CRANE HUNTING PROPOSAL UPDATE

The vote whether to have a crane hunt or not will take place this coming Thursday in Nashville.  I am afraid the deck is stacked against the cranes.  I only now found out that the Tennessee Wildlife Federation has been prodding Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, TWRA, for years to have a hunt.  They say the crane population warrants it.  Mike Butler, the Executive Director of the Federation, makes a statement on the web site that "if things are considered good table fare, we hunt them."  (hunt is incorrect.  What an ignorant statement to make from a man in that position!   (Kill is the appropriate term)  He also poses the question, "the question to ask is why shouldn't we hunt them?"  If he has to ask that question at this stage of the game; he's had his head in the sand, or someplace else,  all year.  As far as "if it's good to eat, we hunt it" goes;  bald eagles are great fare I'm told.  They taste better than sandhill cranes some say.  This is nuts!  Every state agency is out to kill cranes.  It's that simple.  The bottom line is that the non hunters in this state need to find a vehicle with which they can channel funds into the TWRA in order to have a serious voice in issues concerning wildlife.  That, in my mind is putting a check mark in a box on the hunting license labeled non hunter and paying for the hunting license.  Non hunters can then be counted in numbers and dollars.  Furthermore, non hunters need to be more vocal and take an active participation in the wildlife they love.  Show concern through letters, internet action and phone calls.
I'm still waiting to see the results of the TWRA census that states the count of those for and against the killing of sandhill cranes and still have not been able to find it, if it exists at all.  I may be wrong but, I would at least hope the no's would far outweigh the yea's.   Of course, there is the possibility that the bulk of non hunters just don't want involved or just watching to see how things turn out, much like voting in this country.  If ya don't want to get involved;  then shut up and quit griping.
The WNOX Morning Show interviewed a lady named Vicky Henderson this morning.  She is a treasure of knowledge where cranes and wildlife in general are concerned.  It should be able to be heard live stream via computer shortly.

To summarize;  with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, TWRA, TWRC and the hunters all wanting to kill cranes;  it looks like the hunt will transpire.  And, I say again;  what a noble challenge to shoot a sandhill crane!  What an achievement!  Can't wait to get home and show the kids what I did today!   What has the term Sportsman fallen to in this day and age?  It is not applicable here in this case.
Here,s the link to that site I mentioned above:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110114/NEWS01/101140325/Proposal-to-hunt-sandhill-cranes-upsets-bird-lovers

In closing check out the movie below.  Wonder if we should have a hunting season on all the stuff in the film?  Seems to be a lot of em and I'll bet they're good to eat too.  Yum.  Really;  why can't we just leave some things alone.  Just let it be?