First Crane for Me!

Kristan

Well-known member
Here is my first for me on the Texas Prairie...Ribeye of the sky...Sandhill crane...For most of you northern and north eastern waterfowlers on the fourm, take a notice to what I am wearing...The shirt I am wearing I wore on the first teal hunt in September...Unlike the north we have had an unseasonable warm spell the past week...Had just a long sleeve shirt overtop during a fogging morning and a tyvek suit hunting snows in the rice fields...It was foggy around 65 degrees until about 10:30...In fact it was so foggy it felt like I was blindfolded only being able to see around 10 feet and I really mean 10 feet...

A story within a story: I was packing in 40 dozen WhiteRock/Sillosock decoys mixed from my truck into an area of the field about 250 yards from truck...I proceeded to walk packed-up like a mule, following one of the 3 main levees in the center of the field...Paced myself about 250 steps out and turned left into the main part of the field and paced another 100 steps (well I am short with only about a 27 inch stride, it might not be 250 yards, give me a break)...I proceeded to set out the spread in random small groups about 100 yards long by 100 yards wide...When I set the spread I walked back to get my gun and other gear....I proceeded to walk in the direction upwind of my spread which should have lead me to the levee leading back to the truck...15 minutes pass in my walk with no levee (500 acre rice field with multiple levees). I ended up in the corner of the field and getting my bearings slightly I proceeded to walk in the direction of my truck...Well 10 minutes later I did not run into the next levee, the farmer had tilled up most of the secondary smaller levees in the field...I second guessed myself and proceeded the opposite direction...At the point at which I stopped I was about 25 yards away from the parking lot...Well three left turns later I finally found my truck...To top all of this off it was moonlit night walking through fog so thick it created a layer of moisture on my clothes and face to the point it soaked in and water was dripping off my nose...Now the slight shine through the fog was actually nice, a spectacular show of light and I did not even need a head light...But when the coyotes started to yelp and bark, the field cannons randomly going off farmers mount in some of their fields to scare off pigs and other sounds going off I about lost it...I choose not to watch scary movies a month prior to season and during season...But I could not help it...Needless to say the walk back to the truck at one point became an all out sprint...That first hog sound that sounded like a moan from The Walking Dead did it for me... :) Not even going through the walk back to the decoys I think you get the picture...

Well safely back in the field an hour later and not really doing much till the fog cleared...Ended my day with this prize on my bucket list plus 2 cacklers and a hen greenwing...Cut the sandhill breast as soon as I got home into slight rounds, pan seared both sides for a minute on one of the rounds. Then baked at 375 for 10 minutes with a slice of maple bacon wrapped around it with a toothpick to hold the bacon. Whipped up some some orange/sherry/garlic sauce I made heated-up and poured over the last 5 minutes into the glass bowl it was sitting in. Not ribeye, Filet Mignon!!!!

Just as I am typing my wife is making a French Orange Glazed Goose from one of the cacklers and tartiflette potatoes....

Moral of the story always carry a basic compass and marry a woman who is a GREAT cook! Or for you women marry a man that is a Great cook!

Regards,
Kristan

View attachment Sandhill Crane 3.jpg
 
Great story Kristan, thanks for taking the time to tell it. A sandhill is on my bucket list also......one day.




dc
 
Kristan, I did take note of what you were wearing and was thinking of what kind of t-shirt you will wear in 30 days---then if you'll be carrying a portable air conditioner with you in the following 30 days or sometimes in April?
Loved that story because we don't get any fog here. Glad you married a great cook and an understanding partner who knows of your love of waterfowling. Congratulations on that first ever crane.
Al
 
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Kristan,
Your story about getting lost in fog brought back some memories.... Now the reason I have a marine compass mounted in my TDB ;-) If you've never been in fog as thick as pea soup, you don't realize how quickly you become totally disoriented.
 
Excellent tale...first time I've seen somebody actually admit to those eerie feelings that can sneak up on you out in the trackless dark by yourself...or driving a boat across deep dark water and trying not to remember all those creatures from the black lagoon dreamed up by Hollywood.

And your description of preparing the crane for dinner had my salivary juices flowing!

Thanks for telling the tale
 
Great story, I think we've all been in a fog like that at least once in our duck hunting careers!
 
Kristan, congratulations on the sandhill!

