A research paper published in the Journal of Wildlife Management has established sustainable harvest levels for North America’s eastern population of sandhill cranes.
Using a conservative population estimate of 98,230 cranes (around 60% higher than the existing population objective of 60,000), researchers modelled the possible outcomes of multiple harvest strategies, from low intensity to high. The authors conclude that the eastern population of sandhill cranes, which passes through and even breeds in some parts of Ontario, could tolerate a harvest of up to 6,245 cranes per year with no population impact, or 6,870 cranes per year with a slight population decline.
Currently, the eastern population of sandhill cranes is hunted in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Combined with depredation harvesting resulting from agricultural conflict, the present annual harvest rate of this population is 3,065 cranes per year — less than half of what it could tolerate sustainably, according to the study.
The authors also conclude that eastern sandhill cranes could sustainably tolerate modest harvest at much lower populations than present, such as 60,000 and even 30,000 birds. For more than a decade, the OFAH has advocated for consideration of a sandhill crane hunting season in Ontario, and these findings reaffirm our long-held convictions.
The Canadian Wildlife Service’s official proposal for the establishment of a sandhill crane hunting season in Ontario is currently under review and could open as early as fall of 2026.
Originally published in the Fall 2025 issue of Ontario Out Of Doors
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