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A Deep Look at the Mandatory Sale of Public Lands in the President’s Budget Bill Before the SenateIn this episode, AJ and Gabby take a break from their regular programming to discuss the sale of public lands as part of the federal budget reconciliation bill. They watched the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing to Examine the President’s Budget Request for the Department of the Interior for Fiscal Year 2026 and break it down in this podcast.

Right now, the reconciliation bill is in the Senate. Although the language surrounding the sale of public lands was removed by the House of Representatives, Senator Mike Lee is attempting to stick that language back in. The “Mandatory Disposal of Bureau of Land Management Land And National Forest System Land for Housing” would require the sale of 2-3 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land. Not only that, but the draft requires the selling process to begin within 60 days of the bill’s passage and to be completed within five years.

However, the potential public land sell-off isn’t the only issue at hand. There’s been an ongoing lack of transparency surrounding this bill both with the public and with lawmakers. Not only that, but there are concerns of backroom dealing—Montana Senator Steve Daines had his state omitted from the potential sale as part of a negotiation “to reduce bill-killing opposition,” according to Andrew McKean for Outdoor Life. Additionally, bill supporters claim that the land sale would help solve the housing crisis by increasing the land available for affordable housing developments. Yet, according to the maps of the potential lands for sale, most of these lands occur in very remote areas.

So why are senators trying to include the sale of public lands as part of the budget reconciliation bill? Some theorize that it’s part of a systematic, long-term approach to shift public lands towards private control. The current reconciliation effort isn’t an isolated policy—it’s the culmination of decades of ideological moves.

If you care about the American public retaining access to the land we collectively own, now is the time to speak up. Contact your senators via social media, phone, email, or snail mail and tell them what you think. Three million acres of your lands are on the line.

Listen to past episodes here: Project Upland Podcast

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The post The Senate Public Lands Sale – A Breakdown appeared first on Project Upland.

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Rice porridge is the ultimate comfort food, with an extra-special touch of wild grouse meat and foraged morelsRice soups and porridges are popular across much of the world, but are sadly lacking in Western food culture in North America.

Savory rice porridge is known as juk in Korea, congee across much of China and Taiwan, kayu in Japan, hsan byoke in Myanmar, bubur in Indonesia, khao piak in Laos, lugaw in the Philippines, babor in Cambodia, jok in Thailand, cháo in Vietnam, kanji/ganji on the Indian sub-continent, kenda in Sri Lanka, jaulo in Nepal, canja in Portugal, rizskása in Hungary… I could go on… and on.

At its most basic, the dish is often made by boiling rice in water until it’s soft and creamy, but most recipes include meat broths, proteins, mushrooms, pickles, aromatics, spices, and garnishes. It’s usually eaten for breakfast, and plain versions are often served to pregnant women, young children, elders, and convalescents.

The first time I tried it was as a teenager in the form of congee in a Chinese dim sum restaurant. I ordered it, not knowing what it was, and ended up being mildly disappointed in what I thought was a pretty bland bowl of mush. It came plain, garnished with a few slices of scallion, a sprinkle of MSG, and not much else. I ate it and thought to myself, “Well, I tried it, and I likely won’t be trying it again.”

Then I went home. I found myself thinking about that congee well into the night. Then I woke up the next morning, still thinking about that congee. What first seemed like the epitome of homogenous blandness soon transformed in my mind to a dish that was enticingly silky with a texture that was pleasing in the mouth and warming in the belly. The flavor went from “meh” to “hmmm” – subtly complex and brightened by the slivers of scallions scattered on top. The dish quickly became as comforting as my mother’s chicken noodle soup. I had to have it again.

The next weekend, I found myself back at the dim sum restaurant, ordering congee again; this time with pork and thousand-year-old egg (an egg preservation technique that produces crazy black egg whites and green yolks – trust me, it’s tastier than it sounds). I drizzled some chili oil over it and hoovered it up. I ordered another bowl from the menu. This one came plain but was served with long fingers of fried dough called youtiao. Soft meets crispy… delightful!

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and bought ingredients to make it. I made a massive pot that night and fed it to my family, who were less than enthusiastic.

“Is this just gruel?” my dad asked.

“Please, sir, may I have another?” my sister teased.

Whatever. Who needs family anyway?

I finished the giant pot by myself over the next few days, and then…

I was done with rice porridge for a bit. That was a lot at once!

I’ve since taken a more measured approach to the stuff, enjoying it from time to time rather than all of the time. I’ve explored the rice porridges of the world, either in restaurants or in my kitchen, and have found many delicious versions over the years.

One of my favorites is Korean dakjuk, a chicken-based rice porridge that’s less fiery than most Korean dishes, but still full of garlicky goodness. I love how you can garnish it with whatever you like to change the flavor and texture. Crispy-fried onions add crunch, pickles add tartness, herbs add freshness and flavor, chilies add heat. Each diner can really make this dish their own.

After making it a few times with chicken, I decided to go wild and use a whole ruffed grouse instead. Man. That extra tang of the wild meat elevated the dish into a whole new plane of existence!

I hope you try this one out. Remember, it may be a little underwhelming at first, but let it grow on you. You won’t be disappointed.

PrintRuffed Grouse and Morel DakjukA Korean rice porridge with wild flavorsCourse Breakfast, Main CourseCuisine KoreanKeyword Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, SoupPrep Time 20 minutes minutesCook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 378kcalAuthor Adam BerkelmansIngredientsFor the broth 10 cups water * 1 whole ruffed grouse plucked or skinned * ¾ inch ginger peeled and sliced into ¼" slices * 1 scallion whole * 1 small onion halved * 2 cloves garlic smashed * ½ cup dried morels or any other dried mushroom For the porridge 1 tbsp sesame oil + 1 tsp * ¾ cup short-grain rice rinsed * 1 stalk celery chopped fine * 1 carrot peeled and chopped fine * ½ tsp kosher salt * ¼ tsp black pepper * 1 clove garlic minced finely * 1 scallion sliced * 1 tbsp sesame seeds for garnish * Kimchi to serve Instructions* Add the water to a large pot over high heat. Add the whole grouse, the ginger, scallion, onion, garlic, and dried mushrooms. Bring to a strong simmer, then lower to a medium simmer. Cook for 30-40 minutes uncovered, or until grouse is fully cooked. Pick out grouse and mushrooms and set aside to cool. Discard the rest of the aromatics by straining the liquid into a large bowl – reserve the liquid. * Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil to the pot and put back over medium heat. Add the rice, carrots, and celery and sauté for a few minutes, or until rice turns opaque. Add 6 cups of the reserved stock back in (top up with water if you don’t have enough). Bring to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until rice is soft and beginning to fall apart. Stir often and reduce heat as needed. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. * Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms and set aside. Pull all of the meat from the grouse and discard the bones. Toss the meat with the 1 teaspoon sesame oil, the salt, pepper, and garlic. Set aside. * Once the rice is to your liking (add more water if you prefer a soupier rice porridge), add the grouse and mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes. Taste for salt. Serve garnished with sliced scallions and sesame seeds and with a side of kimchi. Enjoy! NutritionCalories: 378kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 394mg | Potassium: 495mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 2745IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 2mgThe post Ruffed Grouse and Morel Dakjuk (Korean Rice Porridge) appeared first on Project Upland.

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Sporting clays competitions in England were popularized in 1925. However, it took 60 years for the game to formally cross the Atlantic. This article originally appeared in the summer 2024 issue of Project Upland Magazine. This online article is an abridged version.

There is little dispute that sporting clay target presentations have been thrown in the United States for a long time. An article titled “Sporting Clays – the True History of the Game” documented many of the game’s staple targets. It mentioned that tower shots, over-water-targets, and multiple angle shots have been featured at US gun clubs for more than 100 years.

Some of the station names, such as “duck skeet,” “quail walk,” “trap hunting,” and “grouse shoot” date back to the early 1900s. They are instantly recognizable to modern sporting clays aficionados. It’s just that no one, it seems, thought to call the game “sporting clays.”

Introduction of Sporting Clays to AmericaOutdoor writer and shotgunning authority Bob Brister was introduced to the sport in the mid-1970s. At that time, he toured England’s best-known shooting courses with British course designer Chris Cradock. In 1980, Brister penned his influential Field & Stream article, “At Last a Clay Target Game for Hunters.” It was likely the first article to introduce the sport to an American audience.

Brister, an enthusiastic advocate of bringing the contest across the Atlantic, named about half a dozen clubs that already featured sporting targets. Three had important roles during the next few years: Sunnydell Shooting Grounds, Remington Farms, and the Orvis Shooting School in Manchester, Vermont. Brister believed the sport needed “a regional or a national sporting clays shoot,” adding, “I have presented the idea of a sponsorship of a US National Sporting Clays Championship to several major firms in the US gun and ammunition industry.” It would be five more years before that idea became reality.

Brister contacted Remington’s advertising and publicity staff in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He learned the company’s visionaries were “intrigued by the potential” of British sporting clays as a way to increase shotgun and ammunition sales. Brister agreed to provide them with more information on the sport during his next trip to England, and he put them in contact with British course setter Chris Cradock.

The First Sporting Clays Shoots In The United StatesThe Remington and Brister collaboration produced the first shoot in America formally titled “sporting clays.” Called the First Annual Sporting Clays Shoot, it was organized by Remington’s Gerald Quinn at the Remington Gun Club in Lordship, Connecticut on September 27, 1980. The 30-target affair was attended by some 90 shooters.

Although the Lordship range hosted sporting clay fundraisers for several years after 1980, Remington never sponsored a second annual contest. If they had, this would be a shorter story. Quinn says the reason was that the company was broadening its reach through partnerships with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The group decided to focus their combined efforts at Remington Farms in Rock Hall, Maryland.

Sporting clays might have gotten its official footing the next year, 1981, on the other side of the country, when Chuck Dryke of Sunnydell Shooting Grounds in Sequim, Washington, held a shoot that featured competitive sporting clays targets. But Dryke didn’t title his competition as a sporting clays tournament, instead naming it the North American Field Shooting Championship. Dryke was an early convert of unconventional targets. He constructed a high tower to add to his mix of skeet and trap targets as early as 1974. Three years later, he offered a “duck tower” and “coot shoot” game.

Hunter’s ClaysThe next move on the sporting clays chessboard was again Remington’s. As part of their three-year sporting clay business plan, the gun company brought Chris Cradock to Remington Farms in 1981 to design its first sporting clay course. But they didn’t call it sporting clays, either.

At one of their meetings, the NRA’s Harlon Carter suggested they call it “hunter’s clays” for better name recognition. Remington hosted outdoor writers from across the US to try hunter’s clays at Remington Farms on its new, five-station course consisting of “grouse flush,” “jump shoot,” “springing teal,” “quail rise,” and “pheasant tower.” Afterward, a flurry of syndicated articles appeared in magazines and newspapers heralding the new sport that simulated field shooting situations.

That year, Bob Brister and the NSSF’s Rocky Rohlfing wrote a 16-page booklet called Hunter’s Clays. It described the sport and how to set up an English-style clays course. The brochure was eventually distributed to nearly 200,000 interested shooters and club managers. Together, the Remington Farms press event and the Hunter’s Clays publication created an immediate spike in the number of clubs that introduced sporting clays to their members, although the use of the title “hunter’s clays” in shooting jargon only lasted about a year.

Finding Support For Sporting Clays CompetitionsDespite the progress, there were clouds on the horizon. Remington Farms, the logical place to introduce the sport through schools and competition, was reluctant to open its doors to the public. Then, the DuPont Company bought Remington, and in 1984, moved administrative offices to Delaware. Its main sporting clay backers either retired or took other jobs with the company.

By that point, Quinn, who was the principal author of Remington’s three-year sporting clays business plan, had accomplished every piece of the ambitious plan except one—in its last year, 1982, the goal was to sponsor regional championships and a national championship. Because neither the NRA nor the NSSF had the manpower to tackle the time-consuming job as a governing organization for a national competition, the last part of the plan went unrealized.

For a time, it looked as if Orvis might fill the void. Houston Orvis store manager Bryan Bilinski and an instructor from their Vermont headquarters were putting the finishing touches on the new Houston-Pin Oaks Acres Shooting School, one they were laying out as a true, English-style sporting clays course. In 1983, Orvis Company president Leigh Perkins sponsored a clay competition to promote its new venue before the grand opening. Called the 1983 Orvis Cup Classic and held at the Greater Houston Gun Club, Orvis added a dove tower to the club’s skeet and trap offerings. That year, Perkins hired Jay Herbert as the school’s shooting instructor.

Planning The First US Sporting Clays ChampionshipSporting clay targets by 1984 were being lobbed at skeet and trap clubs across the country. Although a growing number of clubs were designing sporting clay courses, the game was still short of Brister’s ambition to develop a sanctioned, national championship. The next year, his vision became a reality. In the April 1985 issue of Field & Stream, Brister wrote that Orvis was planning to hold the first “national” tournament, variously called “the first US Sporting Clays Championship” and “the first US Open Sporting Clays Championship,” at its Houston facility.

There are different published versions of who hosted the first national sporting clays tournament in North America. It certainly should have been Orvis—and in some accounts, it was—but Orvis, according to Jay Herbert in an interview, was out of the picture by the time the event was held.

Like Remington before it, Orvis’ reign was too short. Eighteen months after the winding Houston-Pin Oaks Acres course was laid out and the first clays turned to dust, the company lost its lease. Jay Herbert was in the right place at the right time when the lawyer representing the landowners offered the property to him instead. Now he was challenged with hosting a national tournament at his renamed Highland Bend Shooting School, and with little time and no sponsors.

The 1985 National Sporting Clays ChampionshipOf that first National Sporting Clays Championship venue, Jay Herbert told me:

Bob and I were talking one night about promoting the national championship. We agreed that Bob would put up the publicity and I’d put up the shooting grounds. We needed sponsors, but everybody turned us down, telling me, ‘we know it’s big in England, but the American shooter will never embrace it.’ There was only one person in the shooting industry that had any interest whatsoever in backing it and that was a guy named Tom Ruger, who was the son of Bill Ruger of Ruger firearms. And Tom, bless his heart, gave me five specially engraved guns and $2,500 to publicize it.

Jay fretted. Brister and Gene Hill, shooting editor of Gun Dog Magazine, had publicized the shoot, but there were only three entries ten days before the event. Jay, Brister, and Hill scoured their Rolodexes, personally visiting or telephoning their list of contacts. Their pitch? “We’re having a sporting clays national championship here on May 26, and we’d really like you to come. Never mind what sporting clays is—you’ll really enjoy it.” And they did.

The EventThe 1985 Nationals was a two-day event on Memorial Day weekend with 100 targets on Saturday and 50 on Sunday. In Jay’s words, “in that first National Championship contest we wound up with 78 shooters from 23 states.” Since no sporting clays competitive structure was in place, Jay remembers: “I picked three stations, and let everybody shoot them, and from that, I put them in classes. We had AA, A, B, C, D, and a Ladies and a Junior.”

Today, in a shooting sport with a dizzying number of competitive class categories, it’s refreshing to look back at the winner of that first contest, Andy Banks. He was a duck hunter from southeast Texas and shot his Browning A5 fowling piece.

No Looking BackThe excitement of that first tournament didn’t end when the smoke cleared. Brister didn’t hide his enthusiasm that “the public finally had a chance” to try the sport. He added, “Hopefully this event will get enough media coverage to encourage other to offer public competition.” It did. Within 12 months of the 1985 Highland Bend National Sporting Clays Championship, there were 25 sporting clay courses and 13 tournaments registered with the nascent USSCA.

1985 was a pivotal year. Houston dentist Jim Moore and Houston oil and gas deal promoter Bob Davis took an active role in forming the US Sporting Clays Association (USSCA). Hal DuPont sponsored his “Invitational Sporting Clays Introduction Shoot” at Jay’s Highland Bend Shooting School the same year. The importance of that event is that it introduced some celebrated names from the skeet and trap world to the new game, including Hall of Famer Rudy Etchen, NSSA president Mike Hampton, and Gun Dog Magazine’s Nick Sisley, among others. Hal DuPont would later be credited with founding the National Sporting Clays Association (NCSA) in 1989.

Reflections From Jay Herbert On The 1985 ChampionshipWhen Jay looks back at that championship shoot, he credits the mighty pen wielded by Bob Brister as both a Houston Chronicle outdoors writer and Field & Stream editor for his fountain of articles promoting the sport and Jay’s Highland Bend. He also credits Gene Hill who, he says, also published stories about the sport and the next several annual Highland Bend tournaments. Jay also acknowledges Tom Ruger. Of Ruger, he says: “You can’t give Tom enough credit. Without his initial sponsorship, I don’t know if the first tournament would have ever flown.”

Jay adds that Bob Davis, when he was the USSCA president, “asked me to give him space to promote the USSCA organization before my second tournament and he signed up I don’t know how many people.” The volunteers of the USSCA formed the first governing body of the sport in the US. After Jay organized the first four annual Highland Bend National Champion shoots, he turned the reins over to Davis and the USSCA. By then, the original 78 shooters that attended the first tournament had grown to 300.

“The shoot never had trouble getting sponsors after that first one,” he says.

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Upland bird hunting season dates, limits, and licensing requirements in the Buckeye StateLike much of the Great Lakes region, Ohio is known for big whitetail bucks. However, many other game species call the state home, including a variety of upland birds and small game. Ruffed grouse, American woodcock, bobwhite quail, pheasant, snipe, doves, and more can all be found in the Buckeye state.

Resident Ohioans have ample opportunities to hunt upland birds. With lots of agricultural land, a nearby Great Lake, and the Appalachian Mountains creeping in to the east, Ohio features several different habitat types. However, land access can vary. While resident landowners and their families may hunt their own property without a license, public land hunters may face limited options in some regions.

Whether you’re an Ohio resident or planning a trip there, this guide covers everything you need to know about Ohio upland bird hunting seasons, bag limits, and licensing requirements.

Ohio Upland Bird And Small Game Season Dates And LimitsYou can view Ohio’s 2024-2025 hunting regulations here.

| Species | Season Dates | Daily/Possession Limits | Notes | | Bobwhite Quail | Nov. 1, 2024 – Dec. 1, 2024 | 2 | Select counties and wildlife areas. See map on page 21 in the regulation handbook for details | | Ring-necked Pheasant | Nov. 1, 2024 – Jan. 12, 2025 | 2 | Males only | | Ruffed Grouse | Nov. 1, 2024 – Dec. 1, 2024 | 1 | Select counties. See map on page 21 in the regulation handbook for details | | Chukar | Nov. 1, 2024 – Jan. 12, 2025 | 2 | | American Woodcock | Oct. 12, 2024 – Nov. 25, 2024 | 3/9 | | Wilson’s Snipe | Sept. 1, 2024 – Nov. 20, 2024Dec. 7, 2024 – Jan. 1, 2025 | 8/24 | Nontoxic shot is required | | Rail (Virginia, Sora) | Sept. 1, 2024 – Nov. 9, 2024 | 25/75 | Nontoxic shot is required | | Gallinules | Sept. 1, 2024 – Nov. 9, 2024 | 15/45 | Nontoxic shot is required | | Dove (Mourning and Eurasian collared) | Sept. 1, 2024 – Nov. 3, 2024Dec. 7, 2024 – Jan. 1, 2025 | 15/45 | | Squirrel (red, gray, black, fox) | Sept. 1, 2024 – Jan. 31, 2025 | 6 | | Cottontail Rabbit | Nov. 1, 2024 – Feb. 28, 2025 | 4 | | Youth Small Game | Oct. 19, 2024 – Oct. 20, 2024Oct. 26, 2024 – Oct. 27, 2024 | Limits are the same as the regular season |

These dates were last updated on June 10, 2025 and may not reflect any changes since that date. For the most up-to-date information visit the Ohio DNR website.

Pheasant Regulations And Stocking InformationThe Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) stocks ring-necked pheasants throughout the state. Note that only roosters can legally be killed. Pheasants are released during both youth small game seasons, and in 2024, additional releases occurred on November 1, 9, and 28.

ODNR releases pheasants in Charlemont Metro Park, Appalachian Hills Wildlife Area, Berlin Wildlife Area, Caesar Creek Wildlife Area, Camp Belden Wildlife Area, Darke Wildlife Area, Delaware Wildlife Area, Fallsville Wildlife Area, Grand River Wildlife Area, Highlandtown Wildlife Area, Indian Creek Wildlife Area, Oxbow Lake Wildlife Area, Resthaven Wildlife Area, Rush Run Wildlife Area, Spencer Wildlife Area, Spring Valley Wildlife Area, Tiffin River Wildlife Area, Tri-Valley Wildlife Area, West Branch Wildlife Area, Wyandot Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area.

While Ringneck Ridge Wildlife Area gets stocked, that area is accessible by permit only. ODNR asks hunters to be aware that only portions of Killdeer Plains, Pleasant Valley, and Salt Fork Wildlife Areas are accessible via permit.

Bobwhite Quail Private Land And Wildlife Area AccessIf you’re looking to hunt bobwhite quail in Ohio, you’ll have to stick to the southern end of the state. Only a handful of counties in southern Ohio allow quail hunting, and it can only be done on private land and two wildlife areas.

Counties that allow quail hunting on private land include: Preble, Butler, Montgomery, Warren, Clinton, Highland, Clermont, Brown, Adams, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Jackson, Vinton, Athens, and Meigs. Additionally, quail hunting is allowed in Tri-Valley Wildlife Area and Crown City Wildlife Area. However, Crown City is only open to control hunts. Quail hunting is illegal on all other public lands.

Ohio Counties That Allow Ruffed Grouse HuntingLike bobwhite quail hunting, ruffed grouse hunting opportunities in Ohio are limited. Ohio’s ruffed grouse population is shrinking due to loss of habitat and other factors. The following counties allow grouse hunters to take one bird a day: Adams, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton, Jackson, Lawrence, Gallia, Meigs, Athens, Washington, Morgan, Noble, Monroe, Morgan, Belmont, Guernsey, and Muskingum. Grouse hunting is allowed on public lands in these counties.

Hunting Migratory Birds In Ohio: Doves, Woodcock, Snipe, And RailsWhen it comes to migratory birds, hunters can shoot two dove species, American woodcock, Wilson’s snipe, Virginia rail, sora, and gallinules. All migratory bird hunters must obtain a Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification. You can get a HIP certification by calling 1-877-HIP-OHIO (1-877-447-6446) or online at wildohio.gov. The possession limit for migratory birds is three times the daily limit.

Dove hunters can find mourning and Eurasian collared doves in Ohio. Doves may be hunted from sunrise to sunset, and lead shot is allowed. Additionally, there are some restrictions as to where you can legally dove hunt. Doves can be hunted in areas that have been recently mowed or bush-hogged as well as “areas that have been planted or harvested in a normal agricultural manner.” However, doves (and waterfowl) cannot be hunted in a field where grain or other feed has been recently removed or stored.

When it comes to rail, sora, and snipe hunting, hunters must use nontoxic shot.

Squirrels And RabbitsFour species of squirrel and cottontail rabbits may be hunted in Ohio. The squirrel species offering hunting opportunities are gray squirrels, red squirrels, black squirrels, and fox squirrels. Squirrels may be hunted from 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset. You can hunt rabbits from sunrise to sunset.

While there is not a controlled hunt for cottontails, there are controlled hunts for squirrels. Hunters may apply for a controlled squirrel hunt with ODNR.

Ohio Upland Bird Licensing FeesWhether you’re a resident or nonresident, you’ll need a valid Ohio hunting license to pursue upland birds. Below are pricing details for the 2024–2025 season.

| License | Resident | Non-Resident | | 1-Year Hunting License | $19 | $180.96 | | 1-Year Apprentice License | $10 | $180.96 | | (Tourist) 3-Day Hunting License | – | $40.56 | | Youth 1-Year Hunting License | $10 | $10 | | Senior 1-Year Hunting License | $10 | – | | Senior 1-Year Apprentice License | $10 | – | | Resident Free Senior Hunting License | Free | – |

These fees were last updated on June 10, 2025 and may not reflect any changes since that date. For the most up-to-date information visit the Ohio DNR website.

Ohio residents aged 66 or older are eligible for reduced-cost licenses and permits. Call 1-800-WILDLIFE (1-800-945-3543) to learn more.

Does Ohio Require Blaze Orange for Upland Hunting?If you are upland bird hunting in Ohio, you are required to wear blaze orange during the gun deer season. It is not legally required to wear blaze orange on public or private land while hunting outside of the gun deer season. However, Project Upland always encourages folks to wear blaze orange while in the field.

Hunting Dog Training Requirements In OhioOhio offers designated dog training areas on select state wildlife areas. It is illegal to train or exercise dogs in state wildlife areas from May 1 through August 31 each year, except for within designated training area boundaries. Nonresidents may only train dogs in Ohio if Ohioans are allowed to do the same in the nonresident’s state. Also, dog handlers may not carry a firearm during the closed furbearer season.

The following state wildlife areas have dog training areas:

• Appalachian Hills
• Berlin
• Caesar Creek
• Delaware
• Fallsville
• Indian Creek
• Killdeer Plains
• Lake La Su An
• Magee Marsh
• Oxbow Lake
• Resthaven
• Rush Run
• Salt Fork
• Spencer
• Tri-Valley

Small Game Hunters Primarily Hunt Private Lands In OhioAccording to Responsive Management’s 2023 report titled “Participation Levels in and Economic Contributions from Outdoor Recreation in Ohio,” 92 percent of Ohioan hunters hunt private land. Only eight percent of Ohio hunters exclusively hunt public land.

According to Project Upland’s annual survey, 11 percent of Ohioan hunters only hunt in Ohio. Eight-three percent hunt in other states in addition to Ohio. Multi-state hunters reported that they hunt in Ohio about 57 percent of the time.

Given that Ohio is about 95 percent private land, public land can be tricky to come by. That said, private hunting preserves, lodges, and clubs are abundant and popular among upland bird hunters in Ohio. While these places require memberships to access them, they offer opportunities to chase birds that the public may not have access to otherwise.

Controlled HuntsHunters in Ohio may apply for controlled hunts. ODNR decides who gets a controlled hunt permit via a random lottery system. Select locations, mostly state wildlife areas, offer controlled small game hunts for pheasant, bobwhite quail, and squirrel. The controlled small game hunt application period is from July 1 through July 30. For more information on controlled hunts, click here.

Resources For New Upland Bird Hunters In OhioIf you are new to upland bird hunting in Ohio, ODNR’s Introduction to Hunting Upland Birds is a great resource. The slideshow explains basic upland bird hunting terminology and techniques, rules and regulations, and how bird hunting contributes to conservation efforts in the state. It also mentions how Ohio’s upland bird populations are in decline. Project Upland encourages new upland bird hunters to familiarize themselves with their state’s hunting laws as well as the health of the native bird populations they choose to pursue.

Ohio Conservation OrganizationsPheasants Forever & Quail Forever Ohio

Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society

Delta Waterfowl

Ohio Ducks Unlimited

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers – Ohio Chapter

Ohio Conservation Federation

The Nature Conservancy – Ohio

Ohio Land Trust Alliance

The post Upland Bird Hunting in Ohio: Pheasant, Bobwhite Quail, Ruffed Grouse, and Other Small Game appeared first on Project Upland.

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Grind your turkey trimmings to make delicious meatballs that pair well with this warm pasta saladI don’t do it too often, but yes, you CAN grind your wild turkey meat!

If you’ve had trouble cooking wild turkey properly and have ended up with a dry or tough bird time and time again, you should consider grinding some of it up for an ingredient that’s much easier to cook with.

I personally like to grind breast trimmings, skin, and thigh meat, which ends up giving me a nice grind that’s a bit lighter than just dark meat. The skin helps add a little bit of fat to the mix as well.

Speaking of fat, there’s probably not going to be enough fat in this grind to make an enjoyable burger, meatloaf, or meatball. It will be fine for sautés and casseroles, but way too dry for anything solid. I highly recommend you add something to moisten up that grind. That could be in the form of eggs, breadcrumbs, ground fatty pork, gelatin, a panade (fresh breadcrumbs soaked in milk), or a certain secret ingredient that I used for these meatballs: mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise is simply an emulsion of eggs, oil, and vinegar. That means your meatballs will benefit from the binding action of eggs, the juiciness of the added fat from the oil, and even a little zing from the vinegar and general mayo flavor.

I found that 2 tablespoons of mayo per pound of ground meat works quite well and doesn’t overwhelm the meat with greasiness or tartness.

You can use different mayos for different meatball experiences, too. Try using kewpie mayo for meatballs that are a little sweeter with a certain je ne sais quoi about them. Flavored mayos work well, too. Try using a lemon or chipotle mayo for different flavors.

Use this trick with any lean ground meat (so basically all wild game) or even with store-bought poultry.

Since turkey, even wild turkey, can sometimes be a little ho-hum in terms of flavor, I added some more ingredients to the meatballs to create a pedestal that would allow that natural flavor to shine. Alliums always do the trick, so I added some minced scallions (you could also use chives) and some garlic, which sit nicely behind the flavor of the meat, adding so much flavor without taking over.

Make sure that you don’t overwork your ground meat. If you want nice and tender meatballs, you’ll want to mix just enough to combine, using a wooden spoon or—preferably—your hands. Overworking the meat will cause your meatballs to be tough. Many Asian recipes purposely overwork the meat in a deliberate way to create springy, bouncy meatballs. These meatballs are delicious, but they’re not what we’re after here.

Be sure to salt the meatballs at the last minute. Adding salt early (before you roll the meatballs) causes reactions in the meat, disrupting the bonds between amino acids and a protein called myosin. These proteins dissolve, causing the meat to become more sticky and dense. These dissolved proteins then link with each other, forming large, connected structures which cause muscle fibers to constrict and tighten. These tightened fibers cause the meat to shrink while cooking and cause toughness in the end product.

The reason this happens with ground meat, as opposed to, say, a steak, is that ground meat has already been physically transformed and opened up through the process of grinding. Steak will greatly benefit from early salting. A burger or a meatball? Not so much.

Lastly, when you’re ready to roll your meatballs, make sure you wet your hands a bit. I keep a bowl of water beside my work station and dip my hands in every few meatballs. This stops the meat from sticking to my hands and makes rolling the meatballs way easier.

Follow these tips and tricks and you’ll end up with the best meatballs you’ve ever had!

PrintWarm Orzo Salad with Wild Turkey MeatballsGround turkey makes delicious meatballs which pair well with this tangy pasta saladCourse Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Pasta, Salad, Wild TurkeyPrep Time 20 minutes minutesCook Time 25 minutes minutesTotal Time 45 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 505kcalAuthor Adam BerkelmansIngredientsFor the meatballs 1 lb ground wild turkey breasts and legs * ¼ cup panko or other breadcrumbs * 1 tbsp milk or cream * 2 tbsp mayonnaise * ¼ tsp black pepper * 1 green onion or small bunch of chives minced * 2 cloves garlic minced * 2 tbsp lard or oil * Kosher salt For the salad ½ lb orzo pasta * Kosher salt * 5 oz baby spinach * 1 can chickpeas drained * 2 cloves garlic finely minced * 1 handful cherry tomatoes halved * 4 oz feta crumbled * 1 lemon zest and juice * Black pepper Instructions* Mix the panko and milk/cream in a medium bowl. Allow the breadcrumbs to soak up the liquid. Add the ground wild turkey, mayonnaise, black pepper, green onion or chives, and the garlic and mix lightly. * Wet your hands and shape the mixture into ping pong-sized meatballs, setting them aside on a plate while you make them. Put the meatballs in the fridge for 15 minutes to set. * Heat the lard or oil in a skillet over medium heat. Season the meatballs with salt, then add them to the skillet and cook, flipping regularly, for about 10-15 minutes or until browned and cooked through the center. Set aside. * Add the dry orzo to a dry pot or skillet over medium heat and toast, stirring very regularly, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. * Bring a pot of water to a boil, add a big pinch of salt, then add the toasted orzo. Cook for 6-8 minutes until tender. Drain, then set back over the warm burner and add the spinach, mixing it in over the residual heat so that it wilts. * Transfer to a large bowl. Add the chickpeas, garlic, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and the zest and juice of one lemon. * Toss and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss the cooked meatballs in and serve warm. Enjoy! NutritionCalories: 505kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 91mg | Sodium: 491mg | Potassium: 807mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3981IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 237mg | Iron: 3mgThe post Warm Orzo Salad with Wild Turkey Meatballs appeared first on Project Upland.

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In this letter from the Summer 2025 issue of Project Upland Magazine, co-owners Jennifer Wapenski and AJ DeRosa call for nuance in an era of outrage-driven media.In a media culture where clicks are rewarded with advertising dollars and the almighty algorithm controls our diet of information, it’s no wonder that we find ourselves overwhelmed by headlines. This media onslaught is affecting the way we tell stories, pick sides, and pretend that complicated truths can be boiled down to a hashtag, bumper sticker, or even a single political platform.

The sensationalized, oversimplified, outrage-driven media culture is actively destroying our ability to deal with the complexity of real-world issues. It’s the death of nuance.

Upland hunters understand this “space between” better than most. We are in love with the birds; we study them, write about them, dream about them, and walk for miles to catch a glimpse of them. Sometimes we shoot them. That tension between reverence and consumption isn’t a contradiction, it’s a relationship. And it is delicately nuanced.

That kind of understanding—the kind rooted in complexity—is being lost.

Our Conservation Practices And Public Lands Are Uniquely AmericanMost of us wholeheartedly support the concept of reducing wasteful government spending. And yet, without the recognition of the nuance involved, we risk the dismantling of our system of conservation from the inside out. Scientists and land managers have been fired or have seen their grant funding abruptly cut off, erasing decades of progress on complex subjects, including important population indexing that is critically dependent on data continuity from year to year. Environmental protections are being rolled back to the era of the Industrial Revolution. These cuts send the message that evidence-based management in America is inconvenient, expensive, and expendable.

In a further affront to our DIY community, public land hunters now face the renewed threat of selling off or transferring public lands under the guise of economic development and energy dominance. In fact, 96 percent of the Project Upland audience hunts public land—and we’re proud to count ourselves in that number. The idea that anyone, in any tax bracket, has the same right to walk the same trail or cast a fly into the same river is not a market-based value. It’s a democratic one. It’s an American one. And it’s under threat, all while the rhetoric gets louder and the understanding gets weaker.

A Need For BalanceThe complex truth is that development and conservation can exist in the same spaces, as long as they are both managed with an eye for balancing the needs of all stakeholders. There’s that need for nuance again. We can gather under the banners of pro-drilling or anti-extraction, but science actually shows that—for example—there’s an acceptable number of oil rigs that can exist without adversely affecting sage-grouse populations. Similarly, the threat of listing a game bird species on the Endangered Species List may seem like overreach, but many of our native game birds find themselves closing in on critical status, if they haven’t reached it already. Species like the greater sage-grouse and greater prairie chicken are marked as “red alert tipping point” on the State of the Birds Report—a science-based report supported by organizations such as The Wildlife Society, Ducks Unlimited, and the National Wildlife Federation.

So if the solution lies somewhere in the middle of these competing—but not incompatible—interests, then we cannot accept the latest barrage of actions aimed at tipping the scales in favor of consumption over conservation. The Department of Defense has an executive order to streamline mineral extraction that results in no royalties paid to offset the environmental impacts. The declaration of a national energy emergency allows a complete bypass of the regulations established by the Endangered Species Act. The BLM proposal to roll back the Public Lands Rule will allow management decisions to ignore the value of conservation when considering the economic impacts of the multiple uses granted to public lands.

Conservation Before ProfitProject Upland Magazine was founded with the single principle to “leave the uplands better than we found them.” To stay true to that, we remain committed to recognizing the nuance and complexity of the most important issues facing public-land hunters. If we as a community believe in science-based management, then we have to support the funding and following of the very science on which the management depends. We commit to defending public lands, scientific research, and conservation policy, regardless of political party. This is the space where real conservation lives—not in hashtags or headlines, but in the day-to-day work of showing up, paying attention, and doing the right thing. Our longstanding reputation reflects this commitment, even to the detriment of our business, because the future of these birds is more important than our bottom line.

We’ll keep publishing stories for those of you who understand that. And we hope you’ll keep walking with us—on public land, behind a bird dog, across a landscape that belongs to everyone.

The post The Death of Nuance – A Letter from the Owners of Project Upland appeared first on Project Upland.

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Tips and techniques for hunting lagomorphs in highly populated areas with impenetrable cover.Of all the ways to hunt rabbits and hares, stand hunting wasn’t a technique on my radar for a long time. It turned out to be a very practical method for putting some longears in the vest.

When I say stand hunting, I’m not referring to sitting in a deer stand and waiting for rabbits to show up. (Unless you always see rabbits from your deer stand, in which case, do that!) Instead, I’m talking about setting up within gun range of excellent rabbit cover that is impossible to flush rabbits from and waiting for them to emerge. Ambush hunting is another way to put it. Dilapidated farmhouses, piles of irreparable farm equipment, unwalkable brushy cover, and the like are perfect places for ambush hunting rabbits. The key element here is that, once you’re set up, hold very, very still.

Stand hunting rabbits is best reserved for specific situations, which I break down below. Personally, I don’t recommend this method as a general purpose means to target cottontails and snowshoe hares. But, that said, here are some best practices for stand hunting lagomorphs.

When To Stand Hunt Rabbits and HaresStand hunting is a method that I keep in mind for very specific situations. Knowing when and when not to stand hunt takes the guess work out of it.

Typically, I ambush hunt in places where I know cottontails or snowshoe hare hide in nearly impenetrable cover. In these places, reaching them and successfully getting a shot off is next to impossible unless you are stand hunting.

CottontailsI frequently hunt cottontails on properties with dilapidated utility sheds, abandoned barns, forgotten farm equipment, desolate hedgerows full of buckthorn or hawthorn, scrap vehicles, and unkempt field edges. Sure, these places look a bit rough, but they’re cottontail paradise. However, flushing rabbits out of these hiding places is often impossible. The bunnies know they’re safe—they aren’t about to leave that safety to make a run for it.

What those cottontails don’t expect is a crafty hunter willing to stand hunt them as they emerge in the last hour of daylight to begin their nocturnal feeding. I’ve found that this works particularly well around junk piles; they often hold more than one cottontail. Finding places like this isn’t all that difficult, either. You can use a trail camera or two to see who is coming and going. Better yet, simply go for an evening walk and see where cottontails are consistently emerging.

HaresThe same goes for other lagomorphs like snowshoe hares. Hares, depending on the terrain or the season, will sometimes put themselves into places where a normal push just isn’t possible. When that happens, and you’re well aware of their presence, stand hunting shines.

A few years ago, during a backcountry deer hunt near Lake Superior, a good friend and I took note of the plentiful numbers of snowshoe hares. However, they were way up in these steep scree fields. If we tried to approach them, the hares vanished into the alcoves, never to be seen again. That was okay, though, because we planned for this; my hunting partner brought a packable .22 rifle. When combined with patience, his rifle proved to be the hares’ undoing more than once while stand hunting.

When To Use Other Hunting TechniquesFor every time that stand hunting is the best means to put some rabbits or hares in the vest, there are plenty of times when it’s not. For example, I’ve found that trying to wait out a flushed cottontail or hare until it circles back to the location it was flushed from is a waste of time. This is especially true if you are hunting on your own and there’s no one else to pressure the animal.

Hares are notorious for circling back. But just because you flushed one from cover doesn’t mean it’s coming back to that specific piece of cover. More than once have I flushed a snowshoe hare, sat quietly in anticipation of it returning, only to have waited for nothing. When there’s nothing to keep them running, snowshoe hares are just as likely to go fifty yards and hunker against a tree trunk as they are to complete the full circle.

Remember that stand hunting hares and cottontails is very much an ambush game. You are waiting for the animal to break from impenetrable cover, which generally occurs in early morning or late evening. That said, use that knowledge as a guide for what time of day you shouldn’t stand hunt. As much as I wish eastern cottontails were active in the middle of the afternoon, they simply aren’t that naïve. If they were, then there wouldn’t be very many of them.

The Right Tools for The JobThere’s a good chance that you already have everything you need to comfortably stand hunt, especially if you hunt deer. By human standards, rabbits are somewhat color blind. They can see blue and green fairly well, but most other colours appear in shades of greys. Camouflage isn’t necessarily of the highest importance. However, being very still is.

.22 RiflesI typically run a sharp-shooting .22 for cottontails. If there’s the possibility that my stand hunting area has multiple rabbits hanging around, then I’ll be loading that .22 with subsonic suppressor rounds to decrease the chances of scaring other bunnies to the point where they won’t leave their cover.

In winter, it’s easy to see where rabbits and hares are leaving cover based on their trails in the snow. This might mean I have to lay on my belly. Depending on the temperature, I may bring a foam mat with me for added comfort and insulation.

20-gauge ShotgunsSnowshoe hares are a different story. I find more success if I hunt them as though they’re wild turkeys; I almost always hunt snowshoes with a shotgun. A good 20-gauge with 3-inch shells loaded with #4 shot will be more than enough to punch through brush at a reasonable distance.

To give those rounds an added punch, more often than not, I will run a modified choke. Sometimes, I might be 25 to 30 yards away from where the snowshoe hare emerges; having a modified choke in my barrel will seal the deal.

That’s not to say that you couldn’t run a .22 rifle and bag a couple sneaky snowshoes emerging from what my hunting partners and I refer to as “the nasties.” But, more often than not, you won’t find snowshoe hares in the same sort of rural landscapes that you find cottontails. Snowshoes prefer brush-choked conifers in low-lying areas far away from agriculturally significant lands with minimal development, if any at all. In places such as this, a shotgun will reign supreme.

Hunt Rabbits Like Big GameYou’ve probably heard that hunting small game will make you a better big game hunter before. To me, stand hunting cottontails and snowshoe hares has proven this to be true.

I have far more success with this style of hunting if I scout ahead of time. I make note of where I consistently see sneaky cottontails or snowshoe hares disappear. The effort it takes to document the time, location, and how often critters are seen goes a long way.

Don’t for one second think that deploying a trail camera or two would be considered taking things too far. I’ve used cameras many times. They give me an accurate understanding of how many critters are around and when they leave their cover. This works well for both species. When in snowshoe hare country, using cameras cuts down on the amount of time spent monitoring their movements.

When setting up, slip into an area facing an exit point for cottontails or snowshoe hares. Arrive about a half hour before legal light slips away. Then, get comfy. Sometimes it takes awhile for the cottontails or hares to start moving. Still, more often than not, I don’t need to hunt for very long.

Having said that, I like to hunt this way in the evening, prior to when rabbits leave their cover to begin their night activities. You may find that you scare more if you get up early in the morning and try to set up in the dark, which may cause them to leave the area entirely.

In the end, this method is meant to be a fun and outside-the-box method to put more small game in the freezer. When the right scenario presents itself, trust me when I say that it is exactly as described—fun!

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This recipe uses a time-honored technique to slow-cook birds with tons of flavorBraised meat is a quintessential part of Vietnamese home cooking. You won’t see these dishes in Vietnamese restaurants; instead, they are considered common knowledge and are passed down through family members.

Usually braised in a clay pot, the meat is essentially cooked in some variation of sugar, fish sauce, and black pepper. From fowl to pork to fish, you can braise just about any meat this way. However, the cooking time and ingredients vary. My favorites growing up were pork belly and, oddly, canned tuna, which my mom and I enjoyed over plain rice porridge.

Because the meat is so heavily spiced, you don’t have to make a lot of it; it’s understood that this meat isn’t to be eaten alone. It’s so salty, in fact, that it must be eaten with white rice to balance the strong flavors and make the meal more filling. It’s a good way for families to stretch whatever protein they can afford or in this case, have in their freezer.

PrintVietnamese Ginger-Braised QuailStretch your birds farther with this delicious, family-style mealCourse Main CourseCuisine VietnameseKeyword QuailPrep Time 15 minutes minutesCook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 424kcalAuthor Jenny Nguyen-WheatleyIngredients 5-6 whole quail skin on * 1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder * 1 tbsp sugar * 2 tbsp fish sauce * ¼ tsp black pepper cracked * 1 tsp dark soy sauce * 2 tsp Sambal Oelek ground chili paste * 2 inches ginger peeled and julienned * 1 medium shallot minced * 3 cloves garlic thinly sliced * 1 tbsp vegetable oil * 1 can Coco Rico soda or coconut juice * Sliced green onion for garnish * 1 bird's eye chili optional * 4 servings jasmine white rice cooked * Sliced cucumber Instructions In a large mixing bowl, combine the quail, chicken bouillon, sugar, fish sauce, black pepper, dark soy sauce, and sambal oelek chili paste. Evenly coat the quail with the mixture. Allow the mix to sit on the counter while you prep the garlic, ginger, and shallot. * In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid or a Vietnamese clay pot, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and ginger and sauté until the shallot becomes soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. * Add the quail and all of the marinade liquid to the pan. Stir to evenly distribute the aromatics. Add enough Coco Rico soda to nearly cover the quail. Bring it to a low boil, then turn the heat down to allow the liquids to simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. * Remove the lid and allow the cooking liquid to reduce by half to form a sauce; this could take an hour. Occasionally turn the quail in the sauce so the exposed meat doesn’t dry out. When the sauce has reduced, garnish the dish with sliced green onion and sliced bird’s eye chili if desired; these chilies are spicy, so be careful. Serve the sauce-coated quail with warm jasmine white rice and sliced cucumber. NutritionCalories: 424kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 1164mg | Potassium: 402mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 333IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 6mgThe post Vietnamese Ginger-Braised Quail appeared first on Project Upland.

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Mark Parman, author of Among the Aspen and A Grouse Hunter’s Almanac, presents his third book, Upland Matters. This 200-page hardcover is a must-have for those who love ruffed grouse hunting and the conversations between the dogs and the shots taken. Illustrated by Jay Dowd, this book will inspire a new meaning to the hunts we love.

“Our stories define us, telling the audience who we are, what we’ve experienced, and what we value. They shape our hunting culture, instructing us how we should think and act, shaping our tradition as we hand it down to the younger generation or to older hunters just setting forth… Our stories have been told around campfires, along rivers and lakeshores, as well as on the tailgates of our trucks… We tell our stories in order for our upland culture to live—passing on its moral code, instructing other hunters, particularly the young and inexperienced—preserving memories, and sometimes for simply entertaining ourselves and other hunters.”

To order the book Upland Matters check it out here: Shop Books

This film is Presented by:

• Kent Cartridge
• OnX Hunt
• Upland Gun Company

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Tips from a biologist for achieving Kansas’ Grand Slam and hunting bobwhite, pheasants, and prairie chickens across the plains.Kansas’ reputation as a classic upland hunting state has long been known. Bobwhite quail hunting here is legendary during boom years and remains solid during average years. While pheasant hunting in Kansas has decreased over the last few years due to habitat loss, the state is still consistently among the top three to four states for roosters. Additionally, Kansas is the country’s top greater prairie chicken state, providing great opportunities to harvest the charismatic grassland dweller.

A chance to harvest these three species on a single trip, maybe even on a single walk, makes Kansas a special place to hunt in the fall. Here are a few tips to help you plan your attempt at the Kansas Grand Slam.

Bobwhite Quail Hunting in KansasBobwhites are found statewide in Kansas. This gamebird’s habitat includes anywhere native herbaceous plants and low-growing, shrubby cover coexist.

Southeastern KansasThe southeastern portion of Kansas was once the go-to area for great quail hunting. I hunted there frequently in the ’90s and routinely had 10-covey days. But times have changed since then. Fescue and tree encroachment led to substantial population declines in the eastern portion of that region. Nevertheless, good populations still occur in the Flint Hills.

Read More: A Guide to Bobwhite Quail Hunting

Publicly accessible land is hard to come by in southeast Kansas, so finding accessible birds can be challenging. Consider introducing yourself to a few private landowners before the season begins, and they may give you access to hunt their lands for quail.

Southwestern KansasSouthwest Kansas has long been one of the best regions for bobwhites. It has large expanses of native prairies and good interspersion of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grass fields in a largely agricultural landscape.

This region is similar to western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle because it’s subject to periodic droughts. Drought years suppress populations, though birds can still be found. But when the rains come after a drought, quail populations boom, and hunting in southwestern Kansas can be world-class.

Many acres are enrolled in the state Walk-in Hunting Access (WIHA) here, giving the average hunter access to spectacular bird numbers when the conditions are right.

North-Central KansasThe most consistent region for high-quality quail hunting is the north-central tier of counties from about Salina to Hays. This region still experiences boom-bust cycles, but less dramatic than in southwestern Kansas. That means populations tend to hold steady but are still capable of reaching excellent levels. This region includes native prairie intermixed with shrubs, CRP grassland, and agricultural fields. Throw in large amounts of publicly accessible land, and you have a recipe for outstanding quail hunting.

Ring-necked Pheasant Hunting in KansasWhile pheasants can be hunted statewide in Kansas, the best populations occur in the western two-thirds of the state. Ringnecks prefer thick cover near agricultural food sources during hunting season. Tall native grass plantings, cattail sloughs, weedy old homesteads, and dense hedgerows are prime places to look for birds as long as they are within a half-mile of a harvested grain field or fallow fields. Native grassland pastures in north-central Kansas can also hold birds, especially those with light grazing pressure.

Read More: Tactics to Increase Public Land Pheasant Hunting Success

While CRP grasslands have declined over the last several years, plenty remain to be found, especially in southwest and northwest Kansas. These regions routinely hold the largest number of birds in the state, and there is plenty of WIHA access here, too. North-central Kansas also has good pheasant populations with decent amounts of CRP and WIHA. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) also manages several large public wildlife management areas in this region. These areas surround large reservoirs, and many offer places that take hard work to access, providing chances for less pressured birds.

Greater Prairie Chicken Hunting in KansasWhile not as widely spread across the state as bobwhites or pheasants, greater prairie chickens can still be found and hunted across a wide swath of Kansas. In fact, Kansas is home to the largest greater prairie chicken population in the country. It’s a destination for hunters seeking to chase these truly special birds. Personally, I hold prairie chickens in the highest regard for their sense of wildness and the beautiful places hunting these birds takes me.

Flint HillsEastern Kansas’ Flint Hills region was heralded as the prairie chicken epicenter due to the vast native tallgrass prairies there. While good numbers of birds can still be found, populations in the Flint Hills have declined long-term due to range management practices reducing the amount of good nesting cover. Also, the Flint Hills has very little state-managed public land or WIHA access. That said, I’ve had success knocking on doors to gain access, and good hunting can still be found in America’s largest expanse of tallgrass prairie.

Smoky HillsThe best ecoregion in the state to hunt greater prairie chickens is the Smoky Hills in north-central Kansas. A beautiful landscape that is a mix of large tracts of native prairies and crop fields of wheat, soybeans, and corn, the Smoky Hills have seen a stable to increasing population of prairie chickens over the past two decades. Private land access here can be good, especially during the early prairie chicken season, and a decent amount of WIHA exists.

Read More:A Guide to Greater Prairie-Chicken Hunting in Kansas

Much of the WIHA in north-central Kansas is thick CRP grassland better suited for pheasants, but there are tracts of native prairie enrolled in WIHA that offer good hunting. Prairie chickens prefer shorter grass than pheasants, and native pastures offer the grass height and density that chickens need.

Western KansasNorthwest Kansas has recently seen an increase in prairie chicken numbers, offering good but limited opportunities to harvest birds. Due to lower amounts of rainfall, the CRP in this region does not grow as thick as in other parts of the state. Chickens have taken advantage of the short, sparse CRP here, which has expanded and increased bird numbers.

Lesser prairie chickens, a federally protected species, have also taken advantage of western Kansas’s CRP and expanded their range north. To reduce the potential for accidental harvest, the KDWP has closed much of northwest Kansas to prairie chicken hunting. You can view KDWP’s map here. But where western lands are open, hunters can find birds in CRP grasslands and native pastures.

Planning Your Kansas Grand SlamKansas provides great upland game bird opportunities. It’s one of only two states that offer the bobwhite-pheasant-greater prairie chicken mixed bag in the country. (Nebraska is the other). Although at least one bird species offers great upland hunting opportunities across the state, if I were going after my grand slam, especially to get it done on one trip, I would choose the north-central region of Kansas.

This area offers the greatest opportunity to find all these birds in close proximity and excellent public access. Locate good grassland habitat that includes a mix of low-growing shrubby cover near harvested grain food sources. In habitat like this, you stand an excellent chance of finding pheasants and quail on the same walk. If the cover is short enough, you might even jump prairie chickens.

To specifically target chickens, hunt native grass pastures, walk ridge lines on calm days, and lee sides of slopes when the wind blows. Also, watch for chickens flying from grasslands to feed in harvested crop fields in the mornings and evenings. Locate the fields the birds are using, keep a close eye on the exact place they enter the field, and seek permission to pass shoot prairie chickens on subsequent days. This type of chicken hunting offers exciting shooting and is often the best way to consistently harvest birds, especially late in the season.

Mixed-Bag Hunts Are Something SpecialHunters seeking to complete Kansas’ upland bird Grand Slam have ample access and many areas to target each species individually. But what’s extra cool is the ability to earn the slam on a single hunt. There’s just something about coming home with a mixed bag. The excitement of not knowing what will flush next adds something special to an already great experience. Kansas offers excellent opportunities for great mixed-bag hunts, which is just one reason Kansas is such an iconic upland destination.

For some extra fun, challenge yourself. Can you get the slam on the same day? What about the same walk? However you go about it, just give it a try!

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The deep, rich flavors of duck breast and sausage gumbo will make all the time spent whisking your roux worth itI assure you, I am not being dramatic. When making this wood duck gumbo recipe, you really do need to whisk like your life depends on it. It requires so much whisking because making a roux is essential to gumbo-making.

Your roux will be the base of your gumbo’s flavor profile. On its face, roux-making seems simple. After all, a roux is just flour browned in hot oil. Simple, right? If you’ve never made a roux before, don’t be surprised if you screw it up a few times. Doing so is merely a rite of passage.

When making a roux, you’ll be successful if you do these two things:

1. Never walk away from the pot
2. Manage your heat level.

To ensure you don’t need to leave the pot, mise-en-place, or prepare all your ingredients before turning the stove on. Take a bathroom break. Crack a cold beer and throw on a good playlist. You’re going to be standing and whisking for the next hour.

Making The RouxWhen cooking in a heavy-bottomed cast iron Dutch oven, the heat can escape you. Make sure you don’t burn your roux by keeping an eye on your heat level. I usually start at a medium-high setting and work my way down to medium or just below it while making my roux. Keep a close eye on the contents of your pot and stay one step ahead of any potential scorching. You can always increase the heat if the roux isn’t browning like you want. What you can’t do, however, is un-scorch the flour. Once it goes from brown to burnt, just start over. There’s no saving it.

After the roux is sorted, the rest is easy. You’ll pretty much just be making stew. However, one stew-making tip is to add your chicken broth in stages. Doing so gives your gumbo a gravy-like thickness. Because your roux is the thickener and you made it at the beginning, you can’t add more thickener at the end of the recipe. If you add too much stock, there’s no going back, and you’ll end up with a thin gumbo. Adding the stock in stages helps your gumbo stay thick.

Wood duck gumbo is best enjoyed with a crowd of friends or family to help you scrape the pot clean. If you find yourself with leftovers, gumbo freezes well; store quarts of it for up to one year.

PrintWood Duck and Andouille Sausage GumboThis isn't a quick recipe, but the time invested in a good roux will make an unforgettable gumboCourse Main CourseCuisine SouthernKeyword DuckPrep Time 30 minutes minutesCook Time 4 hours hoursTotal Time 4 hours hours 30 minutes minutesServings 8Calories 560kcalAuthor Will NewellIngredients 1 large yellow onion finely diced * 1 large green bell pepper finely diced * 4 celery ribs finely diced * 1 Fresno chili finely diced * 3 cloves garlic finely diced * 1 lb andouille sausage sliced into coins * 1 lb wood duck breasts (about 6) * 1 qt chicken stock * ½ cup neutral oil vegetable, grapeseed, avocado, peanut, etc. * ½ cup all-purpose flour * 2 cold beers 1 for cooking and 1 for drinking (Abita Amber, if you want to be canonically correct) * 4 cups cooked rice I used Carolina Gold * 1 bunch green onions sliced for garnish Instructions Mise-en-place every single ingredient. It must all be prepped, measured, and set aside in its own container, ready to go. * Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven until it’s almost smoking. * Sprinkle in the flour and begin whisking until well combined. Continue whisking for the next 40 to 50 minutes until the mixture has taken on the color of dark chocolate. You cannot over-whisk this roux. * Once the roux has achieved the desired color, add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and Fresno chili. Stir to combine. Once the vegetables are sweated in the roux, add in the garlic. Allow the mixture to sweat again. * Once all the veggies have been added, add in the andouille sausage. Stir to combine. Cook for a few minutes or until some of the sausage fat has rendered. * Add ½ of a beer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. * Stir in the chicken broth until well combined. Remember, add it in stages; don’t add it all at once. * Bring the mixture to an even boil. Add the wood duck breasts. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer the gumbo for 2-3 hours. * Remove the duck breasts from the gumbo and place them in a bowl to cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, shred the duck breasts. Then, return the meat to the pot and simmer it for another 20-30 minutes. * Tightly pack cooked rice into a ramekin, turn the ramekin out into the center of a shallow bowl and ladle the gumbo around the rice. Garnish with green onions and serve. NutritionCalories: 560kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 96mg | Sodium: 667mg | Potassium: 570mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 151IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 4mgThe post Wood Duck And Andouille Sausage Gumbo appeared first on Project Upland.

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Tips for hunting greater prairie-chickens towards the end of their season.The Kansas Flint Hills prairie rose 100 feet above the low-lying soybean field I was hunting. Each day, two groups of greater prairie-chickens screamed down from the grasslands and into the field to feed at unbelievable speeds. I had these birds dialed in; I knew exactly which electric pole they flew past every morning. I was set up well before dawn, ready to pass-shoot them.

The first group came in well in advance, but I was unprepared for how fast they were. I missed, wildly behind. I adjusted my swing on the next group, got lucky, and dropped a bird at the tail end of the group. Was it the bird I was shooting at? Probably not. But in any case, I had my first late season chicken.

That chicken hunting experience was more like pass-shooting waterfowl than upland bird hunting, but it was utterly unique and incredibly fun. Every upland hunter should try it. These tips will help you connect on a greater prairie-chicken during the late season.

Greater Prairie-Chicken Winter Feeding HabitsGreater prairie-chickens are a distinct grassland species. They’re one of the most obligate grassland bird species in North America. However, they have adapted to feeding on grain crops left over after a harvest.

Like most upland bird species, they feed first thing in the morning and again in the evening. Unlike most upland birds, though, they don’t walk into their feeding grounds. Instead, they fly from their roosts and loafing areas in the grasslands to the crop fields to feed.

Their preference for flying means they can be very easy to spot going from one place to the next. This makes identifying a good hunting spot easy. My most successful scouting trips included driving around grasslands and croplands in the mornings and evenings, looking for birds flying from place to place.

Advice For Pass-Shooting Prairie ChickensPrairie-chickens have a peculiar habit of using the same field for several consecutive days. These birds also enter the field at roughly the same place every time. Sometimes, multiple groups of birds will exhibit this behavior in one single field. It is wise to spend a couple of mornings pinpointing the precise spot where they enter and exit the field to ensure you have the best chance at a shot.

Once you have found the best spot for success, secure permission to hunt the field. If permission is granted, approach the hunt as if you were duck hunting. Wear camouflage clothing and consider grassing in a makeshift blind. Stay very still; only rise to shoot when the birds are in range.

Surprisingly, pass-shooting feels very similar to dove hunting. The birds enter the field deceptively fast, and it is easy to shoot behind them. Luckily, the same group will often return to the field in the same spot after the first volley, giving you multiple chances to dial in your lead. Also, multiple shot opportunities can occur if several flocks are using the same field.

Selecting For Adult Male Prairie-ChickensA long-time winter prairie-chicken hunter once told me, “If you want to harvest a fully feathered male for mounting purposes, consider waiting for the second or third flock to enter the field before pulling the trigger.”

Adult males visit grassland leks every morning as a part of their social dynamic before feeding. As a result, they are often the last birds to fly into the feed fields. I’ve not hunted chickens enough during the winter to know if his advice is true, but biologically, it makes sense. If you can afford to lay off the first flock, perhaps give it some consideration.

Tips for Hunting Late Season Prairie-Chickens With A DogGreater prairie-chickens are hard to approach between November and January. During this time, they live in large flocks and often post sentry birds to keep an eye out for danger. They also flush from hunters and dogs at much longer distances. These habits are why several states initiated early season prairie-chicken hunts in September. In September, the birds act more like traditional upland game birds and are more easily hunted with bird dogs.

That said, traditional upland hunters can use a couple of tricks to approach late season birds. First, use terrain to your advantage. Birds often tuck into the lee side of hills or ridges to gain respite from the prairie winds. Sneak around the back side of these places and pop up over the top to catch snoozing birds unaware. This is a time-tested tactic, especially in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

Additionally, hunt with close-ranging dogs and be as quiet as possible. Loud yelling, whistling, and rangy dogs make approaching prairie-chickens even tougher, even if your dog holds a staunch point.

Lastly, it does no good to hunt taller grass. Prairie-chickens don’t use tall grasses very often. If you’re hunting traditional pheasant cover, the grass is too tall.

I don’t say all this to make killing birds during the traditional winter seasons sound impossible. It’s just harder. But it can be done. Don’t be discouraged by my warnings. Instead, use these tips to help you be successful.

Where to Hunt Late Season Prairie-ChickensKansas is the classic state to hunt greater prairie-chickens in grasslands and feed fields during the late season. While the Flint Hills population has struggled recently, there are still plenty of places to pass shoot birds flying into crop fields. Here, the fields tend to be in the creek bottoms below the hills, like in the story I mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Additional options include Kansas’s Smoky Hills and High Plains. These landscapes have a much greater interspersion of grasslands and croplands plus a more robust road system. Flying birds are easier to spot the morning and afternoon skies. There are also more publicly accessible grassland pieces in these sections than in the Flint Hills, so you’ll have more room for you and your dog to roam.

I’ve had good luck knocking on doors in the Flint and Smoky Hills to secure private land permission. Kansas landowners respect prairie chickens but do not prize them as highly as pheasants. Nebraska and South Dakota also have large chunks of grasslands interspersed with crop fields. Populations in these states are doing quite well.

As you can see, ample opportunities exist to try your hand at late season chickens. The traditional upland hunting method is always fun, but give the pass shooting along crop fields a try. You’ll find it a great challenge and quite sporting. But however you plan to do it, hunting these birds in the late season is worth it. Greater prairie-chickens are a true symbol of America’s grasslands and are a bird worth treasuring.

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Cook succulent Canada goose legs in seasoned duck fat and take your tastebuds to FranceDuck confit is a gourmet dish often found in high-end French restaurants. Legs are the most common cut of meat to make confit with. Making it isn’t necessarily labor intensive, but it does require planning ahead. Curing and cooking the waterfowl requires several hours of your time.

This particular recipe uses Canada goose legs, but you can indeed use legs from smaller waterfowl. Using smaller legs will shorten the curing and cooking times. Yes, you could even use breasts from any waterfowl but similar to using smaller legs, the cure and cook times will vary.

Rendering your own duck fat and preserving to use later is always a great idea. There are several articles and videos on the internet that cover how to do so. However, in a pinch, you can purchase duck fat at many grocers or through Amazon, though the cost is approximately $1 an ounce. To make this recipe—if you don’t have canned duck fat or duck butts in your freezer—you’ll spend $28 on duck fat right off the bat.

Is this recipe worth the cost of duck fat plus the cost of the other ingredients? Very much so. Dare to take it a step further and splurge on a nice bottle of wine. What wine should you pair confit with? Now, that’s a question for a sommelier.

PrintCanada Goose ConfitTake a French approach to get buttery, tender goose legsCourse Main CourseCuisine FrenchKeyword Duck, GoosePrep Time 12 hours hoursCook Time 6 hours hoursTotal Time 18 hours hoursServings 2Calories 1157kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 2-4 Canada goose legs * Kosher salt * 28 oz duck fat * 4-8 tbsp salted butter * 2 shallots sliced * 2 tsp garlic freshly minced * 2 tsp ginger freshly minced * 5-8 star anise * 5-8 whole cloves * 4-6 cinnamon sticks * 2 tbsp coriander seeds whole * 2 tbsp black peppercorns whole * 2 sprigs fresh thyme * 2 sprigs fresh rosemary * Orange zest from 2 medium oranges Instructions Lightly salt all sides of the goose legs and leave them in the fridge for 12 to 16 hours. If you use legs from smaller waterfowl, such as mallards, 8 hours of curing in the fridge will suffice. * After the meat has cured, heat a thin layer of duck fat over medium heat in a skillet large enough to hold the legs. When hot, sear both sides of the legs, then set aside. Add a bit more duck fat, if necessary, followed by sliced shallot. Once shallot is slightly soft and seared, add the garlic and ginger, stir for a few minutes, then turn the heat to medium-low. * Add at least 14 ounces of duck fat and 4 tablespoons of salted butter to the skillet and allow them to melt. * Add the star anise, cloves, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, peppercorns, thyme, rosemary, and orange zest, and simmer at 200 F for 5-10 minutes to imbue the fat with flavor. * Add the goose legs and more duck fat. The liquid fat should cover at least half the goose legs, from bottom to top. Simmer on the stovetop, not in the oven, for at least 6 hours and up to 8 hours. Flip the legs every half hour, and ensure the fat covers half the legs at all times. Add more fat if necessary. Ideally, the temperature of the fat should stay around 200 F. * The legs are done when the meat is tender. Test the meat for tenderness by touching it with your finger. There should be a bit of give, versus feeling like a rock, and the meat should feel ready to fall off the bone. * Remove when the meat is done. Serve immediately and enjoy with a side of roasted potatoes or steamed vegetables. NutritionCalories: 1157kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 110g | Saturated Fat: 41g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Monounsaturated Fat: 51g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 225mg | Sodium: 308mg | Potassium: 921mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1005IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 216mg | Iron: 8mgThe post Canada Goose Confit appeared first on Project Upland.

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Scrounging resale markets, repainting used decoys, and setting up small spreads help hunters gain entry into the diver duck hunting world.When I started hunting waterfowl, diver ducks seemed like the most expensive birds to target. YouTube videos worsened this impression. Everyone seemed to be hunting from extravagant blinds while utilizing an infinite number of bluebill and redhead decoys. It was baffling! How was a hunter on a limited budget supposed to compete with that?

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The truth is, small decoy spreads are very effective if you play your cards right and know your diver ducks. Let’s look at how we can decoy diver ducks on a budget.

Use Small Spreads of Thrifted DecoysThere are three commonly hunted species of diver ducks: lesser and greater scaup, otherwise known as bluebills. The third is the studly redhead. These species love to be with their own kind. Often, you will see them on bodies of water rafting, or flocked together, by the hundreds or even thousands. That sight alone can maintain the preconceived notion of having to spend an ungodly amount of money on decoys to find success.

Read More: How to Select the Right Duck Decoys

However, some of my most exhilarating diver duck hunts taught me that the number of decoys I brought wasn’t overly necessary. Inexpensive decoy setups are often equally effective with diver ducks. If you plan on hunting diver-rich areas, you can save yourself a lot of money on decoys if you buy used decoys from social media marketplaces or other buy-and-sell websites. In the last few years, even yard sales have proven good places to pick up a few old decoys begging for a new life.

Make Sure Your Diver Decoys Are The Right ColorThe physical shape of the decoy doesn’t matter all that much to most species of diver ducks. The color of the decoy matters more. Taking banged-up old mallard decoys and giving them a new paint job will not only keep a spread of otherwise devalued decoys out of the landfill but will also give them a renewed purpose.

Take a close look at the basic plumage of divers. The enduring commonalities in color are black, white, grey, and brown. Hens spend much of their time on nests either on the ground or inside cavities in trees. As a result, they have feathers that allow them to remain camouflaged while doing so. Their plumage doesn’t change much after they molt, either. The drakes, however, will molt from drab colors into the flashy versions of themselves often seen in photographs.

If you’re going to refurbish old decoys, follow similar color schemes to make your decoys look fairly realistic. Don’t go for maximum realism; it isn’t necessary in order to have functional decoys. Having the right general color scheme is more important. This is easily achievable when you’re repainting a half dozen goldeneye or bufflehead decoys. The hens are almost entirely brown while the drakes are a combination of black and white. Redheads, scaup, and canvasbacks call for a little bit more elaboration.

Opt For Foam-Filled Diver DecoysAs far as diver decoys are concerned, the best decoys are the market are foam-filled. This is for a very good reason. When divers pour into a decoy spread, they often do so right at the water’s surface. Sometimes, this requires shooting much lower than expected. Inevitably, a decoy or two will catch some pellets. If they’re not foam-filled, that is often the end of the decoy.

Foam-filled decoys can take a real beating with pellets and keep doing their job, but older dekes are often hollow. Luckily, this problem is easily treatable with any can of spray foam, which is readily available from most hardware stores. Simply drill a hole in the decoy’s side above the waterline, and give the can a quick squeeze to fill the decoy with foam.

If you invest in brand-new diver decoys, remember that you want your new spread to last for as long as the sands of time allow. Twelve foam-filled decoys will be more than enough to get you started and give you the foundation to grow your spread further, should you choose to. Folks like you and I are quite fortunate to live in the time that we do because so many decoy companies offer foam-filled products for exceptionally reasonable price points, allowing for the average waterfowler to get their hands on a dozen.

Strategically Spread Just One Dozen DecoysWhen I’m setting up my diver spread, especially when hunting from shore, I start with a dozen decoys of the two species I am most prominently seeing on the water. For example, let’s say those two species are lesser scaup and redheads. I use six of one species and six of the other. I spread them out thinly, leaving two large pockets directly to my left and right. Think about it like this: if you are facing a direct angle to the water, the two major gaps I’m leaving open for divers to land in will be at the ten and two o’clock position, especially if the wind is coming from over my back, or from the left or right.

Read More: Perfecting Minimalistic Duck Decoy Setups

If you have the opportunity to watch diver ducks feed together, especially in small groups, note that they tend to break off into smaller contingencies. Common goldeneyes and buffleheads are notorious for this. However, I’ve watched half a dozen bluebills dip away from a larger body of birds many times, if for no other reason than to avoid competition when feeding.

This works to the advantage of the hunter utilizing a small spread of decoys. You can emulate their natural behavior by batching three or four decoys very close together. It may seem ridiculous, but it works, and it works well.

Small Spreads Of New Or Improved Decoys Offer An Entry Into Diver Duck HuntingIf you’re expecting vast swaths of birds to swarm your decoys, reel in your expectations a bit. More often, small spreads pull singles and doubles within shooting distance. Personally, I prefer a slow trickle of birds as opposed to a large flock coming in all at once. It offers the opportunity to pick and choose my targets without the overstimulation of one hundred other birds acting as a massive distraction.

You don’t have to take out a second mortgage to invest in a spread of diver duck decoys. Be smart and observe the birds you plan to hunt. Just remember that brand-new decoys aren’t the only option available to you.

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Best practices for brining and oven-roasting wild Gadwall ducksGadwall belong to the group of wildfowl often lovingly referred to as “puddle ducks.” Other puddle ducks include mallards, wood ducks, teal, and pintails. Unlike “divers,” puddle ducks do not dive beneath the water’s surface. They don’t feast primarily on invertebrates or small fish. Instead, puddle ducks feed on aquatic plants and, oftentimes, seeds or grain. Invertebrates and fish are what give divers their strong flavor. Although puddle ducks have a better culinary reputation than divers, roasted puddle ducks can still taste like the bottom of a pond if they’re not prepared properly.

What sets a gadwall apart from other ducks regarding its culinary attributes? What are the steps necessary to properly roast a wild gadwall? Let’s break it down.

More Often Than Not, Brine Puddle Ducks TwiceSaltwater brine solutions draw out residual blood. The removal of blood is very important for wild ducks. Too often I have simply salted a wild duck that looks pristine upon inspection. Then, upon my first bite, I realized just how much blood that cut still had inside.

Residual blood in wild duck meat can make your meal taste like scuzzy pond water—yes, this is true even for puddle ducks.

A bloody duck that gets frozen without being brined first will marinate in its not-tasty blood as it thaws—not ideal. If you are planning to freeze your gadwall before cooking it, brine it in one gallon of cold water with ½ cup kosher salt for 3 to 6 hours first. When you remove the duck from the brine, thoroughly rinse off the brine with fresh water.

Even if you brine your ducks before freezing them, it doesn’t hurt to brine them a second time after they thaw. The final brine will assist with removing blood and adding flavor. Brines help meat retain moisture while cooking, too.

Although a brine will slightly mellow out a gadwall’s innate wild flavors, brining is still considered a best practice unless you’re absolutely positive that the cut of duck is devoid of blood.

What Does Wild Gadwall Taste Like?Simply put, gadwall tastes like a puddle duck and is very similar to mallard. In my experience, gadwall does have more of a pond-water flavor (honestly, I don’t like using the word gamey). The meat is also a bit darker compared to other puddle ducks like teal, so it has a slightly wilder flavor.

Roasting A Wild Gadwall WholeMallards are the largest wild duck that can be roasted whole. Gadwalls, being slightly smaller, can certainly be roasted whole. However, some key steps are necessary. But even if these steps are followed, it is sometimes necessary to cut off the legs and wings and continue to roast them low and slow until they are tender.

Duck breasts are best served medium rare, or not much hotter than 130 F. Legs and wings need to reach 190 degrees over time to break down collagen and tenderize. If they don’t, they will be chewy and tough.

When roasting a wild duck whole, cooks want both crispy skin and properly cooked breasts, wings, and legs.

What’s my secret to roasting wild gadwall? Frozen fruit.

PrintRoasted GadwallUse these tricks to achieve a perfect, whole roast duckCourse Main CourseKeyword Duck, RoastPrep Time 1 day dayCook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 day day 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutesServings 2Calories 840kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 1 gallon cold water * ½ cup kosher salt * 1 gadwall whole, skin-on * 2-4 navel oranges * Vegetable for roasting the duck I prefer potatoes or celery Instructions Mix the salt with the cold water and brine the whole duck for 8 hours. * After you have brined and thoroughly rinsed off the duck under cold water, allow it to sit in the fridge with ample airflow to all sides for several hours. A dry duck will make for crispier skin when roasting. * Hours ahead of roasting, cut the shape of the duck breast out of two navel oranges and freeze the breast-shaped pieces. Trim the rind off the cut-out pieces, too, and freeze those as well. You may wish to do this with two sets of two oranges; I’ll explain why shortly. * When you are ready to roast, pre-heat your oven to 275 degrees. Cut your root vegetables or celery and create planks in your skillet. * Set the duck breast-side-up on the planks, allowing for ample airflow on all sides. Stuff the duck’s cavity with the frozen orange slices. Then, place whole frozen oranges (with breast-shaped cuts removed) on top of breasts. You may need to secure the oranges with toothpicks to prevent them from sliding off. * The frozen fruit will slow down the rate at which the breasts cook while also adding that orange flavor that pairs so well with duck. The orange slices inside its cavity do the same thing. (Think of how a stuffed Thanksgiving turkey cooks slower—the flow of heat is restricted and, therefore, the breasts cook more slowly). * Roast the gadwall for at least 50 minutes. You may wish to swap out the frozen oranges at this point (this is where the second pair of frozen oranges comes in handy) and roast for another 30. Be careful not to burn the wings or legs. * Once the sides of the duck are dark golden brown, remove the oranges and allow the duck to roast for 5 more minutes. Turn on broiler and broil for another 5 to crisp up the duck’s skin. * The goal is to cook the duck breasts to about 140 F. Wings and legs should get closer to 190 F. It still may be necessary to throw the wings and legs back into the oven to tenderize. You can also make a glaze from the fat and orange drippings by adding a bit of honey to the skillet and mixing all the juices together. NutritionCalories: 840kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 75g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 36g | Cholesterol: 145mg | Sodium: 1960mg | Potassium: 632mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 667IU | Vitamin C: 88mg | Calcium: 139mg | Iron: 5mgThe post Roast Gadwall appeared first on Project Upland.

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Prepare to hunt American woodcock down south with these hunting, habitat identification, and gear tipsIn the southeast, by mid-December, most hunters turn their attention away from whitetail deer and solely focus on waterfowl hunting. Wood ducks and Canadian geese can be found anywhere there’s water. Many folks decoy puddle ducks and divers on the coastal plains, and lakes offer great opportunities for mallards and teal. But there is one migratory bird that most waterfowlers rarely glimpse: the American woodcock.

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Woodcock arrive in the South each fall under the cover of darkness. By sunrise, they are tucked away in dense cover. However, if you don’t mind putting a few miles on your boots beside a good bird dog, hunting American woodcock in the southeast is a great way to get out of the blind and into the woods.

Southeastern Woodcock Habitat and CoverA third of American woodcock’s eastern population stops in the Piedmont or coastal regions of the Carolinas. If they do not winter here, they continue to Florida and Louisiana.

Southeastern woodcock love natural areas Southerners usually avoid. Briars, cane, thistles, thickets, and blowdowns are the comfortable homes of these vagabonds from the Northwoods.

Coastal RegionsIn the coastal regions of the southeast, a mosaic of pine plantations covers the landscape. When hunting woodcock here, seek out clearcuts less than five years of age. The young pines and native grasses provide plenty of cover for woodcock to loaf around in during the day, and the understory habitat is a good landing area for birds coming in at night.

ForestsIn areas managed for both timber production and wildlife, stands on a two- or three-year prescribed fire rotation foster stopover habitat and feeding grounds. Fresh burns are great places to search for chalk. Locations with a lot of chalk are where most migrating woodcock are landing. Once they arrive, the birds move into areas with a year or two of growth and more established cover.

By the time a stand of pine trees begins to approach its first thinning, the trees have acidified the soil. In these areas, the soil’s pH level has typically been lowered so much, it’s no longer suitable for worms. In mature pine stands, woodcock prefer a habitat of 50 to 75 yards in width with plenty of cover adjacent to a swamp, wetland, river, or creek.

Agricultural LandsIn the Piedmont regions and some coastal areas where there is an agricultural influence or dense stands of hardwoods, look for areas of thick cover along a floodplain. The key is to find soil that contains moisture. If you find the soil, you’ll find the worms, and woodcock won’t be far behind. Cane breaks, hedgerows, and briar thickets that partition agricultural fields from wetlands or creek bottoms are excellent places to seek woodcock.

An entry into these wild and hostile places is not for the faint of heart. Without a good pointing or flushing dog, woodcock hunts often yield unsuccessful results.

Hunting Southeastern Woodcock With A DogMy favorite thing about American woodcock is how well they hold in cover. When I first started taking my Labrador Retriever into the field with me, we marched through cover littered with sign, only to have birds flush behind us. They seemingly mocked us as they took to the sky. I quickly learned that woodcock hunting is one of the greatest upland games of hide-and-seek.

Woodcock are excellent concealers. Their mottled brown and tan feathers make them invisible on the forest floor. Hunting without a dog can yield success when woodcock numbers are very strong, but bird dogs weren’t meant to be couch potatoes. Woodcock are a gun dog’s best friend thanks to their persistence to not flush. If you desire to add a dog to your family and aid in your pursuit of woodcock, pointing breeds are very useful in the Southeast. If your pup can find and point a covey of quail, they will do just fine in the woodcock woods.

Retrieving and flushing breeds also perform well while in search of a hunkered-down timberdoodle. For retrievers and flushers, be diligent when working through thick cover. Make several passes and circle back through areas where sign is abundant or where you’ve flushed birds in the past. Most dogs seem to get the hang of it after they bump a bird or two.

Shooting Southeastern WoodcockYou might have the best upland dog in the world, but you won’t find success unless you can hit your target. Woodcock are not like quail, chukar, or pheasant that flush out in front, veering to the left or right before fluttering back down. A woodcock flies like a harrier jet being operated by a toddler. As a result, mastering woodcock shooting doesn’t come without practice.

Woodcock will soar vertically, roll upside down, and corkscrew mid-air through thick timber and brush. When shooting woodcock, always allow time for the bird to get out in front of you. Remember, hip shots are incredibly inaccurate, not to mention dangerous. Additionally, the objective is to leave the woods with some table fare. A close shot might help shoot a limit, but it certainly won’t fill a stomach.

Gear for Hunting Woodcock in the SoutheastSoutheastern winters are as erratic as a woodcock flush. It is no surprise to have weather in the 20s at the beginning of the week, and by the weekend, it’s sunny and 75. A hunt might start with a jacket, blue jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt, but you might cut the sleeves off after lunch.

Invest in a good pair of boots and a pair of briar chaps. If the terrain is wet, pack rubber boots. If you plan to hunt more upland-like areas, leather hiking boots are excellent, especially if you’re covering a lot of ground. A solid compromise is a pair of L.L. Bean duck boots.

Similarly, wool socks dry faster, are more insulated, and breathe better than cotton socks. I know this sounds strange, but if your feet could get wet, wear a pair of Neoprene wading socks, like those used when fly fishing. If you wear Neoprene socks, you can hunt all day long in a pair of waterlogged boots.

Lastly, bring more water than expected, as woodcock hunting is a lot like a day hike with a gun. If your four-legged friend is accompanying you, bring water for them, too, unless you don’t mind the taste of slobber.

Safety and FirearmsBlaze orange is a requirement when hunting on public land. However, for safety reasons, it should be worn regardless of where you’re hunting. A blaze-colored hat and vest will suffice. The limit on woodcock is three, so the vest is not totally necessary, but it can certainly help when toting gear for a hunter and a dog.

When selecting a gun for woodcock hunting, a lightweight shotgun is preferred. For example, I hunt southeastern woodcock with a 20 gauge over/under. If you only have a 12 gauge pump in the gun safe, it may be a little heavy, but it will work just fine. Regarding shot size, #8 or #9 shot ensures the most pellets down range. When it comes to choke tubes, shoot through an improved cylinder or modified.

I heard it once said when God created the woodcock, He just used a bunch of leftover parts of other birds. As a Southerner, I have a deep affection and tenderness for leftovers, most times the result of a large family gathering or church potluck. I share this sentiment with this little bird; leftovers don’t mean left out, but rather, a carry over to be enjoyed even more the next day.

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This medium-sized versatile dog breed is known to be friendly, inquisitive, and very social.Until the mid-1800s, no one set out to create a rough-haired breed from scratch by systematically crossing dogs with different coat types. But the idea of deliberate crosses had been around since at least 1825 when Freiherr (Baron) v. d. Borch wrote in Yearbook for Forest Men, Hunters and Friends of Hunting, “It is noteworthy that crossing the pudel and the pointing dog would unite and maintain the excellent drive by the virtues of both types.”

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In 1881, German hunters began systematically cross-breeding Pudels and Pointers. The Pudels used in the original crosses differed from the Poodles we have today. The German Pudel was a hunting breed known for its keen love of water, strong retrieving instinct, and sharpness on predators. The Germans eventually created a superb gun dog breed named the Pudelpointer.

A Polish forester by the name of Walter zu Walsdorf is said to have mated a black half-pudel / half-pointer bitch to a brown and white pointer owned by Emperor Frederick III. The resulting litter produced at least one pup that possessed abilities of both the pudel and the pointer and had the kind of rough-haired coat Hegewald advocated for the breed.

Encouraged by the success of the first litter, breeders began to produce more litters by crossing pudels with pointers. However, they soon realized that dogs from the first generation should not be bred among themselves since they tended to produce offspring of either the pudel or the pointer type and not the desired blend. So, a program of “backbreeding” was established. Dogs from the first and second generations of crosses were bred back to pointers. It is said that 87 crosses to pointers were done around this time. No additional crosses to pudels were reported.

The back-breeding program helped stabilize the breed’s look and character and eventually allowed breeders to mate Pudelpointers with other Pudelpointers. A breed register was created in 1892, and in 1897, a full-fledged club, the Verein der Pudelpointer-Züchter—later renamed Verein Pudelpointer—was established.

For over 100 years, the quality of the breed’s performance and conformation has been assured almost exclusively by testing systems. In Germany, the Verein Pudelpointer organizes VJP, HZP, and VGP venues, as well as a special HZP named after an early supporter of the breed, Edgar Heyne. In North America, most pudelpointer breeders use the NAVHDA testing system to prove their breeding stock. They also register their dogs in the NAVHDA registry, although some register with the Field Dog Stud Book. Recently, some breeders have also begun testing with the newly formed Versatile Hunting Dog Federation.

Like all breeds of gun dogs, there is a certain amount of variation in performance from one pudelpointer to the next. However, there is little to no variation in one important aspect: the vast majority of pudelpointers hunt. For me and many other breed fans, the bottom line on Pudelpointers is this: they are the real deal. They are dynamic hunting dogs bred by hunters for hunters.

Pudelpointer Characteristics and Form

| Characteristic | Details | | Name | Pudelpointer | | Size | Males: 24-27 inches (60-68 cm) and 55-67 poundsFemales: 21.5-25 inches (55-63 cm) and 45-58 pounds | | Tail | Docked at 2/3rds length | | Coat | Coarse, hard, flat-lying, wiry topcoat with a beard and eyebrows. However, coat types range from “woolly” to “just right.” | | Coat Color | Liver brown, “dead leaf,” or black. May have some small white markings. | | Health Issues | Dysplasia, epilepsy | | Character | Goofy, clownish, social | | Population | About 400 puppies are whelped annually between the US, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, France, and the UK. | | Range | Medium to wide | | Pace | Medium fast gallop | | Good Choice For | Grouse, woodcock, pheasant, snipe, partridge, hare, rabbit, waterfowl, big game |

Since the Pudelpointer’s creation, breeders have had to contend with the tricky genetics of its wire-haired coat. An ideal coat is coarse, hard, and flat-lying, with a 4 to 6-cm topcoat and full facial furnishings. However, even in litters from parents with near-perfect coats, it is not unusual to find a variety of coat types ranging from smooth to woolly to “just right.” When I asked Bill Athens—an American Pudelpointer breeder with over 30 years of experience with the breed—about the variations in the coat, he replied:

Pudelpointer coat consistency has been an issue, but we have seen much improvement. I think part of the problem in the past was the very small gene pool. There weren’t many choices in selecting breeding pairs. I credit NAVHDA’s registry and the FDSB for allowing us to develop a larger gene pool and expand our breeder base to supply the growing demand among hunters, especially those in NAVHDA.

