I was excited to have drawn a 284-01 permit for sand hill cranes this year. The season ran from September 12 -Oct 4 and was valid in the Ovando-Helmville area. Getting permission was easy but every rancher said the same thing with different words.
And it went something like; “You can hunt all you want but I haven’t seen a sand hill crane since the opening day of season. There were about two hundred out here last week.”
And so my hopes and dreams of shooting one of these webless migratory migratory game birds (with a bow) were ruined.
Sand hill cranes doing what they do…after season closed…
While fishing the Ruby River near Dillon last week (Oct 4-9) I came across hundreds of the intriguing species which made for a bittersweet photo opportunity.
At least I found some and I have one more tag to add to my tag soup pile at the end of the year although I’m hopeful the soup is a bit thin.
