Clayton
Peters
As a child I always saw the sandhill crane as a very
majestic animal. It was something I just didn’t see much growing up and when
the opportunity arose the time was taken to admire the animal in its natural
setting. The public’s interest to start a hunting season in Wisconsin for
sandhill cranes has sparked some interesting debate. Although I still view the Sandhill as a very
interesting and beautiful species, my views have changed because of my strong
passion for hunting and the bird’s population explosion. I see the sandhill as
a species that could be hunted to control its numbers and even help the
management of the species as its numbers continue to increase. It would be
another way for hunters to gain more time afield with family and friends. The
opening of a season would mean profits from license sales to legally hunt them
and funding for the management and habitat restoration specifically for the
sandhill crane. There could be some type of special stamp that would have to be
purchased much like with pheasants and turkeys where the money from the sales
of the special stamp would go directly into the funding for sandhill cranes and
their habitat. I know there are many views and opinions about this topic and it
is about a species that has been recognized as such a magnificent animal and
has an amazing comeback story, but being such an avid hunter and sportsman and
seeing that Wisconsin has such a rich hunting heritage it only makes sense that
we take advantage of this opportunity as hunters.
I believe that preservation has its
place in our natural word but conservation is important to help balance the
ecosystem. Although humans have had many negative effects on this world,
hunters have been able to accomplish some amazing conservation feats and
management practices. I can understand the arguments of the opposing side to
this debate; not everyone hunts and from a non-hunter’s perspective it only
makes sense that they wouldn’t want to see such an amazing species being
hunted. Wisconsin is also home to the largest crane foundation in the world, so
there is some notion that having a crane hunt might reflect poorly of what the
state would be saying about its compelling accomplishments. There is also the
argument that the whooping crane could be negatively affected by a hunt if that
particular species is misidentified and harvested illegally. With that said, it
is a sportsman’s ethical duty to know the species they are after. There could
be implemented no hunt zones that are placed in known flyways and travel routs
of the whooping crane. These are easy to
identify since the whooping crane is followed and tracked so intensely.
There
are great arguments for both sides of the debate but without some type of management
practice to help control the sandhill crane population, it is inevitable that
there will be more and more issues to come, similar to the wolf situation our
state is currently facing. Even if a sandhill crane hunting bill were passed,
it wouldn’t be put into effect for another couple of years. By that time, the
population will have expanded even more and the state will be in desperate need
of a management plan to keep these impressive birds in check. If we begin seeking out a management plan
now, our biologists can come up with a diligent solution to the sandhill
crane’s rising numbers while there is still time. I speak in my opinion for the
best interest of the sandhill crane and residents of Wisconsin and I truly
believe that much more good will come out of a sandhill crane hunt than if the
birds are left unchecked.
No comments:
Post a Comment