Kansas crane hunting

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
      The KDWP had its first Commission meeting discussing possible stricter limits on crane hunting in Kansas in the future.  Opposite views came from Elizabeth Schultz of Lawrence (wanting to totally eliminate crane hunting season) and Dean Stoskopf of Hoisington (wanting no changes at all).  Since Hoisington is my hometown, and after that I then lived in Lawrence for 11 years, I can somewhat understand both viewpoints.  But I think something in between these two extremes is the best course of action (especially a start time well after dawn).  If the farmers want to scare the sandhills off their fields, I guess they can bang pots and pans from dawn for an hour or two, and then get their guns out at the later start time.  A pretty minor inconvenience considering the fact that Nebraska has no sandhill hunting at all (and even Kansas didn't until 1993).  Anyway, here's a link to the story in the Wichita Eagle (interesting to note that it appears on the "sports" page):

  http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/sports/10695284.htm