Don"t feel bad about the unplanned "walkabout". The first year I hunted NoDak we were set-up in a harvested wheat field for ducks and geese. Off upwind somewhere we could hear what sounded like a thousand mallards doing hail calls and feed chuckles in the dense fog. When nothing moved, I told my two hunting companions I was going to go get those birds up and moving. I made a mental note of the slight wind blowing as well as its direction and assumed I could work-off that to determine compass bearings. I found the pothole, jumped the birds off. Heard Arland and Randy shooting. Decided to stay and not interfere with birds working them. Shot my limit on mallards working back in. I finally decided to work my way back to our field spread, but the wind had shifted in the interim. An hour later I decided it was time to sit on the high spot I found in the cut wheat field and wait until the fog cleared. I was a little under a mile off of where I was Sure I was at when it cleared. I wear a wrist compass every time I go into the woods or get on the water or marsh, whether I have a handheld GPS with me or not.

Cranes do eat well, don't they! You can cold smoke the legs and thighs and toss them into a sausage recipe. We combine our shot-up duck breasts with crane thighs for sausage, after we trim the shot damage. The thighs make good jerky when cut into strips, seasoned and placed in a food dehydrator. The breasts are good smoked over mesquite chips, too.

Do you have just lessers there, or are you in an area with both lesser and greater sandhills?

Bob, interesting, I hung a lighted Ritchey Marine compass on a swingout mount immediately in front of my right knee on my TDB as well. Some bleach bottles with reflecor tape on them steers us through the skinny water on Great Lakes marshes and on the St.Marys. Only one close call with a ore freighter on the St. Mary's in the fog...so far!
 
I've had 2 or 3 experiences with getting lost/turned around in fog. I launched a boat once into fog on a perfectly still morning. Not even a ripple on the water. Only had to go about 400 yds. Thought I could do it in my sleep. But from the first push of the paddle from shore I managed to get turned 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Luckily I went back up into end of the bay and not the other direction out into the middle of a large lake. We ended up pulling the boat along the shore to keep track of the shore line.
 
Special K,

Are those Tevas! Where are the 1600 gram neoprene waders, double insulated blob-o-flage parka, and coon skin cap?

That looks like spring break!
 
Kristan,

Wow what a bird!

I would be apprehensive of letting my dog fetch one of those up if it was anything less than stone cold dead.

Looks like it would inflict some serious whop ass with that needle nose pliers of a beak.


We used to get huge flocks of those in the sw wa area between haloween and thanksgiving. Boy did they make a racket.


Someday I will put one on my punch card, but until then, I'll have to live vicariously through your adventure.
 
Do you have just lessers there, or are you in an area with both lesser and greater sandhills?
You will have to excuse my ignorance on the lesser and greater sandhills...I only thought there was one main species huntable throughout the US...Now you have me interested in determining which species I actually harvested...Looks like I have another bird on my bucket list. Regards, Kristan
 
Just as I am typing my wife is making a...


WIFE??? When did this happen?


Chuck,

I blew half my glass of bourbon through my nose when I viewed this last night...Nice job on the article...And yes, I finally tied the not after being a perpetual bachelor for 36 years of my life...She is a winner and does allow me to freely go for my passions of waterfowling...

Regards,
Kristan
 
Just as I am typing my wife is making a...


WIFE??? When did this happen?


Chuck,

I blew half my glass of bourbon through my nose when I viewed this last night...Nice job on the article...And yes, I finally tied the not after being a perpetual bachelor for 36 years of my life...She is a winner and does allow me to freely go for my passions of waterfowling...

Regards,
Kristan


Glad you didn't loose your sense of humor when you got hitched...it's been known to happen. That must have been a lesser Sandhill...I'm basing this solely on the fact that you are taller than the bird!

Take care

Chuck
 
Just as I am typing my wife is making a...


WIFE??? When did this happen?


Chuck,

I blew half my glass of bourbon through my nose when I viewed this last night...Nice job on the article...And yes, I finally tied the not after being a perpetual bachelor for 36 years of my life...She is a winner and does allow me to freely go for my passions of waterfowling...

Regards,
Kristan

Way to go Kristan! Haven't talked in a while. Getting ready to head down to your old stomping grounds in about an hour. BTW I've got a 15 and 20 year bottle of Pappys you can try the next time you make it up this way.

Jim
 
Just as I am typing my wife is making a...


WIFE??? When did this happen?


Chuck,

I blew half my glass of bourbon through my nose when I viewed this last night...Nice job on the article...And yes, I finally tied the not after being a perpetual bachelor for 36 years of my life...She is a winner and does allow me to freely go for my passions of waterfowling...

Regards,
Kristan

Way to go Kristan! Haven't talked in a while. Getting ready to head down to your old stomping grounds in about an hour. BTW I've got a 15 and 20 year bottle of Pappys you can try the next time you make it up this way.

Jim


You heading down to hunt with Doc McCullough and the crew? If so have a great time!
 
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