32 Nebraskaland • March 2026
Dave Brandt, a retired USGS
biologist from North Dakota, led the
trapping effort in late-February and
early-March. In pre-scouted locations
in pastures between Wood River and
Grand Island, the trapping team set
up to four 10-meter snare lines made
of heavy monofilament line and
spray painted to match the color of
the prairie grass. They also set up the
"ring of fire," a spring-powered, radio-
triggered snare Brandt designed and
built. With traps set before dawn, they
watched and waited in nearby blinds.
Brandt has helped band around
3,000 sandhill cranes and put GPS
trackers on another 700 sandhills as
The solar-powered, GPS-tracking leg bands used in the Crane Trust research
project weigh just 2.3 ounces.
A crane flies from its roost on the Platte River.
