Attention Ontario Pheasant Hunters - Conestogo Lake

Hey folks. As many of you know, in 2021, the Grand River Conservation Authority abruptly halted the Conestogo Lake pheasant hunt after several decades. The vague and murky reason detailed on their website says:
"Pheasant: The 2021 pheasant hunting program at Conestogo Lake Conservation Area is cancelled. The decision not to renew the contract to purchase pheasants is part of an overall operational review of our programs, based on recent changes to the Conservation Authorities Act and to ensure these programs align with our strategic priorities."

A few of us made some inquiries regarding this decision starting with members of the GRCA Board. What we quickly determined was that this decision was made arbitrarily by an interim superintendent with no consultation with stakeholders or user-groups and without any Board knowledge. I’m not sure how many forum members were blindsided by this, but in know the people I hunted with at Conestogo were shocked.

So, one forum member here “MCRabbit” has spearheaded a move to try to resurrect the Conestogo Lake pheasant hunt. He is a delegate with a presentation time slot for the upcoming GRCA Board meeting on Friday January 28^th at 9:30am. These are public meetings that can be viewed by anyone. They can be watched live or online after it concludes. He will be joined by the OFAH zone board member and the president of the local NAVHDA chapter.

Hunters…please give some consideration to tuning in on this meeting. This is how your hunting opportunities melt away. Little by little, hoping people either don’t notice, or don’t say anything. FYI, our local MPP Michael Harris (who says he is a hunter) is on the GRCA Board. These people are elected by us to speak for and/or listen to us.

A link to the GRCA site regarding the meeting is https://www.grandriver.ca/en/who-we-...-meetings.aspx

Please pass this info on to anyone you know that may not frequent this forum. I know there must be lots of people out there who are in the dark about what happened and how we are trying the convince the GRCA to give it another shot.

The meeting went very well this morning. A reminder...you can watch it as it is posted at this link. https://youtu.be/5yUIfVbPJ0g The portion including our presentation is not long and is worth a watch.

Well done guys.

Hunters want the Grand River Conservation Authority to revisit its decision to cancel the pheasant hunt program at Conestogo Lake.
The post Revisit pheasant hunt cancellation, hunters ask appeared first on Ontario OUT of DOORS.


More...

An update for those who are following this issue...Yesterday, the GRCA held a board meeting and again recommended to kill the pheasant program at Conestoga Lake. They tried to shoot down all three suggested solutions proposed by us to re-instate it and proposed a fourth resolution that would essentially eliminate all pheasant releases on their properties. The board was not entirely convinced and instead directed the GRCA to explore turning over the Conestoga Lake pheasant program to a volunteer "organization". So, more to come...

If anyone is interested, the GRCA has the meeting posted on their website and you can skip to the 56 minute mark to see the discussions specific to the pheasnt hunt.

On a side note, if anyone wonders how your hunting opportunities disappear, you should really watch some of this meeting. It clearly demonstrates how people with little or no knowledge about hunting can weigh in heavily on decisions that affect us all. With the raising of a hand, they can wipe away your opportunities often on a personal whim and due to total ignorance. They can also be a fantastic ally if we take the time to respectfully and professionally advocate for our sport and inform them through a bit of lobbying.

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Originally Posted by dilly

On a side note, if anyone wonders how your hunting opportunities disappear, you should really watch some of this meeting. It clearly demonstrates how people with little or no knowledge about hunting can weigh in heavily on decisions that affect us all. With the raising of a hand, they can wipe away your opportunities often on a personal whim and due to total ignorance. They can also be a fantastic ally if we take the time to respectfully and professionally advocate for our sport and inform them through a bit of lobbying.

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Totally agree with you on this and especially the last sentence.

Thanks for your efforts


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So where are we with this once the smoke clears?

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Originally Posted by Couliewalker

So where are we with this once the smoke clears?

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Our hope is, the release program will be turned over to a volunteer organization similar to Norfolk and Tiny Marsh. We will offer permits for sale at a reduced price because the profit making previously figured into GRCA's program will no longer be needed. An enjoyable and reasonable hunt will return to Conestoga with Luther Marsh a possiblity down the road.

This is all contingent on the GRCA actually participating in good faith and not stonewalling. It would help if there were less spectators and more participants in applying pressure to the GRCA. They seem to be under the impression that very few people care about this issue and if they ignore us, it will just go away.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dilly

Our hope is, the release program will be turned over to a volunteer organization similar to Norfolk and Tiny Marsh. We will offer permits for sale at a reduced price because the profit making previously figured into GRCA's program will no longer be needed. An enjoyable and reasonable hunt will return to Conestoga with Luther Marsh a possiblity down the road.

This is all contingent on the GRCA actually participating in good faith and not stonewalling. It would help if there were less spectators and more participants in applying pressure to the GRCA. They seem to be under the impression that very few people care about this issue and if they ignore us, it will just go away.

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any suggestions on how spectators can participate and take action? email contacts etc.?

The program is being resurrected! Stay tuned as I don't want to take the thunder away from the group who now has permission to run the hunt. once it all gets posted publically, I will come back a post a link to their site..(I'm working on it right now with them..)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckc123

The program is being resurrected! Stay tuned as I don't want to take the thunder away from the group who now has permission to run the hunt. once it all gets posted publically, I will come back a post a link to their site..(I'm working on it right now with them..)

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Great news!!

Will be interesting to see what hunters came up with as a program.

I know the Long Point Fish & Game Club has taken over the Pheasant Release Program on behalf of Norfolk County and is doing an excellent job of running it and could serve as a template to model by.

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Originally Posted by longpointer

I know the Long Point Fish & Game Club has taken over the Pheasant Release Program on behalf of Norfolk County and is doing an excellent job of running it and could serve as a template to model by.

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The fine folks in Norfolk were consulted, as were the Tiny Marsh guys, and the Friends of Hullett. Conestogo Lake, and the agreement with the GRCA is a bit different than the others, but there will be some similarities too.

https://www.ofah.org/2023/05/pheasan...ervation-area/
Hot off the presses

We have a Facebook group and Instagram account as well. Both under Conestogopheasantclub

Note that it is Conestogo with an “o”

Good job!

Question does the membership include access to the property to hunt pheasant or do you still need to purchase the hunting permit from Conestoga?

The membership will allow a person to hunt pheasants only in what is known as “area 3” only. And only from September 25 to Nov 27. Deer hunting week in November will not have a release. If this is all you want to do, no need for a GRCA permit. If you want to hunt rabbits and woodcock etc in areas OTHER than area 3, you need the GRCA permit.

Make sense?

Memberships went on sale today FYI. About 20 left.

thought they'd go quicker than that

Still a few left

https://oodmag.com/pheasant-hunt-ret...-to-conestogo/

A 45-year-old pheasant hunt that was cancelled in 2021 will return to Conestogo Lake Conservation Area (CLCA) this fall.

The first week of the reinstated Conestogo Lake pheasant hunt is almost over. So far it seems to be a huge success. Lots of positive feedback from happy hunters with happy dogs. Here is hoping this continues. Thanks to the members for being safe and courteous in the hunting area. Thanks to OFAH for their support and direction.

Happy hunting everyone.
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