I recently had a litter of six pups. One woolly male, one (almost) smooth male, and the rest had very nice coats. It is funny, though; when people come to look at the pups, they almost always like the ones with lots of furnishings because they are the cutest. Usually a pup with substantial furnishings at seven weeks will be woolly.

In the 17 Pudelpointer litters I have bred, I think I have only had about three or four pups that ended up with short coats, and they looked like solid liver shorthairs.

For a hunter seeking a Pudelpointer pup, it is well worth studying the breed’s coat intricacies or consulting someone who can offer advice on which pup to pick.

Pudelpointer PersonalityPudelpointers are said to have a highly cooperative attitude and bond closely with their owners. Compared to some of the other wire-haired breeds, they tend to be a bit mellow around the house and have a playful, almost clownish personality.

Pudelpointers are generally level-headed, easy-to-train, and nice-to-be-around gundogs. Bill Athens also finds them very adaptable.

“My experience with the PP in the past 30 years is that they are not one-man dogs,” he said. “You can count on them to be good family dogs, to take to training well, and to be friendly to all people.” Bill finds they bond easily, even when the dogs are acquired as adults. They’re also happy to live in a kennel or the home. “In the field, they are usually pretty serious about their role as a hunting dog,” he concluded.

Jude Gerstein, a breeder in Canada, said, “Pudelpointers are dogs with definite personalities, not machine-like robots. A sense of humor is an asset when owning one. They will sometimes flip you off, but they will also work until they literally drop, just to please their handler.”

Pudelpointer Training and Hunting AbilityPudelpointers are generally eager-to-please hunting dogs with a lot of desire. Most are fairly easy to train, but some can have a stubborn streak.

“Moderate training methods are usually sufficient, but they can handle some force quite easily,” said Bill. “Any dog needs to be reminded occasionally, but once trained, a Pudelpointer will retain what it has learned with minimal reminders.”

Jude added, “They can also have a stubborn streak—not the stubbornness of a scent hound, but you can see it in their eyes when they decide not to heed you.”

Pudelpointer Field SearchWhile there may be some differences between Pudelpointers bred in Europe, where a closer-working dog is preferred, and those bred in the US, where there is a preference for faster, bigger-running dogs, Pudelpointers are generally considered to be among the top pointing breeds in terms of speed and range. They are powerful, busy workers that cover a fairly wide area at a medium to fast gallop.

“The Pudelpointer is 85 percent English Pointer and 15 percent Pudel,” Bill Athens said. “Those are the only two breeds in its makeup. Other than American-bred field trial GSPs and Wirehairs, I don’t know of any versatile breed with as much run.”

Pudelpointer Pointing AbilityMost Pudelpointers show a very strong pointing instinct that develops early on. Many are natural backers. Lines bred in the US may show a slightly higher head and tail when pointing. Their European cousins tend to point in a more Continental style: level head, back, and tail.

Pudelpointer Retrieve AbilityPudelpointers have proven their worth as retrievers in the highest-level tests in Germany and North America. A strong, early-developing instinct to retrieve, combined with a good, protective coat, makes the Pudelpointer one of the better choices for waterfowlers. Hard mouth is occasionally seen in the breed, but it is not considered a common fault.

Pudelpointer Tracking AbilityPudelpointers can make excellent retrievers of large and small game. In Germany, giving voice on trail or on sight is now a requirement for breeding. In North America, the breed’s tracking talents are mainly used to recover wounded game birds, waterfowl, and small game.

Pudelpointer Water WorkThe breed’s founders chose the Pudel for its love of water and its strong will to retrieve. As a result, Pudelpointers have consistently excelled as water dogs and are often owned by dedicated waterfowl hunters who rely on them to fetch ducks and geese in harsh conditions.

Pudelpointers Are Uncommon Yet Amazing Versatile Bird DogsCompared to other breeds of pointing dogs, Pudelpointers are not particularly common. Yet my wife Lisa and I have seen many of them over the years in places like Germany, France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the U.S., and Canada. We’ve even hunted several of them right here in our home province of Manitoba.

When we travel to photograph dogs or hunt, we tend to meet people who are just as passionate about hunting as we are. Since this versatile breed is and always has been in the hands of hunters, it stands to reason that we would come across more Pudelpointers in a couple of seasons than the average dog walker at a local park would see in a lifetime.

In the 2024 North American Upland Bird Hunting Survey, 5.8% of upland hunters indicated that they owned a Pudelpointer, placing it at No. 8 in popularity within the community, down from No. 7 in 2023.

If the Pudelpointer sounds like a good fit for your family and hunting preferences, you can learn more about them in my book, Pointing Dogs Volume One: The Continentals.

Pudelpointer ClubsThe parent club for the breed in Germany is the Verein Pudelpointer and its Verein Pudelpointer Club Group of North America.

There are also Pudelpointer clubs in Austria and France. In North America, there are three associations for the breed: The Pudelpointer Club of North America (PCNA), The Canadian American Pudel-pointer Association (CAPA), and The North American Pudelpointer Alliance (NAPPA), which is not really a breed club, but an alliance of Pudelpointer breeders who test their dogs in NAVHDA and who agree to maintain certain breeding standards.

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These early season snowshoe hare hunting tips will help you bring home both fur and feather.Nothing gets my blood flowing more than hunting upland birds in November and accidentally flushing a snowshoe hare. Each fall, early season snowshoe hare hunting catches me off guard. Seldom am I ready for those first wild flushes that mark the beginning of hare season.

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Snowshoes are commonly found in the same places as ruffed grouse and spruce grouse. To top it off, they will test your shooting capabilities to their fullest. You think shooting a ruffed grouse busting through the alders is tough? Try hitting a snowshoe hare that’s just as fast but sprints across the ground.

Increase the odds of adding a hare to your game bag before the snow comes with these tips.

Snowshoe Hare Hunting StrategiesGenerally, for snowshoe hares, the early season occurs between the season’s opening day and the first significant snowfall of winter. Over the last half-decade, at least in my neck of the woods, the snow that marks the beginning of winter has occurred around Christmas.

Hunting early season hare takes more dedication and patience than the late season. The trees and undergrowth still have their foliage, which extends the amount of cover available to snowshoes. However, places where you’ll find snowshoes more often than anywhere else include river edges and foliage directly adjacent to dense conifers. Snowshoes concentrate in these areas in the mornings and evenings as they leave their hideouts to feed.

Flushing Snowshoe HarePersonally, I hunt river edges and marshes during the early season. Prospective hunters can cover ground while keeping the water to one side, which is a barrier to any hares that flush. Blowdowns in these same areas are often magnets for snowshoe hares. Have one hunter beat around a big fallen tree while another covers the opposite side. This strategy usually results in a hare in the back of the game vest.

Read More: How to Hunt Snowshoe Hare with a Pointing Dog

Note that snowshoe hares will not be entirely white during the early season. You’re far more likely to cross paths with a hare resembling an eastern cottontail, except with big, cream-colored feet. You also won’t be able to track them through snow. To capitalize on maximum opportunities, concentrate your hunting efforts on high-probability areas and break those places down into grids, working your way through one, then another, and another.

Stand Hunting Snowshoe HareAnother great tactic that works in places where you know hare live is stand hunting for them. Think turkey hunting without the camo and sneakiness. Go to an area where you’ve seen hare before and set up against the trunk of a tree. If you can keep still, this tactic places the hunter in the direct path of hares who are leaving their heavy, impenetrable cover to feed. You might not believe it, but seeing multiple snowshoe hares materialize out of nowhere will get your heart beating more than you’d ever expect.

When To Hunt Snowshoe Hare During The Early SeasonEarly season snowshoe hares are drab-looking. When they are perfectly still, their natural camouflage makes them virtually disappear. However, sometimes, autumn weather gets a little wacky, and we end up with a premature snowfall. When this occurs, I stop everything, cancel my plans, and go snowshoe hare hunting. Why? Because you will be hunting a brown-colored animal in a sea of white snow.

Read More: A Look into Shotguns, Chokes, and Shot Size for Snowshoe Hare Hunting

If the snowfall coincides with a significant temperature drop, so much the better. You’ll likely find half-white, half-brown hares out in the open sunning themselves. This is a good time to walk the edges of dense cover with a 20 gauge shotgun loaded with three-inch number fours or a very accurate .22 LR.

Hunting Snowshoes While Chasing Upland BirdsEarly season hare hunting isn’t necessarily a numbers game. Before the leaves are gone and snow has accumulated, snowshoe hares have a lot of cover to work with. Even if you’re not seeing hares, that doesn’t mean they’re not around. Hunting highly camouflaged animals in thick cover is challenging, and when you don’t see much, it can grind a hunter down. To ward off feelings of inadequacy, I often hunt snowshoes, ruffed grouse, and woodcock simultaneously.

When you flush a hare while bird hunting, mark the spot on your GPS. Odds are that the hare ran in a big arc and eventually returned to the place it flushed from. Work that spot again on your way back, but plan out your approach this time. Put the odds of adding a hare to the bag in your favor. If you’ve got a hunting partner or a dog that is hare savvy, all the better.

Early season snowshoes can also be a great opportunity to witness versatility in your hunting dog. Mike Finlay, host of The Urban Outdoorsman Podcast, discovered this during a particularly slow grouse day. Mike and his Irish Water Spaniel, Murdoch, joined me on an upland hunt that didn’t turn up much in the way of birds. However, several snowshoe hares flushed, allowing us to keep our guns running hot. After two or three hares were shot, Murdoch quickly learned that flushing hares and retrieving them would earn him great praise. He was happy to oblige. By the end of the day, Murdoch was pointing birds and snowshoe hares.

When hunting in snowshoe hare habitat this fall, don’t pass on the opportunity to add one to your bag. The early season is arguably the most difficult time of the year to pursue these hinterland lagomorphs. Challenge yourself to a rewarding hunt that will test not only your skills as a shotgunner but also your versatility. It’s a fun and stimulating way to make the absolute most of a day afield.

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Best practices for keeping coturnix quail warm, safe, and healthy after temperatures drop.During my first few years of raising domestic Coturnix quail, I culled all my birds shortly before the first significant snowfall. I had understood that a cold spell would freeze my entire quail covey to death overnight. Not wanting to risk that kind of heartbreak, and given I had freezer space, they all met their demise in the name of mercy. Come spring, I’d source an entirely new covey of birds.

In truth, I didn’t need to cull my birds. During those early years, I could have saved myself time and money by tending to my covey over the winter. I simply didn’t know any better; I hadn’t done my homework to understand this species’ hardiness.

Many of us don’t give Coturnix quail the credit they deserve for their ability to survive, and even thrive, in cold temperatures. That said, they do need a little help to do so.

Keep Quail in a Small, Winterized Outdoor HutchDuring the heat of summer, coveys tend to maintain space between individual birds. This behavior, especially in a large hutch, helps them stay cooler than if they were all bunched together. However, in winter, they do just that—stand close to one another to stay warm.

To facilitate huddling, I used my small quail pen—an 8′ x 4′ hutch—as my birds’ overwintering space. Its compact size keeps my fourteen domestic quail close to one another, even during the harshest winter storms.

Read More: Above-Ground versus Ground Housing for Pen-Raised Quail

Half of my small hutch’s top is covered with a thick piece of plywood to keep out rain and snow. Straw bales are stacked alongside half of the hutch as an insulative windbreak. Coturnix quail can handle cold, but they don’t fare well when exposed to bone-chilling winds. The pen also has a small coop attachment, adding another layer of protection from the elements if needed.

Besides the straw windbreak, I fill the coop and the covered portion of the hutch with straw, leaving the rest of the ground bare. Why so much straw? Farms use straw as bedding for large animals because it holds body heat. On our homestead, we use straw bedding in our chicken coop and duck house, and quail can use straw for the same purpose.

Quail Hutches for Extreme Winter ConditionsIf your area has harsh winters or heavy snowfall, build a stand-up hutch that fits in a garage or other indoor area. Equip it with a heat lamp positioned outside the hutch to prevent quail from accidentally brushing against the bulb and close enough to gently warm your birds.

My outdoor pen doesn’t have a heat lamp because my quail fare well in their thick layer of straw. Straw and heat lamps don’t mix, and you don’t want to wake up to find your entire covey cooked because the heat lamp ignited the straw.

Feeding and Watering Quail in WinterAnother step to help quail through winter is to look at their diet. Our quail eat a steady supply of turkey grower feed available at local co-ops or feed mills. In winter, I boost their protein intake with dried mealworms and black soldier fly larvae. This extra protein gives the birds a boost to keep their “furnaces” burning.

As you might expect, keeping water from freezing can be a challenge. I pour hot water into their waterer and place it in a wind-sheltered area, such as behind the straw bales, so it seldom freezes during the day. At night, I remove the waterer to keep it from freezing and breaking, replacing it in the morning.

Managing Sick Quail in WinterAnyone carrying their covey through the winter should watch for health issues. Sick quail generally don’t last more than a day, and several ailments can afflict them.

When I assess my quail’s health, I look for birds that have separated themselves from the group, exhibit lethargy, or refuse to eat. These behaviors are red flags in winter, especially not eating, since quail consume more food more frequently during the colder months.

As I mentioned, sick birds don’t last long. If I see a bird that’s unwell, I dispatch it to prevent prolonged suffering.

Domestic Quail Will Behave Like Wild Quail to Increase HardinessMy first winter keeping quail was a stressful time. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the birds seemed to know exactly what to do in response to varying winter conditions.

On sunny days, they tend to spread out, catching as much sun as possible and staying active until evening temperatures drop. On exceptionally cold or snowy days, they puff up their feathers and huddle close for warmth, just as I suspect wild quail might in similar conditions.

Last winter, daytime temperatures stayed around -24°C (-11°F) for several days in a row. The quail literally buried themselves under the straw in their coop attachment until the weather improved, only emerging to eat.

I was astonished by how quickly and naturally my covey reverted to basic wild quail instincts. During that cold spell, I went out to feed them in the morning, and their little heads popped out of the straw, one by one, before they emerged to eat. It was uncanny—and adorable.

Keep Your Quail Covey This WinterKeeping quail in winter can be highly rewarding. It highlights the resilience of domestic quail, who, when given the opportunity, will revert to their natural instincts. With a helping hand, your covey can flourish during winter. Remember to provide extra insulation against wind and snow, supplement their feed with high-protein snacks, and ensure they have a clean source of unfrozen water accessible during daylight hours.

Follow these simple steps, and you’ll witness firsthand just how tough these little birds truly are.

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Learn how to hunt pheasants by identifying their habitat, understanding their behavior, and understanding tried-and-true hunting strategies.Despite being exotic to North America, the ring-necked pheasant has supplanted our native gamebirds as the most popular species to hunt among the upland hunting populace. Pheasants are abundant, meaty, found over a large range, and just so darn charismatic. Even the most ardent quail or grouse lover must admit few birds can match the beauty and sheer excitement at the flush of a wild rooster. Add in their incredible craftiness and ability to outwit the most seasoned bird hunter time and again, and it’s no wonder why pheasants have captured the imagination of bird hunters in a way no other species has.

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While there are plenty of opportunities across much of the Midwest to chase ringnecks, there is much to consider before taking off on a hunt. Let’s closely examine some of these considerations that will boost your odds of success this fall and help turn around a potentially disappointing season.

Where To Hunt PheasantsWild ringnecks are found in many locations, primarily in the Midwest and northern tier of states from Wisconsin west. However, the Dakotas, particularly South Dakota, are the standard bearers of the pheasant world. When the official state quarter of South Dakota has a ringneck on it, you know it’s serious business.

Many first-time pheasant hunters flock to the Dakotas every year to try their luck, and with good reason. Plenty of great pheasant habitat leads to loads of birds during good weather years. Conversely, access, especially early in the season, can be tough. While each state has a decent amount of public land and thriving private-land access programs, hunting pressure is high. It is difficult to gain permission to hunt on much of the private land that is not enrolled in a public access program. These states still offer traveling hunters great opportunities to harvest birds if they are willing to hunt hard and delay their trip to avoid the opener.

An added benefit of going later in the fall is that most of the crops have been harvested, drastically reducing the amount of usable space in which birds can be found. This forces birds to bunch up in more limited areas. A trip to one of the Dakotas should be at the top of any pheasant hunter’s shortlist.

Kansas is another popular state for pheasant hunting. It, too, has a very good private-land access program and a fair amount of public land, especially around US Army Corp of Engineers reservoirs. Lands surrounding these reservoirs are often open to the public and managed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to provide quality upland game bird habitat.

A key here is to look for access points that take you to habitat far from roads. These spots get less hunting pressure, and even small chunks of good habitat, as long as they are away from easy access, hold birds. See this article written by my buddy Kyle Hedges for tips on finding these out-of-the-way hot spots.

Iowa was historically a top pheasant state but fell off several years ago. However, it has made a strong resurgence in the recent years. Programs to increase the acres of native grasses on the landscape have helped nest success. As a result, production and harvest numbers have rebounded. Minnesota also has some very good pheasant hunting in the southern tier of counties where prairie once flourished. Western Nebraska should not be overlooked, either. Further north, Montana has good bird numbers in the eastern and north-central portion of the state. The population has been good in recent years, and Montana has several other species that can be harvested during a pheasant hunting trip.

How to Hunt PheasantsThough not considered a grassland obligate species, ringneck pheasants have adapted well to the Great Plains grasslands. As a result, large grassland tracts, preferably native grasses, are preferred habitat. Fields with grass between knee and thigh high, especially if they have thick, weedy cover patches, offer protection from wild predators and are preferred overgrazed pastures or hayfields.

Ringnecks are also heavily reliant on grain from agricultural operations for food. One will occasionally find birds away from grain fields, especially in the western portions of their range. However, hunting grassland habitat that does not have some sort of grain field within ¼ miles is usually a waste of time.

A rooster’s typical day starts by walking or flying from its grassland roosting habitat to nearby grainfields to feed. When hunting first thing in the morning, it is wise to hunt the edges of these grassy fields and intercept birds moving from the center of the fields headed to grain. Also, walking cut corn or grain sorghum fields can yield good success. In warm weather, birds stay in these fields all day if not pressured. They can be hunted anytime.

From mid-morning till mid-afternoon, birds often migrate back to heavier cover to loaf and digest their meal. This heavy cover includes the grass mentioned earlier but also includes thick cattail sloughs, weedy abandoned farmsteads, and other isolated patches of dense cover. Cattail sloughs are especially utilized in harsh winter weather when the water is frozen and the snow is deep. Anytime you have a chance to hunt a cattail slough, don’t pass it up. Hunt these loafing sites for the remainder of the day, shifting closer to the edges again by late afternoon as birds head back out to the grain fields to feed. This pattern of eat-loaf-eat is fairly predictable, but it can be interrupted by heavy hunting pressure early in the season. The best advice, and this goes for most gamebird hunting, is to focus your efforts on quality protective cover near food sources.

Another key habitat component, primarily in the northern tier of states, are woody hedgerows or shelterbelts. These long rows of trees have been commonly planted in the north to mitigate the effects of lots of snow and fierce winter winds. They are also excellent protective cover for pheasants because they provide protection from wind and exposed ground post-snow, a place pheasants prefer to scratch for food. Look for well-developed shelterbelts with several rows of trees closely planted and thick cover between 3-12 feet tall between the rows. As shelterbelts age, they lose their thickness and cover in the preferred range. Belts that are nearly impossible for humans to penetrate but dogs can root through are ideal.

Shotguns, Shot Sizes, And Shooting Strategies For Pheasant HuntingA mature ring-neck rooster is one tough cookie. It is armored with a heavy coat of feathers that seem to eat bird shot, so heavy loads and larger gauges are preferred. I know of folks who use a 28 gauge and do well, but it’s time to get serious when the snow flies and birds are educated. The go-to gun for most experienced pheasant hunters is a 12 gauge. The added shot capacity and extended range of a 12 are hard to beat.

When it comes to shot size, I like to use #6 size shot early in the season when birds tend to flush closer to the gun. I shift to #5 or even number #4 shot in January when birds are jumpy.

Shotshell technologies improve every year, and new shot compositions deliver a heavier shock to the bird than traditional lead shot. This has resulted in some folks using light loads made of these new composites all season for the advantage of more shot capacity, which puts 20 gauges in the game throughout the entire season. This can be very helpful for youngsters. Of course, the venerable 16 gauge still works its magic; I witnessed it last year in North Dakota. The birds didn’t know what hit them when the 16 barked.

Pheasants are not a hard target to hit. However, they’re easy to shoot poorly. Their long tail often causes hunters to shoot them in the middle of the body on a swinging shot or low in the rear on a straight shot. There are no vital organs on the tail, so try to focus on the white ring on the neck and remember to swing up on a straight shot to ensure a solid hit to the front of the body.

It’s always very important to mark downed birds accurately. Quickly get a dog on the ones that appear to go down soft.

Hunting Pheasants With A DogSpeaking of dogs, pheasant hunting and bird dogs go hand in hand. However, while most upland game species are hunted predominately with pointing dogs, most hardcore pheasant chasers use flushing breeds. That was made abundantly clear in North Dakota as every Suburban I saw at the café, hotel, or pulling into a field had one or two Labradors in the back seat.

Labs and other flushing breeds are ideal for pheasants because roosters hold for points far less frequently than quail, Huns, or early-season prairie grouse hunting. Flushers will bust through the thickest grass or cattail sloughs, trail up crippled birds, and, of course, retrieve with excellence.

For guys like me who must have a pointing dog in the kennel, all is not lost. Pheasant hunting with a pointing breed requires that the dog obeys well, hunts close, and follows up a downed bird till the end. The best string of pheasant dogs I ever owned was a run of Brittanys that met all those qualifications. More times than I can remember, I would follow closely behind these dogs as they trailed a running bird. This often took me on a different path than the rest of the group with whom I was hunting, sometimes even back the way we came. But, when the dog finally did lock up, the flush was close. The satisfaction of getting that bird was much higher than one jumped randomly.

Continue Your Pheasant Hunting EducationThis article is just a primer on pheasant hunting and is certainly not comprehensive. Hundreds of books and thousands of articles have been written about pheasants and the nuances involved in becoming a good ringneck hunter. You can read our extensive list of pheasant hunting articles here at Project Upland. Read as much as you can stand, then plan a trip to the heartland. You will be humbled many times, but when you eventually connect on a bird, the feeling is so sweet. It won’t be your only trip, I assure you.

Once you get a taste for wild ringnecks in classic bird habitat, you will go back again, and again, and…

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Tender sous vide mallard breast delicately served over sushi rice and topped with ginger-wasabi drizzleFirst things first: we aren’t advocating for eating your next mallard raw. Instead, this recipe is about a unique presentation of tender duck breast. Sure, you could make a simple bowl of rice, put a carved duck breast on it, and drizzle the wasabi-ginger sauce overtop. But duck sushi sounds cooler and offers a bit of an eating experience for this delicious appetizer. This dish features perfectly cooked slices of mallard breast served on top of sushi rice, similar to nigiri, except the meat is cooked sous vide and finished with a reverse sear.

Yes, other waterfowl may be used in this recipe. The main appeal of this dish lies in its presentation, and the steps listed here will help you make that happen.

Sealing with herbs, sweet citrus, and a bit of wine, then cooking low-and-slow in a sous vide bath and following it with a reverse sear has become my favorite way to prepare duck breasts. The two hours at 105 F results in a tender, velvety texture, while the reverse sear makes for the perfect crust and mouthfeel while eating. Keep in mind that there may still be shot present in the meat. Slicing it thin helps to find those last few pellets, but still remember to chew carefully and remind anyone you’re serving to do the same.

PrintDuck Sushi with Ginger-Wasabi DrizzleA unique presentation of sous vide duck breast with plenty of umamiCourse AppetizerCuisine JapaneseKeyword Duck, Sous VidePrep Time 15 minutes minutesCook Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutesTotal Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 481kcalAuthor Jack HennessyEquipment Sous Vide setup Ingredients 2 mallard breasts skin on if possible * 2 tbsp garlic freshly minced * 4 oz ginger freshly smashed * 2 sprigs rosemary * 2 sprigs thyme * ½ Honeycrisp apple thinly sliced * 2 tbsp mirin * ¼ tsp sesame oil * ¼ cup chardonnay wine * Peanut oil * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked * Soy sauce for dipping For the rice 1 cup sushi rice * 1¼ cup cold water * ¼ cup rice vinegar * 2 tbsp granulated sugar * ½ tsp kosher salt For the ginger-wasabi drizzle 1½ oz wasabi paste * 11½ oz pickled ginger * ¼ cup liquid from the pickled ginger Instructions* Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the duck breasts. Seal them with freshly minced garlic, freshly smashed ginger, rosemary, thyme, apple slices, and chardonnay wine in a vacuum-sealed sous vide bag. * Sous vide the sealed duck breasts at 105 F for 2 hours. * While the duck cooks, make the sushi rice according to the instructions on the packaging. Make sure not to undercook the sushi rice. * Make the ginger-wasabi drizzle. Blend wasabi paste, ginger, and ginger liquids thoroughly. If the texture is too pasty, add a bit more liquid from the pink ginger jar. Set the drizzle aside until you are ready to serve. * Before removing the duck breasts from the sous vide, heat a thin layer of peanut oil in a skillet to 500 F. Upon opening the sealed duck breasts, pat the breasts dry. Then sear them skin-side-down for one minute, flip, and sear for one more minute on the other side.Tip: It helps to add a grill weight atop the breasts when searing.Duck breasts tend to plump up and not fully contact the heat surface. * Pull breasts from the skillet and lightly tent them with aluminum foil. Allow them to rest for 5 minutes before carving. * Make the sushi. It may help to lightly oil your hands. You want to form ovals of sushi rice approximately the size of a 2 ⅔-inch shotshell but a little thicker than a 12-gauge’s circumference. Set them on a plate. * Carve the duck breasts thinly and diagonally and place the slices atop the formed sushi rice. Serve immediately with ginger-wasabi drizzle on the side. You can also put out soy sauce for dipping. Coarse sea salt adds a nice crunch and enhances flavor when lightly sprinkled over the cut duck. Sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds are also great optional garnishes. NutritionCalories: 481kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 445mg | Potassium: 910mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 102IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 7mgThe post Duck Sushi with Ginger-Wasabi Drizzle appeared first on Project Upland.

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Learn how to find woodcock habitat in the Northwoods, central and southern states, and along the Southern Atlantic coast from game bird biologists.Most people associate American woodcock with the Northwoods. However, they are common throughout the entire eastern half of the United States over the course of their fall and spring migrations.

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During the woodcock migration, these plump, bug-eyed brown birds utilize very similar habitat types across each state, albeit habitat that is comprised of very different species of trees and shrubs across their lengthy flight.

American Woodcock Prefer Dense HabitatAmerican woodcock key in on a specific structure of habitat rather than certain plant, shrub, or tree species. Their preferred structure consists of areas with high stem counts, regardless of what state a woodcock inhabits on any given day. This preference explains why they are just as likely to be found in a stand of aspen five to 10 years after a clearcut in Wisconsin as a draw filled with wild plum and dogwood shrubs in Missouri during migration.

Areas with high stem counts are usually associated with very little ground cover. A bit of grass or broadleaf plants may be scattered throughout the base of the trees or shrubs, but bare ground and leaf cover are the most common things found at the ground level. The bare ground allows woodcock to easily forage for worms and other invertebrates or loaf throughout the day. The high stem count overhead also provides protection from aerial predators, which is critical when much of their time foraging is spent looking down, rather than scanning the skies for danger. While woodcock still require openings to land, a thick canopy and even north-facing mountain slopes provide higher moisture levels on the ground that woodcock love.

Plant Species Woodcock Are Commonly Found NearIn The NorthwoodsAlthough timberdoodles use a variety of trees and shrubs, there are a few species that are synonymous with these strange little birds. In the Northwoods, aspen and tag alder go hand in hand. Specifically, the seam between a stand of aspen and an alder swamp.

Aspen, characterized by their white bark, are a straight, fast-growing tree. Sometimes, aspen reach heights of up to 80 feet. Clumps of aspen trees are clonal, meaning the above ground stems are all genetically identical and share a common root system, which is somewhat unique in nature. Aspen’s value as a forest product helps create ideal habitat for woodcock because stands are rotationally clearcut, giving way to subsequent high stem counts as the aspen regrows for several years post-harvest.

Alder, another tree species, favors wet soil and typically has multiple stems rising from its base. These stems grow outwardly, resulting in a nearly impenetrable tangled mess that resembles a shrub more than a tree. This high stem density results in minimal ground cover of grasses or broadleaf plants, allowing woodcock to amble on the ground amongst the stems. Alder also has thin bark and is very intolerant of fire. This likely explains why they evolved to persist in wet, swampy areas.

Witch hazel is another woody plant that is commonly found up north and down the East Coast. Witch hazel is a shrub and typically grows less than 10 feet tall. It develops a yellow bloom in the fall, making it a special treat to observe during a fall stroll through the woods. Another thin-barked, fire intolerant species, witch hazel also prefers wet soil and is often associated with riparian areas. Given the affinity of woodcock to wet soils, it stands to reason they are often found in habitats where witch hazel abounds.

In The Central and Southern StatesAs the days get shorter, woodcock begin their migration south. They soon find themselves in areas void of aspen, alder, and witch hazel. Species of shrubs like American plum as well as gray and roughleaf dogwood provide the preferred structure these traveling birds seek.

These species grow in upland draws as well as field edges and old field areas. They typically develop as a thicket, often covering anywhere from a few hundred square feet up to several acres. Unlike alder and witch hazel, plum and dogwood evolved with fire. Although they are often top killed by fire, they readily resprout, quickly regaining their previous height within one or two growing seasons. Additionally, when these species resprout after a fire, they develop multiple stems. The higher stem density creates a thicket and maintains bare ground by blocking sunlight, aiding the woodcock in its mobility.

In the same south-central states where plum and dogwood abound, riparian zones choked by mulberry, maple, and boxelder trees also attract woodcock looking for abundant food to fuel their long, nighttime flights. These riparian species grow taller than desired for quality woodcock habitat, but in situations where younger stands prevail, the stem density provides ideal habitat.

None of these tree species are sought after as a high value forest product. However, mulberry, maple, and boxelder’s affinity for riparian zones results in occasional stand-replacing flood events every few decades. Major flooding events give way to new stands of young saplings. It’s during these recolonization periods that woodcock find these areas ideal.

On The Southern Atlantic CoastThe fall migration culminates with birds spending the winter in states along the Gulf Coast. As woodcock reach their winter destinations in the South, timberdoodles occupy areas such as recently clearcut pine stands, coastal marshes, and bottomland swamps.

The regrowth after a pine clearcut is similar to that of the thicket dominated draws and old fields found in the Midwest. Briars, brambles, and various woody sprouts provide the same high stem count woodcock find irresistible across their range. The preferred habitat only lasts a few years before developing into taller, more mature timber. Fortunately, in pine country, other recent clearcuts are scattered across nearby properties providing woodcock new places to reside as older regrowth areas lose their luster.

American Woodcock Spring Nesting HabitatSome species of game birds utilize different habitats throughout different seasons of the year. But the American woodcock uses the same type of habitat for nesting as they use during migration. Dense riparian areas or overgrown fields with little more than leaf litter covering the ground provide ideal nesting locations. Nesting in this type of habitat allows newly hatched chicks to immediately begin feeding on worms and invertebrates rather than having to relocate from a nest site to a brood rearing area.

Whether in the Northwoods, migrating through the Midwest, or over wintering in the South, one thing is certain, the American woodcock are consistent in their habitat preference. Many of these areas can be found during the off season by scouring online aerial mapping apps. Ground truthing areas can ensure plenty of covers to hunt this season. When you find those high stem count areas that make you question your ability to walk through the area, there is a good chance you will find a woodcock or two hanging around this fall.

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How a little French spaniel developed into an internationally popular versatile hunting dog.Brittanies are the fulfillment of a French dream to build a better bird dog. I am sure that if those old braconniers from La Bretagne could see the breed today, they would be thrilled to know that Brittanies have conquered the world.

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I’ve seen Brittanies in European trials. I’ve shot roosters and ruffed grouse over Sporty, Bandit, and Buster, three tremendous Brittanies owned by a good friend. I’ve spoken at length with Brittany owners and breeders and some of the best trainers in the world. The more I learn about the breed, the more I admire it.

If you really want to understand why hunters fell in love so quickly with the little dogs from Brittany, watch a couple work a cattail slough in North Dakota and pin rooster after rooster for their proud owner. Or attend a spring field trial north of Paris and watch the cream of the Épagneul Breton crop fly across the ground seeking wild partridges. Or ask any Brittany owner how their dogs are around the house and hear nothing but praise for the breed’s loving temperament.

“The Brittany breed is the complete package: upland hunter, waterfowler, retriever, tracker, and loving family member,” said Nell McKim, a Brittany owner and breeder and NAVHDA member. “Their medium size makes them easy to live and travel with.”

Brittany Characteristics and Form

| Characteristics | Details | | Name | Internationally: Épagnuel Breton (EB)In the US: Brittany Spaniel (until 1982), Brittany (after 1982)In Canada: Brittany Spaniel | | Size | Small to medium | | Tail | Some dogs carry genes for a naturally short bobtail. Long tails are cropped. | | Coat | Medium long | | Coat Color | Orange and white, liver and white, black and white, tricolor | | Health Issues | Seizure disorders, patellar luxation | | Personality | Good-natured, eager to please | | Population | Large. More than 20,000 Brittany pups are whelped each year worldwide, mainly in France, Italy, and the US. | | Pace | Medium to fast gallop | | Range | Medium to wide | | Good Choice For | Grouse, woodcock, pheasant, snipe, partridge, hare, rabbit |

Among the smallest of the pointing breeds, the Brittany has “maximum qualities in a minimal size.” It has a unique, square “cob” body shape, a slightly rounded head, and triangular, high-set ears. Some even have a naturally short bobtail.

The ideal Brittany coat lies flat on the body and is feathered on the ears and legs. The French standard permits five colors, with or without a roan pattern: white and orange, white and black, white and liver, tricolor (liver, white orange), and tricolor (black, white, orange). The American Kennel Club standard does not allow black.

The Brittany is also one of several breeds that has the gene for a bobtail. Historically, the bobtail was a defining breed feature and even part of the name of its breed club, the Club de l’Épagneul Breton á Courte Queue (Club for the Short-tailed Brittany). But breeders had a hard time maintaining the trait and some resorted to secretly cropping any long tails that occurred in their litters, claiming they were naturally short. In 1933, club members voted to remove the Courte Queue from its name and to remove the word “natural” from the description of the short tail. Today, naturally short or absent tails still occur in the breed, but less frequently than in the past.

Brittany Training and Hunting AbilityAccording to Rick Smith, a professional dog trainer, training a Brittany is straightforward.

“Brittanies are on the soft side, and some of them can really sulk if you get on them too much,” Smith said. “But they have a lot of desire and can be as tough as nails when it comes to getting the job done.”

Although they can be sensitive dogs, those working with Brittanies should know it’s okay to be firm at times. However, it’s best to rely on their natural talents and their desire to hunt during dog training sessions.

Field SearchDue to their compact build, most Brittanies have a unique rolling gait. They generally cover the ground at a fast gallop at a medium range. Some lines work closer in and some, especially those developed for field trials in the US, can work much farther out.

“The Brittany is a Continental breed so we don’t expect them to run as fast or far as the British breeds,” said Pierre Willems. “But they are faster and wider running that the other breeds of épagneuls which usually work within gun range.”

PointingTypically, Brittanies are very strong pointers. Some develop early on while others take a while longer. But both Willems and Smith told me they are not really known as natural backers.

“Most trials here are run solo and when we do run in braces, it is okay to command the dog to back,” said Willems. “We don’t really select for dogs with strong natural backing instincts. Of course, some are natural backers, but that certainly is not the majority.”

“Backing is really a question of honoring another dog and it depends on the pecking order in the pack,” said Smith. “We do see some natural, spontaneous backing in Brittanies, but not a lot. Anyway, it’s also very easy to teach.”

TrackingWhile a number of Brittanies have proven their worth as good tracking dogs, the breed was never really designed for anything beyond tracking a wounded bird or hare.

“Brittanies are bird dogs and most people don’t want them for tracking,” said Smith, “but I guarantee that they will track anything you want if you start them out right and teach them to do it.”

Retrieving And Water WorkMost Brittanies take to water fairly easily, but some need a certain amount of encouragement. Although the breed was not developed to be a water dog, that doesn’t mean it can’t be taught to be a good water worker. In France, in order to become a champion in shoot-to-retrieve trials, Brittanies must pass their deep water retrieving test. However, most Brittanies do not have a thick enough coat to sit in a cold, wet blind for hours on end.

Brittany History and DevelopmentThe history of the Brittany can be divided into two parts: before 1907 and after 1907. Tracing the breed’s progress since 1907 is relatively easy. Getting a clear picture of its development before that time is next to impossible.

Brittany is a beautiful region of France. The people who live there are French citizens; they speak, read, and write French and they enjoy a thoroughly modern lifestyle just like the rest of the country. But in order to understand the development of its native breed of pointing dog, it is important to consider just how isolated the region was, and in some ways still is, from the rest of the nation.

Geographically, La Bretagne (“Brittany” in English) is a peninsula in the far west corner of the French hexagon. Culturally, its people have always felt somewhat separate from the rest of the country. Their traditional language, Breton, is not a French dialect but a Celtic language related to Welsh and Cornish. In fact, until the turn of the 20th century, much of Brittany’s population did not even speak, read, or write French. Very few French texts make any mention of what kind of dogs there were in Brittany before 1900.

Fortunately, many of the British sportsmen who traveled to the region in the 1800s wrote articles and published books about their adventures. Reading through them today, a fascinating picture emerges of what the dogs in Brittany were like in the mid-1800s. One of the most detailed accounts is from a book titled The Wanderer in Western France, written in 1863 by George T. Lowth. In it, Lowth describes short- and long-haired hunting dogs that were “found everywhere” in Brittany. He was likely describing choupilles (French flushing spaniels), Épagneuls de Fougères, and other chien du pays (country dogs), including Brittanies.

More than any other French dog, the Brittany was influenced by the land and culture of its native region. It was generally smaller than the others, came in a variety of colors, and was renowned for its robust build. Gaston Pouchain wrote, “This is true for the sheep, the goat, and the horse (of Brittany)…All those men and animals appeared stocky, close coupled, solid, very hardy and with an incomparable, natural strength.”

In 1907, a breed club was formed in Loudeac, France. Led by a lawyer named Arthur Enaud, its members drafted a breed standard and submitted it for approval to the SCC. Also around this time, Brittanies began to appear in shows and trials. In 1905, a male named “Boy” was entered into the L.O.F. (the French stud book). He was the first to be registered as an Épagneul Breton.

From 1907 onward, detailed information about the breed’s development became commonly available.

By the 1960s, the Brittany was becoming the most popular gundog breed in France. It was also developing strong followings elsewhere in Europe, as well as in North America, where it soon became one of the top Continental pointing breeds on the field trial circuit.

Today, the Brittany is one of the most popular pointing breeds on the planet. Descendants of the little dogs from La Bretagne can be found serving hunters from the plains of Patagonia to the Alaskan tundra. They can be seen in the wheat fields north of Paris to the bocage country of their native Brittany. And if your truck breaks down on the dusty prairies of southern Saskatchewan, don’t be surprised to see a Brittany sitting next to the friendly farmer that offers you a lift into town.

The Split Between American and French BrittaniesFor any breed with a strong following on both sides of the Atlantic, there is a risk of different types emerging as breeders follow different paths. In the Brittany, differences in type and hunting styles were first noticed just after the Second World War, and became more obvious after 1956 when the breed standard in France was changed to allow a black coat. Through the 1960s and 70s, the Brittany also developed a strong following on the North American field trial circuit, even among horseback field trial enthusiasts, which led to the development of big running “all age” Brittanies.

These and other factors caused what many feel is a split between American Brittanies and “French Brittanies.” Everyone recognizes that the two types have a shared ancestry and are the same breed genetically, but some believe that after nearly 80 years of moving in slightly different directions, the two types are irrevocably split. In fact, in 2002 the US-based United Kennel Club formally recognized the American Brittany and the French Brittany (or Epagneul Breton) as separate breeds. Members of the Club de l’Epagneul Breton of the United States (CEB-US) now register their dogs as Epagneul Bretons and follow the French (FCI) standard for the breed. The club also sanctions tests and field trials based on French regulations.

The American Brittany vs. Epagneul Breton question is the subject of sometimes heated debate within the various clubs, on internet forums, and in email lists. Personally, I have no dog in the fight. I have seen tremendous Brittanies on both sides of the Atlantic and have a great deal of admiration for the supporters of both types. But anyone looking to purchase a Brittany should investigate the various organizations and breeding approaches to find one that best suits their individual needs and goals.

Brittany ClubsThe parent club for the breed in France is the Club de l’Épagneul Breton. There are also breed clubs in over a dozen other countries. Among the largest are the Club Italiano Epagneul Breton in Italy and the Brittany Club of America. For French enthusiasts in America, there is the Club de l’Épagneul Breton of the United States. For Canadians, there’s The Brittany Spaniel Club of Canada.

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Field goldens are driven, intelligent, and loving, making them fantastic partners in the blind and at home.The northern Texas horizon glowed a burning ochre as John McCarter cracked his final shot of the morning. The dim light casted reflections on the farm pond he hunted, a glossy prism of oranges and yellows lashed by a crisp October breeze.

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Bonnie had just turned three. She’s been at John’s side since she was a puppy, playing, training, hunting, and competing. A year ago, she earned her Master Hunter title. But this might be her biggest moment yet. John rose from his layout blind draped in a tangle of lifeless grass. Then, he took command.

“Here.”

Bonnie latched to John’s side and pirouetted to face the water. She locked in, steady, anticipating direction.

“Bird.”

Bonnie snapped into a sit. Her scarlet coat furled over the stitching of her hunting vest and waved along her burly neck. The hair looked crimped at the tips of her ears. She fixed a permanent eye on the pond as her concentration turned palpable.

“Bonnie.”

Bonnie broke at the ‘B’. She launched, then caught her weight in full stride. Mud sprayed behind her paws like pebbles flung from a truck tire. She hoofed down the bank and dove into the water. Then, the ground disappeared beneath her feet as Bonnie swam like an Olympian chasing her next gold medal. This time, it would be for nine ducks, a nonuple as John later put it. Each one was retrieved blind, and each one brought back to his hand.

“Everything went perfect that morning,” John recalled. His southern twang turned airy and energetic, as if telling the story had him reliving it, “We had held her from picking them up because they just kept coming.”

John McCarter owns Bayou Gundog, a gun dog training operation he founded in 2020, the same year he adopted Bonnie. Since then, John has worked with breeds ranging from Labradors to Pudelpointers, but he specializes in the dogs he admittedly enjoys the most: field goldens.

“I think 99 percent of hunters, when they hear golden retrievers, they think of that fluffy Pinterest golden,” John said, “They go, ‘Those hunt?’ ‘That’s what you’re hunting with?’ It’s not the same.”

About the Field Golden Retriever

| Characteristics | Details | | Name | Originally called the Yellow Retriever, it became the Golden Retriever in 1920 | | Size | Typically 55-75 lbs and 23-25 inches tall | | Tail | Gorgeous, feathery | | Coat | Short length, insulated | | Coat Color | Red to honey-colored | | Character | Affectionate, devoted, and loving with a strong drive to work | | Good Choice For | Waterfowl, pheasant |

John’s passion exudes in the way he talks about field goldens. Get him on a roll, and he begins speaking in a Hemingway-esque manner, poetic yet declarative, with no minced words. It’s the same way he delivers commands to Bonnie from a layout blind.

“They’re easy to train. They love it. I think they look good doing it. They’re stylish. They’re beautiful,” he said.

Field goldens typify these traits and more. For instance, field goldens have all the affection of a show golden, but with the sky-watching, duck-loving, cold-water-plunging nature of a lab. Field goldens don’t lumber. They glide like a German Shorthair. Their thick necks and brawny shoulders taper down into sleek frames like that of a cheetah. Unlike a show golden’s flat white coat, field goldens have much shorter, insulated, honey-colored fur, ideal for camouflage in winter sedge. Underneath all that hide and muscle lies the high drive and birdy instinct required to brave freezing temperatures. Top it off with a nose that can snuff out a half-dead green-winged teal hidden in an endless swamp of woven cordgrass, and you’ve engineered the perfect duck dog.

Bonnie won her first Master Hunter title at just shy of two years old. At the time, she was the youngest Master Hunter golden female in three years, John said. She was also John’s first dog to title. John believes he owes Bonnie and her success a great deal of debt for pulling him out of his nursing career and forming him into a full-time gun dog trainer.

“I like good dogs regardless of the breed. And it just so happens that the first good dog I’ve had is a golden,” John said.

John purchased Bonnie as a young pup birthed from a pure line of duck-bred field goldens. He began training her before and after his nursing shifts and became so entrenched in the process that it verged on obsession. To vent his passions and learn from others, he joined his local Hunt Retriever Club and linked up with some of the veterans. Their advice and the networks he made skyrocketed Bonnie’s performance. She won titles and excelled in hunt tests. Her performance drew attention from other Golden Retriever owners who witnessed her triumph. Soon, John had dogs sent to him to train from all over the country. Now, he has trained dogs from as far west as Oregon and as far east as New Jersey.

“My closest client is three hours away,” he added, “Right now, 100 percent of my kennel is goldens”.

John’s kennel introduces dogs to live birds, gunfire, water drills, and duck hunting scenarios. Field goldens excel in these areas, however, creating a good retriever in the backyard doesn’t always translate into the field. To turn a field-bred golden into a true duck dog, you need to know how to train them.

Golden Retriever TrainingWriters have a duty to acknowledge any conflicts of interests upfront. So, it’s probably about time I admit my own bias.

Like John, I have my own Bonnie, a field golden named Boone. I adopted Boone at nine weeks old, when he was still covered in velvety puppy fur that felt like the down. We’d play fetch with hot dog-sized bumpers and I’d teach every written command in Tom Dokken’s legendary book, Retriever Training. The book scripted a hell of a strategy, but it wasn’t Tom’s words, or my sloppy skill as a trainer, that made Boone the reliable retriever he is today. The temperament of field goldens, John explained to me, makes them eager to please, which also makes training easy.

“They’re incredibly intelligent. I think that they fly through obedience. They’re known to be in the top two or three most intelligent breeds. That’s an advantage.”

For the most part, Golden Retrievers can be trained just like any other gun dog. It begins with basic obedience. Eventually, sit, stay, and here cascade into blind retrieves and triple marks. Fill in the blanks in between, and you have a decent cookie-cutter gun dog training program.

Fine-tuned programs, however, should focus on the needs of the individual dog. Field goldens, for example, require a tight bond with their owner. It’s a byproduct of their desire to please, and it becomes their primary virtue and vice. Boone can shift gears between salivating duck dog to cuddle up with mom for Netflix in an instant. At times, it leaves me wondering which one he enjoys more. It’s an endearing quality specific to the breed, but just like anyone prone to an affliction of intense love, field goldens leave themselves vulnerable to heartbreak.

“I have one now that’s very sensitive. Instead of forcing him through it, I’m taking time to make sure he’s in a balanced mood,” John said, “In between training, I’m doing fun bumpers, I’m taking him on walks, and I’m spending time to build rapport with him.”

Field golden trainers should take a friendly approach to their sessions. Be the caring little league coach and not the red-cheeked, head-bursting dad in the stands.

“People tend to be a little heavy-handed with other breeds. That heavy-handedness does not go well with field goldens,” John explained, “You just don’t need that same level of pressure that you’re used to giving to that stubborn dog.”

Body language can signal a dogs’ needs. It can vary quite a bit between individuals, and therefore demands continual analysis. In a stepwise approach trimmed with relationship building, John guides each of his field goldens through training, beginning with the basics and building up to gun-dog specific tasks like whistle commands and blind retrieves. John notes that field goldens learn basic commands quickly as puppies, and excel at game-like drills such as t-pattern and three-handed casting.

If John runs into an issue and sensitivity isn’t the problem, it’s probably a mix-up in communication. Sometimes, gundog trainers confuse lack of understanding with disobedience. To avoid this, monitor signs of anxiety and hesitation. If a dog becomes anxious, restart the lesson at the elementary level, or pick it up again tomorrow. Trainer Richard Wolters refers to this as returning back to the ABCs even if your dog knows its XYZs. Vary session length and become comfortable with taking it slow. And if you really want to bring the best out of a field golden, sprinkle in a bit of fun.

Goldens In the FieldGolden retrievers have such a strong sense of smell that there’s a conspiracy theory going around claiming they have ancient lineage in bloodhound lines. The truth is, however, that when Sir Dudley Marjoribanks bred the first litter of golden retrievers in the 1860s, they were sired by a flat-coated retriever named Nous. The dam was a now-extinct Tweed Water Spaniel named Belle. We don’t have any Belles around today to vet this idea, but most gun dog historians suggest that golden retrievers inherited their strong sense of smell from the Tweed Water Spaniel.

Boone’s inheritance of an unrivaled olfactory system proved itself last season when I took a shot at a drake black duck. I clipped its wing and the bird soared cockeyed through the air, landing like a plane missing its engine in some patch of marsh a hundred yards away. I scoured the thick grass as if I were searching for a tick on Boone’s back while he ran around in concentric circles, tail waving high like a fur-covered windsock. Eventually Boone peeled off on a beeline. Nose to the ground, he busted into a creek, swam across it, galloped through shoulder-deep muck along the bank, and plucked the duck out by its neck from underneath a free-hanging shelf of ice.

This trait pops up in field trials, too. Field goldens consistently earn titles such as Hunting Retriever Champions and Grand Hunting Retriever Champions, awards that demand dogs to rely on their nose, master blind retrieves, and follow handling commands with flawless precision. Judges dock points for dogs who execute without enthusiasm, but that’s hardly an issue for most field goldens.

Their innate ability blended with devotion and unabashed love separates the field golden from all other retriever breeds, and while their skills shine brightest during the winter months, duck hunting season lasts just a fraction of the year. In the remaining nine or so months, field goldens work full-time to be your best friend. John, in his Hemingway style, sums it up best.

“Easy to train. Always happy to do it. Look good doing it. Stylish. Beautiful. They’re great in the house, great in the blind, and great in the kennel,” he said. “Field goldens are always willing to work.”

Golden Retriever ClubsGolden Retriever Club of America
Mile Hi Golden Retriever Club
Greater Cincinnati Golden Retriever Club
Greater Twin Cities Golden Retriever Club

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If you enjoy hiking, scenic mountain views, and bird hunting, give public land chukar hunting a try.Perhaps no upland game bird embodies the ruggedness of western hunting better than the chukar. They inhabit the wild, mountainous terrain that defines the vast wilderness of the Great Basin, the high desert, and the inland northwest—places where water is scarce and survival depends on adaptation to the harsh environment. Because of the physical challenges associated with reaching chukar habitat, a certain element of machismo and bro-culture has come to define the subculture of chukar hunting. It’s basically the CrossFit of the upland world.

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Chukar hunting isn’t an easy stroll through a cut wheat field, but neither is it some sort of death-defying ascent limited to the youngest and fittest among us. A little bit of off-season hill training, a willingness to sweat a bit to reach the top of the next ridge, and plenty of water-carrying capacity are all you need to pursue these wild birds in their wild habitat. The extra effort required to reach them is rewarded with incredible views and a true sense of accomplishment when you do find them, even without a whack-n-stack tailgate photo.

Where To Find ChukarThe best part of chukar hunting is that the terrain they inhabit is very frequently public land and often huge sections at that. Chukar habitat is not highly sought after for agricultural purposes, which means it is undeveloped and available for public land DIY hunters.

Like any other bird, chukar require food, water, and shelter. Access to water is often the most limiting factor and will make the difference between a place that “looks birdy” but holds no birds versus a spot that reliably holds a covey. Pay attention to the location of seeps and springs, which may only be noticeable because of the presence of larger shrubs and vegetation that stand out from the arid surroundings. Guzzlers, or man-made water catchment systems, will also attract and concentrate birds in a desert environment.

Chukar are associated with the nonnative spread of cheatgrass throughout the west. They especially like eating green-up, or the tender green shoots of young grasses that appear on warm hillsides after a rain or snowmelt. Feeding generally occurs in grassier areas such as ridgetops or sun-drenched hillsides and not in the steep drop-offs where the covey is likely to seek shelter.

Shelter comes from outcroppings of rimrock, which provide camouflage and structural protection from predators. Rimrock also provides an easy escape route when the covey needs to take quick flight. You can check outcroppings for signs of chukar roosts by looking under overhangs for piles of droppings.

The presence of the survival trifecta—food, water, and shelter—is a pretty reliable indicator of good chukar habitat. With all needs met in a given location, a covey is unlikely to move very far. On the other hand, they will absolutely follow water and food up and down the mountains over the course of the year as conditions change.

Gear Required For Chukar HuntingGearing up for a chukar hunt should look more like preparing for a mountain hike than a typical upland hunt. The main areas of attention should be your clothing, footwear, and water capacity.

Temperatures vary wildly throughout the chukar hunting season, and mountain climates mean that weather can change very quickly. As such, a wise chukar hunter will carry plenty of layers and be ready to switch them throughout the day. Climbing up the hills will generate heat and sweat, so a lightweight, breathable base layer is a must. This is usually followed by a cold wind at the top of the ridge. To avoid getting chilled, plan to have a wind- and water-resistant outer layer ready to deploy as soon as the sweating stops. Gaiters are a great way to keep your feet and ankles dry from snow while allowing you to wear a lighter, quick-drying hiking pant. A pair of gloves will also be appreciated when that sharp wind hits.

Traversing steep, rocky terrain requires quality footwear to keep you safe and comfortable. You can plan on some degree of side-hilling, so a boot with good ankle support will help keep you upright and save your ankles for another day of hunting. Opinions and preferences are all over the map regarding hunting boot styles and brands—and no two people have identical foot shape and structure—but this is an area worth investing some time and money to find what works best for you.

Water for both you and your dog is a nonnegotiable requirement when packing for a chukar hunt. That same steep, dry, rugged terrain that you’re traversing is also being worked by your dog, often at a rate of 3-4 (or more!) times the distance that you walk. You cannot count on finding a viable water source to rehydrate and replenish your supply in chukar territory, so plan on carrying plenty of water for both of you. Also, plan on having the self-discipline to turn back when your water supply is running low to avoid tragedy.

Finally, a good vest or pack will be required to securely carry your shells, your extra clothing layers, your water, and hopefully, your birds. Choose a vest that offers plenty of flexibility to meet the needs of chukar hunting throughout the season, whether that’s tons of water in the warm, early season or plenty of outer layers to protect from the snow and rain in the wintry late season.

Shotguns, Chokes, And Shot Size Recommendations For Chukar HuntingThe best gun for chukar hunting is one that you shoot well. There’s nothing more frustrating than dragging yourself up a hillside only to miss the birds because you didn’t practice shooting in the offseason or because your gun doesn’t fit you. Whether you prefer a semi-automatic, a double-barrel, or a pump gun is entirely up to you. Weight can be a consideration if you’re looking to shed ounces for an easier climb. The availability of a third shot may be a consideration when choosing a gun; it’s not uncommon for coveys to rise in waves, leaving a final shot opportunity that inevitably presents itself after you’ve emptied both barrels at the fleeing covey.

Typical shot distances depend a lot on how pressured the birds are feeling, how secure the cover is, and how many times those birds have encountered hunters before. Early season birds located by an experienced pointing dog may provide a close shot of 20 yards, but late season birds caught in bare cover are likely to run and flush at frustrating distances. Plan for a shot and choke combination to allow you a reasonable chance of hitting a moving target at 30-40 yards. For me, that’s bismuth shot in size 6 or 7 through a modified or IC choke. But again, with the effort it takes to reach these birds, it’s worth investing a few hours in patterning your gun and figuring out which combination gives the results you like at a distance you are comfortable shooting.

Chukar Hunting StrategiesOne of my least favorite pieces of hunting advice is that “the birds are where you find them.” But this is an important point to remember when encountering a covey. Look around and take note of their food source, likely shelter options, and distance to water. Those same features should be present in other areas where you search for birds; otherwise, you’ll likely waste your time in that spot.

A good dog with experience on chukar will create opportunities for you that you otherwise would never have on chukar. Of course, the only way to get this experience is to keep pursuing them and learning as you go. Range is not terribly important—my closest-ranging dog finds far more birds than my younger, bigger-running dogs because she has the learned experience to know exactly where to look and how to work the birds effectively. A dog running at 1,000 yards may look impressive, but unless they can reliably hold running birds while you drag yourself over scree and talus to get there, it’s nothing more than a big number on your GPS to brag about.

Read: Keeping Your Dog Safe in Chukar Country

The other thing to remember about chukar is how they behave as soon as they are aware of your presence. They are not going to stand still and await their fate. Being ground-dwelling birds, they will take off running for as long as they can until they feel compelled to fly. This is where an experienced dog will give you an advantage in learning how to smartly relocate on running birds.

In general, the covey will tend to run uphill but fly downhill. If you can approach them from above or at least on the same elevation line, you stand a reasonable chance of getting them into the air and presenting a shot opportunity. Chasing them from below will only cause them to run to the top of the hill and flush frustratingly far away at the ridgeline.

If I sound a little salty about the culture surrounding chukar hunting, it’s because I am. When I first started upland hunting, I assumed chukar were completely out of reach because I didn’t fit the image that social media would have us believe is a requirement to find these mountain birds. It wasn’t until a conversation over coffee with a hunting mentor that I received some sage advice that adjusted my perspective: “Just don’t go up the steep part.”

I have the privilege of regularly hunting with a 72-year-old guy who shoots more chukar in a season than I ever will. It’s not because he has age-defying, superhuman physical prowess. It’s because experience and wisdom have taught him where to find the birds and how to focus his efforts on getting to them. You don’t see his birds on Instagram, but he’s the real deal—and there are a lot more hunters just like him, quietly pursuing this passion without all the noise.

The bottom line is, if you like hiking and if chukar hunting sounds interesting to you, just go do it. At best, you will find some birds, have a couple of good shot opportunities, and maybe come home with a bird in your bag. At worst, you exercised in a beautiful location while watching your dog figure out how to work the rolling ridgetops and steep sidehills to locate these incredible game birds. Know your limits and hunt within them, whether that’s mountain-goating up a scree field or carefully picking a place where you can drive reasonably close to the target elevation and stick to it as you hike. Also, know your limits regarding backcountry travel, and don’t drive into a place you can’t confidently drive out of—including in changing weather conditions. Above all, feel free to leave the “embrace the suck” ego behind and simply challenge yourself to try something new.

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Braise and whisk your way to this elevated, Cajun-inspired dove dishInspired by the Cajun dish étouffée (which in French translates to “smothered” or “suffocated”), think of this meal as something to look forward to after a day of less-than-stellar dove shooting. Perhaps the birds weren’t flying; perhaps your barrel was bent. Either way, you still deserve to sit down and enjoy a killer meal with a friend or loved one.

This recipe employs two of my favorite techniques in game bird cooking: braising and the art of whisking up a good pan gravy. The braising part is straightforward—use a high-walled pan to sear whole breasts and legs (with the feet attached) in fat until they’re nice and brown. Then, cover them with two cups of water and add aromatics. In this case, I used onion halves, two garlic cloves, a bay leaf, and a few whole peppercorns. Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. The doves will be ready after 1 to 1.5 hours. Set the meat aside, and once cool enough to handle, shred the breast meat. Strain the stock and reserve the liquid for your gravy.

The best tip I can give you for making pan gravy is mise en place. In other words, get your shit together before you start. All ingredients should be measured and prepped in their own containers. The goal is to eliminate any reason you might need to walk away from the stove. Why, you ask? Because for 10 to 15 minutes—steps 4 through 9 of this recipe—you will be whisking. If you’re not confident in your ability to add ingredients one-handed, make sure you have a reliable sous-chef on standby.

PrintSmothered DovesAn elevated, Cajun-inspired dove dishCourse Main CourseCuisine Cajun, SouthernKeyword DovePrep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutesCook Time 25 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 hour hour 55 minutes minutesServings 2Calories 604kcalAuthor Will NewellIngredients 2 doves braised, breast and tenderloins shredded, legs/feet kept whole and reserved for plating * 3 tbsp butter divided * ½ yellow onion diced small * 1 rib celery diced small * 1 medium red bell pepper diced small * 2 cloves garlic crushed and diced * 1½ tbsp all-purpose flour * 2 ripe tomatoes pureed * ¼ cup dry white wine * 2 cups stock use the braising liquid from the doves + additional stock * 1½ cups Carolina Gold rice cooked * 1 bunch scallion tops sliced for garnish InstructionsTo braise the doves Use a high-walled pan to sear whole breasts and legs (with the feet attached) in fat until they’re nice and brown. Then, cover them with two cups of water and add aromatics. In this case, I used onion halves, two garlic cloves, a bay leaf, and a few whole peppercorns. * Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. After 1 to 1.5 hours, the doves will be ready. * Set the meat aside, and once cool enough to handle, shred the breast meat. Strain the stock and reserve the liquid for your gravy. For the gravy In a large pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat and sweat the onions, bell peppers, and celery until translucent, about 2 minutes. * Add the garlic and sweat for another 2 minutes. * Remove the vegetables from the pan. * Add the remaining butter and simmer until the butter stops bubbling or is clarified. * Add the flour and whisk constantly until a blond/light brown roux is achieved. * Add the tomato puree and caramelize. * Add the sweated vegetables and then whisk in the dry white wine. * Whisk in the stock, a little at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved (use at least 1 ½ cups). * Add in the shredded dove meat and stir to combine. Simmer for 10 more minutes. To serve Tightly pack rice into a small ramekin and drop the molded rice in the center of a shallow bowl, arrange the reserved dove legs atop the molded rice, ladle the pan sauce over top of the rice and around the base, garnish generously with green onions, add a few shakes of tabasco, and enjoy! NutritionCalories: 604kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 1108mg | Potassium: 662mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 4006IU | Vitamin C: 97mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 2mgThe post Smothered Doves appeared first on Project Upland.

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Dog historian Craig Koshyk explores the Pointer’s rise from a lesser-known breed to dominance in American field trials, while challenging the belief that modern hunting dogs and methods have remained unchanged over time.Dog historian Craig Koshyk brings us to Season 3 of Hunting Dog Confidential with a deep look into the pointer in America. With his second book, Pointing Dogs, Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds, Koshyk continued his extensive exploration of hunting dog breeds, having traveled for over 20 years to study them in their native environments.

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In this episode, Koshyk challenges the commonly accepted idea that the hunting dogs we use today, along with the methods of dog training and hunting with them, are the same as they’ve always been. He explains that while some elements have persisted, much has evolved. “Hunters today and their four-legged companions are in some ways just like hunters and their dogs were a hundred years ago,” he notes, but emphasizes that many aspects of modern gun dog culture are completely new.

Koshyk first addresses the Pointer, a breed considered dominant in American field trials today. Many believe pointers have always held this position, but, as Koshyk points out, “For a long time, pointers played a distant second fiddle to Setters in America.” He explains that in the early 1900s, English Setters were more widely favored in trials, especially due to their natural retrieving ability, which was a key requirement for many competitions.

He shares a notable story from 1909, when a pointer named Manitoba Rap became the first of its breed to win the prestigious national championship in Grand Junction, Tennessee. Koshyk describes the surprise of the crowd, recounting how Thomas Johnson, Rap’s owner, made an audacious bet, wagering $5,000 (about $200,000 today) that a pointer would win—a bold move, as pointers had never won the championship before. Johnson’s confidence was rewarded when Manitoba Rap claimed victory, marking a significant turning point for the breed. “It may be said that the race of 1909 marks an epoch in this classic event,” Koshyk quotes from a report of the time.

Koshyk then delves into the versatile breeds, particularly the German breeds like the Weimaraner and German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP). Contrary to the belief that these versatile dogs have a long history in Germany, he reveals that these breeds are relatively modern creations. “There was a time not that long ago when there were no versatile dogs at all in Germany,” Koshyk explains, noting that early bird dogs in the region were primarily Pointers, Setters, and French breeds, such as Braques and Epagneuls.

The conversation returns to the rise of the pointer in American field trials. Initially, pointers were seen as less capable retrievers compared to setters, and many thought that pointers were too delicate for the harsh American conditions. Koshyk explains that early field trials often required dogs to retrieve birds, a task at which setters excelled. “At first, the vast majority of dogs running in trials were Setters,” he says, because the expectation was that dogs needed to retrieve well.

However, over time, trial organizers and handlers began to change their approach. They realized that bird-handling and bird-finding abilities were more important than retrieving skills. This shift in focus helped pointers catch up to setters in popularity. “They started running Pointers against Setters and judging them only on their bird-handling abilities,” Koshyk explains, which leveled the playing field for pointers.

Despite these advancements, the perception of Pointers as “too thin-skinned” to retrieve in tough cover or cold weather persisted for a while. Setters were seen as tougher and more elegant, a bias that Koshyk attributes to the deep-rooted preference for Setters in the American hunting and trial scene. Pointer breeders had to work on developing faster, hardier dogs to meet these expectations, and over time, they succeeded in breeding dogs that could compete at the highest level.

Koshyk also touches on an unusual prejudice from the past: the preference against black-coated pointers. Even though solid black pointers were not uncommon in the U.S., judges were reluctant to award wins to these dogs. That began to change in the 1890s when a black-and-white pointer named Rip-Rap won a significant trial, breaking the color barrier and helping black-coated pointers gain recognition.

In conclusion, Koshyk highlights how much has changed in the world of hunting dogs over the past century, particularly in the ways breeds have been shaped and the shifting standards of field trials. “So much has changed over the years in the way we breed, train, and use our hunting dogs that almost everything about gun dogs and gun dog culture today is completely modern,” he summarizes. This episode offers a thoughtful exploration of how history, culture, and evolving standards have influenced the development of hunting dogs, especially the rise of the pointer as the dominant breed in American field trials.

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During the early season, weather, habitat conditions, and hunting pressure impact which cover types pheasants use.Thousands of hunters venture afield across the Midwest on the opening weekend of pheasant season. Opening weekend is a tradition, and regardless of the state agency’s pheasant population reports, hunters head out in pursuit of wily roosters. Although, in the case of opening weekend, plenty of roosters have yet to reach the status of “wily.”

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The fact that early season roosters have yet to be educated on our hunting techniques doesn’t mean opening weekend guarantees limits of the colorful imported game bird. However, it certainly increases the likelihood of success when compared to the late season.

If the weather is mild, skip the heavy cover and opt for crop stubble, grasses, and weedsIn many states, the first frost occurs right around the opening day of pheasant season. If the frost hasn’t come yet, grasses and forbs are still actively growing in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields, pastures, and everywhere in between. Actively growing grasses and forbs usually result in less-than-ideal scenting conditions for dogs.

If the weather is mild, ring-necked pheasants do not need to spend much time in heavy cover like cattails or CRP fields. In extremely mild conditions, birds may spend all day and night in crop fields, in both standing crops and crop stubble. Usually, a fair number of birds leave the crop fields in favor of roosting in nearby grasses or weedy cover; they just may not travel very far from the interior of large fields. Edges of crop fields that meet up with tall grass or weeds can be great starting places for a morning hunting party. I prefer to hit grass and weedy cover as early as possible in warmer weather because I know the birds won’t be there long.

Mid-morning and early afternoon pheasant hunting can mean increased options as birds scatter into various locations after they move from their roost sites. If hunting with a larger party, pushing crop stubble can be successful. Milo stubble is my favorite, but don’t pass up corn, sunflower, or wheat stubble. Oftentimes, a bird or two will hunker down at the base of a milo or corn stalk, offering a prime opportunity for a dog to lock up on point.

It’s usually ideal to position a few blockers on one end of the field because even uneducated birds don’t hold well in stubble fields. Be sure to consider wind direction, too, and work into the wind as much as possible.

Hunting Loafing Pheasants In The Early SeasonPheasants often loaf after their morning meal. They will use weed patches surrounding abandoned homes, old corrals, or similar sites. Many of these places are small and can be hunted quickly. I call these “jump out spots.” I hunt them like someone jump shooting a pond for ducks. I usually only take one dog, and we work into the wind. If I have other hunters with me, we will place shooters on the edges or corners while a hunter with a dog pushes through the center of the cover. Jump out spots are one of my favorite places to hunt and are often overlooked by larger groups of hunters.

Linear features like tree rows also provide prime loafing areas, allowing birds to sun themselves while remaining safe from aerial predators under the protective canopy of the trees. For smaller hunting parties, one hunter on each side of a tree row can provide some quick action, especially early in the season when many birds haven’t yet developed their Houdini-like escape tactics. Larger parties can make use of tree rows and scrubby draws as well. Use the extra hunters to stage blockers at the ends of tree rows.

Some draws have a point midway where the woody cover changes direction. These points are a common location for running roosters to attempt an escape. Setting a blocker can yield an extra bird to two.

Mild weather and early season can also mean some crops have yet to be harvested. Unharvested crops mean more space for birds to spend the day. Additionally, hunting taller standing crops like corn or sunflowers is incredibly difficult. It’s hard to keep an eye on your hunting party and dogs, not to mention mounting and swinging your shotgun is nearly impossible in a tangled mess of drooping sunflower heads or dry corn stalks. Many state regulations do not allow hunting in walk-in areas until the crops are harvested.

If you know birds are using standing crops, try to find adjacent locations to plan an attack. Weedy fence lines, center pivot corners, and waterways can provide opportunities to catch birds first thing in the morning or while they are loafing midday.

If the weather is really warm and dog stamina is a concern, midday hunts are also the perfect time to rest a few dogs. Hunting a tree row can be done effectively with one or two dogs and doesn’t require emptying the entire dog trailer.

Avoiding Other HuntersThe first few days of pheasant season probably account for over half the days afield of the entire season. Hunters flock to places like Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas in hopes of bagging a few of these charismatic birds. As a result, it’s not uncommon for pheasants on public land to be hunted multiple times a day.

As you can imagine, if you are part of the third or fourth hunting party to enter a field on a given day, your success rate will likely suffer, resulting in little or no harvest. Hunting obscure locations or habitat areas that are more difficult to access can put a few birds in your vest. Fields that require a long walk are good places to target once the morning hours have passed.

Pastureland should not be overlooked during early season outings. Pastures normally considered ideal for prairie chickens or sharptail grouse can hold a few pheasants during this time. Some pheasants are in pastures during the early season simply because the weather has not yet forced them into areas with heavier cover or row crops. More pheasants move into pastures when their usual hangouts get swarmed by throngs of orange. Look for lower swales where wetter conditions have created a bit more cover if the rest of the pasture is grazed short. Brush clumps can also hold birds trying to escape hunters and hawks.

If you are fortunate enough to hunt pheasants on private land, you can control the hunting pressure if you have enough areas to hunt throughout the day. Often, if birds are roosting in CRP fields, making the first walk of the morning at dawn is the best chance to start the day with a rooster or two in hand. Some birds will stay within the CRP field after a hunting party pushes through. However, many birds scatter into the surrounding habitat. All the aforementioned locations, like crop stubble, tree rows, and abandoned homesteads, come into play now. Pursuing those same birds later in the day in these satellite pieces of habitat can add more birds to the tailgate pic.

The pheasant opener continues to be a great tradition for families and friends to gather together across the pheasant’s range. If success is eluding your hunting party by noon on opening day, try something different. Consider some new strategies or hunting spots and maybe, just maybe, you can seal the deal on an extra bird or two by the end of the day.

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A hearty North Dakotan soup with dumplings, potatoes, and tender pheasant meat.Pronounced “nef-la,” this hearty North Dakotan soup is full of potatoes and dumplings related to German spaetzle. When German immigrants settled in America, particularly in the North Dakota region, knoephla was born. Compared to Southern dumplings, knoephla is denser and chewier.

There are various versions of knoephla, and in my research, I came across many comments from North Dakotans about how their grandmother used to make it. Every family makes knoephla soup in their own way. And although most recipes don’t include meat, pheasant meat works quite nicely to add a bit of protein. Feel free to make it your own this hunting season.

PrintPheasant and Knoephla Soup RecipeA hearty, German-inspired North Dakotan soup recipe with dumplings, potatoes, and tender pheasant meat, perfect for those cold days.Course SoupCuisine GermanPrep Time 30 minutes minutesCook Time 2 hours hoursServings 4Ingredients 1 pheasant quartered * 2 tbsp butter * 2 ribs of celery chopped * 1 medium onion chopped * 2 medium carrots peeled and diced * 2 cloves garlic minced * 6 cups water * 1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base * 1 ½ – 2 pounds yellow potatoes * 2 cups whole milk Knoephla Dumplings 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour * 1 tbsp fresh dill finely chopped * 1 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped * ¾ tsp fine sea salt * ½ tsp ground pepper * 1 large egg * 7 tbsp whole milk plus extra Instructions* In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Pat pheasant pieces dry with paper towels and season with salt. Brown the pheasant on both sides in the butter and remove it from the pot. * Add the chopped celery, onion, diced carrots, and a pinch of salt to the remaining butter. Sweat the vegetables until the onion becomes translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Then, add garlic and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the pheasant pieces back to the pot, along with 6 cups of water. Bring it to a boil and stir in the chicken base to dissolve. Lower heat to a simmer and cook covered for 1 to 1.5 hours or until the pheasant becomes tender. * Meanwhile, make the knoephla dumplings. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, dill, parsley, salt, and pepper. Then, make a well in the middle of the flour and add one egg. Use a fork to lightly beat the egg, then pour milk into the well. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then lightly knead until you get a ball. Do not overwork the dough. * Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a thin log about ¾ inch in diameter. Cut the log into small, bite-size pieces. (In hindsight, I would’ve preferred smaller pieces than what I made due to their density.) Place the raw dumplings, not touching, on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Keep dumplings covered with a towel to keep them from drying out while you work with the remaining dough. * When tender, remove the pheasant from the soup and set it aside. Bring the soup to a boil and then drop in dumplings one by one, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping. Bring soup down to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Shred the pheasant into bite-size pieces and discard the bones. * Add potatoes and shredded pheasant back to the pot. Add milk and return to simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not allow the milk to boil. Season to taste and enjoy. The post Pheasant and Knoephla Soup appeared first on Project Upland.

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Taking toddlers hunting requires adjusting your expectations, involving them in the experience, and savoring shared moments in the field.The ring of the alarm clock, the drip of brewing coffee, the eager yips of bird dogs watching you put on your brush pants—we have all been through these steps time and time again as we gather our gear before hopping in the truck to head to our favorite coverts. But amid the pre-hunt craziness, I have grown accustomed to another sound: my oldest daughter’s distinct “Dada?!” as she stands in her flannel and overalls.

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She is now two years old, and taking her into the grouse woods with me has become something I look forward to most during the fall here in Wisconsin.

When you tell all of your friends and family that you are going to have a child, the normal reaction to those of us who hunt sounds like, “Looks like you won’t be hunting this year,” or, “Good luck getting into the woods after you have a kid.”

Read More:Introducing Kids to Upland Bird Hunting

When I first started receiving comments like this, I made it a priority to spend as much time outdoors with my daughters and raise them outdoors as much as possible. At around three months old, my oldest daughter scouted for turkeys and looked for trapping locations with me. By ten months old, she was on my back with her little orange hat and hearing protection, watching her dad miss shots at grouse. My youngest daughter is six months old now, and we are looking forward to her first hunt this fall.

I am lucky to have a wonderful wife who supports our adventures, but that doesn’t go without controversy from other parents of young children regarding their safety and age. I am not interested in discussing whether anyone is right or wrong regarding their thoughts; my goal is to share the way I take my children into the outdoors so others who are interested in doing so can, too.

Taking Toddlers into the UplandsOne of the most important things I have found while navigating the wilderness with a toddler in tow is involving them in the activity. No, this doesn’t mean having your toddler go and retrieve birds for you. Instead, it means something as simple as listening to different songbirds while hunting and asking, “Did you hear that?” or identifying different trees, mushrooms, or animals.

I often find myself narrating a large majority of a hunt when my daughter is on my back. How much of this she can actually hear is debatable, given that she’s wearing hearing protection. Still, I believe it helps my daughter’s understanding of certain situations, like a dog working scent or training their ears to hear the twittering wings of a woodcock and the thunderous flush of a ruffed grouse.

The late season usually correlates with colder temperatures, so layering is key with young children. You won’t get very far with a one-year-old with cold hands or feet. Having two or three layers for them is best, as you can add or subtract as the temperature fluctuates.

The other important thing to remember while taking your toddlers with you on your upland adventures is snacks—they can make or break certain outings. We’ve enjoyed many a PBJ on the back of my tailgate.

Managing Expectations When Hunting With A ToddlerIf you think you are going into a grouse cover with a toddler on your back or walking beside you and walking out with a limit of birds, sorry, but here is where you are wrong. When hunting with your toddler, limits aren’t what you are there for. Temper your hunting expectations.

Plan short hunts because you won’t be out there all day. I have found between one and two hours of hunting to be the sweet spot. Remember, there will be meltdowns. Just because you aren’t at a supermarket won’t stop the emotions and feelings that young children have, especially when they want to pick up every acorn or stick they walk by.

Even after your dogs lock down a point on a bird and that bird presents a shot, there can be other challenges with the shot itself, such as babbling toddler language in your ears and weight shifting on your back that you can’t control. Once you do manage to knock down a bird, it is of much value and will be remembered because of these added elements.

Make sure to stop and soak it all in. The first time your child sees a grouse or a woodcock take flight and lets out an excited “Ooo!” in celebration of your first harvested bird together needs to be savored. These are the moments that could be the spark that lights their fire in the passion for all things upland hunting.

As parents, it is our job to expose our kids to these outdoor experiences even though they might not remember them. If they are very young, they may only be able to look at these memories via the photos that you take with them. There is a possibility that when they get older, they may never want to touch a shotgun or have any interest in owning a bird dog. This is just something you have to be prepared for.

When Hunting With A Young Child, Slow Things DownOne of the biggest takeaways that I have learned from taking my daughter upland hunting with me is to slow everything down. As upland hunters, sometimes we get stuck in that go-go-go mindset, thinking of our next move or trying to stay one step ahead of the game. With a toddler on your back or at your side, this mindset needs to be altered. Take a step back and enjoy some of the things that you may be missing.

Having a young child in the woods makes a drastic difference in changing your mindset because they aren’t thinking like us. They simply haven’t learned to think like an upland hunter yet. Instead of planning their next move, toddlers are infatuated by the new sounds and sights they are experiencing. Enjoy those things with them. This might mean simply stopping the hunt altogether, sitting with your child, and pointing out and explaining some things that might be new to them.

This is an aspect of the hunt I had almost completely forgotten about until I took my daughter hunting the first few times. It brought me back to when I was a child, and my father took me grouse hunting. Everything was so exciting, even the simplest things, like the crimson flash of a cardinal through the trees or a golden leaf slowly fluttering to the ground.

Upland Hunting with Toddlers is Worth ItThe first ruffed grouse that my oldest daughter and I harvested together was when she was just ten months old. It was early November, and we were out for a late afternoon hunt. On the walk in, my oldest dog, a five-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer, caught my attention to the left of the trail. He went on point while facing directly at us just 40 yards away.

As we turned to close the distance, the bird got up and presented a perfect left-to-right crossing shot. I was able to connect with it on my second barrel. Upon retrieving the bird, I felt myself become overrun with emotion, a tear in my eye, and celebrating with my daughter on my back. It was so special that I decided to turn around and head back toward the truck with the biggest grin; I decided this bird was a great note to end on, even though it was such a short hunt.

That moment will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. I am currently waiting to get the call to pick this bird up from the taxidermist.

Hopefully, all of these experiences in the uplands will help grow enough interest for my daughters to put energy into upland hunting and conservation in the future, as our children are the future of our uplands.

Diapers will be changed on the forest floor, bottles will be given between aspen cuts, and there will be an inconvenient interest in spent shotgun shells. There will be the incorrect recall of the dogs as little voices learn to speak, and missed birds, missed socks, and missed points.

All you can do is soak it all in.

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Biologists can gain valuable scientific information by banding ducks and geese across the North American landscape.I’m not one for fashion. The farthest I’ll go is donning a Garmin watch on my wrist and, occasionally, sunglasses to keep stray fly hooks from lodging in my cornea. Without function, style evades me as naturally as mosquitoes avoid a campfire.

But I am a duck hunter. And that means that every winter, I wear a paracord necklace studded with duck calls and bedazzled with what trendy waterfowlers call bling: duck bands.

Over twenty years, I’ve accumulated a paltry number of bands compared to the amount of time I’ve put in the field. But it’s their rarity that imbues bands with significance. I can tell you the exact hunt conditions for every band on my lanyard. I can tell you what creek bend I anchored on, who I was hunting with, and what direction the wind blew. Bands memorialize the memories and etch them into something tangible.

But why were those birds wearing bands in the first place?

Biologists were the ones who put them on. Surely, they didn’t work hours into the night, headlamps strapped to their foreheads, trucks geared into four-wheel drive, trudging through ankle-gripping muck, and wrestling cornfed mallards out of rocket-propelled nets just so a few hunters can show off how much bling they’ve accrued over the years, right?

If not to glam-up hunters, why do biologists band waterfowl?

Why Do Biologists Band Ducks?The answer lies, at least in part, with the day-to-day duties of folks like Chris Nicolai, a waterfowl scientist for Delta Waterfowl. When Chris isn’t carving ducks or hunting them with one of his yellow Labrador Retrievers, he’s banding them.

“My family gets forced to go on duck banding trips for vacations,” Chris said, “We went to Louisiana over spring break two years ago so we could band mottleds, fulvous, and black-bellies.”

Chris has been involved with waterfowl research for over thirty years. It all started in 1996 when he studied redhead nesting biology as a summer research assistant for Delta Waterfowl. After that, Chris earned his Doctorate while studying black brant. He took a position with the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a migratory bird biologist after graduate school, and today, he’s back with Delta Waterfowl, leading their waterfowl research.

Chris says that, back in the day, bands were used mainly to track birds across migration routes. Tracking leg bands is how biologists discovered the four flyways. Now, with the aid of advanced statistical analyses, waterfowl banding data has become much more useful. Chris breaks down their modern utility into four major categories: harvest estimates, population estimates, the nerdy stuff, and the unexpected.

Waterfowl Harvest AssessmentsIn 2004, a few months after my tenth birthday, a cold front blasted through the mid-Atlantic, pushing a band of southward-fleeing waterfowl with it. The weather system created prime conditions for hunting. On the tail end of it, I shot my first duck, a mallard drake on Pie Creek. The mallard had orange legs as thick as sausages. Strapped around one was an aluminum band. My dad thought it may have come from Canada. When I dialed the US Geological Survey’s bird banding hotline and gave them the nine-digit code, I learned I had shot the duck just five miles from where it was banded.

Years later, I shot a double band. It sits a little higher on my lanyard than the band from Pie Creek. Two black ducks cupped their wings over a Delaware Bay estuary, and a buddy and I made a clean double. The hen had a band on each leg. The right band read “$100 Reward.” That bird actually did come from Canada, and barring my outdoor writing, it was the only time I’ve ever been paid to hunt.

Those are two of my favorite contributions to the immense dataset managed by the Bird Banding Lab, a subset of the US Geological Survey. Every banded duck exists somewhere in the Bird Banding Lab’s dataset. When folks like Chris Nicolai cinch a band on a mallard, he sends the data to the Bird Banding Lab. When hunters report duck bands from the field, the Bird Banding Lab updates their dataset.

“Duck banding is probably one of the oldest and biggest examples of citizen science,” said Chris, “It helps inform management decisions.”

The dataset serves as a library. Biologists created it, but hunters, reporting their bands and acting as citizen scientists, maintain it. Without band reports, the dataset ends up with loose ends. Potentially valuable information gets lost for banded birds whose ultimate fate remains unknown.

The dataset helps inform biologists on the year-to-year survival of individual birds and approximate rates of death. More importantly, for hunters, the dataset reveals the impacts of management decisions and estimations on the overall harvest of any given species.

Bands Help Estimate Waterfowl PopulationsOne of the biggest questions looming over every waterfowl biologist’s head is how many birds they’re dealing with. On cold December mornings, I’ve seen black duck flocks so thick they blocked out the sun like passenger pigeons. Sights like that make me wonder how any biologist could estimate the total number of black ducks alive today. Turns out, the task isn’t all that difficult. Chris Nicolai equates it to finding out how many beans are in a jar.

“You grab a fistful of beans out of a jar and put a little marker on each one. That’s your band. Throw it back in the jar and shake it up for a couple of minutes. Then grab another fistful,” Chris said, “That second fistful is your estimate of harvest. A proportion of those beans will have marks.”

That example has three measures. The first is the number of beans you marked and returned to the jar. The second is the number of beans in your second fistful. The third metric is the proportion of beans in the second fistful that have marks. Those numbers can be plugged into a fancy but simple statistical equation called a Lincoln Index. The Lincoln Index accurately equates the total number of beans in the jar.

Biologists leverage the Lincoln Index to estimate waterfowl populations. Instead of marked beans, they put metal leg bands on ducks. The integrity of the equation relies on two things. First, biologists need to band as many ducks as they can. Second, hunters need to report the bands they recover. When that dual effort extends across North America’s four flyways, biologists can accurately estimate how many waterfowl live on our continent.

GPS Backpacks Take Waterfowl Data Collection A Step FurtherIf you glassed Northeastern salt marsh bays during the winter of 2020, you may have been lucky enough to see the Atlantic brant named Y7. Y7 was plucking grass from an abandoned field outside Atlantic City, New Jersey when a sixty-foot rocket-propelled net flew over her head. State biologists extracted Y7 and the rest of her flock from the net. They all received a standard metal leg band, but only a few received radio backpack units to track their movements. Y7 was fitted with a backpack.

Biologists monitored Y7’s movements through her backpack. A few months after her capture, Y7 migrated from Atlantic City to a golf course on Long Island. Then, she ping-ponged between Adirondack lakes before flying a beeline to James Bay, smack between Quebec and Ontario. After a brief migration break, Y7 summered in Baffin Island. Y7 reversed her route that August and came right back to Atlantic City.

This type of research could help untangle some of the messier nuances of harvest regulations. For example, in the years of Y7’s brant study, biologists had observed decreasing brant numbers. That was reflected in the restrictive limits placed on their harvest. Biologists suspected that the decline might be caused by nest failures. So, they wanted to figure out exactly how brant migrated and where they nested. Research like this provides a solid backbone of data for biologists in charge of setting harvest regulations. Chris Nicolai calls it “the nerdy stuff.”

