Washington Ornamental and Game Bird Breeders (WOGBB)

Mission & Goals

To promote the welfare and encourage the breeding of pheasants, waterfowl, and other species of wild fowl, Quail, Partridge, and related birds to the generally accepted representative standards of the pure wild species.
To share breeding and propagation methods.
To introduce new species of birds into private and public aviaries.
To improve present captive bred stock and to catalog present captive bred species and aviculture in the Pacific Northwest.
To interest more groups and individuals in aviculture.
To promote programs and other goals as may be deemed to be in the best interest of Pacific Northwest Aviculture.

Membership includes the club newsletter "Pheasant Pen" and a Breeders Directory. Memberships run from January 1 to December 31 annually, and are not prorated. New memberships accepted after October 1 will be paid for the remainder of the current and following year.

Meetings are held monthly, except for July and August, and are held during weekends at member's homes. A pot-luck lunch is included, with each attending member bringing a dish. At this time (12/00), future meetings are scheduled for the following areas: Sumner, Port Orchard, Everett, Olympia, Kingston and Port Angeles. There still are a couple of open months for those who would like to host a meeting.

History of WOGBB

WOGBB began as the Washington Pheasant Breeders on November 19, 1965, when a meeting of area breeders was held at the home of Cliff & Jo Anne Elbert in Kent, WA. Attending were, in addition to the Elberts, Mr. & Mrs. Williams of Sumner, Ted Baginski of Puyallup, Shris & Bill Wenger of Federal Way, Bruce Morgan of Maple Valley, Bob Cramer of Lake Young Pheasant Farm, Mr. & Mrs. Walkhoff of The Wishbone Bird Farm, Mrs. Ward Whitney of Auburn and Joe & Marge Longo of Renton. The objective of the new club was to further the growing interest in pheasant raising and showing, and to bring breeders together in hopes of sharing breeding and raising techniques.

At the next meeting on December 12, 1965 Mr. Tooze and Mr. Shaw of the Oregon Pheasant Growers attended to provide some helpful hints on organizing such a club. It was also moved, seconded and approved that our new club should become a member of the American Game Bird Breeders Cooperative Federation. At the second meeting the club's name was modified to The Washington Ornamental and Game Bird Breeders to accommodate breeders of waterfowl and other types of game birds.

A copy of our clubs first constitution and bylaws was mailed out with the second newsletter, "The Pheasant Pen", in February 1966. During that first year our membership grew to 49 members from 4 states.

By 1968 our membership had grown to 72 members. In the following years annual shows and awards banquets were hosted at various locations around the state. When the need arose to defend or represent our avocation in the state capitol we took the lead.

At various periods in our history meeting were held at private residences, in public buildings, and at the Woodland Park Zoo.

In 1982 we hosted an international joint conference of the APWS and IWWA in Seattle to honor the many breeding accomplishments of our very own Chuck Pilling. Attendees from North America and Europe enjoyed tours of local collections and field trips to the Skagit delta and Olympic Peninsula coast to see wintering waterfowl.

How to Join

Membership dues are $25.00 (US) or $38.00 (Canadian) per year, and should be sent to:

WOGBB Membership
Willie Slusarski
8857 Towne Place NE
Bremerton, WA 98311
1-360-698-8815
fleawillie@earthlink.net

ALERT!
Don't miss the big gamebird and equipment auction hosted by the club each year. This year it was at Valley Nursery in Paulsbo, WA in May, 2003.

Our summer/fall picnic took place 1 pm August 23, 2003 at the Canaan Boys Ranch, Tonasket, WA.

Our annual show two years ago (2001) was held in October in Walla Walla. As usual there was bird judging and an awards banquet, in addition to wildlife tours of the area. There was no show in 2002.

This past year, 2003, our 37th annual show took place at the Puyallup Fairgrounds on September 15, 16 and 17. It was held during the Washington State Fair this year! The show chairman in 2003 was our pres, John Morgan.

Our Christmas party was held November 29 at the Rader's near Port Orchard.

Our February 2004 meeting will be held in Fife and our April meeting will be held at Northwest Wildfowl Farm near Everett. We are looking for a location for the March meeting.

Board members with Chuck Pilling - April 2000 meeting
(Sorry, but our board photo didn't turn out this year)