After swans recover, Chippewa tribes begin hunt

ST. PAUL, Minn. - For the next two months, members of seven Chippewa Indian tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are allowed to hunt for tundra and trumpeter swans in ceded territories.

It's the first legal swan hunt in the Mississippi Flyway and the first hunt anywhere that allows trumpeter swans to be killed.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that while swan lovers have been critical, the hunt shows the trumpeter's swan comeback from nearly zero a few decades ago to perhaps 10,000 in Minnesota today.

To protect the trumpeter swans, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission says the season will end after a total of 10 trumpeter swans are shot, overall. Each hunter can shoot two swans of either species daily; there's no season limit on tundra swans.