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It was almost as if an Oz-type wizard in a cosmic weather control room flipped a switch. From weeks of temperatures in the 80's and 90's, with high dew points that made Minnesota seem like the tropics, the state seemed transformed. Overnight temperatures began dipping down into the 40's in some northern areas, with 50's virtually everywhere else. Humidity dropped, mornings saw fog rising over lakes and low-lying areas, and sweatshirts were welcome for evenings on or near the water.

To hunters, these changes could be felt in ways as much subconscious as they are conscious, a kind of gut-level anticipation based more on natural rhythms than a calendar.

It was an open invitation for minds to wander toward the parade of hunting seasons that will begin in less than three weeks.

One of the local sights new for me this summer is seeing sandhill cranes feeding in the stubble of harvested fields near roads leading to the family cabin. They are more commonly a bird of the northwestern and western part of the state, but are becoming a more common sight in counties farther to the east.

When you see a crane standing on stilt-like legs, you might note similarities to a great blue heron. Both have long legs, long necks and long, pointed bills. But, though both will be found in marshy areas and wet meadows at times, the sandhill crane is clearly a more upland bird. Its chief food source is grains and seeds, whereas a heron is mostly a consumer of fish, frogs and other aquatic and marsh life. And, if you see a sandhill crane in flight, you'll really see a difference.

Just the other evening, as we headed for home in the last rays of slanting light, we were treated to a sandhill crane "fly by." A trio took flight from a field edge near the road, and followed the pavement for perhaps a hundred yards, keeping pace with our car before veering away. Though they are not as graceful in shape and in flight as swans or geese, these huge birds with wingspreads up to six and a half feet are majestic in the air; nothing like the slow, comparatively labored flight of a great blue heron.[[In-content Ad]]

This will be the third year of a limited hunting season on sandhill cranes, open only in the northwest corner of the state. Cranes have been hunted more or less forever in the states from the Dakotas southward, and an expanding population led to the DNR's opening the season on a limited basis here.

The season opens this year on September 15th, two weeks later than the past two years. This is being done to reduce the harvest of locally raised birds somewhat, and to separate it from the early goose hunting opener, which is September first. A $3 permit is required, and the Minnesota DNR license booklet contains information on the area open to sandhill crane hunting.

The early goose hunt opens, as noted above, on September 1st. Minnesota's resident Canada goose population has grown considerably beyond what the DNR considers an optimum population. There are estimated to be more than 430,000 resident Canada geese in Minnesota, with a management target of about 300,000. The DNR has expanded hunting from field shooting only, to over-water shooting as well, and may consider opening the season earlier in future years to further control Canada goose numbers. If your lawn, favorite park, or golf course is a Canada goose hangout, you'll understand why!

Again this year the Minnesota duck hunting opener will be early; Saturday, September 22nd. The objective of this change is to increase harvest of early migrating blue-wing teal and wood ducks. That certainly did prove true with wood ducks, whose harvest nearly doubled from the 78,000 in 2010, to 150,600 in 2011. The 2011 harvest was nearly three times the take in 2009.

The traditional two bird wood duck limit was expanded to three birds daily of any sex. Some, including the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, would prefer allowing only one of those wood ducks to be a hen. There has long been a hen limit for mallards, and the plumage differences between wood duck sexes are even more striking. Hunters should easily be able to recognize the differences, MWA contends. Not this year, though.

What do the hunting-minded do when they can't actually be hunting? They think about hunting, talk about hunting, read about hunting, shop for hunting gear, practice their hunting skills, and so forth. In other words, many find some way to get a hunting "fix."

This is the 31st year that Game Fair is being held at Armstrong Ranch near the city of Ramsey, between Anoka and St. Cloud; Game fair has become just about the ultimate pre-season hunter's fix.

It consists of both spectator and participation offerings, from fun trials for your dog, shotgun shooting competitions, seminars by "experts" in various kinds of hunting, plus plenty of gear and gadgets, things many of us have convinced ourselves we don't have enough of.

Game Fair wraps up its second and final weekend this Friday through Sunday, August 17-19. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for youths age 6-14, and those younger get in free. All youths 14 and under get in free on Friday with a paying adult. Everything you might want to know about Game Fair can be found at their web site, www.gamefair.com.

Also of note, deer hunters seeking an either-sex permit must apply for the lottery process by September 6th. That's also the deadline for permit applications for the state's first ever regulated wolf hunting and trapping season this fall.

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