| GROSS,
Neb. (AP) - Jared Finnegan loves hunting pheasants.
However, over the
years, Finnegan had watched the pheasant population decline to the point
that both pheasants and hunters were quite scarce.
Several years
ago, while touring a pheasant farm with his 4-H club, Finnegan got the
idea that he, too, could raise the birds.
"There
were no pheasants around and I thought that if we wanted to have pheasants
in the wild, I would have to raise and release them," said Finnegan,
now a senior at Spencer-Naper High School.
He has achieved
his goal by raising day-old chicks into full-grown pheasants to sell
for hunting purposes. He also reintroduces pheasants into the wild.
Finnegan's
entrepreneurial enterprise - JT's Birds - earned him the 2004 Nebraska
FFA Agribusiness Star title.
Finnegan
also was recognized as the top gold medalist in the wildlife production
and management proficiency area.
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"It has been
a very enjoyable experience to watch Jared develop JT's Birds,"
said Jerome Engelhaupt, Spencer-Naper FFA Chapter adviser. "Jared
basically started this business with nothing but a dream."
Finnegan's
pheasant enterprise began in his sophomore year when he purchased a
chicken coop for $25 at a farm sale.
With assistance
from his father, neighbors and Engelhaupt, he installed chicken wire
and netting for a large pen. With a borrowed skid loader, Finnegan dug
a 6-inch-deep trench around the pen.
Three-foot
sheets of tin were placed in the trench, making it difficult for predators
to get to the pheasants.
He planted
corn in the pen and cut down a cedar tree to put in the pen for natural
cover. With the purchase of day-old pheasant chicks, JT's Birds was
in business.
As the pheasants
neared adulthood, Finnegan started sending flyers to hunting ranches.
"Most
of the birds are sold to hunting ranches for hunting," Finnegan
said. "I also sell to farmers and ranchers who buy them to release
in the wild on their property."
The next
year, Finnegan built a second pen and raised two batches of pheasants.
Finnegan
said he plans to continue raising pheasants and use the profits to fund
his college education.
He is planning
to raise quail this year but hasn't decided yet whether he will sell
them or release them into the wild.
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