The trick to a successful farming operation is to match land assets to their highest value use. For these farmers, that means stepping away from traditional agriculture. These game farms sell a rural experience.

Mike and Bonnie Moser sell an intangible commodity on their Franklin, Mo., farm--good times. The Moser farm, while not big by measure of the typical Midwest row-crop farm, is the self-titled "pheasant capital of Missouri," releasing some 10,000 pheasants for organized hunts each year. Their goal is to sell a quality hunting experience. They're selling fun.

Game farms (or shooting preserves) aren't a new concept. But the idea has become more popular owing to an increasingly urban population and fluctuation in, if not dwindling of, wild bird numbers.

The Mosers got their start in operating a shooting preserve 18 years ago. Its beginning was a mix of Mike's affinity for hunting and the financial crunch of the 1980s farm economy. The idea struck after a friend of Mike's invited him to a hunting preserve near Mexico, Mo.

"I thought it was a strange idea at the time...to pay for hunting. But I ended up going and we had a good time."

That was 1984. The next year, the Mosers bought 300 pheasants for release on their farm.

"We've increased our business by 20 percent every year since," he said, noting that by starting with 300 birds it took a while to get to 10,000.

The Mosers focus on selling what Mike calls a "quality experience." And to do that, he figures it needs to be as close to a wild hunt as they can make it.

Foremost in such considerations are the birds themselves. Mike talks bird genetics like pure-bred cattlemen might talk about lines of cattle.

"You can go places where the birds don't fly well," he said. "You've got to have the right species of bird."

After early experiences with pheasants that got too big, the Mosers shopped around for better genetics. Now they specialize in Blue Back pheasants, a strain developed by a breeder in Kansas and known for its flying prowess. Mike said there are only about 20,000 Blue Backs in the country, a population split between his farm and a producer in Iowa. They feed the birds MFA Game Bird Starter, a specially formulated, high protein crumble feed. Mike said that he wants a high protein feed to promote flying strength.

Having identified the genetics that work best for their operation, the Mosers began a breeding program to ensure supply. And that's as good a point as any to pause and dispel some illusions: Like most alternative farming enterprises, what at first sounds like a novel and fun idea is soon exposed as tedious work. To have breeding birds is to have to collect eggs every day from April to August; the Mosers have 700 breeding hens. To hatch the eggs, the operation had to invest in incubators, which, when loaded, are another daily chore. Pheasant chicks are fragile creatures and can die by the score if they get wet or the temperature swings too drastically. For the first several weeks of life, they require heat lamps. And even with the closest, most studied care, Mike said there is no book or course that will teach you how to run a game farm.

"You'll spend thousands learning how to make mistakes," he said.

That's something Brenda and H.A. Dougherty won't argue. While their Clark, Mo., game farm, at 3 years, is an upstart compared to Pheasant Creek, the learning curve is sharp enough to bring wisdom quickly.

This year, the Doughertys have about 8,000 birds--a mix of bobwhite quail, Tennessee Red quail, chukars and pheasants. They get the birds as chicks.

"You have to regulate everything that goes on with chicks," said H.A., adding that even sharp noises can cause the chicks to "pile up," a panic reaction that results in suffocation for some."

H.A. said that once birds are 4 or 5 weeks of age, they become easier to raise, but still are a constant chore.

Both farms take advantage of their geography--the steep hills and wooded creek bottoms of Howard County, Mo. Dougherty Game Farm has a license for 550 acres of hunting, with most of the hunting conducted in the Blue Bluff creek bottoms. H.A. keeps one parcel of the ground there in forage strips to provide good cover and plenty of edge for released birds. Adjoining land, also in the preserve, is rotated between corn, soybeans and wheat. At Pheasant Creek, the steep hills are a mix of CRP and row crops, with most of the crop ground on hill and ridge tops. The preserve covers some 550 acres. Both farms provide excellent cover for birds.

In fact, Mike Moser said that unlike game preserves in more western states, where the cover is largely on the preserve and the birds are inclined to stay, Missouri's wealth of wildlife cover encourages them to keep traveling, which induces Pheasant Creek to stock extra birds for a hunt.

"We have a 75 percent flush guarantee, which means you will at least see 75 percent of the birds you've purchased. Sometimes we'll stock twice for one hunt," said Moser.

Busy time at Dougherty Game Farm and Pheasant Creek--at least as concerns their customer base--is when the weather cools off in autumn and hunters get the urge to work birds. Because the farms are licensed as shooting preserves and raise their own game birds, they don't have to follow state-mandated hunting seasons, but their business typically follows similar patterns--running from September to May for the most part.

"When it cools off, people get an interest," said H.A., whose clients come largely from the surrounding area and St. Louis and Kansas City.

In fact, unlike many crop farmers who get depressed from winter's gloom, or livestock producers who fret about winter chores, it's easy to get the sense that these producers look forward to winter.

"The best part is the hunting," said H.A. Dougherty, which isn't surprising given he is an avid hunter. "And

the people. We've made a lot of good friends this way," added H.A.

And that's a point that Mike Moser is quick to draw upon.

"One good thing about our business is that people come to have fun," he said. "And if you're not a people person, you don't have any business in the business."

Dougherty Game Farm has been able to expand to 8,000 birds from a startup brood of 2,000 largely by word of mouth referral and ads in local papers. Pheasant Creek also depends largely on word of mouth advertising, but spends some money in publications. The Mosers have also qualified to be a "locally endorsed hunting preserve," with Cabela's, the sporting outfitter. Mike buys space at Cabela's retail complex in Kansas City to promote his operation. He says that through advertising and word of mouth, Pheasant Creek clientele spans the globe.

"It's just that kind of world now. People are more interconnected and even word-of-mouth advertising means you can draw people from other countries."

Mike Moser believes that, while Missouri's game preserve industry isn't as well established as traditional preserves in places like Nebraska, the industry is on the rise here. Nebraska preserves command a higher price; Moser said he went on a hunt there that cost $300 per day for six birds, whereas a Missouri preserve might garner half that price. However, at 5.7 million people, Missouri has a much larger population, which boosts the pool of nearby potential customers.

"What they have in price, we can make up in volume," said Moser.

And, of course, the profitability of game farms will be staked on supply and demand. A few too many will cause all to suffer. But right now, said Moser, there are only a few dozen out of the 250 licensed farms in the state of Missouri that are considered "professional."

For the Doughertys, the farm doesn't depend on the game farm for all of its income. "We raise corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, hogs and kids," said H.A.

With luck, said Brenda, the birds will replace the hogs. And that's a realistic way to look at a game farm.

"Not many people in Missouri make a living at this," said Moser. "To start one to 'save the family farm' is a misconception. But as a state, we're getting better, and people have discovered that they have a quality experience on a game preserve."

Dougherty Game Farm, 860 County Road 128,
Clark, Mo. 65243, (573) 875-5759.
E-mail: hadbirds@yahoo.com.