Pheasants Forever Banquet Season

[Blackcat86]

I'm confident that the majority of you have heard of PF/Pheasants Forever. It is a decades-old organization infamous for PREACHING and TEACHING to anyone they can about everything they know concerning upland habitat. And, healthy upland habitat is THE common denominator that benefits YOU so YOU can do what YOU do when YOU are outdoors: i.e., have access to areas with healthy populations of myriad critters. Every upland species, from buffalo to butterflies, deer to ducks, hummingbirds to humans. and everything in between, benefits from access to areas with healthy upland habitat. And, the better the habitat, the better the species.

To accomplish all that PREACHING and TEACHING about upland habitat, PF has chapters (groups of volunteers) scattered about that are now REACHING out for the resources (people, property, time, and money) necessary to make healthy upland habitat happen. The REACHING out part most often occurs when some like-minded volunteers host a fundraiser, such as a banquet.

It is banquet season!

I invite you to visit PF's Website and support your local PF chapter. You can volunteer to help, leave all your disposable income, win some more gear, make some more friends, and know that you are benefiting an organization that benefits YOU in doing what YOU do when YOU are outdoors.

 

[Bigcountry40]

I will actually consider this as long as funding hunter recruitment or hunter safety courses are not priorities . Both literally are pissing donors money away and the main objective of so many other conservation non profits that are worthless.

 

[Blackcat86]

I will actually consider this as long as funding hunter recruitment or hunter safety courses are not priorities . Both literally are pissing donors money away and the main objective of so many other conservation non profits that are worthless.

Thanks for your consideration. PF's Chapter Manual (my edition is very old, like me) gives us its mission statement, which reads,

Pheasants Forever (PF)[/]Quail Forever (QF) [are] dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail[,] and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education[,] and land management policies and programs. p6

Except for membership dues, it goes on stating,

The goal of Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever Chapters is to expend the maximum amount of money raised each year through means such as banquets and other activities, for the benefit of local PF/QF projects (i.e., habitat improvement, education, land acquisition, etc.). p11

Due to the unique structure of Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever where chapters retain control over when and how to spend all of the net funds they raise...P17 (emphasis mine)

So, each chapter raises funds and decides how to use them, a very unique policy in a national conservation organization.

Recruitiing members is very necessary for any organization to last. New members, young and old, don't need to be hunters in order to join. We have several members in our chapter that don't hunt; some don't even shoot. (Can you imagine that!?) But, if any member wanted to learn to shoot, hunt, work on equipment, run a banquet, and/or simply socialize at our monthly meetings, our chapter does it all. Plus, most of it is fun.

Hunter safety training is VERY important. Ohio DOW offers the course online.

 

[giles]

You two aren't real far from each other.

 

[Bigcountry40]

You two aren't real far from each other.

I would love to see the reemergence of pheasants, more habitat and access in NW Ohio. But all the organizations around here just want to take non hunting kids hunting, donate to hunter safety courses and pay administrators $$$$. The odnr provides an excellent options for educating and anybody that thinks we need more competition for a limited resource is a Tim Walz.

 

[OO2]

Ohio PF hot spots more than any other state in the annual phez forecast, what’s up with that?

Really putting everyone’s upland diary notes to good use.

 

[Blackcat86]

You two aren't real far from each other.

Thanks, but I'm already seeing someone else and have been for the past 56 years. Ha!

I would love to see the reemergence of pheasants, more habitat and access in NW Ohio....

Who among us wouldn't? NW Ohio pheasant population is directly proportional to available and healthy upland habitat. NW Ohio pheasant hunter populations are directly proportional to accessible healthy pheasant populations. NW Ohio pheasants and NW Ohio pheasant hunters have seen more than one "hay day," with amazing periods followed by not-so-anazing periods. I have gone through one Cocker and three Springers in more than one of those amazing periods. But the old pendulum keeps swinging, and that which once was can sometimes come back when you least expect it.

I can't fault the farmers; their land is theirs to do as they see fit. Ag practices change and have a direct and sudden impact on upland species. Land sales for urbanization have a huge and lasting impact on upland habitat and its accessibility. But who knows? Solar farms might turn out to be a healthy upland habitat, though access may prove problematic. Ha, again!

I'm not going to quit trying to get more NW Ohio upland habitat and help improve that which we already have. I plan on running out the clock as a member of PF, raising resources so that they at the national level can corral the politics and land grabs (Hell, the 2018 Farm Bill is still active!) while volunteering at the local level to do my part and help make it happen.

I hope you all join us.

 

["J"]

Thanks, but I'm already seeing someone else and have been for the past 56 years. Ha!


Who among us wouldn't? NW Ohio pheasant population is directly proportional to available and healthy upland habitat. NW Ohio pheasant hunter populations are directly proportional to accessible healthy pheasant populations. NW Ohio pheasants and NW Ohio pheasant hunters have seen more than one "hay day," with amazing periods followed by not-so-anazing periods. I have gone through one Cocker and three Springers in more than one of those amazing periods. But the old pendulum keeps swinging, and that which once was can sometimes come back when you least expect it.

