For the first time in 103 years, hunters will have a chance to bag a sandhill crane in Alabama. More than 15,000 of the long-legged gray birds migrate through northern Alabama each winter, stopping to rest and feed in wetlands, lakes, and agricultural fields. On October 2, some 600 residents entered a drawing to win one of 400 sandhill crane hunting permits.

At the turn of the 20th century, sandhill cranes had been nearly wiped out by hunters. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, however, led to a hunting ban, which gave them a chance to recover. Today, the North American population has rebounded to more than 600,000, and Alabama joins 15 other states that already allow hunting. (New