Please vote!!

I assume the vote you want me to make is "Yes, the population can support it"?

No offense, but I'd want to know a lot more about Tennessee crane populations, and about the biology of cranes, before expressing an informed opinion on the question.
 
It appears the Tenn. Wildlife Resources Agency has data that supports the hunt. Antihunters want to stop it.
You have my vote.
 
The impact they have had on the Hiwasee Refuge and Wheeler Refuge is devistating, back in the day between these two refuges there could be 40k plus Canadian geese on them until the Sandhills started moving in. The numbers have now reversed with a solid 20k plus Sandhills on them during the winter and maybe 2k Canadian geese not to mention the food they are eating that has been planted for other waterfowl.

If you do not support waterfowling or hunters rights then no need to look at this but the anti hunting community has the majority of the vote.
 
Two comments on the issues.

The Eastern Population of sandhills is strong, this hunt is within the guidelines of the management plan, the harvest will not be as high as authorized, Kentucky went through this last year and Tennessee decided to wait a year, both seasons are 3 year experimental seasons so they can be modified if needed, population and harvest information is collected every year so the impact of the season on population status can be assessed on an annual basis, there is little chance of doing long term damage to crane population.

Second comment: Canada geese that historically used Wheeler and other refuges were from the Southern James Bay population, for a number of reasons this population has shifted in distribution, size, etc and management of the refuges has changed. I suspect the influx of cranes has little to do with the change in Canada goose use of the refuges.
 
Brad, that's helpful information.

I also thought this article provided a lot of useful background info.

http://www.wbir.com/news/article/279578/2/Sandhill-crane-hunting-proposal-in-TN-sparks-support-opposition
 
Second comment: Canada geese that historically used Wheeler and other refuges were from the Southern James Bay population, for a number of reasons this population has shifted in distribution, size, etc and management of the refuges has changed. I suspect the influx of cranes has little to do with the change in Canada goose use of the refuges.
Click to expand...


I can vouch for that. Back in the early 80s during my high school days we had a really nice population of Canadas. Every October regardless of weather conditions they would starting arriving at Wheeler NWR and build to over 30,000 by mid winter. This all started as late as 1940 when a small flock was seen at Wheeler. Well that first small flock grew and grew until their numbers were quite dense for a 30 mile stretch of the Tennessee River, aka Wheeler. Almost as quickly as the wintering population grew it disappeared. I think the counts are now as low as a few hundred. I wish we could turn back the clock and restore the flock but that isn't going to happen. In recent years we've started seeing Sandhills on the Wheeler and to the east in Jackson County. I'd like to think they will become our new impressive migratory flock and getting to hunt them would replace a void I never thought I'd see filled in my life. We weren't a goose mecca when compared to the Eastern Shore and Kentucky among others, but I'd wager gunning the clubs that surrounded Wheeler was among the best in the country, if not the best kept goose hunting secret.
 
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