Sandhill Crane Decoys

[SAC]

Wondering if anyone has a cheap fix for crane dekes. A buddy of mine has a roost next door to his place on the river. Last week dove hunting we saw probably 300 birds. Just looking for something cheap to try a few times yet this year.

Thanks
SAC

[pickaspot]

Gray rags work. You can buy cheap material at the fabric shop or use white and dye them gray. I just draped them over cotton stalks, cut corn stalks, or an ordinay stick. Then dig a shallow ditch and lay down an wait for the cranes to come.

[Bily Lovec]

break out the buckshot !
if you are ONLY hunting/shooting sandies you can use lead shot, you can also use buckshot on them, we used anything from #4 up to 00 in 3" or 3 1/2"
pass shooting @ 70 yards was routine.

we made body sized decoys using rebar for legs to get them elevated, and painted goose bodies/heads. dont be bashful getting them off the ground, we'd run ours 6' up in the air.

we never really got them to decoy like geese/ducks, but they would definitely drop down to check the dekes out.
keep in mind they have the eyesight of an eagle, we'd hunt upwind from them 40-100 yards on a tree or fence line to avoid being spotted. One of our guys got pretty good at mouth calling sandies, they would turn and come to him...
We ALWAYS limited out, always.

[xfalcon]

Never heard of hunting sandhill cranes. Good eating?

[SAC]

Supposedly they're "Ribeye in the Sky"

[Hafernick]

break out the buckshot !
if you are ONLY hunting/shooting sandies you can use lead shot, you can also use buckshot on them, we used anything from #4 up to 00 in 3" or 3 1/2"
pass shooting @ 70 yards was routine.

we made body sized decoys using rebar for legs to get them elevated, and painted goose bodies/heads. dont be bashful getting them off the ground, we'd run ours 6' up in the air.

we never really got them to decoy like geese/ducks, but they would definitely drop down to check the dekes out.
keep in mind they have the eyesight of an eagle, we'd hunt upwind from them 40-100 yards on a tree or fence line to avoid being spotted. One of our guys got pretty good at mouth calling sandies, they would turn and come to him...
We ALWAYS limited out, always.

We never used decoys but pass shooting was as close as we could get to them!

[Randy]

Growing up in west Texas we would drive around and flush them out of neighboring cotton fields and try to herd them to where we were trying to shoot them at.

If you can find a milo field with cotton all the way around it thats a honey hole.

We used 00 buck and a 243 and still had trouble killing them.

We would leave small spaces between round bales at the end of turn rows were we could hide and pop out on them. We also would dress in all black and crouch next to the irrigation wheels on center pivots and pop up on them then.

[Stuck]

Supposedly they're "Ribeye in the Sky"

Uh, NO! Rather be forced to eat a goose.

[txnduckhntr]

Supposedly they're "Ribeye in the Sky"

mark i been getting a few over in sheridan, i have a recipe that is killer. but then again, anything that involves beer, sausage, bacon, and sauerkraut usually is.