# Crane Hunting in Saskatchewan



## Cranedeker (Sep 4, 2008)

Hi guys,

I'm new to this site after reading posts for the last year or so. I am preparing for a crane hunt the last week in September in SW Saskatchewan. I have made about 70 sillhouettes (2" thick) and have purchased a crane call, although the tips from this site were right, and a short reed goose call sounds better to me so far. From everything I've read, and knowing how little pressure the cranes get in Saskatchewan, I'm not too worried about getting into them.

I have successfully hunted cranes about an hour North of Regina in mid October, and also NW of Swift Current the first week of October in the past. We shot limits consistently just pass shooting, but I'm now interested in getting them in close with their landing gear hanging.

So I have a few questions for those of you who can help...

1) Do cranes like movement in the spread? And if so, any suggestions on making a custom crane flag?

2) Do they like a lot of calling, or just a little, or am I better to keep my call in my pocket for most of the trip? :0)

3) On goose shoots, I always leave the shot birds in the decoys by my blind. But cranes stand so tall in the field, I'm thinking 15 dead cranes laying in the spread could be a bit of a red flag for them. Can I just leave them laying in the spread, or should I cover them up? And on that note, if it's a fairly bare field, am I alright to add a few magnum Canadas to hide them under - even if there weren't geese in the field?

4) If I'm hunting Sept 25th or so, anybody have a good guess on where I should be as far as a North/South line goes? I'm thinking NW of Swift Current again (it's not really a big secret, is it?). I'm just planning on FOCUSING on cranes, so I'd love to see the big concentrations and big flocks occasionally pitching in to the spread. I know that there is a major staging area a little NW of there, but I can't seem to pinpoint it from the web. (P.S. - I'm not looking for GPS coordinates... Just a general North/South recommendation).

Thanks guys! I appreciate any tips you can give me. Already had the goose opener on Monday and shot my first banded Speck!! Sweet, sweet beginnings!!

Cheers!


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## mach (Aug 29, 2005)

Cranes are one of my favorite birds and are lifesavers for the hunt when other action stops..keeps me sharp for the rest of the action to come.

70 silo dekes are more than enough scout them well and put the dekes on the side of a hill for viisiblity..if you don't have a blind..use the rock piles in the middle of the field..cranes will fly over them true....cranes may not feed twice a day..they may stay all day or leave at 11 am and not return back to the roost but go to an interim pasture and crow/strut for a couple of hours..However they are early risers, so set up on time










1. Make sure there is no movement from you or the dekes..stake them into the ground well

2.Call them with short notes..more like the gutteral note or crowing note

3. Any dead cranes leave them as they are as they are used to seeing alot of dead cranes at the Refuge from wounds or disease

4. Speedy Creek has some birds but so does the town where they stack up the SALT and slightly West of the French town..you know the names

I usually go to East Central Sask first week in OCT and they are quite shot up by then by pass shooters..they will easily take BBs or better yet BBBs..for deke shooting #1s to the head, neck should be OK

WE both live in Calgary drop me a PM and we can have a coffee and shoot the BS

Chuck


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## swift (Jun 4, 2004)

By the time they get to ND they are wary. They flair at any movement, glare or dead bird in the field. We decoy them with texas rag decoys and dont use any calls. We have had calls over the years but they didn't seem to help but did seem to flair birds. We always lay in a rock pile or fence line even our layout blinds seem to flair the cranes. Good luck up north they are a blast to hunt and great to eat.


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## mnbirdhunter (Sep 15, 2005)

I was hunting up there last year about the same time your are heading up and we got into them good. Didn't have any crane decoys or calls just my goose spread and goose call, and they seemed to like quite a bit of calling at the time but that may always change. It's always fun to have flocks of cranes landing in your decoys 10 yards from the blind


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## Cranedeker (Sep 4, 2008)

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm starting to get really pumped! Hey Chuck, I'd love to chat with you and grab a coffee, but I don't know how to send you a message. If you let me know how to do it I'd really like to chat this week before my trip.

Let me know how to do it and we'll connect shortly.

Thanks. Cheers.


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## wildrice (Sep 11, 2007)

Just a quick question for our Saskatchwen Canada friends, in whatever would constitute a 'normal' migration year for Cranes, would there be any cranes left in mid October in Central/Southern Sask? Or will they be long gone by then?

Thanks,

WR


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## mach (Aug 29, 2005)

Cranes are temperature sensitive 
By mid Oct they are still there but at first sign of freeze up or heavy snowfall they are not there..Freeze-up usually occurs just before Canada
Remembrance day Nov 11
Mid Oct there will not be be that many as 25% may have crossed the US border by then and their feeding habits may change as you might see them in an intermediate pasture in the afternoon rather than going back to the Refuge/roost or they might leave the roost earlier in the afternoon..say around 3 pm verus 4 pm.
Cranes prefer barley over peas.

So if you are geese scouting you can always work a short crane shoot to get your jolies in late morning or early afternoon

Wack them in the early morning get them on almost the same return path Around 10:30-11AM 
Hit them at 3:30 pm and again at dusk.

Just a few tips:
They lift off in the morning before the geese
they will fly directly over a small slough
they will fly over a large stonepile as a guiding beacon
they will land on the side of a hill for a vantage point
They will fly over a LARGE clump of trees rather than a small willow patch
They will fly low over a large patch of wild roses with thorns
They love alkali flats..hence when they hit the ground a rustic cloud of dust with BBs
They will fly to the fringe of a goose set-up for a look
Never let your dog retrieve a wounded lead bird
Never camp next to their roost..their crowing will drive you nuts
Sometime they will circle and tantalize you taunting..time to pull out the dead coyote to teach them a lesson

There is no reason to have a cold gun barrell


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## wildrice (Sep 11, 2007)

Mach,

I like your style. Thanks for the tips.

Good Luck this fall on the 'flyin ribeye in the sky'

WR


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## popenyoung2 (Oct 20, 2006)

Mach,

Excellent way to put it.


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## debden canada (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi, I am new to this form. My brother and I just bought a 1/2 section (320 acres) just for hunting, farming on the side, done by real farmers, to keep the agri people happy. I noticed lots and lots of cranes and geese there. How tall are the crane decoys in the picture. I would like to make some.

Thanks


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## itsallgood (Mar 14, 2007)

The full bodies I have are stand around 3' or 4' tall when staked in the ground depending on the head position.


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## mach (Aug 29, 2005)

I just finished using them last week to draw in a single.
Anyways the dekes are about 3 ft tall and 2 ft long heads can be adjusted. works slick about 15 yds from natural/blind


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## mach (Aug 29, 2005)

The cranes in East Central Saskatchewan have bunched up and are ready to move South..I had a problem finding them this fall as they would not be consistent flyers taking the usual routes..as a matter of fact perhaps 50% have crossed the border already because of the miserable cold wet weather.

I snuck up o these guys with the camera hoping to set up in the rock pile another morning; besides they were about 50-60 yards away a little far for a killing shot.


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