Originally Posted by Quest206
I had this conversation with a couple of the biologists from ACA and this is what was explained to me.
Pheasants definitely do cost a lot of money! Interestingly enough, we were able to have them shipped to our door from Wisconsin at a considerably cheaper rate than buying them from the hatchery here in Alberta (while they were still operational). We have definitely tossed around the idea of having a large scale hatchery here in Alberta again, but of course, the logistics and dollars involved in setting one up would be huge. Also, the manpower and expertise needed to run such a facility, or the cost of hiring an outfit capable of doing so, would also be very considerable from year to year. As it is right now, we are just paying for the birds, which takes up a large portion of our annual budget. MacFarlane’s was actually looking into setting up a shop here in Alberta, but looks to be on the back burner for now.
Program longevity – while ACA is committed to running the pheasant release program each year, we don’t know if this is a program we will have way into the future. To make investments into new facilities, we would need some sort of guarantee that this program will be around for the next 20? 30? 40? years…? No crystal ball, so it is difficult to say. We do know that for the foreseeable future, we will continue to set aside adequate budget for this program to purchase birds each year. ACA commits dollars each year to many types of projects that benefit both angling and hunting opportunities throughout the province – keep in mind that of over 120,000 hunting license holders in the province, less than 10,000 purchase pheasant hunting licenses…we need to spread out our budget accordingly. An interesting note, pheasant license sales in the province have almost doubled in the past 7-8 years…there is no doubt that it is becoming more popular, and will continue to administer the release program as best we can!
Increasing wild populations – yes, that is the ultimate goal! And it can only be done by increasing and improving habitat. That is goal we are trying hard to accomplish, but it is undoubtedly a challenge. Land is worth a lot down here – agriculture is king – and we need to continually be creative in how we gain partners so we can actually make on-the-ground change to improve habitat. This means working closely with the agricultural community, counties, irrigation districts – and the list goes on. There has been lots of partner dollars that have gone into habitat projects and there is a strong will to continue to do so. We are going to keep hammering away at this.
Hen releases in the south – while the fall pheasant release program only brings in roosters for the hunting season, our partnered project with 4H Alberta brings in over 10,000 hen chicks into the province each year. The 4H kids raise them to 16-18 weeks, and then they are released into suitable habitat areas. Here in the south, there are numerous local Fish and Game clubs who purchase the hens from the 4H kids and then release them where they think is best. The Lethbridge Fish and Game Association purchases 500 hens annually, and they are all released around the Milk River Ridge area. The hens are purchased at a modest price as well, so the dollar is stretched further than buying hens directly from a hatchery. The kids make a bit of money, and we get good quality birds released into the wild (not ‘spent hens’), a win-win situation!
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