Some opinions on how much I could charge.

Maybe PD should answer this, but isn't there a risk of degrading the health of your wild quail and pheasants by releasing pen birds on your land? Any survivors that manage to breed your wild birds will just make them weaker, or possibly introduce disease, wouldn't they? And I would think your wild coveys would get shot out.

I like your pond ideas. Sounds like a place worth paying to hunt waterfowl.:thumbsup: Heck, I might even try it once...

And I know you are thinking primarily of using it for hunting, but a great fishing pond is worth some money too. Over the years my dad belonged to several fishing leases. One was a club that rented a fantastic pond, and later he paired up with a couple buddies and leased some sweet crappie ponds. Some guys will pay a premium to have a private fishing hole.

The turkey part sounds like a great idea too. A heated blind already set up in a good spot, yeah that sounds pretty luxurious. :thumbsup: Guys would definitely pay for that, plus lodging on site so you don't have to drive in from the nearest hotel... I'm sure there are lots of people who would pay for that.
 
On 120 acres I would not release pen raised birds if you already have sustainable wild birds. Yes, disease, predators start preying on the left over pen raised birds. Then you have more predators visiting the property. And the turnover on money isnt that good if you're not raising the birds yourself. I would do the waterfowl thing. People that pay on preserves for the most part are people that would rather shoot more than they walk. So sitting in a duck blind or layout goose blind is perfect. I would do the turkeys too in the spring. The season is short and again sitting not walking. U could do a licensed dog training area. The permit is much cheaper than the preserve permit. Dont need insurance for it, (But I would have general liability insurance anyway). My farm is listed as a trust so the taxes are easier on me too. I know in Missouri the permits went up this year. Lots of people are turning to chukars only.
 
I have used a few pen raised quail for dog training, they don't live long enough to be and issue, and I would not be doing this anywhere close to breeding season.

Really the most important part of the plan for me is the Duck and Goose hunting, along with letting someone come in a shoot some turkeys.

I just figured some so the duck hunters would like to shoot something that is better eating. If I was worried about pen raised quail being an issue, they could do pheasants, or Chukar.

How much you the out of state guys pay to come shoot a couple of Turkey in comfort?
 
I have a turkey heaven here at home. Hopefully I never have to go anywhere else to hunt. We have peacocks at the farm too so you dont even really need a call. My daughter and her friend have gotten one every year since they were nine years old. Plenty of em. The guys from here that go out to kansas turkey hunting say its pretty easy out there too to get em so I dont know how much out of state action you would get from missouri for turkey. Id say you would get more local action for that. I hear alot of Kansans complain about how crowded the public areas are during turkey season. Comfort is the key word for ya.
 
I don't think that many KS or Mo turkey hunters would be interested in it.
Was thinking that some of the PA guys or people from where there more hunters than turkeys would be interested.

I wouldn't say it is shooting fish in a barrel, but me, my son and SIL all have shot two gobblers each, every year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLvzRulm-tw
 
I don't allow field trials on my wildlife area for some of the same reasons as PW listed here. Pen-reared birds can carry diseases and parasites that wild birds are not resistant to and could feasibly cause widespread losses. Further, pen-reared birds have proven to be less successful breeders than wild birds and can mate with wild birds that removes them for the gene pool due to the captive mate being unsuccessful. Lastly, releasing pen-reared birds can "train" predators to be more successful on quail or pheasants and make them specialists on your game birds. All of this leads to not being able to fill well managed habitat when weather and carry over should make that happen.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
I don't allow field trials on my wildlife area for some of the same reasons as PW listed here. Pen-reared birds can carry diseases and parasites that wild birds are not resistant to and could feasibly cause widespread losses. Further, pen-reared birds have proven to be less successful breeders than wild birds and can mate with wild birds that removes them for the gene pool due to the captive mate being unsuccessful. Lastly, releasing pen-reared birds can "train" predators to be more successful on quail or pheasants and make them specialists on your game birds. All of this leads to not being able to fill well managed habitat when weather and carry over should make that happen.
Click to expand...

Would you feel differently if hens were released?
 
Not one bit. What would that change? Hens carry the same diseases and parasites, have the same poor survival, and are poor breeders, etc. If the habitat can produce a certain number of birds, it will do it with wild birds where it would never happen with pen-reared birds.
 
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