I can't fault the farmers; their land is theirs to do as they see fit. Ag practices change and have a direct and sudden impact on upland species. Land sales for urbanization have a huge and lasting impact on upland habitat and its accessibility. But who knows? Solar farms might turn out to be a healthy upland habitat, though access may prove problematic. Ha, again!

I'm not going to quit trying to get more NW Ohio upland habitat and help improve that which we already have. I plan on running out the clock as a member of PF, raising resources so that they at the national level can corral the politics and land grabs (Hell, the 2018 Farm Bill is still active!) while volunteering at the local level to do my part and help make it happen.

I hope you all join us.

Damn, you are old!

 

[Blackcat86]

Damn, you are old!

Like the saying goes: Age is just a number. Then again, you're not the first to mention that to me.

 

[GoetzTalon]

I’m 62 and the only period of great pheasant hunting in northern wood county ended in the early to mid 80’s. Never recovered and probably never will. Habitat and farming are the main reasons. Every wind row has been cut for a couple more bushels of grain. Raptors are out of control along with invasive species like phragmites and Canada thistle. The NW county’s like Williams and Delaware still have a chance. Urban sprawl didn’t help either. I’m happy thought that I got to experience some great pheasant hunting back in the day.

 

[giles]

Growing up hunting ottawa county in the 90s i can remember many PF fields. Is that not the same anymore?

 

[Blackcat86]

I’m 62...

Ah, to be so young again.

...the only period of great pheasant hunting in northern wood county ended in the early to mid 80’s. Never recovered and probably never will.

That's the only period that you are aware of during your lifetime. I have heard about landowners in NW Ohio renting out places for hunters from "out of town" to sleep because all the public accommodations were full.

Never say never. The late '90s in the NW corner of NW Ohio proved to be the apogee (that's a real word!) of healthy upland habitat and abundant populations of pheasants. The Ag players had been cooling their heels waiting for the US economy of the '80s to emerge from an economic recession, it having been more serious than our government liked to admit. (Mortgage rates then were 13-1/8% and more. Yikes!) Ringnecks were everywhere because healthy upland habitat was everywhere, too. And, as the song goes, the fishing was easy.

Sensing a "new day," the Ag players went all in to make up for lost time and lost revenues. But, outdoors folks soon took note that the habitual honeypot spots were changing faster than a knife fight in a phone booth. (Remember those?) Upland habitat was growing more corn and beans than upland critters. Canada geese and turkeys quickly adapted to the point of becoming private property pests. They loved what was happening. But pheasants? Not so much.

"Small" family farms were the norm back in the day. Many farmers had taken other supplemental jobs during the past recession. They and their small farm implements were getting old. Farming is hard work! And, expensive! Recruiting young replacements was not keeping up with the older incumbents. That steady paycheck from "supplemental" work was looking better and better.

The Go Big or Go Bust Boys saw the opportunity and pounced on it. They rented or bought all land that was offered. They had the resources to do what they do. And they did: pulling up fence rows, tiling and covering ditches, filling in wetlands. Their shiny new supersized money machines paid off well. They relished in supersized fields where they didn't have to stop and turn around as often. They wanted, no needed, accessible new technology to effectively and efficiently operate. So, a few phone calls later, 5G towers popped up. There went the remaining "weeds" from what was really the last vestiges of upland habitat. What followed over the next couple of decades was the steady decline of pheasant populations.

Now the government did its best to come to the rescue. In the early '80's, USDA's Conservation Reserve Program/CRP kicked off to stem the tide of losses of healthy upland habitat (and so much more). Ohio landowners picked up that ball and ran with it like no other. But like most things governmental, it's been on life support ever since the coveted 25-year set-aside fields were no longer offered. Bureaucratic BS always wins.

Growing up hunting ottawa county in the 90s i can remember many PF fields. Is that not the same anymore?

I'm not clear on what you call 'PF fields." Do you mean fields whose landowners are "cooperators" with PF guidance?

So ends the Book of Bob. SWMBO is giving me that, "Take me out to a winery fast or else I'll go shopping by myself" look.

PF came on the scene in the early '80s. It wasn't a coincidence. It was a need. And it needs our support today.

 

[giles]

Correct, CRP looking fields with the little PF signs.

 

[OO2]

Correct, CRP looking fields with the little PF signs.

PF worked with other partners to purchase ~420 acres, the Mallet Tract, near Marion and Big Island WA. That is one of the most recent acquisitions I can think of. Not sure if that one has a sign at the parking areas.

I have seen a few of those PF signs on the public land I’ve ran my Brittanies for pheasants in Ohio.

That’s not to say PF/QF hasn’t made contributions to the management of the others that don’t have signs.