This article first appeared in Tennessee Home & Farm.
High school students at the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute (YAI) in Jamestown, Tennessee, are learning agriculture is about more than cows, sows and plows. As part of their Feather to Fork program, students at the school have partnered with Sawbriar Lodge to raise pheasants for an annual hunt in October that will raise money for their agriculture program.
“Last year, our students raised 300 pheasants, and this year, they are raising 500,” says Marissa Wright, YAI agriculture teacher and FFA advisor. “The Feather to Fork program is giving students a diversified agriculture opportunity. Raising pheasants is something kids don’t normally think of when they think about ag. It’s allowing them to see other avenues in agriculture they may be interested in and helping them see they can do this in their own backyard.”
A Win-Win Partnership
Nestled in the Upper Cumberland Plateau near the scenic Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Sawbriar Lodge has been an upland bird hunting preserve since 2007. Owner Fred Moody is an Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute graduate and saw a unique opportunity to partner with York students in 2022.
“The agriculture teachers have been putting a lot of effort into reviving the student-run farm at York,” Moody says. “They started a heifer program, and they are raising turkeys for people to buy at Thanksgiving. When they called and asked if I’d be interested in students raising birds for our hunts, I started thinking about how we could raise the agriculture school some money while allowing students to raise birds for a one-day hunt.”
Moody and his wife, Rhonda, came up with the idea for the Feather to Fork program, a long-term partnership with YAI that will expose students to nontraditional farming practices such as bird rearing for hunting and meat. In spring 2023, students launched the project with a $15,000 donation from Eye Centers of Tennessee.
See more: Lewis County Ag Teacher Brian Peery Stays Busy On and Off the Farm
“The funding we received from Eye Centers of Tennessee helped us build the fly pen we keep the pheasants in and helped purchase the chicks and the equipment we needed,” Wright says. “Our first year in 2023, about 150 students participated in the Feather to Fork program.”
In April 2024, 500 1-day-old pheasant chicks were delivered to the school, and students are raising them for the second annual Sawbriar Lodge Feather to Fork hunt happening Oct. 25.
“It’s an exciting time. Everybody loves the baby chicks,” Wright says. “Our students are fully responsible for the care and nutrition for the chicks during the week, and our farm manager, Sam Brown, takes care of them on weekends.”
While growing, the pheasants wear blinders to reduce the incidence of the birds injuring one another.
“Pheasants are aggressive toward one another and have been known to peck each other to death,” Wright says. “Once they get big enough, we catch them and put blinders on them so that when we release them in the fly pen, we don’t have any injuries.”
The blinders are removed before the birds are released at the hunting preserve.
The Thrill of the Hunt
Excitement builds leading up to the single-day Feather to Fork hunt at Sawbriar Lodge, with sponsors paying between $250 and $1,000 to take part in the hunt. Sponsors have the opportunity to display banners at the hunt, interact with students and enjoy a farm-to-table lunch students help prepare and serve.
“Our overall goal is to raise money for the school’s agriculture program, but there are three main objectives,” Moody says. “First, students experience an alternative agriculture product like game birds and see that not every farmer raises corn or cattle. Second, they learn about the conservation side of agriculture. And third, they see the hospitality aspect of the hunting business and how we take care of our customers. Students help them sign in and show them around.”
Senior agriculture students even get to accompany hunters in the field.
“We allow three shooters in the field at a time, so two of the hunters take a student out with them so students can experience the bird hunt with adults,” Moody says. “My goal is to give them the experience of bird hunting because it has died in the Southeast with the drop in bird numbers. They get to see the bird dogs working in the field.”
The inaugural Feather to Fork hunt in October 2023 was a huge success, with many vendor and sponsor tents set up for students to explore. Quail Forever, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, local banks, Tennessee Tech University, the University of Tennessee Knoxville and the Natural Resources Conservation Service were all in attendance.
“Students got to practice shooting clay targets, and Orvis out of Knoxville came and taught about fly casting as a form of fishing,” Moody says. “We had drone demos, too. A lot of cool stuff went on that day, and the students are anxious to do it again. We are looking for even more vendors and sponsors in 2024.”
Investing in Future Agriculturists at Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute
Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute Director of Schools John Bush says students are learning valuable business principles they will be able to apply to any field they choose to go into after graduation.
“The Feather to Fork partnership was Fred and Rhonda’s idea, and I can’t thank them enough,” Bush says. “They care about our school and our community, and they appreciate the emphasis we’ve been putting on revitalizing our school farm in more recent years.”
YAI is the largest public high school campus by acreage in the U.S., spanning 400 acres.
“The school farm had been underutilized the past 40 years, but we currently have a working farm with 16 species of animals,” Bush says. “In summer and fall, we have over 1,000 animals, the majority of which are turkeys, chickens, pheasants and quail we will either process or use in our Feather to Fork program.”
The proceeds earned from the program will continue to support the school’s farm as it grows in the future.
“We plan to hold the Feather to Fork hunt annually, and it could grow into a two- or three-day event for sporting enthusiasts,” Moody says. “Agriculture is important for everyone because you couldn’t eat if you didn’t have a farmer out there. The school is doing a great job teaching kids about that, and I want to support their efforts.”
See more: Students at Chattanooga’s Urban Schools Are Getting Hands-On Ag Education
The post Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute Students Raise Pheasants for Tennessee Hunting Lodge appeared first on Farm Flavor.