History

Pheasants Forever Organizations

Pheasants Forever (PF) was formed in 1982, in St. Paul, Minnesota by a group of pheasant hunters that believed that habitat loss was responsible for declining pheasant populations. They introduced a unique model allowing local chapters to spend the funds they raised on nearby habitat projects. PF quickly became known as The Habitat Organization, a tagline used to this day.
The first Canadian chapter of the organization was formed in 1990 in Regina, Saskatchewan and was a chapter of PF.
Two years later, Pheasants Forever Canada Inc. was formed in 1992 by a small group dedicated to improving habitat for upland game birds in Western Canada. Pheasants Forever Canada is incorporated as a non-profit organization and is registered as a Canadian charitable organization able to issue tax receipts to donors. It is affiliated with Pheasants Forever Inc.
Chinook Pheasants Forever (Medicine Hat) was also formed in 1992.
Similarly, in 1992, a group of concerned Calgary sportsmen formed the Alberta Upland Bird Association. The seven charter members included Gregg Norman, Jim McLennan, Vince Campbell, Bill Partridge, Bill Bruce, Glenn Webber and Howard Coneybeare. With the realization that an emerging continental force was being established to address the needs of upland birds, the group changed its name to Pheasants Forever Calgary in 1993 and Canada’s third chapter was born.
The Partners in Habitat Development program (PHD) was founded in 1998 by Pheasants Forever Calgary and the Eastern Irrigation District (EID) located in Brooks, the program helped to redevelop and enhance wildlife habitat throughout the cultivated regions of southern Alberta, primarily on private land. PF Calgary supported the PHD program through 2010 and during that period planted over 858,000 trees and shrubs as multi-row shelterbelts, in block plantings and in riparian buffer strips. These projects provide food and security cover for a variety of wildlife species. A total of 870 acres of land has been seeded to permanent grass cover to provide nesting and security cover for a variety of bird species. The PHD program also installed nearly 162 kilometres of fencing to protect new and existing habitat from livestock access. Additionally, the program assisted with the installation of 43 water delivery systems to provide water to habitat sites, and has been involved in the creation and enhancement of 14 wetland basins.
In 2010, the Habitat Legacy Partnership (HLP) was initiated by ACA in conjunction with Calgary PF. The HLP works collaboratively with conservation groups, private landowners, irrigation districts and municipal districts to facilitate enhancements that targeted habitat improvements focused on upland bird nesting, brood rearing, winter protection and connectivity. The area of concentration was the corridor from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat and south to the Montana border. Since this partnership started, the group has expanded to include the Chinook chapter, several Alberta Wildlife Federation clubs, municipalities and the Government of Alberta.

PHEASANTS IN ALBERTA

Alberta had the greatest variety of native grouse species in the world in 1905, blue grouse, spruce grouse, ruffed grouse, willow ptarmigan, white-tailed ptarmigan, pinnated grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and greater Sage grouse.
European gray partridge (the “Hun”) were introduced by sportsmen in Alberta just south of the Midnapore area of Calgary in 1908 on the Patton and Hamilton ranches.
1913 saw the first hunting season for the hun in Alberta.
The hun experiment was extremely successful and formed the basis for the successful introduction to North America.
The same group of sportsmen introduced the ring-necked pheasant in 1908 around the same areas that the “hun” was introduced. Pheasants continued to be released over the next 25 years and it wasn’t until the “30s” that they became well established.
The first pheasant season occurred in 1939 where two day, 6 bird limits was established.
During the 1940s and 1950s pheasant numbers exploded. The average annual harvest in the mid “50s” was 145,000 birds. By the 90s the annual harvest was down to less than 20,000 birds where it remains today.
The popularity of hunting pheasants led to an interest from several entrepreneurs and the Game Act of 1955 included provisions to allow private individuals to rear pheasants for sale as food or for subsequent breeding purposes
An experimental hen pheasant season in 1967, demonstrated that hunting hens had no effect on subsequent pheasant production. Hunting simply removes a portion of the birds that normally would have died during the winter (winter mortality is in the range of 60% – 80%, with or without hunting
As a result of this experiment, a limited hen season was introduced in 1971. It proved to be so unpopular with hunters that it was closed in 1973.
In the 1970s, hunting success on pheasant roosters the day following their release was tested. Return rates ranged from 65-75% and were considered very cost effective. As a consequence, the Brooks hatchery expanded to become the Brooks Wildlife Center in 1978. The Center was able to produce up to 100,000 pheasants a year for release to the wild. Most of the cocks and melanistic pheasants of both sexes were used for put and take releases on Buck for Wildlife properties.
In the mid 1990s Fish and Wildlife could no longer provide sufficient funding and no longer felt the need to operate the Brooks Wildlife Center. Under the banner of privatization, the Center was sold eventually to private investors who created the Canadian Pheasant Company with the provision that some of the birds produced would continue to be released for public hunting.
The Alberta Conservation Association agreed to take over the pheasant release program in 2014, with the overall aim to provide greater hunting opportunity for all Albertans.