Why Hunt Swans? Among Other Reasons, It’s Wicked Fun

After killing a pair hours nestled into the tall, dry grass bordering a public wetland, the sky turned a cool purple and a whole bunch of white swans flocked over us. I hunkered down into the boat blind with my eyes skilled upwards on the one tundra swan flying decrease than the remainder. I twitched my shotgun, however my mentor mentioned, “Not but. That chook is rather a lot farther than it seems.” 

Misjudging distance is a standard mistake amongst new swan hunters. These 20-pound birds are nearer in dimension to a turkey than a duck. This will create the impression that they’re nearer than they are surely, prompting hunters to shoot when the birds are nonetheless nicely out of vary. 

Many hunters apply for a Utah swan tag for an opportunity to hunt a brand new species on the Nice Salt Lake, the place roughly 80,000 tundra swans migrate by yearly. And since many hunters who draw a swan tag will solely go as soon as of their lives, they usually go for a full-body mount. Who wouldn’t need an outsized goose statue of their home? 

One in every of my out-of-state mates applies for a swan tag yearly and travels to Utah if he’s profitable to hunt with an area swan looking legend, Chad Yamane. I put in for my very own tag on the possibility that we may hunt collectively; he mentioned it could be enjoyable, and I really like new outside experiences with my mates. However after I drew a tag and he didn’t, I began to really feel conflicted. Did I actually wish to shoot a swan?

It’s a Draw

Swan tags are awarded in a lottery, and I had drawn a coveted tag. However I’ll admit I wasn’t certain if the conservation funds from my looking license, tag software, and federal duck stamp added as much as a swan’s life on my private scale of justice.

In an effort to make your best option for myself, I talked to an area duck hunter buddy about his expertise capturing a swan. “It was so stunning; I may have cried,” he mentioned. Perhaps he meant that this was an incredible expertise, however the very last thing I wished was to be stuffed with remorse after pulling the set off on a as soon as majestic creature. The following factor he mentioned solely additional discouraged me. 

Whereas dropping his chook off on the taxidermist, he requested for recommendation on find out how to cook dinner the meat. The previous man launched right into a prolonged diatribe on preparation directions together with brining, seasoning, marinading, and gradual cooking earlier than ending with a curt, “then throw all of it within the trash as a result of they style like shit.”

Killing one thing so stunning simply to not eat it didn’t sit nicely with me. I had harvested animals earlier than, together with a turkey and whitetail doe. You’d suppose if I may kill Bambi’s mom, I wouldn’t be dealing with such an moral dilemma. However I had by no means killed one thing I didn’t eat.

I wrestled with this for a number of weeks, and requested my family and friends for his or her enter. It ranged from, “Swans mate for all times!” to “A swan tried to assault me as soon as.” OL workers author Tyler Freel, a gruff Alaskan who’s harvested extra animals than years I’ve been alive, gave the one recommendation that truly helped. Off-handedly in a workers assembly he mentioned that biologists research this sort of factor, and there wouldn’t be a season if it wasn’t moral. 

So with that path, I turned to the primary rule by which I reside my life: Do as a lot epic shit as I presumably can. And capturing a swan, whereas nonetheless morally grey in my guide, was undeniably epic. 

The Swan Guru

Just a few years in the past, I interviewed Chad Yamane, Ducks Unlimited’s regional director of Utah, for a narrative on the challenges and local legislation of swan hunting. When my buddy didn’t draw his personal tag, I reached out to Yamane to ask  if he’d nonetheless think about taking me below his wing that season. Yamane is a Utah native who’s been looking swans for almost 25 years. He began looking when the technique was to set spreads of white rubbish baggage and name swans by shouting “woo!”

He agreed to take me out, and we met on public land looking land located close to protected waterfowl migration ponds.

In between handfuls of Muddy Buddies Chex combine, Yamane instructed me how the swans will hang around on refuges all day to keep away from hunters. However, quickly sufficient the birds eat the entire meals within the small protected space and have to search around for extra. If left unpressured, the birds will decimate the meals sources for your entire space over a season. Yamane mentioned that’s why hunters are needed to maneuver them alongside.

