Status and Harvests of Sandhill Cranes, 2017

The annual indices to abundance of the Mid-Continent Population (MCP) of sandhill cranes has been relatively stable since 1982, but indices have increased in recent years and show more interannual variability compared to historic values. The spring 2017 estimate of abundance for sandhill cranes in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV), Nebraska, corrected for visibility bias, was 568,369 birds. This estimate is 40% above that of the previous year. The photo-corrected, 3-year average for 2015-17 was 453,519, which is within the established populationobjective range of 349,000-472,000 cranes. All Central Flyway States, except Nebraska, allowed crane hunting in portions of their States during 2016-17. An estimated 9,503 Central Flyway hunters participated in these seasons, which was 65% higher than the number that participated in the previous season. Hunters harvested 23,253 MCP cranes in the U.S. portion of the Central Flyway during the 2016-17 seasons, which was 90% higher than the harvest for the previous year and 55% higher than the long-term average. The retrieved harvest of MCP cranes in hunt areas outside of the Central Flyway (Arizona, Pacific Flyway portion of New Mexico, Minnesota, Alaska, Canada, and Mexico combined) was 17,200 during 2016-17. The preliminary estimate for the North American MCP sport harvest, including crippling losses, was 44,912 birds, which was a 52% increase from the previous year’s estimate and a record for the population. The long-term (1982- 2012) trends for the MCP indicate that harvest has been increasing at a higher rate than population growth. The fall 2016 pre-migration survey for the Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) resulted in a count of 22,264 cranes, 8% lower than the recordhigh count from 2015. The 3-year average was 22,087 sandhill cranes, which is slightly above the established population objective of 17,000-21,000 for the RMP. Hunting seasons during 2015-16 in portions of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming resulted in a harvest of 1,147 RMP cranes, a 63% increase from the previous year’s harvest. The Lower Colorado River Valley Population (LCRVP) survey results indicate a 12% increase from 2,416 birds in 2016 to 2,716 birds in 2017. The 3-year average is 2,556 LCRVP cranes, which is above the population objective of 2,500. The Eastern Population (EP) sandhill crane fall survey index for 2016 (95,403) was a record-high count for the second consecutive year, slightly higher than the count in 2015, and a total of 757 cranes were harvested in Kentucky and Tennessee.