“In my graduate work, we had a lot of black brant banded,” Chris said, “We knew who they were paired to, how many eggs they laid every year, how many hatched, how many of those got banded, what proportion of those got banded themselves, where they wintered, where they migrated; all this nerdy, in-depth stuff.”

When people ask for science-based management decisions, it’s Chris Nicolai’s nerdy stuff they’re asking for. Without it, biologists and managers can’t accurately identify the underlying causes for changes in waterfowl populations. Even more importantly, the nerdy stuff shines a spotlight into the darkest trenches of waterfowl biology. One of the biggest objectives of the Atlantic brant study, which included Y7, was to find previously unknown breeding colonies.

Pintail Bag Limits Are An Example Science-Based Waterfowl ManagementThis past year, there was an unexpected upheaval in America’s pintail harvest strategy. The pintail bag limit was set at one bird per day in all four flyways for years. Now, managers have the option to increase that limit three-fold in the 2025-26 hunting season from one bird to three.

The decision is a result of a new integrated population model for the species. Jerome Ford, assistant director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the new model and the data within it are some of the best science that managers have ever had on pintail.

Chris Nicolai, who celebrates anytime science is used to inform management decisions, chalks the model’s success up to the efforts of his fellow nerds. “It’s all because a bunch of nerds caught a lot of pintails and went through the effort to band them,” he said.

When biologists band ducks, they’re not after every duck. Chris says that in its purest sense, biologists only band birds when there’s a defined reason to. For ducks, only a few species have a specific reason to be banded. Mallards are targeted for banding on all four flyways. Black ducks are targeted on the Atlantic Flyway, and wood ducks are targeted in the southern Mississippi and Atlantic Flyways. There’s no major banding effort for duck species outside of those three. However, biologists often catch more than what they’re after. Incidental bycatch is what leads to bands on other species, such as pintail.

The updated integrated population model, which includes data from bands placed on pintail, suggests that there are probably far more pintail than biologists previously estimated. The new findings have led to potentially liberalized harvest regulations. That’s the importance of incidental banding. It’s also an example of how banding data can sometimes lead to the unexpected.

“We might as well do this just in case we need it in the future,” Chris said while describing why he bands ducks outside his target species, “All these new statistics and new coding capabilities allow you to do things you couldn’t even think of a few years ago. It’s kind of like having a museum. You’re lucky you have this data already archived.”

Duck Hunters May Have “Band Lust”For all that bands are worth, it’s important to explore the dark side of their existence. It’s something Chris calls band lust. While bands offer hunters an opportunity to become valuable citizen scientists, they also tempt them with greed.

Bands look good on a lanyard. Chris says that, in recent years, there’s been too many stories about hunters going out of their way to target banded birds. Some are even caught poaching. The major problem is that banding data relies on equal effort placed into killing both banded and non-banded birds. Otherwise, the data and analyses become skewed. For that reason, Chris believes we all have a duty.

“Take some pride in that you’re contributing to managing this duck that you’re killing and eating for dinner,” he said. “You’ll want to hunt its relatives next year or even 10 years from now.”

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Weighing the impact of dog bells on Ruffed Grouse hunting tactics and success.With every step, my black snow pants swished as I trailed behind my father, brother, and a Brittany while we hunted ruffed grouse in October of 1987. The forest ambiance was punctuated by the calls of blue jays and crows. Leaves crunched underfoot. They reminded me of potato chips, almost heralding an upcoming Halloween party. Occasionally, the echo of a shotgun blast shattered the crisp air. These jaunts through the woods were as enchanting as the sight of pumpkins glowing faintly across the neighborhood during our silent walks home each evening.

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Reflecting on the sounds of a New England grouse cover always brings me joy. One might try to paint a scene akin to a Ripley painting using these senses, but I find myself drawn to the language of silence. Recently, I discovered my father’s annoyance with the swishing sound of my pants. “We are scaring all the birds away,” he’d say when I wasn’t near, sparing my childhood daydreams of adventure.

My father never used bells on his dogs. I never dwelled on it much, often attributing his decisions to the solitary way he embraced mentorless ruffed grouse hunting. He didn’t have friends who shared the pursuit with pointing dogs, and my grandfather, a deer hunter, saw it as a poor return on energy investment. Yet, my father’s dedication carved a path I couldn’t have foreseen. Watching my brother effortlessly shoot ruffed grouse in flight, I felt overshadowed. But those subtle, unspoken lessons provided just the right touch of guidance, pushing me to try harder.

Certain distinct sounds easily transport me back to a past fall. Over time, even the dog bell, iconic in its own right, has come to evoke the essence of autumn for me. It’s emblematic of those hunting in the dense grouse habitats of North America. However, I’ve often left the bell at home, realizing that ruffed grouse are clever enough to discern exactly what that bell signifies.

Birds primarily rely on sight and sound to evade predators. We know that ruffed grouse are far more jumpy in high winds because their hearing is impaired. Living in dense cover has heightened their dependence on sound. In my opinion, their sense of hearing is often greater than sight. When we factor in transgenerational stress inheritance, we gain insight into sound’s profound impact on ruffed grouse hunting.

No matter how good the dog’s work may be, its bell’s jingle alerts grouse. The birds understand the threat, beginning evasive movements well before a dog has a chance to catch scent. Between scenting conditions, bird locations, and weather, a million variables stack up against us in unknown ways. These odds are daunting enough to dissuade us from adding another variable that would put a dog at an inherent disadvantage. However, the efficiency of killing is far from the pinnacle of the true love of grouse hunting, and interpreting the language of a dog bell is often part of that joy.

Bells, talking, and walking through cover all impact grouse well before contacts are made. This is no new theory, and while I have experimented in recent years by leaving the dog bell in the truck, one can go back as far as the late 1800s to read from our forefathers on the topic of grouse and sound.

The History of the Dog Bell “It has fallen to the lot of comparatively few to witness this very striking performance, as our wary bird at this time is peculiarly susceptible to the slightest noise,” said S. T. Hammond in My Friend The Partridge: Memories of New England Shooting in 1908. “At the least suspicion of intruding footsteps he at once takes to flight or skulks away through the convenient thicket.”

The history of upland hunting in dense covers is deeply rooted in New England traditions. Among the most prominent equipment for such expeditions was the dog bell. Notables from the turn of the century, like Edmund Davis, author of Woodcock Shooting (1908), readily employed it. This time was untouched by the technological wonders of GPS collars, beepers, or hawk-squeal collars. During this period, a creative thinker chose to attach a cowbell to a hunting dog, making it easier to trace its movements. The silencing of the cowbell amid the woods was an unmistakable sign that the dog had located its prey.

William Harnden Foster, who is often hailed as the pioneer of ruffed grouse hunting, saw the bell as a significant impediment and wrote:

We hear of some extraordinary dog now and again that is sent abroad with a sheep bell on its collar. The gunner stands in a cart road and listens as the bell rings up hill and down dale, far from sight. When it stops, this wonder dog has his bird pinned solidly. This sounds very intriguing until the experienced grouse hunter stops to consider that the only way to get shots at grouse at all regularly is to know where the pointing dog is, and how it’s situated. The gunner must assess the situation meticulously: deducing the bird’s likely position, predicting its potential path, and determining the optimal shooting position relative to obstacles and footing. Watching a seasoned grouse hunter evaluate such a situation and then strategically position himself clarifies why a grouse dog on point, which necessitates a search party, is unlikely to yield many good shots.

As time went by, a distinct shift in dog breed preferences occurred. The growing allure of field trials spurred this transformation. Close-working dogs fell out of favor, giving way to dogs that roamed more extensively. We transitioned from the Griffon, Gordon Setter, Irish Setter, and Wirehair era, breeds I fondly term Gen-1 grouse dogs, renowned for their cautious, cat-like movements, to more fleet-footed breeds.

I believe the desire for a new wave of grouse dogs was fundamentally sound-centric. The core idea was simple: let the dog reach the prey before the grouse realizes what’s unfolding. Foster didn’t hold his opinions about this evolution back. While not all his comments were complimentary, he acknowledged the necessity for swifter dogs as the ruffed grouse honed their defense mechanisms. Nevertheless, Foster remained unwavering in his conviction: silence is indispensable for a successful ruffed grouse hunt.

S. T. Hammond noted:

It is a common belief that the partridge dog must be slow, with stealthy, noiseless footsteps, approaching his birds with a cat-like tread that will not frighten them. I once fully believed this, as the first really good dog that I saw possessed these characteristics in a marked degree; but later I owned a dog whose style of hunting was most decidedly the opposite of this. He was fast as a ghost. He made nearly as much racket in going through the covers as would an ox team; but he found his birds and pointed them in grand style. He almost invariably held them fast, for they would lie for him like stones.

In the concluding chapter of New England Grouse Shooting, Foster’s seasoned hunter acknowledges the impact of noise in spooking ruffed grouse and even strategizes to use this to his advantage when the circumstance demands it. Although Foster opted for a bell when hunting with novices, it’s believed that he abstained from using it with veteran hunters.

“Yuh kin talk all yuh want to through here,” said the veteran. “Yuh can sing or-recite some poetry,-but be ready t’ shoot. Chances are yuh’d never see th’ bird settin’ up straight thar, close t’ th’ trunk, so th’ thing t’ do is t’ scare ‘er out,-an’ nothin’Il do it quicker’n talkin’.”

The choice of dog color also played a pivotal role during those times. Spotting a pointing dog was vital for a successful grouse shot. The pristine white coats of the English Setters and Pointers stood out conspicuously in dense thickets, especially when a bell fell silent. This increased visibility was not the sole reason early grouse and woodcock hunters gravitated towards these breeds over the likes of Irish Setters, Gordon Setters, Griffons, and German Wirehairs, but locating a dog in the critical moments undeniably influenced grouse shooting chances.

While Foster’s woodcock counterpart, Davis, used a bell, his primary focus was driven by his deep affection for the American Woodcock—a bird considerably more tolerant than the ruffed grouse. However, both were advocates for lighter-colored dogs. As a Griffon owner, I can attest to the difficulty of locating a dog with a dark coat within New England’s “da’k covah.’” This challenge is partly why I outfit Grim in a blaze-orange dog vest.

Testing Whether Bells Scare GrouseThe invention of GPS collars has simplified many things, including the option to leave the bell in the truck. During the 2021 season, I made such a decision when hunting more remote areas, where the nearest covers were over 10 miles from any road. Although my approach was far from a controlled scientific experiment, I alternated between using a bell and going without one.

On our inaugural hunt sans bell, amidst a gentle rain and silent leaves on that October afternoon, my Griffon and I navigated our way down the side of a mountain. I had plotted a short loop, considering I’d arrived at the camp late in the day. By the time we returned to the truck, we had a full limit of grouse.

The following day, I ventured into a cover that had seen increased activity due to new hunters I had introduced to the spot over time. Once more, I opted to leave the bell in the truck. It had been a while since I last bagged a grouse in that cover, as the birds had grown more elusive. Nonetheless, we returned to the truck with two grouse in the vest.

Over time, I reintroduced the bell sporadically and noticed a distinct difference. The grouse took flight much earlier when the bell was in use. This observation solidified my belief that the bell was more of a hindrance than an asset.

Walk In The Woods QuietlyA pattern emerged during my 2021 exploration of sound’s role in ruffed grouse hunting. The larger the hunting party, the more conversation there was, the fewer productive points there were regardless of which dog was used. I’m not advocating for dampening the inherently social nature of hunting. Instead, I aim to shed light on theories about how sound might impact grouse hunting opportunities.

Walking silently in ruffed grouse terrain is nearly impossible. Smaller parties are more effective. It’s common to hear of grouse dogs that seem to glide soundlessly through covers. While I’m uncertain about the science determining which dogs move more quietly, experienced hunters have shared their theories. Some suggest that taller, long-limbed dogs move more gracefully through grouse territory, while others believe smaller dogs, encountering less resistance in thickets, are quieter. I can’t validate either viewpoint, but I understand the logic behind each. A dog’s temperament is a variable that can disrupt either theory.

However, if there’s one condition I’ve grown to value in ruffed grouse hunting, it’s wet leaves. They dampen sound, allowing for quieter movements. While hearing a dog from a distance might be challenging for us, a grouse would also struggle. By the end of the 2021 season, I eagerly welcomed wet mornings, confident that both sound and scent conditions would favor us.

There’s something unparalleled about the hushed ambiance of damp fall air and the silence as one approaches a pointing dog. I’ve begun to cherish this profound stillness, the ambient mountain sounds, over the distinct ring of a dog bell.

Yet, I can’t help but recall my younger days and the noise of my pants. While ruffed grouse hunting over pointing dogs is often approached with a solemn demeanor, we shouldn’t entirely forsake the joy and spontaneity of the hunt. Hunting ruffed grouse should be an act of mutual respect, bridging our primal instincts with the camaraderie that predates our modern society. I’ve always encouraged people to experiment and discover what works best for them. Don’t just rely on my experiences or Foster’s advice. This upcoming season, assess the utility of a dog bell in your ruffed grouse hunting adventures for yourself.

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Protect your dog from insect-transmitted diseases by learning about the three most common ways to avoid ectoparasites.One of the most constantly changing topics in the field of veterinary medicine is flea and tick prevention for dogs. Hunting dogs are some of the most exposed and susceptible victims to ectoparasites such as ticks, fleas, mites and other insects. Every year, it is important to purchase preventative products for your dog and to ask your veterinarian what new products are available.

In this article, I will discuss the three different types of preventative products and why they are so important to protect your hunting partner. This includes collars, topical treatments, and oral preventatives.

I highly encourage every dog owner to have this discussion with their veterinarian because insect prevention is a transient part of this field. Remember, it is rarely the insect itself that’s the issue. The parasites that insects transmit through their bites are what cause issues in our dogs.

| Type of Preventative | How Long Does It Last? | Pros | Cons | Cost | | Collar | 5-7 months | Water resistant, often used in addition to other treatments | Ingredients can be toxic to dogs if ingested, can fall off | $40-80 | | Topical | ~1 month | Affordable, waterproof after a waiting period | Messy, doesn’t last as long as other options, only repels parasites | $5-60 | | Oral | 1-3 months | Kills parasites, easy to administer, never affected by bathing/swimming | Can be the priciest option | $30-100 |

Flea and Tick Dog CollarsFlea and tick collars are designed to prevent and control infestations of fleas and ticks by releasing ingredients that kill or repel fleas and ticks. The ingredients to repel parasites are infused into the collars and are slowly released through your dog’s movement and natural oil flow through the skin. The ingredients form a protective layer on the fur and skin, killing or repelling parasites, thereby preventing insects from biting or attaching themselves to your dog.

In today’s market, flea and tick collars are water resistant and can last for five to seven months. Seresto being one of the most popular brands. Most veterinarians recommend collars in highly prevalent areas in addition to other preventative treatments.

Topical “Spot-On” Flea and Tick TreatmentsTopical treatments use the same or similar ingredients as flea collars but are directly applied in small, concentrated amounts to a dog’s skin between the shoulder blades. The ingredients are absorbed into the skin and hair follicles, and spread across the skin surface by the dog’s natural oils, repelling flea and ticks. On average, topicals last about a month and are waterproof after a short waiting period.

Topicals are slowly being replaced with oral preventatives due to compliance, efficacy, and safety. However, in certain parts of the country, topical products are still used solely for protection or in combination with an oral chew or collar.

Oral Flea And Tick PreventativesOral preventatives are chewable medications that have taken over the market in recent

years. I cannot speak on behalf of all veterinarians as we differ with location and species of parasites present. However, oral preventatives are the most common type of product that I use at my practice and for good reason. Once ingested, the ingredients are absorbed into the dogs bloodstream through the digestive system. When a flea or tick bites the dog, it will ingest the ingredients and die in a short period of time. The ease of administering this product is superior to topicals as it’s a chewable treat and is never affected by bathing or swimming.

One of the most common concerns regarding this treatment is that the parasite must bite in order to ingest the ingredients, which exposes the dog to the possibility of disease transfer. But studies have measured the different speeds, or contact time, that most fleas and ticks take to spread disease. The products with a 98 to 99 percent efficacy rate usually beat the possibility of disease transfer.

Oral flea and tick medications can be given monthly or every three months, like Bravecto, a Merck product.

What Is The Right Flea And Tick Prevention For My Dog?A common type of question my bird hunting clients ask me is, “I enjoy Minnesota grouse hunting in September and October, but I also go to Arizona for quail in January or February. Which prevention method should I use?” Regardless of where your dog travels each fall, I stick to my same go-to response.

Personally, I don’t care for topicals. I find them ineffective, and they can be oily and messy. Repellent wipes or sprays can be purchased over the counter, provide good protection for your dog, and aren’t as messy as topical preventatives. Pet stores sell these repellent products that you can use daily, just like human bug spray, use to prevent insect bites. For heavily infested areas, I do like the addition of a collar as it is another line of defense to prevent insect bites.

The most important product is the oral preventative. It is the most effective protection to prevent flea/tick disease transmission. Your veterinarian should be consulted to recommend the most effective flea/tick protection based on your location and what insects and diseases are prevalent in your area.

The three treatments I discussed above are designed to disrupt the central nervous system of insects, thereby killing them. Your dog should experience little or no side effects from these treatments. However, like with many medications, side effects are possible and this needs to be discussed with your veterinarian.

Talk To Your Vet About Your Flea/Tick Prevention OptionsI cannot emphasize enough the importance of discussing the topic of flea and tick preventative care with your veterinarian. They will know what insects and diseases are most prevalent in your area and what preventative measure will be most effective. If you travel with your dog to other regions of the country, make sure to discuss what different or additional treatments/preventatives might be needed, too. It is very important to avoid the chance of your pet contracting Lyme, E. Canis, Anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and other transmittable diseases.

Veterinarians have a wide range of experiences with certain products. We all have favorites and non-favorites, and this can vary with our location, years of practice, and current research. We will always try to recommend the best product for your individual need.

Frequently Asked Question: Why Don’t Flea And Tick Preventatives Exist For Humans?Now, I’m not a human physician, but my clients ask me the following question quite frequently: Why aren’t flea and tick preventatives offered to humans? After all, we are exposed to diseases just like our hunting dogs.

It’s a great question, and there’s a few considerations as to why no one’s developed a preventative for humans. First of all, humans are mostly covered by skin, not fur. This allows us to see, feel, and repel insects simply because we can detect them so quickly. Our brains also give us the ability to understand that insects populate some areas, like wetlands, more than others. Our thinking, planning, and researching capabilities allow us to avoiding infested areas. We can also choose to use permethrin-infused clothing and permethrin sprays, we can tuck our pant legs into our boot tops, wear long sleeved shirts, and make other choices that prepare us to enter insect-ridden places.

Lastly, the chance of humans ever having a preventative product such as a chew or topical is very unlikely because the studies required to permit the manufacturing of these medications are hard to track and monitor with our long life expectancies. Most of our dogs live for 10 to 12 years, so we can easily perform studies and monitor efficacy and safety to get accurate results that meet the research and development budget for pharmaceutical companies. In other words, it’s cheaper to study a dog for 10 years than it is to study a human for 75.

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Sharp-tailed grouse are a highly adaptable species that utilize a wide variety of plant species for food and cover throughout the year.Generally speaking, grassland grouse are not the most adaptable critters. Both prairie chicken species need large expanses of grassland, while sage grouse must have large expanses of sagebrush to thrive. The one exception to this rule is the sharp-tailed grouse.

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While generally considered a grassland species, sharpies range from the shrub-scrub grasslands in Wisconsin through the vast prairies of the northern U.S. Great Plains and Canada, culminating in the shrublands of Alaska. That’s a huge geographic range, encompassing a wide variety of habitats, meaning there are lots of plants that are important to sharptails. That said, some plants stand out above all others, and they are found and utilized across most of this bird’s vast range.

Read More: Complete Guide to Sharp-tailed Grouse Hunting

While the focus of the article is on specific important plants, certain structure types contain a matrix of plants that are vital to sharp-tailed survival. Let’s dive into these essential plants and community structures to better understand sharp-tailed grouse biology. As a bonus, we can use this information to become more successful sharptail hunters.

Plant Species Sharp-tailed Grouse Rely On

| Species | Identification | Type of Plant | Relevance to Sharp-tailed Grouse | | Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) | Bunchgrass with bluish bases. Read more. | Grass | Nesting habitat, fall food source and loafing habitat | | Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) | Grass that grows in bunches with distinctive oat-looking seeds that dangle to one side. Read more. | Grass | Nesting habitat, fall food source and loafing habitat | | Wheatgrass (Triticeae spp.) | A wide variety of grass species that grow in bunches and have flat leaves and small awns. Read more. | Grass | Nesting habitat, fall food source and loafing habitat | | Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) | Bushy plant with compound leaves and green flowers. Read more. | Forb | Brooding habitat and fall/winter food source | | Annual Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) | Broad, stalking plant with large yellow flowers and black or dark brown heads. Read more. | Forb | Brooding habitat and fall/winter food source | | Silvery Scurfpea (Pediomelum argophyllum) | Herbaceous plant with silver leaves and dark blue or violet flowers. Read more. | Forb | Brooding habitat and fall/winter food source | | Leadplant (Amorpha canescens) | Rare prairie shrub with spiky purple flowers and many delicate, soft green leaves. Read more. | Forb transitioning into a woody shrub as it ages | Brooding habitat and fall/winter food source | | Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera) | Thorny, woody plant with five-petaled flowers in summer and bright red “hips” in the fall and winter. Read more. | Shrub that acts as a forb | Fall food source and cover | | Clover (Trifolium spp.) | Mat-forming leafy plant growing familiar three-leafed pattern. Read more. | Forb | Early spring food source | | Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) | Perennial legume with trifoliate leaves and purple flowers. Read more. | Forb | Chick food source with high density of insects | | Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) | Pretty, short woody plant with dark green ovular leaves and white berry clusters in the fall. Read more. | Shrub | Summer and winter cover, fall food source | | Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis) | Nitrogen-fixing shrub with opposite, ovular leaves and fleshy red or yellow fruits. Read more. | Shrub | Summer and winter cover, fall food source | | Cherry (Prunus spp.) | Woody plant with regularly toothed leaves and smooth, reddish-brown bark with many lenticels. Read more. | Shrub or small tree | Summer and winter cover, fall food source | | Hazelnut (Corylus americana) | Woody plant with jagged, ovular leaves that grows in thickets. Read more. | Shrub or small tree | Fall and winter food source and cover on the fringes of sharptail habitat | | Willow (Salix spp.) | Multi-stemmed, water-loving woody plant with linear, glossy leaves. Read more. | Ranges from groundcover to shrubs to small trees | Fall and winter food source and cover on the fringes of sharptail habitat | | Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) | Riverbottom tree species with thickly grooved, corky bark and triangular, aggressively serrated leaves. Read more. | Tree | Winter food source | | Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) | Clonal tree species with white, powdery bark and circular, serrated leaves. Read more. | Tree | Spring food source |

Nesting and Brooding PlantsNesting and brood habitat is a diverse matrix of grasses and forbs, or weeds. Some of the top grasses sharp-tailed hens use for nesting are little bluestem, sideoats grama, and various wheatgrass species. Little blue and sideoats are warm-season grasses and form clumps in which hens can conceal nests. Wheatgrasses are cool-season species, meaning they grow earlier in the spring and allow for early nesting cover. Large areas of these grasses are also critically important for fall feeding and loafing locations, meaning they are great places to target come hunting season.

Vital to the success of this entire reproductive adventure is proper brood habitat. Tiny young broods need bare ground between plants to stay dry and tons of insects to grow quickly. Plants like common ragweed, annual sunflower, silvery scurfpea, and leadplant (my all-time favorite plant) provide this kind of habitat, plus produce nutritious seeds for fall and winter. Above all these is the prairie rose.

While considered a woody plant or shrub, prairie roses functionally serve as forbs because they grow low to the ground. In the fall, they produce a nutritious fruit called hips. Prairie rose hips are very nutritious and are high in vitamin C. The plant is highly sought after for its food value and the occasional cover it provides. In fact, rose hips are so important to sharpies I bet that most birds shot in native grasslands will have hips in their crop or stomach contents.

Rose hips may also serve another function. Researchers in the upper Midwest speculated they function as grit where small pebbles are rare. Rose hips found in gizzards of harvested birds led to this conclusion.

All these species occur in a matrix on native grassland landscapes, allowing birds to travel only short distances to find available food and cover. Still, types of nonnative plants can also be very important for sharptails, especially nesting hens and broods. As hens are building up their body condition for the arduous task of producing and laying a full clutch of 10 to 14 eggs, they need early-growing plants that are high in nutrition. Clover, for instance, is high in protein and vitamin C, grows before warm season forbs, and can be ubiquitous in places.

Another outstanding nonnative forb is alfalfa. While I always promote the value of native plants over nonnative ones, I believe there is no finer forb for grassland grouse chicks, including sharptails, than alfalfa. Grouse hens travel long distances to take their broods to alfalfa fields because it has very nutritious leaves grouse eat as greens, and no other forb in sharpie range produces more insects than alfalfa.

Shrubs Important For Sharp-tailed Grouse SurvivalSharptails are the only prairie grouse that routinely use shrubs for cover and food, with the notable exception of the sage grouse, which, well, must have sagebrush. Shrubs are so crucial to sharptails that they’re a habitat requirement in much of their range.

The top shrubs across the northern Great Plains are snowberry, buffaloberry, and some species of cherries. These shrubs are thicket-forming and are sought out for summer and winter thermal cover and protection from predators. They also produce fruit relished by grouse as fall and early winter food sources.

Shrub thickets can be found scattered across the prairie, especially in coulees, swales, and slopes. Grouse love to loaf in them midday. Anytime you run across these thickets, they are must-hunt spots; approach them expecting a flush.

In other places, sharptails feed on the fall catkins and winter buds of hazelnut and willow. These are more important on the eastern fringes of their range up into Alaska. Not only do they provide food, but these shrubs and others provide valuable cover from predators.

Important Tree Species In Sharptail HabitatTrees, you say?! With all the focus on the negative effects of trees on prairie grouse species, you might think I’m silly to say trees are important plants for sharpies. But let me explain. Certainly, not all trees are beneficial; cedars are an example of a shrub species that can be very detrimental to sharptail habitat. However, certain species provide valuable food resources in the late winter and early spring when the snow is deep and ground-based food is unavailable.

One excellent tree species for sharptails is eastern cottonwood. These trees produce a winter bud that is highly sought after by grouse. I’ve seen large numbers of sharpies budding in cottonwood trees in North Dakota, and this behavior is widely observed and photographed. The perching birds always have a sentry looking out for danger and are extremely difficult for a hunter to approach; ask me how I know.

Birds will travel from miles around to isolated clumps or rows of cottonwood. The isolated nature of most cottonwood stands doesn’t have much impact on sharptail survival. Other species of trees scattered across large acres of grassland habitat can be a problem.

Another tree that’s valuable to sharptails is aspen. Quaking aspens produce a nutritious and readily available bud. Plus, the newly growing green leaves of spring provide good forage. Aspens are most widely used by birds that live in the intermountain west, northern Canada, and Alaska, as well as high grassland landscapes at their interface with forests.

A portion of the sharp-tailed grouse population in mountainous landscapes are somewhat migratory. In these situations, they move to areas with more trees, especially aspen, to take advantage of food resources while the ones on their summer range are covered by snow.

Historically, a population of sharptail grouse migrated by the hundreds into the Shirley Basin of Wyoming in the late 1800s to feed on the vast aspen resources there. If you’ve recently been to Shirley Basin, you will find few large stands of aspen and no sharptailed grouse, a testament to a large reduction of sharp-tailed grouse numbers in the last 100 years and landscape-level change in forest composition in that area due to a variety of factors.

Sharptail Grouse Are An Amazingly Adaptable Prairie GrouseI find the adaptability of sharp-tailed grouse amazing. Their ability to find resources to thrive from Nebraska to Alaska means they will likely be pretty successful for many years. That’s probably why this species is the most numerous and widespread of our prairie grouse species.

Despite the complexity of their habitat use, they are still easy to find and hunt as long as you target the right combinations of important plant species at the right time of year. Look for large areas of grasslands with lots of native forbs, especially rose hips, and patches of alfalfa. Also, hunt every snowberry, buffaloberry, and cherry thicket you can find from midmorning through the afternoon. If you hunt a migratory population that moves towards aspen stands as the snow flies, hunt the grassland-aspen interface, expecting birds to flush from the trees and the grass.

Make careful observations and take notes of locations where these important plants exist while sharp-tailed grouse hunting. Your knowledge of sharptail ecology will grow, and so will your hunting success.

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Building a new reputation for the overlooked and underrated spruce grouse.Spruce grouse are not often–if ever–regarded as the King of the Uplands. They suffer a perception forced upon them by those of us accustomed to pursuing ruffed grouse, ring-necked pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, chukar, or any of the various quail species that inhabit our countrysides. They are renowned for their dim-wittedness, weak flush, and poor culinary experience. They’ve even earned the nickname “Fool Hen,” a moniker that is both well-earned and undeserved.

Spruce grouse are so prevalent in Alaska that it can be easy to assume a person can simply go out and shoot one. I know because I’ve set out with that mindset and returned with empty game bags. They may not be the greatest challenge presented to an upland hunter, but if you don’t give them their due diligence, they can easily have you leaving the woods with spent shells and unanswered questions.

Locating Alaskan Spruce Grouse CoverWhen you’re searching for spruce grouse in Alaska, change how you look at grouse cover in a drastic way. As upland hunters, most of us see the world as merely grouse country and open country. Spruce grouse, as their name implies, most often gravitate to the incredible expanse of black spruce trees in the Last Frontier. Alaska’s landscape is vast, and its abundance of habitat can also mean an over-abundance of habitat. Searching for proper spruce grouse habitat will quickly lead you to an impenetrable sea of black and white spruce, speckled with intermittent muskegs and wildfire scars.

Expansive swaths of black spruce rarely feature old two-tracks you can follow. Instead of cruising along a cleared path, you’re left to hunt through the wilderness as it presents itself. It becomes imperative to follow the terrain that is given to you. Follow the water sources, the clearings, the natural tree lines, and cover breaks, as those will bring you to where the birds want to be. All upland birds need a water source, and the clearings provide sunlight for warmth and food growth throughout the seasons. Spend the entire day busting through brush, and you’re likely to end up tired, covered in thorns, and grumbling about how hunting these birds was supposed to be easy.

Spruce Grouse On The WingWhen you do find spruce grouse, don’t take the shot for granted. They are not as powerful a flyer as a ruffed grouse or pheasant, but their cover protects them so effectively that they don’t need to be. They will often take to wing with the intent of getting into the canopy limbs of their boreal homes. If they make it up there, they might as well be ghosts.

On the wing, spruce grouse are curveballs. Like any forest-dwelling grouse, they have broad tail fans that allow them to change direction in an instant. They’ll fly, dodge, and twist through the conifers, presenting only narrow shot windows as they make for the trees and settle into out-of-reach hiding spots. It’s common for broods to stay together well into the fall season, so any flush could also have you trying to sort out a target from a covey as they all disappear into the Alaskan wilderness.

Spruce Grouse Diets And How They Impact FlavorThe culinary perception of spruce grouse exists in a dichotomy similar to pursuing them. While some say that spruce grouse are outright inedible, others claim they are as enjoyable as any other upland game. In fact, both parties are correct; spruce grouse flavor depends on the time of year when you harvest one.

In the summer and early fall, spruce grouse feed heavily on flowers and green-leafed plants. They quickly transition to berries as they ripen in early fall. A spruce grouse taken during this time is a fine bird for the table. Birds living in sub-alpine areas thick with wild blueberries have a delightfully subtle berry overtone to their meat.

Once snowfall eliminates berries as a food source, spruce grouse quickly transition to eating spruce needles. This is where their poor-eating reputation stems from. A bird feeding on spruce needles will not be as universally delectable as a berry-fed bird and requires a keener talent in the kitchen to be enjoyable.

Upland Bird Hunting In Alaska Is Worth ExperiencingAlaska exists in the upland hunter’s world as a land of plenty. It’s an incredibly long way away from the rest of the country, and many hunters wish to spend time in the last frontier, reveling in its abundant public land, liberal limits, and the wide variety of species available. Those very reasons are how I ended up here after two years of traveling and hunting across the country.

For the upland hunter with ambition, Alaska holds ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, sooty grouse, spruce grouse, willow ptarmigan, white-tailed ptarmigan, rock ptarmigan, and even snipe. You can’t find every species in one day, but you can certainly encounter two or three in a single outing. Amongst that list, the spruce grouse is burdened with the lowest esteem, but should you make it to the last frontier, don’t overlook them. They’re a fun bird to hunt, and they’ll likely give you more of a challenge than anticipated, even if they aren’t the King of the Uplands.

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Dove hunting can be the best option for good wingshooting in the early season.I wiped the sweat from my brow as I crested another hill in western Nebraska in pursuit of sharptail grouse. Even though it was barely late morning, the mercury was already over 70 degrees. Whiskey, my orange and white Brittany, casted in front of me, but his pace had slowed considerably over the last hour. This was my second loop since dawn, and I had only managed to flush one small group of sharpies well out of range.

I knew the forecast predicted hot, dry conditions before I ever left my home state of Missouri, but I was intent on an early season outing in a landscape I found both fascinating and beautiful. As I lamented the lack of grouse sightings, I noticed a windmill near a water tank. It was the perfect place for Whiskey to get a much-needed drink.

As I approached the windmill, several mourning doves flushed from the bare dirt around the tank. Repeated visits from cattle had created a ring of dirt, with an outer ring of various weeds. My mind quickly switched from considering this a disappointing sharptail hunt to pondering the possibilities of a successful evening dove shoot.

Prairie grouse, Hungarian partridge, and ruffed grouse seasons typically open in September across those species’ ranges. Hunting these upland species during the early season can be a battle to beat the heat. Early morning hunts are often necessary to keep dogs from overheating when afternoon temperatures soar into the 80s and 90s. Some hunters choose to bide their time and wait for consistent cool weather, while others venture afield to maximize their season. Hunters who head out in warmer temperatures but wish to maximize their hours of wing shooting should keep doves in the back of their mind.

Mourning dove hunting is extremely popular across the United States. In fact, more doves are harvested every year than any other game bird. In most states, dove season opens in early September and lasts for two months or more, giving hunters ample opportunity to bag a few of the fast-flying gray rockets. The timing of the dove season overlaps nicely with several other species, including those mentioned previously.

Mourning Dove Hunting StrategiesThere are two primary locations to shoot mourning doves: feeding areas or water sources. Doves nearly exclusively eat seeds and are readily attracted to agriculture fields where waste grain provides an easy meal. Wheat stubble, sunflower fields, and corn fields harvested early for silage are good places to scout. Doves seen loafing on nearby power lines or dead trees can offer insight into a nearby field that might be getting some dove use. Areas with an abundance of weed seeds like ragweed, pigweed, and wild marijuana, among others, can be hot spots for an evening hunt as well. Identifying the preferred flight path can take some time to discern, particularly on large fields. In many cases, a motion wing decoy can help attract doves into shooting range in these situations. Additionally, hunting large fields can be more successful with several hunters rather than alone when doves are landing throughout the field, rather than in a specific portion of the field.

Water sources provide a smaller area, making solo hunts much easier. Look for cattle ponds with bare soil surrounding the water’s edge or artificial features like windmills or stock tanks. Doves often get a drink after an evening feeding, prior to going to their roost site. Water source hunts can provide some fast action and often difficult shots.

Doves settling to land appear to be moving in slow motion, but their descent can create non-typical shot opportunities. Most upland game hunters are used to shooting flushing game, or birds that rise. Descending birds often cause hunters to miss high. On the contrary, waterfowl hunters are well accustomed to shooting birds settling down to land.

Water sources often have dove food in the form of weed seeds. Disturbance from cattle helps spur annual plants that create and abundance of seeds. Ragweed, foxtail, pigweed, and barnyard grass are all plant species that may be found near watering areas.

Integrating Doves into Your Early Upland SeasonsBecause mourning doves are migratory, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) provides states with options concerning bag limits and season length. Many states have 75-day seasons, which results in dove season being open during upland seasons like pheasant and quail that occur later in the fall. Hunters pursuing quail, pheasant or other upland game may occasionally flush doves incidentally.

I’ve harvested many doves following my bird dogs on Missouri quail hunts. In fact, I’ve had many quail hunts where I only harvested one or two quail, but a few bonus doves added enough meat to provide the family a full meal rather than an appetizer. If you add a few bonus doves to your bag, here are some great dove recipes you can try.

Doves often flush from food plots or the edges of crop fields. Late season doves also like to loaf the tops of plum thickets or tree rows where the leaves have given way to fall and dropped from the branches. Look for doves flushing from the ground when working bird dogs through patches of ragweed or Korean lespedeza. Doves flushing from the ground can be much easier to hit with a load of pellets than the more common pass shooting that occurs at feed fields earlier in the season.

Keep in mind, if you don’t normally hunt doves, but hope to harvest a few while pursuing other birds, you need to possess a Harvest Information Program (HIP) number. The USFWS collects information on huntable migratory birds by requiring hunters to answer a few questions when they receive a HIP number. Some states charge a few bucks for the stamp and others provide it for free. Regardless, it’s required to hunt migratory birds.

Doves can challenge veteran shooters, provide extra hunting opportunities, and add a tasty treat to the dinner table. Whether you find yourself needing a break from the heat during the early season, or stumble into a few birds while chasing some other species, don’t forget about doves.

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Learn to hunt this misfit waterbird, from drives to push poling; the clapper rail offers an exciting wingshooting opportunity and wonderful table fare.Clapper rails don’t sing. They cackle. It’s a guttural call emanating from somewhere deep within each tiny bird that reverberates with enough force to trigger a cascade. Once one rail calls, every rail within earshot erupts into its own chorus. The cacophony sends a ripple through the salt marsh and shatters its peaceful silence like glass.

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Today, however, there is no peace, and there is no silence. It’s already been shattered. A violent collision of arctic air and Gulf Stream winds just smacked the mid-Atlantic shore. Now, the rails and I are caught knee-deep in the chaos.

Not Quite Waterfowl, Not Quite An Upland BirdClapper rails have drab plumage the color of wet clay. They have spindly legs, matchstick toes, and a bill like a crescent moon. Clapper rails exist largely unnoticed in the marsh grasses they call home, except when hunting fiddler crabs at low tide. The crabs don’t make it easy. They dart in and out of their muddy burrows all day long, and for a hungry rail, the hunt becomes a high-stakes game of Whac-A-Mole. If it’s not fiddler crabs, it’s periwinkle snails, penny-sized Baltic clams, or, occasionally, live mice.

The few people who can stand to appreciate this rail’s enigmatic and grotesque life are the niche crew of hunters who have grown to love them. Or, more accurately, their meat. Pan-seared in foaming butter, clapper rail meat encounters few culinary rivals. And the hunting adds zest. On the front end of a riling storm, a clapper rail hunt can be bountiful and downright outrageous. More often than not, it’s story-worthy.

“You see that forecast?” Jeremy asked me over the phone the night before the hunt. It’s going to be a blowout! Meet me at the tracks at 6 a.m. Don’t forget the dog.”

Nor’easters arrive in the mid-Atlantic every fall with the same fidelity as winter chills or summer sweats, so I expect Jeremy’s call once the September weather radar becomes bloodied with red. The railroad tracks he wants to hunt were abandoned in the 80s. Now, they extend three-quarters of a mile through public land salt marsh, bulging from the flat land like a varicose vein. During a cataclysmic flood, the marsh turns into a bay, and the tracks provide the only high ground for rails to refuge.

The morning of the hunt, Jeremy spills out of his truck with his oversized waders bulging in folds around his midsection, shotshells loose in his kangaroo pocket. Kai, a three-year-old Boykin Spaniel trained on black ducks, gracefully follows behind. He trots over to sniff Boone. Boone’s stout body and silky red coat, typical of most field goldens, stands in stark contrast to the dark and compact build of a Boykin. But Jeremy and I figure they’ll make a good pair of clapper rail retrievers. If nothing less, it’ll be a good warm-up for duck season.

How to Hunt Clapper RailsClapper rails are the most heavily hunted rail species on the Atlantic Flyway, but that isn’t saying much. A 2022 US Fish and Wildlife Service report estimated clapper rail hunters on the East Coast at a measly 2,900 individuals. That same year, in contrast, engaged 175,500 waterfowl hunters. The typical rail hunter spent just 1.8 days in the field, but they averaged a harvest of eight birds in that short time.

The high success rate has much to do with the clapper rail’s behavior. They can be brutally predictable. On a regular tide cycle, clapper rails linger along the banks where most of their forage resides. In a single parcel of marsh, that accounts for habit on the scale of hundreds if not thousands of linear miles. These conditions require rail drives.

Clapper Rail DrivesRail drives can be done alone, with a buddy, or with a dog. Walk the edge of a river bank and force a rail’s options. A pushed rail will scurry in front of you, swim the river, sneak behind you, or take flight. Of those options, it will favor two: sneak behind you or scurry in front. This is where a partner comes in handy. Cut off the double-back route and drive the marsh to some terminal point like the confluence of two streams. Once a rail loses runway, it will resort to flight, an awkward task for the rail, and offer a relatively easy shot to a hunter.

Hunting A Flood TideThe better option is to wait for a flood tide. September storms provide ideal conditions. As waters swell, clapper rails cling to whatever cover they can find. The higher the water, the less cover available. Walk an abandoned railroad on a biblical flood, and clapper rails emerge at your feet.

“Out to the left!” Jeremy’s voice strains against the wind.

Gaunt legs dangle beneath the rail as it rockets from a grove of low-lying cedars. By the time I see it, the bird catches a tailwind paralleling the tracks. I shoulder my gun but can’t find the bird behind the bead. Then, it’s gone. I look up from the barrel and see the bird gliding back onto the tracks about fifty yards away. It flees into an orchard of bayberries.

“It can happen quick!” Jeremy yells from my side.

You would think that hunting clapper rails on a flood tide would be as easy as foraging mushrooms on an inoculated log. Clapper rails, however, are survival experts.

They don’t just run; they zip and disappear. When you see a rail dart between cover, it’s like glimpsing a shooting star. You know what you saw, but by the time you realize it, it’s gone. And when you try to steal another peek, nothing’s there. It leaves you wondering if you saw anything in the first place.

Boone and Kai work the bayberries as Jeremy and I follow behind like a pair of grouse hunters tailing English Setters. Clapper rails bounce between their snouts. Boone flushes one rail from a bayberry bush that scampers across the track ballasts and runs into Kai. That bird busts while Kai flushes another rail that skitters behind him and hangs up underneath a cedar. It turns invisible. The rails dance in and out of sight like ghosts, glued to the ground until one succumbs to the pressure.

The rail bursts from behind Jeremy’s right boot, finding the tailwind before we knew it was off the ground. Jeremy, a self-proclaimed teal shooting expert, is habituated to quick, jerky, and accurate shots, and drops the rail in a clump. The wind is so loud, I barely hear the blast. Kai’s bob for a tail cuts squiggles in the Nor’easter wind as he retrieves the bird. The rail rests in his jaws like a water-saturated robin.

How to Wingshoot Clapper RailsIt takes no more than a few shots at clapper rail to realize the commodity of time. Jeremy makes quick shots look easy, but hunters like myself benefit from taking a moment to aim.

Clapper rails almost always leverage a tailwind; when they do, they rocket. Without a tailwind, however, clapper rails either hover or cover distance as clumsily as a plastic bag in the wind. That leaves shooters plenty of opportunity to place their beads. Patience also builds up shot distance. Clapper rails live in fragile bodies, and even with size 8 pellets, a close-range shot risks peppering the bird to the point of inedibility.

Prepare for multiple flushes. When cover becomes sparse, rails pool up in pockets. Several years ago, Jeremy and I hunted the tracks and ended up driving a hoard of rails down to where they end–a tangle of twisted metal at the edge of a riverbank. Mayhem was unleashed as three-quarters of a mile’s worth of birds flushed at once. The excitement skewed our shots, and of the two we actually did drop, one landed across the creek. Jeremy had to birddog that one.

As Kai brings the rail to Jeremy’s hand, Boone flushes another bird, and it’s barreling for me. It buzzes past my head so close that I feel the thumps of its wings in my eardrums. I pivot. My finger slips the safety and finds the rain-soaked trigger. It’s cold to the touch. I draw on it, and a shot rings out, muffled by the wind—a miss. I re-find my bead. The bird teeters on the edge of shotgun range. I drag the trigger again, and the rail folds.

Its featherweight corpse catches a gale that sails it like a kite out into the roiling abyss. At that same time, Boone launches into the water with the same confidence he has diving into a swimming pool on a bluebird day.

Rain pelts my cheeks like liquid shrapnel. The wind howls. I shout commands, but Boone can’t hear me. Jeremy retrieves his bird from Kai while looking down the ballasts and yelling something, but I can’t hear him, either. I slide down into the bay and feel the force of the tide against my knees.

Between Jeremy and I lay a landfill of carnage. Dead reeds and seagull carcasses pile on the rocks while an empty Gatorade bottle and a cordless buoy ride a northeastern gale to the same destination. The swollen tides want to whisk me there, too; their threats tug on my waders.

I turn back and squint my eyes against the wind to find Boone. He’s twenty yards out, head bobbing in the whitewater like a seal. Beyond him, a tuft of cordgrass pokes out from the flood, and a clapper rail floats at its base.

The Art of Push PolingToday, the art of push poling belongs to the redfish guides of the Carolinas, but its history holds roots in clapper rail hunting.

The operation usually occurs on a flat-hulled boat, something like a Barnegat Bay sneakbox, although hunters traditionally used a rail skiff. A rail skiff resembles an unusually long and slender dugout canoe with a tapered bow that pushes high into the air when the poler stands at the stern.

The pole, upwards of fifteen feet long and terminating in a pronged head, is designed to catch creek bottoms. The low profile of a rail skiff, along with the flat hull and slender build, affords hunters a ticket to deluged clapper rail sanctuaries. As the boat noses up to a hideout, rails are forced to flush, and with a shooter positioned at the bow, the method can be extremely effective.

Boone sucks in a mouthful of bay water while latching onto the floating clapper rail. He takes a serpentine turn back for shore as I egg him on, slapping the water in front of me. Whitewater breaks over Boone’s snout as he slithers towards the bank, but he snags on a mat of floating reeds before he gets there. When he tries to swim over it, the reeds sink, then float back up in front of him. He’s chipping away at the mat but mostly swimming in place.

Boone flashes a look of panic. I shuffle through the reeds, and I reach for his hunting vest. When I find my grip, I hoist him out of the water and onto land. With his paws secure on wet rock, Boone releases the rail. I pick it up and hold it with an upward palm. It’s barely bigger than my hand. I rub my thumb over its scythe-like bill, feeling every dimple and crest. Then, I rub the ridge of its breastbone and feel its plumpness. I tuck the rail in my wader pocket and climb back to the tracks with Boone.

When we get there, I ask Jeremy what he had shouted.

“I said,” Jeremy’s voice fighting the wind, eyes squinting against the rain, “I bet Boone wishes we brought the skiff today!”

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Rediscover the combination of jalapeños, bacon, and dove meat with this glaze inspired by the flavors of dove poppersEvery dove hunter knows that bacon, jalapeños, and doves belong together. They’re soulmates. But while poppers are a mainstay at the dove-opener dinner table, what would happen if we incorporated the ingredients differently, perhaps in the form of infused tequila transformed into a sweet and spicy glaze?

While living in Spokane, Washington, I worked at The Elk Public House for four years. Next door, the same owners opened a taco and tequila bar called El Que. Margaritas made from infused tequilas are its big thing. Local college and graduate students, myself included, happily shelled out cash for overpriced margaritas made from well tequila infused with all sorts of creative additions.

Their pineapple-and-jalapeño margarita was a fan favorite and, in my opinion, second only to their ghost-pepper margarita. So, as the dove opener approaches this year, having seen success with maple-glazed pellet-grill quail, I wondered what I could put together for doves.

I am a big fan of Traeger’s Ranger portable grill, which, with the right electricity setup afield, can smoke and cook just as well as full-frame pellet grills (but obviously with limited capacity due to smaller size). Because doves are so small, the portable grill is a great piece of equipment when cooking at home or in the field during the dove opener.

If you don’t enjoy the heat, feel free to remove the seeds and pulp from jalapeños before adding them to the tequila. Regarding bacon, do not add the grease from the skillet to the infused tequila, but don’t dry the greasy bacon on napkin-covered plates. Once the bacon is cooked and crispy, add it directly from the pan to the container that will hold the tequila. Make sure to properly filter the tequila through a paper-napkin- or coffee-filter-covered sieve to eliminate bits of fat while making the final product tequila. Strain multiple times if necessary. Liquid-infused tequila gold is what we want before making this glaze with agave syrup.

This recipe makes more infused tequila than you will need for the doves, so enjoy it in a mixed drink or save it for another sweet and spicy sauce or glaze.

PrintPellet Grill Dove with Sweet and Spicy Tequila GlazeThe familiar flavors of dove poppers are reimagined in this zesty glazeCourse Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword BBQ, Dove, GrillingPrep Time 1 hour hourCook Time 50 minutes minutesInfusion Time 3 days daysTotal Time 3 days days 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutesServings 2Calories 1352kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 6 doves plucked * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked * Peanut oil Infused tequila 750 mL Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila * 3 strips bacon thick-cut * 3 jalapeño peppers chopped * 1 cup pineapple fresh and chopped * 8 oz agave syrup * Lime zest Instructions* To make the infused tequila, cook the bacon until it’s mostly crispy. Add the bacon to a 32-ounce or larger Mason jar, followed by chopped jalapeños and fresh pineapple. Pour in the tequila and seal. Let sit in the fridge for 2-3 days. To finish, filter the infusion through a paper coffee filter into a new container. The idea is to ensure only liquid gold remains (the coffee filter should catch all fat bits and other debris). If necessary, strain two or three times through the paper filter. * Add 1 ¼ cup infused tequila to a small or medium saucepan to make the glaze. Turn the heat on medium-low. Once reduced to half, add the agave syrup and turn the heat to low. Stir for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat. * To cook the doves, heat the pellet grill to 235 F. Add the doves breast-side down to the hottest part of the pellet grill (where the heat comes out on the bottom) and cook for 4 minutes. Then, lightly oil the birds and cook for another 4 minutes breast-side-down, flip, and move the birds to the center of the grill. * Lower the grill’s temperature to 175 F. After 10 minutes, add the glaze to each bird, followed by the lime zest. Cook for another 30 minutes while intermittently adding the glaze and lime zest. * Let the birds rest for 1-2 minutes, then heat and enjoy warm. NutritionCalories: 1352kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 69g | Fat: 97g | Saturated Fat: 34g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 40g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 354mg | Sodium: 410mg | Potassium: 904mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 1135IU | Vitamin C: 87mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 13mgThe post Pellet Grill Dove with Sweet and Spicy Tequila Glaze appeared first on Project Upland.

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The legacies of Old Drum, Fend L’Air, Judy the Pointer, and more reach far beyond the bird dog community.To bird dog aficionados, names like Elhew Snakefoot, Count Noble, Shadowoaks Bo, and Manitoba Rap are well known. But to the average person, the names of dogs in our hall of fame mean absolutely nothing at all.

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But there are a few dogs from hunting breeds that have achieved fame beyond the bird dog world. Let’s have a look at some of the most celebrated among them.

Old Drum the FoxhoundOld Drum was a foxhound owned by Charles Burden, a keen hunter who owned property along Big Creek in Johnson County, Missouri. On October 18, 1869, Burden found Old Drum dead from a gunshot wound. The killer was none other than Burden’s brother-in-law, Leonidas Hornsby, who lived nearby. After losing a number of sheep to predators, Hornsby had publicly vowed to kill any dog on his land and the first dog to cross the property line was Old Drum. Burden was furious and demanded justice.

Within a year, a jury in Warrensburg, Missouri, awarded Burden 25 dollars (approximately $600 today). Hornsby appealed the decision, and the verdict was overturned. Undeterred, Old Drum’s owner petitioned for a new trial and hired new lawyers, including George Graham Vest, from nearby Boonville, Missouri. During this second trial, instead of going over the details of the case, vest focused on the relationship between Hornsby and his dog, and the relationship between mankind and all dogs. Reports from the time describe jurors openly weeping in court as Vest spoke. In the end, Old Drum’s owner was awarded a hefty sum of money for the loss of his dog. After the trial, the speech, to use a modern term, went viral. It was reprinted in newspapers across the US and internationally. Eventually, it became so famous that in 1958, the town of Warrensburg erected a statue to honor George G. Vest and Old Drum.

Vest’s speech, “The Eulegy of the Dog,” was recorded in the Congressional Record on April 23, 1990, 120 years after it was delivered:

Gentlemen of the jury—
The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter whom he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with out happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he may lose. It flies from him perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is the dog.

Gentlemen of the jury, a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast into the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad but open, in alert watchfulness, faithful and true, even unto death.

Fend L’Air the English SetterShells rained across the front line between the French and German armies in December of 1914. Twenty-eight-year-old Sergeant Ettienne Jacquemin crouched low in a trench near the town of Arras. Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted in the trench. The young Sergeant is trapped, buried beneath the rubble. His right leg is shattered, his right arm and hands pierced by fragments.

Only a miracle could save him. Just as he was about to give up hope, a dog appeared. His name was Fend L’Air (pronounced fawn’d lair), and he’d been with Sergent Jacquemin since they left Algeria to join his Zouave* regiment in France.

Originally owned by a well-to-do English hunter Jacquemin guided on quail hunts in Algeria, the young English Setter earned the name “Fend L’Air” because he ran so fast, he seemed to fendre l’air, or ‘split the air.’ When the war broke out, the Englishman had to return to his home country but couldn’t take his dog, so he gave him to Jacquemin. But it wasn’t long before Jacquemin had to leave Algeria to join the fighting.

Unwilling to leave his dog behind, he managed to smuggle him aboard the troop ship crossing the Mediterranean and keep him by his side all the way to the front lines. The pair remained inseparable even as they faced mortal danger at the battle of the Marne and on the front lines of the Pas-de-Calais. But on the 12th of December, 1914, their luck ran out.

The shell that burst next to Jacquemin killed most of his unit and buried him under a pile of clay. But Fend L’Air came to the rescue. He frantically dug through the clay so his master could breathe and then continued to dig until the soldier could free himself and wait for help to arrive.

Hours later, with Fend l’Air by his side, Jacquemin was evacuated to a nearby hospital at Aubervilliers. But when the Sergeant was transferred to a larger hospital near Paris, he was told that he could not take his dog with him. It was against the regulations. Left behind to fend for himself at the Aubervilliers train station, Fend L’Air stopped eating and drinking despite the best efforts of the men charged with caring for him. When a hospital administrator heard of the dog’s plight, he decided to ignore the rules and allowed Fend L’Air to visit SergeantJacquemin every morning at the hospital in Paris.

The story soon caught the attention of the local press and, eventually, the larger public. Fend l’Air’s photo was published on the front page of newspapers and artworks and postcards depicted his heroic acts. After the war, at a ceremony in Paris, Fend L’Air was awarded the “Collier d’Honneur” (collar of honor) for loyalty and bravery.

*The Zouaves (pronounced Zwav) are light infantry units of the French Army from North Africa. They were known for their brightly colored uniforms and reputation for being fierce fighters. They are among the most decorated units of the French Army.

Pluto the PointerRemember Mickey Mouse’s dog, Pluto? Did you know he was a hunting dog?

In one of the earliest Mickey Mouse episodes ever made, Mickey and Pluto go quail hunting. But Pluto had never hunted quail before, and he didn’t really know what to do. Mickey tried to teach him the ins and outs of being a bird dog by reading to him from a book. Mickey promised Pluto that if they were successful, they would dine on “quail on toast” and even a big juicy bear steak.

Hilarity ensued. As soon as they come across a bevy of quail, Pluto starts busting birds left and right. Mickey is furious and scolds him. The two then become separated, but this time, when Pluto finds some quail, he slams into a picture-perfect point and remains rock solid, even as Mickey screams for help after running into a sleeping bear. The bear chases them both, but they manage to escape back to camp, where they dine on a can of beans.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award after its release. Today, the entire episode is available on the internet.

Krambambuli the German Wirehaired PointerArguably, the best-known story of a hunting dog in the Germanic world is Countess Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach’s tale of a dog named Krambambuli. Originally published in 1883, it was republished a year later in a collection of Ebner-Eschenbach’s short stories, Dorf—und Schloßgeschichten.

The story is well written, but it is a tough read since it has such a tragic ending. In a nutshell, it revolves around the relationships that a dog named Krambambuli forms with two very different masters. His first owner was a loving master, but when alcoholism ruined his career, he sold Krambambuli and turned to poaching. His second owner was an honest, hard-working ranger bound and determined to track down and punish poachers. Things come to a head when a gunfight breaks out between the ranger and the poacher, and Krambambuli has to choose between the two. Remembering his love for his first owner, he chooses the poacher’s side. But the righteous ranger fires and kills the poacher. He then scolds Krambambuli, calls him a deserter, and disowns him. The dog ends up roaming the countryside, almost starving to death. Meanwhile, the ranger changes his heart and decides to let the dog back into his home. But upon opening the door, he finds Krambambuli dead.

The story has been made into at least two films, both available online. The first, in black and white, was made in 1940. A modern, color version was made in 1998. In both films, Krambambuli is portrayed by a Deutsch Drahthaar.

Judy the English PointerIf you were to pitch the story of Judy the Pointer to a Hollywood studio, you’d probably be told that it was too outlandish. But the story is indeed true. Judy’s life as a ship’s mascot and then a prisoner of war is a roller coaster of emotion that has inspired several books and is now in development as a feature film.

Judy, a pure-bred liver and white Pointer born in 1936 at the Shanghai Dog Kennels, was first adopted by the crew of the British gunboat HMS Gnat as the ship’s mascot. The crew had hoped to use her as a gundog, but after the men began to treat her like a pet instead, one crew member wrote in his log book that “our chances of making her a trained gundog are very small.”

During the first year of the war, Judy and her crew faced bombs from the air and intense fire from enemy ships. They survived two shipwrecks and tried to escape encirclement by the enemy. Unfortunately, they were captured, the Judy and the crew spent years in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps in North Sumatra.

Throughout it all, Judy remained loyal to the crew, helping them scavenge food and inspiring them to cling to life. Judy shared an especially strong bond with flight technician Frank Williams who would remain with her for the rest of her life. When the pair was eventually liberated from the camp in 1945, Judy was smuggled aboard a troopship back to England. When she was released from quarantine six months later, she and Williams were invited to London, where a ceremony was held a the Kennel Club. Chairman Arthur Croxton Smith awarded her a “For Valor” medal. A year later, she was awarded one of the highest awards for animals, the Dickin Medal, “for magnificent courage and endurance in Japanese prison camps, which helped to maintain morale among her fellow prisoners and also for saving many lives through her intelligence and watchfulness.”

She became the first and only canine member of the Returned British POW Association. Williams and Judy spent the post-war years visiting family members and friends of POWs who did not return, bringing them solace and comfort. They eventually moved to East Africa. Judy passed away in 1950 at nearly 14 years of age. She was buried in her RAF jacket with her campaign medal. Williams built a granite and marble memorial for her and included a plaque that told her life story.

Since her passing, her story has continued to grow in popularity. A book entitled The Judy Story: The Dog with Six Lives by Edwin Varley was published in 1973. In 2016, another book, No Better Friend by Robert Weintraub, came out. Yet another, Judy: A Dog In A Million by Damien Lewis, was published in 2017. A feature-length movie based on Damien Lewis’ book, Judy, More Than Man’s Best Friend, is said to be in development.

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Celebrate September with a champagne reduction sauce and skin-on, whole-roasted dovesWe sweat bullets all summer while honing in our shotgun swing at the local trap range. Everyone’s eager to graduate from clays, put a bead on a live bird, and make a fraction of a meal. As a result, September 1 is a special day.

The dove opener is a celebration worthy of busting out the bubbly. Folding birds and fixing poppers is pure tradition. But this year, instead of the classic poppers, perhaps it is worth considering popping something else.

A friend who had never tasted dove recently accepted a new job. To celebrate and sample this late-summer quarry, I thawed some birds from last year and created a champagne reduction, which is incredibly easy to make. This sauce will go great with any wild game, but it pairs best with red meat birds such as doves, ducks, geese, and even prairie chickens.

Instructions here also include how to roast a whole dove perfectly. If you’re not making poppers, I recommend plucking doves. You can also age them, which increases their flavor dramatically. When plucking doves, do so delicately while they are dry. Their feathers will come off easily. By plucking doves and leaving the skin on, you retain moisture while roasting along with getting to savor the crispy skin, which has a great flavor and is worth keeping whenever possible.

You can pair roasted dove and this sauce with any vegetable. When I cooked this recipe, I paired it with cauliflower rice. I also roasted some whole poblano peppers, peeled off their skin, and placed them on the plate. Lastly, I lightly oiled chunks of kale and roasted those at 400 F until crispy. Who doesn’t love kale chips?

PrintRoasted Dove with Raspberry Champagne SauceElevate your next dove hunt with this sweet and savory reductionCourse Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Dove, RoastPrep Time 20 minutes minutesCook Time 1 hour hourResting time 2 hours hoursTotal Time 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutesServings 2Calories 453kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 6 whole doves plucked * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked * Olive oil * 1 medium shallot finely minced * 2 tsp garlic freshly minced * 1 oz fresh ginger finely grated * 1½ cups Champagne or sparkling wine * Orange zest from one orange * 12 oz fresh raspberries * ½ cup raspberry preserves * 1 tsp brown sugar Optional garnishes Fresh basil chiffonade-cut * Pine nuts toasted and crushed Instructions* Before cooking, pull the doves out of the fridge and lightly coat them with olive oil. Lightly dust them with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Allow the doves to sit out at room temperature for two hours before cooking. * To make the sauce, add a thin layer of olive oil to a medium-sized skillet and heat it on medium. Add the shallot and stir until slightly seared and soft. Add the fresh garlic and grated ginger, then turn the heat to medium-low. Stir for a couple of minutes, then deglaze with champagne. * Allow the champagne to reduce to about half (takes approximately 10 minutes), then add fresh raspberries, raspberry preserves, brown sugar, and orange zest. Turn the heat to low and stir frequently while the sauce reduces and thickens. * To cook the doves, preheat your oven to 400 F. Once heated, insert the doves and cook for three minutes for a medium-rare finish but slightly less crisp skin. For crispy skin and a medium-well cook, roast the doves for four minutes. * To serve, first, add the raspberry sauce to the plate. Then, place the doves on the sauce. You can sprinkle fresh basil overtop. If you also want to include pine nuts, roast them at 400 F for three to five minutes, then remove and lightly smash them before adding them as a garnish. NutritionCalories: 453kcal | Carbohydrates: 88g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 47mg | Potassium: 599mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 54g | Vitamin A: 64IU | Vitamin C: 55mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 3mgThe post Roasted Dove with Raspberry Champagne Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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Some mourning doves migrate and others do not. Leg band data helps wildlife managers understand trends in these two populations.September 1 is one of the most popular hunting dates in the United States. In many states, it’s the opening day of dove season, which is the start of upland hunting for many wing shooting enthusiasts.

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The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) sets a range of dates, season lengths, and bag limits that states can choose from to harvest doves. Depending on each state’s latitude, there are advantages to selecting early dates, later dates, or even split dates. September 1 is the earliest the USFWS allows any state to open the season for native doves. The list of native doves includes mourning and white-winged doves, although mourning doves are by far the most commonly harvested dove in the country.

Nearly every state selects September 1 or the first Saturday in September as its opening day. This begs the question: Why would southern states want to open as early as northern states when mourning doves are migratory?

Mourning Dove Breeding Range and MigrationAlthough mourning doves are considered migratory, their breeding range extends across nearly all of North America, including much of Canada and Mexico. This massive breeding range means that local doves are produced within every state.

The details of mourning dove breeding can be found in this article, but the bottom line is that doves are produced nationwide. This results in locally produced birds being available for harvest early in the season. Given the breeding information, it seems obvious that hunters must be shooting local doves during the first few days of the season. Hunters do harvest plenty of local birds, but the opening day harvest is far from being exclusively local birds.

Bird migration has been studied for decades and has been determined to primarily relate to day length. In the northern hemisphere, June 21 has the maximum number of daylight hours. Every day following that date, until the winter solstice in December, represents a loss of one to three minutes of daylight.

Migratory birds have the ability to discern changes in daylight length. The shortening of daylight hours triggers migration. This makes logical sense, as birds can’t know if next week’s weather will contain a massive cold front or a heat wave. Rather, they must rely on seasonality to decide when it’s time to head south rather than weather conditions. There are exceptions to this rule, depending on a bird’s habitat and food requirements. Birds like waterfowl are often forced to fly south due to a freeze-up since they require open water for roosting and loafing. However, day length is still the primary trigger regarding migration timing for waterfowl.

Mourning Dove Banding Data in MissouriMourning dove banding programs exist across most states, providing insight into migration timing, routes, and patterns. Missouri has a robust banding program and happens to be where I spent most of my career working as a wildlife biologist. It’s also where I regularly hunt mourning doves.

Missouri dove banding occurs throughout June and July, so the process primarily focuses on capturing and leg banding locally produced doves and breeding adults. The majority of this banding occurs in public wildlife areas where dove fields are planted and managed for dove hunting. Several thousand doves are banded across Missouri each summer. This effort has been underway for over 15 years, resulting in a robust dataset.

Like other states, Missouri has an intense public land dove management program. This effort results in thousands of hunters going afield on opening day in pursuit of the fast-flying gray rockets. Mowed sunflowers, burned wheat, and mowed millet provide nearly unlimited food sources that doves get accustomed to visiting daily. This buffet means thousands of doves are visiting managed fields by opening day.

Throngs of hunters gather in the darkness, claiming their spots along the perimeters of the managed fields in anticipation of the morning flight. The sheer number of hunters results in a high harvest rate at these state-managed fields, which means the band return rate should be fairly high if all the opening day birds are locals. However, band return data clutters this appearlying obvious conclusion.

On average, only 11 percent of Missouri banded doves are harvested anywhere in North America. This means most banded birds somehow escape harvest, fall victim to other causes of mortality, or are unreported. Likely, it’s a combination of all three scenarios. Missouri hunters bag the majority of that 11 percent, with 10 percent of that harvest occurring within the state. However, the remaining one percent of birds are harvested in other states, mostly those south of or adjacent to Missouri. Additionally, over three-quarters of the annual harvest occurs over the first few days of the season.

This data suggests that at least some doves begin migrating south before September. Also, given the high pressure and harvest rates at public wildlife areas, the fact that 89 percent of banded birds are never reported suggests that many birds scatter across the landscape and survive far away from hunted areas.

How Local and Migrant Birds Factor into Early Season HarvestsHaving worked with public lands featuring intensively managed dove fields for over two decades, I have developed some thoughts regarding how local birds and migrants factor into early season harvest.

We begin burning wheat fields in mid-July to attract local doves to slowly build the feeding population in anticipation of the September 1 dove hunting opener. We typically see the numbers increase weekly, but not in shocking numbers. We often see 200 feeding doves increase to 300 by the end of July. In August, we burn more wheat and also begin mowing sunflowers. We always provide new food every ten to fourteen days. We continue to see a steady increase in bird use, but typically, the numbers increase dramatically around mid to late August. Some years, we see an increase from 500 doves using a sunflower or wheat field spike to over 1,000 doves in a couple day period. Those are the days I believe the first mourning dove migrants arrive.

It’s a well-known fact birds imprint on food sources and roost areas, remembering year to year where to find these necessities on their arduous migration route. Doves are no different. I theorize the migrant doves land at known roost sites. Roost locations that have been imprinted in the flock over decades. These roost sites also contain local doves, and when those local doves fly out to feed, naturally, the migrant doves follow. The migrants who are over a year old may already know where the prime food source is located, but the young of the year birds are at the mercy of following the leader. The influx of migrant doves is my only explanation for the massive increases in bird use at our managed dove fields in mid to late August.

On opening day, thousands of birds are harvested around the country. The odds are that if you pursue doves early in the season, your game bag will have a mix of local and migrant birds. One of the most plentiful birds to hunt, doves provide fast flying action during the first days of fall. They also provide a tasty treat, often in the form of dove poppers. Make time for dove hunting this fall, and don’t forget to check those pink legs for a band!

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Best practices for physically conditioning your dog before hunting season.A long day afield is mentally and physically strenuous for dogs. While reviewing this past hunting season, I noted a day-to-day depreciation of my dog’s energy on consecutive hunts. By the end of the week, they were shadows of themselves; lethargic, far less responsive, and making mistakes they normally didn’t make. I must also be cognizant of aging dogs’ physical limitations while exploring ways to maximize their potential.

Properly feeding, hydrating, and conditioning hunting dogs is of the utmost importance. During my reflections, I realized that I had failed to do all three. As a result, instead of being the energetic, bird-finding powerhouses I dreamed of, my dogs were shadows of themselves after a few days of hard work in the field. This was mostly due to improper feeding and watering schedules. However, conditioning was also a part of it.

Dog Conditioning Advice From The ExpertsI talked with Eukanuba’s veterinary engagement manager, Dr. Jill Cline, Lynn Carradine, Royal Canin’s sporting dog specialist, and Dr. Arleigh Reynolds, DVM, a Senior Researcher and Senior Scientist in nutrition at Purina. They educated me on best practices for conditioning my hunting dogs prior to opening day and optimal feeding and hydration methods.

Dr. Reynolds explained that a properly fed and conditioned dog can take in and utilize roughly three times the amount of oxygen than a human. Conditioned dogs can run at a greater intensity for long periods of time without getting tired. These dogs don’t build up as much lactic acid and don’t get as hot. Properly conditioned dogs, or dogs with a high VO2 max, can maintain an aerobic pace for longer and burn far less glucose. Comparatively, out-of-shape dogs go anaerobic faster and burn through their glucose at a faster rate.

“Anaerobic exercise is any exercise that occurs in the absence of oxygen,” explains Dr. Reynolds. “Unlike aerobic exercise, which uses oxygen for energy, anaerobic exercise involves intense, powerful muscle contractions that require energy faster than oxygen can be supplied. Since an alternative energy source is needed, the body uses glycogen (a form of glucose) that is stored within muscles as fuel.”

To take a sedentary dog into the field and expect it to perform at a high level simply isn’t realistic and risks the well-being of the dog. “For weekend warrior hunters that haven’t done any conditioning with their dog and expect their dog to hunt all day, I say, ‘Dude, that’s not gonna happen. Your dog hasn’t been off the couch since last Sunday night!’” jokes Dr. Cline.

There is also a direct correlation between feeding and conditioning a dog and its performance in the field. By feeding your dog a high-fat diet, you support a higher density of mitochondria (the powerhouse organelle of a cell) in the muscle cells. Basically, you can increase your dog’s VO2 max by 50 percent simply by feeding it a high-fat diet.

This diet also improves endurance and power. For example, when you feed a 30/20 diet, the fat is already in the mitochondria within muscle cells. The dog’s body doesn’t have to pull from fat reserves, place it in the blood, and transport it to the muscles. The first 40 minutes of exercise are already there, ready to go.

Also worth noting is that dogs who can remain aerobic tolerate greater ambient temperatures and recover faster. On the other end of the spectrum, poorly conditioned dogs tend to overheat quickly. Hyperthermia is a dangerous and potentially fatal condition for dogs. This occurs when the dog’s body temperature remains elevated for a long period of time. Dr. Reynold explains, “Dogs up around 106-107 degrees for more than a couple minutes is a concern. Dogs that drop below 104 in a minute are doing okay. Sadly, dogs that overheat can permanently blow their thermostat and can never thermoregulate well again.”

To quickly drop body temperature, it’s suggested to carry isopropyl alcohol to help dissipate heat, cool water to clear the membranes in the mouth so the dog can cool itself, and replenish the lost water in the dog to help it cool internally.

In speaking with Lynn Carradine, she plans her conditioning and feeding specifically toward what the dog will be experiencing for a hunt or in dog training.

The FITT Conditioning PrincipalWithin moments of meeting Lynn, I knew I was talking to an experienced hunter and sporting dog enthusiast. Lynn’s passion for hog hunting and upland bird hunting was infectious. We were already sharing stories and laughs about her Gordon Setter and hog dog as if we were long-time friends sitting around the campfire. The thing that struck a chord with me the most was the science she relied upon. All her information was science-based, breed-specific, and supported by evidence and personal hunting experiences.

She explained the FITT conditioning principle to me. It looks like this:

1. Frequency: How often the dog is conditioned.
2. Intensity: The intensity of the workout.
3. Type: The type of movements the dog will experience.
4. Time: The amount of time the dog is going to be moved.
5. Rest: The amount of time the dog will have to recover.

When Lynn sends her Gordon Setter away to be trained, she gears her conditioning towards hill work. These workouts mimic the long movements that the dog will experience on the pro trainer’s 1,000-acre runs.

Conditioning will start easy and increase in intensity and duration every day. The best way to improve VO2 max is long, slow distance training, which reduces the chances of injury or heat stress. Lynn will also provide interval training through high-intensity work, usually via retrieving in her pond, which provides low-impact, low-speed resistance training with moderate difficulty.

“I push training to the extreme. In my mind, a dog should be doing more in training than they are going to do in the season,” says Carradine.

For me, hunting season is primarily spent trudging through northeastern brambles. This habitat requires my dogs to be trim and nimble for the day-long agility course-type hunting. Roading and field runs are great. However, my dogs will be spending their days short-hopping trees and making quick changes in directions. To prevent injuries, they need to have strong supportive muscles and ligaments for this type of movement. To facilitate the strengthening of these muscles, I need to train them in the most contextually appropriate environments.

Realistically, my conditioning program could never mimic a week of hunting in the north country. By early fall, my dogs are at their peak condition for what I can provide. With that said, expecting them to put in full days for a week of hunting without any depreciation of performance wouldn’t be fair. This risks injury and health issues, not including mental sharpness and physical performance. Though they’d be willing to try, it’s my job to keep them safe and gauge when they need a break, especially during the early season.

Once hunting season opens, I no longer formally condition my dogs. I try to get out daily for three or four hours during the work week and run full days on the weekend for most of the season. For some, conditioning may continue into hunting season if they are weekend warriors or constrained to just a few hunts a year. Specified conditioning towards the type of hunting terrain is exceptionally important for these dogs.

A dog conditioned for big runs in the open prairie with relatively flat terrain may not fare as well in the mountains chasing chukar or the thick brambles of the north country chasing ruffed grouse and woodcock. When the training grounds don’t match the hunting conditions, it’s like training for a marathon but running a Tough Mudder instead. The body will eventually adjust, but not before shortened or lost days in the field due to fatigue or injury.

How Feeding Plays Into ConditioningI’ve found that dogs that are used to performing while hot, tired, and stressed are better equipped to handle less-than-ideal hunting days. The last thing I want to do is call a hunt short because I did not properly prepare my dogs. I’ve learned that this all starts by fueling your dog with the highest-quality performance fuel possible, designed for your breed of dog and the type of hunting they will be doing.

To know if your dog is at a healthy weight, run your hand down its spine. You should feel vertebrae, but they shouldn’t be poking up, and you shouldn’t have to dig down to feel them. Extra weight on dogs causes heat and orthopedic issues. For example, overweight puppies are three times more likely to develop hip dysplasia.

Studies have shown that dogs that were free-fed showed three-fifths more evidence of hip dysplasia, whereas restricted-fed dogs showed only one-fifth. The hip dysplasia gene expressed itself differently simply by how the dogs were fed. Lean pups reach the same size with a far greater chance of developing healthy bones and joints. However, emaciated dogs don’t have the energy reserves needed for long, high-intensity work such as hunting.

If you need to help your dog put on weight, outside of feeding quality dog food at the proper time, Royal Canin offers a calorically high canned supplement called Water Bait. It’s both hydrating and filling. Also, adding Omega-3 fatty acid supplements to your dog’s diet is good for brain growth and functioning in both puppies and senior dogs.

By reclaiming my dogs’ feeding and physical conditioning, I expect to be paid back with stronger athletes who are fueled by the best. Long and productive days in the field next season are guaranteed. The years of love and dedication my dogs provide me compel me to continually educate myself, ensuring my dogs receive the best practices of conditioning, hydrating, and fueling I can provide. Hopefully, my efforts will create happier, healthier dogs for many years to come.

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Best practices for cutting, hauling, splitting, and storing firewoodLike Henry David Thoreau, I look at my full woodshed “with a kind of affection.” There’s something immensely satisfying knowing there’s enough firewood to keep the house warm through the long Wisconsin winter. The three or so cords of dry oak, maple, and birch is true wealth.

For thousands of years, gathering firewood was one of our most critical tasks. In this age of central heat that can be dialed with the flick of a wrist, we’ve mostly forgotten that our survival depended upon completing this job. Even so, in this age of fossil fuels, some people continue to forage for firewood so they can build fires and gather around the warm and lively heat.

Finding The Right Kind of FirewoodIf you want to burn fires regularly – to heat your home, to fire up a sauna, or to bake wood-fired bread or pizza – you can either buy firewood or forage for it. If you plan on sourcing your own wood, first, you need to find a swath of woods with the right kind of trees.

Some people are lucky enough to own a woodlot of several acres. Access to woods like this can supply their annual firewood needs. An acre of well-managed, mature eastern hardwoods can sustainably provide a cord of wood (a 4’x4’x8’ stacked rectangular pile) per year. Immature trees or softer woods necessitate more acreage.

Once people hear that you burn wood, some of them might offer you free firewood. When we started heating with wood 30 years ago, friends and acquaintances asked if I’d remove fallen trees or even fell a tree on their property, which I would only do if absolutely certain I wouldn’t drop it on anything valuable. Most of these people wanted to get rid of their nuisance tree(s) – whether it was valuable as firewood or not – or just do me a favor.

I cut up a red pine for a friend once, but since this wood is full of pitch and produces creosote when burned (which can cause chimney fires), I only burned this wood in our outside fire pit. Another time – and only one time – I cut up a downed elm for one of my wife’s co-workers. I quickly learned that elm was stringy and nearly impossible to split by hand. It’s also a softwood and didn’t produce much heat, but I burned every damn stick I split.

If you live close to forested public land, consider buying a firewood permit from your county, state, or national forestry department. Every late winter or early spring, I buy a $10 cutting permit from the Sawyer County Forest Department, which entitles me to cut downed wood on two parcels of my choice. These numbered parcels are from recently logged select cuts on county land. The loggers typically haul away only the straight eight-foot hardwood bolts and leave behind the tree tops and anything twisted. In northern Wisconsin, loggers leave behind red oak, sugar maple, ash, white and yellow birch, and occasionally a bit of ironwood, sometimes in astonishing quantities.

Hauling FirewoodIn order to gather enough wood to last the winter, you need some basic tools. First, you need a way to haul out the wood. We recently lost a mature sugar maple in a thunderstorm about 100 yards from our house. I debated snaking my truck through the woods down a skinny trail to the tree, but in the end, I wheelbarrowed the windfall home. With snow on the ground, I would have skidded up to my shed in my ice fishing sled. This method of hauling required multiple trips, but I figured I would prefer to work harder than dent up my truck.

Hauling wood for more than a hundred yards requires a truck or a trailer – although I have a friend who heaves his firewood into the back of an old Honda Element. At some point, gathering firewood with a vehicle and trailer gets inefficient. The time and resources you use to obtain firewood surpass the BTUs it’ll create. For example, I don’t like to travel more than 20 miles or so to gather firewood.

Chainsaws and Hand ToolsI’ve read about people who cut and split their firewood entirely by hand, which is how pretty much everyone did it a century ago. Although chainsaws are noisy, stinky, and dangerous (at least as dangerous as a loaded shotgun), I can’t imagine hand-cutting all the wood to fill my woodshed. I don’t have the strength, patience, or time to cut up a 20-inch oak by hand. My dad used to tell nostalgic stories about when he was a kid on the farm and used a crosscut saw and horses to keep his large family warm through a Wisconsin winter. However, he didn’t hesitate to buy a chainsaw when they became readily available later in his life.

Buying and learning to use a chainsaw safely is an article in itself. Electric chainsaws have become increasingly popular, especially since they started using batteries instead of cords for power. If you plan on cutting a lot of wood, as in several cords per year, a gas-powered saw is preferable. I use less than two gallons of gas and two-stroke oil per year to make all of my wood.

Chainsaws are inherently dangerous. The chain can travel as much as 70 miles per hour around the bar. If this doesn’t scare you, it should. If you have never operated a chainsaw, I would suggest finding a mentor or taking a class to learn how to correctly use one. With a chainsaw, you can harm yourself two ways – sawing into your body and dropping a limb or a trunk on yourself. One of the safer things about cutting on public land is that you cannot cut standing timber and must cut downed wood, which greatly lessens the chance of dropping a tree on you or a friendly helper. Felling a tree is usually a much more difficult and fraught task than cutting up a tree on the ground.

You need a few additional accessories for operating a chainsaw, including files to keep the chain sharp, which is an absolute must for efficient cutting. I hand-file mine after every three or four tanks of gas. I also own three or four chains for both of my saws and get them professionally sharpened on rotation. You need hearing protection, eye protection, and chaps, too.

I also own several hand tools, such as my Gransfors splitting maul, which I use even more often than my chainsaw. This quickest and easiest way to split wood is with a hydraulic splitter, but these are expensive, even when bought second-hand. Occasionally, I use a limbing axe and have a box full of wedges – some for splitting, some for felling. Sometimes, I use a peavey to move or lift heavy logs off the ground. A peavey is basically a long lever with a hook attached at its end. These items can add up quickly and make plain that even wood heat is not free. It never has been, unless your labor is worthless.

Pile of chopped fire wood prepared for winterDrying and Storing FirewoodOnce your wood is cut and split, it needs to dry out in some sort of stack or woodshed. After I haul my cut rounds home, I dump them next to my main woodshed, where they get split and stacked. Some people like to split their firewood at the collection site because of all of the “mess” it makes in the form of wood chips and bark. Since I make hundreds of fires per year, I split at home. I like to have the chips and bark around to use as kindling.

My small woodshed has a footprint of about 3’x5’. I fill it with short pieces of firewood less than a foot long. These go in a second, much smaller woodstove that heats a room above our garage. Our main stove in the house takes firewood up to 24” long, and these pieces are easy to stack.

You don’t necessarily need a dedicated woodshed to dry and store firewood. When ours is full and I have extra wood, I make a stack or two on pallets next to the woodshed. I call these piles with woven corners my Holzhausen (German for wood houses). You can also stack them in a round shape like a beaver lodge. In rural Norway, there are contests for the most artistic wood stack sculptures. Lars Mytting’s book, Norwegian Wood, shows a picture of wood stacked into what looks like a lake trout. Another looks like a small barn with a Dutch gambrel roof.

My stacks are not artistic, but they are efficient and easy to make. Basically, I form squares with woven ends and a peaked roof. If I have white birch while making stacks, I save it for the roof. The bark effectively sheds water and makes the pile nearly watertight. One of my neighbors uses wood cribs out of hog fence and pallets because he had to cut his wood in short sticks (about 12”) to fit in his stove. Since short wood is difficult to stack, he chucks it into the crib, which can be handily moved with his skid steer.

One of the most popular ways to stack and dry firewood around here is simply to stack it between two trees. Lay down two parallel tree limbs or old deck boards between the trees to keep the bottom row of firewood off the ground and as dry as possible. Cover the stack, which now looks like a wood wall or fence, with old metal roofing, OSB or plywood, canvas tarping, or any other material that will shed water.

Over the years, I’m sure we’ve saved thousands of dollars by heating our home with wood. However, if I included all of my time and labor processing wood, I might have to reconsider the financial advantage. Burning wood does cut our dependence on fossil fuels as well as energy transported in from who-knows-where. These are all reasons I burn wood, but more than anything, I just like having a lively fire humming in the wood stove, making the house warm and bright. There’s nothing like a good fire.

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Mourning doves are a popular, fast-flying game bird with a haunting call.On an early afternoon on September 1, three trucks pulled into the corner of a wheat stubble field in central Kansas. The mercury topped out at 93 degrees. A father, mother, son, and daughter emerged from one vehicle. They approached the other two trucks and greeted an uncle and a family friend.

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Everyone donned camouflage and helped unload their gear. They assembled shotguns, swivel-top buckets, and boxes of ammunition on the tailgates. After a short discussion of where each person would set up, the group dispersed and claimed their positions around the field.

This scenario plays out across much of the United States every September as hunters pursue one of the continent’s most common birds: the mourning dove. Doves are the highest-harvested game bird in the United States, with over 10 million bagged annually.

The high harvest rate isn’t surprising, considering dove hunting season is the first hunting season to open for most wing shooters. However, the dove’s widespread range no doubt contributes to the large harvest. They can be found in nearly every state and much of Canada. They breed from the west coast to the east coast, as far north as southeast Alaska and south into Mexico. Such a massive range and the ability to live in urban and rural landscapes have kept the dove population robust.

Mourning Dove Facts and Identification

| Characteristic | Comments | | Scientific Name | Zenaida macroura | | Taxonomic Order and Family | Columbiformes, Columbidae | | Body Size | 9.1 to 13.4 inches, 3.4 to 6 ounces, 17.7-inch wingspan | | Clutch Size | 2 eggs | | Diet | Seeds | | Habitat | Everywhere except the deep woods | | Range | The contiguous United States, southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America | | Global Breeding Population | 150 million | | States You Can Hunt Mourning Doves | 41 states | | Similar Species | Eurasian Collared Dove, White-winged Dove, Band-tailed Pigeon |

Although doves appear bland in flight, their beauty can truly be appreciated in the hand. Adult mourning doves have a brownish-gray color with a long, pointed tail and sharply tapered wings. They also have distinct black marks toward the tips of their wings.

The true beauty is apparent in the pinkish iridescence around their neck. So, sometimes males can be discerned from females by a slightly blue hue on the top of their heads. However, these blue and pink colors occasionally overlap between sexes, making identification of sex less than 100 percent accurate. Doves have pink feet, which stand out against their grayish background. Juvenile doves have a more mottled look, and their feathers show more brown than gray. Some feathers appear almost spotted. Even adults are dainty birds, only weighing 4.5 ounces.

