Cherrybend Pheasant Farm: A hidden gem in the heartland
Pilots looking for a way to fly in to a special slice of America that offers an outdoor enthusiast an opportunity to combine a pheasant hunting or clay-course adventure with an aviation experience should draw a course line for Cherrybend Pheasant Farm located in southwestern Ohio’s Clinton County.
Land right there on the premises, on Hollister Field’s 3,300-foot-long turf runway.
The pheasant farm, a working grain farm producing corn, soybeans, wheat, and cover crops of sorghum and sunflowers, consists of a 640-acre preserve that offers guided hunting tours and lodging. Hunting season runs from Sept. 1 to March 31 and is available seven days a week.
With safety in mind, hunters are assigned their own “private, designated area—which may be from 25-60 acres. Our fields have natural boundaries that make it easy to distinguish fields.”
For pilots who may plan to fly in, finding the field will be aided by viewing photos on the Cherrybend website of the arrival for Runway 23 (preferred, if conditions permit; buildings will be on the right; corn on the left).
Hollister Field is located just east of Wilmington (Ohio) Air Park, in a cutout of that airport’s Class D airspace.
Fuel is not available at Hollister Field, but can be obtained at several nearby airports. The Ellis family suggests that you give them a call for more information.
For a day’s outing or a weekend getaway, Cherrybend Pheasant Farm may be the hidden gem you were looking for to find a change of pace, right there in the heartland.
“We really enjoy having folks come out and hunt our farm. We have met people from all over the world, and some of them have even become good friends! So, come out to our slice of America and see what farm and country life are all about,” the Ellis family says on the Cherrybend Pheasant Farm website.
