John Herrera, along with Robin, Jason and Chinon Herrera, announced this week the closing of the Valley Quail Hunting Club.

“I had a good run,” he said Tuesday.

Herrera along with his family enjoyed sharing the dream of having a hunting club in the Lathrop area for the last 37 years.

It all started one day during his commute to his job in the Bay Area.

John Herrera had always been a die-hard bird hunter and took notice at the alfalfa fields in the area of Interstate 5 and Interstate 205.

It was 1989 when he came up with the idea of opening a hunting club for shared enthusiasts to hunt safely with their dogs while, at the same time, teaching youngsters the joy of hunting and gun safety.

Herrera recalled approaching the landowner, Rudy Dell’Osso, and discussing the idea with him.

Dell’Osso complied by leasing a small portion of the land – 52 acres – as a start during that first year.

“As the years went by, Rudy liked the way we operated the hunting club and he let us expand the club to both sides of the I-5 freeway and border along the San Joaquin River,” Herrera said.

The club acquired the pheasants from Dave Dias, who raised the birds for the Delta College farm, and bud Hoffman, who raised not just pheasants but chukars and quail on his bird farm in Manteca.

“Later on, we would purchase birds from a breeder in Hilmar,” Herrera added.

The Valley Quail Hunting Club, over the years, would bring in clients from as far away as Oregon and Nevada, along with San Diego, Merced and the Bay Area.

The Herrera family thanked the Dell’Ossos – Ron, Mike and especially Rudy – for use of the land throughout the years and, as John Herrera puts it: “For giving us a chance to fulfill a dream.”