# Sandhill Crane



## jsc (Nov 13, 2007)

I am hoping to get some advise on utah sandhill crane hunting. My 11 year old son drew a box elder sandhill crane permit. His hunt is fairly long on season dates from early september to early november. He has shot a few ducks with his 20 gauge and will probably use this gun in his hunt. I did acquire some decoys and am hoping to get him into a closer shot quality opportunity. Any advise on shot size? Are cranes readily available early in the season or is there a time when they migration concentration is better? Is it tough to gain access in agricultural areas in this area or would we be better hunting marsh areas? Any tips or advise for this hunt would be appreciated.


----------



## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Is there any agriculture fields left with this drought? Check past threads on this subject, I know there have been many posts on crane hunting.


----------



## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Congrats to your son on this tag!

A few thoughts:

The 20 gauge is more than adequate for a crane. Shot size is a debating point for most people, some would rather have a more dense pattern and others would rather have bigger shot. I fall into the more dense pattern crowd. I can’t help much with the migration concentration, but I’d hunt as soon as the season opens.

“Most” farmers don’t like the cranes and gaining access should be easier for a crane permit. Take a few days and go scout the area, making note of flight paths and which fields the cranes are hitting. Then go knock on doors. I’ve killed a few cranes, with 50% of them being over decoys and the other 50% of them being killed pass shooting. While decoying cranes is a sight to behold, pass shooting them is pretty darn fun too!

Best of luck!


----------



## jsc (Nov 13, 2007)

Thank you for the advise. I am not opposed to pass shooting, but he struggles a bit with that. I will have to get up there on a scouting trip or two soon. I know that with swans they don't really show up in numbers until later in the season and was curious if cranes are similar. Do they tend to fly throughout the day or generally just morning and evening?


----------



## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

jsc said:


> Thank you for the advise. I am not opposed to pass shooting, but he struggles a bit with that. I will have to get up there on a scouting trip or two soon. I know that with swans they don't really show up in numbers until later in the season and was curious if cranes are similar. Do they tend to fly throughout the day or generally just morning and evening?


From my experience, they are just like geese. Fly first thing to feed, then back to water and loaf during the day. The afternoons they’ll come back out to feed. However, I’ve also seen them loaf all day in the field (if there is food and water in the same field).

The best part is they are very patternable with their morning flight pattern. The vast majority of my crane hunts have lasted about 10-15 minutes into the season (Utah and Idaho).

Wyogoob and Dubob are pretty accomplished crane hunters - hopefully they’ll chime in!


----------



## jsc (Nov 13, 2007)

Thank you CPAjeff


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

CPAjeff said:


> From my experience, they are just like geese. Fly first thing to feed, then back to water and loaf during the day. The afternoons they’ll come back out to feed. However, I’ve also seen them loaf all day in the field (if there is food and water in the same field).
> 
> The best part is they are very patternable with their morning flight pattern. The vast majority of my crane hunts have lasted about 10-15 minutes into the season (Utah and Idaho).
> 
> Wyogoob and Dubob are pretty accomplished crane hunters - hopefully they’ll chime in!



Yeah, what CPA said.

I always scout, one or two days before I hunt....never earlier, the birds' feeding patterns change a lot. Scout the same time of day you plan to hunt.

If there's no grain look for fields with grasshoppers. Cranes love grasshoppers. Note that if they feed on hoppers long enough their meat will taste a little like Copenhagen..ha.

I prefer decoys and a crane call.

I recommend using the search engine here. You'll find a lot of crane hunting info on past UWN threads.

Good luck.


----------



## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Goob, are you saying Cranes ain't worth spit?


----------



## jsc (Nov 13, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> Yeah, what CPA said.
> 
> I always scout, one or two days before I hunt....never earlier, the birds' feeding patterns change a lot. Scout the same time of day you plan to hunt.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the scouting advise. I was going to start now, but will probably look a little closer to opening day


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

taxidermist said:


> Goob, are you saying Cranes ain't worth spit?


Not at all, I love to eat sandhills. I have had a couple that were feeding solely on grasshoppers that didn't taste as good as the ones feeding on grain.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

There's a number of crane recipes in the Recipe section also.


----------

