Swans are under the gun right now.
Members of seven Chippewa Indian tribes in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan can hunt both species of North American swan — trumpeter and tundra — under permission given this year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The season opened Saturday.
Tundra swans are legal game in eight states, but trumpeter swans are protected everywhere. Killing one, even unintentionally, can draw a large fine.
But because swans are part of their hunting tradition, Chippewa Indians have been given special permission to hunt them this year.
According to Peter David, wildlife biologist with the Great Lakes Indian Fishing and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), the hunt is intended for tundra swans, but incidental take of trumpeter swans is anticipated.
That may be because tundras and trumpeters look so much alike that identifying them on the wing is almost impossible. And while tundra swans are migrants moving through the area, trumpeter swans are local nesters. That could make trumpeters the easier bird to target.
Harvest of trumpeters, incidental or intended, is limited to 10 birds total in the three states. The limit on tundra swans is two per day through the Dec. 31 end of the season. Any swans killed are to be brought to registration points for identification. If and when 10 trumpeters have been killed, the entire hunt ends.
Back from the brink
Trumpeter swans were here when the first European settlers arrived, but they were killed for food and much of their habitat was plowed under. They disappeared from their historic breeding territory in Minnesota and Wisconsin.