Mourning Dove BreedingMourning doves have a slightly unique breeding behavior compared to most game birds. Doves typically nest in trees, preferring evergreens or cottonwoods, but their range is so large that their nests are found in many other tree species. I have a pair of doves nest every summer in an Austrian pine tree in my yard. I can’t attest to whether it’s the same pair every summer or different birds, but like clockwork, and for well over a decade, the nest shows up every spring.

Male and female mourning doves construct their nests together. The nests are made of twigs, pine needles, or loosely assembled grass stems. These nests are far from complex. In fact, most nests look like the doves didn’t put much effort into the construction and quit when the nest was half-built. Ground nests are also common, particularly in the West, where trees are more scarce.

Two plain white eggs are deposited in the nest; incubation takes 14 days. The young stay in the nest for about two weeks and are fed crop milk, which is sloughed cells from the crop lining of the adult doves. Few birds utilize this feeding technique. After 14 days, the chicks are considered fledglings. At this time, the fledglings leave the nest, hop around, and learn to fly. They also begin feeding themselves during the fledgling stage. Young doves rely mostly on seeds but continue to receive feedings from their parents for another week or two.

After helping their chicks navigate the fledgling stage, the female parent often lays another clutch of two eggs, and the entire process is repeated. Some mated pairs only hatch one nest, but many will hatch multiple nests throughout the summer. Six nests by one breeding pair are not uncommon throughout the entire breeding season, which lasts from late spring through August.

Mourning Dove Habitat and Feeding PatternsAdult doves and juveniles that have aged beyond the fledgling stage feed almost exclusively on seeds. Agricultural grains, weed seeds, and some grass seeds dominate their diet. Sunflower, wheat, canola, and corn fields are highly utilized. Ragweed and pigweed seeds, among other weedy plants, are also relished. Seeds from barnyard grass and foxtail are also commonly consumed. These are only a few examples of items found in a mourning dove’s crop, as they are known to consume hundreds of species of plant seeds.

Unlike quail and pheasants, doves have weak legs and do not scratch the ground in search of food. Rather, they rely on their eyesight to feed on exposed seeds lying on bare ground. Mourning doves typically feed twice a day, once in the morning and again during late afternoon. Like many birds, they fill their crop with seeds and then retreat to a loafing area to spend time digesting their recent meal. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website All About Birds, the record number of bluegrass seeds present in a single dove’s crop is 17,200.

Doves prefer to loaf on open branches of dead trees or power lines where visibility is good. During high temperatures, some may loaf under a canopy of plants that have lots of bare ground beneath. Fields of standing sunflowers or ragweed are commonly used to avoid the heat while digesting their seeds.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, mourning doves are susceptible to lead poisoning. “Although Mourning Doves seem to tolerate hunting pressure, they also face the less visible problem of lead poisoning,” says the Lab. “Mourning Doves forage on the ground, and in heavily hunted areas they eat fallen lead shot (records show some doves have eaten up to 43 pellets). Studies have found this problem is especially bad around fields planted to attract the doves, where 1 in 20 doves wind up eating lead.” Because of this, wildlife managers recommend that hunters chase doves with non-toxic ammunition loaded in their shotguns.

Many doves will stop at a watering hole after an evening feeding. They prefer ponds or lakes with a bare bank along the water’s edge. Cattle ponds are ideal in the Midwest, as they typically have a ring of bare dirt around the pond’s perimeter. Some of these disturbed ponds can also serve as a food source. Excessive cattle use can result in a flush of ragweed or pigweed just beyond the ring of bare dirt.

Mourning Dove MigrationBecause doves have such a large breeding range, their migration is highly variable. Some doves begin migrating in August as daylight decreases with each passing day. Other doves stay in the same area year-round. Oftentimes, large flocks of over 100 birds can be seen in mid-winter, especially where adequate food exists. Northern states and territories are much less likely to harbor overwintering flocks, but the central United States and southern states frequently hold doves year-round. Regarding those who migrate, some doves fly thousands of miles while others only fly a few hundred miles or less.

Banding programs help researchers understand how far doves migrate and how long they live. When hunters report the band numbers from doves they’ve harvested, this gives wildlife managers two sets of data: when and where the dove was banded, and when and where the banded dove died. The oldest dove ever recorded was banded in Georgia in 1968; it was shot in 1998 in Florida at the age of 30 years old.

Whether watching the progression of a nest in your yard or sitting on a swivel-top bucket in a sunflower field in September, doves bring enjoyment to millions of people. Their range is impressive, their breeding behavior fairly unique, and their migration consistency nothing short of erratic. Hopefully, gaining a broader understanding helps generate a deeper appreciation of the little bird that brings so many hunters enjoyment every fall.

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The best elements of chukar salad and guacamole are combined in this perfect summertime dishFive years ago, I built up my hot-weather wild game recipe repertoire. I have always been a very seasonal eater and was raised to believe there is something fundamentally wrong with eating watermelon in January or collard greens in July. It occurred to me that every recipe I kept in regular rotation, including chukar marsala, wood duck gumbo, and fried quail with mashed potatoes and pan gravy, was better suited for wintery evenings by the fire than a summer night on the patio. That just wouldn’t do. So, I set out to fix it.

I still remember the first time I had reina pepiada. As a lifelong chicken salad lover, my mind was blown. It had never occurred to me to take the best elements of chicken salad, combine them with the best aspects of guacamole, and cram the whole assembly into what’s basically pan-fried cornbread. As a card-carrying Southerner, I don’t often feel like I’ve been out-southern’d. But on that hot August day, sweating through my shirt at the service window of a Venezuelan food truck, I felt it.

It would be a few more years before that core food memory would inspire me to try the recipe out on some chukar that I needed to clear out of the freezer, but the results were more than worth the wait. This recipe can be easily scaled to feed a crowd; the filling can be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated. It is best enjoyed outdoors with a cooler full of cold cervezas handy.

PrintArepas con Chukar Reina PepiadaPreparing chukar in this Venezuelan recipe makes for a summery upland mealCourse Main CourseCuisine South AmericanKeyword ChukarPrep Time 30 minutes minutesCook Time 45 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 892kcalAuthor Will NewellIngredients 2 chukar dressed and quartered * 2 tbsp olive oil * Salt and pepper to taste * 2 cloves garlic * ½ white onion chopped * 2 dried chiles such as chile de arbol * Bay leaf * 2 cups water Reina pepiada 1 ripe avocado * ½ white onion finely diced * 1 lime juiced * Fresh cilantro * 2 tbsp mavesa mayo Arepas 2 cups Goya masarepa * 1½ cups warm water * 1 tsp salt * 1 tbsp neutral oil * 1 tbsp butter Instructions Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a high-walled saute pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. While the oil is heating up, season quartered chukar with salt and pepper on all sides. * Brown the chukar pieces on all sides. The goal here is to get good color on the meat without cooking it all the way through. * Once you have flipped the meat, add your garlic cloves, half a white onion, chiles de arbol, and a bay leaf to the pan. Saute with the chukar until fragrant, 1 or 2 minutes. * Add the water to the pan and scrape its bottom to deglaze it. Reduce heat to low, cover, and braise chukar pieces for 20 to 30 minutes. * While the meat is braising, start making the reina pepiada. Finely dice one half of a white onion. Spoon the avocado out of its shell and into a mixing bowl, and add 1 tsp salt and lime juice. Mash the avocado, adding the white onion and cilantro once finished. Stir in the mayo. * Remove the meat from the pan and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, shred the meat into bite-sized pieces and place it in a mixing bowl, discarding any bones or connective tissue. Finish the reina pepiada by tossing the chukar meat in the avocado-mayo mixture. Set aside. * To make the arepas, add masarepa, warm water, and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it stand for 10 minutes. * Divide the dough into portions roughly equal to the size of a lemon. Use a circular motion to shape each ball into a flat disk about 4 or 5 inches across and 1/2 inch thick. * Melt 1 tbsp of neutral oil and 1 tbsp butter in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. * Fry the arepas for about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through. * Open the arepa with a butter knife, similar to opening a pita, and stuff with the reina pepiada. Enjoy! NutritionCalories: 892kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 56g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Monounsaturated Fat: 26g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 238mg | Sodium: 800mg | Potassium: 995mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 606IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 7mgThe post Arepas con Chukar Reina Pepiada appeared first on Project Upland.

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Create teamwork and connection between you and your dog by learning to read each other’s eyes.When acting selfishly while playing youth sports, the common phrase “there’s no I in team” was repeatedly thrown around. My coaches insisted I trust others with the ball to develop good teamwork. But giving up the ball didn’t come naturally. I often got “the eye” from my coaches, revealing their disappointment in my lack of team play. They’d use various positive and punitive techniques to get their points across, though eventually, “the eye” was all it took for me to know what needed to be done.

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Young pups naturally follow a similar journey to learn to obtain items they cherish and identify gestures that lead to things they don’t like. As a good coach, your job is to teach your dog how to be a good teammate through eye contact.

Dogs Communicate And Learn Via Eye ContactHave you ever noticed that your dog has a knack for disappearing at exactly the right moment? It knows when you are unprepared to stop it from snatching that steak off the counter. It knows when it can take a few steps closer to the bird or the right time to break to catch it. Whenever you stop to say hello to a friend while on a walk, you feel that all too familiar tug on the lead.

Your dog knows when you’re distracted because it studies your eyes. Similarly, when you are laser-focused on the dog, it grows a halo and obeys your every command.

A dog is incredibly attuned to its surroundings. Dogs have been bred for many generations for their intelligence and focus, which shouldn’t be underestimated. Watch a dog when it enters a new environment. It instantly starts taking inventory of the things of interest or concern. The fluctuation in the dog’s emotional responses to these stimuli can be gleaned from its eyes.

Since your dog can’t efficiently verbalize how it feels, it will use eye contact to cross the language barrier, a common behavior of cooperative dogs. Through dog training, a dog will develop a working relationship in which it obtains the things it wants by providing its owner with the things he wants.

The desire and need for connectivity between the dog and its handler drive learning. It’s a symbiotic relationship in which the dog is driven to work as a good team player, which can easily be seen through the level of eye contact the dog makes. Eventually, you’ll be able to change your pup’s mindset with a look.

Eye Contact Yields Connection and ControlOne evening during a group class, we asked handlers to heel their dogs. Within seconds, we realized a common thread amongst the handlers was the need for more focus from both the handlers and their dogs. They were so consumed by gathering feedback from one another that they were literally running into each other. In an attempt to avoid mistakes, the entire room had become disconnected. It was abundantly clear that we needed to take a step back and slow everything down.

Too often, as trainers, we futilely push ahead instead of pausing, stepping back, and re-evaluating the situation. We work harder rather than smarter, continuously using the only tools we know regardless of their lack of success. In these moments, we need to think about what can be done to make the picture smaller so the dog can find success while moving us in the right direction.

This process is known as shaping and chaining. We shape behavior by scaffolding drills that progressively get us closer to our desired finished product.

For this lesson, we needed to pull the dogs to the side, sit them down, and attempt to make eye contact. For every glance into the handler’s eyes, the behavior was excitedly marked with praise and a reward. Soon, each dog began to connect to its handler. Systematically, each handler began to take one step at a time, attempting to move their pup while maintaining eye contact. The connectivity throughout the class quickly improved. The handlers started to support the dogs’ feedback, drastically changing the tone of the class. There was a new balance between the dogs and handlers. The class quieted, and the chaos quelled for the time being.

Most of the new handlers were surprised at how quickly their pups came into the fold in that environment. What was once a sense of hopelessness was replaced by one of connection and control. This balance infiltrated other drills throughout the evening. It was an eye-opening experience for many.

Pairing Visual and Verbal Cues With Puppies Is ImportantEye contact is created within a young pup’s early development. The pup uses eye contact to communicate a need and seek affection or attention. The term “puppy eyes” is derived from the pup’s ability to obtain rewards through staring at you. Often, the irresistible stare encourages us to reward the behavior, which eventually teaches it to beg. However, taking a few minutes a day to share loving stares with a new pup helps with the pairing process, building an early bond of trust and teaching it to seek out your eyes for affection.

The pup will learn to understand your communications through visual and verbal cues, though the visual cues are what dogs rely on most heavily. It will study your every movement and facial expression to gather feedback. The clarity in this feedback is the pathway by which learning accelerates.

Developing the coordination to use visuals takes some time. An experienced trainer can handle a lead with one hand, coordinate their body position to maintain eye contact and provide the right facial cues and hand signals to promote learning simultaneously. It all looks easy until you find yourself in a tangled mess face down in the mud; it’s a right of passage for most trainers.

Body coordination is something to sort out so we can finally put it together and share that “ah-ha” moment with our dog. It’s one of those things we all look back at and laugh, realizing we all started with a face full of mud before we were able to connect all the pieces. Embrace the ridiculousness, and know your dog will wait patiently for you to put it all together.

An Example Of The Importance Of Reading EyesDuring a NAVHDA training clinic, a big German Wirehair and its owner came to my station to work on field steadiness. While interviewing the handler to find the holes in training, I noticed the dog positioning itself behind its handler. At the time, I thought the dog lacked socialization and was a bit nervous around new people. The handler identified that the dog would hold point until the handler went ahead of it, at which point it would crash in to grab the bird. We settled on a plan of action and set off to see what we could accomplish.

At the start of the run, it became clear that the dog lacked the cooperation required to keep it within range. The handler was overly dependent on the e-collar, and the dog responded very little to verbal commands without electrical stimulation. I decided to take a pause and asked the handler to recall his dog.

I explained what I saw and asked if he’d be willing to be more hands-on with his dog instead of using the e-collar. We placed a long lead on the dog and performed several obedience drills to gain better compliance without any electrical stimulation. Initially, the dog resisted, though, in time, the handler became relevant and respected by the dog.

We left the long lead on the dog to balance its excitement for now, reminding it that we were in control. We moved the dog downwind of a bird, and he locked up on point with stunning intensity. I asked the handler to go to his dog and gently stroke its back. I wanted the handler to let the dog know they were a team, not competing for the bird. I remained back on the long lead to deny any attempts for the dog to catch the bird.

As the handler moved ahead of the dog, I saw the dog loading up to break. I told the handler to stop. The handler was completely unaware his dog was about to break. “What are the eyes telling you about the dog?” I asked.

“I see crazy eyes,” he replied. He explained that he had zero presence with the dog. The dog was fixated on catching the bird. I asked him to return to his dog and slow everything down, providing the dog with a calming touch. We saw the dog finally relax over the next minute or two, so I asked the handler to attempt to get closer to the bird again. The handler marched ahead again, completely oblivious to the attitude of his dog. It became clear that a hands-on demonstration was required to get the point across.

Walking up the lead, I noticed the dog exhibiting nervous energy, softening on my approach, and showing the whites of its eyes. Being as non-threatening as possible, I gently stroked its back. The dog returned its focus to the bird with a much stronger connection, ignoring my presence. To become relevant, I gently held his collar while calmly stroking his back. The dog appeared to relax and centered its attention on the bird. The handler seemed to be impressed, whispering, “Nice work.”

I found this peculiar because the dog was at a utility or finished dog level. Then, the owner said, ”He has never let another person touch him before. I’m surprised at how well he is doing.” At that moment, the dog’s head slowly swiveled in my direction. When our eyes connected, I saw terror in the dog’s eyes. In a flash, the dog spun 360 degrees in an attempt to escape, pinning my ring finger beneath its collar. I straddled the dog, holding his back end just long enough to yell, “Grab that dog!”

The handler ran over to grab the dog, and it spun another 90 degrees. I looked down at my dislocated finger, twisted in the wrong direction. “Cut the collar!” I said.

My gunner used his leatherman blade to swiftly slice the collar, releasing my finger. With the surge of blood returning to the dog’s brain, it instantly passed out and stopped breathing. Fortunately, within moments, the dog regained consciousness and returned to its feet.

This was a very scary situation that could have been avoided if I had heeded the messages from the dog’s eyes. The dog revealed its intentions to me the moment our eyes locked, and then it quickly darted to one side, indicating that it was terrorized and about to flee.

Learn To Read Your Dog’s EyesA pup’s ADD-learning style is often attributed to being a puppy rather than your disconnect as a trainer. Training becomes inconsistent without focus and attention from you and your dog. We miss important moments, causing learning to ebb and flow without apparent rhyme or reason. It’s important to know what the eyes of the dog are sharing with you since they communicate so much.

Of course, there’s the loving stare or affectionate squint of your happy dog releasing feel-good hormones to you both. Often, when two dogs meet for the first time, their initial communication is a stare. Mature dogs may start with a direct stare, whereas younger or submissive dogs avoid eye contact to show submission or playful intent. Alternatively, when two dominant dogs are about to fight, you might notice one postures and intensely, directly stares at the other dog at a distance. However, the moment the eyes connect at a close range initiates the fight. You may also have experienced the intense stare of a dog protecting a resource, letting everyone around know that the item is theirs.

When training a bird dog, reading its eyes will clue you in on its mental state and intentions. For example, the half-moon white of the eye indicates fear or anxiety. Attentive stares tell you the dog is ready to learn. Blinking indicates it might be experiencing stress. Darting eyes warn you that the dog is in flight mode. Posturing with a direct, intense stare reveals the dog is prepared to fight.

Changes in eye expressions happen quickly and can only be caught by those connected to their dogs. This allows us to make timely adjustments that are essential to changing behavior, promoting learning, and keeping you and your dog safe.

As my coaches revealed, the right look at the right time can make all the difference. Whether it’s maintaining steadiness on the hunt or ensuring the dog makes a clean retrieve during a test, your emotions and expectations can be revealed to the dog in just a glance. The experiences and training you share with your dog develop a level of teamwork experienced in no other place in life. Being able to share your affirmations and displeasure through expressive eyes is a skill shared only by those truly connected to their dog. It’s a sign you are playing on the winning team, guaranteeing when the final buzzer sounds, you will have the fortune of carrying the memories of many successful days in the field.

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Cook these sizzling pheasant, quail, chukar, and grouse recipes on your grill this summerI, for one, never tire of eating grilled hot dogs, but I understand not everyone feels that way. Plus, cooking upland birds on the grill is arguably one of the most satisfying ways to enjoy their meat. So, what better way to keep your family and friends’ tastebuds happy (and avoid collecting freezer fossils) than to keep the grill ripping through August?

If you’re looking for creative ways to cook upland game this summer, consider giving these recipes by Jack Hennessy and Tristan Henry a try. Just remember that the secrets to perfectly grilled upland birds are a good brine, dry skin, and a scorching hot grill.

“Brining does a few key things,” said wild game cook Jack Hennessy. “It sucks out residual blood, leaving you with a nice clean piece of meat. The salt in the brine binds to muscle fibers and helps the meat retain moisture while cooking. Lastly, a good brine imbues the bird with flavor.”

Make sure your bird skin has adequately dried post-brine. Otherwise, you’ll end up with soggy birds, not crispy ones. Let your birds dry out in your fridge, uncovered, the night before cooking them. When you’re ready to cook, get your grill to at least 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Temps this high will sear the birds’ exteriors without overcooking the meat’s interior.

Perfectly Grilled QuailIf you’re new to grilling upland birds, start at the beginning and perfect a simple grilled quail first.

Jack recommends spatchcocking quail when prepping them for the grill because it helps these small birds cook more evenly. The goal is to achieve crispy skin on the outside and tender meat with a blush of pink on the inside.

“How you choose to eat these birds and select foods to pair them with is entirely up to you,” Jack says. His directions will help make sure your quail come off the grill perfectly every time.

Grilled Quail with Chipotle Strawberry SauceNow that you’re grilling quail to perfection, ramp things up by making a chipotle strawberry sauce to go with it. In this recipe, Jack balanced out the extreme sweetness of fresh strawberries with pureed chipotle in adobo sauce. The spice and heaviness of the chipotles balances out the crisp tang of the strawberries, and you’re left with a rich, complex sauce that complements hot summer days beautifully.

Dove Skewers with Spicy Peanut SauceIf you still have dove in the freezer or plan to take advantage of the dove season opener this year, add Jack’s recipe for dove skewers with peanut sauce to your repertoire. Not only is this recipe a fantastic way to enjoy a unique blend of flavors, it’ll get you out of your dove popper rut.

“If you find yourself folding more doves than you expected and want to try something new, you can’t go wrong with this recipe here,” said Jack. Whether you go the classic popper route or decide to venture into new territory, Jack always recommends aging dove meat.

“Generally speaking, the larger the game, the longer you age it,” Jack said. “I’ve aged roosters for as many as ten days. Five days seems to be the sweet spot for dove.” He mentions that when aged dove is served medium-rare, its flavor is enhanced. “It’s nutty, sweet, and deep. It’s a taste that makes you close your eyes and focus solely on what is happening between your molars.”

Upland Bratwurst with Beer and CheddarIf complex flavor profiles aren’t your thing, try giving a midwestern grillmaster’s staple an upland twist. In this recipe, Jack grinds and stuffs his own upland bird meat into bratwursts alongside chunks of cheddar and beer.

“This upland bratwurst recipe is based on one shared with me by Joshua Smith, co-owner of the Barred Owl Butcher & Table in Columbia, Missouri,” said Jack. “I added beer and high-temp cheddar to this recipe.” He explains that even though it’s not cheap, high-temp cheddar is required. Any other type of cheddar will melt out of the sausage prior to serving. Additionally, he mentioned that the beer choice is up to you. “Just make sure it’s something you’ll enjoy drinking and that it’s ice-cold (almost frozen) when added to your sausage mix,” he said.

Grilled Pheasant with Colcannon and Guinness Onion GravyAnother beer-centric recipe, Jack’s grilled pheasant with colcannon and Guinness gravy is a rich and savory dish. Although it’s inspired by traditional St. Patrick’s Day fare, it’s delicious any day of the year.

Jack’s secret to cooking perfect pheasant thighs and wings for this recipe lies in his use of a sous-vide. “A sous vide set to 150 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours tenderizes them immensely,” he explains. “I then followed up with a hot-and-fast sear for texture. This same sous vide technique can be applied to legs and wings, as the lower temps and extended cooking time break down tough protein structures.”

Seltzer Can ChukarYou’ve probably heard of beer can chicken. But have you heard of seltzer can chukar?

“Upland birds such as chukar and pheasant are too small to fit on your standard beer can, but they will sit snug on thinner White Claw or other hard seltzer cans. And yes, I made fun of hard seltzers until I finally tried them. I discovered I have no shame,” said Jack.

Its name might not have as good of a ring to it, but seltzer can chukar makes no sacrifices when it comes to flavor. Drink your hard seltzer with pride, and when you’re done, slap a chukar on it and roast it on the grill.

Honey and Lemon Grilled QuailPerhaps pushing the culinary boundaries of blending upland birds with seltzer cans is a little much for you (or you’re still making fun of White Claws. It’s your loss, honestly). Let’s bring it back to simple and light upland bird grilling.

Honey and lemon grilled quail is a sweet and bright dish even picky eaters will enjoy. Just remember that adding sugar to a recipe will cause the dish to caramelize faster than normal, so watch your birds closely and make sure they don’t burn.

“These quail were very good, and the addition of honey and freshly squeezed grilled lemon created a perfect summer dish with bright, sweet, and savory tones,” said Jack. “By the way, grilling lemons intensifies their flavor and somewhat caramelizes the fruit, adding a bit of smoky depth, plus it looks pretty on the plate beside the grilled quail.”

Simple Grilled Chukar with Lemon, Savory, & ThymeAnother simple yet completely satisfying upland bird recipe is Tristan’s grilled chukar with lemon, savory, and thyme. “This chukar recipe, like most of my favorites, is all about letting the ingredients shine through,” said Tristan. And boy, do these ingredients shine.

This recipe’s lemon zest, garlic, fresh herbs, and crispy chukar come together in a classy and beautiful way. Plus, it’s versatile enough to be served alongside grilled veggies, a spring salad, roasted potatoes, and pretty much anything else you can imagine.

Grilled Quail Tabbouleh SaladIf health-conscious carbs are your jam, this grilled quail and tabbouleh salad recipe will rock your world.

Tabbouleh is also spelled tabouli or tabouleh. It originated in Lebanon and has been growing exponentially in popularity around the United States. It features parsley and bulgur, which makes it taste bright and hearty with strong Mediterranean vibes. In this recipe, you’ll grill the quail as normal and simply add it to the salad.

Maybe play “Free Bird” while you eat it. Then you can jam out while your tastebuds get rocked.

Firecracker Chukar SaladIf you played “Free Bird” during the last recipe, play “Party In The U.S.A.” and wear American flag swim trunks while you eat firecracker chukar salad.

Jack developed this recipe recipe when feeling inspired by a firecracker chicken salad that The Elk Public House served each year around the 4th of July. “The idea was simple: balancing heat with a strong dose of huckleberry sweetness, which at the time was only available from Montana during summer months,” said Jack. “With chukar being a popular game bird in this region, and with the Fourth of July this weekend, it made perfect sense to take this classic seasonal menu item and put a wild game spin on it.”

Grilled Pheasant with Smoked Jalapeño ChimichurriSmoky? Spicy? Savory? And fresh? Count me in.

Grilled pheasant with smoked jalapeño chimichurri is a vibrant, punchy way to serve grilled upland game. Jack has two big tips for makers of this recipe: thoroughly dry your herbs after rinsing them, and mind how many jalapeño seeds end up in your chimichurri.

“The extra water from the rinse will dilute their flavor,” said Jack. “The heat of jalapeño peppers can vary by batch. Some are super spicy; some are milder. Taste a bite that includes seeds and pulp after smoking the peppers, then decide how many peppers you want to seed into the chimichurri blend.” He also mentioned that you can set aside all the pulp and seeds and gradually add them in until your preferred spiciness is reached.

Grilled Quail with Peach Chipotle SauceJack’s grilled quail with peach chipotle sauce recipe is the perfect dish to serve as summer transforms into fall. “While peaches and heat are synonymous with summer, the autumn mix of roasted pumpkin and caramelized Granny Smith apples makes for the perfect union of seasonal flavors, helping this dish serve as the perfect segue into this time of year,” he said. Savory quail meat, sweet peaches, pumpkin, cinnamon, and the deep spice of chipotle peppers is a delightfully seasonal flavor combination.

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Guidance for teaching kids about bird hunting, bird dogs, and conservation.My daughter was three and a half years old the first time she picked up a hen pheasant and cradled it in her arms like a baby. I remember patiently waiting with bated breath for her reaction. Would she balk when she realized it was not alive? Would she exclaim “ew” and hurry back inside? Or would she see it as a beautiful creature like I did?

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When she looked down at it with pure admiration, gently stroked its feathers, and declared her love for it, I released my breath with a flood of relief. Witnessing that moment of connection filled my heart.

Like most parents, I hope my children will share my interests so we can enjoy them together. As a passionate upland hunter, I dream of days spent in the field nurturing their curiosity, instilling a desire for conservation, and fostering a profound respect and appreciation for the game birds we pursue. There’s a special kind of magic and responsibility involved with welcoming young children into the world of upland hunting.

I often get asked, “When is the right time?” I believe it depends on many factors, primarily age and maturity, but it’s important to understand there’s no one-size-fits-all introduction to the uplands.

Hunting With Young ChildrenI’ve taken many hunting trips with a child in a baby carrier, but if you are looking for active participation, that usually comes around ages five to seven. This is when kids are physically able to handle short walks in the field.

Children under ten usually observe rather than participate in hunting or shooting. As they grow older, between ages 10 and 13, they often find the desire to become more involved and may even do some hunting.

It may take a few years of just tagging along before your kids are ready to fully participate. In fact, I often encourage this approach. Every child is unique, and their disposition and personality often dictate how you should present a hunting experience to them. My daughter is a fearless go-getter who always wants to be in the thick of it, whatever “it” may be. My son, on the other hand, is more cautious and inquisitive. My son was about five when we took him on his first walkabout for blue grouse; my daughter, on the other hand, was just over three.

I find most children to be like young bird dogs – some develop more quickly than others, and all of them need patience. The only universal advice is that you should always strive to make it fun for them, even if it means making sacrifices on your end.

Just like dog training, proper introductions are crucial to building solid, long-lasting foundations, and poor experiences can turn them off for life. Developing a love for outdoor pursuits often starts with non-hunting activities, especially for younger children.

Parents, start small. Allow your child to sit with you and help plan hunting trips. Let them help you pack your bags. Take them on small hikes that gradually get longer to help build their leg endurance. Let them carry their own daypack, so they have some responsibility. Involve them in scouting and give them first-hand experience in identifying scat and bird signs. Build up to an overnight camping trip where they might have to experience being a little bored, being patient, and or changing weather conditions.

These ordinary outdoor experiences are the building blocks for future hunting adventures.

Leave Your Hunting Expectations At HomeWhen you and your child feel like you’re ready for that first upland trip, leave your expectations at home. Hunting with kids can be challenging and is usually not successful in the traditional sense.

Kids are loud, squirmy, and curious. They will ask a lot of questions. Answer those questions, even if it’s just about what snacks you’ll have. This first trip will not be about you, your dogs, or the birds. It will be about your child. The experience should be theirs, and you must be tagging along with them rather than them tagging along with you. Their positive experience matters the most. Redefine what a “successful” hunt means by focusing on bonding with your child.

To ensure an enjoyable experience, plan ahead. Don’t pick the hottest or the coldest day of the season. Don’t hunt the thickest cover you’ve ever seen. Certainly don’t take them out when six inches of snow covers the ground. Pick a day with pleasant weather. During the day, discuss your hunting plan, the game bird you’re looking for, what that bird looks like, where you might find it, and how the dogs will work. Remind them of what to do when you see a bird or a dog goes on point. Don’t make their first hunting trip about limits or even holding a gun. Instead, keep your first outings short, simple, and sweet.

Your primary goals during these outings are safety, learning, and fun. Keep them involved and engaged by letting them carry a bird. I’ve never known a child who didn’t want to keep a few feathers or intensely examine a bird’s crop. When appropriate, involve them in the care of the dogs, maintenance of equipment, or care of harvested birds. Work on building their confidence and encourage them to follow directions and engage in active listening.

Let Your Child Graduate From One Firearm To The NextWhen the younger crowd is ready, let them tote around an unloaded Daisy Red Ryder. Older kids and preteens can manage a .22LR or a single-shot shotgun. Graduating from one youth-friendly gun to the next is a great way to level up their experience with carrying increasing weight.

When your child is ready to carry their own shotgun, prepare them for their first hunt by spending time target practicing with low recoil shells. Make the experience as fun as possible, and stop by the grocery store for items like watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupes. These can be used as fun and exciting targets, helping them to get excited about shooting while minimizing the awareness of recoil. As a bonus, choosing melons over cans of soda provides an opportunity to discuss the importance of making environmentally friendly choices that are also beneficial for wildlife.

Once they are strong enough to swing their gun, it’s time to introduce them to clay targets. When they can manage to avoid a low-pointing muzzle and break a few clays, they’re ready for active upland hunting.

The Importance of Safety and Hunter EducationRegardless of age or ability, always start with safety before allowing a child into the field. Safety should be reinforced and reiterated every single time you take a child out for any outdoor adventure. Hunters’ safety and education are lifelong skills that must be consistently practiced. As their role model, you need to know all the rules and safety precautions and demonstrate them correctly every time, as they will emulate your actions.

Most states offer hunters’ safety courses through their wildlife management departments. These courses are often designed for a fourth-grade reading level, making them suitable for children ages ten and up. States usually offer both in-person and online courses to meet a variety of needs, but since children often learn best through hands-on experiences and have shorter attention spans, I highly recommend that children take a traditional in-person course.

Youth licensing fees and requirements vary from state to state, and many agencies have special rules and seasons for youth.

Entry-Level Bird Hunts Kids Will EnjoyFor a child’s first upland hunt, consider starting with pheasants at a local game preserve. Preserves often provide a more controlled environment, and, let’s face it, seeing birds is more of a sure thing. Flushes are typically easier to orchestrate, and the grounds provide easy walking. As the adult, you can focus on safety, watching the dogs, building anticipation, and boosting your child’s confidence while they engage in hunting and hopefully harvesting.

When your young wingshooter is ready for the world of wild birds, sage grouse and dusky grouse are great pursuits due to their size and, at least in Wyoming, their accessibility. Selecting game birds and situations where harvest is more likely increases their chances of obtaining success. Just as we give young bird dogs plenty of bird contacts and opportunities, the same should be afforded to kids.

Remember that your child’s size, physical capabilities, and maturity will determine the speed of their progress. Learn to read when they are losing interest, getting fatigued, or uncomfortable. Let them determine the pace and let them get involved as much or as little as they want. The trick to success lies in knowing when to say when.

As with all things, there is a delicate balance between sharing your passion, managing your children’s expectations, and not pressuring them to do something they don’t enjoy. It’s important to avoid getting too wrapped up in the nitty-gritty details. Kids should be allowed to have fun; otherwise, they won’t want to go again. Let them run wild and be present. If they spook a bird or two, no big deal – there will be plenty of other opportunities. Focus on giving lots of praise and minimal correction.

Are you seeing the pattern between kids and young bird dogs yet?

Investing In Proper Gear and Fun ActivitiesInvest in proper clothing to keep them comfortable, and consider getting youth-specific gear like their own bird vest to make their adventures with you more appealing. It’s also okay to splurge a little; stock up on snacks and drinks. Our family has a tradition of making trips special by stopping at the gas station before we leave for a drink and a candy bar. Tailgate parties are also a favorite–-grilling hot dogs and enjoying snacks is something every kid loves.

Nurturing Positive Outdoor ExperiencesIf your child decides they aren’t interested in hunting, it’s crucial to back off and not push. Allow them to experience the outdoors on their terms. As mentioned earlier, there are so many ways in which your child can participate, even if they aren’t directly interested in hunting. By keeping the door open for them to enjoy other aspects of the outdoor experience, they are more likely to consider hunting again later on.

It’s also perfectly fine to let them bring along items to keep them entertained during downtime or on the drive to and from the hunting location. While it might be tempting to ban tech on outdoor trips, this can unintentionally create resentment towards the activity you’re trying to encourage. Instead, consider tech-free times or make tech work in your favor.

Won’t give up the phone? Suggest they be the photographer for the day. Complaints of boredom? Give them their own walkie-talkie, let them mark waypoints on your hunt map, or have them manage one of the dog’s handhelds. Hunting with you doesn’t have to start with hunting birds.

From preparing for their first tag-along to harvesting their first bird and beyond, youth can learn valuable lessons in the field. Your child will develop respect for the land and the birds that call it home. They will learn to appreciate the hardworking dogs they follow, and the knowledge gained from being outdoors will sharpen their instincts and resourcefulness. They will learn patience, diligence, and discipline—all attributes that grow self-confidence. These lessons will last a lifetime.

It is my hope that this guidance encourages you to nurture your child’s curiosity, instill a desire for conservation, and foster a profound respect and appreciation for the game birds we pursue. Remember, just as with young bird dogs, while you might be in charge of the scheduling and planning, your kids will always determine the pace at which they learn. Buckle up and enjoy the ride–I promise it’s magical.

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Try this delightful appetizer that blends umami flavors and watermelon sweetness with sliced pheasantI have a confession. I am not refined. My level of culinary knowledge is largely limited to the restaurants in which I have worked and dishes in which I have found personal interest. Said differently, I am not a voracious reader of cookbooks. But every now and then, I get out of my house, my shell, and explore some fancier restaurants whose cooks are more inspired than myself.

The Belmont in Wichita, Kansas, is one such example, thanks to a suggestion from a friend. For lunch, I enjoyed their ahi tuna appetizer, served with ponzu and togarashi—two things I don’t believe I’ve experienced before. I found the flavor combinations both eclectic and unique but also perfectly balanced. Of course, upon returning home, I had to try to replicate it with wild game. Pheasant breast is used here but other light meat game birds such as quail or chukar will work too.

The ingredients listed here are, generally speaking, accessible at most grocers. If you can find bonito flakes instead of smoking your own salmon skin, feel welcome to go that route. Sake instead of white wine in the sauce will produce a more authentic flavor as well. The togarashi spice mix listed is very simple, but you may have access to other ingredients, in which case you can dress up your spice mix. The goal of togarashi is a blend of spice and savory (umami) with a hint of sweetness.

Lastly, the compressed watermelon aspect is not crucial. It requires a chamber vacuum sealer, which I recommend for any hunter if it can fit in the budget. However, if you don’t have one, just slice the watermelon and soak it in white wine. Compressed watermelon may concentrate flavor, but it is not essential here.

PrintSummer Watermelon and Grilled Pheasant with Ponzu SauceA refreshing, summery starter that blends umami and watermelon sweetness with sliced pheasant Course AppetizerCuisine AmericanKeyword PheasantPrep Time 3 hours hoursCook Time 15 minutes minutesTotal Time 3 hours hours 15 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 505kcalAuthor Jack HennessyEquipment Chamber vacuum sealer optional Ingredients 2 pheasant breasts with tenderloins * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked * 8 watermelon slices 2" by 1" by ½" thick * White wine * 2 jalapeño peppers sliced * 2 avocados smashed Ponzu sauce 1 ½ cups white wine or sake * 1 lime juiced * 1 cup mirin * ¼ cup soy sauce * 2 tbsp rice vinegar * 4 oz fresh ginger smashed * 2 slices orange zest dehydrated * 6 inches salmon skin or ½ cup bonito flakes * 2 sheets nori seaweed crumbled Togarashi spice 1 tbsp paprika * ½ tsp Five Spice Powder * 1 sheet nori seaweed blasted Instructions* If possible, slice the watermelon and seal it with white wine in a chamber vacuum sealer. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. * If you don’t have access to bonito flakes (dried fish flakes), you can carve off 6 inches of skin from a salmon fillet and smoke the skin at 225 F for a couple of hours for the ponzu sauce. You may also wish to smoke the orange zest slices during this time (but only for 1 hour or less). * To make the ponzu sauce, add all the ingredients to a medium saucepan and bring it to a low simmer. Simmer on low or medium-low for 1 ½ hours. When done, strain it through a coffee filter or paper towel so only the liquids remain. * While the sauce simmers, add all the Togarashi spice ingredients to a blender or spice grinder and thoroughly blend until its finely ground. Set aside the Togarashi spice mix. * Thickly slice the pheasant breasts and keep the tenderloins as their own pieces. Lightly dust them with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. * Once the sauce and spice mix are ready and the watermelon slices have marinated for at least 2 hours, grill the pheasant hot and fast, approximately 2 minutes per side, over a 600-degree or higher fire or grill grate. * Let the pheasant meat rest. While it rests, carve the avocados and smash their contents to the texture of guacamole. Thinly slice the jalapeños. * To serve, add the watermelon slices to a plate and drizzle the ponzu sauce over top. Next, add a bit of avocado to each slice, followed by a pheasant slice. Then, top with a slice of jalapeño. Secure everything with a toothpick and sprinkle Togarashi spice over the top. NutritionCalories: 505kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 47g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 322mg | Potassium: 1404mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 455IU | Vitamin C: 31mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 2mgThe post Summer Watermelon and Grilled Pheasant with Ponzu Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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Old shotguns can be picky, but here is a guide to choosing the right shotgun ammo, from non-toxic to low-pressure shotgun loads. Any time I see 1oz #5 12-gauge loads on a store shelf, I have heart palpitations. First, it’s a perfect pheasant load, works great on rabbits and squirrels, and can bring down a barnyard pigeon or two as well. What’s even better is that it’s light enough to shoot in three of my favorite vintage shotguns. The worst thing part is that it’s never around. When I see it, I buy a lot of it. If someone near me is shooting some, I’ll trade just about anything for it.

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Vintage shotguns can be particular with the kinds of shotgun shells you put through them. In a world filled with high-velocity, heavy payload shells, the difficulty of finding lighter loads can take away some of the allure of owning a classic. But it shouldn’t stop you. There’s something warm and cozy about hunting with a 50-, 75-, or even 100-year-old shotgun.

Only a handful of ammunition manufacturers really make loads like they used to. With the right load, classic guns can work just as well, if not better, than some modern guns today. Whether you’re considering buying one or you’ve inherited an old shotgun from a family member, it’s important to shoot the right shells through it so it will keep working for the next generation.

Do a Quick Condition CheckBefore loading up a vintage gun and busting some clays, you’ve got to know what you’re looking at. Take a look down the bore for any glaring pits. Make sure the action locks up tightly and the safety is in working order. Do you know the last time it was shot? Has it ever been refinished? These are good questions to ask, and if you can’t answer them, you should find somebody who can.

Have a gunsmith look your classic shotgun over. An experienced gunsmith can determine chamber length (some can be as short as 2 inches), proof on imported guns, barrel wall thickness, what kind of steel the gun is made of, and whether it is safe to fire. Depending on these factors, you’ll get a better idea of what kind of load to use in your gun.

The biggest difference you’ll run into are Damascus and fluid steel barrels. Damascus barrels are made by hammering different kinds of steel together over a mandrel—making a beautiful, almost psychedelic spiral pattern. Damascus was common on guns in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. Most shooters are hesitant to shoot them because they’re afraid of invisible corrosion that could cause the barrels to blow up. Some shoot them anyway, or only shoot them with black powder loads and accept the risk. Personally, I stay away from them because I still have all ten of my fingers, and I’d like to keep them. If you’re dead set on shooting a shotgun with a Damascus barrel, don’t until a licensed gunsmith looks it over. Also, consider your fingers.

Fluid steel barrels are generally safe on guns in good condition. They’re made the same way modern shotgun barrels are made, by drawing hot steel over a mandrel. You need to know the chamber length to figure out what size shells to use. It also isn’t a bad idea to have the wall thickness of your gun checked, too, especially if it’s in unbelievably good condition (this means it was probably refinished, and the barrel walls could be thinner than normal). Finally, you should note when your gun was built if you plan on shooting steel shot through it. Vintage barrel steel was softer. If you’re going to shoot non-toxic, bismuth is safe to use older guns.

Low Slow is the TempoYou wouldn’t fill a vintage Aston Martin with 87-octane Regular, and you shouldn’t run your vintage shotgun on just any load. Shotgun loads made today are very different than the loads produced when your classic gun was built. For example, we’ll talk strictly about 12 gauge here because that’s what most of you are shooting.

It isn’t uncommon to find a 12-gauge pheasant load today with 1-1/4 oz of shot running at 1500 fps. This is far heavier and faster than loads of yesteryear. But does that mean it’s better? Not necessarily. The phenomenon of cartridges firing heavier payloads is mostly the result of shooters missing birds. We tend to try to buy our way out of a problem instead of looking at the root cause; maybe we’re not as good at shooting as we thought. I’ve seen a skilled competition shooter break 30, 40, and 60-yard clays with an improved choke and 1oz loads.

If you do your part, a 1oz 12-gauge load traveling at 1200fps or less should have you covered out to 40 yards—which is way farther than most people shoot birds. Your gun will be happier with a lighter load, too. Modern shells produce lots of pressure, and modern guns are OK with that. But higher pressures in vintage guns can cause damage. You won’t notice it right away, but sooner or later, your gun could come off face, and the barrels won’t lock up well with the action. Older guns also tend to be built to slighter dimensions, and this is especially true with English guns. Regarding recoil, they are much more pleasurable to shoot with lighter loads.

This past season, I hunted ruffed grouse and woodcock in Maine with a side-by-side built in 1939. I loaded the gun with 2½-inch, ¾-ounce RST Best Quality loads with #8 shot and was able to drop just about anything I shot at, even when shooting through brush. I’m not a great shot, but the combination worked fine for me, and the recoil was about as stiff as a 28-gauge.

If you’re shooting a 12-gauge made before the 1970s, go with a 1oz load or less and adjust the shot size accordingly depending on the birds you’re after. For sub-gauges, go on the lighter side of what everybody else is shooting.

More on Non-Toxic Loads for Vintage GunsMany vintage guns were not designed to shoot steel. Some experiments have been done with old guns and steel shot with mixed results. A good rule of thumb is not to do it because you don’t know what kind of steel your barrel is made of. The main thing you’re avoiding by not shooting steel is damage to the barrels. Hevi Shot is also hard on old guns. If you absolutely have to shoot steel, don’t shoot through a choke any tighter than Modified.

Vintage shotgunners who want to shoot non-toxic should also consider wads. This is where barrel thickness comes into play. Some manufacturers are offering fiber wads, which mimic the shells made years ago. But in barrels that have been polished to remove pitting, fiber wads can leave room for lead shot to fuse together by gasses escaping around the wad. A biodegradable plastic is a better non-toxic choice in guns that have slightly wider bores. Figure out your bore dimensions and purchase wads accordingly.

Regarding shot, bismuth is the best non-toxic option. You can fire them out of virtually any choke just as you would lead, and the shot sizes are pretty much the same, too. The trick is finding bismuth loads that are light enough to fire in a vintage gun. I’ve had good luck with Boss, Kent, and Eley. When I’m hunting ducks, I shoot a 100-year-old Parker and use 1oz ⅗-shot bismuth blend from Boss. The ducks don’t like it.

Why You Might Want to Roll Your OwnLighter shotgun loads aren’t as easy to come by as they once were. When you see loads you know will work in your gun, buy as much as you can. If you find yourself burning through flats of shells, then you might want to look into reloading.

Reloading generally doesn’t make sense for most shooters, as factory loads have become so cheap. But for those looking for something specific, a cheap Lee reloading press will serve you well. There is a mountain of data online for low-pressure shotgun loads, but it’s best to stick with established load data published by major companies.

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The life and times of Edward Laverack, the man renowned for remodeling the English Setter, provides a fascinating insight into the breed’s history and legacy.“Suddenly into the middle of the coterie of breeders a bombshell was flung, so startling as to cause a violent upheaval of all the old theories, and a complete revolution in setter breeding, the effects of which have lasted to the present day.” —Walter Baxendale

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Walter Baxendale’s “bombshell” was a man named Edward Laverack, now universally regarded as the father of the modern English Setter. Little is known about his early life, but as a young man, Laverack was apparently a shoemaker’s apprentice, but where he worked and for whom is not clear. According to Robert Armstrong in All Setters, Laverack “spent his youth in Hawick, a town in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, but at the age of 17, not liking it after he had been there some time, he ran away.”

A huntsman and a setter searching for a game-bird that is hiding under large leaves in a garden. Etching by J. Scott after P. Reinagle. Reinagle, Philipp, 1749-1833. Date 1 February 1804.Edward Laverack’s Early Life

| Born | 1800, grew up in Hawick, Scotland | | Died | April 4, 1877 in his home, Broughall Cottage | | Appearance | Short, stout, cherry-faced, gentlemanly | | Marriage | Mary Dawson, wife. Born in 1819 and died in 1862 | | Starting Setters | Old Moll (F) and Ponto (M), or a male from Sir F. Graham’s strain | | Laverack Setter Qualities | Hard-headed, incredibly staunch, high head carriage, an improved nose, a tendency to bolt, perpetually in motion | | Publications | The Setter (1872) |

In his book The Setter, Laverack himself wrote that he had been shooting in the highlands of Scotland “ever since was eighteen years of age” and that he had “rented shootings for the last forty-seven years.” Since Laverack was in his early 70s when he wrote the book, that would mean he had been shooting on the moors since he was in his mid-20s. This would seem to tally with Amy Fernandez’s claim that Laverack left the shoemaking trade at age 25 after an unexpected inheritance abruptly revised his career plans.

In any case, we can assume that by the 1820s, Laverack must have had the money to not only rent shooting rights on moors owned by the likes of the Earl of Carlisle and the Earl of Southesk but to purchase a brace of setters from one of the best strains in the land. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean he was rich. On the contrary, when Laverack was a young man, rates for shooting rights and the price of dogs were relatively low.

In his mid-30s, Laverack seems to have settled down a bit. Census records seem to indicate that in 1835, he married Mary Dawson, then just 16 years old. In 1840, the couple welcomed their only child, a boy. Sadly, the child died at age three. Then, just as Laverack was beginning to make his mark as a breeder, he lost his wife Mary, who died in 1862 at the age of 41.

Not many photos of Laverack exist, and only a few written descriptions are found in the old literature. Perhaps the best was written by L. H. Smith, who met Laverack in the 1870s at a dog show in London. Smith wrote that he was a “short, stout, cherry-faced old gentleman, who looked exactly like what he was–a contented, retired tradesman.”

Laverack’s SettersLaverack’s claim to fame was, of course, his setters. Here, in his own words, is the origin story of his line, which he said started with a female named Old Moll and a male named Ponto. Watson wrote in The Dog Book that “it would seem fair to assume that he did not get her (Old Moll) as a puppy, but probably obtained both as developed shooting dogs.

Laverack’s account regarding the origins of his first two setters has been repeated ad infinitum since it appeared in his book. However, after his death, evidence came to light that suggested it may not have been entirely accurate. For example, in May of 1882, Stonehenge, then editor of The Field, wrote in “Laverack Setter Pedigrees”:

. . . it is doubtful whether Mr Laverack’s memory served him correctly, for we have recently heard from Sir Frederick Graham that Mr Laverack bought his original setter bitch from Mr. Connell, banker of Carlisle, for £8 8s., and, crossing her with his (Sir F. Graham’s) strain, formed his breed.

In the following issue of the same magazine, Edward Armstrong, the son of a close friend of Laverack’s, corroborated Frederick Graham’s statement in All Setters.

Sir Frederick Graham is perfectly right when he says that Mr. Connel’s Moll was bought by Mr. Laverack for £8 8s., and he might have added, too, that she was bought through my poor old father’s recommendations.

In the 1930s, Edward Armstrong’s son Robert went even further. He claimed that his grandfather, old Armstrong himself, sold the dog to Laverack, stating, “The first dog he ever owned he bought from my grandfather. She was a setter bitch called Moll.”

Despite the uncertainties surrounding the origins of Laverack’s original stock and how he subsequently bred from them, by the time his dogs became known to the wider public, they showed a remarkable uniformity in their conformation. Stonehenge wrote in Dog in Health that they were:

. . . of all colors with a white ground, some being white and red, some white and blue, some white and black, and others again white, black, and tan. Latterly the blue Belton (a thickly ticked white and black) was the prevailing color, but even with these a whole litter never appeared alike. His celebrated “Countess” was of this color, but her brother and sister were black and white in large patches.

As for how they hunted, Baxendale described them as “fast and keen rangers, excelling in high head carriage, and of indomitable spirit. In fact, one of the charges laid against them by their critics was that they were practically unbreakable.” Others also wrote about how wild and hard-headed Laverack’s dogs were. But this didn’t bother Laverack himself.

This combination of incredible drive and staunchness on point was illustrated in an anecdote related by Drury in British Dogs:

The writer recollects Laverack himself being once asked on the moors with respect to a dog of his, which was endued with perpetual motion, entire self-hunting, and utter regardlessness of whistle, “However do you get that dog home at night?” “Why, sir, I just wait till he points, and then I put a collar and chain on him and lead him home.”

Laverack spent several decades developing his own strain of setters in the north of England and Scotland. His dogs found favor among some of the most prominent sportsmen of the day in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Even Queen Victoria may have seen some of his dogs at work when she was staying in Inveraray, Scotland. And, as growing numbers of sportsmen from across England traveled north on newly developed rail lines to shoot over bird dogs, they too may have come in contact with the man and his dogs.

Arrow pointing out Laverack in George Earl’s famous Field Trial at Bala PaintingLaverack, Late In LifeBy the time dog shows and field trials were first organized, Laverack was an old man. Yet despite his age, he managed to make up two show champions. Others did even better with dogs from his kennel. In fact, until the early 1890s almost every English setter to earn the title of show champion had Laverack’s dogs in its background. While most agreed that Laverack’s dogs were quite good, some, like Stonehenge, thought other men had dogs that were just as good, if not better.

In any case, it wasn’t really a question of how good or good-looking Laverack’s dogs were—even his most strident critics conceded that they were among the best in the land. What really caught the attention of the canine establishment, and ignited a furious debate in the sporting press, was the incredible claim Laverack made about the pedigrees of his dogs.

Walter Baxendale explained in Millais’ Gun at Home:

The bombshell that fluttered the dovecotes of the setter men was Mr. Laverack’s statement that these wonderful dogs had been bred by him, during the forty years since he had the breed, from two specimens only, viz., Ponto and Old Moll. Soon after he published his pedigrees, and these showed the most extraordinary amount of inbreeding—inbreeding to an extent hitherto unheard of. Apparently, the system he had been adopting ran dead against all the canons of breeding animals hitherto held as axioms by breeders of any description of animal; yet here were the results before their eyes, in the shape of dogs showing none of the defects hitherto by common consent laid to the door of inbreeding, even to a far less degree.

On the contrary, the dogs he showed were above the average in substance, size, and stamina, looking the sportsman’s dogs all over, and, as subsequent events proved, possessing speed, nose, stamina, and indomitable endurance far beyond the generality.

All this was a violent upheaval of orthodox ideas, and for a long time following the heated controversies, degenerating in some cases into acrimonious personalities, between the champions of the rival camps—the progressives, on one hand, those that ranged themselves on the orthodox side on the other—proved what an epoch was the arrival of Mr. Laverack with his dogs and his pedigrees.

Few men excited more controversy, or wrath and animosity, from the vested interests which his dogs upset. His story as to the descent of his dogs from two specimens met with much incredulity, and for years in and out of the Press discussion waxed warm between partisans on opposite sides. The eminence of the Laverack was not recognized in all quarters when Mr Laverack first appeared, or if it was, jealousy hindered justice being done to its merits. Owners of the black-and-tans, at that time the fashionable breed, did not care for these rivals and possible conquerors, and it became the fashion in and out of the Press to snub Laverack and his dogs. This tirade was headed by “Idstone.”

A champion for Mr. Laverack, however, came forward in the person of Mr. Llewellin, and directly challenged “Idstone” (the Rev. T. Pearce) to back his criticisms on the Laveracks and of Laverack by meeting him to run a match with a brace of his Gordon Setters against a brace of Laveracks. “Idstone” was far too astute to accept the challenge, and if he had done so, his Gordons would have been second best in an endurance test against the little Laverack bitches Countess and Nellie. As Countess was, in her day, a bitch without a rival.

Since we know so little about his early life and his final years, it would be easy to conclude that Laverack spent most of his time breeding dogs and defending himself in the court of public opinion. However, it is important to remember that Laverack was, above all, a keen sportsman who spent decades on the moors shooting over gun dogs.

It wasn’t until he was an old man that he became famous, and with fame came both praise and scorn, as it so often does. Some considered him a genius who had accomplished the seemingly impossible. Others, as noted in The Armstrong Setter, considered him an outright fraud:

Edward Laverack and “Cora” circa 1870Mr. Laverack, at that time, was beset by such a combination of enemies as never sought the destruction of a single victim. A clique was writing and talking up certain breeds of dogs, and Mr. Laverack, who browbeat them at every meeting and stated his convictions fearlessly in all parties, was detested and abhorred by them. No man ever met with more opposition than he did; yet he triumphed over all his enemies. I am very sorry, too, that certain of these enemies carry their hatred beyond the precincts of the grave, and abuse the old man yet.

The controversy peaked after Laverack’s death in 1877, when a formal complaint was lodged with the Kennel Club by none other than Purcell Lewellin, the man to whom Laverack dedicated his book. However, Llewellin’s goal was not to besmirch Laverack’s reputation. Instead, he wanted to warn others about Laverack’s supposed ‘in and in’ inbreeding system. In his complaint, according to Grinnell’s “Laverack Pedigrees,” Llewellin wrote:

The whole system of inbreeding now beginning to be so much practiced, to the detriment of pointers and setters and other breeds of animals, will once and for all be proved to have no favorable precedent when once the pedigree of Pride of the Border has been brought to light.

John A. Doyle, a Kennel Club member who sat on the committee adjudicating the case, agreed with Llewellin according to Burges’ American Kennel:

It must be remembered that this theory has been used not merely to explain how good setters had been bred in the past, but how they ought to be bred in the future. I hold that the inquiry instituted by Mr. Llewellin, and the evidence adduced by him, has disposed of that theory and all that depends on it.

I will resist the urge to recount the details of how Laverack’s pedigrees were eventually found to be unreliable. All that we can say is that Laverack’s pedigrees seem to contain some rather severe discrepancies. For example, he sometimes listed different parents for the same dog or claimed certain bitches whelped litters at ages that strained credulity. Yet despite the flaws in his recordkeeping and memory, the pedigrees Laverack published were far more detailed and extensive than any others of the time. That may have been part of the problem.

The final years of Laverack’s life were not happy ones. He endured the slings and arrows of his many detractors and struggled to keep alive the strain of dogs he had spent his life developing. When Edward Laverack died in 1877, only five setters remained in his kennel: Blue Prince, Blue Rock, Cora, Blue Belle, and Nellie or Blue Cora.

Today, Laverack is generally considered to be the most important figure in English Setter history. His influence on the breed cannot be overstated. His dogs formed the foundation of almost all modern setter lines around the world, and his book not only served as the basis for the creation of the modern English Setter standard but was the first to describe many of the various strains of setters being bred by sportsmen in Britain and Ireland before the modern era. However, Laverack and his dogs also had some negative effects on the breed. Their dominance of the show ring attracted untold numbers of people to breeding, many of them lacking the experience and judgment necessary to make wise breeding decisions. The dogs’ massive drive and sometimes headstrong nature often proved too much for the average sportsman.

Edward Laverack’s house when it was a VAD hospital during the first world war.Laverack died on April 4th, 1877. Many years later, a monument was erected at his gravesite, next to the small church in the Village of Ash near Whitchurch, England. The engraving reads:

To the memory of Edward Laverack, born 1800; died 1877 at Broughall Cottage. This monument is erected by admirers in England and America. His great love for the lower animals made him many friends. He was specially fond of dogs and by careful selection remodeled the English Setter, the best of which are known by his name.

Some years after Laverack’s death at his house, then called Broughill Cottage, was purchased by Herbert Lushington Storey, a well-known philanthropist from Lancaster. During the First World War, it was converted into a Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital with 20 beds for soldiers wounded at the front. Today the house is still there, renamed Ashdale House. The current owners breed world-class show horses.

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The CDC is expanding rabies requirements for importing dogs into the United States from all foreign countriesIn May of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced new rules governing dog imports into the United States. The rules are aimed at standardizing the process between countries and preventing the introduction of canine rabies into the U.S., but the broad-sweeping changes will have lasting impacts on breed clubs that depend on imported puppies for genetic diversity as well as dog owners who regularly cross international borders—including Canada.

The CDC differentiates between countries considered to be high-risk for rabies and those that are low-risk or rabies-free. Currently, the rules and requirements for importing dogs from high-risk countries are much stricter than they are for dogs coming from low-risk or rabies-free countries. Starting August 1, however, the rules will be broadened to essentially apply the high-risk protocols to every foreign country regardless of their rabies risk status.

What’s changing in the dog import rules?The details of the new requirements are available directly from the CDC and should be used as the official reference for preparing travel documentation. The changes come down to a few key items:

1. No dog may enter the U.S. until it is at least six months of age
2. All dogs entering the U.S. must have an ISO-compatible microchip with the chip number included on all veterinary documents, including proof of rabies vaccination
3. All dogs entering the U.S. must have a CDC Dog Import Form filed online and processed prior to the border crossing

While the microchip and documentation requirements may introduce more hassle to the border crossing process, it is the six-month-old requirement that will cause the greatest impact with the least amount of supporting data to justify it.

Why can’t puppies cross the border anymore?When asked for data supporting the minimum age requirement for puppies arriving from low-risk countries, David Daigle of the CDC’s communication department provided the following remarks.

“The six-month age requirement for entry is not new for dogs from high-risk countries; under the current temporary suspension (expiring July 31, 2024), dogs from high-risk countries must be at least six months to enter. The updated regulation makes this requirement consistent for all dogs entering the United States. All dogs must be at least four months old to receive a rabies vaccine, and that vaccine takes approximately 28 days to become fully effective. If a blood titer is needed for the dog’s entry, it must be drawn at least 30 days after the rabies vaccination and 28 days before entry. This adds up to six months.”

If it seems like this answer is aimed at countries with a high risk of canine rabies, you’re not wrong. That’s when some of the reasoning behind the standardization came to light. Daigle continued, “The update addresses the numerous documented government partner challenges with dog importations, including fraudulent vaccine documentation fraudulent documentation about the country of origin.”

That explanation makes it clear that there is no scientific reason to prohibit the importation of young puppies from low-risk countries, but rather a problem with enforcing the current rules for those coming from high-risk countries. Commercial importers can falsely claim that a dog came from a low-risk country, thereby reducing the documentation requirements and even eliminating the need for a rabies vaccine if they also claim the dog is too young to be vaccinated. Daigle didn’t specify the extent of the problem with import fraud, but it is apparently enough for the CDC to have genuine concerns about its ability to prevent the reintroduction of canine rabies in the U.S.

Daigle also noted that it’s easier to age dogs after six months, once their adult teeth emerge, further highlighting the concern about fraudulent imports.

What is the impact of the new import rules on the veterinary community?Dr. Jessica Bell is an associate professor at the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. As part of her duties in the Community Practice department, she is responsible for processing international health paperwork for companion animals imported and exported to and from the U.S.

Dr. Bell noted that, overall, the concept of streamlining the import process was a good idea—especially when it comes to standardizing dog identification with microchips and ensuring that the correct dog is identified on all accompanying paperwork.

“I’m actually surprised that this update didn’t happen sooner, as our current process is pretty lax compared to some other countries when it comes to records and identification. I see the necessity in order to keep our dog, livestock, and human populations safe,” Bell said. “The U.S. technically has no rabies in our dog population because of our vaccination protocols. We really do a good job of vaccinating our domestic animals.”

She, too, is aware of the problem with fraudulent paperwork and falsified veterinary records, including even forged names and signatures of veterinarians who never examined or treated the animal in question. The hope is that a tighter process will make it more difficult for sick dogs to make it into the country and bring unwanted diseases across the border.

The rollout and communication of these changes, however, has left a little to be desired within the veterinary community. When asked for any parting thoughts on the subject, she didn’t hesitate to say what was on her mind. “Please understand that it takes time for vets to learn the new process and the new paperwork. Plan ahead for your travel and be patient with us while we figure it out.”

Unintended consequences for the U.S. dog communityStandardizing and streamlining processes is generally a good thing, and there are certainly positive aspects to the new import rules. However, the sweeping nature of these changes has unintended consequences for breed clubs and dog owners in North America. Organizations such as the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) have submitted letters to the CDC describing their concerns with the new regulations.

The AKC’s letter notes that the organization is enthusiastically in favor of requiring microchips for positive identification and to reduce the risk of fraudulent entries. However, they protest the six-month-old rule for personally-owned dogs arriving from low-risk countries:

Responsible purebred dog breeders are not strangers to international collaboration. For many decades, these practices—which may include export and import for breeding and whelping, and private transfer of promising show, working, performance, and breeding prospects—have not only helped ensure that the world’s unique breeds are preserved and improved, but also that health benefits may be realized through genetic diversity…

While we understand CDC’s enforcement efficiency-rationale…we respectfully disagree that it should apply to personally-owned dogs arriving in the United States by air. Not only would it take away opportunities currently available to a person to import a personally-owned dog under six months of age, but it would also reflect a failure of the to consider the difference in risk profiles between non-commercial importers of personally-owned dogs and commercial importers who import dogs for further distribution via shelters, rescues, or retail outlets.

NAVHDA’s response focused instead on the additional burdens placed on members that regularly cross the Canadian border as well as Canadian breeders who sell puppies to U.S. families.

Many of NAVHDA’s members travel between the U.S. and Canada with dogs under six months of age for veterinary care as well as training and testing. The new regulations would unfairly put a stop to these practices along with our general ability to travel with our dogs for recreational and business purposes.

The NAVHDA membership—as well as that of other sporting dog organizations—includes Canadian breeders who rely on sales to individual puppy buyers in the U.S. For reasons including health, socialization, and training, puppies should be placed in their new homes between 8-10 weeks of age. It is not only detrimental to wait to place a puppy in its home until it is 6 months of age, but it also puts a financial and logistical burden on the breeder.

Overwhelmingly, dog-based organizations are asking for the CDC to revisit the new rules and consider waivers or common-sense exemptions. However, it was those very exemptions for low-risk countries that allowed fraudulent imports to gain traction in the first place. It’s a challenging question of how to prevent the illegal actions of a few commercial importers without punishing rule-abiding individuals in the name of national biosecurity. For now, the pendulum has swung toward holding everyone accountable for the bad actors.

Regardless of opinions on the matter, Americans will soon have to adjust to the new requirements affecting international border crossings with their dogs. Early preparation such as having microchips done prior to vaccination will help ensure correct identification on all documents. Breed clubs and breeders will have to look at other options to increase genetic diversity without the possibility of bringing in puppies from foreign countries. One can hope that more common-sense flexibility may be granted in the future, but until then, Americans are stuck with the new rules as they are currently written. Above all, following the words of Dr. Bell, “Please be patient with your vet.”

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Unknown environmental stressors threaten pinyon jay populations and the broader sagebrush ecosystem uplanders love.I can’t help but stare through the conference room’s glass curtain wall, in awe of some of the world’s most productive wetlands on Earth. This morning, the frozen wetlands are blanketed in snow after this winter’s biggest storms pounded the area, which is great for recharging those wetlands later in the year. During spring, summer, and fall, these Great Salt Lake wetlands are so valuable, that they’ve been recognized as being globally important and critical habitat for millions of waterfowl and shorebirds.

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But we aren’t here to talk about wetlands or shorebirds. It’s the sagebrush landscapes beyond the Bear River Delta that this group of researchers, biologists, and ecologists are discussing. As I watch a meadowlark hide under snow-laden cattails, my attention snaps back to the conference room when I hear, “Pinyon jays are where greater sage-grouse were 30 years ago.”

Sage-grouse and Pinyon Jay Populations Are DecliningI love greater sage-grouse. Seriously, they are one of my favorite birds. It’s no wonder my attention was redirected by this declaration about pinyon jays and sage-grouse. I studied and worked on sage-grouse research as an undergrad and graduate student. Sage-grouse are a huge part of my career as a biologist; I help restore habitat with an overall goal of increasing their numbers so they may continue to exist for all to enjoy. Most of all, I love running my pointing dogs through sage-grouse habitat with the ultimate goal of having dogs on point while I flush them out in front.

The statement also quickly grabbed my attention because pinyon jays are a hot, even controversial, topic right now as habitat managers strive to balance the needs of both jays and grouse. One, the sage-grouse, has a story known to many. Contrastingly, the pinyon jay has a story just beginning to be told, or maybe better said, a story being discovered. We do know this, though: both birds have precipitously declined in population numbers since the 1960s.

Sage-grouse are well known, especially to the readership of this publication. Iconic to western rangelands, they are the largest grouse species in North America. Many know them for their springtime lekking behavior of gathering together while males show dominance, trying to attract females by inflating yellow air sacs in their bouncing chests. They are a popular upland game species hunted in a few western states, a bucket list bird for many upland hunters.

The pinyon jay is a medium-sized bird also found in western rangelands whose range overlaps with the sage-grouse. It’s a crestless jay with a body shape resembling a small crow. Because of this, it’s been known by the folk name “blue crow.” The name pinyon jay comes from their favorite food, the piñon pine nut, and they’re often found in or near piñon pine and juniper woodlands within sagebrush landscapes. Pinyon jays tend to travel in flocks, giving a kaw-like call to keep in touch with one another. They also cache food in the ground and have an incredible spatial memory, helping them return to these food caches at a later date.

Greater Sage-Grouse and Pinyon Jay ConservationThe sage-grouse has attracted national, and even international attention, with unprecedented landscape-scale habitat protection and restoration since the early 2000s. The ultimate goal is to prevent them from needing federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Paralleling this conservation work has been a monumental effort in research because not much was understood about sage-grouse biology and habitat use. Today, it’s been said the only species we’ve studied more in the West are mule deer, and sage-grouse are a close second.

Fortunately, because of this research, we now very clearly understand sage-grouse habitat needs. They require large, treeless tracts of open sagebrush. “Treeless” is the keyword there. We can easily restore sage-grouse habitat by removing invading conifers (including those piñon pines and junipers where pinyon jays can be found) creeping into rolling sagebrush plains. We’ve been doing it by the thousands of acres for over a decade now. This effort has been successful at increasing sage-grouse population sustainability and preventing the need for federal ESA protection.

Like sage-grouse, since the 1960s, pinyon jay populations have followed the same dramatic downward trend in population numbers. The difference between them and sage-grouse today is we don’t know hardly know anything about pinyon jay behavior, biology, and how they use habitats across an ecosystem. Very little research has been conducted to understand jays.

Hence why the statement, “Pinyon jays are where Greater sage-grouse were 30 years ago,”resonated with me. Just like sage-grouse of the early 2000s, conservation organizations are now calling for federal ESA protection for pinyon jays. Just like with sage-grouse, we don’t currently have the research to fully understand what is needed to conserve the jay species as a whole quite yet. Significant knowledge gaps regarding pinyon jay use of sagebrush and pinyon and juniper woodlands is hampering any effort to fully implement strategies to increase their population.

Right now, we don’t understand if removing pinyon and juniper trees for sage-grouse negatively impacts pinyon jays, and, if it does, how?

Seeing Habitat As A WholeSome hunters may say, “We can’t hunt pinyon jays, so who cares about their habitat?” Just like farm-raised pheasants, at times, hunters have blinders on that make it hard to see the bigger picture around us. In this instance, hunters find it hard to pay attention to what is affecting the obscure species coexisting with our favorite upland game birds. But we should care because pinyon jays share habitat with many upland species we love and hunt.

Yes, they live among sage-grouse, but they also share their habitat with chukar, Hungarian partridge, and sharp-tailed grouse. Outside of upland game, you have mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, pronghorn, bobcats, and many other species hunters love. They all share the same habitat.

If we view the ecosystem as a whole, the reasons to care about an obscure species nearing the threat of extinction become evident. What about the fact we should do everything we can on our watch not to let a species disappear. It is our responsibility to leave what is here today for those tomorrow. Also, if a species is disappearing from a habitat type we love to hunt upland game in, who’s to say our huntable species aren’t next? If we break something in the ecosystem, it’s our responsibility to attempt to fix it.

Pinyon jay conservation can and does directly impact how we use sagebrush landscapes as upland hunters, recreationists, ranchers, campers, hikers, photographers, and much more. Pay very close attention because if they do end up requiring federal ESA protections, new regulations may complicate our lives as land users in sagebrush country.

A Conservation JuxtapositionSome conservation groups are saying we need to quit, or at least dramatically slow down, removing pinyon pine and juniper woodlands as an effective restoration method for creating sage-grouse habitat because of a perceived paradox. They believe that by removing pinyon and juniper, we are removing Pinyon jay habitat. Our limited understanding of Pinyon jay habitat use is resulting in the perception that some species are winning while others are losing as successful conifer removal for sage-grouse expands.

If you hunt sage-grouse, this should concern you. It’s a perceived juxtaposition pitting pinyon jay and sage grouse conservation against one another.

A counterpoint to this perceived paradox is the fact pinyon jay populations have declined despite dramatic increases in pinyon and juniper woodlands over the last 70 years. This interesting fact leaves many wildlife managers scratching their heads because, usually, we see species decline with the loss of their habitat; that’s what happened to sage-grouse. With the pinyon jay, we have seen the species decline during a time when pinyon and juniper habitat has increased. In recent research, Boone et al. 2018 stated pinyon jay declines are more likely caused by “changes in habitat structure and quality, landscape-scale structural changes, and pine productivity, some of which are likely mediated by changes in climate.”

Pinyon Jays May Become Protected By The ESAIn 2022, a petition was filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally requesting that pinyon jays receive ESA protection. As a result, FWS found substantial evidence that a listing may be needed. As of now, FWS is conducting a thorough review of pinyon jay populations. Then, the agency will make a final determination as to whether federal ESA protection is necessary or not. When making these decisions, FWS considers a diverse set of factors affecting species conservation, such as current threats, future threats, habitat, and regulatory mechanisms protecting species. A decision is expected soon.

A good thing we have going for us is that we have a successful model of averting federal ESA protection for a sagebrush bird species while increasing population numbers with sage-grouse. Many hope this proven conservation model of applied research and habitat restoration can be used with the pinyon jay during the next few decades. In an ideal future, we will tell the same success story about pinyon jays as we are about sage-grouse; ramped-up research, knowledge, and conservation work led to more habitat and more pinyon jays without the need for ESA protection.

Protecting Sage Grouse and Pinyon Jays For the FutureI envision a future where my posterity two, three, four generations from now still bounce down a dusty pitted dirt road with bird dogs in the bed of a truck. A world where flocks of pinyon jays fly over a dog pointing a flock of sage-grouse. A world where, perhaps like me, my future bloodline designs sagebrush habitat restoration projects for sage-grouse and pinyon jays alike, but with a greater scientific understanding of how one bird’s needs influence the other’s.

As upland enthusiasts, we need to support conservation and research of all sorts, not just projects focused on huntable species. Whether it be bats, bees, songbirds, plants, soils, snakes (yes, even snakes), or the pinyon jay, that research needs support. If the ecosystem isn’t functioning with all its parts working as a whole, then the habitat isn’t fully functioning for our huntable species, either.

This whole-ecosystem-function thing reminds me of a recent experience with a fancy outdoor lounging chair I purchased. The chair came in a box and required me to put it together. During the process, I found out I was missing a small bolt. I was able to get the chair together nicely and considered the little bolt meaningless to overall functionality as I sat and reclined proudly. I used the chair all summer long and loved reclining in the cool summer shade of my back porch. Suddenly, after months of use, the chair folded and sandwiched me inside. The missing little bolt wasn’t so meaningless after all. The chair failed where the missing bolt should have been because of slow incremental pressure at an adjacent joint. Little by little, the stress of the missing piece compounded until, one day, the whole system fell apart.

If we ignore the pinyon jay and deem it insignificant to the landscape, little by little, the stress causing pinyon jays to decline might cause a much larger system to collapse, negatively affecting what we love, including our iconic sage-grouse and many other species.

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Sage, butter, and white wine bring the complex flavors of ruffed grouse to life in this traditional Italian recipeSaltimbocca translates to “jumps in your mouth.”

My version is loosely based on Saltimbocca alla Romana. It is a Roman dish, traditionally made with veal. Italians always use top-quality ingredients; to me, the ruffed grouse is certainly top quality. The sage, butter, and white wine flavors are perfectly married in this dish. Along with the grouse, this dish will “jump in your mouth,” just as the name says.

This recipe can easily be made at your grouse camp and is perfect for anyone who likes to skin their birds, as it doesn’t require the breast to have skin on.

PrintRuffed Grouse SaltimboccaAn easy Italian dish that highlights the complex flavors of ruffed grouseCourse Main CourseCuisine ItalianKeyword Grouse, Ruffed GrousePrep Time 15 minutes minutesCook Time 20 minutes minutesTotal Time 35 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 287kcalIngredients 4 grouse breasts skinned and tenders removed * 10 sage leaves * 4 slices prosciutto * Olive oil * 4 tbsp unsalted butter * ½ cup dry white wine * Flour for dredging Instructions Place the grouse breasts on a chopping board, leaving a little space between them. Cover them with clingfilm and gently pound them out using your fists or a rolling pin until they are about ¼” thick. * Season each breast with pepper. There’s no need for salt since the prosciutto is quite salty already. * Take a slice of prosciutto and press it onto each breast. Fold any excess onto itself and make sure it sticks to the breast. * Lightly dredge each piece in the flour and shake off the excess. * In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the 10 sage leaves and cook until crispy. Be careful not to burn them. Once they’re crispy, remove them from the pan and set them aside. * In the same pan, add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium-high heat. Add 2 breasts, prosciutto side down, and fry them for two minutes until the prosciutto is crispy. Then, turn them over and fry the breasts for another two minutes until golden brown. Set them aside on a plate and cover them with foil. Do the same with the other two, adding more butter if needed. Set them aside with the other 2 breasts on the covered plate. * Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up the brown bits in the pan. Then, reduce the sauce by half. Remove the pan from the heat and add the remaining butter one tablespoon at a time. Whisk until the butter is incorporated and has a glossy look. Break up some of the crispy sage leaves and add them in, too. * Place each grouse breast on a warm plate and pour sauce over each breast. Garnish with the remaining crispy sage leaves. * Serve with your choice of sides. I recommend roasted potatoes, sautéed greens like Swiss chard, and good crusty bread to help you mop up the sauce left on your plate. NutritionCalories: 287kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 187mg | Potassium: 459mg | Fiber: 0.01g | Sugar: 0.3g | Vitamin A: 387IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mgThe post Grouse Saltimbocca appeared first on Project Upland.

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Explore the history, trainability, personality, and form of the popular flushing breed, the Springer Spaniel.My first-ever interaction with an English Springer Spaniel was when my wife, Emily, brought one home. When considering which dog breed our first hunting dog should be, we ultimately landed on the one with which Emily was most familiar. She grew up with Springers, and consequently, that is where we landed. At that time, we weren’t aware of the differences between bench and field bred dogs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as our involvement in bird hunting deepened, so did our knowledge of the breed.

Our first dog, Dixie, was most likely a bench bred dog. Bench bred dogs are those who are bred with the goal of placing in the show ring. I say most likely because she came from an inconspicuous farm litter but was physically more similar to a bench dog (we’ll get into that in a bit).

As Dixie got older, we got on a list for a field bred Springer Spaniel. These dogs are bred with the rigors of field trials and hunt tests in mind; hence the term field bred. Our first field bred dog, Timber, died from a gastrointestinal fungal infection before her second birthday. At that point, we got Fern. Then, roughly a year later, Wild, who has the same mother as Timber, joined our family.

Our experiences with Timber and our subsequent Springers introduced us to Cristy Joy, the current president of the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association (ESSFTA), which was founded in 1924. She has a wealth of knowledge regarding Springer Spaniels and shares a bit of it below.

Springer Spaniel Characteristics and Form

| Characteristics | Details | | Name | Pre-1902: “Springer”Post-1902: English Springer Spaniel | | Size | Medium; 19-20” at the shoulders and 40-50 pounds, respectively. | | Tail | Equal consideration to docked and undocked tails. Bench dogs are typically docked at ¼ length, while field dogs are typically docked around ¾ length. | | Coat | Of moderate length with feathering behind the legs, ears, and tail. Varies in coarseness. | | Coat Color | Liver/white; black/white; tri-color (either of the aforementioned with tan); blue or liver roan is also in the standard | | Health Issues | Ear infections; some hereditary eye disorders; hip dysplasia and elbow issues | | Character | Intelligent, biddable, eager | | Population | AKC registered ESS each year average for the last 3 years is 4,516 | | Range | Close; inside gun range | | Pace | Quick | | Good Choice For | Pheasant, typically, but will hunt grouse and woodcock |

English Springer Spaniels are a medium-sized breed. Female dogs bred for the show ring are ideally around 19 inches at the shoulders. Males are a touch taller at 20 inches. They range between 40 and 50 pounds, respectively. As with any dog, however, form and function exist in tension. It is possible to find field bred dogs that are of slighter stature than their bench bred counterparts.

Their coats are typically moderate in length and range in coarseness. Joy identified black and white, liver and white, tri-color (either black and white or liver and white with tan) as the AKC competition-approved colors for the Breed. In 1994, several colors were identified as alternate/non-standard colors that can be a registered, purebred English Springer Spaniel. They are rare and include lemon and white, orange and white, red and white with marking descriptions or a spotted or ticked roan.

Tail length is not a consideration in shows. However, bench dogs in the United States typically sport tails docked around ¼ length. Their field bred counterparts are around ¾ length. In some countries where the docking of tails is illegal, the tails are obviously left intact. According to Joy, the AKC recently approved giving equal consideration to docked or undocked English Springer Spaniel tails in the USA conformation ring.

Perhaps the most appealing part of Springer Spaniels is their personalities. In Joy’s words, they are “fun-loving, aim to please, want to be your best friend all the time.” They are intelligent and eager dogs who enjoy being with their people. In the field, they are quick-running and cover ground efficiently with a natural quarter. They enjoy activities that are not only physically exerting but also mentally stimulating.

While the aspects of personality and biddability are present in all Springer Spaniels, you are far more likely to find the characteristics desired by hunters in field bred lines. Strong prey drive, a great nose, high athleticism, and more compact size, to name a few characteristics, are more congruent with the rigors of the field. The reality, according to Joy, is that, like all breeds, they are bred to meet specific goals. Field dogs are bred to meet the training goals of those engaged in hunting pursuits and, sometimes, specifically for field trials.

Springer Spaniel Training and Hunting AbilitiesThere are many fantastic resources available that deal with the specifics of training a Springer Spaniel from puppy to finished dog (see HUP!: Training Flushing Spaniels The American Way). With that in mind, however, it is important to note that this is a breed that enjoys activity of both a physical and mental nature. It is likely that you will find that 20 minutes of mental exercise is as effective in tiring your dog as 40 minutes of physical exercise.

Joy cites that a Springer’s biddability is a key component of both its trainability and hunting capabilities. “They perform best with a job,” she says, and she indicated that there are around 14 AKC-sanctioned events in which Springers can participate, and others outside of the AKC’s umbrella.

Springers hunt within gun range by necessity. They run with a natural quartering pattern that is easily honed to the hunter’s expectations. This pattern can have the appearance of a windshield wiper or can be permitted some creative freedom for the dog to use the wind to their advantage in locating game. Think of a figure eight-type pattern in which the dog’s outward cut is oriented to work back toward the hunter with the wind at its nose.

They are flushing dogs and, therefore, will not stop once they have located a bird. In fact, the opposite is quite true. Springers are supposed to flush birds hard. Finished dogs are trained to stop, or “hup” (Spaniel talk for sit), at the flush and be steady through shot and fall. As a dog with good retrieval instincts, it is vital as well that the dog be proficient in marking downed game and have the perseverance to locate and retrieve to hand.

The reality is that if the work requires biddability, a strong nose, and athleticism, they can likely be trained to do it. “Their range,” Joy says, “ranges from helping the United States Coast Guard get rid of vermin in shipping containers and ships to serving as therapy dogs.”

Field SearchAs mentioned above, Springers work cover, whether field or wood, with intensity. They boast strong noses. That, combined with their quartering pattern and pace, means they can cover large areas with ease and, according to Joy, are fearless in cover. A dog’s flush should be of sufficient force and intensity that game is sprung well within gun range. Like all hunting dogs, those instincts can be further developed by their handle or trainer to meet their needs.

Retrieving and Water WorkSpringers are flushing dogs that are capable retrievers for water work. According to Joy, retrieving is fast regardless of terrain or water–Springers fulfill their tasks enthusiastically. In field trials, for example, Springers are required to complete their retrieves as part of the scoring. According to Joy, “In order to be titled, Springers must pass a water test, which means completing back-to-back retrieves.” In referencing the Field Trial Rules and Standard Procedure for Spaniels from the AKC, Joy describes the water test as “two back-to-back, open water, 30-40 yard retrieves of dead ducks or dead pheasants with gunshot. The dog is to be backed up to 10 to 15 yards from the bank for its entry.” A soft mouth is a valuable trait in Springers, resulting in the returned game being undamaged.

As of 2022, Springers are permitted to run in AKC retriever hunt tests.

FlushingIf you have witnessed a pointing breed work, you have no doubt had the joy of watching a dog slam into a point, pinning a bird, which then holds until the hunter kicks up the bird for the shot. The dog, after the hunter flushes the bird, is ideally steady through the shot and fall of the bird.

Flushing dogs, in contrast, and as indicated prior, run in a quartering pattern in search of quarry. Upon location of game, they target that area until a bird is produced. The ideal flush is hard, putting the bird into the air. Finished dogs are expected to stop on the flush and be steady through the shot, mark the fall, and be released for the retrieve to hand.

Flushing dogs, by nature, must work within gun range. The entire premise of flushing is negated if the dog is hunting on his or her own outside of gun range. My personal comparison of the pointing breed equivalent of this is ripping birds (as opposed to bumping them carelessly).

Springer Spaniel History and Development in AmericaAccording to the ESSFTA, Springers can trace their legacies back to the early common era in the British Isles and possibly originated on the European continent. Initially used in conjunction with hawks and falcons, they had great success in “springing” game for the birds. Advances in firearms made the dogs further suited for hunting pursuits.

Smaller dogs from these litters were, perhaps obviously, used for hunting woodcock. This approach ultimately led to the establishment of the Cocker Spaniel.

As their modern name implies, English Springer Spaniels were brought to the Americas from England in the early 1900’s. Under the guidance of the newly minted English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association, dogs were showed and trialed. That approach persisted until the lines were effectively split by the mid-1900s. As an example, the last dual champion Springer, Green Valley Punch, won in 1938.

This more specialized approach to breeding created very distinct differences between bench dogs and their field bred counterparts.

The dogs continue to be popular in field trials and hunt tests across North America. While not, perhaps, as popular in certain locales as their pointing cousins, Springers can be found throughout covers, fields, and blinds. As mentioned above, over 4,500 dogs were registered with the AKC, on average, each of the last three years. Only 10 percent of Springer owners are members of the ESSFTA, a number Joy would like to see increase.

Springer Spaniel Clubs and Groups* English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association * Eastern English Springer Spaniel Club * English Springer Spaniel Club – UK * Spaniel Club Français * Spaniel Club Deutschland e.V. * https://www.birddogfoundation.com/

Events with ESSFTA National Support and AwardsConformation Dog Shows

• Match Shows
• 4-6 Month Beginner Puppy
• Puppy of Achievement
• National Owner Handled Series
• FSS Open Show

Companion Sports

• Agility
• Obedience
• Rally
• Tracking

Title Recognition Program

• Public Service Dog
• Barn Hunt
• Disc Dog
• Diving Dogs
• Flyball
• Search & Rescue
• Parent Club Title Recognition

Performance Sports

• Field Events for Hounds
• Coursing, CAT & FAST CAT
• Herding & Farm Dog
• Scent Work
• Spaniels & Flushing Breeds

Sports for Juniors

• Junior Showmanship
• Juniors in Companion Events
• Juniors in Performance Events
• PeeWee Special Attractions

AKC Family Dog Program

• CGC & AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy
• AKC Trick Dog
• AKC Therapy Dog
• AKC Fit Dog
• AKC Temperament Test
• AKC Fetch

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Mushrooms don’t have to be intimidating — with some basic preparation, you can forage safely and enjoy a new activitySo many of us grew up hearing from our elders that mushrooms are dangerous and should be left alone. My own Coloradan grandma always told us, “Don’t touch any mushrooms unless you know what they are.” She was right, but over the years, I’ve learned that you do not need to be an expert to learn to forage for mushrooms safely. If you are careful, use an identification book or two, and check with the experts to learn your identifying characteristics, you can forage mushrooms. All you need is a little confidence and curiosity.

