The story of the K Thunder pheasant begins outside the small town of Westphalia, Kansas, on the Thundering Wings Pheasant Farm, owned by Larry and Dena Weber. The year was 1988, Larry was running a small engine shop on their farm. Larry had been running his shop since returning from college, and the work began to seem monotonous. There were many challenges initially in this business, however the work began to get easier and the problems were always the same. Larry was in need of a new challenge, something that would challenge him mentally and physically. He soon hatched the idea of a different kind of farm. Surrounded by dairy farms, hog farms, cattle operations and grain farming; he knew there must be something less ordinary, something more exotic. Thus began Thundering Wings Pheasant Farm.
Larry started with 500 birds for sale the first year. Sell a few birds at a time, he hoped for contracts in the future. One of the customers accommodated this dream and asked for 1,500 pheasants the next year, and Thundering Wings Pheasant Farm took flight. The business grew by leaps and bounds, apexing around the turn of the century, with thousands of adult sales, egg sales and chick sales. With all of this growth how did the K Thunder bloodline come to be?
From the beginning, Larry knew he had to provide a product that would make his business more competitive, something that would set him apart from the rest of the flock. As with all living things, he noticed that nutrition and selecting breeding traits changed the birds and their performance. He began selecting the best of both, and ended up with a very different animal. This pheasant was tiny in comparison to others, averaging around 2 pounds when fully developed, the coloring is very distinct due to the nutrition these birds receive, and they are a very flighty and fast bird due to both the nutrition and trait selection. In or around 2003, he dubbed these birds Kansas Thunder pheasants. Shortly thereafter, the name was shortened to K Thunder.
Given the rich history of the origin of this animal, we feel we are responsible for preserving this bloodline and how it has changed the pheasant industry. Through the tutelage of Larry, we hope to continue this tradition and make this magnificent pheasant available for years to come.