Our farm families in the sandhills of NE Colorado did eat them in the 40's and 50's. As well as Antelope and jackrabbit and rattlesnake.
Food was scarce during the war.
At that time every low spot in the terrain was a pond due to high aquifer and Cranes summered there in the thousands.
No ponds now; irrigation came along and pumped the aquifer down too much. As I recall, the meat was tough and stringy.

Depends on where your living, the Cranes were there first, so much natural land has been destroyed for homes, the animals are confused... cranes are probably nesting..

if you get rid of your lawn critters that are ruining your lawn from underneath the sandhills will stop.

Dumb? Maybe "fearless" is a better descriptor.

Some time back we were playing on an executive course when a member of our foursome hit a drive that ended up not too far from a group of 3-4 sandhill cranes. When he went to hit his second shot, the cranes wouldn't move. he tried yelling, waving his club, etc. He finally ran towards them waving his arms. One of the cranes reciprocated, jumping high in the air (maybe 10 feet) and flapping it's wings at the guy. His wife, also in our foursome, was charmed by the bird's actions. "Look", she said, "it wants to play!"

"Nope", I replied. "I think it is saying "get the hell off my golf course!"

Living with Sandhill Cranes | FWC

"A string mounted on stakes about 2.5 feet off the ground will provide an exclusion "fence" around the parts of homes (lawn, window or pool screens) that are being damaged by cranes."

Get rid of the insects they are forging for. Yup, you got bugs

Keep that in mind when you eat your next meal. Beef, Pork, Poultry, Vegetables, it all comes from farmers. Thank you to all the farmers out there!

After making sure pests in yard under control, try these thousands of ratings and five stars.
Orbit 58573N H2O-6 Gear Drive Sprinkler (Sprinkler on Spike)

Ohiobuckeye
 

Get used to it you live in the south!

We had the same issue when we bought 6 years ago. Massey guy identified mole crickets down below that sand cranes were digging for. Interesting demo. He poured a bucket of water on the spot where they were digging. Two minutes later, the mole crickets emerged from below. A couple treatments took care of the issue.

My sandhill crane problem
 

All, I appreciate the various responses to my question. Some VERY amusing. No, I don't want to kill them and I do appreciate their grace, just not on my lawn. We already paid over $6000 for this new lawn and don't want to do it again. We already have a company treating the lawn for grubs and mole crickets, for several months now. Have ordered a motion detected sprinkler system which may help. Our present sprinkler system does not help so something more powerful may work. Am putting up a trail cam to verify when and how many come. Will let everyone know if this works.

Soapy water test
 

Bet he had a bit of dish soap mixed in. Interestingly, the UF Extension folks suggest that if it raises no more than one or two crickets in that small area, then they're unlikely to be a big problem. After what I've had to deal with from their root eating habits, I'm inclined to err on the side of destroying too many of those tawny rascals.

That soapy water test is popular a couple of states to the north for diagnosing webworm infestations in their zoysia lawns. I've learned a ton lately by following Facebook's "Zoysia Life" group. Highly recommend for those here with zoysia. Log into Facebook

One of those Canadian provinces, I think
 

A friend in Hanna, Alberta, recently told me that they're still hunted up yonder. Had been meaning to research it. Son of a gun. . . https://prairiesedgeoutfitting.com/s...20Saskatchewan.

That was very nice of you to research and post for others. It was very well written and informative. Thank you. Marge

Research
 

Aww, that's sweet of you to say. But, I did the research out of desperation - for *me*. Always happy to share, though. I sure appreciate the stuff *others* share here. Seems to me to be the "civilized" way to go about things.

BTW, making some *fine* progress with my zoysia - especially in regards to ridding it of the common Bermuda infestation. I'm figuring that by about next May the lawn ought to be up close to "show-off" level. :-) Pretty happy with it right now, though - especially as compared to where it started. . .