Armed with extra info on the conservation targets behind swan looking, I felt fairly strongly about killing a tundra. The birds wait till the afternoon to lastly go away the protected waters, and that’s the perfect time to focus on them.

Most hunters stroll the dikes bordering these waters and hope that the swans will fly low sufficient for pass-shooting. However Yamane has amassed a powerful unfold of swan decoys and a singular expertise for mimicking their high-pitched ooo-ing flight name.

Gone with the Wind

The solar began to set; Yamane, Harley (his trusty black Lab), and I hid within the boat blind, together with half a dozen different boats scattered across the tiny wetland. Then, the birds began to fly. Yamane gave me some pointers: Have a look at the pinnacle, and lead the chook. As a result of they’re so massive, tundra swans are inclined to appear to be they’re shifting slower than they’re. However they’ve a couple of 5-foot wingspan and one flap of these large wings will put them out in entrance of your pellets. 

Clearly the opposite hunters within the space didn’t have a veteran swan hunter whispering suggestions of their ears, as a result of they shot at excessive birds and elicited extra expletives from Yamane than birds hitting the water. To be honest, I didn’t get a shot off both. As an alternative I realized that no wind means the birds can fly as excessive as they need, far-off from us hunters on the water beneath.

The swans had been gone with the wind, however I used to be completely hooked. Lots of of extremely large but balletic birds belted throughout the sundown, and I had a entrance row seat. I used to be completely jazzed for my hour and a half lengthy drive again to Salt Lake Metropolis, and I began to know why hunters goal these birds. Initially, I didn’t perceive the satisfaction in killing one thing stunning, however I undoubtedly wished to seize the magic of these large birds. 

Using in Fashion

Seems, the stoke from my first sit hadn’t ready me for the joy of the following hunt. To beat the crowds, we went the place not many can observe: the now very shallow Nice Salt Lake. It’s so shallow in reality, that it’s important to have an air boat to entry a few of the finest looking spots. Now, I’ve gone on a type of Florida alligator airboat excursions earlier than, however it was nothing like whizzing over inches of glassy water and reeds alongside the Wasatch Vary.

One other first-time swan hunter and DU volunteer, John, accompanied us into the invasive bushy-topped reeds. We stood on quick platforms to maintain out of the mud and I gazed over on the snow capped mountains by the phragmites. The decoys had been littered about a big clearing with loads of touchdown zones. Tundra swans are huge, and so they want correspondingly sizable spots to land. 

First, we heard the ooo-ou’s. Yamane wooed again. Three swans flew low sufficient for a shot and with Yamane’s path, I pulled the set off on the entrance chook. I missed fully, not main the chook sufficient. The 2 others tailed behind the place John was on the prepared. One of many tailing birds veered away and the others fled. We fired once more, however now it was out of vary. It flew off, unscathed. 

Solely Right here For the Meals

Tundras are extremely robust animals, hailing from the Arctic. They migrate from the northern reaches of Alaska and Canada down the Pacific Flyway in unbelievable numbers: Roughly 80,000 fly by Utah yearly. I just lately spoke to Jason Jones, Utah DNR’s migratory chook coordinator, in regards to the inception of the season. 

The looking season for tundra swans began in 1962 right here in Utah. Not as a result of huge unhealthy hunters wished to shoot the biggest, prettiest birds they could, however due to a plant: sago pondweed.

Native to Utah, sago pondweed is an aquatic grass that thrives in clear, shifting water. It abounds within the managed levee system on the northeastern facet of the Nice Salt Lake the place waterfowl congregate on wildlife administration areas. Swans like to cease and munch on this plant and, left to their very own gadgets, they’ll eat themselves out of home and residential. That is significantly true given vanishing wetland habitat as extra of the desert state is developed by people.

If the sago pondweed is decimated on the Southern migration, there’s nothing left for them, or different waterfowl, to eat on the spring migration. Utah distributes extra swan tags than different states within the Pacific Flyway to fight this problem. Hunters are afforded the chance to focus on one of many largest flying birds in North America, and so they stress the swans sufficient to maneuver alongside and go away some pondweed for different waterfowl, like geese.

