Sandhill Crane - do I have a chance at one in middle west Tennessee?

[DeerCamp]

Got drawn for the permit this year. Don't really want to spend $250-300 to hunt just 2 birds.

I have several different pieces of land I can hunt that regularly attracts ducks and geese in the Madison County area.

Any chance I might stumble on a crane?

 

[CBU93]

Always a chance….I wouldn't bank on it unless I had good, up to date intel.

 

[Dodge Man]

I would say it is about impossible to kill them in that area. A majority of the cranes in west TN stay on Hop-in refuge in Obion Co. there is a few spots of public land near it. You might try to hunt that area to kill one. Or find a field holding some and get permission to hunt.

 

[WilcoKen]

Don't really want to spend $250-300 to hunt just 2 birds.

You are listening to reason it sounds like. Something most waterfowlers dont do! If you look at my cost per bird, it's really foolish. Congratulations on your permit--hopefully you can use it without a big expense.

 

[TAFKAP]

Got drawn for the permit this year. Don't really want to spend $250-300 to hunt just 2 birds.

I have several different pieces of land I can hunt that regularly attracts ducks and geese in the Madison County area.

Any chance I might stumble on a crane?

Chances you stumble are slim to none. You can hunt in Weakley County, and the only guide up there I know of is Chris Knight. (731) 592-5740. He may already be booked up at this point, but you're approaching about the peak time for them up near Hop In Refuge. His demand has gone up in recent years, so plan to spend $250.


If you're not going to hire the guide to hunt something you've never seen in person, let me be the first to thank you for taking two non-transferrable permits off the table from someone else just so you can decide it's not worth your money to hunt.

 

[TAFKAP]

You are listening to reason it sounds like. Something most waterfowlers dont do! If you look at my cost per bird, it's really foolish. Congratulations on your permit--hopefully you can use it without a big expense.

Or hopefully he'll use the permit, pay a guide that has a good reputation for success, and enjoy a pretty rare opportunity to hunt cranes.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

East TN is the only place I know of that you have a decent chance at killing one DIY. Since moving to middle TN a few years ago, I quit putting in for it but have been researching and scouting; hoping to figure something out. Some years, I see them flying over Maury County by the thousands. I even see them circling, like they're getting ready to land. I've just never seen one on the ground around here.

 

[Mud Creek]

A friend of mine hunts in the Manchester area and year after year he has them piling into his fields. It sure would be nice if I could draw a tag!!!!!!

 

[tickweed]

Go up to hop in refuge. Drive around the back roads find some in a field. Get permission. Usually not hard. Slip up on them..not hard.

 

[losthunter]

Let me be the first to tell you that you can do it yourself. I've done it and it's not hard. Knock on some doors where the birds are landing and ask. You don't need decoys or a blind to kill them.

 

[TAFKAP]

So the area around Hop In Refuge is mostly vast farmland, with very little in the way of houses. Of those houses, very few are the actual landowners of the farmland. The birds roost in the refuge by the thousands, then take off each morning to go find food. They disperse into the surrounding fields, so the scouting for them should happen days before you're hunting, just to develop some patterns.

Of the relatively few landowners up there that could offer permission, they've already granted it to the dude that guides in the area. So there are very few scenarios where a DIY scout & hunt opportunity would actually turn into the ability to sit on someone's land to shoot cranes, especially if you've never seen one up close before.

Again, if you're not going to actually take the opportunity to hunt, thank you for removing my chance at doing so because it's "too expensive"

 

[younggun308]

Man, lm sorry you didnt draw. You have made that clear you are upset. It takes at least two points now to draw

I've drawn with one point, each time. Gotten painfully close to a low flight path several times, just not close enough.

 

[BDS05]

Again, if you're not going to actually take the opportunity to hunt, thank you for removing my chance at doing so because it's "too expensive"

Sour, much?

 

[Dodge Man]

I've drawn with one point, each time. Gotten painfully close to a low flight path several times, just not close enough.

I have been drawn 3 of the last 4 years. It doesn't seem that hard to get a tag to me.

 

[Team Browning]

Had a bunch flying over me all day today but I'm just south of their big spot in Meigs County. And I couldn't get drawn to save my life.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

I've seen/heard 2 different groups of them flying over in Madison Co, both were a couple weeks ago. Both groups high, and traveling, headed northwest.

 

[Levee Jumper]

I wish they would cut the tags to a quarter of what they are and let you shoot 5 or 6 of them. To each their own but I'm out on dedicating a day of duck season and any money on two of them.

 

[redblood]

I wish you the best, but have no knowledge of these birds

 

[gasman]

Lots of birds on the mud flats at Percy Priest. No birds in West Tennessee.

 

[TAFKAP]

Sour, much?

Yeah I'm pretty sour on continually hearing people put in for a limited availability tag they have no intention of using. It's a pretty lowbrow thing to do.

 

[Crosshairy]

Chances you stumble are slim to none. You can hunt in Weakley County, and the only guide up there I know of is Chris Knight. (731) 592-5740. He may already be booked up at this point, but you're approaching about the peak time for them up near Hop In Refuge. His demand has gone up in recent years, so plan to spend $250.


If you're not going to hire the guide to hunt something you've never seen in person, let me be the first to thank you for taking two non-transferrable permits off the table from someone else just so you can decide it's not worth your money to hunt.

As of ~ 2 weeks ago, he was booked up already. He said he'd contact me if he had a cancellation.

I really want the option for a party application. No one I know got drawn, and I just don't care about doing something like that with people I don't know. I have to give up rare opportunities in January to hunt (theoretically) primo duck hunting time with friends & family.

 

[TAFKAP]

The push to online-only EVERYTHING has severely curtailed the "opportunity" for Sandhill crane hunting. Now that it's just a click-to-add option, folks just check the box and get surprised to be awarded a tag for something they've never attempted to hunt before. So instead of being able to draw for hunts and use them, many people are getting sidelined because the system is loaded with coincidental draws that never actually go.

The party system would be a huge help because booking a guide can be more easily spread out among a group of likely hunters that would be more inclined to actually use their tags. Another help would be to use the "NOTICE OF INTENT" system, where unused draw slots can be re-issued, and there's not a big suck on the resources by someone that changes their mind or can't go.