Can you eat those suckers ?
Hunting cranes is illegal in many areas. From what I've heard they are really good, a common phrase for them is ribeye in the sky. I can not say from experience, since they are illegal here, and even if you go through the hoops to get the federal damage permit, you still can't legally eat them with that permit. I have a buddy who this happened to, they were destroying his corn, he get the federal damage permit, and got in toruble for eating them since it's simply a damage permit. My understanding is a few states do have seasons on them, in which case eating them would be encouraged. So yes they are edible, and supposedly are excellent eating. It's just not legal in many areas.
No, no, no.....eat chicken and leave the cranes alone.
i though you thoroughly researched about hunting them before asking the question, I figured it was illegal to kill but since you put it in there with other legit game animals I figured it was legal in your area. um, almost all animals can be eaten. except some snakes and other animals with toxins as a defense mechanism, it's unwise to eat those unless you know it very well (such as the blow fish)
You can eat just about anything... Whether or not they taste good, I don't know. But I would skip hunting them, just because I would rather not risk killing a whooping crane and spending a year in jail and paying a $100,000 fine. And that guy who wants to shoot them at 200 yards- he's going to find a new boyfriend very soon after he's convicted. EDIT: @Jack, did you know that there are a few bird species in Asia and Australia which have toxic skin and feathers? They eat enough toxic insects that they basically sweat the toxin. It's an interesting defense mechanism. You can still eat them, if you know how to properly skin them.
I live in Alaska - Sand Hill Cranes are a traditonal food for the natives going back to the dawn of man. Alaska is broken up into 30 or so Game Units, each about the size of Conn. Depending on which one you live in determins if you can hunt the cranes or not. Rule of thumb when trying to figure out what something is going to taste like (I am a survival instructor) - things always taste like what they eat. Good example - Spruce Grouse and Ptarmigan - eat spruce needles and this give them dark red meat that tastes like it's been marinated in a few drops of Mr Clean. A few hours in a real marinade and they are fine............. however........... some years ago I happen to take a spruce hen who's crop was chock full of - Blueberries! Instead of the usual red meat I expectsed - it had white/bluish meat - and WOW did that bird taste awesome! It's the scavengers you do not want to eat - seagulls, fox, coyote, wolf, bear, hawks, etc that eat long, long dead things. The birds that eat bugs (usually a sweet tasting and crunchy protien packets) and grass shoots - ducks, geese, cranes, uplond game birds - will be the tasty ones.
