Sandhill Crane

[808allday]

While its not the typical bird to hunt my buddy got a group of us hooked up with a land owned a few miles from a roost this year and we did our best to put a dent on the local population. We probably went 7 or 8 times and I limited out all but twice and on one of those days I bagged a nice lesser canadian!

It was a nice distraction until I get my Brittany pup in April

[duckn66]

Something I have never shot is Sandhills. I have heard the are the fillet mignon of the sky though.

Never shot a Canadian either. They typically don't get this far south of the border.

[bonasa]

Nice hunt, thanks for sharing. Love the novelty of "different" such as cranes/swans.

[RoostersMom]

Awesome pics - I'd love to try crane someday (just not the whoopers - that can really cost ya). Did the dogs retrieve those suckers? Mine had a hard time with the big geese, I don't know if he could handle the cranes.

On the Canadian thing...it's Canada Goose or Canada Geese. No such thing as a Canadian Goose. Pet peeve, sorry - I'm a biologist. Just trying to spread the word. I also get after my husband when he says "that deer has big horns." Don't hate on me for being a wildlife geek.

[808allday]

haha noted. I chose not to have any retrievers and it was probably for the best. I shot a few in the wing and they got up and hissed and charged at me. With those beaks and talons I would be too worried about a dog getting poked or scratched in the eyes or some other form of bodily damage. I know some people that use them but I would rather not take the risk. When they stand up they're taller than waist high so it was a little intimidating even for me to finish em off. The meat was fantastic, I soaked it in a lime zest marinade over night and made fajitas out of it. I invited some buddies over and 2 birds fed six of us to give you an idea of how much meat they give.