Desert Wildlife Unlimited stcoking pheasants

[spectr17]

Desert Wildlife Unlimited plans to stock more pheasants tomorrow, but volunteers are needed.

The Imperial County job starts at 7 a.m. and involves catching and banding the pheasants and transporting them to various fields.

The location is 51 W. Rutherford Road (behind Gibson Tools) – west of Highway 111, south of Calipatria and north of Brawley.

Good quail hunting also is to be had where the pheasants are released. Call Leon Lesicka at (760) 344-2793 for details.

 

[foulshot]

I'll be down there. I'm leaving out of San Diego at about 4:30 am. Gonna do a little quail hunting then hook up with Leon after. If anybody wants to hook up on the way out PM me and we can talk.

 

[foulshot]

Well I would say there were about 20 or so guys there. Myself, FullSack, Droopy, J scott, and Rookiehunt21 all met up in east san diego county and headed out. Stopped off at a couple fields for some quail hunting and rookiehunt21 got 1 quail.
We then headed over to the pheasant pen and help round up and box some of the hens. All of the birds from this program have a leg band. So if you find one of these birds, even if its dead, please report the band to the address on the band. We were talking to Leon on the breaks, inbetween round ups, and he was saying that there is just not enough money to keep the birds in the pen for an extended period of time. As they get older the amount of food that it takes to feed them becomes greater and greater. But more importantly is the lack of volunteers. Without the volunteers, most of the planting would not get done. The amount of work that Leon does on his own is just incredible. This man spends nearly all his time working for the betterment of the habitat. From the big horn sheep counts down to this pheasant project, its simply incredible.
From what I gathered in conversations down there, DWU is working on getting their own website up. I believe that it is going to be done by some more volunteers. They didn't have an exact date as to when it would be available.
All in all it took about 2 hours of our time to help with the birds. I think they are goint to be releasing birds through out the following months. So there should be more opportunity to get out and help. If you plan on going down there to hunt anyways, it is well worth it to stop on in and lend a hand.
After we were all done, the 5 of us headed out after some quail. We headed out to Niland and hit up one of our regular spots. Droopy and myself managed 2 birds apiece and J scott got 1. After a couple more stops along the Alamo with no birds we decided to head home. Just another great day down in the valley. I can't wait to do it again next weekend.

 

[rookiehunt21]

thanks again Zach for allowing me to tag along. it was alot of fun hunting with you guys. i was really impressed with everything i saw. had alot of fun helping with all those pheasants. leon has a great program going. i will be sending him a check tomorrow. it is rare when you get to hunt with fellow hunters who are as responsible as you all were. it was a real pleasure meeting you and hope to go again soon. thanks again.


bill

 

[Marty]

You know... a website and calendar would be great as far as scheduling my time to help out.

I can't make these "last minute - come on downs". I had already scheduled to attend a volunteer meeting over at OERM in Perris.

 

[spectr17]

I wanted to thank all you peeps who have gone down to help Leon out. I've sent money but really want to get my hands dirty down there and meet Leon. If anyone knows of any future work please post here so we can pass the word.

Did anybody get any pics?

Marty,

the next upgrade to the software here in about 6 weeks will have a calendar we can post our hunts and any DWU dates so all can see it. We sure could use it.

 

[foulshot]

Jesse, I got some pics of the birds but none of the people. I should get the film back in a few days then it's time to scan them in. Hopefully by the end of the week.
There are still several birds left to release, and I'm think Leon plans on doing it throughout the season.

 

[MapMan]

Hey, I got some pictures from the tag and release we did on some of Leon's Pheasant's the week prior to the Dove opener. I should have posted them sooner but just recently learned how. We put about 300 of them in 4 different spots, all on DWU fields. We tagged about 500 that day with leg bands. Roosters that were not released were given the light blue hoods to keep them from fighting with each other in the pen. This was my second trip down to help out with Leon's project. I helped build the actual pen (put up the chicken wire walls and roof) in a previous trip.

http://community.webshots.com/user/map_man
(Go to the DWU Pheasant album)

MapMan

 

[yotegetter]

Marty and Jesse are right. We need to have some type of calendar of when these events take place. I'd like to get down there and help as well. Maybe I'll call Leon and see when the next pheasant releases are.

I've also sent Leon money and, like Jesse said, would like to "get my hands dirty".

How far is the area where this takes place from the Long Beach area? Anyone know?

 

[EL CAZADOR]

I leave from Orange County, but meet up with Foulshot and Droopy in San Diego. It takes about 1.5 from OC to SD and then another 1.5 from SD to the valley.

I've never gone the other way thru Palm Springs.

 

[ESSposse]

Heck... I'd love to help out. Gotta get a schedule up on when we can assist. I'm going down there early next friday the 8th a day early for the opener of Dove.... Anything going on then? I'll even have 4 or 5 other guys with me...

 

[yotegetter]

I called Leon, but he wasn't in. Left a message with a nice lady there, maybe his wife. As soon as I hear back I'll post when the next time he needs volunteers.

 

[SoCalTed]

I can't get down that way...just not enough kitchen credit! However, if Leon needs help with web stuff, just have him call me. We can get a site up pretty quick for him. I might even get the first year's hosting donated.