Sandhill Cranes FAQs

Why are Sandhill Cranes are not suitble game species?

Wildlife advocates, conservationists, and groups like Michigan Audubon have successfully opposed recent proposals in Michigan to designate the Sandhill Crane as a game species. The core argument against hunting this federally-protected migratory bird is that it is ecologically unsuitable for harvest. Proponents of designation often rely on misleading information, overlooking the sound scientific data that dictates what an avian species requires for long-term sustainability, especially one protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. While proposals to open a hunting season have been blocked—a move credited to a leadership shift valuing biological sciences in wildlife management—it remains critical to understand why hunting the crane poses an irrevocable risk. 

Cranes are known to be very long-lived and form long-term pair bonds. They require extensive habitat to support breeding and are characterized by a very low reproductive rate, raising few young to fledging age. The loss of a single adult, therefore, can devastate a pair’s viability and their ability to successfully migrate along ancestral routes with their young. This vulnerability is underscored by history: cranes were nearly extirpated from Michigan a century ago and took 80 years to fully recover their range. 

Full article HERE

How could a sandhill crane hunt happen in Michigan?

Sandhill cranes are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), but states with a sandhill crane population have the option of authorizing a hunting season on these vulnerable birds.  In order for a season to be opened in Michigan, the state legislature or the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) would have to designate them as a game species, and then the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would submit a proposed plan for a hunt to the NRC.  That proposal would then be opened for public comment and the persuasive “pressures” of lobbyists before the NRC would vote on it, but there would be no avenue of public appeal once the NRC made its decision.

Will a hunting season help reduce crop damage by sandhill cranes?

No. The International Crane Foundation points out that a fall sandhill crane hunting season will not solve damage to corn crops, which occurs in the spring when the sandhill cranes feed on the germinating corn seed after planting.[ii]  The Ad Hoc Eastern Population Sandhill Crane Committee also found that a fall hunting season would not provide direct assistance to areas impacted by sandhill crane spring crop damage.[iii] The International Crane Foundation has worked at developing a non-toxic and non-lethal chemical deterrent, called Avipel, that is evidentially more effective in reducing crop damage by sandhill cranes. You can find out more about their work here.

What can Michigan farmers do if sandhill cranes are damaging their crops?

Since sandhill cranes, along with Canada geese, gulls, hawks, and waterfowl, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), farmers must obtain a special permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to control conflict caused by those migratory birds on corn farms that are adjacent to the prime wetland habitats these valuable birds frequent.  Additional information can be found on the MSU Extension website here.

What other states already hunt sandhill cranes?
Sandhill Cranes status (2023)

Sandhill crane hunting was outlawed in the US from 1918 through 1960 to help protect the rebounding population and because of the enactment of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The first hunting seasons reopened in the 1970s. Since then, sandhill crane hunting has been offered annually throughout the Central Flyway in Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, and all the Canadian provinces in the Central Flyway. In Minnesota, sandhills are still a protected species. However, in 2010, the MNDNR started offering sandhill crane hunting in the northern portion of the state. Nebraska is the only state in the flyway that does not allow crane hunting. “Within the Central Flyway cranes are hunted in 14 states and all of the Canadian provinces. They are not hunted in Nebraska. They are difficult to hunt, and usually less than 5 percent of the population is taken annually,” says the Nebraska Game and Parks website.

Despite not having an open hunting season for cranes, Nebraska is home to the largest sandhill crane migration staging area. This 75-mile stretch of the Platte River is used by 80 percent of cranes.

 “Every year from mid/late February to mid-April, one million Sandhill Cranes migrate on the Platte River Valley in order to ‘fuel up’ before resuming their northward migration,” says the Kearney Visitors Bureau. They have a plethora of viewing and visiting information on their website, and recommend checking out the Rowe Sanctuary. 

Data from 2023

How could a hunting season affect the overall health of Michigan’s sandhill cranes?

Recent research has noted that opening a recreational hunting season on the Eastern Population (EP) of sandhill cranes could easily wipe out genetically unique populations and the diversity necessary for long-term survival of the species.  This is particularly crucial in the northernmost range of the EP, which includes Michigan.  There are other less measurable, but still important ways the pressures of hunting would adversely impact Michigan’s sandhill cranes.  Harassment, hunting, non-kill injuries, and other disturbances to their migratory routines would undoubtedly affect their perception of the world around them.  Additionally, their understanding of humans as a threat would be compromised, and it would ultimately impact their pairing, breeding, and parenting behaviors as they are forced to coexist with the formerly tolerated presence of normal human activity.

Songbird Protection Coalition

Isn't this effort being pushed by out-of-state groups that oppose all hunting?

No. The Songbird Protection Coalition is a group made up of Michiganders -- people that include avid hunters, biologists, bird hobbyists, concerned citizens, environmentalists, farmers, children, city and community administrators, legislators, retailers, religious groups, ornithologists, restaurant and hotel/hospitality workers and owners, professors, wildlife rehabilitators, and animal welfare advocates.  All these people have the common goal of retaining Michigan’s longstanding protections for our mourning doves and sandhill cranes.  These protections benefit birds and humans, alike -- in countless ways.
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How are humane organizations involved in this effort?

Among other conservation and environmental advocacy organizations, several humane societies throughout Michigan are involved in maintaining the protection of traditional non-game birds in the state.  These include The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal protection organization, which serves the interests of its hundreds of thousands of members, supporters, and volunteers in Michigan.  They, along with other Songbird Protection Coalition members, are committed to retaining and continuing the protected status of mourning doves and sandhill cranes in our home state of Michigan.

​[ii] https://www.savingcranes.org/a-sandhill-crane-hunt-in-wisconsin/
[iii] “Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Sandhill Cranes,” Ad Hoc Eastern Population Sandhill Crane Committee, 2010.