Breaking the Ice

With solely 10 days left within the season, I used to be decided to shoot a swan. By late November, the WMA waters had iced up. So the very first thing to do after we launched was break it up and create open water for swans to land. This concerned a pleasure experience throughout the wetland in Yamane’s boat as chunks of ice flew into the air and Harley huddled near me for heat.

One other looking occasion joined us in our donuts to interrupt up half the marsh. We parked shut sufficient that our decoys fashioned one large unfold. However after two hours, the damaged ice started to float into the decoys — inflicting Yamane to grouse ominously to himself. Finally he jumped in and strode by mud and ice hunks to interrupt up what he may. As soon as again within the boat, he mentioned we may maintain out for some breeze to push the ice away. We waited, and the ice scenario didn’t enhance, however it didn’t worsen, both. 

Finally the sky developed a cotton-candy hue and a full moon rose up over the hills for a wide ranging view. With 10 minutes left of capturing mild, and no feeling in my fingers, I willed a swan to seem. 

Then, a pair flew overhead and Yamane diligently referred to as to them. They swooped in entrance of us, and we fired as they leapfrogged one another over our unfold in an try to flee. Each sailed previous us and crashed down into the water on the opposite facet of the decoys.

“That solves the mating for all times drawback,” Yamane mentioned. “Simply shoot ‘em each!”

Residence Run

However there wasn’t a lot time for celebrating. I shook in chills and disbelief as I nervously watched our swans flop a lot additional away than I’d thought potential. However with two treasured minutes of capturing mild left, we needed to keep hid for the opposite boat. Content material with my very own success, I assumed there was no manner we’d see extra birds in such a short while after firing off so many photographs. 

However two extra tundras descended and the opposite boat dropped them each. We hurriedly dismantled our blind and took off after our two downed tundras that had been paddling to reverse ends of the wetland. In a testomony to their toughness, Yamane and I each jumped within the water to be able to corral one of many swans to the boat. With capturing mild over, we didn’t wish to hearth off one other shot. Finally, we pulled it in. 

Yamane mentioned that Swan belonged to John, the opposite new swan hunter. We motored off to gather mine, which was almost completed once we reached it. By the point we scooped it into the boat, all three of us had been grinning.

The Harvest

In Utah it’s essential to carry your swan to a test station to confirm it’s a tundra swan (it’s illegal to shoot trumpeter swans in Utah). I took my harvested chook into the DNR the next day, however after that, I used to be stumped on what to do. I reside in a one-bedroom condo in downtown Salt Lake. What was I purported to do with a large swan carcass?

I deliberate to not less than strive swan meat, so I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I may effectively butcher a chook in my bathtub. After some analysis, I made a decision to maintain the fats on one breast, which meant I’d need to pluck it. The whole lot I discovered on the web says, on no account, must you pluck a chook indoors. Apparently down feathers are more durable to eliminate than glitter.

So I arrange store on prime of a cooler on my entrance porch for anybody and God to see. I’m grateful my neighbors didn’t come residence. Classify butchering a swan in your city porch below issues that really feel unlawful, however most likely aren’t.

Delusion Busted

First, I attempted making swan jerky. It was wonderful, drying to an honest consistency. It tasted like Worcestershire sauce from the brine and never a lot else, which wasn’t unhealthy.

The second try was the actual check. I opted for a flowery sounding duck recipe I discovered on-line that used a miso glaze topped with balsamic peaches. After marinating the swan meat in miso paste, soy sauce, ginger, orange juice, and spices, I browned it in an On the spot Pot and let it stress cook dinner. I served it with white rice and roasted brussel sprouts, and … rattling, was it tasty. Think about the parable that swans are inedible busted. 

Swan looking was an journey not like every other looking I’ve skilled. It was wild and picturesque. I used to be in a position to absorb some unbelievable nature, and received to witness some spectacularly fascinating and difficult birds on their migration south. Whereas there are many good causes to hunt swans, like conservation, conversation-starting residence decor, and good eats, to me the perfect motive is the best: It’s depraved enjoyable.