The Fox Ridge news letter in case you missed it.
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Fox Ridge Hunters: Merry Christmas, and happy New Year to all from the Kamke families. With winter making its presence known one wonders how much snow will be falling this year. December 24, 25, and 26th will be our family holiday with no bird releases on those days. You can hunt for strays as the lounge and cleaning room will still be open. The Whitetails Unlimited Youth Pheasant hunt was a great success again this year. We had 16 hunters (half girls, half boys) this year and nearly every group got a bird or two, there was plenty of enjoyment and success. It is a great opportunity for our local hunter safety graduates so we would like to say thanks to our local chapter for sponsoring the hunt. Speaking of whitetails our deer season was very relaxed again this year. While we harvested only about 7 deer in total, only one smaller buck was mistakenly shot on the farm this year, although some were passed on to let them grow for next season. Some concerns were raised about the smaller numbers of deer seen this year including some of our neighbors, but once again we made one drive on the farm covering only 80 acres and moved about 34 different deer and at least 12 other deer were seen but only on half of the farm. So while the numbers may be down the population was spotty and none of the deer were very willing to leave their beds unless we pushed them out. The standing corn wasn’t of any help this year either. We still have about 700 extra pheasants at $16 each and plenty of chukars at $11 each. The black pheasant releases will be starting soon and probably end around January 30th. Don't forget the additional charges per bird released. One dollar in January, two dollars in February, and three dollars in March for each bird released. This is due to the feed expenses and price increase of birds at that time. Open Hunting for Banked Birds: There has been some confusion about “open hunting” (hunting without bird release) and to help clarify here is how it works. Any member can open hunt any day of the season. Monday is the one day of the week we don’t release birds but members can still open hunt. Weekends are generally busier so we try to schedule open hunting between groups releasing birds and sometimes save the larger fields for groups who are releasing birds. Birds shot while open hunting count toward your bank birds, or if you don’t have any birds in the bank, your membership birds. Any birds shot while open hunting can also be purchased as extra birds, and release charges do not apply. We will probably be sending out renewal notices right after March 17th. Expect to hear from us again at that time. Hope to see you soon please give us a call, at least two days ahead, and we will get those birds out for you as the season nears the end. From all of us at Fox Ridge we hope you have an enjoyable and safe holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Bill, Kathy, Mike, Kim, Alex, and Donovan |