Population and Harvest Characteristics of Sandhill Cranes in Southern Texas

Abstract

In January 1984, an estimated 917 sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were harvested from 2:60,000 available birds during the 1st hunting season in southern Texas. About 60% of the harvest was from the Gulf Coast subpopulation of the midcontinent population; morphometric and electrophoretic analyses suggest cranes wintering west of Highway 16 in southern Texas are from the western subpopulation. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 50(1):80-83 Midcontinent sandhill cranes were hunted in 8 Central Flyway states, Arizona, Alaska, and Canada during the winter of 1983-84. Tacha et al. (1984) suggested that harvest management of midcontinent sandhill cranes should be based on 2 subpopulations: the western that winters primarily in western Texas, eastern New Mexico, and northern Mexico; and the Gulf Coast that winters in southern Texas. Information on population size (Iverson et al. 1985), migration routes (Tacha et al. 1984), and population structure and harvest characteristics (Carlisle and Tacha 1983; Tacha and Vohs 1984; Tacha et al. 1984, 1985a) has been obtained at major harvest locations of the western subpopulation. Little is known about site-specific population and harvest characteristics of the Gulf Coast subpopulation (Guthery and Lewis 1979, Melvin and Temple 1983). Precise population and harvest information is required for each concentration area where hunting occurs because cranes exhibit delayed breeding and low recruitment rates that could lead to overharvest of some subpopulations (Lewis 1977, Melvin and Temple 1983, Tacha et al. 1985a). The 1st hunting season for sandhill cranes in southern Texas was initiated in Zone C (Fig. 1) during January 1984. In response to concern about potential overharvest, our study documents population and harvest characteristics of the Gulf Coast subpopulation in southern Texas. This study was funded by the Tex. Parks and Wildl. Dep. (TPWD) and the Okla. Coop. Wildl. Res. Unit (OCWRU). We thank W. D. Klimstra, 0. E. Maughan, and H. W. Miller for manuscript review; personnel of the TPWD and the national wildlife refuges in southern Texas for assistance in collecting data; and the Texas landowners who permitted access to their property. The OCWRU has the Okla. Dep. Conserv., Okla. State Univ., U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv., and Wildl. Manage. Inst. cooperating.