By Michel Fike
Photos Courtesy of Green Gulch Ranch
Have you ever longed for a simpler life or a closer connection to the rhythms of nature? Imagine a crisp fall morning trekking the hills with your dog. Suddenly there’s a pause, a whirr of wings, and the day has begun — a good day for hunting.
In the beautiful Sierra Valley there is a private licensed hunt club called Green Gulch Ranch, where you can enjoy all of this and more. From September to the end of March, the Harrison family offers memberships to visitors who share their love of upland bird hunting, great dogs, and nature.
From April to September, Green Gulch is a working hay ranch, raising feed for the dairies of the Central Valley and the horse market in Northern Nevada.
Beginning September 1, the business of the ranch becomes its Zone B private hunt club. Club members can hunt pheasant and chukar in the canyons or fields that surround the main ranch. Hunting conditions can be tailored to be very challenging for the experienced hunter, or less so for family groups with younger hunters. Training runs can be arranged to help season young dogs. The ranch also offers a trap and Skeet range, featuring two trap houses with automatic throwers and three skeet towers. The facility is lit with stadium lights for evening events, late winter afternoon practices, or a chance to test a new firearm, all before dinner. Cleaning stations are also available.
The Harrison family has lived at Green Gulch Ranch for 40 years. When you arrive there you are likely to see deer in the fields and geese and other waterfowl in the ponds, before even reaching the home site. The ranch takes pride in its ongoing revegetation and wildlife enhancement programs. Over the years, several ponds have been built, natural water flow enhanced, and each year some areas of the ranch are left fallow to provide for nesting and breeding. As you drive toward the barns, you will likely see cattle, and it is hard to miss the peacocks, turkeys and various other birds that are residents of the farmyard. Often your first unofficial greeters will be the family’s two golden labs.
Club membership runs for a year with no carry over and includes 20 pheasant or 40 chukar, or any combination of the two. Accommodation and meal charges are in addition to your membership. To hunt you must have a current California Hunting License with an Upland Bird Stamp. For club and other rates and membership registration information, call (530) 993-1129. Or, register online at www.greengulchranch.com.
