Hullett Marsh 2016 Pheasant Release Program

[FOH]

As an update we now have sold 58 tickets for an income of $580.

Hullett Pheasant Costs - paid for by Friends of Hullett (FOH)

- $8000 to purchase the birds.
- $2000 to mow the upland habitat
- Wages (to release), fuel, administration and MNRF licence fees = approx. $1000

Therefore at this point in 2016 we are incurring over $10,000 in costs to keep this program going!

Pheasant hunters are the most financially consumptive users of the property when compared to hikers, photographers, small game, deer and waterfowl hunters.

September 10th is coming soon....please help us fund the mowing program and purchase your tickets! A big thanks to those who have purchased already.

FOH

[finsfurfeathers]

As an update we now have sold 58 tickets for an income of $580.

Hullett Pheasant Costs - paid for by Friends of Hullett (FOH)

- $8000 to purchase the birds.
- $2000 to mow the upland habitat
- Wages (to release), fuel, administration and MNRF licence fees = approx. $1000

Therefore at this point in 2016 we are incurring over $10,000 in costs to keep this program going!

Pheasant hunters are the most financially consumptive users of the property when compared to hikers, photographers, small game, deer and waterfowl hunters.

September 10th is coming soon....please help us fund the mowing program and purchase your tickets! A big thanks to those who have purchased already.

FOH

Going to be blunt. The cost of mowing should be recouped from hikers, dog walkers, photographers, and horse back riders. At least for me I tend to avoid manicured areas just hunts better.

[dilly]

FFF, I agree with you. I was there today and....don't want to sound like a jerk, but I like it just the way it is now. When it's mowed really low, my dogs range too far. I kinda like it when the cover is rough and tall. I tend to hunt those spots anyway.

One question I have...if we raise half the funds for mowing, will it be mowed half as much?

[finsfurfeathers]

FFF, I agree with you. I was there today and....don't want to sound like a jerk, but I like it just the way it is now. When it's mowed really low, my dogs range too far. I kinda like it when the cover is rough and tall. I tend to hunt those spots anyway.

One question I have...if we raise half the funds for mowing, will it be mowed half as much?

Ya for me money raised for the pheasant hunt would be best used buying pheasants. Trail maintenance should be trail user responsibility. As you said I like the rough too if not than would take up golf.

[FOH]

Thanks for the input Dilly and FFF. We appreciate your points and maybe others will chime in as well. The point we are trying to make is that OBDCA paid $1500 - $2000 each year to fund the mowing of their dog trial course. We do not want pheasant hunters to be surprised if they do not see this type of mowing done this year.

We must mow fallow fields as part of our Habitat Management Plan with MNRF to control timber and shrub growth whether native or not such as Autumn Olive and try to maintain and restore grasslands.

Access points, dykes, parking lots, roadsides and agricultural access will always need to be mowed to control timber growth.

Maybe we do not need to mow the cover this year if it does not have timber growth?

This will free up resources and put the Pheasant release cost down to $9000.

It would be nice to see the tickets sales at 400 this year to cover 50% of the bird purchase costs.

We welcome opinions from pheasant hunters to understand your concerns, please keep them coming!

FOH

[Lor79]

Surprised there are no mandatory fees to hunt pheasants at Hullet (as far as I know there are no other places in Ontario where it is optional to pay and hunt pheasant). We are very lucky to have a place like Hullett, why not charge some sort of pheasant hunt permit fees ? Anywhere else fees are pretty high to hunt phez, which is understandable considering the cost of birds ... Just a thought.
Lorenzo

[dilly]

I think there is a charter in place that forbids the charging of fees, but I could be wrong. It certainly is a gem when you consider there are no charges to use the space. No charge, but it ain't free either. For the number of people that hunt there, it should be easy to cover the costs. Just gotta shame some folks into digging into their pockets.

[welsh]

Surprised there are no mandatory fees to hunt pheasants at Hullet (as far as I know there are no other places in Ontario where it is optional to pay and hunt pheasant).

Fingal.

As to mowing, I don't agree this is a horseback rider/hiker/etc. problem -- they use the trails, and we're talking about all that work to mow the grassy cover into little patches. For my part, I'm equally happy if that mowing isn't done. We might see more birds using the open grassy areas as a result.

[fishhawk]

It wouldn't bother me if the fields didn't get mowed. Especially if that means more money for the pheasants.

[FOH]

Thank you all for your input to this thread. As Dilly stated we are not allowed to charge fees to hunt pheasants on the property. That is why the "Pheasant Challenge" was created 16 years ago. It allows concerned hunters a chance to show support for the pheasant release.

In 2014 157 tickets were sold and 212 in 2015 so we are moving in a good direction. The 6 Ideal Supply locations where tickets are available have helped with this.

It seems that all who have posted here so far would prefer not to have extensive mowing in the uplands. Perhaps a few cuts connecting fields and maintaining openings between fields for access will work well for 2016? There will be habitat restoration targets mowed in 2016 to control timber growth in shrubby areas.

We have also received a $125 donation this month towards the pheasant program. Donations can be allocated to the program and charitable tax receipts are issued.

200 birds will be released before opening day with the other 800 released during the season this year as in past years. Bird #'s will be lower for the opener due to OBDCA not hosting their trial in early September and releasing their 150-200 birds of which some would survive until the opener.