Proposed Sandhill Crane Hunting Season Approved in the Bluegrass State

On October 11, members of the Administrative Regulations Review Subcommittee voted unanimously, by a 7 to 0 vote, to approve a plan to allow sandhill crane hunting in the Bluegrass State.  With this final approval, Kentucky will join thirteen other states in which sandhill cranes can be properly and scientifically managed through hunting.  Click here to see the proposal.

The approved sandhill crane hunting season is expected to begin December 17.  Land east of the Mississippi has not seen sandhill cranes hunted in more than a century due to a decrease in the species’ population.  Over the last three decades their population has grown more than 300 percent and Kentucky’s wildlife experts and biologists called for a hunting season that will help manage and conserve the species.  

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) is confident that the thirty-day hunting season will result in approximately 400 birds harvested, which is less than one percent of the total population.  The goal of the KDFWR proposal was to allow the greatest possible participation for hunters, while being certain the sandhill crane population is properly maintained for future generations.

We would like to thank NRA members who contacted their legislators in support of the proposed sandhill crane hunting season.  We would also like to thank members of the Administrative Regulations Review Subcommittee for their support and for allowing science-based wildlife management to continue in Kentucky while rejecting the emotional appeals from anti-hunting extremists.