The state is paying for hunters' prey
State will spend some $1.4 million for ring-neck pheasants
February 23, 1992
The Peoria Journal Star
By ELAINE HOPKINS
Lincoln - Illinois schools are losing money, state parks are scheduled to close and some state workers only recently started getting their paychecks on time.
But pheasant hunters around the state still have reason to smile: Illinois will spend $1.4 million this year to mate, hatch and raise ring-neck pheasants for hunting at 16 state conservation areas. And it will recover only $1 million of that.
The state's program to raise pheasants for so-called "controlled hunting" -- meaning the state controls the land, the number of birds released and the number taken by hunters -- so far has escaped the budget ax.
And it's unlikely the state will raise hunter's fees to offset the program, officials said.
The state Department of Conservation spends $14.33 each to hatch and raise the birds until they are released, according to documents acquired with a Freedom of Information request to the conservation agency.
The agency this year will hatch 150,000 birds. Some of those die, others are sold or given away; the state figures total production for the year at 98,858 birds. Some of those escape being released for a year because they are kept for breeding.
The state charges hunters to stalk the birds, and those fees brought in $1 million last year. The pheasant breeding program cost the state $1.4 million in fiscal 1991.
That means the program cost taxpayers about $400,000 in 1991, according to documents.
"I think it's a justifiable program," said Sen. William L. O'Daniel (D-Mount Vernon) who chairs the Illinois Senate's Agriculture and Conservation Committee. "It gives our citizens a chance to hunt pheasants."
"If you"re looking for everything in state government to be self-supporting you're going to be disappointed," O'Daniel said, adding that state-sponsored fairs lose $1 million annually.
The pheasant program attracts visitors from Indiana, he said. "A lot bring their families and stay a week."
Hunters don't waste the birds they kill, he said. "If it was just shooting them for sport, I'd object to it," O'Daniel said, adding that he does not hunt himself.
Conservation department officials defend the pheasant breeding program because it produces "quality birds" for hunting. Quality means the cage-raised pheasants look and behave like wild pheasants, they say.
But animal rights activists condemn the killing of taxpayer subsidized birds for entertainment.
Controlled pheasant hunting is "a taxpayer rip-off," said activist Steve Hindi. It's cruel, he said, and the pheasants are raised like "chickens."
Hindi, the Plano businessman who organized against a Canton pigeon shoot last spring, is seeking the Republican nomination for the Illinois House from the 84th District, southwest of Chicago.
"The Department of Conservation needs to have their wings clipped," Hindi said. "I call them the Department of Mutilation. They don't conserve anything. They waste tax dollars and destroy life. The taxpayer puts up the money and these guys have a field day. It's got to stop."
Recent budget cuts have caused the closing of pheasant hunting at one site, Ramsey Lake State Park.
But since the General Assembly allowed pheasant hunting fees to increase this year, from $10 to $15, another boost is unlikely, said Terry Musser, the agency's program manager for controlled hunting and field trials.
The agency formerly released quail at its hunting sites, but ended that program last year because of fiscal restraints. The state continues to provide pheasants for hunting purposes because it allows officials to control hunting for the species, which is not endangered in the wild, Musser said.
Illinois hunters want "a quality hunting experience," Musser said. Quality hunting means "opportunity for a successful hunt," namely finding a bird and shooting it. That situation requires "controlled hunting using captive-bred birds," Musser said.
Birds that escape hunters seldom survive in the wild, Musser said.
Our whole program is release for hunting.
Some hatchlings are sold for an average of 24 cents each to private hunting clubs and breeders that bid for them. The rest, about 18,600, are given away as day-old birds to youth groups, such as 4H Clubs, to raise, Musser said.
The hunters
About 98,000 hunters annually hunt pheasants in Illinois, Musser said. Except for seniors and the disabled, they pay $7.50 for a hunting license. If they plan to hunt wild pheasants on private property, they pay $5 for a pheasant stamp.
A day's hunting at a state controlled hunting facility costs $15, allowing them to kill two pheasants. Last year, hunters made about 47,000 hunting trips to state-owned, controlled hunting areas, Musser said.
A hunter can possess only four pheasants at any one time, and cannot sell any part of the bird. The birds are popular table fare for many hunters, said Musser.
Private individuals with a wild game and bird-breeder permit bid on the excess birds. Last fall, 10 breeders submitted high bids for 18,956 hatchlings, paying an average price of about 24 cents each, documents from the state agency show.
The conservation department does not monitor what happens to these birds sold to private operators, Musser said. They can be resold.
William Wood, a licensed operator in Sadorus, near Champaign, said he raises state-hatched chicks until they reach 16 to 18 weeks. Then he sells them for $5.80 each to hunting clubs. Dressed birds also go to restaurants, he said, for $8 each.
The hatchery
The odyssey of these state-bred pheasants begins at the new James C. Helfrich Wildlife Propagation Center, on the outskirts of Lincoln.
There, the 1,285 pheasants kept for breeding bide their time over the winter in sex-segregated rooms, their environment kept dim and cool to minimize stress.
Automatic, computerized systems regulate light, temperature, feed and water. But humans must check the systems and clean the woodchip-strewn rooms. The birds soon learn to recognize their keepers, said Mike Brady, manager of the hatchery.
On March 1, roosters are allowed to mingle with the hens for mating. By April the hens begin laying 5,500 eggs daily, an average of 45 eggs per hen.