Why Forage For Mushrooms?Mushrooms offer climate change solutions.It is estimated that humans have discovered only three to eight percent of fungal species on the planet, many of which can break down and remediate oil spills and plastic waste. Others can feed and attract insects with their smells and bright colors – these insects, in turn, pollinate flowers and nurture forests. A recent study has shown that “mycorrhizal fungi are responsible for holding up to 36 percent of yearly global fossil fuel emissions below ground – more than China emits yearly.” If we were to further our enthusiasm and research in the fungal world, imagine what else we might unearth to help our planet. When we recognize the importance of fungi in nature, we gain a greater appreciation for them as a resource.

Mushrooms also have many health benefits. Not only do mushrooms typically contain an incredible amount of protein and vitamins, but they can also boost the immune system, reduce blood pressure, improve gut health, improve cognitive function, lower blood sugar, improve sleep, boost energy, improve lung function, fight cancer, and alleviate anxiety and depression. Agarikon, a polypore fungus that thrives in old-growth forests, has antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antibiotic properties.

In addition to being a healthy food source, foraging for mushrooms encourages outdoor friends and family time. We live in a time where screen time has replaced high-quality, in-person human interactions, and our primary space is indoors. Studies have been conducted on the positive psychological effects of spending time under the trees, or “forest bathing.” I firmly believe that involving kids in outdoor activities from a young age is good for family and child development. Under-the-trees activities, including hunting for wild mushrooms, teach kids to genuinely appreciate our forests, nature, and the impact that our footsteps can make.

The biggest reason why you should forage for mushrooms is because they’re delicious. But you probably already know this.

How to Begin Looking For MushroomsLearning how to forage for mushrooms can be very intimidating due to the risks of misidentifying a species. Resources like identification books, pocket guides, and mycology clubs will help you get your foot in the door and provide accurate information so you know precisely which mushroom you’re picking.

Regarding identification guides, get a well-recommended ID book or two. Keep one in your mushroom bag to take into the field, and stash a more comprehensive guide in your car or at home. Remember that I shop for guides relevant to the local areas I forage in, which, in this case, is the Pacific Northwest (PNW).

Pocket guides that are great for storing in your bag or backpack include All the Rain Promises & More by David Arora and Mushrooms of the Northwest by Teresa Marrone and Drew Parker. Large, comprehensive guides I live by include Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast by Christian Schwarz and Noah Siegel, Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora, and Mushrooms of British Columbia by Andy MacKinnon and Kem Luther.

After you’ve acquired some ID guides, join a local mycology association. Becoming a group member allows you to participate in local forays, learn from experts, bring in samples, and attend meetings covering crucial information about foraging locally. A few local groups to look at in the PNW are:

• Oregon Mycological Society
• Willamette Valley Mushroom Society
• Cascade Mycological Society

Join social media groups online to complement your in-person time in mycology clubs. In my experience, mushroom enthusiast group members love sharing their knowledge and expertise with new foragers. Post photos of a mushroom you are trying to identify, and you will get some good help. Some solid Facebook groups I participate in include:

• PNW Mushroom Foraging and Identification
• Mushroom Pickers of the Pacific Northwest
• PNW Women’s Wild Foraging and Bushcraft Connection

One of the things I learned early on was to bring two mushroom collection bags. One is for your edible mushrooms, and the other is for holding a couple of mushrooms you want to identify. Harvesting unknown mushrooms is how we become better identifiers, so don’t be afraid to pick mushrooms you aren’t familiar with. Just be sure not to eat them!

Lastly, get out and cover ground. Just like a great hunter isn’t going to spill their favorite hunting spot secrets to anyone, experienced foragers will not simply tell you where to go to fill up a bag with edible mushrooms. Why? Finding great mushroom foraging grounds requires lots of research and trial and error. Sometimes, foragers come up empty-handed for years. Get out when the rain begins after summer and head into your local forested parks, preferably up to the mountains or the coast. Explore dirt and gravel roads and cover some serious ground. This is the best way to learn how to forage for mushrooms.

What To Bring When Foraging for MushroomsWhen foraging in the woods, safety always comes first.Every year in Oregon, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts go missing. Some remain unfound. Bring a physical topographical map and download a GPS app on your phone. I like Gaia and have also used OnX Hunt. Before leaving for a forage, notify a friend or relative of your general destination and when you plan to return. I also strongly recommend bringing a buddy with you. Lastly, remember that mushroom hunters are not the only hunters in the forest. Be sure to verify your area’s open hunting seasons and wear bright colors if necessary.

Mushroom Foraging Equipment* Backpack * Large mushroom bag or basket, plus another small mesh ID bag * Knives/brushes (for dirt and debris removal) * Identification book(s) * Bear spray (and mace) * Topo map and phone with GPS app * Power bank for your phone * Water, emergency snacks, flashlight, rain gear, and an extra layer of clothing * First aid kit * Walkie-talkies if you’re with others * Candy. It’s invaluable when used as a mushroom-finding bribe if you’re with kids (or with adults who need extra incentives)

If you’re interested in foraging for mushrooms, check to see if where you’re going requires a permit. Certain public lands require permits for mushroom foraging. Mt. Hood National Forest, for example, requires a special permit if you plan on harvesting more than a gallon of wild mushrooms in a day per person or 10 gallons per year. A bit of due diligence can preempt a lot of embarrassment or even a fine.

Where and When to Look for MushroomsWhen looking for mushroom habitat, look for microclimates. These are areas where conditions can differ from the larger surrounding physical environment. Microclimates hold pockets of edible mushrooms that can seemingly erupt out of nowhere when conditions are right. You’ll find that these little microclimates can really affect the way mushrooms fruit. In Oregon, there are a variety of microclimates, given the wide variety of habitat types that exist here.

Spring and fall are the most prolific seasons for mushroom growth. Different mushroom types have their seasons, but typically, they all need a bit of moisture and warmth. When it gets too hot or cold, mushrooms will not fruit, just like flowers. That said, mushroom foraging can be done almost all year round – which is good because it becomes addicting.

Common Edible MushroomsWith 120,000 species of identified mushrooms, we don’t have time to learn them all! Let’s look at the six most common edible mushroom species in my neck of the woods, Oregon, and throughout the West.

Cantharellus (chanterelle) The phrase “follow the yellow brick road” is often used in my family when we find one of these because they often cascade down a hillside or trail in a line. Chanterelles begin fruiting in late summer and usually last until the first significant freeze.

Boletus (bolete) These are my absolute favorite to find because of their size; they can grow to be several pounds and as large as a globe! Boletes usually fruit beginning in May and continue fruiting into November or until temperatures drop below freezing.

Morchella (morel)My dad and stepmom always say morels “grow where they grow,” which I believe now after returning from many spring trips to the woods with an empty basket. This can be the trickiest mushroom of all, but also the one people are most interested in learning about. Morels fruit as early as March and as late as August, but the bulk of these are found in May and June, depending on moisture and elevation.

Pleurotus (oyster)Oysters are shelf-looking, thin mushrooms that grow out of decaying wood. They fruit in clusters from early spring through summer and into fall. After a rain, oysters can grow by twice their size daily.

Hericium (comb tooth, lion’s mane, bear’s head, etc.)Hericium species generally resemble white to cream-colored “waterfall-like” clusters of spikes cascading down vertically, sometimes with branches shooting off in multiple directions. They are typically late summer to late fall mushrooms here in Oregon, depending on our crazy weather. Hericium species grow on decaying wood and never in the ground.

Hydnum (hedgehog)This cold-weather fruiting mushroom grows near both the Coast Range and the Cascades. The hedgehog has little and fragile spines underneath the cap, ranging in color from white to orange.

Plucking Versus Cutting MushroomsPlucking or picking mushrooms versus cutting mushrooms is very subjective. This is a commonly argued question and possibly one of the touchiest subjects among mushroom foragers, commercial pickers, and amateurs alike. I am not going to weigh in on this. Still, I can tell you that most mycologists and professional mushroom foragers say that it does not matter either way and that neither method will typically inhibit the future growth of the mycelium, which is the underground “root” or growth system of the mushroom.

You are more capable than you think, and there is no need to be afraid of mushrooms. Hit the “bush” (as I like to call it), explore, look down, go slow, look around, and take samples home to research. The more you go out to the forest, the more addicting this activity becomes and the more you’ll know about your favorite forests and wildlands.

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Understanding what “best quality guns” are when it comes to fine, English-made shotguns.Having dealt with so-called “fine” firearms for decades, the question “What exactly is a ‘best gun?’” comes up a lot. Explaining what a best gun is can be challenging because it’s more of a concept or ethos to building a gun, not something that follows a set of rules or criteria. As such, the term is used quite liberally, especially when it comes to shotguns. Moreover, best quality shotguns made by English gunmakers are rare by any measure, giving them an almost mythical status. This makes the term “best quality” even more abstract.

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The use of “best quality” goes back to the early 1800s. The words describe just that: the best gun that could be built. Most of the time, the term “best quality” is used, and it refers to a gun or rifle made to order, or bespoke, by an English gunmaker such as Boss & Co., J. Purdey & Sons, or Holland & Holland. These firms are known for producing firearms built with the best materials, craftsmanship, and design to produce guns made to the highest standards in both form and function, regardless of the time or cost required. For these select English makers, a “best quality” gun is actually their “standard” model, and these guns have literally set the standard worldwide by which all other double guns are compared.

Shotgun Quality Versus GradeFor many, “best quality” describes a gun that is so well made, it is wildly expensive. It’s true. For the most part, they are produced one at a time and made by hand. Due to the level of expertise and time required to make them, best quality guns have always come with very high price tags. Simply put, making a gun by hand to such high standards is terribly inefficient and offers no economies of scale. Thus, new guns deserving the “best quality” title have price tags that match the price of a house. Still, no machine has been invented that can produce the subtleties that trained hands can do, and the demand for such items continues today.

In the English gun trade, the term “quality” is used, whereas an American gun company might use the word grade. The Birmingham makers often offered a variety of different grades, or qualities, of guns. For example, “gamekeeper’s” guns were made with little to no embellishment and were often based on a boxlock action in which a functional version could be made without requiring a high level of skill or expense to produce.

There’s a Variety of Best Quality GunsMost of the London makers known for best quality guns, at one time or another, also made guns to be sold at a lower price point. These lower-priced guns were offered as an effort to put their guns in the hands of customers who were either not willing or not able to afford a best quality. However, if one wants the features on a gun that a certain maker is famous for, that buyer often has to step up to the best quality gun to get them. At the same time, most makers also made highly embellished versions of their best guns. These are simply deluxe or exhibition grades, made to the same demanding standards as a best quality, just with more bling.

It is important to remember that the amount of embellishment on a gun does not make it a best quality. Some best quality guns were made with no engraving at all. Purdey’s and Westley Richards & Co. are both well known for the guns they produced with no engraving. Westley Richards still produces a gun today that originally was referred to in company literature as a “best quality, plain finish,” colloquially known as a “gold name” today.

Gold name guns are made just as well as any best gun by Westley’s, but the case-colored receiver has no engraving, only the maker’s name in gold. Purdey’s is also famous for the “unengraved” guns they produced, often referred to as “funeral” models due to having no engraving and only a deep black finish on the metal. Again, the level of engraving does not make a gun best quality; it is simply a component that may or may not be present.

Best Quality Guns Are Visually Pleasing And Function FlawlesslyTo me, a best quality gun is the sum of its parts. They are perfectly blended to be pleasing to the eye and flawless in function. However, there are no hard and fast rules on what makes a best gun. You just know it when you see it, or rather, feel it. The proportion and scale of best quality English-made guns are often what gun enthusiasts admire about a gun, but have a hard time articulating. It is the expertise of the action filer, the stocker, and the barrel maker who can produce a gun with no excess. These gunmakers have the skill and are given the time, with no consideration of costs, to do it.

As it has always been, best quality guns made in England are a luxury good and a sign of wealth. As such, best quality guns have been marketed to royalty, aristocrats, and other affluent customers. It is safe to say that anything described as a “luxury” item is going to be out of my price range. Even though I may never own a gun that costs four times as much as my first home, I do still marvel at their craftsmanship, ingenuity, and beauty. These features make me interested in knowing about luxury guns. After all, the breechloading gun has its origins in the best quality guns invented and made by the English gunmakers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Learning about these guns helps me have an appreciation for what a good value a Spanish gun might be, where a lot of the influence on American-made guns came from, or why my vintage English-made boxlock is cool even if it is not considered a best gun. If you’re anything like me, best quality guns can inform your choices when shopping at lower price points and help you identify quality characteristics that set some shotguns apart from others.

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Sweet and spicy wild game tacos featuring tender cottontail rabbit meatRabbits are three things: Cute, overpopulated, and tasty. Did I mention they breed prolifically?

In many states overrun by cottontails, the hunting season for these bunnies is year-round. Make sure to check your state’s rabbit hunting regulations before taking your shotgun for a walk, though. Personally, I leave my dog behind when targeting rabbits. In the warmer months, dogs can overheat more quickly. I also don’t ever like pointing the shotgun at the ground when running my dog, as he is guaranteed to turn a rabbit hunt into a high-speed pursuit through thick cover and bramble the moment Peter flushes.

Whether wild or domestic, rabbit is an incredibly healthy meat to eat. However, it does require some TLC to tenderize, especially with more mature wild rabbits. Similarly to upland bird thighs and legs, you want to braise rabbit meat, which means searing then simmering the meat in liquid over an extended period of time.

These low-and-slow cooking methods aid in the breakdown of collagen. Most wild critters contain more collagen than their domestic counterparts, and this collagen will toughen up before turning to gelatin, ultimately tenderizing the meat.

Patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to cooking certain critters. In the case of cottontail, it is so worth the wait.

PrintCottontail TacosGo low and slow to cook rabbit into tender bites for these tacosCourse Main CourseCuisine MexicanKeyword rabbitPrep Time 20 minutes minutesCook Time 3 hours hoursTotal Time 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 607kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 1 whole rabbit quartered and loins pulled * Olive oil * Corn tortillas Spice Mix 1 tsp kosher salt * 1 tsp paprika * ½ tsp granulated garlic * ½ tsp ground ginger * ½ tsp ground mustard * ½ tsp white pepper * ½ tsp oregano dried * ¼ tsp cumin * ¼ tso coriander Braising Liquid 2 cups pineapple juice * 2 cups chicken stock * 8 oz Coca-Cola Toppings 8 jalapeños smoked and seeded * 1 medium red onion finely minced * 2 avocados sliced * 2 limes sliced * Fresh cilantro chopped * Cotija cheese or queso fresco Instructions* To butcher a rabbit, follow the steps here. * After your rabbit is butchered, mix the spices together in a bowl. Then, apply the seasoning liberally to all the rabbit cuts. Leave the seasoned meat in the fridge for a couple of hours, uncovered, to allow the meat to absorb the spices and to dry out the surface of the meat. * To cook the rabbit, add a bit of olive oil to a large skillet and turn the heat on medium. Once the oil reaches 325 F, sear all the sides of the rabbit pieces, one or two quarters at a time. Do not cook the rabbit’s loins yet. Be careful not to crowd the pan, meaning the skillet should never be more than half full. A crowded pan causes the meat to steam, softening the exterior and preventing caramelization. * Once all quarters are seared, add them to the skillet and cover them with pineapple juice, chicken stock, and Coca-Cola. Place the lid over the skillet and turn the heat to medium-low so the liquids barely simmer. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Add more chicken stock if the liquids get low. * While the rabbit is simmering, smoke the jalapeños for 2 hours at 200 F. Then, take them out of the smoker, cut off the stems, and remove the seeds. Set the jalapeños aside until ready to serve. * Once the rabbit meat is falling off the bone, chop the fresh cilantro, slice the avocados and limes, and finely mince the red onion. Preheat your oven to 400 F. * In a separate small skillet, add a thin layer of olive oil and heat on medium-high. Sear the rabbit loins quickly and evenly on all sides, then set them aside. * When the oven is preheated, add the corn tortillas directly to the oven rack and toast them for a few minutes. * To assemble the tacos, shred the rabbit meat off the quarters. Leave the loins whole. Add the whole loins to tortillas by themselves. Add the shredded rabbit meat to the other tortillas. Top each taco with minced onion, sliced avocado, jalapeño, cheese, and chopped cilantro. Spoon leftover braising liquids overtop. Squeeze a bit of lime over the top and serve. NutritionCalories: 607kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 61g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 206mg | Sodium: 893mg | Potassium: 1875mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 524IU | Vitamin C: 69mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 10mgThe post Cottontail Tacos appeared first on Project Upland.

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Drought-like conditions combined with heavy predation led the California turkey to extinction over 10,000 years ago.Depending on where in the world you’re hunting turkeys, you may be fortunate to see other remarkable wildlife while you sit and hammer on your box or slate call. You may even have one or two curious predatory critters come into your calls, hoping for an easy meal.

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For many modern turkey species, their main predators are owls, coyotes, and cougars. But what if they were golden eagles, sabertooth tigers, or dire wolves? What about sitting on the edge of a clearing and watching giant ground sloths, mammoths, and mastodons frolic in the early morning mist while you wait for a big old tom to come in?

For the extinct California turkey, life, including the flora and fauna that surrounded them, looked very different from today.

Discovery and Classification of the California TurkeyThe California Turkey, or Melegaris californica, was first identified by samples found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California, by Loye. H. Miller in 1909. Unfortunately, his initial assessment incorrectly classified this biological evidence as being part of the peacock family. However, he later changed his understanding and theory, believing it to be an intermediary species between peacocks and turkeys. It wouldn’t be until 1924 that his findings were correctly classified as its own unique but extinct species, one that had been isolated from cross-breeding with other subspecies of wild turkey due to its geographic location and the physical barriers found in the desert and surrounding mountains.

La Brea Tar Pits and Museum researchers highlight how natural barriers protected the California turkey gene pool while also isolating it, prohibiting cross-breeding with other subspecies, “We have not been able to successfully retrieve DNA from fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits. That being said, it appears unlikely that the California turkey interbred with the modern wild turkey, as their distributional ranges seem to have been divided by the Sierra Nevada during the late Pleistocene. It is thus improbable that any genetic material in modern turkeys comes directly from the extinct California turkey.”

Based on its fossil records, the California turkey is more closely related to eastern wild turkeys than Merriam’s. It also appears the California turkey was endemic to California, with a range from Orange County in the south through LA County to Santa Barbara County in the north.

Bones of birds representing all stages of development, from day-old chicks to nearly adult individuals, have been recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits, providing one of the best records of life during the Pleistocene era. Nearly 12,000 bones representing more than 700 individual birds have been pulled from the La Brea Tar pits outside of Los Angeles.

Today, it’s thought that the California turkey arose evolutionarily about 11 million years ago and went extinct 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Spur from an the extinct California turkey at a dig site – Credit: La Brea Tar Pits and MuseumPhysical Characteristics of the California TurkeyThe careful assessment and analysis of thousands of different California turkey specimens allowed researchers to develop a better understanding of the bird’s physical traits and characteristics. M. californica was slightly smaller than its modern wild turkey counterparts.

One of the last major studies of bones and fossilized records of M. californica was done in 1980 by Steadman. He reexamined the bird’s skeletal information, allowing scientists to study specific bone samples from different turkey species, including M. gallopavo and M. ocellata. This work showed that the extinct M. californica shared more physical features in common with eastern wild turkeys than other modern subspecies.

Researchers from the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum suggest, “Based on the bones, the California turkey was smaller and shorter-legged than the modern wild turkey with a slightly shorter, flatter, and wider beak.” A study by Bochenski and Campbell from 2006 shows that the extinct species M. californica is most similar to M. gallopavo, with which it shares nearly half of all the character traits that were analyzed (sizes of different bones, bone ratios, etc.).

Bochenski and Campbell also hypothesize that, just like its modern counterparts, the California turkey utilized unique vocalizations to communicate with other turkeys. It may have been because of its ability to call to other members of its species that such a high number of birds were found in the tar pits. The theory is that the birds that became immobilized in the tar would cry for help, which in turn would cause members of the flock to approach, who would also become stuck.

Illustration of the California Turkey – Credit: Pleistocene wild turkeys, detail from mural Trapped in Time copyright 1987 Mark Hallett.California Turkey PredationMuch like the wild turkeys of today, M. californica had to be in a constant state of readiness, always wary of predators from the ground and air. Although there is no direct evidence, scientists from the La Brea Tar Pits hypothesize that it is likely that “coyotes and bobcats preyed upon the adults, chicks, and eggs. Smaller mammalian carnivores such as the American Badger and skunks could have also predated the nests of ancient turkeys. It is also likely that larger carnivores such as saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and short-faced bears would have also caught the occasional adult.”

Scientists hypothesize that one of the more common predators of M. californica were avian animals like golden eaglesor the extinct Woodward’s eagle. The second largest number of fossilized birds at La Brea are golden eagles, which may not be a coincidence, but a reflection of the predation on the California turkey. Scientists suggest that eagles would have hunted these turkeys while they were on the ground and on the roost.

Turkeys stuck in the tar pits would have made a tantalizing treat for any eagles flying above. The theory is that the large number of golden eagle remains in the pits indicates that birds may have tried to attack the vulnerable, exposed, immobilized turkeys. When the eagles hit their target from above, they would have anticipated being able to successfully pick up their quarry and fly away with ease. However, with the turkeys themselves firmly embedded in the tar, the eagles would have struggled, often becoming tangled in the tar themselves. This incident would have left their remains to be preserved and found by scientists thousands of years later.

As paleontologists from the La Brea Tar Pit suggest, “The California turkey appears to have been a common species (based on the large number of fossils recovered). It is possible it formed an important dietary item for carnivorous birds and mammals during the late Pleistocene.“

From “The extinct California Turkey, Meleagris californica, from Rancho La Brea: comparative osteology and systematics,” by Zbigniew M Bochenski; Kenneth E CampbellExtinction of the California TurkeyThe extinction of M. californica was not a fast occurrence but one that evolved over time due to a series of factors. Natural weather changes also heavily impacted the population numbers of this turkey. Scientists documented a steady decline in precipitation, with levels dropping significantly over a period of 100 years around 11,500 BP. A drastic change in precipitation would have had a significant impact on all flora and fauna, including the California turkey’s access to drinking water and essential roost trees.

As droughts became more frequent and extreme, water sources critical to the survival and dispersion of M. californica began to dry up. The lack of precipitation would have had a direct effect on how turkeys congregated and roosted. Not only was water essential to their own survival, but without it, their roost trees would have died or become unusable. The drought, coupled with the impact on roost trees, began to force turkeys to congregate in smaller, more densely populated areas.

Unfortunately for M. californica, predation was not limited to nonhumans. Around 12,000 BP, Paleoindian people arrived on the West Coast, which scientists believe may have put an end to an isolated and vulnerable species. The drought-like conditions made for ideal hunting conditions for early Paleoindian people, who probably quickly realized that concentrated turkeys are much easier to find and kill.

The arrival of a new, skilled, and proficient predator in the form of humans, coupled with the impact of prolonged drought conditions, spelled out the beginning of the end for California’s wild turkey. Although these birds aren’t around for modern humans to admire, if you hunt in California this year, take a minute to remember this special bird that once gobbled and clucked its way around what is now the California coastline.

*Feature Image of Skeleton of Meleagris californica on display at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits by Jonathan Chen

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Also known as wild onion or wild garlic, ramps make a natural and bright addition to any dishAfter a long, cold, and dark winter, our eyes long for any green thing to emerge from the warming earth. I’m impatient for that first bit of life to rise up and out of the soil like tongues of green fire. Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are always one of the first plants poke out of the soil in the woods, cheering me up and reassuring us that another winter has concluded.

Ramps, also called wild onions or wild garlic, grow in the eastern part of the US and Canada and seem like a cross between these two plants – part onion, part garlic. They have long been a staple of Appalachian cooking and diet. Euell Gibbons, in his classic text on foraging, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, called ramps “wild leeks” and wrote that they were “a member of the onion tribe greatly appreciated in family.” Gibbons noted in his chapter on wild onions that allium species are one of the country’s most widespread and abundant species, found in every state.

Since the rise of our globalized food system, we have grown used to eating foods out of season – strawberries in December, lettuce in January, and tomatoes in February. Up until about 100 years ago, and still in some parts of the world today, people eat seasonally, as foods ripen and can be harvested in their pre-ordained time. Ramps are still such a food, foraged and dug during a small window of April or May, depending upon your location. Their ephemeral nature, in part, makes them so appealing.

Locating Ramps In The WildBefore eating them, though, you must find them. In northern Wisconsin, I look for ramps in heavy, moist soils in hardwood forests, particularly in stands of maple. If you’re new to foraging ramps and unsure of where to find them or how to identify them, you could tag along with an experienced ramp forager, but I’ve found they often guard their secret spots the same way ruffed grouse or mushroom hunters guard the locations of their favorite coverts. This is to be expected since these foods are beloved, sometimes fragile, and always finite in number.

Before greenup is the time to find ramps. The splashes of green light up the dull colors of the woods like neon signs in the night. Often I find them underneath the just-budding maples and their flashes of red at the tips of their branches, so I search for red and green as I move through the woods. Ramps grow in perennial clusters, sometimes in prolific concentration. In my favorite patch, they grow so thick that it’s difficult to not tread on the plants. The long, flat leaves grow to between 8 and 12 inches when mature, and one flowering stem grows from each cluster of bulbs.

If you pluck a ramp leaf and taste it, you will know it by its oniony flavor. This distinguishes it from some toxic look-alikes: lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and false hellebore (Veratrum viride). Often cultivated in gardens, all parts of lily of the valley are toxic, especially its red berries. It features white bell-shaped flowers in wispy sprigs. False hellebore’s leaves are heavily ribbed and arranged spirally. Full of alkaloids, false hellebore is extremely toxic. Ramps can also be confused with bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis), which isn’t toxic, but not palatable.

The rounded stems of Allium tricoccum are tinted pinkish-purple where they rise out of the soil, which isanother way to identify the plant. This is unlike the variety Allium tricoccum burdickii, which shows white stems at the soil level. This subspecies of ramps grows in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, among other places, and is supposedly the stinky onion plant that the city of Chicago was named after, a French bastardization of the Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa.

Ramps still grow in and around Chicago, particularly in the city’s 70,000 acres of forest preserves. As ramps have become trendy, demand has grown, especially from restaurants and retail outlets. According to public television station WTTV in Chicago, poaching has been a lingering problem in the city’s forest preserves, where it is illegal to gather anything – ramps, mushrooms, antlers, even stones, I suppose. “ come out with buckets, grocery bags, garbage bags or even their purses full,” said Michael Parzygnat, a Chicago forest preserve officer. “ caught someone with a shopping cart full of 30 pounds of plants. Often in their vehicles, they’ll have even more.” Parzygnat said the forest preserve issues about 100 citations per year for poaching various things and estimated nearly half of the citations involved ramps.

Ramps are not particularly delicate plants, they just like certain soil types. Ramps also grow slowly, taking anywhere from three to eight years to mature from seedling to fully flowering and reproducing plant. They are not considered endangered, but due to their slow reproduction and popularity, it’s easy to overharvest them, especially near a densely urbanized area with high restaurant and retail demand like Chicago.

Harvesting Ramp LeavesWe can sustainably harvest ramps if we take the time and care to do so. One of the easiest and most effective ways is to only take one leaf from the plant and leave the bulb in the ground so the plant can continue to grow. Ramp greens can be used in a variety of dishes. They can be sautéed or chopped up and spread in a salad. You can infuse them in oil or butter as well as use them in a meatloaf or minced up in a salad dressing. A former neighbor used to make pesto from the leaves, and this spring, I would like to add some ramp leaves to homemade pasta since our favorite nettle patch died off and we no longer have those leaves to make nettle pasta.

Others try to leave the bottom part of the bulb in the ground so the roots can at least have a chance to grow back the plant the following year. This takes a bit more time since you need to dig away the soil to expose the bulb so you can see what you’re slicing. A tool like a Japanese hori hori garden knife and a bit of practice are required for this technique.

If you want to harvest the entire plant – leaves, stem and bulb – you should only take one bulb from every cluster of plants instead of digging up entire clumps of plants like you’re digging up potatoes. Allium tricoccum typically produces a cluster of two to six bulbs. Experts suggest taking these bulbs from only 10 to 20 percent of the plants in each clump.

We prefer to harvest our ramps in areas of precocious growth or in areas that are difficult to access. Most foragers will rarely wander more than a half mile from a trail or logging road to dig ramps, so you can rest somewhat assured that a faraway place will see little, if any, traffic other than your own boots.

Ramp Foraging RegulationsCheck your local laws and regulations concerning ramp harvesting. For instance, it is illegal to gather ramps on public land in Michigan. West Virginia has a limit of one plastic grocery bag of ramps in their national forests, which is 180 plants. You can only gather for yourself, too, which prohibits commercial gatherings for restaurants or retailers. The USDA lists ramps as “plants of special concern” in Maine, Rhode Island, and Tennessee, noting that in these places, ramps are vulnerable and their populations are on the edge of becoming endangered.

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, after a five-year study revealed a steep decline in ramp plants due to over-harvesting, the park outlawed ramp harvesting. Poaching ramps in the national park could lead to as much as a $5,000 fine or even jail time. The study “The Impact of Harvesting Ramps in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park” showed it can take up to 20 years for a ramp patch to recover fully when the plants are extensively harvested. According to the park superintendent at that time, Michael Tolefson, before the ban ramp was enacted, harvesters routinely took all of their peck-a-day limits from one patch which didn’t leave enough plants to regenerate that patch. This practice was not sustainable; ramps were disappearing and so the ban was enacted.

Whether we’re harvesting upland birds or foraging ramps from public lands, we need to be safe rather than sorry. By the time we notice that a local population of ramps or ruffed grouse is in decline, it might be too late. And it would be a much grayer springtime without the drumming of grouse or the welcome green and tangy taste of ramps.

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Steadiness training can be broken down into four phases: steady to flush, steady to wing, steady to shot, and steady to fall. Here, we explore the dynamics of each learning stage for a pointing dog.During 2023’s opening weekend of bird hunting, I ran into a gentleman enjoying a day in the field with his two-year-old Brittany. He was one of those quirky Mainer types with that Downeast accent and a dry sense of humor, complemented by a razor-sharp wit. I asked him how his hunt was going, and he replied, “Wicked good, I’m tellin’ ya!”

“Have you seen lots of birds?” I asked.

“A few, but my dog’s seen plenty,” he quipped, squinting one eye with a sideways smirk.

“Are you having some steadiness issues?” I asked.

“Yesah, something awful bub. Rippin birds like it’s his job.” After investigating further, he explained to me that his dog was competing with him for the birds and would charge in at first acknowledgment of his approach. We spoke for a bit longer, and I gave him a few ideas that would hopefully allow him some shooting opportunities later in the day.

With a handshake and some pleasantries, we went on our way. What stuck with me from our brief interaction was that a bird dog, at a minimum, must be steady enough to allow you to move ahead of it to have any success in the field.

A dog that will stand still no matter what temptation is placed before it is considered to be a steady dog. Synonymous terminology you may have heard would be “broke” or “staunch,” both describing a statue-like dog that will not move during the flush, wing, shot, or fall of the bird until commanded to do otherwise. Having a steady dog allows a unique experience reserved only for those willing to put in the time. Whether you are testing your dog or hunting it, owning a steady gundog will guarantee endless safe and productive adventures.

To be fair, I’ve hunted over a good many “meat dogs” that are only steady to flush, or long enough for us to get ahead of it, and have provided us with just as many birds. There is absolutely nothing wrong with training a dog to only be steady to flush if that’s your goal. It’s really about your personal preference. However, if you plan on taking a youth out or a novice hunter, I’d argue that a steady dog is what you want. It provides a much safer hunting experience. Keeping the dog behind the gun allows us to focus on the bird with one less variable to worry about.

Growing up, I was told bird dogs should remain anchored to the ground until commanded to retrieve. That was the goal, at least. We worked hard all summer long to attain that goal. During hunting season, when our focus shifted from training to wild birds, we tended to lose some ground in steadiness. However, the understanding was there to easily reel our dogs in when needed. As my father would say, “All dogs are liars and cheaters waiting for the right opportunity to get what they want.”

Dogs that have been trained to hold point until the handler arrives will do so partly due to it being cooperative. However, this is mostly due to the dog fearing that if it moves, the bird will fly away. Steadiness comes into play once the dog realizes the presence of its handler. Before initiating the steadiness process, you would have hopefully provided your dog with a hunting season filled with copious amounts of wild bird exposure.

Wild bird contacts are unequivocally the best experience you can provide any developing hunting dog. These experiences bolster its drive to find game, its understanding of how to find and handle birds, and provide a foundation in steadiness before you start putting on the controls. I encourage every and all opportunities to get your dog on wild birds no matter where you are in your steadiness process. It introduces the dog to game, and the bird will teach the dog manners. This provides dogs with a deeper understanding that birds can’t be caught. This will strengthen your point and avoid the early-season dog imbalances that most hunters experience.

Introducing Steadiness TrainingBefore attempting to steady up your dog, you must first have a dog willing to stand point. Pointing is separate from steadiness, as pointing should naturally occur in pointing dog breeds. This innate behavior causes the dog to pause before it pounces to catch the bird. The point happens before the dog is aware of the handler. It’s purely a relationship between the bird and the dog. Our job is to foster this relationship in the absence of our influence. Flying the bird on the dog’s approach or movements strengthens and elongates the point over time. Only when the dog is holding point for an extended period of time do we begin the steadiness process.

Next, it will be important that your dog has completed a collar conditioning program where the dog understands there is no end to your line of control. Ideally, this process systematically teaches the dog that the collar’s stimulation means much more than just recall, or returning to you.

At times, dogs with a lot of drive tend to push out too far in pursuit of game. This inspires some handlers to seek control at a distance through the use of an e-collar. If used exclusively for this purpose, the collar will cue the dog to return, no matter what the situation is. This can become problematic; it could teach the dog to come off birds, or worse, believe that the correction is coming from the bird. Without a proper collar conditioning program, the collar could elicit fear around birds and steal the hunt from the dog. However, with proper understanding and use, the e-collar can be an invaluable tool that reinforces the understanding you worked so hard to develop.

The scope and sequence of your steadiness program need to systematically lead your dog toward your steadiness end goal. However, it’s your dog’s obedience foundation that provides the tools necessary to get you there, and you will need this foundation before beginning steadiness training. The dog will need to understand how to keep still, go away from you, and how to come back. The stronger the obedience, the easier your dog will progress through its steadiness training.

Steadiness can be broken down into four phases: steady to flush, wing, shot, and fall. Each phase of steadiness builds upon the learning of the previous to create a comprehensive understanding to remain stationary from the moment the bird is located until commanded to retrieve or hunt on. Let’s dissect each of these categories to glean a more comprehensive understanding of what steadiness is all about.

Steady to FlushSteady to flush is the process of teaching your dog to accept you as a teammate and provider, not a competitor for the bird. I call this “allowing you in.” Dogs often perceive you as the reason they lose the bird, so they will charge in, or “break,” preventing you from denying or stealing the bird from it. It is your job to teach your dog manners around game through the flushing steadiness process.

Training flushing steadiness may take some time. Rushing it will only be detrimental. Handlers should allow themselves ample time to prepare their dog before hunting season. Remember, each lesson should progress the dog’s steadiness. It doesn’t need to be perfect; just progress.

If your training is successful, your dog is now showing more and more self-control, resisting the temptation to break. As the dog solidifies its point, it will allow you to approach, touch it, and even move past it towards the bird. The dog has accepted your leadership and your steadiness to flush rules, which means it’s time to start heading towards steady to wing.

Steady to WingSteady to wing is the process of teaching your dog to remain frozen in place upon the flight of the bird. For most dogs, a flying bird triggers a predatory instinct to chase and capture. For this reason, it’s of great importance to use good flying birds to avoid teaching the dog that birds can be caught.

For the most part, the bird teaches the dog to hold point, not you. With young dogs, verbal commands are essentially useless as they are normally not heard by the dog in its excitement to chase. Asking a dog to remain in place can be challenging. As the bird lifts off, a dog with self-control will remain still while marking the bird solely by turning its head. If it’s too much too soon, it will move its body in the direction of the bird or even attempt to catch it.

Allowing the dog to move at all is a slippery slope that may lead to it taking out the bird. For young dogs, chasing the flight of a bird is a normal developmental reaction. In fact, it’s something we encourage to help develop drive. However, for mature dogs, it’s your job to deny any catch attempts by launching the bird, restraining the dog with a long lead, or both.

Dogs find it far easier to remain still if the bird stays still on the ground or flies within sight. It’s when the bird is up and walking or disappears behind a tree or hill in flight that tends to trigger the chase. This is more of an issue for trained retrievers because getting that bird in its mouth is paramount. You may also notice that the closer the bird is to the dog, the more tempting it becomes to break. Lastly, dogs that encounter wild birds tend to be far more driven to point and then chase. Wild birds add another level of stimulation for the dog to deal with.

As your dog develops its steadiness to wing, it will settle when the bird takes flight. Initially, you may see some steps or hops due to over-excitement. In time, this will dissipate. Your dog will get to the point where it can stand still at the flight of the bird, no matter the species or direction of flight. Remember, it takes good flying birds to make a bird dog, so don’t skimp on wild bird exposure.

When your dog remains glued to the ground regardless of whether the bird flies over its head or between its legs, you know the dog is ready to start the steady-to-shot training process.

Steady to ShotA dog that stands still at the shot is considered to be steady to shot. A shotgun blast can create a startle response or excitement level within the dog, triggering it to chase the bird. Hopefully, once the dog puts it together that the gun provides the retrieve reward as long as it remains steady, your approach will help anchor the dog. On the shot, at best, the dog will flinch as if to catch the bird. If it’s too much too soon, the dog will crash in and take out the bird. These are normal developmental reactions. It’s your job to control the dog, denying it any catch opportunities, and if it does break, returning the dog to its pointing position. After the dog demonstrates success, you can add more temptations, including multiple birds, shots, and gunners.

It’s important the dog has gone through a gun acclimation or neutralization process prior to using a gun in proximity to any developmental hunting dog. The dog must understand the shot is connected to something positive before you use it to steady up the dog. Sensitive dogs can become fearful of the shot and will run from birds to avoid exposing themselves to the shot blast. To avoid this debilitating issue, be sure to treat every dog as if they are gun-sensitive when introducing gunfire.

When the dog realizes the gunshot equates to putting birds in its mouth, there will be an initial spike in drive and likely a loss of steadiness for a little while. Denying the dog this retrieving opportunity is very important. It’s only when the dog is willing to religiously stand still until after the shot is fired do we progress to the final phase of the steadiness process: steady to fall.

Steady to FallA shot bird is exciting for both hunters and dogs. This is the moment everyone has been working so hard to see. The steadiest of dogs will be chomping at the bit to get the retrieve if trained to do so. The dog may take it upon itself to self-release, or break, so that it can finally get what wants: a bird in its mouth. For pheasant hunters, self-releasing dogs are preferable to help deny a crippled pheasant the opportunity to escape. However, the break denies the hunter an opportunity to reload for late fliers and risks bumping (running over) other birds on the way to the bird.

The retrieve must be earned by remaining still until the dog is released for the retrieve. If allowed to break on the fall, you risk losing steadiness earlier and earlier in the steadiness sequence. After the bird has been shot and the dog marks the fall, there should be a notable pause before you release the dog. Alternatively, walk up to the dog’s side before sending it for the retrieve. The idea is to develop emotional restraint and solidify the steadiness before providing its reward.

Once your dog is steady to fall, you have graduated to the final phase of proofing your work.

Proofing Your Steadiness TrainingDogs learn situational expectations. In other words, the learning that happens in your backyard doesn’t necessarily mean your dog will translate it into new environments with different variables. For example, a bomb-proof steady dog at home may become a takeout artist a mile’s drive up the road. This happens because you haven’t proofed the dog, or exposed it to many new places. Currently, your dog’s understanding is that the steadiness rules only apply to your backyard. Teaching consistency through repetitive training in new environments with new variables improves your dog’s working intelligence. This is something that should be introduced during training and finished on the hunt. In fact, much of what a hunting dog needs to learn must be taught in hunting environments.

Once your dog is steady on captive birds, proof your work on wild game or well-liberated captive birds. Before hunting season, I like to train on wild birds using a blank pistol to bring into light any holes in my dog’s steadiness training. If this isn’t possible in your state, try changing things up a bit to get the dog excited. The idea is to find holes in your training and deal with them while they are emotionally charged in a fixed environment versus during a hunt. Running the dog in trials, on new training grounds, or running in braces can fire the dog up or bring out its competitive nature to help reveal steadiness issues.

Proofing isn’t necessarily making your dog unsteady but rather challenging it in a way that tempts the dog to make mistakes. These mistakes can then be corrected in a controlled environment. If this needs to happen during hunting season, so be it. It’s not the end of the world if you forgo a few birds to steady up your dog.

Having a dog steadied up to where it will stand the flush, wing, shot, and fall may seem to be a bit unrealistic or unnecessary until you have experienced it. If you get the opportunity to feel what it’s like to hunt over a steady dog, you’ll find yourself dreaming of having one of your own. The calm and relaxed nature of the hunt allows you to slow down and take in the full experience. A handler who is confident and secure in the dog’s work has the luxury of knowing where the dog will be when a shooting opportunity presents itself. The joy that comes with high-level teamwork and trust between you and your dog grabs ahold of your soul, making your upland experience even more enjoyable.

Steadiness Categories:

1. Steady to Flush – The dog remains steady until the handler puts the bird into the air.
2. Steady to Wing – The dog remains steady while the bird is in the air.
3. Steady to Shot – The dog remains steady after the shot is fired.
4. Steady to Fall – The dog remains steady after the bird hits the ground and until the handler commands it to retrieve.

(NAVHDA Aims and Rules Publication)

Training Principles:

1. Strive for improvement in each lesson, not perfection.
2. Keep it positive. Fieldwork should be filled with affirmation and praise and be an enjoyable experience for the dog.
3. Avoid over-training. End every session while the dog still wants more.
4. Keep sessions short and successful with consistent repetitions.
5. Use variable rewards, such as touch, food, praise, flown birds, and play retrieves.
6. Keep quiet. When working steadiness on birds minimize any existential vocalizations until the dog is released for the retrieve. Only talk when you have something to say. Streamline your commands and provide limited quiet affirmations when appropriate.
7. A bird dog’s single mission in life is to get that bird in its mouth. It will be your job to shape the dog’s steadiness in a way that eventually allows the dog this opportunity.

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This traditional French preparation makes quail the star of a creamy garlic sauceA French fricassee is a stew in which meat is braised in white sauce. Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is traditional. Yes, you read that right: literally 40 cloves of garlic. This equates to about four whole heads of garlic. That’s a lot of garlic in one dish, and as you can imagine, could taste quite pungent if the allium isn’t adequately cooked to mellow out its sharp, spicy flavor. Herein lies the small problem with this quail-based dish: these small birds don’t take long to cook.

James Beard’s famous recipe calls for steaming 16 chicken legs for 1 hour and 30 minutes with aromatics in a 6-quart casserole. Here, we are presented with another problem: the likelihood that a quail hunter would have 16 birds to cook at one time is low. The chicken doesn’t overcook in this dish because, one, it’s chicken, and two, it’s tightly stuffed in a dish, keeping everything moist. A bag limit of six Nebraska quail would swim in the pan and possibly dry out before the garlic could give up its edge. To get around this, I roasted the garlic beforehand. Doing so yielded a sweet, delicate white sauce and plenty of it to eat over mashed potatoes, rice, or crusty bread.

This was one of those times that made me wonder why I don’t cook with roasted garlic more often. It’s tasty in just about everything. If you roast extra heads, smash the cloves with butter, spread it on bread, and top with a little finishing salt. Heaven.

Outside of roasting the garlic, which could be done ahead and refrigerated, this is a fairly quick dish to prepare. I used closer to 30 cloves of garlic because I thought 40 would be overkill with just six birds, but of course you could double the recipe as needed.

I listed whole quail and photographed them so for presentation, but this recipe would also work well with quail breasts, legs, thighs, or all three. Boned-out quail will take less time to cook, and they would be easier to eat than whole quail with a fork and knife. You could also try this recipe with boneless pheasant breasts.

PrintQuail and “40” Cloves of GarlicA traditional French preparation of roasted quail in a creamy garlic sauceCourse Main CourseCuisine FrenchKeyword QuailPrep Time 45 minutes minutesCook Time 30 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 485kcalAuthor Jenny Nguyen-WheatleyIngredients 6 quail whole, or breasts and legs * Kosher salt to taste * Freshly cracked pepper to taste * 3 heads garlic * Olive oil * ½ cup dry sherry * 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock * ½ cup heavy cream * 1 bay leaf * 1 sprig thyme * 2 tsp cornstarch * 1 tbsp water Instructions Preheat your oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Slice off the tops of the heads of garlic to expose the cloves. Wrap them individually, cut side up, in pieces of foil with a splash of olive oil. Place wrapped garlic on a cookie sheet and roast on the middle oven rack for 45 minutes. The garlic cloves should be soft and slightly browned; do not allow them to burn because they will become bitter. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out the garlic pulp; I use a small paring knife to help dig out the soft cloves. Set aside. * Lower oven heat to 350°. Season quail with salt, including inside the body cavity. In an oven-proof pan or skillet, heat about 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat and brown the quail on all sides. Transfer the quail onto a plate and set aside. * Take the pan off the heat and add the roasted garlic and dry sherry. Return the pan over medium heat and allow the sherry to completely evaporate, stirring often. Next, add chicken stock, heavy cream, a bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Do not boil. * In a small bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water into a smooth slurry, and stir into the sauce. Simmer until thickened, stirring frequently. Season sauce to taste, and slightly smash the garlic pieces with the back of a spoon. Return browned quail to the pan, breast side up, along with any juices on the plate. Cover the pan with foil, transfer to a 350° oven, and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until quail is cooked through. * Thin out the garlic sauce with more chicken stock, if needed. Discard thyme stem and bay leaf. Serve quail and garlic sauce with rice, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, or crusty bread. NutritionCalories: 485kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 158mg | Sodium: 118mg | Potassium: 539mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 850IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 7mgThe post Quail and 40 Cloves of Garlic appeared first on Project Upland.

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The beautiful Llewellin Setter is quick to learn, highly trainable, and makes a loving companion in the woods and at home.Setters are incredible dogs that offer a wide diversity of type, hunting tendencies, and coat colors. Although some may be harder or softer than others, and some pups may be slightly more hesitant to retrieve, there are two constants that remain regardless of breed or strain: their beauty and amazing companionship in the field and at home.

Llewellin Setters have a bit of a complicated history. Richard Purcell-Llewellin, a figure in the iconic book The Setter, is the father of the Llewellin Setter, dating back to their early years in England. Regardless of their past, there is a strong modern appreciation for Llewellin Setters today. Crystal Powell, the secretary for the National Llewellin Gun Dog Club (NLGDC) and co-owner of Sinking Fork Llewellins, and Paint River Setters’ Kyle Warren have offered in-depth insights about this strain of English Setters and generously shared their knowledge of this impressive, eye-catching dog.

Llewellin Setter Characteristics and Form

| Characteristics | Details | | Name | Llewellin Setter | | Size | Females: 20-24” and 28-50 lbsMales: 20-24” and 35-60 lbs | | Tail | Full-length | | Coat | Very long to short and tight. Feathering on ears, legs, and tail. | | Coat Color | Wide variety, including blue, orange, chestnut and tri-color belton, black and white and tan, chestnut and white, black and white, orange and white, and chestnut and white and tan. Tan ticking in tri-color combinations only occurs on the legs and face. | | Health Issues | Very uncommon. Hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, urinary infection via protein processing issues, and, depending on the line, skin allergies | | Character | Wide variety of personalities. Intelligent and cooperative with high drive, but a very soft temperament. | | Population | Unknown; the vast majority are in the United States | | Range | Varies depending on the habitat. Close-working in thick woods, far-ranging in open county. | | Pace | Varies depending on the habitat. Slower in dense cover, faster in open county. | | Good Choice For | Grouse, American woodcock, quail |

Warren captured the essence of Llewellins perfectly when he said, “There is so much diversity, it’s really hard to put a label on them.” You can listen to him talk even more about Llewellins in this Birdshot Podcast episode.

Much like English Setters, Llewellin Setters come in a variety of sizes, coat colors, and personality types. This most likely results from a lack of a breed standard. The Field Dog Stud Book (FDSB) recognizes them as a strain of English Setters, but currently, no breed or performance standards exist.

Because of the vast array of personalities and traits found in Llewellins, folks who are interested in having a pup join their family should research breeders to get a feel for what line might work best for them. Regardless of size or color differences, this dog is known for being very human-centric and easy to train, thanks to its incredible instincts.

Typical colorations for Llewellins include blue, orange, chestnut and tri-color belton, black and white and tan, chestnut and white, black and white, orange and white, and chestnut and white and tan. If there’s tan ticking in a tri-color combination, it only occurs on the legs and face. These coat colors occur in both long and short coats. “When it comes to the most common coat lengths,” said Warren, “they range from furball-long like European lines and Laveracks to super tight and short.” Regardless of overall coat length, they have feathering behind their ears, down their legs, and along their tail.

As the trend in variability continues, Llewellins also vary regarding weight and height. Males and females range between 20 and 24 inches at the shoulder. Their weight varies even more greatly. “My females typically weigh between 28 and 38 pounds, and my males are generally 36 to 45 pounds,” said Warren. “However, depending on the breeder, females can get to 50 pounds, and males can weigh up to 60. Plenty of Llewellins exist at these heavier weights.”

Llewellin Setter Training and Hunting AbilityLlewellin Setters are known for being intelligent, quick to learn, and born with a strong innate ability to find birds. As a result, Warren affectionately deems them a “100-hour dog, not a 300-hour dog.” He also believes they’re the easiest dog a professional trainer will ever train if the dog’s pedigree is of good quality. Powell agrees, saying, “Good bloodline and confirmation are important, but the main thing is just a healthy pup.” Powell also echoed Warren regarding their trainability. “They are easy to train because they want to please,” she said. “Their natural ability will come out with bird exposure.”

When Warren trains puppies in his line of setters, he’s looking for a few key qualities. “Personally, I want to see tons of point from an early age, a human-centric mindset at all times, a love for water, and a pup that enjoys retrieving dummies in summer and early fall water.” These traits occur early in puppyhood and are good indicators of a future top-notch bird dog.

As I’ve alluded to, Llewellins cannot be pigeonholed. But, like any subject, generalizations exist. “If you want to over-generalize, Llewellins are typically a closer-working dog that tends to be one of the more biddable lines of Setters. A good percentage retrieve reliably with development,” said Warren. Given that, let’s explore how Llewellins tend to perform in the field.

Field SearchWhen it comes to field search, Llewellins are known to vary their range and pace depending on the cover, which, as someone who lives in Colorado has never hunted over a Llewellin before, sounds amazing. In my state, I’d need a big-running dog 50 percent of the time and a close-working dog the other 50 percent. For Warren and his ruffed grouse and American woodcock pursuits, he needs a Llewellin to perform in a completely different way.

“My dogs are typically working 20 to 50 yards in front of me 90 percent of the time in the woods,” said Warren. “They hunt from three to 6.5 mph on average. In open country, they range out 50 to 200 yards and hunt from five to eight miles per hour.” He continued on, mentioning how other Llewellin breeders select for faster dogs. They’re looking for 80 to 200-yard dogs that hunt between seven and 10 mph. “In open country, those same dogs hunt out 100 to 400 yards at eight to 11 mph,” he said.

Powell echoed Warren’s sentiments based on her experience in field trials. “They have a lot of natural ability. With trialing, they know when to stretch out in the field or stay close and work thicker cover.”

PointingLlewellins tend to start pointing at very early ages. For example, Kyle routinely shoots well-handled birds over five month old puppies in the Northwoods.

These setters can have both a cautious, cat-like approach to pointing and that hard-slamming point that your mind easily conjures up. Some dogs, like those imported to the US or their pups, might have a low, creeping point where the tail lays parallel or below the body. Others will have a tall, staunch point with the classic 12 o’clock tail most Americans are accustomed to. A few even show off a combination of both, like Paint River’s Cooper Levi in this video.

Retrieving and Water WorkMany Llewellins make great retrievers when they’re encouraged to do so. “Many love water and naturally become great retrievers,” said Warren. English Setters are expected to retrieve, so it only makes sense that a strain of this breed would make enthusiastic retrievers as well.

Your Llewellin Setter Will Readily Become A Part Of Your Family“The Llewellin Setter is an emotional dog that lends itself to easy training practices and enjoys hunting with its human more than a constant independent search,” said Warren. He admires how they are quick studies on wild birds and excel even with first-time handlers when using a gentle approach. In addition to being incredible hunting partners, they also make terrific family dogs and are wonderful in the home and even on vacation. Like any dog, though, they still require socialization. “Given their softer nature, while they are highly social and loving, it’s important to have regular appropriate socialization throughout the first year and a half of development. This makes for the best-balanced Llewellin given their personality as a whole,” concluded Warren.

If you want to see 20 to 40 Llewellins in action or simply join the broader community, Powell recommends attending the next NLGDC field trial the weekend of October 12, 2024.

When Powell became interested in Llewellins, she had been looking for one close-working hunting dog to join her on her new farm. She answered an advertisement selling “The Bird Dog Your Grandpa Used To Hunt With” and came back with not one, but two pups. She and her husband, Tim, have been breeding Llewellins and members of the NLGDC ever since.

“We love the Llewellins for all the love they give us,” said Powell. “They are a part of your family and become one of your kids in a very short time. They just want to be with you.”

Llewellin Setter ClubsNational Llewellin Gun Dog Club

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A complete guide to cleaning cottontails and preparing rabbit meat for the dinner tableRecently, I took a late Sunday afternoon stroll back from a hog blind in Texas. Hogless, I followed the trail back to camp when I suddenly flushed a cottontail. Rifle slung over my shoulder, I drew my pistol, telling myself that if it stopped in my path again, I’d take that shot. It did. At seven yards, I was either going to hit the bullseye or miss entirely. With one clean trigger pull, I found myself with a rabbit with every bit of meat pristine and intact.

During my days living in Minnesota, before I owned a bird dog, I participated in more rabbit hunts. However, I peppered them with bird shot. I’ve always enjoyed the taste of rabbit (shot, less so). It’s also incredibly healthy to eat, rich in vitamin B-12, with only 197 calories per 100 grams and 29 grams of protein per serving.

In a lot of states, such as Kansas and Texas, you can hunt rabbits year-round. Be sure to check your state’s rabbit hunting regulations before heading out on a cottontail hunt. Yes, some hunters worry about fleas during warmer months. Those folks may choose to hang the dead rabbit in a cool, shaded area before skinning them. Regardless of what month you’re hunting rabbits, the cleaning, butchering, and cooking is the same year-round. One final note, it’s a good idea to wear gloves when handling rabbits to protect yourself from any pathogens.

Skinning and Dressing RabbitsBefore you skin your first rabbit, know that their hide is incredibly thin and their fur pulls out very easily. When skinning, be careful not to let the fur get on the meat. Not only is the fur likely dirty, but it can give the meat a funky taste, too.

When I skin rabbits, I first cut open the hide with a sharp knife at the center of their spine. Then, I pull the hide in opposite directions to “disrobe” the rabbit. Generally speaking, pulling the hide past the feet requires a bit more fingers than muscle. Once the majority of the hide is removed from the rabbit, I cut off the feet and head and discard them. If you want to get a little wild, you can keep the feet, dry them out with Borax for a couple of weeks, and have four lucky rabbit feet.

After the rabbit is completely skinned, I field dress it as if the rabbit were a deer. Since they’re both mammals, their anatomy is very similar. First, use a knife to carefully open up the rabbit below the sternum, being careful not to puncture the guts. Cut a line down to the exit hole. Just like a deer, make cuts on either side of the pelvic bone and create a route for all innards to go forth. Then, pull out the guts, making sure to remove the kidneys, all the intestines, and other bits from inside. Lastly, thoroughly rinse out the rabbit with clean, cold water. Be sure that the water flows down towards the exit.

Butchering RabbitsButchering rabbits is an intuitive activity. Rabbits are most commonly butchered into five parts: two hindquarters, two front shoulders, and its back. Sometimes, the back is cut in half to better fit in a cooking pan and to help keep it flat while it cooks. Otherwise, the front shoulders come off very easily because they are only connected by tissue. Removing the hindquarters is easier if you slice through the meat first, then twist the femur and the hip in opposite directions to release the ball from its socket.

It’s up to you whether you want to use kitchen shears to remove the ribs from the back of a rabbit before cooking it. Yes, there is a bit of meat on those ribs, but not much. If the ribs are removed, the rabbit’s back will be easier to brown in a pan. If you have a fine, sharp knife like a scalpel blade, you can indeed carve and pull off the rabbit’s backstraps instead of cooking them on the bone. Removing the backstraps is much easier to do on larger rabbits. If you decide to cut off the backstraps separately, I recommend doing so prior to removing the front shoulders and hindquarters.

Cooking RabbitsYou can season and cook those strips of backstrap hot and fast for a special treat, but other parts of the rabbit will require some low-and-slow love, something similar to braising, to bring out flavor and to tenderize the meat.

All four quarters can be seasoned and seared, then simmer in liquids such as chicken stock to get the white meat nice and tender. You can even cover the meat with a mix of Coca-Cola and pineapple juice for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until tender. You may wish to debone the quarters before doing this, which I’ve found is easiest to do with the meat partially frozen. Otherwise, you’re going to be picking bones out at the end. If you’re like me, you’re always going to miss one and have an unexpected “crunch” while eating later.

Yes, you can indeed sear and simmer the rest of the carcass, or you can roast it and create a stock similar to the recipe here, using rabbit instead of pheasant.

To summarize: cook the loins hot and fast. Everything else, including the front shoulders and hindquarters, gets seared and then simmered in liquids to keep it moist, break down the collagen, and tenderize the meat.

Once the meat is tender, you can either keep it whole, chunk it out, shred it, or dice it. Shredded or diced rabbit meat tastes great in tacos, pasta, or even mixed with mayo and other ingredients for a rabbit salad sandwich or similar dish. You will likely be surprised by how versatile, tasty, and tender rabbit can be when dressed, butchered, and cooked properly.

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Learn everything we know about the unusual Ruffed Grouse drumming sound, from how they make it to trends in Ruffed Grouse populations.The reverberation of a ruffed grouse drumming during early mornings in spring forests is one of the most magical sounds. When you hear it, it starkly contrasts against all other sounds found in the springtime. Its unique nature provokes human curiosity and admiration. No doubt, that very same feeling we get today is what sparked naturalist John Bartram to write a letter to his home in England in 1750, describing the unusual behavior of a bird he called the Ruffed Heath-Cock.

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“There is something very remarkable in what we call their thumping, which they do with their wings, by clapping them against their sides, as the hunters say,” wrote Bartram. “They stand upon an old fallen tree, that has lain many years on the ground, where they begin their strokes gradually, at about two seconds of time distant from one another, and repeat them quicker and quicker, until they make a noise like thunder at a distance; which continues, from the beginning, about a minute; then ceaseth for about five or six or eight minutes, before it begins again.”

While Bartram made an honest attempt to unravel the mystery of the grouse’s drumming, it would not be until the 20th century’s technological advancements that scientists finally cracked the code. Even today, we have learned so much about the behavior of drumming ruffed grouse thanks to dedicated scientists who have felt the same curiosity.

How Do Ruffed Grouse Make Drumming Sounds? In 1929, 197 years after naturalist John Bartram’s observation, the schedule of the 47th meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union listed a 15-minute presentation titled “The Courtship of the Ruffed Grouse” by Arthur A. Allen of Cornell University. Allen, an icon in ruffed grouse research, used a camera to film grouse drumming and finally discovered, as quoted by the iconic Ruffed Grouse researcher Gordon Gullion in 1984, “The drumming sound is made by the bird leaning back on his tail and striking his wings against the air violently enough to create a momentary vacuum, much as lightning does when it flashes through the sky.” Grouse quite literally create a small sonic boom. This discovery moved far beyond the old wives’ tales that suggested the drumming sound was produced by smacking wings together or by thumping on a hollow log.

American Ornithologists’ Union, 47th stated meeting, Oct. 22-25, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., Pa. Pennsylvania United States Philadelphia, 1929. October. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007663624/.In all my research, this discovery did not match the strangeness of his observations of a captive young male ruffed grouse who had never seen or heard another grouse drum. Allen’s description from 1934 states:

… after a few minutes of reconnoitering, he mounted the log and almost immediately assumed the drumming pose, first patting the log with his feet as though to test the stability of the spot which he had chosen. Then followed the quick stroke of the wings, another and another, and finally the roll and a blur of wings that made the dead leaves fly from in front of the log. There was no question that he knew instinctively what a drumming log was for, and knew how the drum should be produced; but he made scarcely a sound… Indeed it required nearly two weeks of constant practicing before the bird’s drum sounded like that of a wild bird… Since this bird had never seen nor heard another Grouse drum (having been hatched by a bantam and reared in a brooder), I think we are justified in concluding parenthetically that Grouse inherit an instinct to drum, just as I believe other birds inherit the instinct to sing.

Drumming comes at a significant cost to ruffed grouse. “The energy used to drum, plus the extended periods the birds spend on their logs in the peak of the spring season, causes them to sustain significant weight losses. Based on the recapture of males during the drumming season, it appears that active drummers lose about one-half percent of their weight daily during the three weeks of most intense activity” (Gullion 1984).

Why And When Do Ruffed Grouse Drum? Gordon W. Gullion is perhaps the most renowned ruffed grouse researcher within the ruffed grouse community, and his work on the science of drumming is unmatched. Born in Oregon in 1923, his career spanned more than 60 years, and his legacy continues to influence us today. His contributions provide insights into the who, what, when, where, and why of ruffed grouse that have withstood the test of time.

No word count is large enough to sufficiently explore Gullion’s extensive research. His book, Grouse of the North Shore, is the result of decades of research in the Cloquet Forest in Minnesota. Its account of research includes the study of over 2,000 drumming sites that have been boiled down to some of the most important information in drumming research even 40 years after it was written. Grouse drum year-round, with the highest peak in spring during the breeding season followed by summer and fall, when territorial drumming occurs.

Gullion cites two reasons for the male ruffed grouse drumming or “displaying” behavior:

• Spring Breeding: According to Gullion, “It is most often heard as the snow melts in the spring and the breeding season approaches. Then anxious males are advertising their locations to hens looking for mates.” This timeframe peaks for a three-week period in the north country from the end of April into May in Minnesota. This timeframe seems to fluctuate based on location in the country, with some areas peaking in March and April.
• Territorial Defense: The second reason grouse drum is because of their territorial nature. “This is the act of one male announcing to all the others within hearing that the particular forest area he is occupying is all his.” This essentially occurs anytime we hear ruffed grouse drumming outside the breeding season.

Gullion found that drummers moved to logs in the middle of the night, most often in the early hours long before sunrise. And a fascinating pattern emerged. While the average time between drums was four minutes, ruffed grouse that were not engaged by either a mate or a challenger would decrease drumming in a pattern of four-minute intervals. “At other times, when a single bird is drumming and not being answered by others, the intervals between drums may be at multiples of four minutes, that is, at eight, 12, or 16-minute intervals.”

If you hear a drumming break decrease in length, it is an indication of a male bird being excited by the presence of another bird. At this point, drums can happen as often as one minute apart.

What Do Ruffed Grouse Drumming Sites Look Like?There are micro and macro aspects to this question, leading to two significant components of drumming sites: what the grouse physically stands on to the drum and what the surrounding area (habitat) looks like. According to Gullion, drumming centers are normally eight to ten acres, or 148 to 159 yards apart. The most common place for a ruffed grouse to stand and drum is a fallen tree, hence the common term “drumming log.” Grouse also drum on rocks like glacial erratics or rock walls, with the rock wall scenario being unique to New England ruffed grouse. The “drumming stage” refers to a small, eight inch area that a ruffed grouse prefers on a drumming location to commence the behavior.

“The male grouse prefers to use a log or a site that places him nine to 15 inches above the ground on a log that is usually 20 to 40 feet long,” Gullion describes. “The bird choosing a drumming log has two primary considerations. One is to select a site that gives the maximum opportunity to advertise his presence; second, to select a site which gives him maximum security.” In any object selected for a “drumming stage,” it is the highest object in that immediate area.

Other key traits have come to light through decades of research. No large objects that could obstruct the view of an incoming predator are within a “50 to 60-foot radius.” Often an immediate “guard object” protects the drumming Ruffed Grouse, which includes a root mass, shrubs, or other objects. In the Cloquet Forest study, “guard objects” were present in 87.5% of drumming sites.

Stem density, the most commonly referred to aspect of ruffed grouse habitat, is the most prominent surrounding feature. Gullion found “the density of hardwood saplings is usually in the range of 3,000 to 7,000 stems per acre.” In Samantha Davis’ 2017 article titled “Survival, Harvest, and Drumming Ecology of Ruffed Grouse in Central Maine, USA,” there was a greater exploration into the significance of conifers in drumming sites, which are often more important in New England forests. They found, in contrast to older studies that believed coniferous areas were often deemed less preferable due to lower visibility and accessibility, that greater stem density is preferred in both deciduous and coniferous forests.

Gullion describes many types of “logs or centers” for drumming locations, which is a fascinating lesson on terminology. These are often dictated by the dominance found in a ruffed grouse population; usually the largest male birds are the most dominant. As populations change and fluctuate, there will be a natural shift based on dominance and resources to redistribute ruffed grouse drumming locations, and in years with overabundance, some younger male grouse will never even drum.

Perennial logs are those locations that are often selected because of their “ecological attributes” and will be occupied by many grouse over the course of years. Females will prefer to approach these locations because they present greater safety from predation. Transient logs are locations that were only used by one ruffed grouse and do not have another bird move in after it disappears. These places are usually of lesser habitat quality.

What Are Ruffed Grouse Drumming Surveys?Many state agencies have been conducting drumming counts for decades. The overall goal is to identify population trends in ruffed grouse populations. The methodology itself, in its most basic form, is based on drumming routes where roadside counts are conducted. The surveyor stops at a series of predetermined locations that are consistent each year for a set amount of time so as not to create variables over the course of years. Each drumming event is recorded, and the data can show trends over time.

In B.C. Jones, C.A. Harper, D.A. Buehler, and G.S. Warburton’s article “Use of spring drumming counts to index ruffed grouse populations in the Southern Appalachians” from 2005, the importance of drumming counts as a viable measure to detect population trends was reconfirmed as an effective method as states look to put forth management plans in states that are showing alarming decreasing trends. This important study was conducted by Dr. Ben Jones, the now-President of the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society.

Technology might play a major role in the future of drumming counts for ruffed grouse, giving us more consistent data. In Lapp and his colleagues’ article, “Automated recognition of ruffed grouse drumming in field recordings” from 2023, the use of automated recognition overcame two major human hurdles: time and hearing. It significantly increased the detection rate compared to traditional field-based surveys. The equipment could also be deployed over a larger 28-day period to create more accurate and stable data sets.

Can Drumming Predict What Fall Populations Will Be? Drumming activity can have implications about how hard the winter was. “When winter conditions have been more favorable, there may be half as many males on logs, but the drumming counts will be higher because birds are really excited about the approaching breeding season, and most, if not all, will be heard drumming each morning. This arouses the hens too, so there is a maximum reproductive effort resulting in many young grouse wandering around the woods in the fall” (Gullion 1984).

However, it is important to note that drumming counts cannot predict nesting success. In the most productive fall seasons we experience, the juvenile population can be larger than the adult population. Most recently, New Hampshire experienced an extremely wet spring that marked a high juvenile mortality rate, making the fall season dominated by adult birds and less than desirable compared to the year before. This only serves to highlight how much a single year of successful nesting and brood survival can impact a single year of ruffed grouse hunting.

Ruffed grouse utterly fascinate me. Every bird I encounter seems to be a paradox, appearing completely out of place yet simultaneously the perfect embodiment of its environment. In my life’s journey, grouse have evoked a range of emotions in me, including excitement, confusion, frustration, awe, and inquisitiveness, to name just a few. My expanding collection of out-of-print books, littered with highlighted text and sidebar notes, is a testament to my fondness. That haunting drumbeat in a thick northern forest represents more than our love for them; it represents a healthy, biodiverse forest.

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Delectable quail wonton dumplings topped with chili crisp and green onions make a great appetizer or sharable upland dishI’ve been bird hunting for 25 years, and I can honestly say I’ve failed to eat what I killed only a handful of times. Sometimes, the birds are too shot up. Only once or twice have I forgotten a bird in the bottom of a game pouch. For the most part, I’ve held up my end of the bargain and showed reverence for the lives I’ve extinguished in my pursuits afield. The dishes I’ve created out of them, however, have not always been great. Cooking is the same as bird hunting in that there’s a learning curve; the only way to get good at it is time plus repetition, and there’s always something new to learn.

This quail dumpling recipe was born out of a quest to replace the ubiquitous popper that so often finds its way into a potluck spread when a hunter is present at the said gathering. Not to hate on the popper; we’ve all gotta start somewhere, but we hunters can do better. Next time you serve your game birds to a crowd, make this recipe. I promise they’ll be the first thing gone from the buffet table.

PrintQuail WontonsTry these tasty dumplings for an approachable way to share your wild game birdsCourse AppetizerCuisine ChinesePrep Time 1 hour hourCook Time 15 minutes minutesTotal Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutesServings 6Calories 416kcalAuthor Will NewellIngredients 8 quail breast fillets * 8 oz fatty pork shoulder trim or uncured pork belly work great * 1 small carrot * 2 scallions * 3 cloves garlic * 2 tbsp sesame oil * 1 tsp fish sauce or oyster sauce * 1 tbsp soy sauce * ½ tbsp granulated ginger * 24 square wonton wrappers * 3 tbsp chili crisp oil * 6 oz dumpling sauce * Ice Instructions Peel the carrot and garlic cloves, and remove the roots and green tops from the scallions. Finely dice the carrot, garlic cloves, and scallion whites. Set aside. Reserve the scallions for the garnish. * Mince the quail breasts and fatty pork separately, then combine the meats and mince them again to evenly distribute the pork fat throughout the quail breast. * Place the minced meat and the diced veggies in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the sesame oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, and granulated ginger. Mix until well combined. * Prepare a small bowl with 1/2 cup of water near your folding station; this will be the glue for your wontons. * Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan (wait on this step if it’s your first time folding wontons, it’ll probably you take a minute to find your rhythm). * Holding an open wrapper in one hand, use your other hand to scoop a small amount (about 2 ounces) of the filling into the wrapper. Dip a finger in the water and wet the top and side edges of the wrapper. Fold the corners together to make a rectangle, taking care to push out all air bubbles and create a good seal. Dab a drop of water onto the top corners of the rectangle and fold them together, creating a “nurse cap” shape. Repeat until all filling has been used. * Now that you’ve finished folding, the water should be boiling. Place a dozen wontons into the boiling water. Turn the heat to high and wait for the water to return to a boil. Once it is boiling again, drop 5 ice cubes into the water to arrest the boil. Repeat this process twice more. Then repeat with the remaining 12 wontons. * Drain the cooked wontons and place them in a mixing bowl. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of chili crisp over the wontons and stir to coat. Place the wontons on a plate and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of chili crisp. Top with sliced scallion tops for garnish and serve alongside a ramekin of the dumpling sauce for dipping (ponzu, teriyaki, or bachan’s all work here if you can’t find dumpling sauce). NutritionCalories: 416kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 2021mg | Potassium: 216mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1444IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 2mgThe post Quail Wontons appeared first on Project Upland.

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Learn all about housing, feeding, watering, and raising Coturnix quail in your backyard for home-grown meat.A bird out there fills a niche that has trumped folks for a long time. I know this because I was one of them.

See, it’s like this – I wanted to start raising birds for eggs, meat, and the simple joy of reclaiming some independence. However, I lived in a town where the bylaws weren’t exactly kind to folks who broke them, whether by accident or design. I lived far enough down the backroads that a visit from a bylaw officer wasn’t much of a threat, but I do close enough to neighbours that would notice new chickens, too. Self-restraint got the better of me until a homesteader friend mentioned that he was dispatching his coturnix quail – a bird I’d never even heard of.

A year later, I’d purchased 35 tiny, peeping quail chicks. I knew I had a lot to learn, and over the subsequent years that followed, did I ever learn – sometimes the hard way. I hope the lessons with this story save you time, money, and a lot of heartbreak.

Coturnix Quail Mature QuicklyIt took me a while to comprehend just how quickly these birds mature. At six weeks old, they are ready to be dispatched, or as I like to say, “Taken to freezer camp.” The hens will begin to lay eggs at eight weeks of age. Generally, if you’re keeping your birds around for the long haul, a two-year-old coturnix quail is an old bird. Personally, I like to swap out my flock at the end of the year and process all of my birds in mid-autumn. However, everyone who keeps these birds learns which method works best for them.

With the rapid succession from chick to adult, another issue that coturnix quail keepers have to be vigilant about is the males reaching sexual maturity. I’ll put this as politely as I can – they become extremely sexually aggressive towards the hens, which can cause your birds a lot of stress.

My method of dealing with their sexual aggression is to segregate the vast majority of males from females when they reach five to six weeks of age. Then, I cull them. If you plan to keep some of the males for breeding purposes (I do, and I highly recommend it), a good ratio is one male for every eight to ten females. This might seem like a pretty big ratio, but trust me, the little fellas won’t have any problems tending to the needs of the hens.

Watering Your Coturnix Quail ChicksThe first lesson I learned firsthand occurred shortly after bringing my first batch of quail chicks home. I researched the birds as much as possible, found a reputable breeder who had been raising coturnix quail for quite a long time, and felt confident that there wouldn’t be any immediate complications. However, that changed about six hours into having the chicks in their brooder.

They seemed to settle in quite nicely. They found their food dish and water container just fine. After watching them for a couple of hours, I left to get some other things accomplished. When I came back, four dead chicks were face down in their waterer. I was in absolute shock. The waterer, built to accommodate standard-size poultry chicks and ducklings, was just deep enough that the little quail could, and would, drown in it. This was an easy problem to remedy; all it took was filling the basin of the waterer with some small stones so the chicks could still drink but couldn’t commit suicide.

Feeding Your Coturnix Quail ChicksUnlike the chicks and ducklings we sometimes raise on our quarter acre, quail pretty much eats the same food from day one until the end of life. I keep my birds on a medicated turkey starter, which is available at most co-ops and feed mills, and by the time they’re adults, I switch to unmedicated. There are plenty of specified gamebird feed options from companies like Purina, but they’re often hard to source and much pricier. In the end, I never noticed any difference in the health of my quail whether they ate turkey starter or gamebird feed.

Housing Coturnix QuailWhere and how you decide to house your birds will depend on what your property setup looks like. Generally, you’ll want to pick a location where the birds will get ample sunlight – more daylight hours equate to better egg production (trust me, you will certainly want the best egg production you can get out of your birds). Because I don’t keep my quail year-round, I chose a location that gets plenty of summer sun but is shaded during the harshest afternoon heat.

Next, you will have to decide whether to keep your birds on the ground in a pen or raised off the ground in something akin to a rabbit hutch. Both styles have pros and cons, which I get into in another article, but do your research and understand what setup works best for you and your birds. It will go a long way toward having a happy covey.

Protect Your Coturnix Quail From PredatorsWhatever house you build, you must ensure it is 100 percent predator-proof. The list of critters running around that won’t hesitate to make a meal out of a covey of coturnix quail is as long as it is wide. Your mind might jump to the usual suspects, like foxes, coyotes, weasels, hawks, and raccoons. However, it’s been my experience that there is one predator that, as far as notoriety is concerned, will clean you out of birds quicker than anything else: rats.

I know, right? This surprised the hell out of me until a couple of years ago. I noticed that none of my quail were laying eggs anymore, and they seemed to be genuinely spooked all the time. One morning, I woke up and found my entire flock had their heads chewed off. Some birds had been dragged up to the mesh, where the rat tried to pull the bird through without success.

I couldn’t figure it out. How on earth did the little demon get inside?! A thorough investigation revealed that the rat had tunneled from more than six feet outside the pen, found a soft spot underneath the foundation, and stashed the quail eggs away for days. When the birds completely stopped laying, the rat killed them.

That was an expensive lesson to learn, and I had to learn it the hard way. I trapped the rat in question and dispatched it, but the damage was done.

Rat-proofing is relatively simple, especially if hardware cloth is used for the walls of the enclosure. Don’t skimp on this if you want your birds to make it through adulthood. Keep their food stored in a different location and clean their pen often to avoid any pests that might be attracted to the scent of it. Even if predators can’t get in your pen, that doesn’t mean they won’t damage the outside of it. Another great way to see what visits your quail coop at night is to set up a motion-sensor game camera and then deal with the threats accordingly.

For all that can go wrong with raising coturnix quail, all threats to the birds can be mitigated and dealt with outright with a bit of forward thinking. Having a covey that will give you fresh eggs and a freezer shelf of quail meat is totally worth the price it costs to get into this venture. Frankly, if you’re anything like me, you won’t be sorry that you did.

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This tasty, wild game take on a traditionally British-Indian dish highlights the versatility of quailMulligatawny is a British-Indian soup made popular in the mid-1800s during the British colonial rule of India. Traditionally, this soup was thin, light, and made of peppers and water. Mulligatawny became part of regular British fare as a first-course dish, so to suit the British palate, the soup changed over time to include more vegetables and pieces of meat.

There are many variations of mulligatawny recipes. Some include a combination of apples and carrots. Sometimes, there are lentils. I did not include lentils in my recipe, but you can certainly add them to the pot if you wish. The apple makes mulligatawny unique as it imparts a nice tang. Chicken is common, but quail makes a delicious wild game substitute. You could also use chukar or Hungarian partridge, too.

Some recipes call for adding a dollop of sour cream or yogurt before serving, but I didn’t think it was necessary with the tartness of the Granny Smiths in this recipe. The servings listed here make a meal for two people or a light starter course for four.

PrintQuail Mulligatawny SoupA wild game take on a traditionally British-Indian dishCourse Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine IndianKeyword Quail, SoupPrep Time 10 minutes minutesCook Time 2 hours hoursTotal Time 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutesServings 2Calories 770kcalAuthor Jenny Nguyen-WheatleyIngredients 3-4 whole quail * 1 tbsp vegetable oil * 2 tbsp butter * 1 large leek white and light green parts chopped * 2 carrots peeled and chopped * 2 ribs of celery halved * 2 bay leaves * 1 tbsp curry powder * 4 cups water plus extra * 1 Granny Smith apple * ¼ cup uncooked white rice preferably basmati * ¼ cup heavy cream * Chicken bouillon powder or salt to taste * Freshly ground pepper to taste * Minced chives to taste Instructions Heat oil and butter in a pot over medium-low heat. Add chopped leek, carrots, celery, and bay leaves with a pinch of salt. Cover and sweat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not let the veggies brown. * Add curry powder and quail and stir for 2 minutes. Add water and bring it to a boil, then cover it and lower the heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Next, remove the quail from the pot; when they are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones. Return the bones to the soup and allow it to simmer, covered, for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cover and refrigerate the quail meat. * Peel, core, and cut the apple into bite-size pieces. After 1.5 hours, discard quail bones. Add the apple and rice to the pot and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. * Return quail meat to the pot. If desired, add more water (or chicken stock) to thin out the soup. Stir in heavy cream and season to taste with chicken bouillon powder and freshly ground pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with minced chives. NutritionCalories: 770kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 50g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 188mg | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 841mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 12220IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 134mg | Iron: 9mgThe post Quail Mulligatawny Soup appeared first on Project Upland.

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If you’re on the fence about taking an antique shotgun out bird hunting, here are a few reasons you should give it a try.Being part of the hunting and shooting industry, I get to try the latest and greatest new guns every year. But when I’m not toting a gun for work, I’m usually carrying a vintage shotgun. My duck and pigeon gun turned 100 this year, and my grouse gun isn’t far behind it.

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I have a safe full of old pumps, semi-autos, side-by-sides, and over-unders, and I’ll probably never get rid of them. Sure, I’m a sucker for patina, nice engraving, and all of the little things that make an old gun great. But what I love most about vintage shotguns is learning about where they came from, how they were made, and how they handle in the field.

A good vintage shotgun will serve you just as well, if not better, than a modern gun. It will do it all with style, and going vintage can save you a few bucks. If you aren’t convinced yet, here are a few more reasons why you should try hunting with a classic shotgun.

Sometimes, They’re Made Better Than Newer GunsAmerican gunmaking has always been about building the best guns for the best price, and today, we’re living in a golden age of cheap guns. You can find a new shotgun that’s capable of breaking as many clays and killing as many birds as you want for less than what you pay for groceries every month. To cut costs, though, manufacturers use fewer craftspeople and more machines than they once did. This is overall a good thing, as machines have gotten better and more precise. But something got lost along the way.

Back when craftsmanship and labor were cheap, a lot of handwork went into making a gun. You’ll pay a premium for things like hand engraving and hand checkering on a new gun today, but you can find comparable (and sometimes better) craftsmanship on vintage guns for a fraction of the price. Vintage guns were made with exceptional attention to detail, even under the hood. If you take apart a new over-under and an old over-under of similar quality, you may notice that the older one was finished better. Don’t get me wrong, they made crappy guns back then, too. But some classic guns have a level of quality you won’t find on a modern gun unless you’re willing to pay higher prices.

You Just Need to Know What You’re BuyingSome classic guns don’t work well anymore. Their stock dimensions are wonky, or the steel is too weak. But there are a lot of classic shotguns on the market today that work just fine. The best way to find good classic guns is to consult an established dealer who’s knowledgable on the subject. I buy guns from Safari Outfitters in Millbrook, New York, and I trust them to know what they’re talking about. I’d stay away from big box stores no matter how pretty their gun rooms look. Good gun dealers can tell you about things like wall thicknesses in barrels, provide choke measurements, and more about the history of a gun. They usually price guns accordingly and can work with you even if your budget is low.

My best advice to those who want to hunt with vintage shotguns—versus collecting them—is to start humble. Go for a vintage Auto 5 Sweet 16, an old Remington Model 31, or a Winchester Model 12. You can find them hanging around in many local gunshops around the country, and they are usually pretty affordable. Most vintage American guns were also built like tanks, and it’s easier to find replacement parts should you need them. All the while, educate yourself on historical shotgun makers and market values before making a big purchase and try to consult with someone who knows what they’re talking about before handing over your credit card. If you’re ever in doubt about the condition of a classic gun, bring in a gunsmith to look it over.

If You Plan to Hunt With the Shotgun, You Can Get a Good DealGun collectors prize original condition above just about everything else. It’s rare to find vintage guns that haven’t been used in the field, and they command high prices. These are the kinds of prices that scare most hunters away from buying vintage shotguns and actually using them. But, if you plan to hunt with a classic and don’t care as much about the condition, you can find some good deals.

Refinished guns are of little value to the collector. Refinishing will actually devalue a gun (unless it was restored by a well-known specialist), but many are in good condition for hunting. The main thing to look out for on a refinished gun is barrel wall thickness. Every time a bore gets the pits polished out of it, it loses a little metal. Talk to a dealer or gunsmith and have the wall thicknesses measured.

You can also get a good deal on guns that have seen some time in the field. I recently bought a Parker that had a new recoil pad installed, and a slight blemish in the bluing from wear. It still locks up tight and shoots great, making it a perfect field gun. I’ve gotten burned like this, too, with a heavily used Browning Superposed. It had been shot a lot, and the rib eventually separated itself from the barrel after a long day of sporting clays. It still hits where I point it, so I take it out on rainy days when I leave my nicer guns at home. I also look at it as a small price to pay for a big education on buying old guns.

With guns that have some wear and tear, check to see how the action mates up to the barrels. If it’s tight, it probably wasn’t shot too much, or had some work done to it. Old pump shotguns should lock up tightly, too. Finally, you should measure chokes on a vintage gun before buying it, look for things like dents in the barrel, and test that the safeties still work.

Some Vintage Guns Handle and Shoot Better Than Modern OnesI recently went to a grouse camp where everyone was carrying a subgauge shotgun. Americans tend to like subgauges because they’re light and trim, and we do a lot more walking than our European counterparts. It’s also because American guns tend to be overbuilt when compared to shotguns from across the Atlantic. Our answer to making a lightweight gun has been to make skinnier barrels and smaller actions. Just look at vintage Parkers.

European and English guns are different, though. The 1939 British 12-gauge I brought was just as light as the 20-gauges I hunted next to because it was made to be that way. One ounce of shot coming from my 12 gauge will pattern better than that same ounce coming from a 20 because it’s less constricted by bore diameter. I can also hunt grouse with 1-ounce target loads from just about any gun shop in the country instead of having to track down uncommon subgauge loads, like 28 gauge.

You could spend anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 on a modern gun from overseas that would carry and shoot a lot like my vintage gun. Or you could buy a vintage 12-gauge like mine for less than $2,000 when you come across it.

Vintage Shotguns Have Style I’m a big believer in the aesthetics of hunting. And before you accuse me of being a hipster hunter, consider this: hunting for sport is anything but practical. The vast majority of us are not subsistence hunters—especially upland bird hunters. You’d likely starve (or eat a lot more veggies) trying to bag enough birds to sustain you through a year. We hunt today to carry on traditions, connect with the natural world, take part in conservation, watch dogs work, and because it’s fun.

If hunting is supposed to be fun, then part of that fun for me is carrying a vintage shotgun, provided that I can use it as efficiently as a modern gun. Being able to use a tool that was made so well that it still works today is something I get a kick out of. And I spend a lot more time admiring my shotguns than I do actually shooting at birds. It’s like driving a vintage car or wearing a vintage watch. There’s an element of style with a classic gun that enriches the whole experience of hunting for me. I hope it does the same for you, too.

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Spice up your spring with ground wild turkey meatballs over saffron rice and smoky, creamy poblano sauceFirst and foremost, meatballs should never contain breadcrumbs because a handmade meatball is no different than a handmade sausage. Like sausages, properly cooking meatballs comes down to properly extracting proteins. Without getting into the science, all we need to understand is that when you bind fats to lean proteins, like those found in ground wild turkey meat, that mixture retains moisture when cooked.

