COSTLY PHEASANTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20126, 20 April 1928, Page 8

COSTLY PHEASANTS

MICHIGAN GAIME FIGURES. The excessive cost of rea/.ng ring neck pheasants has deterred any Si at- game departments from engaging the enterprise, says a bull ;tin of the American Game Protective Association. The knowledge of these costs is not very complete or accurate and has verier, radirallv, depending upon economy and skill of management, scale of operations, quality of brood stock, suitability of location, and many other factors. No general standard cost has been ascertained. Individual instances have varied from J dollar to 10 dollars per bird. In this connection, the experience of Michigan during the season of .1926 is enlightening and encouraging. According to the figures of Thomas McClure, gamekeeper for the Conservation Commission, the 7,887 pheasants reared and liberator! in the State in 1926 cost 2.07 dollars each, which is a very moderate cost, and he insists that figure can be materially reduced by increasing the capacity of the game farm. The total cost of operation of the farm was 23,350 dollars. Credits were allowed for eggs shipped out to sportsmen and farmers at current prices and for care of pet animals and other stock at the farm, leaving a. net cost of birds actuallv distributed of !6 385 dollars.

The total amount spent by the State on the introduction of pheasants, since beginning the introduction of this bird, has been ove- 150,000 dollars. Tt has boon expected that provision would be made for increased production next year, but it now appears that such expansion is contingent on reaching some agreement with farmers, who have been disposed to post their lands against pheasant shooting the pa t season.