Birdland Farms of Canadice NY, Opens for Business

From the Springwater Valley News, 23 August 1962

1

Birdland Farms of Canadice NY.

Birdland Farms, Inc. will open September first. These fifteen hundred acres located on Canadice Middle Road makes one of the largest shooting preserves open to the public in New York State.

President, Charles Kirby, says they have 6,000 pheasants ready to shoot now. In this type of operation no hunting license is required, no limit, no regulation hours. The season at Birdland Farms will be from September first through March. Guides and dogs will be furnished and guns and ammunition are available. Guides are local people especially trained for the job. They are under the jurisdiction of Art Meyer. Birdland Farms has some well trained dogs available. In fact, one of them was National Champion in 1959 and 1960. Other officers are David Bott, Vice President and Katherine Kirby is Secretary and Tresurer.

Through the winter Birdland Farms, Inc., will have turkey shoots and merchandise shoots every weekend.

This is the ideal opportunity for training young hunters. Eventually hunter training courses will be offered.

At present, the hunting is strictly pheasant. Next year duck, quail and turkey may be added to your bag. Birdland Farms, Inc., is in the process of building a club house. Very shortly they will also have a skeet and trap range.

Mr. Kirby says visitors are welcome. Just call at the office and someone will gladly show you around.

Newest Game Preserve Makes its Debut

From the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 26 September 1962

By Floyd King

Just 30 minutes from here, tucked away in the hills between Honeoye and Canadice Lakes, Western New York’s newest game preserve is making its debut.

Birdland Farms is 1,500 acres of prime hunting ground stocked with the old reliable Chinese ringneck pheasant and an exotic newcomer, the English blackneck. Hunters are going to like that English fellow. He weighs about a pound more than his Chinese cousin, he’s a handsome bird with purple and irridescent green plumage, and he’s a terrific flyer.

Birdland Farms was launched by Charles F. Kirby. On paper he is not the most likely candidate for this sort of venture. Kirby was geology instructor for the Marine Corps during World War II. Then he went with the UR’s Atomic Energy Project as a specialist in wound healing and flash burns. His attention next turned to sports cars and racing and had led to an automobile firm, F. A. Motors, where he was general manager.

None of these is exactly groundwork for game preserve management. But Kirby has been an outdoorsman all his life with heavy emphasis on hunting. He decided to make his hobby his job and jumped in with both feet. “I have made a lot of mistakes and I’ll make a lot more.” he said, “but I intend to have the best game preserve in this part of the country.”

About that “outdoorsman” label - Kirby is an enthusiastic archer. He has gotten three deer, a partridge, two pheasants and a squirrel with bow and arrow. How many can tie that? He is a dead shot with a handgun and a collector and fancier of fine rifles and shotguns. His idea of the way to spend a pleasant spring day is to sit on a sunshine-flooded hillside and pick off a crow at 500 yards.

Birdland Farms now has approximately 7,000 pheasants and Kirby is aiming at 10,000. He doesn’t entirely follow the prescribed rules in raising the birds. He uses a rigorous survival-of-the-fittest regime. This results in wild birds that are strong flyers and, he hopes, will lead to a natural reproduction of game.

This is one of the reasons why he is trying the English blacknecks on a large scale. The birds are expensive to buy but he thinks they will survive Western New York’s winters better than the Chinese ringneck. He also is optimistic about the hybrid potential.

Birdland Farms has the usual kennel of fine bird dogs to accompany hunters afield if they do not have their own. Kirby is partial to the German short-haired pointer and seveal of his dogs have championship blood in their veins.

With suburbia expanding at such a tremendous rate, more and more hunters are turning to game preserves for their sport. It also provides an excellent opportunity for fathers to teach their pre-hunting-age sons the sport with complete safety. This is particularly so at Birdland Farms because Kirby dotes on teaching youngsters the fine points of hunting and shooting. His 11-year-old son, Charles Jr., shoots right along with the top men gunners in both skeet and field.

Birdland Farms is located off Howcraft Road which is off Middle Canadice Road, which in turn is off Route 20-A. It can be reached via either Honeoye or Hemlock.

Newspaper articles from FultonHistory.com