To ensure that the fat molecules bind to the protein molecules, we want to mix our meats and fats while they are very cold. Ideally, the mixture does not get warmer than 34 degrees Fahrenheit. If you’re going to use your hands to mix them together, your elbows should hurt from the cold. Adding chilled wine further assists with protein extraction and cold retention (and flavor).

By treating wild turkey meatball-making the same as sausage-making, you will serve up very flavorful, very juicy little gobbler nuggets. Trust me, your friends and family will thank you.

You can make this recipe with any wild bird in your freezer. You can also grind the pork shoulder yourself at the same time you grind your bird meat, or you can purchase pre-ground pork. Whichever method you choose, just be sure the ground meat stays very, very cold.

PrintWild Turkey Meatballs with Smoked Poblano Cream SauceThese flavorful meatballs, dressed in a smoky sauce and served atop saffron rice, will change the the way you think about ground turkey.Course Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Wild TurkeyPrep Time 1 hour hourCook Time 4 hours hours 28 minutes minutesTotal Time 5 hours hours 28 minutes minutesServings 4Author Jack HennessyIngredients 1 lb wild turkey ground and tendons removed * ½ lb pork shoulder ground * 2 tsp Kosher salt * 2 tsp oregano freshly minced * 2 tsp granulated garlic * 1½ tsp thyme freshly minced * 1½ tsp black pepper ground * 1 tsp onion powder * 2 tbsp white wine chilled * Peanut oil or other high-heat cooking oil Cream sauce 2 cups white wine * 2 cups heavy whipping cream * 2 medium poblanos smoked, seeded, and puréed * 2 large cloves fresh garlic smoked and puréed * 1 tsp Kosher salt Rice 1 medium shallot finely diced * ¼ tsp Kosher salt * 2 cups Basmati rice * 2¾ cup vegetable stock * ⅛ tsp saffron threads ground Optional toppings Sliced mushrooms sautéed in a little soy sauce * Sliced scallions for garnish Instructions* Cut the bottom off of half a bulb of fresh garlic with the skin still on. Smoke the poblano peppers and garlic at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 hours. Remove the poblanos from the grill and seed them, then place them in a food processor. Pick out two large cloves of garlic, or approximately 2 teaspoons worth, and add them to the food processor along with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Blend thoroughly. * While the poblanos and garlic smoke, form the meatballs. Make sure the ground meat and white wine are chilled; I recommend placing the meat in the freezer for a half hour prior to mixing. Mix the spices in a small bowl. Add the chilled ground meat to a large mixing bowl and gradually mix in the spices. Mix for a couple of minutes, then slowly add in the chilled white wine. Continue to mix for a few more minutes until the meat is tacky. Then, form the meat into 1-inch wide meatballs and place them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook. * While the peppers and garlic are still in the smoker and the meatballs are in the fridge, make the sauce. Add white wine to a medium saucepan and heat on medium-low to reduce it to half. At this point, add heavy whipping cream and continue to reduce on medium-low for 30 to 45 minutes. After that, and once the peppers and garlic have been smoked and puréed, add the purée to the saucepan and continue to reduce it until it’s thick and creamy. Give it a taste; if it’s bland, add a bit more kosher salt and stir until it’s more flavorful. When the flavor and thickness are satisfactory, turn off the heat and leave it on the stove until you’re ready to serve. * To make the rice, add a thin layer of cooking oil to a medium saucepan and heat it on medium. Add the finely diced shallot and salt. While sautéing, grind the saffron threads and add them to a small bowl with a tablespoon of warm water. This will help the saffron bloom. Sauté the shallots until they’re slightly brown and soft. Then, add the rice and stir frequently, allowing it to brown slightly. Then, thoroughly stir in the saffron. Add the vegetable stock, cover, and bring the rice to a boil. Once it’s boiling, turn the heat on low for 5 minutes, then turn the heat off and remove the lid. * To cook the meatballs, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add parchment paper to a cookie sheet and lightly oil the paper. Place the meatballs on the paper with at least an inch of space between them. Cook the meatballs for 15 to 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 150 degrees. I recommend probing the innermost meatball’s temperature since that one will remain the coolest for the longest time. When they reach 150, remove them from the oven and place them on a plate or cutting board. Allow the meatballs to rest for 5 minutes before serving. * To serve, fluff the saffron rice and add it to a bowl or plate, then add the meatballs, and top with the poblano cream sauce. The post Turkey Meatballs with Smoked Poblano Cream Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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Best practices and techniques for creating unique, handmade turkey strikers at home, from wood selection to tool usage.Some say the sweetest springtime sounds come from wild turkeys. As many turkey hunters have experienced, real turkeys aren’t always the ones producing that cacophony of yelps. Oftentimes, on crowded small parcels of land, one may be seduced by the sounds emanating from what turns out to be a hungry hunter, not a hen on the prowl. Hunters using turkey calls have tricked birds and humans alike for years.

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For nothing more than a little scavenged wood and your time, you can maximize the effectiveness of your expensive pot call with something meaningful and customizable. Even better, handmade turkey strikers make for wonderful ways to immortalize memories. A striker made from Grandpa’s apple tree or the lightning-struck oak you leaned against to harvest your first bird are two lovely ways to preserve cherished moments. Creating strikers or pegs from sentimental, non-wood materials is a great way to remember those special occasions, too. Hand-carved strikers also make for thoughtful gifts for any turkey hunter; handmade beats mass-produced any day of the week.

The First Turkey StrikerThe first patent for a turkey striker came along in July 1912. A doctor named Wade H. Saunders created the first peg/striker and slate call. He named it a Simplex Turkey Call. It featured a simple piece of slate paired with a “tone tube with a vibrating needle,” and was sold for $14 per dozen.

Just like Mr. Saunders realized over 100 years ago, no two strikers sound the same. This is why your significant other shouldn’t get upset with you for littering wood chips and shavings all over the living room floor—you never know which striker is going to seal the deal with that elusive tom.

Choosing Turkey Striker Wood Type, Size, Quality, And TipThere are thousands of types of trees and, consequently, types of wood that could be used to create a turkey striker. Traditionally, better sounds are made from denser wood, but almost any type will produce sounds that resemble a turkey. I prefer to use a smaller tree limb or medium-sized sapling as opposed to a large tree trunk. The larger it is, the more material you’ll need to remove and the more work it will be. I look for a piece that’s about two to three inches in diameter and as straight as possible.

You can also work with either wet or dry wood. The wetter the wood, the easier it is to carve. Just remember that If you are carving wet wood, you’ll likely need to wait a few weeks or a month for it to cure and dry out before it’s ready to use in the field. Wet or dry, the key is selecting a piece of wood that’s straight and free from cracks, which impact the sound quality. You want a striker that’s solid, strong, and free from any weak points.

The striker’s handle should be long enough to create the proper resonance and vibration, but not too long that it’s unwieldy or unable to fit in your turkey vest. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Use a striker that you know works well as a guide for length and girth. I’ve also made a handful of mini strikers that work well, too.

When selecting a tip, you can choose between flared, flat, or curved. Some more experienced callers believe flat or curved tips produce better results when matched with specific pot call surfaces, but you’ll have to experiment to determine that for yourself. Any of them will produce great turkey sounds; it just may take a bit of fine-tuning.

The striker, in its entirety, can be made from a single piece of wood. However, you can also make the handle and the tip out of two different materials. If you’re feeling creative, you can use different pieces for the shaft and the tip. If you’re creating a two-piece striker, you can whittle the shaft and tip to your desired diameter and top it with either a handmade or carved handle. You can even use something old-school for the handle, like a corn cob.

Building A Hand-Carved Turkey StrikerFortunately, carving turkey strikers isn’t rocket science. You’ve likely whittled pieces of wood since you were a kid, and this won’t be any different. The striker is inside that log or branch, you just need to bring it to fruition.

The HandleStart with your piece of wood and remove pieces one by one until you reach your desired look, shape, and sound. Use a hatchet or axe to remove large pieces rather than your knife. After that, use your whittling tools to trim the wood into a cylindrical shape with your hands acting as a lathe. Don’t want to carve a perfectly cylindrical striker? Don’t! You can make your striker in whatever shape you’d like, as long as you’re happy with the sound.

Personally, I like to move in a clockwise fashion, rotating the wood in my hand while maintaining the same angle on my blade to make sure I don’t remove too much wood. I trim each edge as I go until I’ve reached my desired diameter for the handle. Remember, it’s much harder to go back and reduce the size once intricate details have been added, like lines or helices.

Eventually, you’ll have a cylindrical shape that fits comfortably in your hand. Then, use a pen or Sharpie to mark your details, such as a helix, lines, or contours. I also like to make marks to indicate the beginning of tapered spots or changes in diameter. This helps keep my lines neat and details organized, and all the pen marks get carved or sanded away.

From there, you’ll select the carving knife that best suits your design needs. If you’re working with a helix or corkscrew for your handle, I prefer to use a chipping knife, which gives me added control and allows me to make deep, precise cuts to remove unwanted material. If you’ve decided to use a corncob for the handle or another material you don’t want to carve, then you can skip this step and focus on the shaft and tip.

The TipRegarding tip design, there are three common options: curved, straight, and flared. The flared shape provides more surface area and is typically easier for novices to use. The rounded tip is more popular and is found in many commercially built strikers. The straight tip is the least common option. I recommend experimenting as you go until you end up with your ideal sound and pitch.

If you’re not sure, start with a flared tip and see how it sounds. You can always remove material to make either a curved or flat end if you don’t like what you hear. For the lower portion of the striker or the shaft, including the tip, I use my usual whittling or carving knife to remove material until I have a tip and body of the striker that sounds good to me, testing it as I go.

Finishing Your Turkey StrikerOnce you have carved your details to the depth and degree you envisioned, it’s time to begin the finishing process. Start with heavier grit sandpaper and go over the entirety of the striker. If you’ve added a helical design, roll up a small piece of sandpaper and use the edge to get inside the tight recesses. When you’re done, move to a lighter grit sandpaper to smooth and finish the surface.

Sanding is a great way to remove small amounts of material to fine-tune the sound and look of your striker. Avoid sanding the tip of your striker as much as possible; you don’t want it baby-bottom smooth. Sound is made via friction, and for that to happen, you need a bit of roughness.

More than anything, the material, as well as the thickness of the shaft, dictates the quality and pitch of the sound produced. Too low? That means your striker may be too thick. Too high? You may have removed too much material. If you think you’ve gone too far, try adjusting the tip’s size or shape to see if that improves or changes the sound. With that in mind, it’s always better to air on the thicker side. You can’t add material if it gets too thin.

Depending on your wood choice, you may be left with a gleaming piece of light-colored wood that will undoubtedly stick out like a sore thumb as it twitches from side to side as you use your pot call. To combat this, I stain the entire striker a dull brown hue using a traditional walnut stain. In a pinch, I’ve also used boiled-down coffee. Let the stain dry completely.

You can stop there and have a perfectly good striker, but you can add a little longevity to your striker by protecting it with beeswax or acrylic spray. Use a Q-tip to get into any intricate carvings. I like to tape off the tip during the waxing process because, if the tip gets contaminated, it will render your striker much less effective or even useless. If you do accidentally get some on the tip, use heavy grit sandpaper to remove the lubricated wood. When done, use a piece of cloth or paper towel to remove any excess wax, then let it dry.

A pot call paired with homemade strikers is just one of the ways you can replicate hen calls. Creating your own strikers to accentuate your pot calls is a great way to ensure you have multiple auditory offerings, with each striker creating its own unique sound. Nothing beats calling in a big tom using your own skills and abilities, but what makes that moment even sweeter is when it’s done using tools you’ve made yourself.

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This simple, light dish is a perfect way to highlight the complex flavors of light meat game birds such as grouse or partridgeMy personal upbringing and background influences my way of preparing wild game. This recipe is no exception. It originates from Italy and traditionally uses veal but there is no reason why it can’t be used for upland game birds such as Hungarian partridge, wild turkey, chukar, or ruffed grouse. This recipe will delight the hunters that skin their game birds—skin isn’t necessary.

Piccata is a very simple, light dish. It’s often referred to as “of-the-moment” and can easily be prepared at grouse camp because it takes only a few ingredients. Olive oil, butter, white wine, lemon juice, and capers come together quickly. However, don’t let the simplicity fool you. It’s light, yet packs amazing flavor. Be sure to give it a try.

PrintRuffed Grouse PiccataA simple and light dish with complex flavors that highlight the game bird meatCourse Main CourseCuisine ItalianKeyword Grouse, Ruffed GrousePrep Time 15 minutes minutesCook Time 15 minutes minutesTotal Time 30 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 407kcalAuthor Rossano RussoEquipment cast iron skillet Ingredients 4 grouse breasts skinless * ½ cup flour * 3 tbsp olive oil * 4 tbsp unsalted butter divided * 3 tbsp lemon juice * 2 tbsp capers * ½ cup white wine * Salt * Pepper * Flour * Parsley chopped Instructions* Place the grouse breasts on a cutting board between two sheets of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or empty wine bottle, pound the breasts to a thickness of ¼ inch. Don’t go any thinner. Salt and pepper the pounded breasts, dredge them in flour, and shake off excess. * In a cast iron pan, heat up the olive oil and two tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Cook the breasts on one side until browned. Depending on the size of the pan, you may have to do them in two batches. Flip them over and brown the other side. When done, remove them from the pan and set aside. * Add white wine and lemon juice and turn the heat up to high, scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the capers and then reduce the sauce down for a few minutes. * Turn off the heat. Add the remaining butter to the pan and swirl it around until it's melted and emulsified. It should look smooth and silky. * Plate the grouse breasts. Pour the sauce over them. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve. NutritionCalories: 407kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 246mg | Potassium: 473mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 390IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mgThe post Ruffed Grouse Piccata appeared first on Project Upland.

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Using a short and long lead to train your dog how to quarter at home and in the field.Have you ever hunted over a dog with a sixth sense for finding birds? Perhaps the dog had a higher-than-average drive to push out to find game. Or maybe it was highly intelligent and sought the most productive cover. Its exceptional nose could’ve been dialed in. Regardless of the attribute, it must have had a cooperative temperament, trusted its handler’s leadership, and would follow them to the ends of the world.

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The culmination of all of these characteristics creates a legendary hunting dog. However, the dog knows how to search for a cover in a manner that leaves little opportunity for birds to be missed outperforms all other dogs.

Developing this level of teamwork starts with a dog willing to hunt for and with you. For me, this begins through teaching it to quarter with the long lead starting at a young age.

Teaching Quartering to Adolescent DogsMany folks struggle with their pup’s cooperation and obedience around five to ten months of age. It’s a period when the pup has grown to enjoy its freedom, yet it’s too young to transition to the e-collar. These adolescent pups enjoy testing your line of control and present an uncomfortable division in partnership.

The long lead can help with these in-between times by teaching the dog how to quarter, or search back and forth across a field. Quartering provides a good example of how the long lead can develop transitional understanding from on to off-lead handling. It follows the process of shaping behavior through chaining lessons together, leading the dog to want to work for us before using an e-collar.

First, start in the yard or another confined space to introduce the visual and verbal cues you will use in the field. Often referred to as shortgrass training or yardwork, the preliminary understanding of field commands and how to quarter must first happen away from bird scent and on familiar or sterile grounds, such as your yard.

Training sessions will start with the short lead and eventually progress to the long. Every training exercise should have a definitive beginning and end so the dog knows when it’s time to work and when it is finished. My field command to start a search is “hunt-em-up.” The search ends after the dog returns to the heel position, and I give the “free” command.

You will need to train your own verbal and whistle commands that provide you with control when out hunting. These commands take time to develop and must be in place before you can safely release your dog. For example, “come around” is a command used while the dog and handler are working a field. To command a dog to “come around,” I provide the visual of an outstretched arm with an open hand in the direction I want the dog to travel. My verbal command is “come around,” and my whistle command is one sharp blast, which means move in my direction while continuing to hunt.

Some examples of verbal commands include:

• Come Around: The dog adjusts its search to your line of travel
• Up Front: Commanding the dog to hunt ahead of you
• Leave It: Leave off scent focus and return to the hunt
• Come: Recall to a finish at your side (preferably your non-gun-carrying side)
• Hunt-em-up: Go search
• Free: The dog is free to do as it wishes

Some examples of whistle commands include:

• One quick, short whistle: Change direction with the handler.
• One long blast: Stop or a whoa command, meaning stop, look, and listen
• Two or more quick blasts of the whistle with the handler standing in a recall position: The dog comes into a finish position at the front or side of the handler.

Short Grass Short Lead DevelopmentDeveloping a dog that quarters well requires well-timed physical connections and verbal commands. The lead pop is initially done only to gain the pup’s attention before delivering the command. Fortunately, on a short lead, the pup can’t gain too much momentum before hitting the end of the lead. You want a gentle pop as you move in the opposite direction as if to say, “Hey, look what’s over here.”

Directly after the gentle pop, get low, clap your hands, pick up speed, stretch out your arm, and get the pup to move excitedly in a new direction with “come around.” Get a few repetitions in, and then call it a day. Repeat this lesson every day until you see the pup paying closer attention to your movements before hitting the end of the lead. Mark that behavior with an excited “come around,” yes, or good dog. This encourages the pup to repeat the behavior and places a positive association with both the command and the lead.

If the pup starts to anticipate your change in direction, it’s time to place the verbal command before the dog hits the end of the lead. Note that your training sessions should be kept very short as learning happens fast, and you want to leave the pup wanting more.

While holding the end of the short lead, the pup should be released with excitement and will hopefully charge out into the yard, eager to search. Wearing gloves will be important because you will remain attached to the lead throughout the run. Again, encourage the pup to cast right and left using high, excited tones that build drive. Say the command “come around” in a way that motivates and excites the pup to move in your direction. It’s important to exaggerate arm movements and body positioning so your visual appearance consistently cues the dog to come around.

The pup’s first step in your direction should be marked with affirmation and lavish praise. If the dog distracts or refuses, cinch up on the lead and gently pop the collar while excitedly encouraging it to head your way.

As the pup crosses past you, turn in the opposite direction. Before it hits the end of the lead, give it another “come around” command with praise. Your goal is to develop a rhythmic pattern of movement where the dog anticipates your change in direction before hitting the end of the lead.

Once the pup is casting with your movements and verbal commands, it’s time to add the whistle. Be sure to paint the same picture. You’re simply adding a whistle before your verbal commands while maintaining the same familiar visuals. Once the pup is up to speed, begin to fade the verbal and visual commands following the whistle. If done properly, the whistle alone will eagerly turn your dog in your direction. Eventually, the act of changing direction will cause the pup to alter its movements. It’s now time to grow your control toward the end of the long lead following the same process.

Short Grass Long Lead DevelopmentWith a long lead, your dog feels more free, moving with an increased velocity for greater distances. This increased sense of independence comes with excitement and higher drive. Be careful to manage the lead in a way that keeps both you and your dog upright and injury-free. A small yard helps you and your dog get up to speed because it overlays the short lead understanding while giving you time to figure out how to manage the long line best.

It won’t be long before the dog realizes you can maintain control at a greater distance. When that feeling clicks, it’s time to proof your dog training on new grounds in a bigger field.

Proofing Your Short and Long Lead Training in Long GrassWhen transitioning onto new grounds, be prepared to meet a new dog. The novel venue will cause a spike in excitement from your dog. Again, remember your yard work, and paint the same picture you did at home by starting with the short lead and progressing out to the long.

Resist the urge to let go of the lead at this point, as it could teach your dog the keep-away game. If this occurs, don’t yell or call your dog. Throw your hat in the air to imitate a bird, or flap it on the ground. The dog will want to investigate, allowing you to get ahold of the lead again. This trick may work once or twice before the dog figures it out. Hopefully, you won’t make the same mistake again.

Once you get your dog quartering nicely with just your change in direction, it’s time to proof your work with bird scent.

The proofing process provides an authentic experience for the dog that offers lots of bird scent, though not any birds in the field. This can be accomplished by working a field previously trained in or broadcasting plucked feathers and rubbing dead birds on the ground here and there throughout the area. This scenario will test you as a trainer, as it provides a much higher level of distraction for the dog. The dog may forget you even exist for the time being, requiring you to adjust your level of physical connection to meet the dog’s mental state. The bird scent also allows you to work on your “leave it” and “up front” commands and enables the dog to use its nose during its search.

Provided the dog is mature and driven enough to overlay the e-collar with the long lead, this is the final phase of your long lead fieldwork. With the end of the long lead in hand, the e-collar stimulation is timed simultaneously with each pop of the long lead as the dog quarters the field. Again, while painting the same picture, you replace the pop of the lead with collar stimulation. Remember to continue to mark compliant behavior with tons of praise, making the session fun. Any tail tucking or folding of the ears means your pressure is too high and your rewards are too low. This should be fun for the dog, and the e-collar is set for just a light reminder, not a heavy correction.

Once the dog understands the e-collar stimulation has the same expectation as the collar pressure of the long lead, it’s time to drop the lead. Again, it’s important to paint the same picture. Quarter the dog up the field as you did before, though drop the lead. Keep the dog in the long lead’s range initially to maintain that nothing has changed. The dog’s cooperation will dictate how far it ranges. As it improves, allow the dog to get out to your working range. If the range is good and cooperation is there, start shortening the lead. The shorter lead provides less resistance, encouraging a sense of liberation. This will continue until the lead is unnecessary.

If the dog seems to be self-hunting or starts to range out too far, use your whistle “whoa” work training to stop the dog and insist it returns to its recall position. This will reset the dog’s brain and remind it of your control. Once you have produced a good search, it’s time to proof your work in a dirty field, or a field with bird scent and feathers without an actual bird, and new locations. Success builds on success, so don’t rush the process. Let your dog dictate its progression.

Teaching quartering using the long lead process develops a dog that maintains a connection with its owner. Through long lead work, the handler learns to read the dog and organically develops the right timing that will be essential to their e-collar conditioning later on. A dog who learns to quarter increases its productivity and is truly a joy to watch and hunt over.

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Liven up your springtime dinner table with ground wild turkey patties, fresh mango slices, smoky jalapeño mayo, and freshly toasted greensA common complaint about wild turkey, especially the thighs and legs, is that the meat can be tough and dry. These reasons are exactly why pitmasters cut brisket pencil-thin; we can grind or slice these tougher cuts to achieve shorter muscle striations, reducing the overall “chewiness” experienced when biting in. In this recipe, we’ll be grinding wild turkey meat to combat its reputation for toughness.

You can indeed use any cut of wild turkey for this recipe or any wild bird, for that matter. Personally, I have found that wild turkey thighs make great ground meat. If you’re going to use the legs in addition to the thighs, make sure to carve out the tendons. The legs are packed full of tough, not-so-pleasant tendons.

When forming the patties, the addition of mayonnaise helps bind the turkey meat together while also providing a bit of juiciness. The mayo helps counter any dry texture that may occur while cooking this incredibly lean wild meat.

All the ingredients, including an especially delicious mayo blend containing smoked jalapeños, are meant to balance savory tones with a hint of bright sweetness. Those fresh flavors inspired by spring results from the freshly sliced mangos. This burger itself is a great option for any set of wild longbeard thighs you pack out, and the flavor composition serves as the perfect salute to spring and all that this season brings.

PrintSpring Turkey BurgerCelebrate spring with ground wild turkey meat complemented by fresh mango and a smoky mayoCourse Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Wild TurkeyPrep Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutesCook Time 20 minutes minutesTotal Time 3 hours hours 50 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 1041kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 1 lb ground wild turkey all tendons removed * ¼ cup mayonnaise * ½ tsp fish sauce * ½ tsp granulated garlic * ½ tsp paprika * ¼ tsp ground ginger * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked * Peanut oil * 4 brioche buns Special Mayo 4 jalapeños smoked * 2 avocados * 1 bunch fresh cilantro * ¾ lime juiced * ½ cup mayonnaise * ¼ tsp Kosher salt Toppings Pepper Jack cheese * 4 Poblano peppers smoked * 2 fresh mangoes skinned and thinly sliced * 1 medium red onion thinly sliced * Kale or turnip greens stems removed and toasted Instructions Smoke jalapeños and poblano peppers at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 hours. Pull and seed the poblanos, then set aside. * Cut off the stems of jalapeños and add to the stemless peppers to a food processor, along with all the other ingredients for special mayo (besides the mayonnaise). Blend thoroughly, then add the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add the mayonnaise. Thoroughly hand mix. Set the special mayo aside until you are ready to serve. * Grind the wild turkey meat through a fine die. Make sure to remove the tendons before grinding. Mix the ground turkey with mayo, fish sauce, granulated garlic, ground ginger, and paprika. Form the meat mixture into four patties. * Skin the mangoes. Thinly slice the mangoes and red onion. * Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the stems off the greens and lightly oil the leaves. Toast the leaves in the oven and remove them once they’re slightly charred (about 5-10 minutes). * To cook the turkey burgers, in a large skillet, heat half an inch of peanut oil to 375 Fahrenheit. Do not crowd the pan, so only fill the skillet half full. Add the patties to the oil to cook. Flip once the underside is golden brown, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add a generous amount of freshly sliced mango and one poblano to each patty, top with cheese, and cover skillet if necessary. Cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the burger is fully cooked to 160 F. * To serve, toast the buns and add a healthy amount of special mayo to each side. On the bottom bun, add the toasted greens, followed by the burger, then a layer of sliced red onions, and then the top bun. Enjoy! NutritionCalories: 1041kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 68g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 21g | Monounsaturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 224mg | Sodium: 927mg | Potassium: 1320mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 2795IU | Vitamin C: 167mg | Calcium: 104mg | Iron: 3mgThe post Spring-Inspired Wild Turkey Burger appeared first on Project Upland.

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Follow this guide on maple syrup making, from Ojibwe legends to tapping tips, and embrace the sweet reward of nature’s labor.The Ojibwe, the indigenous people of the Great Lakes region, tell a story of how they were starving and aninaatig (sugar maple) fed the tribe with syrup (zhiiwaagamizigan) that gushed forth from its wood. Soon, the people took the gift of sugar from the Creator for granted. They lay under aninaatig all day and just let the syrup drip into their mouths.

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One day, the trickster Nanabozho saw this and poured water into aninaatig, diluting the syrup into watered-down sap. He wanted the Ojibwe to work for the blessing of maple syrup and make them truly appreciate it. Today, this is why it takes about 40 gallons of sap and a lot of effort to make a gallon of syrup.

Some days, I wish maple syrup, not watery sap, would gush forth from my trees, but we no longer live in that old, magical world. You have to work to make maple syrup and to do so, you need a few things, like the right sap trees and a way to collect and boil the sap.

There are various ways to make syrup. Some methods are hugely expensive, like those used by big commercial producers who tap thousands of trees. Other methods are much more economical, especially for a backyard syrup maker like me. Backyard Sugarin’ by Rink Mann is a great resource to help you get started.

Tree Identification and Tapping First, you need the right trees. Typically, syrup makers use sugar maples (Acer saccharum), but people also tap their red (Acer rubrum) and silver (Acer saccharinum) maples and box elders. Supposedly, walnut trees make a rich dark syrup, too. In fact, my neighbors tap their white birch just so they can drink the sap water.

When these deciduous trees, other than the birch, are leafless in late winter and early spring, they can be difficult to identify. When leafed out, the sugar maple has distinctively shaped leaves like the one in the center of the Canadian flag. If you know your trees, you can probably identify them without their leaves. Sugar maples have scaly to deeply furrowed bark and send out limbs much lower than, say, red oaks or basswood, which grow much straighter and have narrower crowns. If you can’t identify trees when they’re leafless, mark or map them out in the summer.

Mud season coincides with the sap-running season. This is when the snow starts to melt, the days grow longer, and the sun gets higher and stronger. In northern Wisconsin, this is usually in mid-March. However, this season, our warmest winter on record, I tapped my trees on February 2nd. It was by far my earliest-ever tapping. Last year, in a winter of near-record snowfall, I didn’t tap my trees until April 5th.

Sugar maples run best when the temperature goes below freezing at night and rises above freezing during the day, creating the pressure difference that causes the sap to flow. A low of 25 degrees Fahrenheit and a sunny high of 45 degrees Fahrenheit is just about the perfect day for a good sap run. On such days, most of my trees will run over a gallon.

Starting out my first year, I tapped just six trees. I bought my spiles (taps) at a local hardware store, which is possible in maple syrup country. You can also buy them from suppliers online. Tap trees at least a foot in diameter, and if your trees are twice this size, you can put multiple taps in them. I drilled 7/16” holes, which is the diameter of the spiles I use, into the south-facing sides of my trees. These need to be at a slight upward angle and about an inch and a half into solid wood past the bark. If the trees are running, the sap will immediately trickle out.

Many veteran syrup makers swear that one should tap trees when they’re frozen, but you hear all kinds of things from syrup makers. When the maple buds flower out, which ends the sap flow, or if you’ve made enough syrup, you knock out the taps, and the tree will heal this wound over time. My best trees have multiple scars from previous taps. Sometimes, it’s a challenge to find a fresh place to drill a hole.

Tree Sap CollectionNext, collect the sap. Traditional spiles have a hook on the end to hang a bucket or other container. I hang one-gallon plastic jugs, from milk jugs to vinegar containers, which I usually recycle from our neighborhood Dumpster. They’re free and made of clear plastic, so I can see when they’re full. Other syrup makers hang galvanized buckets with lids or plastic bags, both holding at least two gallons.

I empty my jugs into five-gallon buckets, then lug the buckets to my evaporator. With snow on the ground, I put the buckets in an ice-fishing sled and pull them to my evaporator, which is much easier than carrying them while post-holing. If it’s been a particularly snowy winter, I have to tramp down the paths between my trees with snowshoes. I use snowshoes until these trails are hard enough to walk on without them. Large commercial operators use tubes that connect their trees and vacuum pump the sap into large containers that can hold hundreds of gallons. It’s a costly yet efficient way to gather sap.

Making Maple SyrupOnce you’ve collected enough sap at a 40:1 water-to-syrup ratio, you are ready to boil. Keep in mind it will take ten gallons of sap to make a quart of syrup. Plastic garbage cans work well for holding all your gallons of sap. It’s best to have a shallow pan that’s 6 to 8 inches deep with a lot of surface area, like a large roaster pan. A large stock pot would also do. You can buy purpose-built stainless steel pans, but they are expensive.

In my first year, I laid half a dozen cement blocks in a rectangle, placed the roaster pan on these blocks, and lit a fire underneath in a gap between the blocks. You can use a lot of different rigs, like barbeque pits, outdoor fireplaces, and gas grills, but I eventually settled on a propane burner. This was much more efficient than my cement block rig, although the gas was costly, unlike the free firewood lying about in my woods. I traded tradition and frugality for efficiency.

When I’ve boiled my sap down to two gallons or less, I filter it, then bring it inside to finish it on the stovetop. It’s messy but simple. I continue to boil the ever-concentrating sap, which now smells and tastes like maple syrup, and use a hydrometer in a Pilsner glass to measure water content. Others use candy thermometers (7 degrees Fahrenheit over boiling) or an eye test when the syrup rolls off a spatula in a sheet, not in drops. If you boil away too much of the water, you’ll end up with actual sugar and possibly a ruined pan.

After five years of tapping half a dozen trees, we wanted more maple syrup. Those six trees would make roughly a gallon and a half of syrup in an average season, which we went through in a few months. So, we bought a small, wood-fired evaporator (a Smoky Lake StarCat) with an 18” x 30” X 6” pan that handles about 30 taps. It can boil off seven to eight gallons of sap per hour, and if I burn it hard all day, I can boil off 50 or 60 gallons and make over a gallon of syrup. That was very close to my previous yearly output. This was a significant investment, but with maple syrup going at fifty dollars a gallon, it has paid for itself.

I used to dread mud season, those dreary, gray weeks between winter and true spring, but now it’s one of my favorites. There are not a lot of things I’d rather do than sit in the warm spring sunshine drinking a beer while my evaporator hums away, making one of the sweetest substances in the world. Most days, I’m glad Nanabozho watered down our sugar maples.

Recommended Maple Syrup Equipment Suppliers* Roth Sugar Bush * Smoky Lake Maple Products * Vermont Evaporator Company

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This quick marinara sauce makes a hearty meal with a roasted upland bird of your choice on a bed of pastaAn Italian restaurant called Luciano’s is down the street from our Kansas home. This local hotspot is renowned for, among other things, the salads they serve in toasted parmesan bowls. From what I can tell, the chef toasts shredded parmesan in bowls coated with olive oil. The crispy cheese takes on a cupped form, and his staff serves salads in these delicious edible bowls.

To recreate that savory special treat, in this recipe, I’ll tell you how to make parmesan lattices, which are basically thin parmesan pancakes. They add a little extra something-something to pasta dishes.

The marinara sauce recipe here is my own and fairly easy to make. If you can’t find the San Marzano tomatoes at your grocer, you can order them online. In my area, the flavor potential of locally available tomatoes is hit or miss. Comparatively, the flavor of canned tomatoes is pretty consistent.

You can indeed use any upland bird for this recipe. Here, I share a simple roasting recipe for pheasant, but you are welcome to cook your upland birds for this recipe in any way you’d like.

PrintRoasted Pheasant with Homemade MarinaraRoasted whole pheasant makes a hearty meal with this quick marinara sauceCourse Main CourseCuisine American, ItalianKeyword Pasta, PheasantPrep Time 2 hours hoursCook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutesTotal Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 895kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 1 whole pheasant preferably plucked * 1 tsp thyme freshly minced * 1 tsp sage freshly minced * 1 tsp rosemary freshly minced * ¼ lemon * ½ bulb garlic bottom cut off but not peeled * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked * Olive oil * Celery or carrots for roasting pan * 16 oz spaghetti * Parmesan shredded * Olive oil cooking spray * Basil optional, chiffonade-cut Marinara 1 medium shallot sliced * 2 tbsp garlic freshly minced * 28 oz San Marzano tomatoes peeled * 3 oz California sun-dried tomatoes * 2 tsp oregano * 1 tbsp thyme * 1 tsp black pepper * ¼ cup red wine * ½ tsp malt vinegar * Salt to taste Instructions* Fully thaw your pheasant and pat it dry. Dust all sides of it with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Allow the bird to sit in the fridge with ample airflow overnight so the meat can absorb the salt and the skin can dry. * Two hours before cooking, remove the pheasant from the fridge, truss the bird, and allow it to sit out until it reaches room temperature. * To cook the marinara sauce, heat a thin layer of olive oil in a large skillet or medium saucepan medium-low. Add the sliced shallot and lightly salt and pepper it. Once the shallot is slightly seared and soft, add the freshly minced garlic and stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sliced shallot and garlic to a food processor and blend them thoroughly. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and blend them, allowing the tomatoes to retain a bit of their texture. Add the mixture back to the skillet or saucepan, and lower heat to barely a simmer until you’re ready to serve. * To cook the pheasant, heat an oven-safe (preferably cast-iron) skillet to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Add a very thin layer of olive oil to the skillet. Carefully sear thighs, legs, wings, and anything else that touches the skillet when the pheasant is on its side. Sear until the skin is light brown. * Remove the pheasant and lightly oil it with olive oil. Sprinkle fresh herbs over all sides. Stuff the bird with lemon and garlic. Slice the carrots or celery so they serve as logs to prop up the pheasant so the oven’s heat reaches all sides of the bird or very close to it. * Roast the bird at 325 for 50 minutes. Then, turn the oven up to 450 and roast for 3 minutes. You can insert a meat probe before sliding into the oven, but the goal is to have an internal temp of both breasts and the thickest part of the thighs of 170 degrees. * While the bird is roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, add dry spaghetti. Cook the pasta for 7-9 minutes or until tender but slightly al dente. Drain the pasta and add a pinch of salt and a bit of olive oil once the water is drained. Set the pasta aside until you’re ready to serve. * Once the pheasant is done roasting, remove it from the oven and cover it with aluminum foil. Allow the bird to rest for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the parmesan lattices. Heat a small (preferably cast-iron) skillet on medium-low. Spray it with a bit of olive oil, then add a thin layer of shredded Parmesan cheese. Spray the top side of the shredded Parmesan with oil. Once the underside is brown, flip it and brown the other side. Remove the lattice once both sides are brown and slightly crispy. * To serve, add the spaghetti, a parmesan lattice, sauce, sliced pheasant, and top it with fresh, chiffonade-cut basil. Enjoy! NutritionCalories: 895kcal | Carbohydrates: 110g | Protein: 64g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 394mg | Potassium: 1930mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 893IU | Vitamin C: 46mg | Calcium: 176mg | Iron: 9mgThe post Roasted Pheasant with Homemade Marinara Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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Life history, habitat, range, and native landscape information for the devilish game birds known as chukarA black slash slices over red-lined eyes, streaks down the breast, and connects at the keel as it cuts across the body of a flashy chukar partridge. Gray-blue feathers blend seamlessly into shades of dust-brown across its breast and back, but not its sides, where chukar apparently took some inspiration from zebras. Besides pheasants, chukars are arguably the most exotic-looking game birds in the United States. These birds have something in common: they didn’t evolve here.

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Chukar are not native to North America. This bird’s home range spans the Middle East and Asia, including Turkey, Jordan, Tehran, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Mongolia. In their native range, these birds have a penchant for steep, rocky outcroppings in arid landscapes. Their preference for rugged places translates to their North American range as well.

Since its introduction to the United States decades ago, chukar have become an iconic North American upland game bird, and those who hunt them are lovingly referred to as “not right in the head.” Let’s take a gander at this species’ life history, habitat preferences, and robust hunting culture.

Chukar Habitat and Life History Information

| Characteristic | Comments | | Scientific Name | Alectoris chukar | | Taxonomic Order and Family | Order Galliformes, family Phasianidae | | Body Size | 1-1.5 lbs, 12 inches tall, 20-inch wingspan | | Clutch Size | 10-21 eggs, 1 brood annually | | Diet | Seeds and leaves from grasses, especially the invasive, nonnative cheatgrass. They eat green grass leaves in fall and winter. | | Habitat | Dry, relatively barren high-elevation shrublands. Look for steep rocky slopes, water, and sagebrush. | | Range in North America | Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, British Columbia | | Native Range | Asia and the Middle East | | Global Breeding Population | 7.8 million | | Places You Can Hunt Chukar in North America | Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming | | Similar Species | The Przevalski’s or rusty-necklaced partridge, rock partridge, and Philby’s partridge |

Chukar are incredibly hardy birds that live in places most other critters wouldn’t dream of inhabiting. Chukar habitat generally consists of high-elevation rock outcroppings and short, stubbly grasslands on open mountain slopes.

“To put the country in perspective, the same places we hunt wild sheep, mountain goats, and high country mule deer are the same places we hike twice a week during our season for chukar,” said Matthew Davis, the founder of Final Rise.

“To survive avian and mammal predators, they live among rocks and cliffs to avoid being killed,” said Alan Smith, the vice president of the Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation (UCWF). According to the Western States Chukar and Gray Partridge Management Guidelines, chukar are regularly preyed upon by bobcats, falcons, hawks, coyotes, and owls. “Researchers surmised nearly one-half of predation events coincided with the autumn raptor migration period, which occurs from September to November throughout the range of chukar in the western US,” states the Guidelines. Eight percent of chukar mortality is attributed to hunter harvest.

In addition to protective landscape features, chukar rely on brooding areas and reliable water sources. UCWF helps provide water sources for chukar in areas without many natural springs. The organization installs rainwater catchment systems called guzzlers, allowing birds to access water during Utah’s hot summers.

Chukar are a little picky when it comes to selecting water sources. They prefer water sources with a canopy cover of at least 11 percent. These birds will readily visit water sources at canyon bottoms and on slopes, benches, and ridgelines between June and October each year. However, if a fire rolls through and eliminates nearby cover, chukar will stop using that watering source until protective vegetation returns.

Regarding plants, chukar prefer habitats that consist of juniper, piñon pine, sagebrush, cheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, indian rice grass, and Russian thistle. A study by J. H. Lowry from 2005 titled “Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project: Final Report on Land Cover Mapping Methods” discussed that chukar prefer a handful of general plant communities. These locations include “Great Basin Xeric Mixed and Inter-Mountain Basins Sagebrush Shrubland, Great Basin Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Inter-Mountain Basins Mixed Salt Desert Scrub, Invasive Annual and Perennial Grassland, and Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Grassland” (Larsen, 2006).

Similar to other upland bird species, lead shot impacts wild chukar. In their 2003 paper titled “Fall diet of Chukars (Alectoris chukar) in eastern Oregon and discovery of ingested lead pellets,” researchers Walter and Reese found that 7.1 percent of 140 chukar crops and 5.7 percent of 123 chukar gizzards contained lead pellets. A study led by Randy Larsen titled “Grit size preferences and confirmation of ingested lead pellets in Chukars” from 2006 examined 106 crops and 75 gizzards. Two crops and eight gizzards contained lead pellets, and they ranged from #5 shot to #7.5 shot. He also found buckshot and turkey loads.

Chukar Hunting CultureHunting chukar is not for everyone. Because of the extreme terrain this bird inhabits, one must be prepared for a hot, dry, and physically demanding hunt.

“Chukar hunting is hands down the best exercise program in existence. Following big running pointing dogs up and down several thousand feet of vertical, for miles on end, keeps the lungs stretched and the heart pumping,” said Davis. “You really have to earn a wild chukar, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s hunted them to say otherwise.”

Other avid chukar hunters echo his sentiment. Danielle Schoenwolf, a professional upland hunting guide, chases chukar in Wyoming regularly and emphasizes that “hunting them is a labor of love.” “Hunting chukars is a wild adventure but one, in my experience, that carries a culture of isolation,” she said. “Out of all the upland birds you can hunt, chukar is the one bird hunt where you are almost guaranteed not to run into anyone else while doing it.”

Schoenwolf’s Vizsla, Brittany, and English Setter make for great chukar hunting companions. “Having a good bird dog on your side will help when chukar hunting,” said Ryan Lisson, a wildlife biologist and chukar hunter. Alan Smith certainly knows that feeling; he hunts chukar in Utah with his Brittany, too.

“I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy hunting with a dog, and there were a lot of weekends when I went hunting because the dog wanted to go,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t hunt chukars if it wasn’t for my dog.”

“If you do not have a dog, pausing often is a good strategy,” said Lisson. “Not just for catching your breath, but so you can also listen for their chuk-chuk-chukar call.” Lisson also recommends descending on groups of chukar from the upslope when possible. “They will often run uphill and fly downhill,” he elaborated. “While you would rarely be able to catch up to a running bird, you may pull off a shot if they fly below you.”

Chukar Management TechniquesGlen Christensen began studying chukar as a graduate student at the University of Nevada. His professor, Dr. Ira La Rivers, pitched the idea of doing his graduate work on chukar to him. So, he set off studying that “sassy chukar bird,” and in 1951, he began collecting research. Christensen’s data complemented work done by the state wildlife department to establish the first-ever chukar study in 1952. That study launched the development of baseline chukar population management and monitoring practices.

“Most of the emphasis in Nevada after 1954 has been placed upon the development of satisfactory management practices, particularly methods for determining and evaluating production and harvest data,” wrote Christensen.

In 1970, Christensen wrote a periodical about the introduction and management of chukar. The demand for it has remained strong. It is available here. Published by the Nevada Department of Wildlife, it includes 70-ish pages detailing chukar life history and management. He lists out the most popular ways of documenting chukar back then, including:

• Estimating their annual population via transects, brood counts, call counts, and counting concentrated birds
• Determining production by obtaining an adult:young ratios, conducting waterhole counts, and completing road and walking surveys
• Evaluating population trends by taking precipitation patterns into account

Today, several Western states still need modern, chukar-specific management plans. However, Nevada and Oregon estimate the number of chukar per mile by conducting helicopter and roadside surveys, respectively. California and Oregon both host programs that measure chick production. It’s recommended that all states use banding programs and camera traps at water sources to help track chukar populations in the West.

According to the Western States Guidelines, “The Western States Partridge Working Group developed a list of research needs which would improve our understanding, and possibly management, of chukar populations. The following list of chukar research needs should not be considered complete or final”:

1. Develop a consistent and efficient fall index of chukar abundance
2. Identify habitat requirements of chukar populations
3. Determine effects of large-scale wildfire on chukar populations
4. Identify year-round limiting factors (including weather) for chukar populations
5. Determine population characteristics and document seasonal distribution
6. Conduct an economic analysis of chukar hunting in the western U.S. and Canada
7. Develop effective and consistent harvest survey methods
8. Determine the age and gender structure of harvested populations

There’s still much to be done regarding chukar management in the western United States. Thankfully, researchers like Larsen are doing a great job of collecting modern, in-depth information on chukar populations.

Chukar Hunting in North America is Challenging Yet Rewarding“If chasing wild chukar is on your radar, plan to do it on their terms. No ifs, ands, or buts about it,” said Davis. “More often than not, their terms means at the top of the nastiest mountain where most folks wouldn’t even consider hiking to.” He mentioned that the phrase “chukar hunters have big legs and little heads” affectionately teases this hunting community; anyone who enjoys hiking 10-plus miles in search of birds might have a couple of screws loose.

“I enjoy hunting of all types, but it’s the difficulty of hunting chukar that makes them so damn fun,” Davis continued. “If you can slip a few wild chukar in your vest, you’ve really done something special.”

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A citrus marinade helps to tenderize and bring out the amazing flavors of sharp-tailed grouse in this fajita recipeThis recipe is the perfect way to prepare sharp-tailed grouse. I’ve prepared them this way for people that were not huge fans of sharptail, and they were pleasantly surprised. The preparation will tame the “gaminess” many people are wary of and the marinade will tenderize the meat with lime and grapefruit juice.

I understand everyone has their preferences, but I find most of the time people that don’t enjoy sharptails just don’t know how to properly cook them. I like to treat it as I would duck or venison, as I find it is best cooked to medium-rare or medium. Anything past that, and it will become tough with a strong taste.

So, next time you get a few sharptails, give this recipe a try—you won’t be disappointed!

PrintSharp-Tailed Grouse FajitasMarinated sharp-tailed grouse breast becomes tender and flavorful in this fajita recipeCourse Main CourseCuisine MexicanKeyword sharp-tailed grousePrep Time 15 minutes minutesCook Time 30 minutes minutesMarinating Time 4 hours hoursTotal Time 4 hours hours 45 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 469kcalAuthor Rossano RussoIngredientsMarinade 1 cup cilantro freshly chopped * 2 cloves garlic minced * ½ cup lime juice * ½ cup grapefruit juice * 2 tbsp soy sauce * 1 tsp cumin * ½ tsp ancho chile powder * ½ cup canola oil or grapeseed oil Fajitas 4 sharp-tailed grouse breasts * 1 yellow onion sliced stem to root * 3 bell peppers red, orange, and yellow * 1 jalapeño sliced crosswise * Flour or corn tortillas * Dressing sour cream, plain yogurt, guacamole, etc. Instructions* Remove the sharp-tailed grouse breasts from the breastbone. * Prepare the marinade by combining all the ingredients except for the oil in a medium-sized bowl. Slowly add the oil while whisking until it is emulsified. * Add the breasts to the bowl of marinade. Make sure they are fully submerged and let it rest, covered, in the fridge for a maximum of 4 hours. Don’t let them marinade longer, as the meat can become mushy. * After marinating, remove the breasts and reserve the marinade. * In a bowl, toss the bell peppers, onions, and jalapeños in a ladle-amount of marinade. Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, and, once hot, add vegetables to the pan. Close the lid and allow them to cook while stirring every so often. Cook for 15 minutes or until caramelized. * Remove vegetables from the pan and keep warm. * In the same pan over medium-high heat, add some grapeseed or canola oil and sear the breasts on each side until cooked to medium-rare, roughly 3 minutes each side, though cook time will depend on the size of breast. If you want to be sure, use an instant-read thermometer. Note: medium-rare is around 130 degrees Fahrenheit. * Take breasts off the heat at around 125 degrees Fahrenheit and allow them to rest. While resting they will continue to cook. * While the meat is resting, warm up the tortillas on a griddle to get some nice grill marks. * Thinly slice the breast meat against the grain. If you see the meat isn’t cooked enough, you can add the slices to the warm peppers and onions and toss. This will cook the meat a little more without overcooking them. * Build your fajita using the thinly sliced breast meat, peppers, and onions. Top your tortilla with guacamole, plain yogurt, a squeeze of lime, chopped cilantro, and enjoy! NutritionCalories: 469kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 174mg | Sodium: 707mg | Potassium: 984mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 3346IU | Vitamin C: 149mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 12mgThe post Sharp-Tailed Grouse Fajitas appeared first on Project Upland.

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Explore the tradition and conservation of red grouse in Scotland with pointing dogs during the spring season.July is an exciting month for us, as it signals the approach of our shooting season, which starts on 12 August—known as The Glorious Twelfth—with the opening of the red grouse season.

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My husband Ronnie and I live on the northwest coast of Scotland with our ten Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas. They are a huge part of our lives—they share our house and our sofas and are our family. The breed has a lovely temperament and a boundless willingness to please, making them a joy to live and work with.

Ronnie and I have been married for 32 years and during this time we have had many working dogs including spaniels, Labradors, retrievers, pointers, and an odd assortment of terriers. We finally settled on the Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla breed and have not looked back! It all began nine years ago when I decided that I wanted my own dog to train, work, and compete with; now I have four Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas that I’m proud to call my own.

Spring and summer grouse countsOur dogs have not been on the “hill,” which is what we call our open moorland, since the middle of April’s spring counts. This is so that we do not disturb the ground-nesting birds during their breeding and nesting season.

Spring counts usually begin at the end of March when the grouse pair up before breeding. We do a sample count on a particular piece of ground (block counting) to assess the number of grouse pairs that are present, as grouse are territorial during the breeding season. The same area of ground is then counted in the same way towards the end of July or the beginning of August constituting the summer counts. This gives us a good guide as to how well those grouse pairs have reproduced and how well the chicks fared.

Here on the northwest coast of Scotland, our grouse need all the help they can get. Our area is particularly harsh for the grouse with not much cover and varying degrees of bad weather. Both too much rain and too little can be detrimental. Young grouse chicks rely on a strict diet of insects for their first ten days of life but a cold May can delay insect hatch, jeopardizing the chicks’ survival.

Red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) is a subspecies of the Willow Grouse, but unlike the Willow Grouse, it does not develop white plumage during the winter and it survives on a staple diet of mainly heather. The quality of heather has declined over the past few decades due to overgrazing by sheep and red deer as well as commercial forestry. Where we live, the crofters (small tenant farmers) like to burn the heather almost indiscriminately to improve the grass for the sheep. Whilst burning heather (“muirburn”) can be very good management for grouse too, it should be done in small patches rather than en masse. The grouse also must contend with vermin, some of which are protected by law.

The main reason for counting in July and early August is for the gamekeepers and the land managers to manage their upcoming shooting season. These men and women work hard throughout the year to manage their wild stock in the best way possible. Their work benefits not just the grouse but also a variety of wildlife on their ground, including the golden plover, snipe, curlew and lapwing.

Apart from running our dogs on our own ground where we live and work, we are often asked to help other gamekeepers and estate owners count their ground. This is a wonderful experience for us and our dogs because it gives us the opportunity to see different ground and spend time with like-minded people.

This year, we were very fortunate to be asked to help count a piece of ground in the Cairngorm mountain range. This was the first time we had been to that estate. The weather was very hot that week, so it meant an early start to beat the heat. We were on the hill by 7:00 AM, having driven two hours on main roads and then an hour up a dirt track road to get to where we needed to be. We worked a large piece of ground with seven dogs: four German Shorthaired Pointers and three Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas.

To conduct the count, we spread out in a line and started off in the shadow of a very large hill with very wet ground thanks to a heavy dew. There was a lot of early morning mist that came and went, but for the first hour I could hardly see the handlers on either side of me. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no wind—not a breath—making conditions for the dogs very difficult. Our friend counting at the top of the line came across the most coveys, but the young were very immature and no doubt a product of a second clutch.

After an hour we came out of the shadow into bright sunlight and all the dogs instantly slowed down, as did their handlers. Another couple of hours of working the dogs in very challenging conditions brought us to the end of the “beat” where we congregated to discuss our morning. The wind was still non-existent, so the biting insects were out in force. We walked back to the trucks, parked next to a beautiful loch (lake) where the dogs could swim whilst we had a wonderful picnic and a good chat.

The total number of grouse counted was 60.

For comparison, the biggest number counted in previous years was 400 grouse. This year’s result was a huge reduction and very disappointing, but not unexpected. This ground sits at 1700 feet of elevation; in May they had a couple feet of snow that stayed on the ground for a week or so, followed by a very cold snap which would have restricted the insect life.

The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and, despite the lack of birds, we all enjoyed a most memorable morning. It is always impressive to see so many dogs working so well together.

The role of the dogs during the countSummer grouse counting requires cooperative and well-trained dogs. The dogs must be very steady because they often come across young chicks that cannot fly very well. If the adult birds lose their first lot of young, they can have a second clutch, but it’s usually a smaller hatching. These very young birds are evident when we are out counting; not only does this require perfect steadiness from the dogs, but we also have to be careful not to step on them!

There are also many mountain hares on our grouse moors, which can be quite challenging for some dogs. We do not have any hares or rabbits on the ground where we live and work, so our dogs are unaccustomed to the hares they encounter on a count; a sharp reaction to the stop whistle is key! We’re also likely to encounter sheep that act as “tick mops.” Ticks are very problematic for the Red Grouse because they pass on the Louping-Ill Virus, which can cause up to 80% loss of chicks. Red Grouse can also be severely affected by Strongylosis (Strongyle worm); to counter this, medicated grit prescribed by a veterinarian is put out on to the moor to control the parasite.

Watching dogs working the ground during a count is really quite wonderful. When they come on point, I always catch my breath, more so when our dogs are working with other dogs that they don’t know. The working partnership and respect that they show each other is impressive. There is nothing better than watching a dog use their amazing nose to work out where the birds are, followed by an explosion of grouse rising into the air and flying in all directions with the dog standing still, watching in awe.

I am also fascinated by the different styles of pointing among the dogs. Most of our dogs do not have docked tails, as it was illegal in Scotland until June 2018. Our youngest two dogs were born in November 2018, so they had a fraction of their tails docked. A few of our dogs stand stock-still on four legs when pointing, some with their tails up and some with their tails straight. A few will go into a crouch with a lifted front paw. A few will feather their tails until their point is solid. Reading the body language displayed by the dogs is so informative for the handler.

Results and observations from the seasonOn the whole, the summer grouse count this year has not been very good. A dumping of snow in May followed by a week or so of cold, hard weather has taken its toll on the young birds. A few of the estates where we have been counting have decided to cut back their shooting days, or changed their driven grouse days to shooting-over-pointers days.

We spent a day counting with some friends, one of whom came up from London for the summer counts, on a well-established Speyside grouse moor. Pointing dog owners will always jump at the chance to grouse count with their dogs!

We were due to count a number of separate blocks on the estate, the first being a flat piece of slightly wet ground comprised of medium-aged heather and blanket bog. The plan was to hunt this block to the far end, turn and hunt back again, thus splitting the block into two halves. All in all, before the offset it looked like a promising piece of ground to harbor grouse.

Conditions at the start were not ideal; it was very calm with a light back wind. However, the dogs coped with the conditions well, running out ahead of us and quartering back towards us to use what little wind there was to their advantage. Although a number of pairs were found on the outward hunt, we found very few young birds. On the return hunt, the ground was slightly more favorable with better wind, and we started to pick up a few strong, well-developed coveys.

Once back at the trucks, we concluded that the outcome of the count was a little disappointing in that numbers were reduced compared to previous years’ counts. This particular piece of ground will probably not be shot over this year.

Our next block of ground was a further five miles into the hills. The conditions were much better, with a proper breeze, despite it being a cheek wind. The ground was of good quality, with areas of well-burnt heather providing the perfect environment for grouse to thrive. After a slow start, we got into some strong coveys with high numbers of young birds. We also came across several mountain hares on this day, which always adds excitement for the dogs. We had a couple of great points on common snipe. Overall numbers on this second piece of ground were up on last year, meaning that at some point during the upcoming season this ground could possibly be shot over.

One of our favorite places to count grouse is in Perthshire. This particular count takes place a little later in the season because of the altitude of the ground that we count. This means that the birds’ breeding season takes place slightly later than on the lower grounds. The ground itself is a very long corrie, which is a high valley with a back wall and steep sides. It takes about an hour of walking to get ourselves into position to start the count. Four or five handlers with dogs line up the hill and start to walk the entire length of the corrie, working our dogs and counting grouse coveys as we go. We are all in radio contact with each other in order to make sure that no birds are double-counted. As the birds flush, we must quickly identify adult and young birds and record the information. Some estates also like to know the numbers of mountain hares and if any deer are seen. The entire morning is taken up counting one side of this corrie. Upon reaching the end of the first side, we stop for a well-deserved picnic lunch, after which we line up on the hill again to count the opposite side. The only disadvantage is that we usually have to work the dogs downwind on one side, which slows the process somewhat. Being the fittest out of the bunch, we normally have to take the high ground which means walking much further. But the best part of being on the high ground is that we often get points on ptarmigan. We love ptarmigan!

After the long and tiring day, we assemble for refreshments to compile all of our individual count figures.

On our home ground, the grouse numbers have never been historically high and, coupled with a few poor seasons weather-wise, we struggle to find enough birds to actually shoot. As a result, we will not be shooting them this year and possibly not even next year, instead working hard to improve their environment in the hope that we will have more successful breeding seasons to come.

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Inspired by the crisp, refreshing flavors in spring rolls, this salad is a great way to enjoy light-meat game birds when the weather turns warmHere’s a light, refreshing salad to try with chukar or any light-meat game bird, such as pheasant, turkey, quail, or ruffed grouse. The salad is inspired by the Vietnamese flavors in spring rolls, like bright mint, a healthy dose of veggies, and a creamy, tangy peanut and lime dressing. Lastly, honey-roasted peanuts add crunch to the salad. If you’re substituting chukar meat with a bigger bird for this recipe, poach the meat longer and look for an internal temperature of at least 165° Fahrenheit.

PrintChukar Salad with Peanut-Lime DressingA refreshing salad for warmer months that highlights Vietnamese flavorsCourse Main Course, SaladCuisine VietnameseKeyword Chukar, Grouse, Pheasant, QuailPrep Time 30 minutes minutesCook Time 15 minutes minutesTotal Time 45 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 428kcalAuthor Jenny Nguyen-WheatleyIngredients 12 oz chukar breasts and legs skin on or off * 2 slices lemon * 1 bay leaf * 2 cloves garlic smashed * 4 cups water Salad 3 cups English or Persian cucumbers seeds scraped out and sliced * 1 large bell pepper thinly sliced * 1 small carrot peeled and julienned * 5 cups napa cabbage finely shredded * 1 cup mint leaves rough chopped and tightly packed * 1 small bunch cilantro leaves roughly chopped * ¼ large red onion thinly sliced * ½ cup honey roasted peanuts Peanut-Lime Dressing ⅓ cup peanut butter * 2 tbsp lime juice * 3 cloves garlic minced * 1 tsp Sambal Oelek chili paste or to taste * ¼ cup water * 1½ tsp sugar Instructions Add water, lemon slices, and bay leaf in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil, and then add the chukar meat. The meat should be completely submerged with at least 1 inch of water over the top. Cover the saucepan and bring it back to a boil. As soon as it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Keep covered and allow to sit for ten minutes to poach. Remove cooked meat from the liquid and allow it to cool. * Combine salad ingredients (except the peanuts) in a large mixing bowl. In a mason jar, combine peanut-lime dressing ingredients, close the lid tightly, and shake vigorously to emulsify. Slightly crush the peanuts with a mortar and pestle, or place them inside a zip-lock bag and smash them with a heavy kitchen object. * When cool enough to handle, shred the chukar meat and remove all the bones. Add the pulled chukar meat to the salad bowl. Toss the salad with salt and peanut-lime dressing to taste. Serve garnished with crushed peanuts. NutritionCalories: 428kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 250mg | Potassium: 957mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 4459IU | Vitamin C: 92mg | Calcium: 175mg | Iron: 3mgThe post Chukar Salad with Peanut-Lime Dressing appeared first on Project Upland.

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How the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society Conserves the State’s Sharptails and A Globally Threatened Habitat.During my time at Deerfield Elementary School in southern Wisconsin, my fourth-grade teacher taught us about Wisconsin’s geological history. I recall learning about glaciers, the formation of our local drumlins, and how unique the unglaciated driftless area is when it comes to midwestern landscapes. However, I don’t recall Mr. Meyer teaching my class about the endangered sandy pine barrens located in the northwestern part of the state.

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This habitat type was also formed by glaciers, although they had the opposite effect. This expanse of poor-quality, sandy soils is exactly where the glaciers scraped across the surface of what is now Wisconsin. Post-ice age, pine barrens covered 2.7 million acres in this region. Sadly, interconnected barrens broken up by young stands of jack pine are difficult to come by these days. In fact, pine and oak barrens are a globally threatened habitat type.

“Red, white, and jack pine as well as oak and some aspen were present in historic pine barrens, but in patches, not large swaths of forests,” said Mike Amman, the Bayfield County forester and the Vice President for the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society. Amman continued, saying that reforestation created dense stands of red and jack pine, which were and are managed for timber production. However, the tree density and sheer total acreage of these areas came at the expense of the historically open barrens. Barrens-related species’ populations have fallen drastically, including the sharp-tailed grouse.

Sharpies are Wisconsin ResidentsWhen uplanders typically think of sharp-tailed grouse habitat, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana come to mind. Historically, Wisconsin was also included on this list. However, after European settlement, the impacts of clearcutting, fire suppression, farmland conversion, and residential development almost eliminated pine barrens and sharpies along with them.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) states that in the past, sharptails covered much of northern and central North America. They recognize six subspecies of sharpies; the prairie sharp-tailed grouse subspecies (T. phasianellus campestris) is one that resides in the state year-round.

A brochure available on the DNR website depicts the distribution of the birds in the state over time. In 1850, sharpie habitat covered much of central Wisconsin, the entire northwest sands region, portions of the driftless area, and the southeastern corner. The DNR calculates that prior to European settlement, 13.2 percent of northern Wisconsin was sharptail habitat.

Fast-forward to 2000, and the infographic highlights 19 tiny, disconnected ovals of known grouse locations. A lack of fire disturbance has reduced the sharptail distribution across Wisconsin. It has also fragmented the barrens habitat the species relies on. The agency estimates that less than one percent of the original pine and oak barrens exist today. Additionally, less than one percent of native grasslands that sharptails rely on remain. The combination of these factors supports the need for sharptail conservation in this state.

The DNR classifies sharpies as a “Species of Greatest Conservation Need.” As a result, this species is intensively managed across their range, particularly in Douglas, Burnett, and Bayfield Counties, as well as west of Minocqua near Highway 70. Today, this core group of public properties and private lands are the only places sharp-tailed grouse exist in Wisconsin.

“The northwest sands are the last stronghold for sharptails in Wisconsin,” said Amman. In the past, the average interval between fires was ten to 15 years. Since fires haven’t been occurring at this rate for decades, today, most of the northwest sands are forested and inhospitable to the birds.

How Sharptails are Managed in Bayfield CountyMike Amman is the forester for Bayfield County. As a steward of the land, he manages tree growth and sharptails simultaneously. He strategically carves out spots within forested landscapes to hold onto these birds while contributing to broader landscape management.

“Historically, the Bayfield County Forest held birds in its fuel breaks,” said Amman. The properties he manages are in a fire-prone area, so they keep large areas open as fire breaks when possible. Traditionally, these were long, rectangular, quarter-mile long by eight-mile wide gaps in the forest.

While he was maintaining these fire breaks, sharptails survived in the forests on a small scale. However, bowling alley-style fire breaks weren’t the most effective for conserving sharptails. With a lot of help from the DNR, Amman was able to transition away from that style of fire break to a central core area while maintaining the same acreage. Bayfield County already had sharptails on its property; Amman just had to improve its quality a little to help strengthen the breeding population of these birds.

Today, Bayfield County forests are undergoing an intense management plan: the Barnes Barrens Management Plan. Scheduled to run from 2020 through 2082, county foresters will implement the plan in two different stages. Stage one prioritizes establishing the “core area” for barrens habitat within the Bayfield County Forest. It also includes removing mature red pine trees and transitioning the land into a jack pine forest. Mature stands of jack pine will be harvested, too. These efforts work towards restoring barrens and young jack pine; this specific tree and age class are beneficial for many native barrens species, including the state endangered Kirtland’s Warbler.

Stage two focuses on creating “floating surrogate barrens.” Beginning in 2035, the forest’s four zones will be rotationally harvested as each pine stand matures. As each stand is cut, the newly opened forest will serve as a surrogate barrens for sharptail grouse. If things go according to plan, the grouse will have a new barrens location to occupy at the same time the previously harvested area begins to reforest. To me, this is a unique and effective way to manage both timber and grouse at the same time.

To facilitate these plans, Bayfield County Forest will employ several land management techniques. Prescribed fire will help moderate grasses and brush, and chemical-based vegetation treatments will stave off reforestation. Their use of scarification and seeding of jack pine supports naturally-growing pine stands as opposed to linear rows of planted seedlings. Working with other professional land managers from the DNR and Forest Service is included in the plan, too, to ensure the use of up-to-date science and best management practices. Most importantly, all of these techniques will be applied in ways that ensure continuous connectivity with the central core area of barrens habitat. This way, local sharpies always have the largest intact tract of barrens available for use.

Amman understands the depth and importance of long-term grouse management in his neck of the woods. “I’m engaged at the ground level. I can say, ‘Alright, how do we make sure we’re doing our best with the county forest? How do we advocate for the state to keep doing good work? How do we help connect our land base with the Forest Service and these other isolated populations?”

In addition to following the management plan, Amman uses technology to monitor sharptails. GPS collars—well, backpacks, really—are used to collect data every hour on the forest’s birds. To do so, researchers must first trap sharp-tailed grouse and mount the GPS unit to their back. This is done carefully as live birds are very fragile. Each backpack never weighs more than three percent of a grouse’s body weight.

When they work, GPS units can tell us where birds roost, feed, nest, raise broods, and more throughout the year. Additionally, they can tell us precisely where grouse aren’t, furthering our understanding of habitats they depend on and places they avoid.

“These areas are just postage stamps. One thousand acres is nothing to these birds. I have to make sure my postage stamp is as high-quality as it can be. When we get the GPS collars on, we can see what aspects of the stamp they use. We can build movement maps with this information,” said Amman.

However, trapping and attaching GPS units to grouse is far easier said than done. A monitoring project completed in 2021 successfully captured and GPS tagged just seven sharpies, and six of them were male. Male grouse behave differently than female grouse and may use slightly different areas as a result. Delays in understanding areas that female grouse prefer may lead to negative impacts on chick survival. Unfortunately, the only tagged female died due to predation just one month after being tagged. To make things worse, the GPS units on the male grouse all stopped working over time, leading to gaps in data collection.

“When your sample size is five, data analysis gets really tough,” explained Amman.

Whether or not these expensive GPS units can be reused after a mortality event or loss of signal depends on several factors. Predators can destroy the tags while preying upon birds, or the device can simply malfunction. Luckily, in these instances, they usually emit a mortality signal so managers like Amman can locate the device even after it has fallen off.

“When our GPS technology fails, I go out and look for it,” he said. “As part of that, I take my dog with me in the field and we flush birds. If we can flush birds and I can record how many young birds flew, I can collect data points and learn if our management techniques are working.”

Despite the challenging start to the GPS monitoring efforts, Bayfield County is committed to supporting this effort long-term. Additionally, they have an interest in expanding the GPS-based project to other DNR properties with barrens on them. Hopefully, the growth of this program will help tell wildlife and land managers more about this imperiled species.

How Sharptails are Managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesThe Wisconsin DNR started managing sharptails in the 1940s. One of the first things they did was designate sharptail management areas. Today, the DNR collects sharptail data in those eight core locations in northern Wisconsin, including: Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, Douglas County Wildlife Area, Kimberly Clark Wildlife Area, Moquah Barrens Wildlife Area, Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area, Pershing Wildlife Area, Riley Lake Wildlife Management Area, and the property Mike Amman helps manage, the Barnes Barrens in Bayfield County Forest.

As expected, the state uses some tried-and-true land management techniques to support barrens restoration and sharptail conservation on their properties. Similarly to the Bayfield County Forest, the DNR practices prescribed burns and mowing. These techniques create islands of cover habitat and support native grasses and forbs, critical habitat elements for sharpies and other at-risk barrens species.

Bob Hanson, the Northwest Sands Wildlife Biologist and Sharp-tailed Grouse Species Coordinator for the DNR, is the person in charge of increasing habitat connectivity for the species. “We’ve got this fire-adapted system that reacts very well to prescribed burning. The shrubs, prairie, and tree species all mix together to provide habitat for the sharp-tailed grouse and other rare species. When you add it all up, it’s quite a mix of wildlife who are using these barrens. It’s why the barrens are considered globally important,” said Hanson.

Additionally, the state published a document titled “Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse: A Comprehensive Management and Conservation Strategy” in 2011. The Sharp-tailed Grouse Working Group keeps this public document up-to-date. This plan was created after identifying a lack of genetic diversity and “high levels of inbreeding relative to more continuous populations.” The second half of the 68-page plan explains the state’s management plans, focus areas to prioritize, and measurable action items.

The ultimate goal of the state’s conservation plan is to sustain viable populations of genetically-sound sharptails that provide regulated hunting opportunities. The actionable items intended to help managers reach that goal in 10 years include establishing grouse conservation areas, evaluating annual reproduction rates, identifying landowner partners, conducting land surveys, and more.

To help achieve this goal, the DNR developed the Northwest Sands Corridor Plan. Published in 2013, this plan identifies opportunities to connect existing pine barrens habitat. Its objective is to use “biologically‐driven data to identify barrens habitat restoration opportunities within the Northwest Sands and potential habitat corridors or stepping stones between existing barrens habitat patches, with the ultimate goal of benefitting barrens‐dependent Species of Greatest Conservation Needs” such as the sharp-tailed grouse. The DNR uses this plan to prioritize restoration areas to ensure habitat connectivity.

“The 1996 Sharp-tailed Grouse Plan said you should have about 50,000 acres of quality habitat for the species to be sustainable. We never really identified where that would be back then, but today, the birds are showing us where that is,” said Hanson. “However, these places are too far apart and that’s where the habitat corridor plan comes into play. We need to create suitable habitats along that corridor no more than 3 miles apart and at least 1,280 acres in size to reconnect this landscape.” Hanson’s hope is that source populations of sharptails will use these stepping stone-style habitat corridors to reconnect with other existing grouse populations.

The DNR does this work with multiple partners including the Bayfield County Forest, the state forest, private industrial landowners, conservation easements, Douglas County, Burnett County, and more. Each partner seeks to achieve different goals by working with the DNR, whether it’s increasing the size of their barrens habitats or increasing the connectivity between their different properties. Ideally, all of this work will greatly benefit the sustainability of sharp-tailed grouse populations in Wisconsin, ultimately leading to a regulated hunting season.

Right now, the DNR does not allow sharptail hunting in Wisconsin; the state requires a permit to hunt this species and the permit itself is currently “under review.” Managers aren’t quite sure when the season will reopen. “Right now, as we draft this plan, we’re trying to figure out what to do. We had a population viability analysis done last year that said if we continued on our previous path, we could be increasing the risk of extinction over time,” said Hanson. “The advisory committee recommended that we don’t hunt them until we figure out a new model for the permit quota system.”

The DNR also conducted intercept interviews with grouse hunters training their dogs on sharptails on public properties. “The majority of people said that they want to hunt sharptails once the population is sustainable; it was all about the bird and making sure they’ll be okay first,” said Hanson.

Amman thinks that when the 2023 sharptail management plan is completed, there will be guidelines included as to when a hunting season will be allowable. However, in the meantime, it is still legal to train your dogs on resident sharptails for open sharpie seasons elsewhere. Just keep in mind that sharpies live in the dog training restrictions area.

Amman chimed in with his personal opinion on this topic. “We’re still seeing grouse population growth on these focal properties,” he said. “If they’re growing, let’s let them grow. Once we see dispersal onto other properties, then those focal properties are considered ‘full.’ Then we’ll have a source population; we’ll be able to hunt a source population.”

How Sharptails are Managed by the U.S. Forest ServiceThe U.S. Forest Service (USFS) manages the sharp-tailed grouse present in Wisconsin’s Moquah Barrens and Riley Lake Management Area in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. There, the agency has been managing for sharptails since the 1950s via prescribed fire. In 2009, they completed a 22,000-acre management plan that outlines the management objectives for the area. It focuses on conserving the “unique and globally imperiled pine barrens ecosystem.” Similarly to the other managers working with barrens, the Forest Service uses fire, timber harvests, invasive species removal, native seed planting, and ongoing monitoring to manage this habitat type.

Unlike Bayfield County’s and the DNR’s management strategies, though, the Forest Service has translocated grouse from Minnesota to Wisconsin. Between 2016 and 2018, 160 sharpies were moved from northwestern Minnesota to the Moquah Barrens. The goal was to introduce more genetic diversity into the inbred Wisconsin population. In addition to following recommendations written in the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Management Plan, the Wisconsin and Minnesota DNRs, Sharp-tailed Grouse Committee, and Minnesota and Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Societies all provided translocation recommendations to the USFS. This project was a team effort, no doubt.

So far, the USFS project has had mixed results. Initially, grouse numbers bumped up post-translocation as birds stuck around for the first year. Since then, grouse managers have had a difficult time collecting data on translocated birds.

“The birds have been bouncing around and trying different lek spots,” said Hanson, who helped trap and release sharptails for the federal project. “What we’re looking for this spring is increased access to lek locations and getting a better bird count. For example, the Moquah Barrens roads don’t get snow plowed at all, so we’ve missed a lot of our lek survey periods in the past due to lack of access, forcing us to miss data collection opportunities.”

“There may be several factors at play for the numbers of birds seen at the known lek sites at Moquah this last spring,” said Brian Heeringa, the District Wildlife Biologist for Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. In addition to minimal personnel and the remote nature of lek sites, the USFS “figures that around 50 percent of them dispersed out of Moquah and perhaps up to an estimated 20 percent suffered from predation.”

Fortunately, private citizens have been reporting brood sightings throughout the northwest sands, assisting with data collection efforts. “It’s a positive thing. Plus, we’ve had mild spring weather for the last two years. They’ve been dry with no ice storms or late snows, which is great for nesting conditions. I’m guessing we’ll see another jump up in the bird numbers,” said Hanson.

Although data collection has been difficult, released birds have been documented inside and outside the National Forest property. Dispersal distances of released birds have ranged from a quarter mile to nearly 25 miles according to the USFS’s radio telemetry data. The farthest-traveling bird was a harvested bird from Namekagon Barrens, “a straight-line distance of over 50 miles,” said Heeringa. Not only that, but these birds have been seen at active and historic lekking grounds throughout the Moquah Barrens and on state and county lands.

“It was fascinating,” Amman said, his eyes lighting up. “We moved these Minnesota birds to what we thought were good Wisconsin properties. Yet some birds left and flew to historic lek sites that haven’t been active in decades. Those birds had never been in this state before. The environmental cues they saw in the air were enough to get them to think, that’s where I want to be. It’s not random. They’re seeing something in the environment that we don’t.”

Today, researchers are mapping historic lek sites. With this information, managers can prioritize areas featuring historic leks and open them up for sharptail utilization. The USFS also intends to ramp up their monitoring program. “The USFS is dedicated to supporting sharp-tailed grouse conservation into the future,” said Heeringa.

In addition to managing the Moquah Barrens, USFS works with other stakeholders to increase the connectivity between the historic northwest sands corridor in northern Wisconsin. “They’re planning to continue to do habitat work along their core management areas,” said Hanson. “Some of their timber harvests are going to act as floating barrens, too, and provide temporary open barrens that’s beneficial for species like the sharp-tailed grouse.”

The Future of Sharp-tailed Grouse in WisconsinSharptails earned their nickname because of their propensity for survival on fire-prone landscapes. However, due to fire suppression and more, this charismatic species has nearly been extinguished from Wisconsin’s glaciated landscape. The lack of available habitat isn’t just negatively impacting this one species, either; countless uncommon, rare, and endangered species depend on this disappearing habitat type.

“We’re trying to reconnect just 50,000 existing acres of grouse habitat. It’s easy to see why the bird is struggling,” said Hanson. “However, there’s a mutually beneficial opportunity to support both the grouse and the working forest. Instead of spending money to create barrens habitat, stakeholders can make money clearing the trees for sharptails.”

By facilitating partnerships between county, state, and federal agencies as well as private landowners, hope remains for the longevity of Wisconsin’s firebirds and the pine barrens they depend on. Creating connections between land managers and, consequently, remaining pockets of barrens encourages connectivity between human relations, at-risk wildlife populations, and endangered landscapes. To me, it seems like this strategy is already working.

The DNR is finalizing the first draft of the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Management Plan for 2023-2033. You can read it here. The state recently opened a public comment period for the draft plan that closed on November 17th. If you’re looking for ways to get involved with sharpie management in the state, consider reviewing the final draft of the plan, providing some feedback to the DNR, and watching the recording of the recent public comment meeting held on November 8.

“We need all hands on deck. It’s not just about sharptails,” said Amman. “It’s about all the species that depend on the barrens.”

To support and stay up to date on Wisconsin sharp-tailed grouse management, join the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society. You’ll receive quarterly updates, additional resources, connections to fellow sharptail advocates, and more.

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Processing and preserving goose meat as jerky is a great way to make protein-rich snacks for future huntsJerky is the go-to option for any wild meat that hunters deem unworthy as table fare. Geese, especially light geese, tend to fall into this category. Even if you deeply appreciate goose meat’s culinary potential, we all still love jerky and need to scratch that itch from time to time.

The Light Goose Conservation Order is underway, which allows for additional goose hunting opportunities in some states. This helps to manage overpopulations of light goose species because they can wreak havoc in their nesting grounds when their numbers are too large. As part of this program, hunters in many states can legally hunt in ways that are otherwise prohibited during the regular waterfowl hunting season, such as by removing the plugs in their shotguns, using electronic calls, and–in some locations–with increased or even unlimited bag limits (be sure to check your local regulations before hitting the field in the spring, though). For those successful hunting parties, the post-hunt field dressing can be fast and furious, where many skinless breasts get piled into game bags.

You can adjust this recipe accordingly if you’re sitting on just one or two goose breasts or have a whole garbage bag or two full of them. You may need a bigger dehydrator if you have a lot of goose meat.

Over the years, I’ve reduced the amount of curing salt that I use. I try to use just enough to help preserve the meat and provide that cured flavor without making everything taste like pepperoni. You can skip the InstaCure if you’d like, but you’ll miss out on that cured flavor and slightly longer shelf life.

Skinless goose breast is fattier than venison. This fat content affects shelf life. Fat runs a higher risk of oxidizing, which leads to spoilage. Generally speaking, when I make waterfowl jerky, I let it cool then seal it and keep it in the fridge for upwards of two weeks. With very lean venison jerky, I seal it and keep it in the back of the cupboard for two months. If you ever need to preserve it longer, vacuum seal and freeze your jerky. In my experience, frozen jerky will remain good indefinitely, though food scientists say it’s best for two to three years.

Lastly, always remember to chew wild waterfowl jerky slowly. The jerky may still contain steel shot.

PrintWild Goose JerkyPreserve goose meat by making a delicious, on-the-go snackCourse SnackCuisine AmericanKeyword Goose, JerkyPrep Time 12 hours hoursCook Time 3 hours hoursTotal Time 15 hours hoursServings 4Calories 449kcalAuthor Jack HennessyEquipment Dehydrator Ingredients 1 goose breast * Black pepper freshly cracked Brine ½ gallon water * ½ tbsp InstaCure #1 * ¼ cup soy sauce or tamari sauce * ½ head garlic smashed * ¼ tsp sesame oil * 2 tbsp brown sugar * 1 tsp ginger powdered * 1 tbsp Kosher salt Instructions While the goose breast is still partially frozen, use a fillet knife to trim the breasts of any fat or fascia. Using either a slicer or a deft hand, slice the goose breast horizontally (against the grain, from the wing side to the other wing if the breast was still on the bird) into 1/4-inch thick slices. * To make the brine, add all the ingredients to a medium saucepan or pot and simmer, stirring often, until the salt and sugar dissolve. Allow the brine to cool before adding the sliced goose. * Brine goose slices overnight or for 10 to 12 hours. * Dust the goose slices with freshly cracked black pepper. * To dehydrate, take the goose slices directly from the brine and place them on a dehydrator rack with ample space between each piece. Sometimes, it helps to spray racks with cooking oil, which helps keep the jerky from sticking to the rack. * If you’re using a dehydrator, dehydrate the goose meat for either one hour at 160F, two hours at 140F, or three hours at 130F. * If you’re using a smoker, pellet grill, or oven, shoot for 160F for four hours. * If you like your jerky more brittle, you could cook it for another hour or two at 130F. If you like it a bit juicier, try one hour at 160F and then four hours at 130F. NutritionCalories: 449kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 91mg | Sodium: 2658mg | Potassium: 412mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 114IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 3mgThe post How to Make Goose Jerky appeared first on Project Upland.

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Is using long leads to train dogs a relic of the past or a timeless treasure?Dog training methodologies are vast. The long lead’s outward appearance may seem to be a relic of training days gone by. And truth be told, for some, they wouldn’t be wrong. With the invention of the e-collar and the now mainstream training approaches of utilizing classical and operant conditioning, many trainers forego the use of the long lead altogether.

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I’d argue that the long lead is not only relevant today but is also an essential tool in developing new trainers before they touch an e-collar. It reduces the chances of overcorrecting, promotes a connection with your dog the e-collar can’t provide, and develops the timing and focus every trainer needs to maximize their dog’s learning.

Though a simple tool, there are a few things to consider when choosing the right long lead for you and your dog.

Types of Long LeadsLong leads come in all shapes and sizes. When choosing the right lead, there are a few things to consider. Purchasing an age-appropriate long lead is based on the size of the dog. Like anything, there is give and take when choosing a lead. The smaller the dog, the smaller the lead should be. However, a small lead on a big dog can be very uncomfortable on the hands. The larger the diameter, the easier the lead is to handle, though more difficult for the dog to drag. The longer the lead, the easier it is to get to when needed, but it’s more difficult to manage.

Therefore,

1. Choose a lead that your dog can pull effortlessly
2. Choose a length that you can easily manage.
3. Choose a material that is easy on the hands.
4. Choose a diameter that you can easily control.

You will need to try out various brands to figure out what works best for you.

Also, Biothane or rubber-type leads avoid rot but are hard to handle when wet. Michael Neiduski, owner of Ugly Dog Hunting, explains, “The biggest issue is that Biothane versions of the long lead have a bit too much stretch in the worst moments, like when the dog is lunging for the bird.”

I prefer dense, rigid leads around 15 to 20 feet long for older dogs. They are stiff enough not to get caught on things while still being comfortable on the hands.

I like to run a short piece of paracord with a small clip for real young pups. I will play with it indoors periodically and consistently outdoors. My mission is to teach the pup to ignore the lead and associate it with positive experiences. It represents runs in the field, fun drills, games, birds, and yummy treats or praise. As the pup develops, it will encourage the pup to want to work and accept the control to make it work. It leaves the pup connected with the impression that I’m its leader and provides fun early training opportunities.

This puppy lead also helps avoid introducing bad habits as the adolescent pup tests your boundaries and control. Good behaviors get reinforced, and poor ones are denied the opportunity to develop. As I always say, good trainers can fix problems, but great trainers never have them.

Other Things to Consider When Training With a Long LeadGloves—Wear gloves when working with a long lead, as it can burn if it slips through your bare hands quickly.

Tall boots or socks—If you have ever had a pup pull its lead across your bare ankles, you know all too well how painful nylon leads can be. Tall boots and socks help protect you.

Over the back—It’s also important to know that the lead should always be mended to lay across a dog’s back. The most common injuries occur when the lead is pulled while wrapped around a leg.

No knots and loops—Though knots and loops in your lead seem like a good idea, they easily catch on things, creating a safety hazard. They can also be a real pain to manage. When running a long lead in the woods, dogs can get entangled around trees and bushes when their line is knotted.

Line management—The longer the line, the harder it is to manage. It takes a nimble hand to manage an excited dog around birds. It’s important to constantly mend the lead to where you can connect with the dog in an instant when needed.

GPS or e-collar—For flight-risk dogs, the long lead should be used in conjunction with a beeper or GPS collar in case they get entangled at a distance.

Strength—Often, clients complain that they aren’t strong enough to give their dog the correction it needs. I’d argue the problem isn’t with the handler’s strength but rather a weak foundation of understanding. One, they haven’t developed their dog’s understanding to the point where it doesn’t require a harsh correction. Two, the correction they are giving isn’t being done in a way that sends the right message.

Age—For many of us aging trainers, we have old war wounds to contend with. Back, knee, shoulder, and wrist injuries often plague those who have been around the block a few times. Learning to manage the lead to reduce the risk of injury is essential. Some trainers will use a body or elbow wrap to prevent straining their body. For some, this works well, but for others, they go for a ride and not in a fun way. Training stakes or whoa posts are a great alternative to anchor the dog and help reduce wear and tear on the trainer.

Overcorrecting—Overly harsh lead corrections on a neck collar can potentially cause neck injuries. Overcorrection utilizing the half hitch around the belly risks internal injuries. Both methods work effectively; just be careful not to overcorrect.

The long lead is a timeless treasure of the past that has many applications in most training systems today. It gives dogs the structure and boundaries they need during their developmental age. It guides the dog towards success, allowing you to mark and promote your desired behaviors.

Long leads are a two-way line of communication that provides feedback to and from your dog. Success in your training is dependent on giving clear feedback. When properly used, the long-lead guides your dog toward success and simplifies lessons, making them digestible.

Using the long lead requires a handler to read their dog and predict behaviors before they appear. It improves a trainer’s timing and focus, teaching them to live in the moment with their dog, an essential skill to have before attempting to implement the e-collar.

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Celebrate St. Patrick’s day with an upland take on a classic holiday meal, substituting pheasant for the traditional corned beefWhen prompted to think of a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish, most people think of corned beef and cabbage or corned beef and hash. But what happens if we use upland birds instead of cattle in these dishes?

