The 5th Annual Spruce Creek Upland Club First Pheasant Mentor Hunt took place on Saturday, September 16 at the venerable Spruce Creek Upland Club under sunny blue skies and warm fall weather – a near perfect day at the perfect location.
Thirteen young adults that had never hunted pheasants – all got their first birds over highly trained pointing dogs.
Each hunt session featured two mentees with a mentor or dog handler and eight rooster pheasants. Over half of the 50 birds were bagged, cleaned and went home with the mentees for cooking.
Aside from the hunt, the attendees were provided a seminar on the history and hunting of upland gamebirds in southern Alberta, a cleaning seminar (followed by everyone cleaning their birds) and a cooking seminar.
Dave Scott and Bryn Horne offered a shooting clinic designed for upland bird wing shooting.
Thanks to Mike and Rodney Perkins, Burak Cankodaz and Brian Ness for mentoring the hunts and thanks to Vince Aiello, Toby Lukiwski and Steven Wier for handling the master pointers. This is the exact same team of experts that supported the hunt last year.
A special thanks to staff of Spruce Creek Upland Club – Ashley Gee and Tanner Rosia, who supported us with everything we needed. Their friendly helpful demeanour made it a most welcoming environment for all participants.
The day would not have been possible without the support of Alberta Conservation Association.
