Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Contributed Photo Sandhill cranes are a protected migratory bird in Wisconsin, so killing one could result in a fine and loss of hunting privileges.
The hunt is on for whoever shot and killed two sandhill cranes last weekend in Shawano County.
The birds were found shot to death Sunday morning in a field north of Gresham, where officials believe they were gunned down just hours earlier.
Beau Miller, conservation warden on the nearby Stockbridge-Munsee reservation, said it was fairly obvious to him that the shooting was no accident and was probably just a thrill kill.
“Somebody deliberately shot and killed them,” Miller said. “It appeared to be just to kill something.”
The large, gangly birds are protected in Wisconsin, so killing one is an offense that can bring a civil fine and also cost the perpetrator his or her hunting license.
Alyssa Gove, a conservation warden for the state Department of Natural Resources, said her agency was interviewing witnesses and asking the public for help to identify the shooter.
“It’s a protected species, so we don’t take that lightly,” Gove said.
The two birds were still warm to the touch when a man going out deer hunting stumbled onto their carcasses about 9 a.m. Sunday in a field near Town Hall Road and Huntington Road in the town of Red Springs.
Miller said it appeared each was shot once with a high-caliber rifle.
The sandhill crane is a migratory bird that heads south in the fall and then returns to Wisconsin each spring by the thousands.
Kay Brockman-Mederas, a wildlife biologist for the DNR, said the cranes nearly vanished from Wisconsin in the 1970s because of deteriorating habitats. But wetland protection brought the flocks back, and tourists now seek out locations to see sandhill cranes.
About 20,000 of the birds were counted this year at Navarino Nature Center south of Shawano.
Some farmers can obtain special permits to shoot the birds if they threaten crops. But that would have occurred earlier in the farming season, long before Sunday’s incident.
Brockman-Mederas said it is not unusual to hear of a sandhill crane that is killed by someone with a gun who has no regard for the law.
“It’s unfortunate,” she said, “but it’s not that uncommon.”
HOW TO HELP
Anyone with information about the sandhill crane deaths in Shawano County can call state conservation warden Alyssa Gowe at 715-526-4233.