I incorporated a rooster pheasant in this recipe, but you can use any upland birds that add up to approximately one pound of meat. We will cure the meat in the same way one would with corned beef. In my experience, the pheasant was not as pink as I thought it would be upon removal. Nevertheless, it still had that distinct corned flavor, which is exactly what we are going for.

The sauce recipe calls for beer, preferably an Irish red ale. Make sure to save a couple for yourself if that’s your preferred way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

PrintCorned Pheasant and HashAn upland take on a traditional St. Patrick's Day mealCourse Main CourseCuisine IrishKeyword PheasantPrep Time 3 days daysCook Time 5 hours hoursTotal Time 3 days days 5 hours hoursServings 4Calories 609kcalAuthor Jack HennessyIngredients 1 whole pheasant broken down * 1 lb red potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes * Bearded Butcher Butter Blend or similar spice mix * 1 tbsp salted butter * 4 eggs * Olive oil * 1 medium onion diced * 12-24 oz red ale such as Warbeard Irish Red * 16-32 oz pheasant stock or chicken stock * 1 tbsp spicy stone ground mustard added at the end for sauce Brine 1 gallon water * 1 tbsp InstaCure #1 * ½ garlic bulb peeled and smashed * ¼ cup Kosher salt * ⅓ cup brown sugar * ¼ cup black peppercorns whole * 1 tbsp coriander seeds * 1 tbsp mustard seeds * 1 tsp caraway seeds Instructions* Quarter the pheasant into thighs and legs, wings, and breasts. The breasts can stay on the bone if you wish. * Combine all brine ingredients in a large pot and bring to a low simmer. Stir until salt, cure, and sugar dissolve, then turn off the heat. Allow the brine to cool before adding the pheasant. * When the brine is cool, add the pheasant to the pot. Cover the pot and refrigerate it for three days. * After three days, start cooking by dicing a medium yellow onion. Remove the pheasant from the brine and pat it dry. Heat a thin layer of olive oil on medium-high in a large skillet. Add the onion and lightly salt and pepper it. Once the diced onion is seared, remove it and add a bit more olive oil. * Sear the pheasant. Do not crowd the pan; only fill the skillet half full. Sear all sides of the pheasant to caramelize the meat. Once all sides are seared, add the onions back to the skillet, along with a can of Irish red beer (or similar) and a bit of chicken stock. You likely want a 2:1 ratio of beer to chicken stock. Make sure the pheasant is mostly covered in liquids, then cover the skillet with a lid. * Reduce heat to low or whichever one of your stove settings creates barely a simmer. Monitor and continue to cover the pheasant with beer and stock as necessary. Barely simmer it for 4-5 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone. * Once the pheasant meat falls off the bone, remove it and set it aside. Drain the cooking liquids through a sieve, saving one to two cups of the liquids. * Hand-shred the pheasant meat, meaning remove the meat from the bones, and set it aside. Heat the oven to 400 F. Dice the potatoes, lightly coat them in olive oil, and roast them in a cast-iron skillet (or similar skillet), rotating as necessary until all sides are brown, likely 15-20 minutes. * Once the potatoes are roasted, remove them and add them to a large mixing bowl with salted butter and Bearded Butchers’ Butter Blend or your favorite potato spice mix. Do not oversalt. * Add both shredded pheasant and roasted potatoes back to the large skillet. Carefully crack four eggs overtop, and place the skillet in the oven until the eggs are cooked, approximately 3-5 minutes. * To make the sauce, use leftover liquids and add half a tablespoon of stone-ground mustard for every cup of liquid. Stir thoroughly. If the liquids get cold, heat them back up in a saucepan. * Use a spatula to portion out potatoes and pheasant with an egg overtop to serve. Then, add a bit of sauce. Enjoy! NutritionCalories: 609kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 56g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 313mg | Sodium: 350mg | Potassium: 1234mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 682IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 4mgThe post Corned Pheasant and Hash appeared first on Project Upland.

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The history, development, and current market value of the iconic American-made pump-action shotgun, the Winchester Model 1912.Suppose one found themselves reading a newspaper in 1912. The headlines may have read, “New Mexico, Arizona Admitted as 47th and 48th States,” “Titanic Sank on its Maiden Voyage,” and “First Stop Light Invented in Detroit.” Between articles, you might have spotted a Winchester Repeating Firearms announcement for its new shotgun, the Winchester Model 1912. Its sales team coined it “the perfect repeater.”

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The pump-action shotgun is a staple in the world of American wingshooting. The Winchester Model 12 is among the shooting world’s cast of popular models, and it was bested only by the Remington Model 870 in production numbers. Four years earlier, the unique Remington Model 10 was the first-ever bottom ejector introduced to the market, with over 275,000 produced until 1929.

The Winchester Model 1912, or simply the Model 12, was the American manufacturer’s first hammerless shotgun. Nearly two million of them were produced between 1912 and 1962. It saw action in four wars: World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Today, the shotgun is still popular on used gun shelves nationwide due to its versatile applications. The starting price of a used Model 12 in decent condition is around $450, and more pristine and high-end editions can fetch upwards of $1,500.

The Shotguns that Lead to the Winchester Model 1912The history of the Winchester Model 1912 began with two hammered shotgun patents for John Browning’s Model 1893. Winchester used these patents to develop its first slide-action shotgun. While this shotgun was groundbreaking in its own right, its production was short-lived. Smokeless powder was invented in 1884, and the 1893’s action could not sustain it. In the four years of production, Winchester produced 34,050 of the Model 1893 until the Winchester Model 1897 replaced it.

The Model 1912, an improved hammerless version of the Model 1897, was developed by Winchester engineer Thomas Crossley Johnson. “Be it known that, Thomas C. Johnson, citizen of the United States, residing at Norman, in the county of Cleveland and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pump-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a specification,” reads the opening of Patent US-1027052-A, which was filed on May 21, 1912. Little did Johnson know that his four-page-long patent for the Winchester Model 1912 would become iconic.

While the Model 1912 was Johnson’s most successful patent, he also had a major failure when designing an auto-loading shotgun that didn’t infringe on John Browning’s designs. When trying to produce a semi-automatic model designed after the Browning Auto 5, the end product was the Winchester Model 1911, most commonly referred to as “The Widowmaker,” and not for good reasons.

The Production of the Winchester Model 1912 The most comprehensive history of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was written by Herbert G. Houze in 1994. In his book, Winchester Repeating Arms Company: Its History and Development from 1865 to 1981, Houze points out an important shift in demand in the American market: the decreasing interest in centerfire rifles and a rise in the popularity of rimfire rifles and shotguns.

Beginning in 1905, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company began to receive requests from sportsmen worldwide for a light-weight hammerless repeating shotgun. By 1909, the demand had reached the level that T.G. Bennett requested that the work begin on such a design. Throughout that year and the two following. T.C. Johnson drew up the plans for an entirely new shotgun that met the requirements set by consumers. The resulting design, put into production as the Model 1912, surpassed all expectations and was to prove one of the most popular arms ever made by the company.

In 1913, the sales between the Model 1912 and Model 1897 were neck and neck. Thirty thousand and nine hundred Model 1897s were produced, besting the Model 12 by 3,785 shotguns. But in 1914, the Model 12 sold 47,347 shotguns, and the Model 1897 lagged behind at 17,519. By 1915, over 100,000 Model 12s had sold.

In 1933, Winchester began offering a second pump-action shotgun, the Model 42. Winchester produced 164,800 of this less-popular model until 1963. Over time, a cult following for the infamous .410 sub-gauge model has popped up.

The Winchester Model 1912’s production stayed much the same until a memo to senior management in 1943 cited notes on the Model 12, saying, “improve the smoothness of the action as it is criticized as being rough.” According to Houze, there was also interest in a “lightweight version” and an introduction of a 28-gauge.

The Model 1912 was officially discontinued as part of the Winchester lineup in 1963. Clean-up production resulted in the last Model 12 coming off the assembly line in 1966 with serial number 1970875, just shy of two million produced.

Outdoor Life article from 1913 on the new 20-gauge version of the Winchester Model 12.The Winchester Model 1912 and its War HistoryThe Winchester Model 1912 saw its first war with World War I. The U.S. Military ordered 777 shotguns, including 600 riot editions, between 1917 and 1919 (Houze, 1994). The then-popular Model 1897 saw an order volume of 19,293, which accounts for the common misconception that 20,000 of the “perfect repeater” saw action in World War I.

World War II produced a total of 61,014 Model 1912 shotguns (Houze 1994). Of that, 19,207 were repaired by Winchester over the course of the war. These combined numbers have created the misconception that 80,000 Model 12 shotguns were produced for WWII. This iconic military shotgun saw action in the Korean War and was retired after the Vietnam War.

The Winchester Model 1912 VariantsThomas Henshaw wrote in The History of Winchester Firearms 1866-1992 about the first variation of the Model 1912 offered. “It was first listed in the January 1913 catalog in 20 gauge, with a 25-inch round nickel steel barrel,” he said. “This was the first Winchester model to be chambered for 20 gauge. The 12 gauge and the 16 gauge were first listed in 1914, the 12 gauge Riot Gun in 1918, and the 28 gauge was authorized in 1934.”

The most complete reference to the Winchester Model 12 variants also appeared in Henshaw’s book. These include the Standard Field Gun, Tournament Grade, Special Trap Grade, Riot Gun, Trench Gun, Standard Trap Grade, M12 Trap Gun, Trap Gun, Trap Gun – Ladies and Junior (20-gauge), Skeet Gun, Heavy Duck Gun, Pigeon Grade, and Super Pigeon Grade. A Featherweight was also produced between 1957 and 1962. Variations in barrel length were available over the years, including 25, 26, 28, 30, and 32 inches.

The Model 12 comes with a fixed choke. Depending on the shotgun variation, the following chokes were produced: full, improved modified, modified, improved cylinder, No. 1 skeet, No. 2 skeet, and cylinder. All of them were chambered at 2 ¾ inches, except the Heavy Duck Gun, which came in a 3-inch version, and the 28 gauge, which was 2 ⅞ inches.

The following Field Gun weights are as follows:

• 12 gauge at 7 lbs. 5 oz.
• 16 gauge at 6 lbs. 9 oz.
• 20 gauge at 6 lbs. 5 oz
• 28 gauge at 7 lbs. 3 oz.

The Model 1912 Reintroduction and Current Market ValueThe Model 1912 had one final act. Resurrected in 1972, it enjoyed production of a 12-gauge-only version until 1979, with a total of 26,299 produced. It ranks comfortably as history’s second-largest production run of a single pump-action shotgun.

Depending on the version of the Winchester Model 1912 one is searching for, prices can vary greatly. A shotgun in decent condition, such as a Field Gun, can start at as little as $400, while Trap versions can begin as high as $1,300. The 28-gauge version is the most valued by collectors, with fewer than 4,000 produced between 1932 and 1960. Current market prices can vary from $4,000 to $15,000, depending on the condition and variation.

The primary issue surrounding the Winchester Model 1912 is with the action cycling, which is understandable for a shotgun of this age. While a gunsmith can resolve some of these problems, there are certainly those beyond repair. Nevertheless, it can be a fun pump-action shotgun to add to the collection and take on your next wingshooting adventure.

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The Labrador Duck, an extinct black and white sea duck once found in North America, symbolizes the complexities of ecosystem interconnectivity and the challenges in historical wildlife research and misunderstood extinction causes.The Labrador Duck was a beautiful black and white type of sea duck considered the first species of North American birds to go extinct during modern times. The last Labrador Duck to be hunted was shot in 1878 in Elmira, New York. It is presumed that the species went extinct shortly after.

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The loss of the Labrador duck is not your typical ecological warning about the dangers of over-harvesting, market hunting, or a general lack of conservation, but a reminder of the fragility and interconnectedness of our ecosystems to the flora and fauna that inhabit them.

One of the many challenges for biologists and historians when researching past hunting, harvesting, and taxidermy records of the Labrador duck is that it’s a species with many names. It’s an eider-type sea duck, also known as a pied duck, which includes the Golden Eye and Surf Scooter, leading to confusion about which historical entries are appropriate for which duck. Colloquially, it was also known as a skunk duck and the sand shoal duck due to its respective skunk-like black and white appearance and proclivity for sifting through sand bars near shallow estuaries.

Labrador Duck Habitat and DietThe Labrador Duck was never considered a plentiful species, even before the arrival of European settlers. Alexander Wilson, a naturalist from the 1800s, stated that the Labrador Duck was a scarce and difficult-to-find species and was “never met with on fresh water lakes or rivers”.

As discussed in the ornithological journal The Auk, John Woodhouse Audubon, the son of the famous ornithologist John James Audubon, traveled to Canada with his father in 1833 in search of “northern sea ducks.” While exploring the region, he reported seeing nests belonging to what he thought were Labrador Ducks, “placed on the top of the low tangled fir-bushes.” Still, he was not able to find a living example to study.

A local boy later informed Audubon that the nests in question belonged to a “pied duck,” not a Labrador duck, leading to some confusion over whether the nests truly belonged to the elusive duck or if the term “pied” was used interchangeably to describe a variety of sea ducks. Despite the boy’s claims, Audubon was adamant that he had found what he sought.

When they were located, Labrador ducks were often found in bays, inlets, estuaries, sand bars, and other sheltered areas near shallow, sandy water. The Labrador duck was found in coastal areas, allowing for easy access to different kinds of mollusks, crustaceans, and shellfish, which comprised most of its diet. They would spend the warmer part of the year breeding in Canada near the Gulf of the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, and areas of coastal Labrador and migrated south to New England to avoid harsh Canadian winters.

Labrador Duck AppearanceThe Labrador duck had a unique appearance. Males had a white belt on their breasts, black primary features, and dusky gray and brown feathers on the underside of the wing. Their flanks were a striking shade of black. One specimen was measured from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail at 20 inches with a wing span of 27 and a half inches.

As described by Canadian Naturalist Dr. A. Hall in the 1862 edition of The Canadian Naturalist and Quarterly Journal of Science, “…the outer scapulars colored with black, and the whole of the inner vanes of the inner half dusky, terminating in blackish, giving to the undersurface of the wing a dusky appearance; the primaries are all dusky black; the feathers on the cheek have a bristly feel; in other parts of the head and neck the feathers have a velvety feel, a good deal resembling that of the Great Northern Diver.”

One of the vulnerabilities exhibited by the Labrador duck was its highly specialized diet and unique bill, which had evolved to be particularly adept at finding food in sand and sediment. The Labrador Duck had a soft bill with a wide, flat tip that biologists theorized had evolved to help the birds probe for crustaceans and mollusks. Moreover, the duck’s bill had evolved to contain many lamellae, comb-like structures that act like a sieve or filter that helps the bird sift their food from unwanted material. This extreme specialization made the Labrador Duck very dependent on specific food sources, making it difficult for it to evolve or change feeding habits when their usual foods became scarce.

Hunting Labrador DucksDespite being illusive, rarely studied, and seldom seen, there are a few historical accounts of hunting the Labrador Duck, including some unique strategies employed to capture and harvest them. Known to be skittish and difficult to approach, they were said to take flight from the water at the slightest provocation or threat.

In 1891, Col. Nicholas Pike outlined his account of previously hunting the Labrador Duck:

I have in my life shot a number of these beautiful birds, though I have never met more than two or three at a time, and mostly single birds. The whole number I ever shot would not exceed a dozen, for they were never plentiful: I rarely met with them… They were shy and hard to approach, taking flight from the water at the least alarm, flying very rapidly. Their familiar haunts were the sandbars where the water was shoal enough for them to pursue their favorite food, small shellfish.

It may have been this seafood-based diet that led to the Labrador duck having a fishy taste and smell. Perhaps they were known colloquially as the skunk duck because of their characteristic black and white markings and their reputation for not tasting very good. Their poor reputation as table fare resulted in the Labrador duck being very cheap at most markets. The lack of edibility also reiterates that the Labrador duck’s extinction was not driven by market hunting but by a series of ecological issues that spelled the end for an animal dependent on specific habitats and food sources.

Andrew Wilson recalled seeing them in markets for purchase but in minimal numbers and with little popularity. “About forty or more years ago it was not unusual to see them in Fulton Market, and without doubt killed on Long Island; at one time I remember seeing six fine males, which hung in the market until spoiled for the want of a purchaser; they were not considered desirable for the table, and collectors had a sufficient number,” he said.

Col. Pike said, “I have only once met with this duck south of Massachusetts Bay. In 1858, one solitary male came to my battery in Great South Bay Long Island, near Quogue, and settled among my stools. I had a fair chance to hit him, but in my excitement to procure it, I missed it. This bird seems to have disappeared, for an old comrade, who has hunted in the same bay over 60 years, tells me he has not met with one for a long time…I would here remark, this duck has never been esteemed for the table, from its strong unsavory flesh.”

Shotgunning wasn’t the only tactic employed to kill Labrador ducks. Another interesting historical account described fishermen baiting their lines with mollusks and shellfish. The lines would then be cast into the water in the hopes of catching fish and feeding ducks.

The last account of hunting Labrador ducks comes from 1878. A tremendous storm hit the East Coast on December 12th, and a young boy from Elmira, New York, had the tenacity and gumption needed to brave the strong winter storm to procure some dinner for his family. Shotgun in hand, he huddled on the shores of the Chemung River in hopes of harvesting some ducks. Details are sparse on the contents of his game bag, but what is known is the teenager did shoot a very unique sea duck, a rarity that far inland.

Word began to spread quickly of the unique harvest and eventually reached the ears of an avid birder and conservationist named Dr. William H. Gregg, who raced to find the young hunter and his duck but was disappointed to arrive after it had been plucked and the majority of it eaten, leaving only the head and neck to be saved and studied. This specific bird would end up being the very last Labrador duck ever to be shot by a hunter and one of the last to be seen by humans before its declared extinction.

Eventual Extinction The disappearance of the Labrador duck was a unique situation. Biologists hypothesize it was largely due to the animal’s specialized bill and diet, a rather rare position where market or unregulated hunting didn’t play a major role in the species’ demise. As mentioned extensively in historical accounts, the Labrador duck was not sought after for its meat. It tended to smell unappetizing and spoil quickly, making it unlikely that hunting made much of an impact on population numbers. Why hunt something that tastes awful and won’t sell when other, better-tasting birds are available?

Its unique bill made transitioning to alternative food sources difficult when the crustaceans and shellfish they relied on so heavily became scarce due to human development. As North America’s Atlantic coast became more industrialized, it may have impacted the shellfish and crustacean populations enough to decrease the Labrador duck population.

The Labrador duck was tightly connected to the local ecosystem, and when human development began to harm shellfish and mollusk populations, it created a ripple effect throughout the food chain. One ripple ultimately resulted in the extinction of the Labrador duck due to its inability to adapt to its quickly changing ecosystem. Naturalist Alexander Wilson commented on their disappearance, stating, “No one anticipated that they might become extinct, and if they have, the case thereof is a problem most desirable to solve, as it was surely not through man’s agency, as in the case of the Great Auk.”

In North America, the passenger pigeon, heath hen, and Carolina parakeet soon experienced extinctions largely linked to unregulated market hunting. The Labrador duck’s extinction highlights the fragility and interconnectedness of our ecosystems and the importance of even the smallest inhabitants.

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The intelligent and beautiful English Setter is an international phenomenon in the bird dog world that still holds strong for this hunting breed.

“And if gunning over an intelligent handsome setter enriches my sport, certainly a hearthful of them on a winter evening or speckled faces peering out of our station wagon are things to value.”

George Bird Evans

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The English Setter was America’s first bird dog. And rightly so; they’re known for being incredible hunting partners regardless of the terrain or quarry. As a result, they have a long history in North America, and evidence of that can be found in classic upland bird hunting texts like The Upland Shooting Life by George Bird Evans. However, this dog breed was originally developed across the Atlantic Ocean in England.

Rather ironically, the more time passes, the less English the English Setter has become. “Wildly popular in some regions, more or less unknown in others, they face extinction in their native land,” says Craig Koshyk in his book Pointing Dogs Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds. Over 15,000 pups are born in Italy each year, and only 250 are born in England. Italy, France, and Norway have taken the English Setter as a breed and ran with it, and their “influence on the development of the breed cannot be overstated,” said Koshyk.

Whether you’re considering bringing an English Setter into your home or you’ve hunted over this breed for decades, it’s easy to see how their gorgeous looks, incredibly friendly temperaments, and undeniable desire to hunt have allowed their popularity to skyrocket. Let’s look deeper into the English Setter’s history, characteristics, and hunting abilities by glancing into Pointing Dogs Volume Two’s chapter on English Setters.

English Setter Characteristics and Form

| Characteristics | Details | | Name | Since 1872: English Setter Pre 1872: English SpanielGermany: Der English SetterFrance: Le Setter anglaisItaly: Il setter ingleseRussia: angliīskiī setter | | Size | Males: 25.5-27 inchesFemales: 24-25.5 inches | | Tail | Not docked, feathery | | Coat | Flat-lying and short or thick, abundant coats. May have a top knot | | Coat Color | Wide variety. Typically blue belton, orange belton, and tricolor. In Europe, liver-and-white is also common | | Health Issues | Hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, deafness, hypothyroidism. Some lines may be prone to epilepsy, Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), and progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) | | Character | Absolute sweethearts | | Population | Approximately 30,000 whelped annually | | Range | Big-running | | Pace | Most strains are fast; a few are more moderate | | Good Choice For | Grouse, woodcock, pheasant, quail, chukar, Huns, ptarmigan, snipe, waterfowl |

English Setters are wildly popular worldwide thanks to their delightful personality, medium size, and impressive hunting abilities. Expert dog trainer Curtis Fry told Craig Koshyk that their personality is the main reason he owns the breed. “They run the gamut from goofy to elegant, but most are calm in the house, and docile when you are feeling down, but full of energy in the field where they run like the wind,” he said. Their lovely disposition, combined with their trainability, are what allowed Fry to take multiple English Setters to the highest levels in NAVHDA tests.

Regarding field-bred dogs and show-bred dogs, the ones bred for the field are smaller. However, Koshyk has found that English Setters have more variation than any other bird dog breed. For example, Ryman Tyle and American Old Hemlock Setters can be larger. Scandinavian Setters are very middle-of-the-line, and Italian and American Setters are on the lower end of the standard. Their coats vary as much as their sizes, too.

“An important contributor to the success of the English Setter is the wide range of coat colors and patterns that have always been accepted in the breed,” said Koshyk. This allows English Setter breeders to focus more on abilities and temperament than color. They must always have a white ground, but their flecking or spots range from black and liver to lighter shades like lemon, tan, and orange. Today, this Setter is most commonly found in blue belton, orange belton, and tricolor.

The Field Dog Stud Book defines a belton coat as “all white, but ticked with a secondary color or colors.” If a Setter has a large patch or patches of any color, that dog will not be described as belton. Instead, it’s deemed orange-and-white, black-and-white, liver-and-white, or tricolored.

Coat lengths can vary as much as coat colors. “Some strains have flat lying, relatively short coats,” said Koshyk. “Others have thick, abundant coats and even a topknot.” Show-bred dogs tend to have longer coats and field-bred dogs usually have shorter coats. Some hunters and field trailers will even shave their dog’s coat before the season if the conditions are expected to be hot.

English Setter Training and Hunting AbilityRegarding trainability, English Setters can be soft to anything but. Scott Berg, who’s been breeding English Setters in America for over three decades, argues that “they are on the softer side, but in some ways that means they can be easier to train, if you understand their mental makeup.” Alternatively, Fry states, “I’ve had some that were soft. So for me, it is more of a question of how you approach their training. They are generally a bit slower to develop than Pointers but you can’t really generalize. You have to train them as individuals.”

Whether you’ve got a soft or hard-headed Setter on your hands, allowing them to have and enjoy puppyhood is important to the dog training process. The President of the English Setter Club of England, Dom Gotourbe, told Koshyk that “starting them too early and not letting them have a puppyhood are common mistakes.” He’s found that the best way to train English Setters is to maintain a sense of humor. “You have to remember that you are training a dog and not programming a robot,” he said. “A close bond with your dog is essential.” Thankfully, their most important skill–pointing–is inherently strong.

Pointing comes naturally to many English Setters, and backing does, too. Some Setters start pointing as early as eight weeks old; others might take 11 to 12 months. Regardless of when your Setter starts pointing, anyone can notice the significant difference between regional pointing postures.

“Traditionally, especially in the days of hunting with nets, setters were expected to lay down on point,” said Koshyk. Laying or crouching is still the preferred pointing posture for Italians. In the UK, Scandinavia, France, and beyond, both breeders and professional judges prefer “a more upright point, with the dog standing up or only slightly crouched,” according to Koshyk. Comparatively, American English Setter breeders require a “high on both ends” pointing style. In this position, the dog is standing up with its head held high and its tail at 12 o’clock.

Field SearchThe English Setter’s field searching styles have evolved over time. In the past, Setters were slower and closer-working, even though they were considered fast and wide-ranging back then. Today, they are much quicker and work wider than in the past, but their running style has a wider variety based on their region and line.

“There is a lot of variety in the breed and it really depends on how you develop an individual dog,” said Scott Berg. “If a dog is biddable, handles well, and stays connected to the handler, it can cover a lot of ground and still be in control.”

Retrieving and Water WorkBefore field trials existed, English Setters were always expected to retrieve. Setters that didn’t retrieve naturally were generally unwanted. Modern Europe still always expects their English Setters to retrieve while hunting. Across the pond, they even have specific formats of field trials that require Setters to retrieve.

Curtis Fry told Koshyk that “if you select for intelligence and cooperation, then retrieving comes easily…I want a clean and absolutely reliable retrieve.”

Fry also has much to say about the English Setter’s ability to perform in the water. “If I have a dog that loves birds–and it is tough to find an English Setter that doesn’t love birds–water work then becomes the same as retrieving, which they love.” He continues, explaining how early exposure to water often yields positive results. “Once they get used to water, it becomes no big deal.”

English Setter History and Development in AmericaWhen thinking about historically significant English Setter lines that influenced this dog’s existence in America, four specific strains come into play: Laverack, Llewellin, Ryman, and Old Hemlock.

Laverack Setters“The first thing to be attended to in breeding is to consider what object the animal is intended for.” – Edward Laverack

Edward Laverack is known as the father of the modern English Setter. He authored one of the earliest histories of the breed in the book titled The Setter, published in 1872. He grew up in Scotland, where he spent his early years shooting over the country’s moors and bought his first brace of dogs in the 1820s. The first pair of Laverack Setters sent by Edward Laverack himself arrived in America in 1874.

Although Laverack Setters were not favored by southern or western bird hunters or field trialers, they had an incredible ability to pin birds in the Northeast and to win dog shows. “Technically, when Mr. Laverack died in 1877, the Laverack ‘breed’ died with him, and since the pedigrees he presented to the Kennel Club were no longer considered 100 percent accurate, no agreement could be reached about what a ‘true’ or ‘pure’ Laverack actually was,” said Koshyk.

Llewellin SettersRichard Purcell-Llewellin created his strain of Setters with pure Laveracks and dogs with “steady nervous system, brains, and absence of all excitement.” As a result, he produced fast, wide-running dogs that were trainable and easy to handle. He continued to breed dogs for 50 years, and they became very popular in America.

However, the Field Dog Stud Book listed Llewellins as a separate breed, not strain. “The idea that Llewellin Setters were an independent breed, not just a strain of English Setters, had taken hold, and for some, it still holds today,” said Koshyk.

Ryman SettersGeorge Ryman is a famous dual-type English Setter breeder who started his line of “cover dogs” in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. By 1920, he had a kennel of at least 100 dogs, and all of them “were the sportsman’s dog,” according to Freeman Lloyd.

There is no greater authority today on the Ryman Setter than Walter Lesser, author of The Real Ryman Setter. Ryman sought to “produce a certain type of setter, and he crossed to any dogs that would produce that type for him,” said Walter Lesser, someone who actually saw dogs bred by Ryman. “Constand introduction of new bloodlines was a hallmark of George Ryman’s breeding program, and it is an obvious feature of any of his pedigrees.”

Ryman continued to breed and sell dogs until, in 1955, at the peak of his success, he “suffered from a debilitating stroke,” said Koshyk. “His wife Ellen took over the day-to-day operations of the kennel and cared for George, who eventually passed away in 1961.” Today, folks can still find dogs that are said to be Rymans; however, a true Ryman Setter could only be one bred by the man himself.

Old Hemlock SettersGeorge Bird Evans developed his own line of dual-type setters, similar to George Ryman, in the 1950s. Evans and his wife started with dogs from Ryman, creating their own line of “companion gundogs.”

“In our way, we were doing what had been done in England years ago when country places bred their private strings of setters, shaped by types of shooting,” Evans wrote in an article in Field and Stream from 1971. “Beyond this personal gratification that lifts shooting with a dog to a plane above simply killing birds, if more shooting men would develop private strains of gundogs aimed at what they feel a gundog should be, ruffed grouse and woodcock dogs that hunt to the gun would once again be more than a memory.

English Setter ClubsThe English Setter Club (UK, 1890)
The English Setter Association (UK, 1951)
The English Setter Club of Ireland
The English Setter Association of America
The English Setter Club of Canada
Club du Setter Anglais (France)
Società Italiana Setters (Italy)
Eesti Setterite Klubi (Estonia)
English Setter Club of Netherlands
Österreichischer Setter Club (Austria)
Verein für Pointer und Setter e.V. (Germany)
Setter und Pointer Club Schweiz (Switzerland)
Svenska Setterklubben för Engelsk Setter (Sweden)
Norsk Engelsksetterklubb (Norway)
Engelsk Setter Klub I Danmark (Denmark)

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This goose breast is cooked to perfection and paired with a rich, sweet beurre blanc sauce with dark cherriesHere are two must-know facts: 1) Every wild-game home cook should own a sous vide, and 2) The sous vide cooking method followed by a reverse sear is the best way to enjoy wild ducks and geese.

When a wild duck or goose breast slowly stirs, marinates, and cooks in its own fat, the end product is truly incredible. Duck confit is the perfect example of this. The skin is the best place to find waterfowl fat and flavor. As a result, it is always recommended to pluck breasts and keep the skin on. After all, waterfowl skin is the bacon of the wild bird world. If you only have skinless goose breasts, consider purchasing some duck fat, which can be found at many grocery stores, and adding it to your sealed sous-vide bag along with the white wine and other ingredients this recipe calls for.

The beurre blanc here is very rich and slightly sweet. It would pair well with any waterfowl species and several fish species, including salmon, swordfish, and mahi mahi. However, it may be too sweet and not savory enough to serve alongside most upland birds. Of course, that decision is entirely up to you.

Canada goose should taste incredible, with flavors more reminiscent of roast beef than irony waterfowl, assuming it’s served medium-rare. With every degree past medium-rare (130-140 F), with an emphasis on “rare,” the flavor potential drops exponentially. The instructions provided here will help ensure you serve your goose breasts medium-rare.

Lastly, and most importantly, carve Canada goose breasts pencil-thin. Shorter muscle fibers mean less chewing required, plus you may also be able to spot any steel shot as you slice. Also, remind everyone at the dinner table to chew slowly. Canada goose, especially if from an older bird and not aged, can be tough. More molar power may be required, but if not careful, chomping could mean chipping a tooth should you bite into steel shot. Chew carefully!

PrintSous Vide Canada Goose with Dark Cherry and Chardonnay Beurre BlancA rich, slightly sweet sauce paired with a goose breast perfectly cooked to medium-rareCourse Main CourseCuisine American, FrenchKeyword Duck, Goose, Sous VidePrep Time 20 minutes minutesCook Time 3 hours hoursMarinate 3 hours hoursTotal Time 6 hours hours 20 minutes minutesServings 4Calories 1388kcalEquipment Sous Vide Set Up * Chamber vacuum sealer optional Ingredients 2 Canada goose breasts Marinade 2 cloves garlic smashed * 1 apple sliced * 1/4 lemon juiced * Chardonnay wine as needed * Kosher salt * Black pepper freshly cracked Beurre Blanc 2 cups Chardonnay wine * 2 tsp garlic freshly minced * 1/4 tsp Kosher salt * 1/4 tsp black pepper ground * 1/4 lemon juiced * 1 cup fresh dark cherries pitted and halved or quartered * 1 tbsp brown sugar * 1 cup heavy whipping cream * 1 lb salted butter room temperature and cut into pats Instructions* If you have a cryo or chamber vacuum sealer, seal the goose breasts in a bag with marinade ingredients. Otherwise, place these ingredients into a bowl and let the goose marinate. Marinate the goose for three to five hours, regardless of which method you use. * Using a sous vide cooker, sous vide the breasts (still sealed up with marinade, if possible) for 2-1/2 hours at 118 F. Remove the meat and pat it dry. * Reverse-sear the goose on a 600 F grill, flat top, or skillet for one minute per side. It helps to put a grill weight on the breast when searing. * Lightly tent the meat with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving. * To make the beurre blanc, add two cups of wine, the juice from 1/4 lemon, garlic, salt, and black pepper to a medium saucepan. Bring it to a simmer. Once reduced to a third or quarter of the original amount, add one cup of heavy whipping cream. Continue to reduce until, again, the amount is approximately half, then add one cup of pitted dark cherries and one tablespoon of brown sugar. Continue to reduce until one-third of the original amount. Then, turn off the heat. Slowly stir in one pound of room-temperature pats of butter. * To serve, place the beurre blanc at the bottom of the plate or atop the carved goose. Garnish with fresh basil if you’d like. NutritionCalories: 1388kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 121g | Saturated Fat: 51g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 52g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 310mg | Sodium: 508mg | Potassium: 1025mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 1860IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 103mg | Iron: 6mgThe post Sous Vide Canada Goose with Cherry and Chardonnay Beurre Blanc appeared first on Project Upland.

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Project Upland celebrates 10 years of filmmaking and the evolution of those who tell your stories.

“I will never have a perfect dog. I will never be the perfect shot. I will never understand everything about Ruffed Grouse. Those layers, for me, are the point. The point is that I can endlessly try and never actually reach that goal. That goal will always be pushed further and further away. That’s the point.”

Founder of Project Upland, A.J. DeRosa

If you had told me back in 2014 that Project Upland would evolve from the random wanderings of a New Englander into an award-winning film series, I would have laughed. As a New Englander, my curiosity was always there, but my worldview was limited to those around me and how they discovered a love for the uplands. I grew up hunting over my father’s Brittanies; in the 1980s, you could still find ruffed grouse regularly in the central parts of New England. Although the seeds were planted then, my true love for the uplands did not fully develop until I pressed record on a camera. With each story I had the pleasure of telling, I found myself more enchanted by the wonderful and complex world of the uplands. Favorite dog breeds, game species, shotguns—it felt like the ultimate “choose your own adventure” book.

This film was presented by:
💥 Kent Cartridge
🧭 OnX Hunt
🦻 Tetra Hearing
🔫 Upland Gun Company

The first film released under Project Upland was called “The Experience,” a story about a New Hampshire native who found love and connection in the grouse woods of New Hampshire, a way to feel closer to those no longer in his life. Not long after, I received a phone call from Tripp Way, who was then the Northeast Regional Director of the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS). Over the next couple of years, I traveled more, met Tripp many times in New York, and volunteered for RGS, releasing each film to promote the organization. Things kept growing; my only true goal was to spend more time hunting.

As time went on, the films became more complex and started exploring beyond New England, reaching all over the United States. Project Upland evolved into a website, a purposeful series, and eventually, in 2018, a print magazine. But the essence of this story is about film—the challenges and concepts that evolved to capture the essence of the uplands in its most emotional form: the dog work, the landscapes, the shotguns, and the unique birds that connect us across the globe. New stories emerged, such as the origin stories of European gunmakers, conservation issues, and much more.

New filmmakers came on board. My biggest goal was to mentor a filmmaker not just in film but to become a devoted and obsessed bird hunter. I found that in Kevin Erdvig, and what started as a novel idea snowballed into his journey with his English Setter, Finn, and a never-ending curiosity about this culture. It was crucial that the core filmmaker of Project Upland understood the complexity of the uplands—the dog work, the wide range of subcultures, the pressing conservation issues—and truly felt the weight of each. That’s the only way these stories could truly resonate.

Kevin and I have traveled together for weeks on end, sharing camps, kennels, and theories of life. We have brainstormed on how to film, the next big goal in film, and how to fundamentally tell stories that withstand the test of time. While I have mentored him in the woodsmanship of grouse and woodcock, he has challenged me in film, adding a level of expertise I could not have achieved alone. This growth has been ever-present over 10 years of Project Upland films, enriching my life in ways I can never fully express. We will continue to raise the bar in film, in storytelling, and in what we do. And in our motto: To expose the uplands to the world, capture defining moments, push our passion and culture forward, bring our community closer, to make us feel.

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A look at the NAVHDA Utility Test, including test events, scoring, preparation, and what to expect for your hunting dog.When it comes to evaluating hunting dogs—whether for breeding purposes or bragging rights—the methods and philosophies are as varied as hunters themselves. What constitutes a “good” hunting dog, and whose opinion counts? One hunter’s ideal dog could be a terrible match for someone else’s style, and vice versa.

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Non-competitive hunt tests came about as an attempt to standardize the evaluation of hunting dogs at various levels. The tests aren’t perfect, but they at least provide a consistent measuring stick for assessing the natural and trained skills of a hunting dog. For the versatile pointing breeds, perhaps the most well-known system is the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) testing system.

NAVHDA offers four levels of non-competitive hunt tests: the Natural Ability test, the Utility Preparatory Test, the Utility Test, and the national-level Invitational Test. Each of these tests is designed to mimic real-life hunting scenarios and assess the dog’s ability to focus and complete a given task. While the Natural Ability test is focused on the innate skills of pointing, tracking, and swimming, the higher-level tests introduce more trained subjects such as retrieving and steadiness.

What is the NAVHDA Utility Test?A dog that successfully completes a Utility Test can be considered a “finished” dog. She is a worthy hunting companion because she is steady in the field and duck blind, can successfully recover dead or wounded game on land or in water, and has a high level of obedience at all times. Passing this test demonstrates that a dog should be able to successfully complete any task that might be encountered during an upland bird or waterfowl hunt.

The Utility Test builds from the foundation of the Natural Ability (NA) and Utility Preparatory (UPT) tests, with the assumption that the dog is now more physically and mentally mature and trained to a much higher level. As with the other tests, the setup is designed to reflect actual hunting conditions as closely as possible. Expectations of the dog’s performance and obedience are high.

READ: Aims Programs Test Rules

How to participate in a NAVHDA Utility TestTo be eligible for the Utility Test, dogs must be a NAVHDA-recognized versatile breed and the individual dog must be registered with NAVHDA. There is no minimum age or prerequisite tests; while it’s recommended to proceed through the testing levels in order, it is not required.

In addition to the dog’s registration, the handler and owner(s) of the testing dog must be members of NAVHDA. This is an annual membership that must be current in order to enter a dog into a NAVHDA test.

Individual chapters of NAVHDA host tests throughout the year. These tests are advertised online and published in NAVHDA’s Versatile Hunting Dog publication. Entry fees and process vary by individual chapter, so it’s best to contact the club’s Test Secretary for specific details. Generally speaking, test demand far outpaces the availability of test spots, so plan ahead and perhaps arrange for backup entries if you are waitlisted for your preferred test. It’s not uncommon for handlers to drop out close to the test date if they feel unprepared, so it’s a good idea to prepare for the test even if you don’t yet have a guaranteed spot.

How to prepare for the NAVHDA Utility TestThe Utility Test is a full day’s worth of evaluation on land and in the water. Before you run your first dog in a Utility Test, it’s a good idea to first observe a test to get a better idea of how the day is organized and what’s expected of the dogs. Anything you can do to reduce your test-day anxiety will go a long way toward helping you and your dog to be successful. Oftentimes, that just means eliminating some of the unknowns.

The Utility Test has a heavy emphasis on retrieving on land and in water, so it’s essential that you are confident in your dog’s ability to retrieve in a variety of scenarios. There will be a dead duck, a “wounded” (flightless) duck, and fresh-shot upland birds in any variety of conditions depending on how the shot sequence unfolded. Be sure your dog is reliable with warm, freshly-shot birds that may not be fully dead yet, and always make sure you train for situations more difficult than what you expect to encounter in the test.

The second emphasis that sets the Utility Test apart from lower levels of NAVHDA testing is the steadiness component on both land and water. To achieve the top score, your dog must be completely steady through the flush, flight, shot, and fall of the bird on land. She must also remain steady and quiet at the duck blind while shots are fired and a dead duck is launched into the water. Again, create training scenarios that are more challenging than what you expect at the test in order to be sure your dog can be successful in any circumstances.

Don’t just plan your training schedule around retrieving and steadiness, though. The duck search is a large component of the total score (see next section), and a top mark is required if you want that coveted Prize I. General obedience is also very important because your dog’s overall obedience will be judged throughout the test—especially heeling. Stress levels for both you and your dog will be extra high on test day, so it’s important that obedience and good heeling are second nature for your dog.

How NAVHDA Utility Tests are scoredEach subject of the Utility Test is scored on a scale from 0 to 4, with 0 meaning the dog completely failed to complete the task and 4 meaning the dog performed the task in an excellent manner. Subjects are assigned multipliers depending on the relative importance of the overall outcome. The maximum score for the Utility Test is 204 points. Like the NA and UPT, passing dogs are awarded “prizes” based on certain minimum scores in each category. Scores are determined by a team of three judges.

| Subject | Index Number (Multiplier) | Maximum Points Attainable | Prize I | Prize II | Prize III | | Water | | Search for a duck | 4 | 16 | 16 (4) | 12 (3) | 8 (2) | | Walking at heel | 2 | 8 | 6 (3) | 4 (2) | 2 (1) | | Remaining by blind | 2 | 8 | 6 (3) | 4 (2) | 2 (1) | | Steadiness by blind | 2 | 8 | 6 (3) | 4 (2) | 2 (1) | | Retrieve of a duck | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | 3 (1) | | Field | | Search | 5 | 20 | 15 (3) | 15 (3) | 10 (2) | | Pointing | 4 | 16 | 16 (4) | 12 (3) | 8 (2) | | Steadiness on Game | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | 6 (2) | | Retrieve of shot bird | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | 3 (1) | | Retrieve of dragged game | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | 3 (1) | | Judged Throughout | | Use of nose | 6 | 24 | 24 (4) | 18 (3) | 18 (3) | | Desire to work | 5 | 20 | 20 (4) | 15 (3) | 10 (2) | | Stamina | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | | Cooperation | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | 3 (1) | | Obedience | 3 | 12 | 9 (3) | 6 (2) | 6 (2) | | TOTAL | 204 | 172 | 129 | 90 |

*Minimum Score For Each Prize Classification is Indicated in Parentheses.

NAVHDA Utility Test eventsThe Utility Test is divided into water and field events. The test can be conducted in any sequence at the judges’ discretion.

Water eventsThe water phase of the test often starts with the search for a duck. This event mimics a waterfowl hunting scenario where a duck has been wounded (rendered flightless) and has sought cover in vegetation within a pond. The dog must work independently to search the pond using its nose and intuition with minimal (or no) input from the handler. The judges are looking for the dog to complete an industrious, systematic search that lasts for approximately ten minutes. The dog is not required to find the duck, but if it does, the duck may be safely shot by a judge and then must be retrieved to hand.

Walking at heel is evaluated during the water group of events. A heeling “course” is established, although stakes are no longer used to mark a specific route. Instead, judges will instruct the handler to walk in a direction that includes one or more turns to evaluate the dog’s ability to walk calmly at heel. It is up to the handler whether to have the dog heel on or off lead, but the judging expectations are the same.

Typically immediately after the heeling sequence comes the blind steadiness sequence. The first of these subjects is remaining by the blind. The dog is left at the blind while the handler walks out of sight and fires two shots. The dog must remain quietly in position and calmly await the handler’s return. Once the handler is back to the blind, the dog is evaluated in steadiness by the blind. A hidden gunner fires a shot, then the handler fires a shot, then the gunner fires a second shot. A dead duck is thrown into the water, and the handler fires a second shot, as though the airborne duck has just been shot in flight. The dog must remain calmly in position throughout the sequence. Finally, the handler gives a command for the dog to retrieve the duck, at which point the dog is judged on its ability to swim through a decoy spread and successfully retrieve the duck back to the handler.

At the conclusion of the water events, each dog’s physical attributes are assessed and noted (teeth, bite, eyes, coat, and testes if applicable). This is not a judgment of the dog’s conformation against the breed standard, but is a quick assessment for any obvious faults that would hinder the ability to perform as a hunting dog. The physical attribute assessment has no impact on the dog’s score; it is just noted along with the results in the test records.

Field eventsThe main portion of the field event is conducted as though it were a typical upland bird hunt. The handler, judges, and two designated gunners enter the field and begin the hunt. The dog is evaluated on its field search as it looks for game in likely cover. Once game is found, the dog is evaluated in pointing. The handler should approach the dog, at which point the “pointing” portion of the evaluation ends as soon as the dog is aware of the handler’s presence. From this point forward, all of the dog’s actions are judged as part of steadiness on game. The handler must flush the bird and raise his or her gun as though about to shoot (but should not fire the gun). One of the designated gunners will shoot the bird. Ideally, the dog should stand motionless throughout this entire sequence.

Once the bird is down, the handler should release the dog to retrieve the shot bird. The dog is judged on how well it completes this task, including the condition of the bird once it is delivered to the handler.

The final event is the retrieve of dragged game. A dead bird—often a duck—is dragged for 100-200 yards and hidden out of view of the handler. This event is not a tracking exercise; rather, it is a test of how well the dog retrieves game while it is well outside of the handler’s influence. The dog is expected to locate and quickly pick up the game and return it to the handler without any commands or influence from the handler. Essentially, this is a test of your dog’s “honesty” when she knows that you can’t see her.

General subjectsThroughout the test, each dog is evaluated on their use of nose, desire to work, stamina, cooperation, and obedience. These characteristics are displayed during the various field and water test subjects and can be influenced by environmental factors such as especially hot or dry conditions. The judges take the entire day’s performance into account when evaluating the dogs on these subjects. Ideally, a good hunting dog is skilled at interpreting the scents picked up by her nose, has a clear desire to complete the given tasks, is physically capable of working all day long, has an obvious desire to work as a team with her handler, and willingly obeys commands. A dog that displays all of these qualities is likely to be a great hunting companion and truly enjoyable to work with.

Understanding the results of the Utility TestAt the conclusion of the test, the judges will convene to review their notes and arrive at a consensus for each day’s score. The results will be read aloud to the handlers and spectators. Any dog that receives a “prize” is considered to have passed the test. All dogs that receive a prize one in the Utility Test are eligible to run in the following year’s Invitational Test for the prestigious “Versatile Champion” title.

Whether or not the dog passed, the handler will end the day with a solid understanding of where the dog/handler team is in relation to their dog training and hunting goals. The Utility Test is strenuous for both the dog and the handler, and it’s always possible for a highly skilled dog to fail on any given day. As the judges often say, “We’ve only seen a small glimpse of what your dog can do on this one particular day.” Truly, anything can happen, but the goal is to prepare as best as possible.

When it comes to identifying quality breeding stock, Utility Test results say a lot about a dog’s natural abilities as well as its trainability for hunting subjects. It’s reasonable to expect that a high-performing dog will pass these traits on to future generations. Some breed clubs have established breeding standards that use NAVHDA test results, such as requiring one or both parents to have achieved a certain prize level in the Utility Test prior to breeding.

At the end of the day, whether you have passed the test or not, it’s a huge accomplishment to have prepared for the test and trained your dog to this level. A Utility-prized dog is at the top tier of all versatile hunting dogs and will be a valuable companion for finding and recovering game in any hunting scenario.

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Montana’s new regulations for training dogs on wild birds call for more than enforcing an additional license and season of use. I’m finishing this story on the eve of Montana’s 2023 bird opener, and I’m feeling very strange about the birds I’m about to start chasing. Over the past month, I’ve had dozens of conversations…

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Embark on a thrilling hunt for grouse and huns amid the serene prairies and rolling hills of North Dakota, the Peace Garden State.As my Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Grim, went on point beyond my comfort zone, I couldn’t help but worry. He’s crowding those sharptails, I thought to myself. Meanwhile, Tyler’s English Setter pointed gracefully 20 yards behind Grim.

“He’s used to the forest air,” Tyler explained, “He needs to learn the scenting conditions of the prairie.” To my disbelief, the sharp-tailed grouse tolerated my dog’s presence at the edge of a small bush. The birds sprang up like popcorn, and I connected with a single shot as one veered behind us. Tyler also marked a bird, but my eager dog tried unsuccessfully to retrieve both at once in his own selfish manner. It is a wonderful memory I will never forget.

September beckons. Each year it draws us from the East to the vast West, the allure of prairie birds enticing us. The thrill of rising sharp-tailed grouse against the open landscape and hunting coveys of Hungarian partridge over a pointing dog is irresistible. Even for those living in these grand American prairies, the fascination never wanes, offering a striking contrast to thick northeastern forests.

While many Americans flock to well-known destinations like California for their diverse and scenic landscapes, the interior states, such as North Dakota, hold their own hidden gems. This state offers unexpected wonders, from the unique Badlands to the charming Red River Valley. Moving westward from the Red River Valley, one encounters the Drift Prairie, featuring the hilly Great Plains, providing excellent opportunities for bird hunting in North Dakota.

For those eager to explore the hunting opportunities in North Dakota, OnX Hunt has updated their app to reflect digitally posted land in the state, making identifying huntable acres much easier. The State Land Department manages over 700,000 acres; additionally, the state boasts numerous national wildlife refuges covering more than 200,000 acres. Many of these lands provide exceptional hunting experiences for upland game enthusiasts.

| Game Species | Dates | *Daily/Possession Limits | Notes | | Sharp-tailed Grouse | Sept. 09, 2023 – Jan. 7, 2024 | 3/12 | — | | Hungarian Partridge | Sept. 09, 2023 – Jan. 7, 2024 | 3/12 | — | | Ring-necked Pheasants | Oct. 7, 2023 – Jan. 7, 2024 | 3/12 | — | | Ring-necked Pheasants (Youth) | Sept. 30 – Oct. 1, 2023 | 3/6 | — | | Ruffed Grouse | Sept 9, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024 | 3/12 | — | | Sage Grouse | CLOSED | NONE | — | | Prairie Chicken | CLOSED | NONE | – | | Doves | Sep.t 1 – Nov. 29, 2023 | 15/45 | — | | Woodcock | Sept. 23 – Nov. 6, 2023 | 3/9 | – | | Snipe | Sept. 9 – Dec. 3, 2023 | 8/24 | – | | Sandhill Crane (Unit 1 & 2) | Sept. 16 – Nov. 12, 2023 | 3/9 (Unit 1) & 2/6 (Unit 2) | (Unit 1 & 2) | | Tree Squirrel | Sept. 9, 2023 – Feb. 29, 2024 | 4/12 |

*These season dates were last updated on September 11, 2023. Please see North Dakota Game & Fish website for the most up-to-date information.Sharp-Tailed Grouse Sharp-tailed grouse is one of the biggest allures to upland hunting in North Dakota. Large tracts of publicly accessible land in prime habitat make this bird’s abundance a strong pull for out-of-state hunters. Native shortgrass prairie is the key to this species’ success in North Dakota, which is a critically threatened habitat. They are most commonly found on the western side of the state.

The season for sharp-tailed grouse hunting runs from September 9, 2023, to January 7, 2024, with a daily bag limit of three birds.

Hungarian PartridgeHungarian partridge, more commonly known as “Huns,” is abundant in North Dakota. A non-native species, they occur in the wild after a successful Canadian introduction spread into the US. Huns rely on agricultural production, something North Dakota does not lack. Hungarian partridge are a covey bird, and the excitement of watching the covey rise over a pointing dog is a great highlight to a day of sharp-tailed grouse hunting.

The Hungarian partridge hunting season opens on September 9, 2023, and closes on January 7, 2024. There is a daily bag limit of three birds.

Ring-Necked PheasantMost people think of pheasant hunting in South Dakota, but North Dakota is no slouch on wild populations of ring-necked pheasants. These wild populations are often found next to agricultural lands in wet draws with cattails. They are an exciting target for the upland hunter looking to pursue America’s love affair with pheasant. Check out Crosby or Mott—towns considered by some to be the “Pheasant Capital of the Nation.”

The season for pheasant hunting runs from October 7, 2023, to January 7, 2024, with a daily bag limit of three. The youth pheasant season is September 30 to October 1, 2023, with a daily limit of three.

Dove, Ruffed Grouse, Snipe, and Other Small Game Species in North DakotaWhile North Dakota is known for its prairie birds, there are other opportunities for upland hunters in North Dakota. With Minnesota to the east of the Red River Valley, North Dakota offers a unique chance to hunt ruffed grouse, too. The aspen forests in the Turtle Mountains and Pembina Hills are good places to look for ruffed grouse. The ruffed grouse hunting season runs from September 9, 2023, to January 7, 2024, with a daily bag limit of three.

Dove hunting season begins September 1 and ends November 29, with a daily bag limit of 15. Snipe season runs from September 9 until December 3, 2023. The daily bag limit for snipe is eight. On the more uncommon side, American woodcock have a season for bird hunting in North Dakota. The season runs from September 23, 2023, to November 6, 2023, with a daily bag limit of three.

Depending on the population levels, North Dakota has had seasons for prairie chicken and sage grouse, but these two species have been protected for conservation in recent years. It looks unlikely that a season will be open in the coming years.

North Dakota Hunting License Requirements and Fees

| License | Resident | Non-resident | | Fishing and Hunting Certificate | $1 | $2 | | General Game and Habitat License (required) | $20 | $20 | | Small Game License – Annual | $10 | N/A | | Small Game License – 14 day (or two 7 day) | N/A | $100 | | Sandhill Crane | $10 | $30 |

The North Dakota Hunter Safety Course and Dog TrainingNorth Dakota requires anyone born after 1961 to complete an approved hunter education course before applying for a hunting license. People under 12 are exempt if they are licensed and accompanied by a parent or guardian. An apprentice hunter validation option exists for anyone over 12, but a licensed adult must accompany them. For more information, see the hunter safety course.

From August 16 to May 31, you can train your dog for bird hunting in North Dakota on public land. You will be fined one hundred dollars if you train your dog in any Wildlife Management Area during the closed season. Professional and amateur trainers (with four or more dogs) using training birds must apply for a dog training permit. You can print the permit here.

North Dakota Blaze Orange and Non-Toxic Shot RequirementsIn North Dakota, lead shot is prohibited when hunting waterfowl, sandhill cranes, and snipe. When hunting these species, lead shot cannot be in guns, pockets, or within arm’s reach. Additionally, all US Fish and Wildlife Service lands, which includes National Wildlife Refuges, Wildlife Development Areas, and Waterfowl Production Areas require non-toxic shot when hunting upland birds.

Hunters must wear blaze orange when hunting big game in North Dakota. However, hunters are not required to wear blaze orange when hunting upland birds. That being said, Project Upland always recommends that upland hunters wear blaze orange while afield.

Related Conservation and Non-Profit Organizations for North Dakota Bird HuntingPheasants Forever

Quail Forever

Ruffed Grouse Society

North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association

The bird hunting season dates, game bird species available, and other information is subject to change. The article may not reflect this and was last updated on September 11th, 2023. Please visit the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website for the most up-to-date information on bird hunting in North Dakota.*

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A must-try recipe for medium-rare dove breasts with peppers, onions, and pineapple, drizzled with peanut sauceI feel like for every new dove recipe I write, my introduction needs to convince a jury box that dove poppers is not the correct verdict—at least not for every dove you put on death row. But the argument needs the proper ratio of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Ethos (speaker’s trustworthiness): I let my recipes do the talking.

Logos (appeal to reason or logic): Dove poppers are dull and dry out dove breasts. Plus, bacon-wrapped anything is overrated.

Pathos (appeal to emotions): Tastebuds don’t have emotions. If they did, they would yearn for this recipe.

But the bottom line remains: If dove poppers are something you look forward to every September, go for it. If you find yourself folding more doves than you expected and want to try something new, you can’t go wrong with this recipe here.

This recipe uses the spice rub: The Provider’s Fowl. Alternative marinade listed below.

PrintUltimate Dove Skewer Recipe: Sizzle with Spicy Peanut SauceTransform your dove game with our mouth-watering skewer recipe. Dive into a fusion of dove, pineapple, and jalapeños, all topped with a tantalizing spicy peanut sauce.Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword BBQ, DovePrep Time 15 minutes minutesCook Time 5 minutes minutesServings 4IngredientsSkewer * Breasts from a dozen doves * Suggested spice rub: The Provider’s Fowl * 1 Red onion chopped * 5-6 large jalapeños seeded and chopped * 1 fresh pineapple chopped into small cubes Optional marinade instead of spice rub ½ cup soy sauce * 1 cup sherry cooking wine * 1 cup apple juice * ½ cup olive oil * 2 tbsp garlic smashed * 4 oz fresh ginger smashed Spicy Peanut Sauce 1 ⅓ cups unsweetened coconut milk * 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter * 3 tbsp red curry paste * 1 tsp cayenne pepper * Juice from half a lime * ¼ cup brown sugar Garnish Freshly chopped cilantro * Fresh lime slices Instructions Breast out your doves. If you plucked your birds, you can leave the skin on. The night or morning before grilling them, in a large mixing bowl, mix the breasts with the spice rub or make the marinade. * Add ingredients other than the oil to a medium saucepan to make the marinade—heat on medium-low. Let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring intermittently. When it’s done, add the olive oil and allow it to cool before adding the dove breasts to the marinade. * To assemble the skewers, start by soaking wooden skewers in water. Alternatively, use stainless steel skewers. Chop the red onion into thick squares. Remove the stems, pulp, and seeds from the jalapeño peppers, cut them in half, and chop them into large squares. Cut the rind off the pineapple and chop it into cubes, being sure to remove the center (which is a tough texture). * With the skewers, alternate between onion, pineapple, peppers, and dove breasts. Pack each ingredient tightly up and down the skewer. You may wish to fold dove breasts in half when adding them to a skewer. * Add all ingredients to a small or medium saucepan to make the peanut sauce. Heat on low, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let it burn. * To cook the skewers, preheat a grill to a hot temperature, a minimum of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve been using an infrared grill from Schwank Grills. It gets up to 1,500 F. I put my skewers on the tray and raised it toward the ceiling (where the infrared heat is), charred one side, flipped, repeated, then removed my skewers. The whole process took 2 minutes. Regardless of your grill, you want to grill all sides of the skewers until there is a nice char on all sides. Hot and fast is the goal, so get a nice texture on the outside but keep your dove breasts medium-rare. * Drizzle with the peanut sauce prior to serving. You may wish to add the peanut sauce to a squeeze bottle, but that isn’t necessary. Drizzle it on top of the skewers by spooning out the sauce from the saucepan or serving the sauce on the side as a dipping sauce. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro, and add some fresh lime slices. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Dove Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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Experience Nebraska’s premiere upland bird hunting from grassland bobwhite quail to prairie grouse opportunities. “To me, Nebraska is an under-appreciated upland paradise,” said Justin Bubenik, an avid upland bird hunter who has spent much time hunting in Nebraska. “It may not have the numbers of its neighbors to the north and south, but the relative lack of pressure, massive amount of publicly-accessible land, and variety of species and cover makes Nebraska worthy of a road trip.”

Nebraska’s diverse array of wildlife habitats offer premiere hunting opportunities for every hunter, upland bird hunters included. These lands total up to 1.2 million acres, and they consist of public lands and walk-in access on private lands. Whether you’re hunting eastern Nebraska’s rolling farmlands and prairies or western Nebraska’s rocky foothills and cottonwood bottoms, you’re bound to have an unforgettable experience in the Cornhusker State.

Justin continued, “With healthy populations of sharptail grouse and prairie chicken, the Sandhills of Nebraska are a favorite early season hunt for many folks in September, but the pheasant and bobwhite quail keep me coming back throughout the fall and winter. From the rolling grasslands, to the walk-in crop land opportunities, and the scattered riparian areas, there really is habitat for every hunter and the birds we love to pursue.”

Nebraska Upland Bird Season Dates and Bag Limits

| Game Species | Dates | Daily/Possession | Notes | | Pheasant | Oct. 28, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2024 | 6/24 | Only roosters may be harvested | | Bobwhite Quail | Oct. 28, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2024 | 6/24 | Quail must be shot while in flight | | Prairie Grouse (includes greater prairie-chicken and sharp-tailed grouse) | Eastern Zone: Sept. 1, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2024 | 3/3 | East of U.S. Highway 81Special permits are required. | | Western Zone: Sept. 1, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2024 | 3/12 | West of U.S. Highway 81.No special permits required. | | Partridge (includes Hungarian and chukar) | Oct. 28, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2024 | 3/12 | | Youth Pheasant, Quail, and Partridge | Oct. 21 – Oct. 22, 2023 | 2/4 roosters2/4 quail2/4 partridge | Only for youth 15 years of age and younger | | Dove (white-winged, morning, and Eurasian collared) | Sept. 1 – Oct. 30, 2023 | 15/45 | Doves must be shot in flight.Eurasian collared doves count towards bag limits during the regular dove season | | Eurasian Collared Dove | Oct. 31, 2023 – Aug. 31, 2024 | 15/45 | HIP is not required | | Snipe | Sept. 1 – Dec. 16, 2023 | 8/24 | HIP required | | Rail (Virginia and sora) | Sept. 1 – Nov. 9, 2023 | 10/30 | HIP required | | Woodcock | Oct. 7 – Nov. 20, 2023 | 3/9 | HIP required | | Squirrel (eastern gray and fox) | Aug. 1, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2024 | 7/28 | | Cottontail (eastern and desert) | Sept. 1, 2023 – Feb. 29, 2024 | 7/28 | | Jackrabbit | Sept. 1, 2023 – Feb. 29, 2024 | 4/16 | West of U.S. Highway 81 |

These season dates were last updated on August 24, 2023. Please see Nebraska Game and Park’s website for the most up-to-date information.

Bobwhite QuailNebraska offers huntable populations of wild bobwhite quail. Yes, you heard that right. Bobwhite quail hunting is the second most popular bird to hunt here besides ring-necked pheasants.

Nebraska is on the northern edge of this bird’s range. Predominately found on the eastern and central sides of the state, bobwhite are very rare in western Nebraska unless you’re hunting along the Platte River Valley. Keep in mind that their numbers can vary greatly depending on habitat quality and annual winter weather conditions. According to Birds of Nebraska, flocking generally occurs by August 30.

The quail season opens on October 28, 2023, and continues until January 31, 2024. The daily bag limit is 6, and the possession limit is 24.

Prairie Grouse: Greater Prairie-Chicken and Sharp-tailed GrouseWhen one daydreams about hunting birds in Nebraska, excluding their prairie grouse species is impossible. Offering opportunities for both prairie chicken hunting and sharptail hunting, Nebraska’s wild grouse will undoubtedly be a remarkable experience.

Both prairie chickens and sharptails are predominately available in the Sandhills. They also prefer higher ratios of grassland to treed areas. Prairie chickens are generally found in southern and southwestern Nebraska. Comparatively, sharptails prefer the north-central section of the Sandhills and western Nebraska’s panhandle.

Nebraska’s grouse seasons are split into two zones: the eastern and western zones. Eastern zone hunts begin September 1, 2023, and run through January 31, 2024, with a bag and possession limits of 3. The western zone has the same season dates but has a bag limit of 3 and a possession limit of 12.

Special permits apply to hunters chasing Nebraska’s prairie grouse, including greater prairie-chickens and sharp-tailed grouse, in the eastern zone. Permits are free of charge, limited to one per hunter, and limited to 400 permits total. They’re available on a first-come, first-served basis. Requests for special prairie grouse permits are accepted at the Game and Parks headquarters in Lincoln beginning July 15, 2023. Requests are also accepted by phone (402-471-5410), email (ngpc.eastzonegrouse@nebraska.gov), over the counter, and by mail. No special permits are required for hunting grouse in the western zone.

Ring-necked PheasantPheasants are arguably the most popular bird to hunt in Nebraska. Their distribution is statewide, but they are the most abundant in open landscapes with lots of grassy cover and small-grain crops. Check out southwestern Nebraska and Nebraska’s panhandle for premium pheasant hunting opportunities. Just remember that only roosters can be shot in this state.

Pheasant season begins on October 28, 2023, and ends on January 31, 2024. The daily bag limit is 6 birds, and the possession limit is 24.

Hungarian or Gray Partridge and Chukar PartridgeWhile neither Huns nor chukar are native Nebraska birds, the state offers hunting opportunities for both. Nebraska is on the southern edge of the Hungarian partridge’s range, so few of them reside in the state. Unlike the Huns, Nebraska’s chukar are not wild. They are raised in captivity and released by Controlled Shooting Areas and Captive Wildlife Permittees. Escapees can be found near these areas in suitable habitat.

Partridge season opens October 28, 2023, and ends January 31, 2024. The daily bag limit is 3, and the possession limit is 12.

Nebraska Small Game Hunting License Fees and HIP RequirementsNebraska offers affordable hunting license fees for resident and nonresident hunters. The state also provides extensive lifetime license packages; please check the Nebraska Game and Parks small game hunting brochure for more information about their lifetime license offerings.

| License | Resident | Non-resident | | Hunt (small game) | $18 | $109 | | Youth Hunt (ages 15 or younger) | No license required | $18 | | 2-Day Small Game Hunt | – | $76 | | Nebraska Habitat Stamp | $25 | $25 | | Veteran Hunt/Fish/Fur Combo (age 64-plus) | $5 | – | | Senior Hunt/Fish/Fur Combo (age 69-plus) | $5 | – | | Deployed Military Hunt/Fish/Fur Combo | $5 | – |

These Nebraska license fees were last updated on August 24, 2023. Please check the Nebraska Game and Parks website for the most up-to-date information.

Residents hunting small game in Nebraska must have a small game permit if they are over the age of 16 and are hunting small game, upland birds, or waterfowl. However, residents also have an exception to this rule. Farmers, ranchers, and their immediate family who live on the land and own or lease it are legally allowed to hunt jackrabbit (west of US 81), squirrel, cottontails, prairie grouse (special permit required east of US 81), partridge, pheasant, and quail without buying a small game license or habitat stamp. Keep in mind that hunting regulations and bag limits still apply.

Nebraska requires all hunters to have a habitat stamp. The $25 fee is the same for both residents and nonresidents. Residents under the age of 16 are exempt from this rule and do not need a license, but nonresident youth hunters do need a license and habitat stamp. Residents trapping coyotes, prairie dogs, and other nongame animals are also not required to have a habitat stamp.

Anyone planning to hunt migratory birds in Nebraska between September 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024, must register with the Harvest Information Program (HIP) before hunting. Hunters must also register their HIP number through their Nebraska Game and Parks customer profile at GoOutdoorsNE.com, a new 2023-2024 hunting season regulation.

Nebraska allows all small game hunters to keep their license and habitat stamp on their phones. If a warden asks to see their license, they can legally display them on a mobile device.

Blaze Orange, Dog Training, and Other RequirementsWhile Nebraska does not require upland hunters to wear blaze orange, Nebraska Game and Parks and Project Upland strongly encourage it. This is especially so during big game rifle seasons.

Dog training sessions are limited to sunrise and sunset. When training a dog, up to 2 hen pheasants and 5 quail may be taken; partridge and mallards are unlimited. You may only release pen-raised birds for training purposes. Training dogs in state wildlife areas between May 1 and July 31 each year is unlawful unless the area is posted with an “Authorized Dog Training Area” sign. Read more about the state’s dog training and captive bird handling on page 28 of its small game brochure.

In Nebraska, having or carrying a loaded shotgun in or on any vehicle on any highway or roadway is illegal. The state considers a shotgun to be loaded if a shell or shells are in the chamber, receiver, or magazine.

Nebraska does not allow toxic shot to be used in waterfowl production areas, national wildlife refuges, some state wildlife areas (as posted), and other lands listed in their Public Access Atlas.

Related conservation and non-profit organizations for Minnesota bird huntingPheasants and Quail Forever

North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA)

The bird hunting season dates, game bird species available, and other information are subject to change. This article may not reflect recent changes. Please visit the Nebraska Game and Parks website for the most up-to-date information on bird hunting in Nebraska.

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Dive deep into the Small Munsterlander’s journey from obscurity to a top hunting breed. Discover its rich history, unique traits, and why it’s a favorite among hunters.Small Munsterlanders, fortunately for me, are one of the pointing dog breeds I’ve gotten to know in person. Feisty, handsome, and highly energetic, this breed is the tenth most popular bird dog breed in the Project Upland community, according to our annual survey. It’s also the third most popular versatile hunting dog breed in Europe. This is likely due to their broad skillset that includes searching, pointing, flushing, retrieving, tracking, and water work.

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“Here in the U.S., the breed is continuing to enjoy growth in popularity,” said Nancy Anisfield, the creative director of Ugly Dog Hunting Company. “However, it is important to research breeders and lines to get the best package of size, coat, and fundamental hunting instincts.”

When it comes to owning a Small Munsterlander (SM), they are friendly and dynamic companions. “Working and hunting with Rogue has been an experience, to say the least,” said Justin Bubenik, a Small Munsterlander owner. “The game drive and energy level I’ve witnessed is unmatched. My Small Munsterlander is constantly on the hunt, and it’s difficult for her to turn that off. That said, she’s still an excellent family dog and knows when to turn it down a notch indoors.”

Pointing Dogs Volume One: The Continentals and Pointing Dogs Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds author Craig Koshyk explores Small Munsterlander as a breed in Volume 1. See pages 269 through 276 for Koshyk’s chapter on Small Munsterlanders.

Spoiler alert: The next chapter is on Large Munsterlanders. However, although Large Munsterlanders share a name with Small Munsterlanders, they are not a size variant. “The small Munsterlander – the smallest German pointing dog – is a breed separate from the large Munsterlander, not merely a size variant. Both breeds are skilled pointers, trackers, and retrievers, but their temperament, conformation, and coat colors differ,” said Anisfield.

Small Munsterlander Characteristics, Training, and Ability

| Characteristic | Details | | Size | Small to medium.Males: 52-56 cmFemales: 50-54 cm | | Tail | Uncropped | | Coat | Medium length, dense, and flat. The face’s coat should be short and smooth, but feathering should be present on the legs and chest | | Coat Color | Brown and white, white-brown ticked (roan), and potentially small tan markings | | Maturity | They may be late bloomers in terms of pointing | | Health | Some hip dysplasia and epilepsy | | Character | Appealing, dynamic, friendly, and happy | | Other Notable Features | They are a great choice for all upland, waterfowl, and even big game hunting |

Smart and attentive, Small Munsterlanders are very trainable dogs. “A firm but gentle hand is what most Small Munsterlander breeders recommend when it comes to training,” wrote Koshyk. Truthfully, some can be somewhat stubborn.

“They are a hugely intelligent breed, but with those smarts has come challenges,” said Justin. “This includes a tendency to try to take advantage of an inattentive or overly sympathetic handler and a certain stubbornness that is less than endearing at times.”

American breeder Chris Gosch has gone on the record about what you can expect when training your Small Munsterlander. He says owners looking for cookie-cutter training programs will likely feel disappointed. Train at your dog’s pace instead of adhering to a generic program. “Most of my dogs were like a light switch,” he said. “You could see when they finally figured it out and started hunting versus just running around in the woods.” If you have the patience to wait for the moment when all the training finally clicks, even if you have to wait a few seasons, you’ll be rewarded with an excellent hunting partner.

Small Munsterlanders tend to be close-working dogs with an animated search. The breed’s average range is 50 yards. However, they might go out as far as 200 yards. “Like range, there is some variation on the pointing ability and style among ,” said Koshyk. This is because some dogs develop their pointing instincts quite late compared to others. Chris Goesch has seen some of his dogs point at four months and others at 15 months. He also has dogs that are natural backers and others that have no backing instinct at all. In the water, some Small Munsterlanders will take to water work more slowly than others. In other words, each Munsterlander may vary.

Unlike field searching and pointing, the Small Munsterlander’s retrieving and tracking instincts are reliably strong. Most of them show the desire to retrieve very early in age. Additionally, they’re known around the world for their ability to track. “Today in Germany, the breed is used to track big game,” said Koshyk. “In North America, Small Munsterlanders have been proven to be excellent trackers of wounded birds and hare.”

Their coats can be liver and white, liver-white ticked, or roan. Small Munsterlander Clubs, Tests, and TrialsThe Small Munsterlanders parent club is the Verband fur Kleine Münsterländer Vorstehhunde. You can also find European clubs in Denmark, France, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The Small Munsterlander Club of America (SMCA) represents the breed in the United States and Canada. The North American and the American Kennel Club recognize Small Munsterlanders as a breed.

“In Germany, most breeders participate in the Jagdgebrauchshundverein (JGHV) testing system and follow similar testing and breeding regulations as other German breeds,” said Koshyk. Germany also conducts tracking, retrieving, and independent forest search tests in addition to JGHV. North American breeders, especially those in the SMCA, participate in North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) tests. Some SMs have even become Versatile Champions.

Small Munsterlander HistorySmall Munsterlanders were originally known as Spion, Spannjer, or Wachtelhund, which means Heathland Quail Dog. Think about the word espionage; the original names of this little German pointer meant “spy” or “snoop,” which “may come from the fact that these dogs were known for their ability to work their way into the thickest cover in search of game,” said Koshyk.

In the pre-1800s, Spions were bred to be trackers. This was because any game not recovered meant one less meal on the table. When this style of put-meat-on-the-table hunting started to die out in the mid-1800s, other dogs, like English Setters, Pointers, and French spaniels, rose in popularity. It was fully believed that the little spy dogs had gone extinct.

That remained the case until 1900. Hermann Löns, a poet and sportsman, published a public call to action in a magazine; he was looking for the Red Hanoverian Heath Hound, another nearly extinct dog breed. He traveled to Lower Saxony in search of the breed. To his surprise, what he found living on a few farms in Westphalia wasn’t a Red Hanoverian, but a Spion!

Heitmann, a Westphalian Spion breeder, had been breeding his own line since 1877. “He had even used German Longhaired Pointers from time to time, keeping only those pups that had Spion traits,” said Koshyk. In 1911, Löns found another pool of Spion genes in Dorsten, a town in Westphalia. They were related to Heitmann’s dogs but hadn’t been crossed with them in a long time. Each breeder used the other’s dogs to strengthen their own lines, perpetuating the little spy dog into the future.

The first club was founded by Löns and called the Verband für Kleine Münsterländer Vorstehhunde (Club for Small Munsterlander Pointing Dogs). It established the first Small Munsterlander stud book. However, the members couldn’t agree to allow or not allow a roan version of the brown and white coat, so it split. Löns started another club, the Deutsch Heidewachtel Club. Eventually, the two clubs rejoined, but they split again in 1947. They rejoined in the 1950s to form the Verband für Kleine Münsterländer Vorstehhunde. An international Small Munsterlander club was formed in 2006, and it helps to “broaden the genetic base of the breed, improve its health through shared information and experiences, assist in the importation and exportation of puppies and create an international stud book,” according to Koshyk.

However, there was a secret in the Small Munsterlander’s history. It was recently revealed that Löns had bred a Brittany to his line of Small Munsterlanders in 1918. He bought it from a ragpicker’s cart almost immediately after recognizing it as a Brittany (and creeping on the man and his dog as they hunted together). He intentionally did this to achieve a small, fast-moving, brown-roan-coated dog. Löns made it even worse; he registered the stud in the Small Munsterlander stud book. He lied about the dog, saying its coat was a genetic mutation, and later changed his story and said it was a German Long-haired Pointer.

Löns had only disclosed this information to one person: Elizabeth Brand-Böhmer. He asked her to keep his secret until his death, which she did when Löns died in 2006. She had kept it to herself for almost 40 years.

Whether you’re looking for your next Small Munsterlander or are thinking about getting your first one, adding a Small Munsterlander to your bird hunting family means you’re helping support the next generation of this once-nearly-extinct breed. “At the end of the day, there’s no other dog in my life that has given me more in terms of gratification and reward for the work put forth by both the dog and myself than my SM,” said Bubenik.

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Chinese-Inspired Dove Nugget Recipe with Sweet Chili SauceDove breasts are delicate, delectable, succulent morsels. They’re gifts from nature that arrive every September first. For so many dove hunters, it’s tradition to breast out these birds and turn them into jalapeño poppers. However, if you’re looking for something new that’s just as simple—and potentially easier to cook—this dove nugget recipe is for you and your crew of dove swatters.

Also, if you’re a fan of Chinese-inspired recipes, these nuggets are a must-try. Ingredients for the sweet chili sauce can be found at most grocers. The sauce can be served as a dipping sauce, or you can toss nuggets in the sauce and serve them that way.

Jasmine rice makes for a great side, but so can rice noodles, lo mein, or fried rice. Or, you could fry these up at dove hunting camp, make the sauce, and walk around with a tray of nuggets as an appetizer for your beer lunch. You may even get ambitious, drive a little further than the gas station, and pick up some Snow Beer or Tsingtao instead of Busch Light.

When frying, the oil temperature should be kept at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to fry these nuggets hot and fast, just to get them brown and crispy, but in the shortest amount of time (hence higher temp oil), so the inside stays medium-rare. Dove breasts are best served medium rare.

If you can’t find sake, I recommend soaking your dove breasts in beer before tossing them in cornstarch.

PrintDove Nuggets Recipe: Crispy, Flavorful & Easy to MakeDiscover the secret to perfect dove nuggets with our step-by-step recipe. Crispy outside, tender inside – a must-try for game bird enthusiasts!Course Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine ChineseKeyword DoveIngredients Breasts from a dozen doves * Sake * Kosher salt * Freshly cracked black pepper * Corn starch * Peanut oil for frying * Sliced scallions for garnish Sauce ⅔ cup Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce * ⅓ cup honey * ¼ cup Dijon mustard * ¼ cup hoisin sauce * ½ lime juiced Optional Side 1 ½ cups jasmine rice * 2 cups cold water Instructions Breast out your doves. Add them to a mixing bowl. Lightly dust them with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper and mix everything. Soak the seasoned breasts in sake for 3 to 5 hours or overnight if you have to. * When you’re ready to cook, pre-heat enough peanut oil to fry your doves in to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. * If you’re making rice, add the rice and cold water to a medium saucepan and cover. Bring to a boil, then set the burner to low for 8 to 10 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Then, turn off the heat. You may wish to cover it briefly to prevent a mushy texture, especially if rice isn’t being served immediately. * Add a healthy amount of corn starch in a large mixing bowl, a minimum of 1 1/2 cups. When you’re ready to start frying, remove the breasts from the sake soak, let the sake drip off for a couple of seconds, then toss the dove breasts into the corn starch and toss them around. You want more cornstarch coating rather than less, so add more cornstarch if necessary to make your full batch. * Add the corn starch-coated dove breasts to 400 F oil in amounts equal to half the size of the pot or vessel used for frying. You don’t want to crowd the pot, as crowding can lead to steam that will soften the crust of your fried dove nuggets. * When the nuggets are golden brown, remove them and set them on a paper napkin-covered plate briefly to absorb extra grease. Then, transfer them to a wire rack until you’re ready to serve. * To serve, either toss nuggets in the sweet chili sauce or serve the sauce on the side for dipping. Serve with jasmine rice and garnish with freshly sliced scallions. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Dove Nuggets with Sweet Chili Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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The sheer variety of hunting opportunities in Oregon embodies the idea of “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none” Oregon isn’t typically considered a bird hunting destination, probably because you have to drive through many world-class bird hunting destinations before you arrive at this Pacific Northwest state. But for those willing to leave the beaten path and explore…

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A film of bird dogs, row boats, and wild grouse. Presented by: Eukanuba Sporting Dog, OnX Hunt, and Franchi USA Raised on the water, there is no place I’d rather be than on a river. Oregon’s Grande Ronde River is a particularly magical place filled with wildlife, gorgeous views, and adventure. Once I started bird…

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There’s a good reason why South Dakota is synonymous with bird hunting. Each fall, South Dakota rolls out the red carpet for resident and nonresident upland bird hunters alike. It’s worth at least one trip in your lifetime, if not an annual pilgrimage, just to see the staggering numbers of pheasants and the orange-clad hunters…

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Learn how to identify, harvest, and safely prepare coral mushrooms, reminiscent of ocean coral, for a delightful culinary experience. 싸리 버섯, or ssali beoseos, was a term I used while growing up in my Korean household. It’s translated as “clover mushroom,” but I later learned it referred to Ramaria botrytis, coral mushroom, or cauliflower coral…

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Think Poodles are just for show? Think again! Dive into the world of Poodles as hunting dogs, uncovering their history, skills, and why they’re a solid choice for hunters. As any owner of a rare hunting dog knows, the reputation of that breed often rides on your shoulders when you show up for a hunt…

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Discover the benefits of aging dove meat for richer flavor. Learn how to age dove meat effectively and elevate your culinary experience. If you’ve grown tired of bacon-wrapped jalapeño dove poppers, here’s a solution: roast a whole, skin-on dove that has been aged for five days. With any game meat, aging both tenderizes meat and…

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From the shotgun you use to how you adapt to habitat, use these tips to increase your successful ruffed grouse shots this season. What is the difference between a ruffed grouse and a partridge? The answer lies in physics; one is flying, and one is not.  Listen to more articles on Apple | Google | Spotify | Audible Jokes aside, ruffed grouse…

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Explore the pros and cons of above-ground and ground housing for pen-raised quail, tailored for either dog training or meat purposes. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but as best as I could tell, my quail seemed as happy as could be. I’d just moved the young quail that were approaching four weeks of…

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Discover the latest 2023 seasons and license fees for New Mexico bird hunting. Hunt southwest quail, blue grouse, pheasant, and more. After a hard day of packing out a bull elk on a drift boat, my hunting party and I transitioned away from the high desert and into the pristine New Mexican mountains. Blue grouse,…

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Join us on a captivating journey through Maine’s wild landscapes as we hunt for grouse and woodcock with pointing dogs with the Carter family. This Film is Presented by Weatherby & OnX Hunt “Salt of the earth” gets thrown around far too often. However, there are often-forgotten places that are the perfect habitat for such…

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How an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act defunded educational programs for students Last June, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) was signed into law in response to several mass shootings. According to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, this legislation “expands vital mental health services and provides additional support for States…

The post The Biden Administration Defunded Hunter Education, Archery, and Wilderness Survival Programs in Elementary and Secondary Schools appeared first on Project Upland.

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Who knows how many grouse are hiding in Idaho. Isn’t it time you found out?  The dog circled ahead and disappeared into the thick bushes at the edge of a field. Not too far off, I heard the gentle flow of water in a clear brook as the dog’s footsteps vanished. “Is he on point?”…

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Explore the fascinating tradition of waterfowl hunting over trained steers in Texas during the late 1800s to the mid-20th century, sharing accounts of skilled hunters using oxen to approach resting waterfowl and how the practice eventually faded away due to changing laws and regulations. Most waterfowlers have a favorite image, one that captures the essence…

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In Wisconsin, bird hunting is as lush and alive as the state’s natural beauty. Wisconsin’s natural beauty caught my eye as a young child. Images of Devil’s Lake State Park and Parfrey’s Glen State Natural Area are still vivid in my mind, even though I haven’t been to either of those places in over a…

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Weatherby introduces a modern side-by-side as its latest product as a new option in the growing market of entry-level side-by-side shotguns Weatherby’s addition of a new side-by-side shotgun can be viewed as a welcome newcomer or a resurrection story. The original Weatherby Orion side-by-side shotgun was first produced in Spain from 2002-2003. Next came the…

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This South American inspired roasted dove recipe will bring your dinner to the next level. Recently, I almost had an opportunity to dove hunt in Argentina. The dream was short-lived, but ahead of this 2023 state-side season, I researched popular dishes from the country to reassure myself. I found a simple dish featuring butter beans…

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Learning to small game hunt alongside a bird dog and a bird of prey My first bird dog, Cooper, and I had just begun our journey into the uplands when I learned about falconry. Initially, I found falconry through social media. Online, I saw folks using various species of birds to hunt multiple species of…

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This simple guide will give you a basic understanding of upland bird hunting and what you need to know to start the journey of becoming a new upland hunter.  If you find yourself reading this, it is because you are interested in becoming a bird hunter. In the cultural sense, upland bird hunting is the…

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Considering the latest science and veterinary recommendation when making the decision to spay or neuter your dog For most dog breeds, there is no black-and-white answer regarding the best time to neuter or spay your dog. Although several studies now support later sterilization, some breeds still don’t have a lot of data on them. Another…

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Don’t let those training quill eggs go to waste and turn them into a great snack with this pickling recipe It’s pretty much inevitable. Your dog training quail have reached that age of maturity when the hens begin to lay eggs, and before you know it, you’re up to your armpits in quail eggs with…

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The history, identification, and standards of the Spanish pointing dog breed known as the Pachón Navarro A wonderful collection of charming stories about days spent afield with gundogs was published in 1938. The title was The Dog in Sport, and in it, author J. Wentworth Day wrote, “There were Ponto and Tanto, the two great,…

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Learn about the redhead diving duck life history, biology, habitat, conservation issues, and more. The redhead duck (Aythya americana) is a striking member of the diving duck group. While the drakes stand out for their looks, hens stand out for their nesting preferences, laying eggs in nests of up to 10 different species of ducks…

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This guide will help you troubleshoot and transition onto wild birds with your pointing dog this hunting season “Time’s up! Please turn in your exam,” announced my Biology 101 professor. Are you kidding me? There are time limits on tests? Did I even use the right study guide? Feelings of bewilderment and dejection swelled in…

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A recipe to air frying a dove so that they come out juicy and full flavor If you don’t own an air fryer, you are officially in the minority. The more I talk with folks who own one, the more I hear how they understand the product isn’t revolutionary—after all, it’s basically just a compact…

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This guide will help you select the best duck decoy options for your hunting style and duck species The pursuit of duck hunting is full of equipment and tools that may seem intimidating to a new hunter. From calls to waders, duck hunters often have strong and varying opinions on what equipment is best, what…

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The Remington Model 10 shotgun was the first bottom-ejecting shotgun introduced to the American market and is no longer in production. The Remington Model 10 shotgun represents a time when shotgun advancement for repeating firearms was happening at lighting speed. First developed in 1908, it was used by the United States in World War 1…

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Whether referring to physical structures or fake ducks, duck decoys have been used to hunt ducks for centuries Have you ever gone down an internet archive rabbithole? I sure have. While poking around some 125-plus-year-old digitized books in search of sketches of ducks, I found a waterfowling book published in England about duck decoys. Perfect,…

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Exploring the most popular bird dog breeds of the upland hunting community over the years The annual North American Upland Bird Hunting Survey ended earlier this year, and what better way to start sharing the data than by starting a brawl over the most popular bird dog breeds? Undoubtedly, some bias comes out in our…

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Weather, protein availability, and predation determine bobwhite quail population sizes Each September, bobwhite hunters across the country wait impatiently for state wildlife agencies to publish their outlooks for the upcoming bobwhite quail season. A portion of these outlooks is determined by how many adult birds survived the previous winter. However, summertime bobwhite nest success and…

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Tracing the origins of Flat-coated and Golden Retrievers through the extinct dog breed, the Long-Coated St. John’s Water Dog The history of retrievers is very recent when compared to other types of dogs, and in the case of those bred by noble families in the British Isles, much of the origin is well-documented. The Labrador…

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Profiling the Small but Abundant Green-Winged teal across North America. The green-winged teal (Anas crecca) is a small member of the dabbling duck species, smaller even than its cousin the blue-winged teal. Although they are fast flyers in general, they usually seem even faster because of their size. But they more than make up for their…

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Knowing how to walk up to a dog on point can increase your chances of success in the uplands As the sun started to crest the adjacent ridge on the opening day of grouse season, our pack of three hunters and two dogs was already well into our hunt. Hilltop, as we had come to…

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A History and Exploration into the World of Retrievers as Waterfowl Gun Dogs Think big water retrievers and Labradors, Chesapeake Bays, and goldens are the first to come to mind – for good reason. They can handle just about any type of retrieving in any type of water in any type of weather. Several Ducks Unlimited…

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Bring your next roasted chukar to the next level with this fennel puree recipe twist Weeks ago, following a children’s concert, my wife and I enjoyed a great dinner at Mass St. Fish House & Raw Bar in Lawrence, Kansas. We treated ourselves to well-earned adult beverages and happy-hour oysters. We sat back and exhaled…

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Using snipe decoys is an effective but overlooked method of snipe hunting. Snipe shooting over decoys is a relatively obtuse technique and not widely practiced. There’s probably wisdom in that! A good shooter can kill as many, maybe more, by simply walking them. But, as a dedicated practitioner of decoy snipe hunting, and after a…

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Built for both land and water, the German Wirehaired Pointer defines versatility Wiry beards, grandpa-esque eyebrows, powerful instincts, and intelligent eyes are key features of the beloved German Wirehaired Pointer (GWP). A well-known pointing breed, the GWP ranks as the fifth most popular dog breed owned by bird hunters, according to Project Upland’s annual survey. …

The post German Wirehaired Pointer: Dog Breed Information, Form, Function, History, and More appeared first on Project Upland.

