The optimum time for conducting counts was found to be the early 
morning period while the cranes are leaving their roosts in successive 
groups. Cranes disperse widely over a large area during the daylight 
hours and normally do not return to the roosts until near or after dark. 
The technique used in this study was for the observers to station them- 
selves in a position near the roosts where they were able to recard the 
number of cranes in each of the departing groups. Because the cranes 
habitually left their roosts in small groups, it was possible to make 
accurate counts on large numbers of individuals by this method. 
(b) Depredations: Since the harvest had been completed and practi- 
cally all shocked grain had been removed from the fields before the crane 
season opened very little depredation occurred at that time. Complaints 
received from three farmers in the Roswell area were investigated and 
found to involve injury to grain crops, but the loss was not heavy. The 
fact that most of the cranes left the hunting area after a week of shoot- 
ing certainly suggests that hunting would control local damages if tle 
season was held at the time when serious depredations occur. 
Sandhill crane depredations in eastern New Mexico and western Texas 
have been studied over the years and have bem documented in research 
reports by Sperry (ms. 1939), Sooter (ms. 1919), and Linduska (ms. 1958). 
These studies indicated the existence of a serious depredation problem 
which has persisted throughout the years, varying in severity from year 
to year with changes in farming practices and weather. Damages to sorghum 
grain crops have been the most widespread and serious of the depredations 
committed by cranes; however, there have been numerous complaints involv- 
ing other types of damage. These include taking mature corm; excessive 
grazing on alfalfa; trampling freshly listed land, making it more suscepti- 
ble to wind erosion; trampling and breaking up small irrigation ditches 
and lister ridges, causing the loss or misdirection of irrigation water; 
puddling and compacting of soil. Tabulation of complaints received from 
farmers was made by the manager of the Muleshce Refuge in the 1957-58 
season. These were 5 in October, 209 in November, 1 in December, and 
5 in January. Estimates of loss on individual farms in this area that 
season were: (1) matured dry land milo, 10 percent of crop; 
(2) scratch in lister rows, pull young wheat and clip heads of mature 
wheat, 15 percent of crop; (3) grain bundles in shock, 20 percent of crop. 
Other examples of damage are: acres of green barley at Roswell com- 
pletely destroyed and 25 acres of sorghum 10 percent consumed by cranes 
in October, November, and December 1957; in November 1958 cranes ate ali 
the seed from the heads of 30 acres of shocked milo on a farm southeast 
of Roswell; on a farm northeast of that town a farmer estimated timt he 
lost 4,000 pounds of hegari seed to cranes in October 1958; the sam 
farmer reported that cranes consumed 50 percent of the late. }CFOP of 
alfalfa on a 30-acre field. 
