MIX Challenge

wesslpointer

wesslpointer

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http://www.pheasantsforever.org/seed Lets say your a sportsman group in the Dakotas and your given the use of 40 acres of good crop land for 4 or 5 years with the STIPULATIONS. 1] You leave the soil in better shape than when you started. 2] You maximize the production/year around survival of wild Pheasants. 3] You pay for all costs of seeds/farming est. with the limited harvesting/selling of some of the crops grown. "not selling hunting" Lets see what you can come up with like type of crops, % planted and how you get income to cover costs and maximize Pheasants.
 
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wesslpointer said:
http://www.pheasantsforever.org/seed Lets say your a sportsman group in the Dakotas and your given the use of 40 acres of good crop land for 4 or 5 years with the STIPULATIONS. 1] You leave the soil in better shape than when you started. 2] You maximize the production/year around survival of wild Pheasants. 3] You pay for all costs of seeds/farming est. with the limited harvesting/selling of some of the crops grown. "not selling hunting" Lets see what you can come up with like type of crops, % planted and how you get income to cover costs and maximize Pheasants.
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Great question! I am trying to figure out something that will work on a quarter of CRP that came out last year. The differnces are that I get to use livestock and I will be selling hunting. I am going to try a combination of winter wheat, corn, beans and cover crops. I have two years to convert the grass to crop land or I lose some crop insurance protection. I am thinking that the winter wheat will provide the nesting and the cover crops corn and beans the food. This should provide alot of edges for a bird that likes edges. It will be interesting to see what comes up for suggestions. I am not sure that my idea is profitable but I will give it a try.
 
haymaker said:
Great question! I am trying to figure out something that will work on a quarter of CRP that came out last year. The differnces are that I get to use livestock and I will be selling hunting. I am going to try a combination of winter wheat, corn, beans and cover crops. I have two years to convert the grass to crop land or I lose some crop insurance protection. I am thinking that the winter wheat will provide the nesting and the cover crops corn and beans the food. This should provide alot of edges for a bird that likes edges. It will be interesting to see what comes up for suggestions. I am not sure that my idea is profitable but I will give it a try.
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Haymaker I think a program like this that can use the CRP could benefit the small towns in the Pheasant states by incorporating the free enterprise system makes more sense than putting control of nonnative game bird hunting in the hands of the FED"s with a Stamp.
 
wesslpointer said:
http://www.pheasantsforever.org/seed Lets say your a sportsman group in the Dakotas and your given the use of 40 acres of good crop land for 4 or 5 years with the STIPULATIONS. 1] You leave the soil in better shape than when you started. 2] You maximize the production/year around survival of wild Pheasants. 3] You pay for all costs of seeds/farming est. with the limited harvesting/selling of some of the crops grown. "not selling hunting" Lets see what you can come up with like type of crops, % planted and how you get income to cover costs and maximize Pheasants.
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I think I need to explain my Idea. If your a small town that has gas/food /lodging but your pheasants are in decline instead of waiting years for them to come back. Why not incorporate the CRP with improvements that help your town's economy. Lets say you take 40ac out of each 160ac in the area put them in a program like this and in just a couple of years your back and running. The farmer would get his land restored as well as a CRP payment and tax relief to equal to what he would have made if not in the program. He would also be helped is community . Having a large number of these plots the pheasants would move around and with a late start hunting pressure would have little impact and of course the hunters would have a place to hunt . win win win Help we out with this.
 
Are you suggesting every field has a section "in rest" to improve soil quality then after a period of time the habitat/area is then moved to another area of the field-- in doing so the section that was in habitat is then put back into crops? Kind of a rotation practice? With payment going toward such a program the cost may be very high for something like this. nick
 
1pheas4 said:
Are you suggesting every field has a section "in rest" to improve soil quality then after a period of time the habitat/area is then moved to another area of the field-- in doing so the section that was in habitat is then put back into crops? Kind of a rotation practice? With payment going toward such a program the cost may be very high for something like this. nick
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Yes a rotation ever 5 years to a different 40 in each 160. It would pay for its self except for the CRP money. The increased revenue "to pay the farmer" would come from hunters staying and hunting the area on the taxes collected on gas/food /lodging .
 
