Game Farm breaking the bank?

Good to here first hand info, when you ran your preserve what kinda doe if ya don't mind did you have to pay for birds or did you raise them from the incubator? And Please you guy's that are running preserves and farms here do not take this post wrong, I was just wondering what goes into all of it and if there again is cheaper alternatives. there is definately people out there that would pay who knows how much just to have the fanciest place you can find. so no shots are being taken here to preserve owners. If nothing else maybe this can grow into an informative way for those guy's to make more money with some one offering Ideas.
 
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It's $25 per hunter, $10 per pheasant released at the game farm in Clay Center, KS. Totally self-guided, no membership. I believe they will release them for you at that price. Their advertised package is 6 birds for $80.

I went there before my trips to Western KS to do some dog training. I just picked up a crate of birds and planted them myself on their CSA so I could work my young dog in a controlled environment before taking her to "pheasant mecca".

I thought it was a steal. The birds flew fast, high, and far. I missed one on my first trip, and it flew a half mile. On my second trip, I fumbled one while getting it out of the cage. I think it may have landed in Nebraska... I thought it was an excellent place to train my dogs, and will be going back next season.
 
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I mostly raised my own birds. I did several levels from incubating to at the end buying day olds. Day olds seemed to be the best way because you didnt have the risk in incubator trouble or fertility trouble. Next trouble was how many problems getting them grown. Pheasant are fairly simple but getting them out of the brooder house needed 5-7 good days of weather in flight pens before a good thunderstorm. Thunderstorm happens in that time frame they get wet cold and pile like a mother. even with small shelters in the pens. If I would run short on birds they would usually cost me 10 dollars a bird straight run roosters. I believe the cheapest I bought were maybe 8. My preserve I only allowed roosters to be shot because I also had wild birds on the properties. IMO my biggest trouble was to far from the cities. I was 2.5 hours from the population that I needed to attract. The man hours in this business is not appreciated. I also held several tournaments and that is another huge process. If you held smaller tournaments you made a little money. If you held large tournaments you broke even or maybe lost a little. I ran NAGDA,NBDCA, and open shoots. I will say I loved the tournaments and most of the people but had a hard time making it pencil. So the next time you believe entries are to high these people really are just trying to stay alive.
 
While it may seem high on the surface, I really think it is a more than fair price for what these people provide. I own my own business and know full well what it costs to have any kind of business and try to make a dime at the end of the day. Just the feed alone that they consume from the time they hatch until you fill them full of lead is going to dent the profit right off the bat. Then there is electricity for heat lamps, the cost of the birds, the cost of the loss of the birds that die, and hopefully you can buy yourself a meal from time to time.

Hell, it's a tough world out there for everyone at this point and time.
 
engpointerman said:
I mostly raised my own birds. I did several levels from incubating to at the end buying day olds. Day olds seemed to be the best way because you didnt have the risk in incubator trouble or fertility trouble. Next trouble was how many problems getting them grown. Pheasant are fairly simple but getting them out of the brooder house needed 5-7 good days of weather in flight pens before a good thunderstorm. Thunderstorm happens in that time frame they get wet cold and pile like a mother. even with small shelters in the pens. If I would run short on birds they would usually cost me 10 dollars a bird straight run roosters. I believe the cheapest I bought were maybe 8. My preserve I only allowed roosters to be shot because I also had wild birds on the properties. IMO my biggest trouble was to far from the cities. I was 2.5 hours from the population that I needed to attract. The man hours in this business is not appreciated. I also held several tournaments and that is another huge process. If you held smaller tournaments you made a little money. If you held large tournaments you broke even or maybe lost a little. I ran NAGDA,NBDCA, and open shoots. I will say I loved the tournaments and most of the people but had a hard time making it pencil. So the next time you believe entries are to high these people really are just trying to stay alive.
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Sorry to here about the way things worked out for you, the location probably really got trouble for you if there was one closer to the metro. But the incu. and day old thing I relate to. Some years the incu. works flawlessly, the next it took half the season to get a decent batch. The day old thing and the rain brings horror storys, I lost the whole works during them storms If I didn't go and chase the birds back in every day.I started misting them lightly right away when they went out off and on and that seemed to help get the feathers oils and stuff going faster. Then you get the cocksidosis crap and thats another battle that loses a bunch. Last time I raised 700 from my sportsman incubator and at the end I only had about a hundred. The heat climbed from 42 to 90 degrees in one day and they were on lights (day or Two old) and it cooked 250 of em in 3 hrs. I now wised up and have thermestdats on the lights. hope things go better this year. So some of the things and costs and trouble you guy's go through I can relate to. It is a hell of allot of work takeing care of the birds. Lately I have been just buying full grown for our training group and getting them for 6-7 $, wich I think is verry reasonable. The elevators let me clenup corn and beans, oats whatever and have been able to basicly feed them for free except the getting it. So I can take care of them and let em go for 9 at training and break even to cover the few dead ones. Thats kinda the just of it for me I guess. this year I am going to buy 400 eggs right off the bat and fill the incubator right away to get a jump. see how it goes.
 
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JayhawkJ.

(quoted from their website)
McNeil Game Farm and Outfitting, L.L.C., operates a licensed controlled shooting area (CSA) and will provide a six-bird hunt for $80 per gun. Our CSA is operated using our own top quality, high flying hens and roosters.

http://mcneilgamefarm.com/CSA.html
 
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