Calling All Bird Dogs for Iowa Pheasants Forever’s 2nd Annual Spring Fun Trial
Pheasants Forever 04.05.12
Calling all bird dogs and their owners! Pheasants Forever is hosting its Spring Fun Trail on Saturday, April 21 at Highland Hideaway Hunting in Riverside, Iowa. The trial is open to pointing and flushing breeds, with all proceeds going to Pheasants Forever’s Reload Iowa effort to improve wildlife habitat and carry on Iowa’s upland hunting tradition.
Pheasants Forever’s Spring Fun Trial will include a singles (one hunter and one dog) and doubles (two hunters and one dog) division. In the singles division, hunter and dog will have 15 minutes to score on three quail, and in the doubles division, hunters and dog will have 20 minutes to score on five quail. The event is limited to the first 50 entries, and individuals and teams may enter multiple times. Prizes will be awarded for the first place winner in each division.
“Conservation efforts have always been spearheaded by hunters,” said Tom Fuller, Pheasants Forever Iowa State Coordinator, “There’s no more passionate group of hunters than bird dog owners, so it seems natural to use that passion to fuel Pheasants Forever’s Reload Iowa initiative.” One hundred percent of the proceeds from Pheasants Forever’s Spring Fun Trial will go to the Reload Iowa effort, which is Pheasants Forever’s aggressive strategy for establishing and improving 1 million acres of wildlife habitat, increasing the number of upland hunters and increasing hunting-related revenue to local communities.
The singles event is $30 per run and the doubles event is $50 per run. Clay shooting (5 stand) will be available between runs for $10. Lunch will also be available. Visit Highland Hideaway Hunting for directions. For more information about Pheasants Forever’s Spring Fun Trial, including full rules, contact Ryan at (319) 330-6165 or Tom at (319) 828-2050 / Email Tom.
Iowa is home to 102 Pheasants Forever chapters, 2 Quail Forever chapters and more than 19,000 Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever members. For more information on “The Habitat Organization” in Iowa, visit Iowa Pheasants Forever.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Combined, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 130,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent, the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure.
Pheasants Forever launched Quail Forever in August of 2005 to address the continuing loss of habitat suitable for quail and the subsequent quail population decline. Bobwhite population losses over the last 25 years range from 60 to 90 percent across the country. The reason for the quail population plunge is simple - massive losses of habitat suitable for quail. There are five major factors leading to the losses of quail habitat; intensified farming and forestry practices, succession of grassland ecosystems to forests, overwhelming presence of exotic grasses like fescue that choke out wildlife, and urban sprawl.