Some thing like this would pull a lot of acres out of production. Grain prices would most likely go up so farmers would make more for less. Sounds good. Let's do it:D
Nick
 
1pheas4 said:
Some thing like this would pull a lot of acres out of production. Grain prices would most likely go up so farmers would make more for less. Sounds good. Let's do it:D
Nick
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I don't know how it would effect grain prices. I see it as shifting some of the CRP program from large acres of poor farm land to 40 ac of better farm land around towns that could use them "40ac" to improve the Pheasant hunting and there economy.
 
That may be tough. It's hard enough as is trying to get marginal farm land into CRP. I'm still in though. Nick
 
1pheas4 said:
That may be tough. It's hard enough as is trying to get marginal farm land into CRP. I'm still in though. Nick
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Is not the reason why its hard to get it in because farmers can make more money farming? With this the farmer gets the CRP as well as a tax credit from the county would make about the same. The county gets more tax money/income because of the money spent by the hunters in the area. The town people also make more from the hunters and the land gets improved. Now all we need is a town in Pheasant country a PF or sportsman group. I would come each fall to check out the Pheasant population .:thumbsup:
 
I like the concept but there are a couple wrinkles that need to be worked out, but that is why you have brought this up is to work on the wrinkles. Our county does not have a sales tax, so money spent does not directly get to the county. If a business prospers and expands then some of that money could get to the county. I am a county comissioner and I don't think we can afford to give too many tax breaks and keep our budget like it should be. The concept of rotation every five years is good and would do wonders for the soil biology and structure as well as water infiltration. Ten years is too long the productivity tails off. It could be a pilot program to see how it works before it was expanded. It is good to have positive suggestions and dialouge.
 
You seem to be the man to ask Haymaker, I'm wondering what a ballpark of a fair market price for rent and crp payment on quality farmland would be? It would give me a better idea of if this could be economically feasible.
 
quail hound said:
You seem to be the man to ask Haymaker, I'm wondering what a ballpark of a fair market price for rent and crp payment on quality farmland would be? It would give me a better idea of if this could be economically feasible.
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I know of land that has rented for as high as $180 per acre. That is the high that I know of. Probably$130 would be in the ball park now.
 
I don't think taking out 1/4 of the farm ground would work?
Like in a 40 in a 160. With Wessl's plan a 40 in each sq mile may be realistic and raise a LOT of pheasants. 40's could be used bordering another 40 in the next section. Often a 40 could border a cattail pond or a brushy creek, some cases bordering an existing WMA.

If a Fed upland stamp would work with a plan like this I would buy handfull of stamps anually. They won't of course, the Fed would use the money for another study or employee benefits/comforts. :confused:

If counties would take on this it would be fun wouldn't it. :thumbsup:
Could Counties or several cooperating counties say? charge their own upland stamp to help support a program like this?
We all would pay $50 for a stamp to hunt and support a program like this, I have no doubt. :cheers:
 
Yeah. Something like $20 for an upland stamp then an added cost for privileges to hunt any of these lands nation wide. Pheasants forever county chapter funds go toward additional funding---- along with other habitat orgs.
 
Interesting thoughts guys. Another wrinkle I see is that you need to market the project year around. The local motel, restaurant, and gas station can't make it on business 3 months out of the year. You would need to market the bird watchers, other groups of people who love wildlife, and other venues to keep people coming during all times of the year. I like the idea of having multiple smaller plots dotting the countryside. Birds that get pushed off don't have to travel far to another block of cover. Sign me up I am interested! And yes I would pay extra to support a long term solution like this.
 
Hi all, possible that I'm reading this 7 years late but this is an outstanding idea. Not sure how the logistics would work out, but if it's possible then you can sign me up for a $25 game bird stamp.
 
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