Ted Nugent made a claim about sandhill cranes that sounded so ridiculous I had to fact-check it. Turns out, he was right. In Michigan, farmers can get federal permission to kill sandhill cranes that are destroying crops, but they can’t keep the birds and eat them. We’re talking about the “ribeye in the sky,” one of the most prized wild game meats in the country. Instead, those birds have to be turned over to be thrown in a dump.
Because sandhill cranes are migratory birds, this falls under federal depredation rules. Under 50 CFR 21.100, farmers can be authorized to kill a limited number of crop-damaging birds, but the cranes must be retrieved, handled according to the permit, and cannot be used for human consumption. In other words. The government says the bird can be killed because it’s causing damage, but eating it afterward is where they draw the line.
That makes absolutely no sense. Farmers are losing crops, enough cranes are causing problems that permits are being issued, and hunters across the country consider them the best wild game meat. Yet instead of creating a common-sense system where that meat can actually be used, we kill the birds and throw them away. Kill it to protect the crop? Fine. Feed somebody with it afterward? Nope. Government logic at its finest. Ted Nugent was right.
— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer