2020 Hullett Marsh Pheasant Release

[FOH]

Hello Pheasant Hunters,

Thanks to your support we are pleased to announce that FOH has decided to continue the release of pheasants at Hullett Marsh for the upcoming 2020 fall hunting season!

A big thanks goes out to Ideal Supply & Clinton Sporting Goods for sponsoring the “Pheasant Challenge” with prizes as well as selling tickets for the draw. Ideal Supply has donated the generator for many years now and Clinton Sporting Goods donated the shotgun for 2019.

Many pheasant programs in Ontario have failed to survive for a number of reasons including but not limited to: lack of volunteer and financial support. Costs to administer the release program include staff wages, fuel, FOH supplied prizes, MNRF game bird licence, lotto licence, ticket printing, advertising and administration. FOH has released 1000 pheasants each year since 2013. Using the funding from the 2018 season, 785 birds were funded but 1000 were released in 2019 leaving us in a deficit.

Moving forward, the number of birds released will be determined by the financial support that we receive towards the program.

• FOH have allocated $3000 raised at the 2019 spring Dinner & Auction to purchase next fall’s birds.
• Currently we have received $500 cash donated directly to the pheasant release. (charitable tax receipts issued)
• We also have $3800 of sold “Pheasant Challenge” stubs turned in so far.

This means that there will be 709 birds released in the fall of 2020, as of right now.

You have until December 31/19 to purchase tickets or make a donation allocated to the 2020 release. This support will get us closer to the 1000 bird goal or possibly beyond!

Please contact us to make a donation or buy tickets. This is also easily done via PayPal on our website - look for the “Donate” buttons.

Thank you for your continued support!

[JMatthews]

I bought my tickets online. Very easy to do and a great way to get more pheasants out in the fields next year.

[dilly]

I will be the one to say it, if you hunt there and don’t contribute, you should be ashamed of yourself.

[FOH]

I bought my tickets online. Very say to do and a great way to get more pheasants out in the fields next year.

Thank you very much John, we did receive your ticket purchase on October 10th!

PayPal is new to our website and works well for people who trust the system such as you!

[FOH]

5

I will be the one to say it, if you hunt there and don’t contribute, you should be ashamed of yourself.

There are so many ways to contribute and perhaps next year some of the regular pheasant hunters can sell a book or two of tickets for us.

Thanks Dilly for custom turkey called that you made and donated to FOH a few weeks ago.

This beautiful call will certainly fetch some good $ at our 2020 spring Auction/Dinner!

[KennyT]

I am not a pheasant hunter, but occasionally try to kick up rabbits. One thing I have noticed is that some of the WMU's around me still charge the township licence fee to hunt "rabbits and pheasants". I do not mind the extra fee, as I am able to cover it and am pretty used to getting gouged as a hunter. But that is another issue. However, it is difficult to get into all of the different township offices to obtain the requisite licences. Further, if you are visiting relatives and friends, you have to purchase the licence in advance. In most cases the township offices are closed on weekends, when most of us hunt. In some cases, the townships themselves do not even know where you are supposed to do this. So it is a poorly run program, yet is still enforced by CO's.

The relevance to your post is that the township licence fee was originally designed to help pay for habitat and stocking efforts. This was back when more municipalities stocked pheasants, which was many years ago. I have long thought that unless they are stocking, townships should no longer be able to charge this fee. Further, I think that it would be easier to have a "multi-township" option where you pay perhaps $25 and can hunt any of the stocked townships. This would enable hunters to travel and hunt elsewhere on short notice.

The key would be that municipalities would draw from the funds raised based purely upon their stocking efforts. For example, I pay township fees to hunt rabbits (and pheasants in theory but have never seen one there) in two areas where nothing is done to promote habitat or stocking. Since Hullett is the largest stocker of pheasants that I am aware of (again, not a pheasant guy and not claiming to be an expert), I believe that they would draw the vast majority of the township licence fees collected. I really do not mind that I would be paying a fee to Hullett and not hunting it, as the fees would at least be going to the betterment of the larger hunting community. Plus, the option would be open to me should I pursue it.

Lastly, I believe that there are day use or seasonal permits at some places, of which Hullett may be one. I am not suggesting that they be eliminated. I am just trying to divert the fees from the township pheasant and rabbit licences to a facility actually involved in promoting this type of hunting. Perhaps we could petition the MNR for change in an effort to help Hullett and similar facilities. Just a thought.

[FOH]

I am not a pheasant hunter, but occasionally try to kick up rabbits. One thing I have noticed is that some of the WMU's around me still charge the township licence fee to hunt "rabbits and pheasants". I do not mind the extra fee, as I am able to cover it and am pretty used to getting gouged as a hunter. But that is another issue. However, it is difficult to get into all of the different township offices to obtain the requisite licences. Further, if you are visiting relatives and friends, you have to purchase the licence in advance. In most cases the township offices are closed on weekends, when most of us hunt. In some cases, the townships themselves do not even know where you are supposed to do this. So it is a poorly run program, yet is still enforced by CO's.

The relevance to your post is that the township licence fee was originally designed to help pay for habitat and stocking efforts. This was back when more municipalities stocked pheasants, which was many years ago. I have long thought that unless they are stocking, townships should no longer be able to charge this fee. Further, I think that it would be easier to have a "multi-township" option where you pay perhaps $25 and can hunt any of the stocked townships. This would enable hunters to travel and hunt elsewhere on short notice.

The key would be that municipalities would draw from the funds raised based purely upon their stocking efforts. For example, I pay township fees to hunt rabbits (and pheasants in theory but have never seen one there) in two areas where nothing is done to promote habitat or stocking. Since Hullett is the largest stocker of pheasants that I am aware of (again, not a pheasant guy and not claiming to be an expert), I believe that they would draw the vast majority of the township licence fees collected. I really do not mind that I would be paying a fee to Hullett and not hunting it, as the fees would at least be going to the betterment of the larger hunting community. Plus, the option would be open to me should I pursue it.

Lastly, I believe that there are day use or seasonal permits at some places, of which Hullett may be one. I am not suggesting that they be eliminated. I am just trying to divert the fees from the township pheasant and rabbit licences to a facility actually involved in promoting this type of hunting. Perhaps we could petition the MNR for change in an effort to help Hullett and similar facilities. Just a thought.

Hullett does not have day use fees or seasonal permits. It is free to the public as Crown Land.

We do have a volunteer membership donation system where funds are used to maintain infrastructure such as parking lots, privies and signage. The member receives marsh updates, newsletters, vehicle decal and a charitable tax receipt.

[FOH]

After reaching out yesterday to our membership and on this OOD forum we are pleased to announce another $200 donated directly to the release program and the sale of $130 in Challenge tickets.

This equals 32 more pheasants towards our goal of 1000!

Thank you for the quick support response and lets keep this going!

The tickets make great stocking stuffers with the grand prizes.

[KennyT]

Fair enough. I believed there were some costs, but did not know the specifics. Hopefully most users donate voluntarily.

I still think that if we revised the permits for pheasants and rabbit township licences, Hullett would take the lion's share. It would also simplify things for hunters who travel a bit to hunt either.

[Ontdon]

Unfortunately funds that are put in a "general " fund in most government circumstances do not get used for "recreational " purposes, instead get gobbled up in short comings from other departments. |I agree with the concept but know too well how governments and politics work.