First kill of 2013 Fall season- post em up!

[grousemaster]

I've been busting up grouse....post pics later

[smurfman]

I love crane hunting, it is my favorite migratory bird to hunt. Did you pass shoot it or decoy it? I learned the basics of decoying and calling them in Texas and have been after them ever since.

I haven't hunted them in MN yet but have shot them in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, and Texas. I hope they open a statewide season one of these days.

[JJ]

I love crane hunting, it is my favorite migratory bird to hunt. Did you pass shoot it or decoy it? I learned the basics of decoying and calling them in Texas and have been after them ever since.

I haven't hunted them in MN yet but have shot them in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, and Texas. I hope they open a statewide season one of these days.

They decoyed for us. We had a small goose spread out, with a pair of crane dekes for confidence. They setup nicely for us.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yJQQN6ierCM

[crbutler]

What do you do with all the meat with that thing? I am sure there is more then enough meat to cook a meal or two.

I got a pair of meals out of him. The big use of the meat is to the local villages (in this case the Forestry employees and their families- about 50-100 people)- they dry the meat and use it to supplement the corn meal that is their staple of diet. They shoot 4-5 Elephant out of that camp a year and that is pretty much the main source of meat for the village for the year. Keeps the local folks from poaching for food, brings in substantial revenue for the Forestry department and ensures that only the oldest pretty much post breeding bulls are shot.

In other areas they will shoot what are called nontrophy elephant for food use/population control or crop depredation and tuskless elephant because they want to cull that gene out of the population (not only don't they quite look "right" but they are a lot more aggressive and tend to not only have more animal/human conflict, but they also can cause some elephant/elephant issues.) Mine was a trophy bull which realistically means that the big difference is that the US will allow import of the ivory with an appropriate CITIES permit.