First time Sandhill Crane hunter (DIY) - Need Advice

[TexasRangerFan7]

Hey yall...so I just bought my first shotgun to hunt turkey and birds with. I want to try and hunt some sand hills this last month of the season and see if I can't and learn a thing or two in order to get ready for next season.

I plan on hunting public land around here in Lubbock..biggest concern of mine is how to call these birds? I haven't found a whole lot so far online, but do y'all have any suggestions on how to call them? What type of call to get and where to buy it??

I plan on building a cheap layout blind outta some thin walled conduit, similar to this (http://www.wildfowlmag.com/gear-acce...t-blind-build/). For decoys, I'll use either grey rags or sillosocks...just something to get em curious and close enough to get a shot off.


Any other advice y'all got on hunting these birds would be greatly appreciated!

[SoTXAg06]

Haydel makes a call. We've had mixed luck with it. Sometimes it gets cranes close enough for a passing shot.


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[panhandlehunter]

Good luck. They're not easy birds to hunt. I really don't have any tips. They make sandhill calls, but I've never had any luck actually killing them unless they were flying by low enough to shoot. The guided trips I've been on used full body crane decoys.

[ultralite09]

Good luck. They're not easy birds to hunt. I really don't have any tips. They make sandhill calls, but I've never had any luck actually killing them unless they were flying by low enough to shoot. The guided trips I've been on used full body crane decoys.

Same here, only time ive hunted them was lots of windshield time and finding where they were wanting to feed and just set up there.


Most everyone else I know that hunts for them puts out tons of stuffers and hopes for the best. They are extremely weary so staying still and hidden is key.

[TexasRangerFan7]

Same here, only time ive hunted them was lots of windshield time and finding where they were wanting to feed and just set up there.


Most everyone else I know that hunts for them puts out tons of stuffers and hopes for the best. They are extremely weary so staying still and hidden is key.

I'd like to do this next year, if possible... I've seen tons of them in fields feeding, but its always on some farmer's land. How'd you go about setting up on private land? Is there a good way to figure out who owns the land and get in touch w/the owner/farmer to get permission to hunt?

[trophy8]

Best tip I have is shoot them in the face lol. Tough suckers.

[ultralite09]

I'd like to do this next year, if possible... I've seen tons of them in fields feeding, but its always on some farmer's land. How'd you go about setting up on private land? Is there a good way to figure out who owns the land and get in touch w/the owner/farmer to get permission to hunt?

Back in college I dove to lubbock just about every weekend to put the hammer down on geese, ducks and cranes. Talk about being in heaven. We would just drive around all day finding good concentrations of birds, drive up to the farm house and ask for permission to hunt in return for fixing fences, doing yard work, giving them cleaned birds, etc. Whatever it took to let us hunt, we rarely ever had to spend any money at all.

This was until the outfitters started paying the farmers to lease it out.

We still got plenty of land to hunt but had to put more miles on places the outfitters hadnt touched yet.

Its been years since that era but man it was fun. Nowadays im sure most of the farm land is leased by outfitters.

[kry226]

Like others have said, their tough to hunt and have better eyesight than anything else on the wing, I believe. Don't blink, they'll see it. Good luck.