, I'd stick to duck . We have lots of them, they taste good and we know how to cook them. And you won't have my mother after you!

[Richard Kilgore]

This may help clarify why cranes are protected in California, but eaten in Texas.

The Sandhill Crane protected by the state of California is a different subspecies (Greater Sandhill Crane) from the subspecies in Texas, the Lesser Sandhill Crane. Neither is protected by the U.S. government. In Texas, the Lesser Sandhill Crane is protected in a region east of Ft. Worth in an area about 1/4 of the state. There are three other zones which allow either two or three birds.

The only sandhill crane protected by the U.S. government is the Mississippi sandhill crane, which apparently lives primarily on what is now the Missisippi Sandhill Crane Federal Refuge.

[RETREVR]

I might add that I have had ample opportunity to to take these birds. I had two fly over that I could have bagged with a butterfly net. I let them fly because I wasn't prepared to take them home and eat them.

There are refuges for these birds in Colorado also.

[Susan G]

Oh God. Oh, God. I watched the Sandhill crane migration from my front yard this year, and I heard the buzzy whoops they made while flying in formation.

I can eat most foods. I cannot eat something that makes my heart leap with joy while it's alive.

Having said that, I'm glad your friend eats what he kills, and doesn't take it just for the practice or as decoration.

[jsolomon]

Quite a leap in logic that someone shooting a legal gamebird is going to deprive you of the beauty of the sandhill migration.

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Legal is a function of location, and humans have been known to hunt things to extinction in the past. Pretty small leap in logic.

[paul o' vendange]

I hunt. My only question here regarding the Crane is --- Why? I vociferously protect the act of hunting for food. I love the earth, I love the woods and I honor and acknowledge the preciousness of the life I take. I vigorously detest the act of hunting for hunting's sake. Unless there is something unique about the sandhill crane's meat, bones or fat I don't know about, I cannot see any justification for taking one down. I can legally shoot a good many things, but think it asinine to do so simply because I can. My humble $.02.

Paul

[Richard Kilgore]

Paul -- please clarify something for us. I doubt you intend to contradict yourself, so I think there must be something left out. I am quoting only two sentences because the intervening ones did not seem to qualitfy either of these, but I may be missing something.

First you wrote,

I vociferously protect the act of hunting for food.

Then you wrote,

Unless there is something unique about the sandhill crane's meat, bones or fat I don't know about, I cannot see any justification for taking one down.

You appear to be taking your first statement back with the second statement. Would not "hunting for food" justify killing a sandhill crane? Why would there need to be something unique about its meat, bones or fat? Or are you applying that standard to duck, goose, quail, dove, squirrel, pig, deer, elk, etc., too? How do you decide?

This is a topic of interest to me that people from at least a half dozen different positions can have very strong feelings, so I am trying to go to some lengths to say that I am interested primarily in understanding other's thinking about taking game animals and birds for food.

[irodguy]

Well no Sandhill He did get the largest "Bambi" that he had ever shot. Also a turkey as I remember. He did see many geese but they were just not low enough.

So the Sandhills are safe for now.