Backyard-Photography / Depositphotos.com
A proposal surrounding sandhill cranes could be introduced on the Wisconsin State Legislative floor.
25th District Assemblyman Paul Tittl, who chaired the legislative council study committee on the cranes, said that the Joint Legislative Council committee voted it out of committee, meaning it can be voted on in the Wisconsin Assembly or Senate.
Tittl said on WOMT’s Be My Guest program that part of the proposal allows farmers to get help with paying for a bird repellant called Avipel.
“Avipel is a seed coating that prevents the sandhill cranes from actually liking it,” he explained. “So, they’ll pick up the seed and taste it, they don’t like it. Sometimes they’ll go on and pick up more, but most of them, they’ll move on.”
The proposal would also allow farmers to apply for crop damage because the sandhill cranes can uproot a field of corn very quickly.
“When you plant corn, they’ll wait until it’s about an inch or two tall, and they’ll go along, find where the seedling is, and they’ll literally pull that plant out to get to the seed and eat the seed,” the Assemblyman noted. “There were farmers that testified and told us that basically 40 acres got destroyed by a small flock in a day.”
Tittl says the cranes are abundant right now and they wouldn’t be overhunted if a hunt was allowed, which was talked about in the legislative council study committee.
He also explained that the DNR and US Department of Fish and Wildlife would control how a hunt is done and how many permits would be given out.
The proposal is now in the hands of the Wisconsin Sporting Heritage Committee.
Tittl says Chairman Treig Pronschinske told him there will be a hearing in the future.
