I'm looking for recommendations for a sandhill crane outfitter. Thinking Texas and late 2024. Will be partially a senior trip for my son and we'll have others along too. I don't think any of us have ever hunted them. My brother wants to go and would like to add a day of geese too. Who do you like? Thanks.

Go to the Texas Hunting Forum. Lots of outfitters advertise there and the members there can give you input. I live in Amarillo and have never hunted Sandhills so I can't help but there are guys on that site that can.

Aren't they referred to as "flying ribeyes" ?
Supposedly they are great table fare IDK.

Killed a swan several years back 84" wingspan. Dog wouldn't eat it.

Head to Bear Lake!

If you can draw the tag...

That’s the problem, the tag.

We have them here but no luck with the tag. Plus one in years of trying for a tag probably isn’t gonna scratch the itch.

I’m not a wildlife biologist or anything, but they do need to open it up here. Dang dinosaurs are everywhere from spring til mid fall.

No tag required here. Limit 3 per day.

I think it's ribeye in the sky. Never hunted them.

That would be an awesome senior trip.

Goose Reapers in Oklahoma.

Not as cool as Texas though.

Shirley.....

Texas is three a day. No tag.

I'd call the Big honker lodge and talk to Jeff. Tell him your goals.

They are awesome and delicious!

Cranes are Big Game? news to me . . .

You’re lucky I didn’t put this in the hunters campfire. Who the crap looks at the bird hunting threads anyway?

Figured there’d be some cross over hunters and that general big game gets more traffic.

Can shoot three a day where I live in Montana. They taste great. The ones I kill are all ambushed from the irrigation ditches. I don’t see the large flocks here like I’ve seen in Texas.

Agreed! Plus, a trip to see new country and critters in TX would be more fun.

Look for an outfitters in the Wichita Falls area or the Texas panhandle say Amarillo or Dunas area outfitters.
Muddy Waters outfitters, Crooked Wing outfitters.
Max Out Guide service down on the coast.

I would look into a hog hunt also, thermal at night if possible. Lots of pigs along the Red River in North Texas.

It's some good eating, I've never had a duck or goose taste near as good.

They are a game bird in 16 states and coddled in all the others. Two can make a racket, but I can’t imagine the noise down in our Horicon Marsh when 10,000 of them migrate through. They are sure a nuisance down in Florida. The neighbor down there has a high end Audi and the darn birds see their reflection in the paint and peck the heck out of it. They peck the house windows too and it sounds like a shot.They are so tame you could hit them with a bat.

Leave your dogs in the truck. Of course dead ones are not a problem but they don't all come down dead. Wounded ones can be a formidable opponent and fatal to a dog...mb

I’ve seen videos with dogs with protective googles to protect their eyes from the beaks.

Dayom, that's probably why Ralphie put it in the big game forum.


How much do those things weigh, anyway?

We put goggles on our dogs.

A large adult will weigh about 12 pounds.

We've cooked several different ways but one of my favorites is Chicken Fried Steak.

Definitely put goggles on your dog, or leave the dog home.

When I was an impoverished graduate student living in Manitoba, I hunted these birds whenever I could - they tasted better than geese, and better than nearly every duck species (Canvasback ducks being the exception).

The cranes definitely go for the eyes so the goggles will help, but I do recall one particular wounded crane that missed the eyes and jabbed a black lab in the side of the nose. After a few days, the dog's owner had to take the dog to the vet because the wound was starting to get infected (I think the vet put a drain in, dog recovered well).

I ate sandhills many different ways, but eventually I mostly ended up butterflying the breasts, beating my meat (there, I said it!) then cooking the thinner slabs of meat on the barbecue (usually with bacon to keep them from getting dry),

John

Terrific eating, top tier of flying meals for sure.
Try to shoot the brown colored birds verses the grey birds. Brown birds are juvvies and the best eating.

Osky