Idaho Examiner: IDAHO FISH AND GAME COMMISSION TO CONSIDER SANDHILL CRANE HUNTS"Common Sense News"

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IDAHO FISH AND GAME COMMISSION TO CONSIDER SANDHILL CRANE HUNTS

Posted on: April 24, 2007

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will consider and set sandhill crane hunting seasons and permit levels at their meeting in Ketchum on May 16-18. The current proposal is for 300 permits for southeast Idaho, the same as in 2006.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game would like to hear from those with comments on that proposal. Department biologists will be available to answer questions about sandhill cranes from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on May 11th at the Pocatello Fish and Game office located at 1345 Barton Road. Interested persons can also provide comment via telephone by calling the Pocatello office at 232-4703.

Sandhill cranes are one of the most long-lived species of birds; some may reach 20 years of age. The birds are reddish-brown with a red crown, stand nearly 3 feet tall, and have a wingspan of almost 7 feet. Their trumpeting call is loud, distinctive, and stirring to hear on an early morning. Sandhill cranes mate for life, are very protective of their chicks, but have a very low reproductive rate.

The story of the Rocky Mountain population of Greater Sandhill Cranes is a wildlife management success. Numbers have increased from a total of a few thousand in the 1960’s to around 23,000 last fall. Southeast Idaho, mainly Caribou and Bear Lake counties, host the largest single concentration of the birds when they gather in August and early September to stage for their fall migration to their wintering areas in southern Colorado and New Mexico.

Hunting seasons for cranes in Idaho were first held in 1996 with 20 permits in Caribou County. Three years of population surveys were used to determine how many permits could be issued. As crane numbers have increased, hunters have seen more permits become available.

Allowable harvest of cranes, which determines how many permits may be issued, is decided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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About Dave Langston

Outdoor writer Dave Langston resides in Chubbuck. He grew up in the Midwest and south fishing and hunting across the country.

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