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Discussing the myths, truths, and science behind the effectiveness of steel shot compared to lead shot Hunters look down on steel shot. Almost by default, steel is seen as an inferior killing instrument when compared to lead shot. The public inferred a gap between steel shot and lead shot’s effectiveness because of decades of misinformation.…

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This refreshing crisp Greek salad recipe excuse is a great way to enjoy your upland and garden with homemade dressing Summer is unofficially here. Thankfully, we still have time to get in shape before the summer solstice on June 21. One easy, tasty way I’ve cut back on calories is to pull upland birds out…

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The canvasback duck (Aythya valisineria) is a bold-looking and large member of the diving duck family. With its sloping forehead and large beak, it has a very distinct profile. And the drake’s starkly contrasting feathers and red eye help it stand out even more. Rarely venturing onto dry land, this diving duck lives most of…

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Here are some good practices for bringing your dog camping from gear lists to car camping Rosie, my German Shepherd mix, loves any outdoor adventure I can throw at her. Although she’s not necessarily a hunting dog per se, I take her small game hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and camping with me all the time. …

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It takes a team to find North America’s most prized quail species the Montezuma quailThe upland scene has recently seen many first-time Mearns’ quail hunters. My hunting buddy, Kyle Hedges, and I are no exception. Mearns’ quail are the ultimate bucket list quail species in the United States. They are rivaled, perhaps, only by the mountain quail. In the age of social media, many hunters have discovered this dynamic little bird with males so beautifully colored they almost don’t seem real. Their beauty, coupled with their gorgeous oak-juniper savanna habitat, means Mearns’ quail have gotten lots of attention lately.

After a few years of heavy consideration, we decided December 2022 was our time to hunt them. We paired our Mearns’ quail pursuit with an already-scheduled Utah chukar hunt. If we were already going to be that far west, it’d be easy to pop down to Arizona for a few days. Southern Arizona’s abundant summer monsoon season meant the potential for good reproductive success for Mearns’ was high; that possibility sealed the deal.

Kyle and I wanted to hunt Mearns’ quail long before it was fashionable. However, work, family obligations, and the relative scarcity of Mearn’s quail hunting information prevented us from pulling the proverbial trigger. Anyone hunting a new species in a foreign landscape needs a helping hand if they expect success, especially if that species lives 1,200 miles from home and occupies a particular set of habitat conditions. Fortunately, much has been written about Mearns’ quail hunting in the last decade, and our jobs as bobwhite biologists allow us to meet folks that have hunted Mearns’ quail. Chatting with an experienced Mearns’ quail hunter gave us some valuable information during this hunt.

Locating Mearns’ Quail Habitat in ArizonaAfter a good chukar hunt, we made our way south to Mearns’ country only to wake up to a steady rain predicted to last until early afternoon. Hunting that morning was out of the question, so we road-scouted and tried to get the lay of the land. Perhaps we’d locate a spot for a quick hunt if the rain let up.

Mearns’ habitat is easy to spot, but not all of it is easy to access if the roads are muddy. After it quit raining and dried some that afternoon, we picked a canyon we could drive to that perfectly matched the description of Mearns’ habitat based on our research, discussions with biologists, and viewing countless internet videos. However, even though we were less than two weeks into the season, several other hunters also thought this canyon looked perfect. Campsites and fire rings were scattered everywhere, as were the tell-tale tracks of off-road utility vehicles going hither and yon. We did see birds there, though; two separate Mearns’ that flushed as wildly as a late-season ringneck.

Meeting Generous Fellow Bird HuntersNow and then, serendipity strikes, giving one some sorely needed help on a challenging hunt. After spending supper pouring over maps, trying to hype ourselves up by believing that tomorrow would be better, we ran into Ross. He was an older gentleman at the door of our hotel who immediately recognized us as bird hunters. Having just arrived, Ross asked us how we’d done, curious as to how the hunting might have been. We told him our story and asked if he had any ideas. This was Ross’s 30th year hunting Mearns’ quail, and we hoped he could give us a general direction in which to look. With a gleam in his eye, Ross did us one better.

“You boys got a Gazetteer?” He said. Luckily, we are old school and had one stuffed under the truck seat. At a small table in the lobby, Ross marked several locations where he’d found birds. He told us about one spot in which he’d found four coveys some years back; he suggested we start there.

“We only have one or two days to hunt,” Kyle said. We explained that we only wanted to kill a few birds a piece and that we had no intention of hunting anywhere he was planning to go. Unbothered, he drew more small circles on the Gazetteer and said, “Try here. If that doesn’t work, try over there.” We thanked him profusely. Ross told us to give him a call after the hunt to let him know how we did.

Handling interactions like the one above can be tricky. It’s wise to ask fellow hunters for advice on where to start. One could also ask about the type of habitat conditions the birds prefer, like whether Mearns’ prefer the tops or bottoms of draws, for example. Asking for coordinates or specific public wildlife areas is poor form. Now, if someone is willing to give you that level of detailed information on their own, as Ross did, that’s a different story. Even then, it’s good policy to hunt it once, move on, and certainly avoid sharing that location with others.

Finding Arizona Mearns’ QuailDawn arrived the following day with four inches of heavy, wet snow. That threw a wrinkle into an already uncertain hunt. We suspected the birds wouldn’t move from their night roost for a few hours after a nighttime snowfall. That has been our experience with bobwhites. The soggy slush might limit our dogs’ abilities to find quail. No matter; we had to hunt in the conditions we were dealt.

We headed to the spot that Ross said we should try first. It was indeed fine-looking habitat, but it was close to a well-maintained road. We had some trepidation concerning previous hunting pressure. An hour into the hunt, the beeper collar on my dog, Sage, indicated she was on point; Kyle and I headed in that direction. Soon, we found her pointing at the base of a squat oak tree at the bottom of a slope. We moved into position, ready for the imminent covey rise. However, the birds wouldn’t flush, and Kyle and I couldn’t move from the only shooting lanes we had out of fear we might miss our only opportunity. I encouraged Sage to flush the birds, but she remained motionless. Kyle’s dog also wouldn’t release, but he was doing a solid job backing Sage.

Just as I was going to sling a stick into the tree, the covey exploded. Kyle and I killed three birds on the rise. After a couple of retrieves, North America’s most prized quail was finally in our hands. We exchanged fist bumps in celebration.

We searched for the final downed bird, which proved difficult due to a poor mark on my part. While we scoured the ground, commanding the dogs to hunt dead, one of our dogs bumped another covey of birds about 50 yards down the draw. One bird flew back over us, and Kyle made a fine shot as it buzzed overhead. We finally recovered the bird that I had poorly marked and were able to take one more bird from the combined two coveys soon after. We hunted another two hours before Sage pinned a third covey, still buried in their night roost. I had the only shot on the covey rise and harvested a juvenile male.

After Sage retrieved the sixth bird, we finished the walk and headed back to the truck. It was nearly noon, and we discussed our plans for the rest of the afternoon. We still had a desert quail hunt planned a couple of hours away, and the morning Mearns’ hunt had exceeded all our expectations. Leaving the high mountain savannas, we headed towards the desert, promising to be back soon with more time to hunt and study the well-worn Gazetteer.

The bird hunting community is small relative to other hunting groups. But what we lack in size, we make up for in generosity. Bird hunters know how difficult it is to get started in the sport or to find birds when populations are in a funk. That may be why many of us are willing to provide helpful advice when others are struggling.

We met just such a man in a small town in Arizona. A chance encounter led to a successful harvest and a new friend. Kyle and I called Ross after our Mearns’ hunt and told him all about it. He was ecstatic, happier to hear of our success than his own. Ross, thank you for making our day. The next steak is on us!

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Take a look at the history, culture, and availability of the 16-gauge shotgunOne of history’s most famous 16-gauge shotguns was known as “The Little Gun.” It was built by Parker Bros in 1889 and “was billed to Mr. D. W. Parker, then treasurer of the Parker Company.” In 1893, it went to Everel Harnden, the grandfather of the famous “godfather” of ruffed grouse hunting, William Hardnen Foster. Foster would shoot his first grouse on the wing with it at 12 years old in 1898 before he went on to write the iconic classic, New England Grouse Shooting, published in 1942.

For the most part, the 16-gauge probably garnered its popularity in the United States by pellet counts. Classic American manufacturers like Parker Bros, A.H. Fox, L.C. Smith, and others helped the gauge gain familiarity and popularity. The gauge peaked in American culture in the 1940s and 1950s when almost a quarter of all shotguns sold were 16-gauges. The 12-gauge accounted for just over 50 percent of shotguns sold at that time, according to author Layne Simpson of Shotguns & Shotgunning.

In the 2023 North American Upland Hunting Survey, the 16-gauge came in as the fourth most popular gauge, with 10.63 percent of modern upland hunters citing it as their preferred gauge. It was bested by the third-place 28-gauge by only half a percent. Among Millenials, it is the third most popular gauge, beating out the 28-gauge.

After researching this gauge, it’s hard to make a solid case for what came first — the chicken or the egg. Was it shotgun ammo manufacturers that made the availability of 16 gauges hit the shelves of Walmart? Or was it the cult following of Browning A5 that resurrected the “Sweet 16” at the right time? Who knows, but it happened.

16-Gauge Bore Diameters

| Cylinder | .662” | | Skeet | .658″ | | Improved Cylinder (IC) | .665″ | | Light Modified (LM) or Skeet II | .652″ | | Modified (MOD) | .647″ | | Improved Modified (IM) | .642″ | | Full | .633″ |

The 16-Gauge Load and Ammunition During the advent of the modern shotgun in the late 1800s, the standard 16-gauge load was 2 ½ drams, 1 oz shot, with a 2 ½ cartridge length. Today, both 1 oz and 1 ⅛ oz 2 ¾” loads are commonly found at gun shops. Despite what some people may tell you, the standard 1 oz 16-gauge load is not a “square load.” The discussion of “square loads” is more accurately a discussion between length and diameter ratio of the shot column in a load. Note that this differs from the black powder ratio, which accounts for both powder and shot.

Walking into your local sporting goods store and finding a box of 16-gauge shells was a rarity not five years ago; now, Walmart sells them along with most other ammo retailers. According to Cabela’s website in May of 2023, the store offers 12 types of 16 gauge ammo (not including shot size). In contrast, they offer 83 options for 12 gauge and 37 options for 20 gauges.

Regarding sub-gauges, the 16-gauge is by far the best patterning load. The L/R of a 16-gauge load is 1.41. Comparable, the 20-gauge is 1.68. Pattern efficiency is about seven percent greater than the 20-gauge and about nine percent better than the 28-gauge.

Using 1 oz. Federal Game Loads as a baseline for lead ammunition, a box of No. 6 16 gauge shells comes in at $20.99. That’s eight bucks more expensive than the 12-gauge equivalent, which is about $0.30 more per round. The velocity (FPS) comes in at 1165 compared to the 12-gauge’s 1290.

One of the greatest disadvantages of the 16-gauge is certainly ammunition selection. You can expect to pay a lot more when shopping for steel shot. Federal Speed Shok #2 comes at $37.99 for 16-gauge loads compared to the same ammunition for the 12-gauge at $20.99. Luckily, Kent Bismuth prices do not fluctuate as much as steel. 16-gauge #5 Kent Bismuth comes in at $59.99 versus its 12-gauge counterpart at $53.99.

Three-inch shells are virtually nonexistent for the 16-gauge. Some folks, myself included, would argue that’s a good thing. Remember our discussion of the length/diameter ratio? A 3” shell means more shot is packed in, resulting in pattern deformity and inferior patterns.

Modern Built 16-Gauge Shotguns Just a decade ago, people were writing articles about the decline of the 16-gauge; that’s no different than what W.W. Greener wrote in 1897. However, these writers provide evidence that the 16-gauge’s popularity depending on performance, nostalgia, or a little of both, is timeless. The gauge has some handicaps; for example, it’s not recognized in skeet classes. Additionally, the cost of ammunition is high in some cases, yet the gauge still carries on. Despite these disadvantages, modern shotgun manufacturers have embraced the trend and increased the availability of 16-gauges.

Best Side-by-Side 16-Gauge Shotgun Models The 16-gauge is most popular in the form of side-by-side shotguns. There is no doubt the side-by-side renaissance has helped its case. From vintage side-by-sides to modern builds, there are some great options to get into 16-gauges at various levels.

The Upland Gun Company RFM Custom Built Zeus 16-GaugeMost shotgun enthusiasts are not used to seeing the words “custom built” alongside affordable price tags like the Upland Gun Company Zeus. This Italian-built 16-gauge side-by-side starts at $1,999. It’s built to your measurements with fixed chokes you get to choose from, mono-bloc barrels, double triggers, a pistol grip, and a coin finish. The add-on options are endless, although the base build is a wonderful shotgun. You can add a straight stock for $200 and your initials for only $150. Change to a single trigger, or maybe upgrade the wood; many options exist.

The Upland Gun Company RFM Custom Built Venus 16-GaugeStarting at $3,299, Venus 16-gauge comes in at six pounds, making it a fine grouse gun for those looking to shave off every ounce. Like the Zeus, it comes built to your dimensions, with the base model having an English straight stock.

CZ Sharp-Tail 16-Gauge Side-by-Side ShotgunAlthough CZ USA no longer lists the CZ Sharp-Tail 16-gauge as being in production, it is still available in many locations. They are becoming increasingly difficult to find, but they hover around $1,099 when you can find one. The 28-inch barrel, single trigger, pistol grip 16-gauge comes in at 7.3 pounds.

While you might be saving money initially, overall, you will pay for this purchase in both weight and long-term performance. I have had issues with the safety loosening and firing pin issues, but that was after shooting a solid thousand rounds. However, it’s something to remember based on how much you expect to use your CZ Sharp-Tail.

Best Over-and-Under 16-Gauge Shotguns From the Stevens 555 to the Franchi Instinct line, the 16-gauge gets plenty of love in the over-and-under realm as manufacturers offer various price and quality levels to those hunting for their next 16-gauge shotgun.

Stevens 555 16-gauge Over/Under Shotgun The Stevens 555 16-gauge was a big hit when it was first released. The Silver model starts at $749.99, followed by the Stevens 555 E at $849.99. The Silver comes in at 6 lbs, 6 ounces. The Stevens 555 E 16-gauge shotgun comes in at 6.45 lbs. Both are advertised as ambidextrous and chambered for 2 ¾” rounds. For those looking for the most affordable 16-gauge over/under shotgun, the Stevens 555 is the way to go.

Franchi Instinct 16-gauge Over/Under Shotguns I have a soft spot for the Franchi Instinct line. It was the first over/under shotgun I bought and the only one I have not sold off. Coming in at 5.8 lbs, the Franchi Instinct SL makes for an excellent grouse gun. With an MSRP of $1,799, it is more expensive than the Stevens, but the overall quality of this shotgun is higher. The 16-gauge is also available in the Instinct Sideplate model (MSRP $2,399) and the Instinct SLX (MSRP $2,249).

The Upland Gun Company RFM Built Sk Field Over/Under 16-gauge ShotgunUpland Gun Company released their over/under options in 2022. The SK Field is custom-built to your measurements and has many custom options. The base model comes in at $2,199 and can even have two triggers when you build it online. The shotgun weighs roughly 6.5 lbs in the 16-gauge option and can be a great upland hunting shotgun with endless custom options.

Best Semiautomatic 16-Gauge ShotgunsThe availability of 16-gauge shotguns is most limited regarding semiautomatic actions. Browning is the dominant manufacturer of a semiauto 16-gauge. However, TriStar offers an affordable, entry-level option. Interestingly enough, one could argue the most recent revival of the nostalgic 16-gauge shotgun has been driven by the Browning A5 “Sweet 16” that won over the generation that missed the 16-gauge shotgun hay day.

Browning A5 Semiautomatic 16-Gauge Shotgun Coming in various options, the Browning A5 16-gauges start at $1,679.99 and go as high as $2,149.99, based on which of the A5 “hump back” models you are interested in. Some models weigh under six pounds, and others are roughly over that mark. From classic wood finishes to various camouflage patterns, many options are available. The Browning A5 is most known for its recoil-operated Kinematic Drive System. Their recoil-operated shotguns dominated the market before the Italian-built Inertia designs took over.

TriStar Viper G2 Semi Automatic 16-gauge Shotgun In contrast to the Browning A5, the TriStar Viper G2 is built as a gas-operated action and weighs 6.5 lbs. Coming in at an MSRP of $639, the TriStar is known for its entry-level prices. As a result, one can expect to sacrifice performance, and I would be wary of anyone looking for heavy use of this 16-gauge shotgun model.

16-Gauge Pump Shotgun Options The only modern large production 16-gauge pump shotgun is the Browning BPS. Weighing 7.1 lbs, the Browning BPS 16-gauge starts at an MSRP of $729.99. If vintage pump guns are your thing, the Winchester Model 12 and the Ithaca Model 37 are worthy 16-gauge shotguns. One can expect to pay a wide range of prices based on the condition, but they are frequently available.

Looking Back on the 16-Gauge Shotgun in HistoryI assumed the 16-gauge was very popular at some point in history. I dug as far back as the London Gun Trials of 1879, and the 16-gauge never surpassed the 12-gauge in popularity. Sure, it enjoyed times of more significant popularity, but there was never a moment that set it well ahead of the 12-gauge. Curiously, in those very trials, the final “figure of merit” on the best shotgun made was, in fact, a 16-gauge with a score of 266.52 points. This score was calculated using a combination of patterns, pattern deviation, recoil, and velocity. The 20-gauge beat out the 12-gauge by only 1.68 points.

Record of the 1879 Gun Trial in the book The Gun and its Development.In W.W. Greener’s 1897 book The Gun and its Development, he writes, “The 16-BORE GUN was at one time a favorite with Continental sportsmen, who now for the most part, prefer the 12-bore; for use in England probably not one gun in five hundred is made 16-bore.” It’s also important to note the lack of popularity of the 20-gauge at that time: “The 20-BORE has been strenuously advocated by writers in the sporting papers, but there are very few sold — the proportion is perhaps one 20-bore to twenty of 16-bore,” wrote Greener.

In Modern Shotguns, Greener wrote that “a 16-gauge with 3o-inch barrels may weigh 6 ¾ lbs, and be made a powerful weapon, but 6 ½ lbs, is the full average weight; if with 28-inch barrels 6 ¼ or even 6 lbs. ; with 25-inch barrels, and built as a miniature gun, 5lbs. 2 ozs.”

Although I do not see any 16-gauges staying in my gun safe past my great grandfather’s Belgium guild hammer gun, that does not mean it’s a bad gauge. Truthfully, my small frame is better suited to 20- and 28-gauges. But what doesn’t work for one person might work for another. If you can shoot it straight and find shot shells, enjoy hunting and shooting with your 16-gauge. I’m sure we’ll be hearing about a rise in the popularity of 16-gauge shotguns again.

The post 16-Gauge Shotguns – Selection, Ballistics, History, and More appeared first on Project Upland.

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The Stichelhaar (German Rough Haired Pointer) is a rough-and-tumble hunting dog that is probably the least modernized and rarest of all the German pointing dog breedsWhen I first started to photograph dogs and compile notes for Pointing Dog, Volume One: The Continentals, I chose to study the better known breeds since it was much easier to find information on them. And, besides, I knew where to find hunters who owned some. But when I started looking into the more obscure breeds, things got a bit trickier. Not only was solid information harder to find, but tracking down owners or breeders of some breeds proved to be difficult. In the case of the Stichelhaar, not only did it take some digging, I also needed a bit of luck to finally see one in the flesh.

At some point in every book or article explaining how the German Wirehaired Pointer was developed, a breed known as the Stichelhaar is mentioned. Some German Wirehaired Pointer histories even provide a brief description of the Stichelhaar’s appearance or hunting ability, but most don’t even offer that. In fact, I’ve even read that the Stichelhaar was an extinct dog breed. So I had a heck of a time finding information on the breed and could not even confirm that is was still around. The only illustrations I could find were old paintings or fuzzy black and white photographs in long out of print magazines and books. After a while, I started to think that maybe the Stichel-haar really was extinct.

Then, in 2001, I attended a hunt in northern Germany organized by Hans Schmidt, a renowned breeder of long haired Weimaraners. While there, I asked him if he knew anything about the Stichelhaar. Expecting him to tell me that the breed was extinct, I was stunned when he replied, “Oh, yes, there are a number of them in the area. I see them sometimes when I am out hunting. They are strong hunting dogs–a very old breed you know.” He then told me that a Stichelhaar breeder lived not too far away from him and suggested that we call him to arrange a meeting! Twenty-four hours later, I was at the home of Elso Kratzenberg, the secretary of the Deutsch Stichelhaar Verein.

Standing in Herr Kratzenberg’s driveway, we exchanged handshakes and introductions and took a few minutes to discuss the kinds of photos I wanted to take. Once we had agreed on a plan, he let his dogs out of the house and into the yard.

As the two big, rough-and-ready dogs came bounding up toward us, I couldn’t help feeling like the scientist in Jurassic Park when he laid eyes on a real-life dinosaur. Finally, right there in front of me, were living, breathing, tail-wagging Stichelhaars, a breed I thought had gone the way of the dodo bird.

Stichelhaar FormIt is easy to mistake a Stichelhaar for a German Wirehaired Pointer or even a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. All three are medium-sized, well-built hunting dogs with rough, liver and white coats, beard and a moustache. Upon closer inspection, however, differences can be seen.

Stichelhaars can be up to 2 or 3 cm taller than German Wirehaired Pointers. In addition, the Stichelhaar coat is usually shorter than a Griffon’s, and may be somewhat harsher than a GWP’s. The head is also different. It is more rounded and has a less pronounced stop than either the German Wirehaired Pointer or the Griffon.

The Stichelhaars I’ve seen were fairly large but very athletic. One male in particular had a very old school look to him. He was big-boned and had fairly long, low-set ears.

After he had been swimming for a few minutes, I asked the owner if I could touch the coat to see how thick it was. The topcoat was very harsh and the thick undercoat was almost dry to the touch.

Size of the StichelhaarMales: 23.5-27.5 inches (60-70 cm) and 60-74 pounds
Females: 23-26.5 inches (58-68 cm) and 55-70 pounds

Stichelhaars can be quite substantial dogs.

With a maximum height of 70 cm, they are one of the tallest Continental pointing breeds, at least in principle. The latest list of approved stud dogs shows that the average height for males is in the region of 65 cm.

Coat of the StichelhaarThe Stichelhaar’s coat is similar to the coat of other wire-haired breeds, and perhaps a bit harsher.

Permitted coat colors are: Brown, with or without white chest patch; Brown roan, with or without brown patches; Light roan, with or without brown patches.

Character of the StichelhaarStichelhaars are string, vigorous dogs with a lot of prey drive. They are known to be very “sharp” on predators and fearless when it comes to working in heavy cover or when pursuing large game such as boar. But they are also said to have a laid-back personality and the ability to work with the sort of calm determination required of a forester’s dog.

When I meet with breed experts, one of the questions I always ask is: “What is one thing that you would like people to know about the breed?” When I put the question to Elso Kraztenberg, secretary of the Deutsch Stichelhaar Verein, he answered with one word: “Ruhe.” The word means “calm” and, in this context, he meant that the one thing the breed should be known for is a calm, cool and collected character.

Stichelhaar and ProtectionThe Stichelhaar has always been considered a true forester’s dog and selected for a strong protective nature. However, there are no formal tests conducted at the club level to evaluate this aspect of the breed. Nevertheless, the breed still enjoys a reputation as a good guard dog.

Training StichelhaarsStichelhaars are said to be relatively easy to train. Their somewhat calmer, more laid-back character may make them well suited to less experienced handlers.

Stichelhaar PopulationsThroughout its history, the Stichelhaar has struggled with a chronically low population. Even now, breeders only produce about 40 pups worldwide in a good year. Now the breed faces a crisis that threatens its very existence. A controversial crossbreeding program involving the Cesky Fousek has split the club in two.

Stichelhaar Health IssuesIn addition to all the usual health issues faced by other gundog breeds, alopecia, a sort of genetic pattern baldness, seems to be on the increase in some Stichelhaar lines. Dental problems and temperament issues such as gun-shyness and nervousness have also been identified.

An In-depth History of the StichelhaarIn 1882, Mr Franz Bontant presented the first Stichelhaars at an international dog show in Hanover, Germany. The Delegate Commission used the opportunity to declare the breed independent, and Germany got its first national wire haired pointing breed. But the question on the minds of many was, and still is, “How did the Stichelhaar come to be?”

Anyone keen on developing a rough-haired breed of versatile gun-dog in 19th century Europe did not have to look very far to find the basic building blocks. For the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Pudelpointer and German Wirehaired Pointer, documents still exist that offer a fairly good idea of what kinds of dogs were used to create them. The origin of the Stichelhaar, on the other hand, has always been a mystery.

In the early days, three theories were proposed. One held that the breed was the result of crosses between Italian Spinoni and smooth-coated German pointing dogs. Another, proposed by Franz Bontant, who actually called his dogs Hessian Rough-beards, held that the Stichelhaar was an ancient breed from central Europe. Other experts believed that it was simply a rough-haired version of the German Shorthaired Pointer and they thought that the rough coat had developed due to the colder climate of northern Germany.

Supporters of this third theory even managed to have the following line included in the 1883 German stud book (Volume IV): “The Stichelhaar was originally a variety of our smooth-coated dogs. Because of this, the first standard for the Stichelhaar was based on that of the GSP. The only real difference was that the Stichelhaar had a rough coat.

Then, in 1888, after much debate, supporters of the three competing theories came to an agreement. They published an official statement reversing their previous declarations. They now said that the Stichelhaar was actually a rough-haired version of the old German Hühnerhund (bird dog), and by no means a rough-haired variety of the GSP.

They based their decision mainly on the arguments presented by Dr. Hans Kadich, a well-regarded expert of the day. Apparently, Kadich had analyzed the head shapes of various breeds and somehow concluded that the Stichelhaar was an ancient German dog. Today it is obvious that his so-called studies were nothing more than the kind of racist pseudoscience that was in vogue at the time. But supporters of the Stichelhaar accepted them as valid and used them to remove the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon-a dog they considered to be a French mongrel-from the stud book the two breeds shared in the late 1800s.

In 1892, Club Stichelhaar was formed. At first, it kept its own registry in which the Stichelhaar was listed separately from the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. But, from 1907 to 1913, during a short-lived period of international cooperation between breeders of all the rough-haired breeds, Stichelhaars were registered in the Griffon stud book founded by Eduard Korthals.

After 1913, with nationalism rising to a near fever pitch, Stichelhaar breeders once again began registering their dogs separately. They also attempted to remove the traits they felt had crept into the breed through crosses to Griffons. They came up with extremely stringent breeding requirements and even prohibited such things as an overly long beard or hair overhanging the ridge of the nose or eyebrows that did not curl in just the right way.

They held fast to their belief that by breeding Stichelhaars without resorting to “foreign” blood, they could improve the breed. Inevitably, this quickly led to a dangerously limited gene pool. Even worse, many Stichelhaar breeders left the club to work with others who were developing the German Wirehaired Pointer, and they took some of their best dogs with them. In the end, the Stichelhaar ended up on the outer margins of the gundog world due to the nar-row-minded policies of the club and the extremely severe selection process breeders clung to in order to keep the breed “pure”.

Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, a small number of Stichelhaars continued to be bred and the club somehow managed to hang on while other German breeds advanced by leaps and bounds.

The Stichelhaar did manage to gain a good reputation for “sharpness” on predators and was prized by some foresters for its strong protective instinct. But World War II and the subsequent division of Germany proved nearly fatal to the breed. At the war’s end, only a handful of Stichelhaars remained, mainly in northwest Germany where a breed club was reformed in the early 1950s. In East Germany, a few people continued to breed Stichelhaars and, when Germany was reunited in the 1990s, all Stichelhaars came to be represented by one club.

Unfortunately, in Germany today, the breed continues to lag far behind all the other German pointing breeds. In fact, it is now facing what may be its biggest challenge ever.

The post Stichelhaar – German Rough Haired Pointer: Dog Breed Information, Form, Function, and History appeared first on Project Upland.

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This Indian inspired recipe will give your wild turkey meat great flavor with tender meatIndian-inspired marinades are an excellent approach for tenderizing any tough wild game cut. The strong, deep flavors also help neutralize “gamey” flavor notes. Tandoori chicken first gained popularity following the Partition of India in 1947 when, as I understand it, Kunda Lal Gujral opened a restaurant in Delhi and served this dish. He saw immediate success. Renditions of his recipe spread throughout South Asia and the Middle East, eventually making their way into Western countries.

Tandoori is traditionally roasted in a tandoor. After marinating in yogurt and Indian spices, this wild turkey variation calls for several hours in sous vide, as opposed to a tandoor, followed by a sear over a hot grill or fry in an air fryer. This finishing step helps firm up the texture of the wild turkey meat. In addition to being delicious, this recipe is quite healthy.

Raita, a yogurt-based condiment, pairs incredibly well with this dish. You can indeed serve this raita with any wild bird, or any wild game for that matter. You can also make this Tandoori Wild Turkey with any upland bird cut, though you will want to adjust the temp and time in the sous vide depending on the size of the cut. Tougher parts like wings, thighs, and legs require several hours in a sous vide at 185 degrees Fahrenheit, while breasts benefit from a sous vide bath at 140 F for two to three hours. A quick sear follows both approaches.

PrintTandoori Wild Turkey RecipeThis Indian inspired recipe will give your wild turkey meat great flavor with tender meatCourse Main CourseCuisine IndianKeyword Wild TurkeyPrep Time 1 day day 3 hours hoursIngredientsTandoori Wild Turkey Turkey thighs and legs from one wild bird (skin on or off) * 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt * 2 tbsp fresh garlic * 2 tbsdp fresh ginger * Juice from ¼ of a medium lemon * 3 tsp ancho chili powder * 2 tsp paprika * 2 tsp garam masala * 1 ½ tsp kosher salt * 1 tsp ground black pepper * 1 tsp ground cumin * 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder * 1 tsp ground coriander * ½ tsp turmeric * Chicken stock (if not using a sous vide) * Extra fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish Raita ⅓ medium red onion finely diced * 2 medium tomatoes finely diced * 1 jalapeño seeded and finely diced * 2 medium-ripe avocados smashed * ½ cup fresh cilantro finely chopped * Juice from 1/4 of a medium lemon * ½ tsp kosher salt * 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt Rice ¼ cup ghee or sunflower (or similar) cooking oil * 1 cinnamon stick * 2 tbsp coriander seeds * 2 tbsp cumin seeds * ½ bulb fresh garlic peeled * 5 whole cloves * 1 cup basmati rice * 2 cups cold water Instructions In a food processor or a blender, thoroughly blend the turkey spices, garlic, and ginger; do not add the yogurt. After the spices are blended, mix them with the yogurt in a mixing bowl. * Seal your turkey legs and thighs with the yogurt-spice marinade in a vacuum-sealed bag. Refrigerate overnight. * To cook the turkey, heat your sous vide up to 185 F. Add the sealed bag with the legs, thighs, and yogurt-spice mix to the bath. Sous vide the wild turkey for four to six hours (four hours for jakes, six for mature gobblers). If you don’t have a sous vide, remove your turkey legs and thighs from the vacuum-sealed bag and add them to an oven-safe pot. Cover the meat with the yogurt-spice mix with some chicken stock. Place it in the oven at 200 F for three hours or until tender. * To make the raita, first, halve, seed, and finely dice your jalapeño. Finely chop the red onion, tomatoes, and cilantro next. Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl. Peel and seed your avocados, and mash them into the same mixing bowl along with kosher salt. Add the yogurt and lemon juice. Mix everything together, leaving some of the avocados intact for texture. Refrigerate the raita until you’re ready to use it. (Tip: Assemble the raita as close to serving time as possible so the avocados don’t brown. You may wish to cut the vegetables and cilantro and refrigerate them beforehand, then wait to add the avocados, yogurt, salt, and lemon juice just before serving.) * To make the rice, add ghee or cooking oil to a medium saucepan on medium heat to make the rice. Add the spices and garlic cloves and simmer them for ten minutes, until the garlic is brown. Drain the ghee or oil through a sieve to remove the cloves and spices, then add the oil back to the saucepan. Add the rice and stir often to sauté it slightly for ten minutes. Then, add water and raise the heat to high. Cover the saucepan and turn the burner to low once it's boiling. Turn it completely off once all the water is absorbed (approximately ten minutes). * Once the legs and thighs are tender, briefly sear them over a hot fire or air fry them at 400 F on each side for a couple of minutes. Serve with the assembled raita, basmati rice, and maybe even freshly chopped and sliced cucumbers and red onions. Garnish with more cilantro, if desired. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Tandoori Wild Turkey with Avocado Raita appeared first on Project Upland.

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The history of hunting dogs is preserved in the iconic Pointing Dog volumes thanks to the lifelong dedication of dog historian and author Craig Koshyk.This film is Presented by Eukanuba Sporting Dog

“We need a name for this place. Every special hunting spot is given a name, and this one is no exception.”

Leaning back on our elbows, the four of us pondered the assignment. It was a cold, gusty November afternoon on the South Dakota prairie, but we had found a perfect resting spot on a leeward slope dotted with junipers. The sun warmed our spirits as we gazed across the expanse and reflected on the day. A lake sparkled under the sunshine in the distance, and thousands of sandhill cranes cackled overhead, punctuating the sky with checkmarks of migrating flocks from one horizon to the other.

“Sandhill Hill,” someone quipped. It stuck. Sandhill Hill it was and shall forever be known.

The circumstances that had led the four of us to perch on Sandhill Hill pointed toward either utter insanity or wholehearted devotion. My husband and I had traveled from Washington to South Dakota for the annual gathering of the North American Deutsch Langhaar club. Craig Koshyk and Lisa Trottier had traveled
from Manitoba to take photographs of setters on a South Dakota ranch for Craig’s latest book. A few logistical gymnastics later, our eastbound path intersected with their southbound path right there on Sandhill Hill.

In true prairie fashion, frigid 30 mph northerly winds blew out the previous day’s sweltering heat. Craig and Lisa had quite literally brought Manitoba with them. We hunted our rare German dogs alongside their rare French dogs and marveled at their similarities, witnessing indisputable evidence that the world is a little smaller than we tend to think. Public land doesn’t give up pheasants easily. Still, we’d shot two beautiful roosters that morning, and—more importantly to us—our younger dogs executed impressive tracks and recoveries of the wounded birds. For dog people like us, that represented the absolute pinnacle of our hobby. Then, we basked in the late autumn sun under the raucous calls of the cranes and let the stories flow.

Engaging in conversation with Craig is a bit like indulging in the world’s most fascinating choose-your-own-adventure story. The plot possibilities are endless. Do you want to ask about that European village he just mentioned? Turn to page 34. Ask him to repeat that odd dog breed name that went over your head by turning to page 77. Otherwise, flip the page to see what happens next.

Craig formed his bottomless well of stories and anecdotes over a lifetime of choosing adventure and experience over staying comfortable at home. “When Lisa and I first got together, we promised each other that we would fill our lives and minds with experiences rather than filling our apartment with stuff,” Craig said. Over 36 years later, they have held true to this promise. They have traveled around the world together, often under the guise of researching and photographing hunting dog breeds in their native lands. Along the way, those travels led to genuine connections with fellow dog lovers in every corner of the world.

I often quip that I enjoy spending time with dog people because none of us are people people. We tend to be quite comfortable around dogs but awkward around other humans, which is socially acceptable when you’re all wired that way. But Craig stands out as a stark exception to this rule: he truly, deeply loves people and the intricate details of human culture. For Craig, the study of dogs is a unique window into the minds and hearts of humans. After all, modern dog breeds are entirely manmade and based upon the preferences, needs, and even whims of the people who created them. As Craig pointed out, “dogs are a reflection of the culture where they originated. You can’t understand the dogs without understanding the people who created them.” Craig talks about the “tapestry” of human culture and how the story of dogs is interwoven among the threads.

Although Craig is now known as one of the world’s leading experts on pointing dogs and their history, he didn’t initially set out to achieve such lofty ambitions. Rather, he just wanted to know a little bit more about his own dog.

“I’ve always been interested in dogs and would read every article in Field and Stream and Outdoor Life that featured a dog, but I didn’t really know much about the different types and breeds, other than that I wanted one of each! When we finally got our first dog, I became keenly interested in finding out all I could about him, his breed, and all the other pointing breeds,” he said.

Craig began his quest to learn more about his dog at the local library. He assumed he would quickly satisfy his curiosity and move on to other pursuits, but what he found only left him wanting more.

“Sure, there were lots of books with the breed standard in them and maybe a few lines about the breed’s history, but none of them went into any detail about how they hunt, what they hunt, etc.,” said Craig. “The more I read, the more I realized that a lot of material was written by folks who had clearly never actually seen or hunted over the breeds they were writing about. So as my frustration rose, so too did my determination to write a book about pointing dogs based on real-life observations and interviews with folks that know their breed inside and out.”

With that newfound determination, Craig’s life took a detour into what would become an all-consuming project stretching over the next twenty years. He and Lisa embarked on countless trips across North America and Europe, photographing dogs and interviewing experts to learn about the continental pointing breeds from the people who knew them best. He translated historical texts from a variety of languages, both modern and antique. He used his remarkable ability to connect with people and contagious enthusiasm for dogs to dig into the authentic stories and truths about each breed.

Ten years later, Pointing Dogs Volume One: The Continentals was born. For many people, myself included, this book served as a window into a world of pointing dogs we hadn’t even imagined. Sure, everyone has heard of a German Shorthaired Pointer, but what about a Stabyhund or a Pachón Navarro? My own interest in my dog breed of choice was born within the pages of this book, thanks to Craig’s insatiable curiosity and his pact with Lisa to pursue experience over material goods.

There’s a certain amount of confidence needed to title your ten-years-in-the making tome “Volume One,” but there was never any question in Craig’s mind that Volume Two would eventually follow. It was disingenuous to only write about the continental European dogs without covering the British and Irish breeds—Pointers
and the various setters—whose genes have been used to create and improve countless other breeds throughout history. Pointing Dogs Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds crosses the English Channel to discover the real stories of the Pointer, English Setter, Gordon Setter, Irish Red and White Setter, and the Irish Setter from people who have dedicated their lives to them. Craig then followed those breeds around the world to understand how they hunted, tested, and competed in countries outside of their homelands. Once again, ten years after starting the journey, he put the last words on paper for what is bound to be another cornerstone of canine literature and knowledge.

Recall that Craig only set out to write these books because he couldn’t find the book he was looking for at the library. At his core, he is a teacher through and through. His passion for sharing his knowledge bubbles up out of that deep well of experience like an artesian spring. Unsurprisingly, he was once a math and science teacher before opening a photography school in Winnipeg, eventually “retiring” from the school to pursue writing, photography, music, speaking, and studying; he’s a venerable renaissance man in the modern world. Through it all, the desire to teach others remains a critical thread in the very fabric of his being.

Craig approaches life as a student, always curious and inquisitive, which is why any conversation with him takes breathtaking twists and turns. I’ve had the immense pleasure of cohosting the Hunting Dog Confidential podcast with him, which has given me a frontrow seat to engage with one of my heroes within the dog world. I often joke that my role is to wind him up and point him in a particular direction, then watch him roll along until our time is up. But every hero has their own heroes to whom they look up, so I wanted to know more about Craig’s inspiration. I recently asked Craig where he would go if he could travel through time and space. His answer—and itinerary—was immediate.

“First stop, Gaston Phebus’s realm in what is now Southern France circa 1380. Then I’d head to Prince Albrecht vom Solms Braunfels’s castle in Germany in the 1880s so I could see his massive kennel full of Pointers and Setters and meet Eduard Korthals, who worked there while creating the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon.

The thought of Craig wandering the French countryside in the fourteenth century makes a lot of sense to me. He’d meet people and make connections regardless of a language or cultural barrier. He’d spot a dog across the valley and make a beeline to find out what it was and what its owner was like. He’d speak the universal language of dogs and get the firsthand experience he has always craved. Craig would be equally at home in a late nineteenth-century castle, admiring the ostentatious kennels and asking the keepers about the dogs. He’d zero in on the person who spoke the least but had accumulated the most practical knowledge of the dogs.

Luckily for us in the twenty-first century, Craig exists here in the modern era and remains devoted to chronicling the story of our hunting dogs before anything more is lost to the passage of time. With Pointing Dogs Volume Two nearing completion, he has his sights set on the next project.

“I have several more books in mind,” said Craig, “I am not sure in which order they will come, but I want to do one on retrievers and water dogs, one on flushing spaniels, and one on hounds. I’d also like to do a book on terriers and dachshunds, and maybe even Nordic spitz and Asian hunting dogs.”

Ever the student, he’ll undoubtedly lose himself in those projects and emerge with volumes of research to condense and distill into books that stand the test of time. Future generations tasked with carrying our dog breeds forward will have an invaluable touchstone on which to base their work. As Craig observed, “Our hunting dogs and the systems we use to breed, train, and test them are at an inflection point. Massive changes have already occurred, and more will come. But I am a firm believer in the youth of today and trust that they will take our gun dog breeds into a new era of enlightenment.”

The post New Film: Dog Willing – Craig Koshyk the Dog Historian of a Generation appeared first on Project Upland.

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The history of ruffed grouse populations, ruffed grouse hunting, and the reintroduction of ruffed grouse to its native range of Missouri

“Ruffed grouse hunters go strange when they talk about ruffed grouse. They get gooey, and words like ‘majestic’ and ‘regal’ pepper the conversation.”

Joel Vance, Missouri Conservationist, September 1997.

The late, great Missouri outdoor writer Joe Vance invited me on a ruffed grouse hunt in 1985. Vance raised beautiful Brittany’s that worked as a precision team pointing Northern Bobwhites. I had never seen a ruffed grouse in the wild but had read about hunting the unique species in magazine articles written by Vance, one of my early mentors in journalism. He was a heavy advocate of restoring Missouri grouse and worked with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Ruffed Grouse Society to achieve this goal.

I gratefully accepted his invitation to hunt. We walked several hundred yards through old timber before entering a large, burnt section of woods where lightning had struck five years before. There was still some evidence of scorched earth, but new growth was sprouting up everywhere. It was thicker than before fire cleansed the area. The walking was strenuous, even for Vance’s dogs.

The dogs had hunted grouse before and understood their unpredictable habits. Both Brittanys immediately acted birdy and started weaving in and out of the new growth of saplings and ground cover. They occasionally dropped down on a point, then slowly moved forward on grouse that briefly held, then moved. Watching the dogs and moving forward was almost dangerous while bumping into saplings.

Missouri in October is beautiful, with various hardwood trees sporting fall colors of orange, yellow, and shades of green mixed with conifers. I was admiring a particularly colorful area when suddenly, powerful wings went brbrbrbrbr ten yards in front of me. Those wings quickly propelled a grouse out of harm’s way. I didn’t see a feather.

This happened four more times that day. I saw one grouse before the day’s end; I swung my shotgun into a sapling. I could not imagine ever shooting one of these birds. Walking away, I felt happy just to have seen one.

Ruffed Grouse Hunting in MissouriMissouri’s first contemporary grouse hunting season began in 1983. Hunters purchased a special grouse permit, and the Conservation Department limited the permits to 3,000. Out of that number, 2,917 permits were sold. Hunters took 151 ruffed grouse that first year.

Missouri ruffed grouse hunting ceased after the 2010-2011 season due to a lack of interest and harvest success. I think it’s safe to say Missouri hunters may have become frustrated by walking long, challenging distances only to hear thundering wings in the thick cover. Vance wrote in the Missouri Conservationist in 1997, “Ruffed grouse hunting confuses most Missouri bird hunters. It doesn’t take much of that behavior to send frustrated hunters back to more open areas and quail, which come in bunches and behave the way Show-Me hunters think they should.”

Since that hunt with Vance, I have sought ruffed grouse in Minnesota and Wisconsin. They have larger populations there and more opportunities to shoot. In the land of 10,000 lakes and the Dairy State, so-called parking lot birds flush by your truck after a day’s hunt. Commonly, birds are bold enough to leave thick cover and fly down the middle of a logging trail, too. Ruffed grouse’s presence through the northern states is expected. However, perhaps this is not true in Missouri, a state most would consider too far south for this species.

Ruffed Grouse Food and Habitat in MissouriCommon sense might suggest that ruffed grouse would thrive in northern Missouri. However, today they are mainly found in the River Hills region, located in an east-central part of the state that covers Callaway, Montgomery, and Warren counties. These counties have high percentages of young stands of trees compared to the surrounding areas.

Grouse thrive in young forests—high-density woody stems and herbaceous vegetation provide food and cover. The highest quality habitat results when regenerating stands are five to 15 years old. However, regenerating forests up to 25 years old can provide resources that grouse need. Young, dense, even-aged stands offer cover from predators throughout their Missouri range, which is especially important during spring drumming periods. Some new timber stands result from natural disturbances like tornadoes and lightning-started fires.

Grouse eat a variety of plant matter, including wild grapes, tick trefoil, rosehips, sumac berries, clovers, hophornbeam catkins, small acorns, green leafy plants, seeds, bittersweet, sedges, bush clovers, and other plants in addition to insects. Chicks feed mainly on insects to meet their high protein and energy requirements. In winter, grouse feed on food common in Missouri, like wild fruits and acorns, but the catkins of hophornbeam trees are a major cold-weather staple.

Missouri Ruffed Grouse Restoration and Reintroduction EffortsRuffed grouse are native to Missouri and, in past years, have been located as far south as northern Arkansas. Lewis and Clark’s journals mention finding this hardy bird up and down the Missouri River bottoms into Iowa. Sadly, Missouri’s grouse population was almost destroyed in 1900 through a lack of habitat. About half of Missouri’s 32 million acres of forested land had been cleared for homesteads, row crops, or hay. The state reported having approximately 100 birds by the 1930s. A 1940 effort to bring back grouse failed again due to a lack of proper habitat.

“Efforts to restore Missouri’s grouse population using wild-trapped grouse from Ohio and Indiana were initiated during the late 1950s and early 1960s,” said Reina M. Tyl, the wild turkey and ruffed grouse biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). “Grouse were released on the Daniel Boone Conservation Area (DBCA) and Thomas S. Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center (TBWC), both located in the River Hills Region of central and east-central Missouri. These releases appeared to be successful, and Missouri’s grouse restoration was expanded in 1978.”

When this restoration effort was completed in 1996, more than 5,300 grouse had been released on 78 sites in 37 counties. Unfortunately, the only populations that showed the ability to persist long-term were those associated with the original release sites on DBCA and TBWC. Despite these populations expanding in range, drumming surveys indicated ruffed grouse numbers in these areas had declined since the 1980s.

“Still, Missouri continues a bumpy love affair with King Ruff,” Vance wrote in 1997. “Missouri may be the only state that had active Ruffed Grouse Society chapters before there was a hunting season. And Missouri is the site of the most ambitious grouse project ever funded by the Ruffed Grouse Society, a $300,000 timber management study that ran for a dozen years.”

“Prior to this most recent translocation effort, a population viability study was conducted within the River Hills Region of east-central Missouri,” Ryl said. “That study indicated that areas need to be maintained in early-successional forest habitat to sustain a grouse population. MDC staff updated the forest management plans for DBCA and LLCCA so these areas can reach their maximum habitat potential for grouse and other early-successional forest wildlife species.”

The Missouri Department of Conservation revised its management plans for Little Lost Creek and Daniel Boone Conservation Areas to allow for more regular timber harvesting to ensure early-successional forest habitat exists in perpetuity. The River Hills Forest Habitat Partnership, a coalition of state, federal, and private landowners, has also created young forest habitat on private lands.

“In response to declining grouse numbers, especially in the River Hills Region, the Missouri Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society and the Audubon Society of Missouri formed a partnership with MDC in 2000,” Ryl said. “The partnership has since expanded to include the National Wild Turkey Federation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Quail Forever, Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, and a number of private landowners and corporate sponsors. The goal of the partnership was to restore and maintain 10 to 15 percent of the project area in a regenerating oak-hickory forest condition to benefit early-successional wildlife species.”

Habitat restoration has focused on private lands to complement existing work on public lands at DBCA and LLCCA and to expand the amount and connectivity of early-successional forest habitat. Since the partnership was formed, thousands of acres of habitat management have occurred within the River Hills Region, involving hundreds of private landowners. Recently, private land habitat management efforts have been led jointly by MDC staff and members of the Missouri Grouse Chapter of the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation.

Missouri greatly succeeded in establishing eastern wild turkeys throughout our state. This eventually played a large part in reintroducing ruffed grouse.

“Missouri played a major role in the restoration of the wild turkey in exchange for ruffed grouse in many parts of the country, especially in the Midwest,” Ryl said. “By the 1970s, we had rapidly expanding populations of turkeys and were able to supply turkeys to states that were looking to reintroduce the previously extirpated birds.”

Missouri received ruffed grouse from several states, including Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, in exchange for the turkeys. During this most recent translocation effort, no turkeys or other wildlife were traded for grouse received from Wisconsin. However, Missouri donated to Wisconsin’s efforts for ruffed grouse habitat.

The author hunting in Minnesota Missourians Value Ruffed Grouse“Ruffed grouse have both ecological value as a native bird species and intrinsic value to Missourians, especially in the Missouri River Hills Region where folks can remember hearing and seeing grouse around their properties and Conservation areas not very long ago,” Rly said. “Ruffed grouse are charismatic. Male grouse conduct a distinctive ‘drumming’ display to lay claim to their territory and attract females for mating. Males will use a fallen log as their stage and beat their wings so quickly that a temporary air vacuum is created, which creates a sound similar to a bouncing basketball.”

I would love for my grandchildren to discover this unique and amazing bird that once fed our ancestors. Ambitious efforts are underway to bring back Missouri’s ruffed grouse populations on “a wing and a prayer.”

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A small and speedy duck with whistling wings that is part of the dabbling duck group and one of the earliest migrators. The blue-winged teal (Spatula discors; syn=Anas discors) is a fascinating member of the dabbling duck group. They are very fast flying and prefer to spend most of the winter near the equator, perhaps more so than any other dabbler. With whistling wings and their ability to quickly appear and vanish in the blink of an eye, there’s a lot to admire about this little bird. Read on for more information about their life history, habitats and hunting tips.

Description and Life History of the Blue-Winged TealThe blue-winged teal is a small duck overall, measuring only about 15 inches long and weighing less than a pound (NatureServe 2019). While breeding males and females do look different, non-breeding males often look very similar to the females. They have the same general body shape as a mallard, but in a compact size. Breeding drakes have a bluish/slate gray head with a white patch between their black bill and eye (All About Birds 2019). Most of the remainder of their bodies are medium brown with lots of dark speckles or mottles. While flying, their wings expose the green secondary feathers and light blue and white shoulder from which they get their name (All About Birds 2019). Their legs and feet are light orange. Hens and non-breeding drakes (in eclipse plumage) are pretty uniformly mottled brown and tan, with a slightly darker brown crown and eyeline highlighting their eyes (All About Birds 2019). Their bills are also black, but their legs and feet are often a muted orange or light brown.

After wintering in Central or South America, blue-winged teal are very reluctant to travel north to breed. They are often some of the last ducks to arrive in spring, and some of the first ones to migrate back south in the fall. Pair formation may occur over the winter or during migration. Nesting usually occurs in May throughout the United States, but may not occur until June in Canada (National Audubon Society 2019). Hens choose the nest site by flying over hayfields, grasslands or sedge meadows, and line the nest depression with vegetation and downy feathers. Often, the grasses and sedges are pulled over the nest to conceal it from aerial predators (NatureServe 2019). Hens will usually lay about 6 to 15 creamy white eggs and incubate them for 23 to 27 days (All About Birds 2019; NatureServe 2019). Within a day of hatching, the hen will lead the ducklings to water and tend them, though they can feed themselves. Often, blue-winged teal hens will leave their brood before the ducklings are able to fly (National Audubon Society 2019). Ring-necked pheasants often lay eggs in teal nests, due to an overlap in habitat types, a practice known as nest or brood parasitism.

As mentioned above, the blue-winged teal is a dabbling duck which feeds by floating in the water and dipping its head underwater. They feed on plant material (e.g., algae, pondweeds, duckweed), seeds (e.g., sedges, grasses, pondweeds, smartweeds, water lilies), and crops (e.g., rice, millet) (National Audubon Society 2019; NatureServe 2019; All About Birds 2019). They will also eat aquatic animals, including midge larvae, crustaceans, clams, and snails. Ducklings and hens laying eggs seem to consume mostly animal matter for their high protein content.

The biggest threat of predation for the blue-winged teal is usually to eggs, ducklings and incubating females. Mink, fox, raccoons, skunks, hawks and owls all commonly prey on this species at some point throughout its lifetime (Minnesota DNR 2019). The blue-winged teal likely has the highest annual mortality rate among dabbling ducks, approaching 65 percent (NatureServe 2019). This could be attributed to their over-ocean migration to South America, lost nests to predators, or duckling mortality after hatching.

Range and Habitat of the Blue-Winged TealThe blue-winged teal primarily spends its summer and breeds throughout the Midwest and prairie pothole region of North America, but they do occur through central and northwest Canada, as well. They begin migrating south in August or September, which makes them one of the earliest migrant waterfowl species. The wintering population spreads out along the Gulf Coast to as far south as South America (NatureServe 2019). Many flocks have been observed flying over open ocean to Costa Rica and further south from there, which is a very impressive journey for a small duck.

The blue-winged teal is primarily an inhabitant of shallow freshwater systems, but it can occur in brackish marshes as well (National Audubon Society 2019). During their summer molting period, they are flightless and rely on prairie potholes and shallow ponds for security from predators. Marshes, small lakes, rivers, sloughs, and ponds are all good habitat for the blue-winged teal during the summer (NatureServe 2019). Much like the Northern pintail, they also nest in sedge-dominated and grassland habitats adjacent to water sources, which may include prairies, fields and meadows. During the winter south of the border, they will utilize brackish estuaries, mangroves and swamps (National Audubon Society 2019).

Conservation Issues for the Blue-Winged TealThe blue-winged teal is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2019). Their population swings widely between about 2.8 million and 7.4 million birds, likely due to habitat and drought conditions and high annual mortality (All About Birds 2019). The 2018 population dropped 18 percent from 2017 levels (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2018). Grassland nesting habitat adjacent to water sources – especially in the prairie pothole region – are critical for healthy populations. Consequently, conversion of grasslands to farmland and poorly timed haying operations (e.g., nest destruction) are large threats for the species. Because blue-winged teal migrate so early, they may be largely absent from northern breeding areas at the beginning of waterfowl seasons. That said, hunters still manage to shoot up to 500,000 birds in the U.S. each year (All About Birds 2019). Since this species spends so much time on wintering grounds in South America, they are vulnerable to habitat quality and management practices there as well.

Hunting Opportunities for the Blue-Winged TealAs mentioned above, blue-winged teal often migrate early, which could make hunting them in certain parts of the country much more difficult. But you do have a few opportunities.

Equipment and Bag LimitsTo effectively hunt teal, you really only need a shotgun, some good camouflage clothing, a blind of some sort (natural materials or man-made), and some decoys. Depending on how deep the water is, waders, a canoe, or a hunting dog are helpful to retrieve the ducks. A 12- or 20- gauge shotgun both work well for these small ducks, but you have a little more flexibility for mixed-bag hunts if you use the 12-gauge. Save the 20-gauge for close shooting on small water situations.

Since the blue-winged teal is a migratory waterfowl species, you will need a federal duck stamp in addition to a hunting license (usually small game). The current daily bag limit for blue-winged teal is six birds, and the limit normally includes any of the other teal species (i.e., green-winged or cinnamon).

Blue-Winged Teal Hunting TechniquesBlue-winged teal are pretty tiny and extremely fast, which can make hunting them pretty challenging. But if you scout ahead of time and set up in the right spots, you can have an exciting hunt. Anywhere shallow water contains feeding opportunities, you should be able to see some teal. Flooded crop fields, marshes with open water and shallow bays of lakes are good options. If possible, get out ahead of your hunt at daybreak to see where the ducks are moving. Blue-wings tend to feed and move aggressively right before daybreak until about an hour after, so you might have a short window of opportunity.

Most teal usually respond well to decoys. For many situations, you can do well using about a dozen decoys. Since drakes in eclipse plumage and hens both resemble mallard hens, you can get by using your mallard hen decoys to make them dual purpose. It usually doesn’t deter the teal. Try a greeting call if ducks are keeping their distance from your decoys. If you notice they are coming in and veering away, try a loud comeback call. But if they’re coming right into your set without any calling, keep silent – more often than not, that will spook them off. When they set their wings and are aimed your way, get ready for some fast and exciting shooting. With any luck, you will bag a few blue-wings to try on the grill.

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For thousands of years, trained golden eagles and sighthounds— sleek sinewy dogs built for speed and endurance—have worked together in pursuit of hare and foxes.In Mongolia, among the Kazakh people of the Altai mountains, there is an ancient poem that lists the things every true nomad should have. Chief among these are a “brave eagle” and a “swift dog.” Of course, a fast horse and a loyal wife are important too, but there is a reason that eagles and dogs win the top spots. For thousands of years, trained golden eagles and sighthounds—sleek sinewy dogs built for speed and endurance—have worked together in pursuit of hare and foxes.

Though the origins of falconry—that is, the art and science of hunting wild quarry with a trained bird of prey—may be forever lost, it is likely that the human-eagle relationship first began in Central Asia. The region is a cradle of domestication. Much of the vast steppe, beset by permafrost, is not arable, and so nomadic herders rely on dogs, camels, horses, goats, sheep, yaks, and cows for their livelihood. Wild eagles sometimes predate on young livestock and it is not hard to imagine how an ancient herder might have been inspired to capture an eagle that he witnessed take a lamb. Perhaps it was a particularly hungry eagle, and perhaps it quickly accepted an offering of food from the herder. After a time, the herder likely realized he could set the eagle free and it would still hunt as well as return to him in hopes of a free meal. However it happened, it was an ingenious discovery.

In present-day Mongolia, golden eagles migrate from Siberia and bottleneck through western Mongolia on their annual migration to northern China each autumn. Young eagles, typically between one to three years of age (a golden eagle reaches maturity at roughly five years old) are sought by the Kazakh eaglehunters for training. These birds are young enough to readily accept training, but old enough to be able to successfully hunt on their own in the wild. It typically takes
about a month of training from the time of trapping until the eagle is flying free and hunting in partnership with an eaglehunter or berkutchi, as they are known in the Kazakh language

Foxes make up a large part of the natural diet of this population of golden eagles, especially in winter. It takes little encouragement for these eagles to pursue foxes, and indeed foxes are highly prized by the berkutchi for the superb winter clothing that can be made with the luxurious fur of the fox. It takes a lot of skill to find foxes in the wilds of the Altai mountains, and even with a talented eagle, the majority will slip away and evade both human and eagle. This is where the sighthound comes in; by keeping the fox running, they give the eagle more opportunity to take the fox and thus contribute to the overall success of the hunt.

Sighthounds are found all along the former silk road, from Turkey eastward into China. For thousands of years, Salukis have been used in the Arabian Peninsula to hunt hares in partnership with falcons. In Kazakhstan it is the Tazi that is used with eagles, and in Kyrgyzstan the Taigan. There can be some debate as to how these dogs should be called and classified, but the fact remains that they are all of similar origin and, for untold generations, have hunted in partnership with birds of prey. This has given them a natural respect for raptors. Most of these dogs, though displaying tremendous determination and endurance in pursuit of game, will defer to the falcon or eagle once it has caught the quarry.

I spent two years documenting these ancient hunting traditions in Central Asia as an anthropologist and falconer and longed to try to hunt with an eagle and sighthound team in the American west. That dream began by picking up a pup in the summer of 2018 after returning from a trip flying eagles in South Africa’s Karoo desert. The pup was a beautiful tan and black brindle—he reminded me of the magical place I had just come from. I named him Karoo. Karoo’s parents were both Saluki/Greyhound crosses and had been hunted with falcons in the New Mexican desert in much the same way that Salukis hunt hares with falcons in Arabia. He had the right genes, and his parents had proven themselves with falcons.

The most amazing thing to me was how little dog training I had to do. Karoo respected birds of prey naturally—he gave them space whenever I perched them in my house or out on the lawn. He chased jackrabbits naturally; he was just a bundle of energy and enthusiasm whenever one got up and running in the grasslands. He came back to me naturally. This, I think, surprised me the most. From about a year of age, he could and would run out of sight in pursuit of jackrabbits. As soon as he was bested by the hare, he would turn around and follow the path that he had run all the way back to me. When single-minded in pursuit, how could he possibly remember his route? These days, some of his courses will go a mile or more distant, and all I have to do is stay put and watch him on the GPS unit as he makes his way back. This continues to blow my mind, but then again, I think about these dogs in the harsh desert of Arabia or on the frozen Central Asian steppes. If they couldn’t find their way back quickly, they would not have survived.

As Karoo developed, I tried to expose him to my eagles as much as possible, as well as introduce him to wild jackrabbits to chase a few days a week. Whenever possible, I allowed him to run him with other polished sighthounds to really learn what is expected of him. In the beginning, I’d have to be careful to only let him have one hard run on a jackrabbit, since their desire to run can outstrip their fitness level and lead to overheating and injuries. Now, at three years old, he can manage 3-5 hard runs in an outing.

I’ve been surprised to learn how difficult it is for a solo sighthound to take a jackrabbit. He’s taken eight on his own since I’ve had him, but it is certainly an exception rather than the rule. This is actually a benefit to me as a falconer, since my aim is to orchestrate a hunt where Karoo keeps the jackrabbit running and the eagle is able to come in from above and take it. On those rare days where Karoo catches the hare, I am always rather shocked to see that he wants to bring it back to me. These dogs are such incredible athletes! A 45lb Karoo packs back an 8lb hare often a mile or more and then drops it at my feet, where he is happy to just relax and exist there with me in the moment.

Once Karoo was confidently and effectively chasing jackrabbits, it was time to introduce the eagle in a hunting situation. When hunting with my eagle, I fly her from a soar. This most closely mimics their wild habits—how often do you see an eagle as a tiny silhouette riding the wind currents? Although it takes a lot of time to teach an eagle to loyally wait on the wind currents above you while you work the ground below for hares, the rewards are big. You might see a thousand-foot stoop with the eagle coming down at over a hundred miles an hour. Eagles aren’t quite the speed demons that falcons are, who have been clocked at 242 mph in a stoop. Using small GPS devices, 120 mph seems to be the higher end that my eagles can achieve. But it has to be said, even at that slower speed, the wind screaming through their feathers in a dive has to be heard to be believed. You can only stand there, wide-eyed with your heart in your throat, as you watch them plummet!

In the American west, jackrabbits have co-evolved over millions of years with eagles in an incredible evolutionary arms race. When an eagle is soaring, jackrabbits pin down and sneak away. Even when flushed and running, they’ll freeze in cover and disappear from the eagle. While a wild eagle has all daylight hours to try and catch a jackrabbit off its guard, as a falconer I am out for an hour or two a day, so it is the sighthound that helps gives the eagle an edge against these savvy hares, especially when the eagle is still learning its hunting technique.

My eagles love the windiest days for soaring. We drive out to the field, typically a row of hills with the wind pushing against the hills to provide easy lift. I put the GPS on the eagle and set her atop my car while Karoo and I start walking towards the hills. It typically only takes a few minutes for the eagle to launch and start finding lift. Before long, she’s several hundred feet above Karoo and me, her head cocked down watching us. Then, it is up to us to flush a jackrabbit! I walk through likely areas of cover while Karoo stays about 50 yards in front of me, stopping to scan the landscape for movement every so often. And then if you are lucky, it happens!

I remember being so nervous the first time I had Karoo hunting with an eagle that I’d trained. A jackrabbit appeared and started running towards the hills. Karoo immediately saw it and was all speed and angles as he took off after it. Since he is about half greyhound, I came to realize that Karoo had a quite a bit of speed. In a full-out sprint after a jackrabbit, I’ve regularly clocked him on the GPS at 42 mph. There were areas of dense yucca and cholla on these foothills, but Karoo kept
the jackrabbit running past these spots of easy cover. I looked up to see my eagle start to fold. She skimmed down across the hillside, picking up tremendous speed. I saw the jackrabbit with its ears tucked in a full out sprint, Karoo about 15 feet behind it, and then I saw my eagle come in so fast that they seemed to be in slow motion! The eagle collided with the jackrabbit, her momentum taking her and the hare end-over-end in a cloud of dust. It settled and there she was, proudly sitting atop a dead jackrabbit. I can’t put that feeling into words! We are three totally different species working towards the same goal, and it leaves me in awe every single time it happens.

Karoo laid down near the eagle as she started to pluck the jackrabbit. I let the eagle relax and eat some of the warm jackrabbit meat—eagles particularly love the heart and lungs—and then I stepped her off to a nice piece of meat in my glove. Once she was preoccupied with eating what was in my glove, I slipped the hare into my bag and we all walked back to the car, together and contented.

Since that first success, we’ve had many flights play out in many different ways. There are the jackrabbits that manage to outmaneuver Karoo and then dodge the eagle as she comes in—you can’t help but applaud and respect the mighty blacktailed jackrabbit after seeing that! Another memorable flight started with a hare slipping out behind Karoo and me, headed for the hills. I didn’t notice until I saw the eagle tuck up for her stoop. She hit the ground as the hare juked her and ran uphill. The eagle opened her wings in the strong wind and was instantly taken back up over the hare. She made another try but was similarly juked. At this point Karoo arrived on the scene, sprinting uphill and keeping the hare running as the eagle put in a third and fourth attempt. Lifting up once more, the hare neared the crest of the hill as the eagle slammed in successfully on her fifth attempt. Interspecies tenacity and teamwork!

What captivates my imagination with this type of hunting is that I never know what incredible scene I might see play out in front of me. The hare, the sighthound, and the eagle are all astounding athletes in their own way, and any one of them can win the day.

This article originally appeared in Hunting Dog Confidential Volume 2.1 with photography by Adam Pecht

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Weimaraners are a medium to large pointing dog breed that are tireless, cooperative workers and loyal companions with a strong protective instinct. The story of the Weimaraner has all the elements of a Hollywood melodrama. It is a classic tale of how marketing, money and the vain pursuit of blue ribbons can turn a noble breed of hunting dog into a caricature of its former self. Fortunately, like any good melodrama, there’s a happy ending. Despite the challenges the breed continues to face, there are still dedicated Weimaraner breeders out there producing world-class gundogs.

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The official history of the Weimaraner begins on June 22, 1897 when a club for the “pure breeding of the silver-grey Weimaraner pointing dog” was formed in Erfurt, Germany. The breed’s development since that time is relatively well documented. The historical record from before that time is much less clear. And since the further back it goes, the fuzzier it gets, all we have are theories based almost entirely on speculation.

Weimaraner FormThe unique look of the Weimaraner is a double-edged sword. Having a hunting dog with a unique color and chiseled good looks is great. I’ve had Weimaraners for over 12 years, and I am still flattered when my hunting buddies tell me my dogs are handsome. But, on the other hand, the look of the breed has captured the attention of huge numbers of non-hunters who now make up the largest market for it. As a result, many breeders select almost exclusively for looks and ignore the most important feature of the breed: its hunting instincts.

Size of the WeimaranerWeimaraners can be substantial dogs, among the biggest of the Continental breeds. North American field-bred Weimaraners tend to be smaller than their show-bred compatriots.

Males: 23.25-27.5 inches (59-70 cm) and 65-85 pounds
Females: 22.4-26 inches (57-66 cm) and 55-75 pounds

Coat of the WeimaranerMost Weimaraners have a short, silver-grey coat and cropped tail. Long-haired Weimaraners are identical to the short-haired variety except for having a long, soft topcoat, with or without an undercoat. The long hair lies flat and measures 3 to 5 cm in length. It is somewhat longer on the ears and backs of the legs, and slightly shorter on the head. The tail develops a “plume” of long hair when the dog nears maturity. The tail of the long-haired Weimaraner is usually not cropped.

Long-haired Weimaraners were known to exist for many years before they were officially accepted in 1935, but have always been less common than the short-haired variety. Even today they only represent about 30% of the breed’s population in Germany and Austria; less in other countries. Curiously, the Weimaraner Club of America is the only Weimaraner club in the world to list the long-haired coat as a disqualifying fault. But the disqualification only applies to the show ring, so long-haired Weimaraners may participate in any other event open to pointing dogs.

Another type of coat known as stockhaar is quite rare, and only occurs in dogs that carry both the short-hair and long-hair genes. It is a double coat with a medium-length, flat-lying topcoat, and thick undercoat with a slight amount of feathering sometimes seen on the backs of the legs. Mating a short-haired Weimaraner to a long-haired Weimaraner may produce a stockhaar coat, but it is not a sure bet. The same holds true for two short-haired Weimaraners that carry the recessive long-hair gene. There is only a slight chance that they could produce a stockhaar coat.

The breed’s silver-grey color has always been its most distinctive feature. But a grey coat is not unique to Weimaraners. Pups with grey coats have cropped up from time to time in other breeds. Writing in Weimaraner Heute, Dr. Werner Petri describes seeing grey pups in a litter produced by two black Middle Pinschers, and that prior to the Second World War, grey pups appeared in several litters out of solid brown German Longhaired Pointers. I’ve been told by breeders of GSPs in the Czech Republic and Slovakia that grey pups occasionally occur in their breed and are suspected of being throwbacks to a time when Weimaraners were crossed into GSP lines. A former president of the Cesky Fousek Club, Dr. Jaromir Dostal, has also confirmed that grey pups can also occur in Cesky Fousek litters.

What is unique to the Weimaraner, at least among the pointing breeds, is that breeders specifically select for the silver-grey coat color. According to the breed standard, it is silver, deer or mouse grey, as well as shades of these colors. Genetically, silver-grey is actually a shade of brown that has been altered by a recessive dilution gene. If a Weimaraner is bred to a dog of another breed with a non-diluted coat color, the resulting pups are never grey. They are usually liver or black.

While silver-grey is the only officially recognized color of the Weimaraner, another coat color can occur. The so-called blue Weimaraner has a distinctly blue-grey coat color similar to that of blue Great Danes, Dobermans, or Italian Greyhounds. The color is actually a dilution of black. Blue Weimaraners have black noses and lips, and may have black mottling on the skin inside the mouth. Physically, other than the coat, blues look just like the silver-greys. They have a small but devoted following in the US, and have recently gained some ground in the UK, France and even in Germany, where breeders not affiliated with the parent breed club are now trying to cash in on the “rare” variety.

Unfortunately, blue fanciers are like the grey fanciers—most of them do not hunt! Blues are bred, almost exclusively, as companion animals. Since a blue coat is listed as a disqualification in the show ring, they are not even bred for blue ribbons. Of course, that is not to say that there aren’t any good blues out there; there certainly are. I am aware of several breeders of blues that test their dogs with NAVHDA and have earned respectable scores. Nevertheless, for hunters and field trial enthusiasts, finding a first-rate hunting dog among the blue Weimaraner population usually presents an even greater challenge than finding one among the silver-greys. “Blues” remain a hot-button issue in Weimaraner circles but space does not permit an analysis of all the issues involved.

Weimaraner CharacterWith such a huge population and so many different lines of Weimaraners out there, it is difficult to describe a “typical” Weimaraner. There is a wide range of personalities in the breed, running the gamut from eager-to-please gundogs to hyperactive basket cases. But if we limit the discussion to dogs with a well-balanced character we can say that, in general, Weimaraners are friendly, extremely intelligent, high-energy dogs. They are not well suited to living in a kennel, and not really the kind of dog that can be left to their own devices around the house. They are often slow to mature, both physically and mentally.

Training of the WeimaranerThe breed is particularly well-known for forming a very strong attachment to its owner/handler. This can be a double-edged sword when it comes to training. The fierce loyalty and tremendous desire to please are great assets but, if not handled properly, they can sometimes lead to dogs that show very little independence. Again, it really depends on what lines they come from and how they are raised. Generally speaking, training a Weimaraner from good, proven stock is fairly straightforward.

Weimaraner and ProtectionFor over a century, Weimaraner breeders in Germany have sought to breed courageous dogs with a strong protection instinct. Weimaraners are the only pointing breed in Germany required to pass tests designed to evaluate these traits. Tanja Breu-Knaup, a leading breeder of long-haired Weimaraners in Germany, explains that the breed’s reputation of being mannscharf (literally “man-sharp”) is slowly fading:

“In the 1980s, when I first showed up to a training session with my dogs, everyone thought that they would be aggressive. But I proved to them that my dogs are NOT aggressive. Thankfully, things have changed since then.”

Instrumental in the public’s change in attitude has been the decision by the parent club to modify the testing procedure. Steve Graham, an American who has imported Weimaraners from Germany, explains:

“The man-sharpness test (Mannscharfprüfung) was replaced by the new Wesenstest in 2001. In the older test, the handler holds the dog on a lead and the judge, armed with a stick, makes threatening moves toward the handler. The dog is expected to show courage and willingness to defend its handler. In the newer test, the dog must also prove that it is not fearful or aggressive. A group of about a dozen people forms a large circle around the handler and dog. Slowly, the people move toward the center. When the circle is more or less closed, the handler must let go of the leash and exit the circle leaving the dog behind. Once outside of the circle, the handler calls the dog. The dog should then go to the handler. When this is done, the handler and dog re-enter the circle. Judges look for any hint of fear or aggression. If they detect the slightest amount of either, the dog is prohibited from breeding.”

Weimaraner Selection, Breeding, and PopulationsApproximately 550 Weimaraner pups are whelped in Germany each year, almost all of them bred by and for hunters. There are probably close to twenty-thousand Weim pups born every year in the rest of the world. Unfortunately, 90% of them are from non-hunting lines.

Field-oriented breeders in North America tend to put more emphasis on speed, range, and point than their German counterparts. Retrieving and water work are also very important for North Americans, but blood tracking and predator sharpness are generally not given much consideration. US and Canadian “field-bred” Weimaraners are often slightly smaller, faster, and may be wider ranging than their relatives from Germany. In terms of appearance, they usually lack the extreme angulation of Weimaraners from show lines.

Aline Curran, an American Weimaraner breeder with US-bred and German-bred dogs, describes the differences between them:

“My German dogs have more drive, more focus. They are bolder, more hard-headed, WAY more intelligent, and did I mention DRIVE? My American dogs from field lines have more style. They are faster and wider ranging, more eager to please, softer, more hyper, and did I mention STYLE? I find the German dogs easier to train, but harder to keep trained. They are very strong-willed and scary-smart. If you don’t stay on top of them, they will find very creative ways of getting away with murder. The Americans, on the other hand, are very eager to please, but don’t catch on as quickly. They are soft, so you can’t rush their training or you will lose the style, which is their best asset. Once they are trained, they stay trained with only gentle reminders.“

While it is reasonable to assume that over the last 100 years the Weimaraner has been bred to fairly high levels of purity, rumors persist that crosses to other breeds have occurred. Only one story can be confirmed. During the 1960s, there was a short-lived and rather divisive program in Germany where a few Weimaraners did in fact receive “outside blood”.

According to a former president of the Weimaraner club, Dr. Werner Petri, a small group of breeders crossed English Pointers and Weimaraners in the early ’60s in an effort to establish a new breed called the Deutsch Halbblut. But the program never really got off the ground, and no dogs from it ever entered established Weimaraner lines.

Several years later, a member of the German Weimaraner club bred one of his Weimaraners to a well-known Pointer bitch. He then bred the offspring to each other. All this was done without the knowledge or permission of the club. When word finally reached the board of directors, they decided, reluctantly, to allow the program to continue under the guise of research into the phenomenon of hybrid vigor. If the offspring were capable of passing all the required tests, then further steps would be taken to blend the crossbred dogs into established Weimaraner lines. In the end, the experiment was declared a failure. The Pointer bitch threw pups with extremely bad bites. That was enough justification for the breed warden to terminate the program. When I asked club members in Germany about those years, one of them said, “That is a chapter in the history of the Weimaraner that is now closed, thank goodness!”

Elsewhere, rumors of crossbreeding continue to make the rounds. In the US, claims and denials of crosses to Pointers and German Shorthaired Pointers have been around for years. In France, knowing winks are exchanged in some circles. The French are rumored to have crossed everything from Pointers to GSPs to Salukis into some lines. However, nothing in either country has ever been proven or publicly declared. What we do know is that in both the US and in France there are still very few Weimaraners capable of winning all-breed field trials. If crosses have been made, they have not had a huge effect overall. Perhaps they were done so long ago that they don’t really matter anymore, or they were not done widely or often enough to change the breed to the same degree that the GSP or Vizsla have been changed.

Health Issues with the WeimaranerIn addition to the health issues faced by other breeds, the Weimaraner seems to be at a somewhat higher risk for autoimmune reactions to certain vaccination protocols. As a precautionary measure, the Weimaraner Club of America recommends that Weimaraner pups receive parvo and distemper shots separately, about two weeks apart. Weimaraners are also reported to be at a higher than average risk for a severe form of hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD), an inflammatory condition of the bones and other organs that can be fatal. Other issues of concern are bloat (gastric torsion) and von Willebrand’s disease.

Theories of Weimaraner OriginsWhile researching the history of the breed for the book, I looked at several of the most common theories and found gaping holes in most of them. The Grey Dogs of King Louis Theory, for example, suggests that Weims descend from dogs known as Chiens Gris (grey dogs) brought back from the orient by King Louis of France hundreds of years ago.

Chien Gris de Saint LouisWhat supporters of this theory conveniently overlook is that the word gris does not refer to the dilute brown shade that gives the Weimaraner its unique color. In the modern standards for the Griffon, Picardy Spaniel, and other breeds, the term gris (and “grey” in the English translation) is used to describe the tight mix of white and brown hairs in their coat. What’s more, the best of King Louis’ dogs were actually said to be tri-colored with gris (brown and white) and/or black along the back and red markings on the legs.

The other commonly held theory is that the breed was created by Grand Duke Charles August of Weimar. However, there is exactly ZERO evidence to support this theory. Personally, I don’t think the Grand Duke had anything to do with the breed at all and I would challenge anyone to provide evidence to support this position. So far no one has taken up the challenge.

After digging as deep as I could into the history of the breed, I came to the conclusion that the theory that makes the most sense is the GSP Theory. It is one of the more controversial theories and was first proposed around 1900 by several authorities. They claimed that the Weimaraner was either a grey version of the German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) or that it was created in much the same way as the GSP: by crossing heavy, old-style German dogs with English Pointers.

Karl Brandt, a founding member of the Weimaraner club, supported this theory, as did Dr. A. Stoese, who wrote in 1902 that the Weimaraner descended from a yellow and white smooth-haired English Pointer bitch imported into Germany in the 1820s. Unlike the other theories, the GSP theory is actually supported by some fairly good circumstantial evidence. Several eyewitnesses attest to the fact that the Weimaraner was quickly transformed from a large, lumbering, tracking hound into a sleek pointing dog.

“In my younger years, I saw look like a German bloodhound with hanging lips and watering eyes, but now it has arrived at the form of the German Shorthair and so it has certainly changed for the better.” (Carl Linke quoted by William Denlinger, The Complete Weimaraner, 36)

In the end, it is fair to say that we will never know just how the Weimaraner came to be. But the fact that so much ink was spilled trying to come up with a plausible backstory is very revealing. It shows that breed supporters knew they had to convince the dog establishment that the Weimaraner was not just another recent creation or simply a grey version of the GSP. They had seen how a breed known as the Württemberger was eliminated as an unwanted color variety of the GSP and feared the same thing would happen to the Weimaraner. So they published all kinds of stories about the breed’s supposed noble past and its connections to royal dogs from France.

Major Herber and the German Shorthaired Pointer Stud BookBreed supporters went on and on about how pure the Weimaraner was and even presented pseudo-scientific “studies” based on crackpot theories of Germanic head shapes and other nonsense. Surprisingly, it worked! After nearly 20 years, the Delegate Commission recognized the Weimaraner as a separate and independent breed. Nevertheless, from 1897 to 1922, Weimaraners did not have their own registry, but were listed in the German Shorthaired Pointer’s stud book. Dr. Werner Petri wrote about the system then in place:

“In the early years, pups were not registered; and only dogs that had previously been shown at exhibitions or tested and evaluated. This was certainly necessary at the time since dogs had to be examined first to establish their “breed purity”, at least when it came to appearance. In the first few years the numbers of Weimaraners entered was from five to 19. In 1900, 62 dogs were registered, obviously en masse, since dogs with birth dates back to 1891 were included. In subsequent years, the entries were sparse, but then, in 1904, a record high of 121 were made. Here again many older dogs born in 1894 are found. Then, the registration numbers fall off strongly once more. From 1907 to 1913 there are no Weimaraners found in the stud book. In total, during the first ten volumes of the Deutsch Kurzhaar stud book, 265 Weimaraners were registered.“

Dr. Petri goes on to explain that the increasing pressure to eliminate the grey coat color from the German Shorthaired Pointer led to some Weimaraners being refused entry into the stud book. As a result, many Weimaraner breeders stopped registering their dogs. This led to a decline in the number of dogs listed and to a decline in the overall population of the breed.

“…it may be assumed that in these years the Weimaraner as a breed was nearing extinction. That was the fate of the Württemberg breed which, by being registered in the German Shorthaired Pointer stud book, went extinct or was absorbed into the German Shorthaired Pointer.“

In the early days, the Weimaraner struggled for survival, coming close to extinction several times. But by the mid-1920s the situation had improved, largely due to the efforts of Major Herber, who first hunted with Weimaraners in 1915 and wrote extensively about them for many years afterwards. He was elected club president in 1922 and ultimately became known as the father of the Weimaraner for his untiring efforts to promote the breed.

The Second World War and Weimaraner in the United StatesThe interest generated by Major Herber and others eventually reached across the Atlantic to America, where New England sportsman Howard Knight first heard about the breed in the 1920s. In 1929, Knight became the first non-German to be accepted into the Weimaraner club. He even managed to convince its German members to sell him breeding stock, thus becoming the first person to import Weimaraners to the US. By 1941, he was the president of the newly formed Weimaraner Club of America. Meanwhile, in Germany, Weimaraner breeders suffered the terrible effects of the Second World War. Prior to the conflict, an average of 100 Weimaraner pups were whelped in Germany annually. By 1945, that number had fallen to an all-time low. Club records indicate that in the final year of the war, only ten pups were whelped.

After the war, the few Weimaraner breeders that survived found a willing market for their pups among the hundreds of thousands of foreign servicemen and women occupying their country. Thus, a steady stream of exports began in 1948 and continued throughout much of the 1950s. Eventually, alarmed by the declining quality of the breed and the exodus of good stock to the US and elsewhere, the German club passed a resolution forbidding its members from selling more than half a litter for export. These new regulations, along with a reestablished testing system, soon helped to stabilize the situation in Germany. However, the breed continued to grow rapidly outside the country. The demand for Weimaraners proved to be strongest in the US, thanks mainly to the efforts of publicist Jack Denton Scott, hired by the Weimaraner Club of America to stimulate the market for the “Grey Ghost”.

From Hunting Dog to Sesame StreetJames Spencer, in his excellent book POINT! Training the All Seasons Birddog wrote that:

“Mr. Scott and his numerous imitators created the ‘Wonder Dog’ myth, which first lifted the breed to great heights of popularity and then plunged it almost into oblivion in America. Soon after WWII, fast-buck breeders were crawling out of their holes everywhere to hawk Weimaraners. Many made fortunes from the breed. But, of course, the dogs couldn’t perform up to their Wonder Dog billing. What breed could? Gullible Americans realized they had been had. Demand (and prices) fell to near zero. The party was over. The breed was in shambles. To the few serious Weimaraner fanciers, it must have looked like the party site on the morning after a world-class New Year’s Eve bash. First, they had to get the drunks (fast-buck operators) up and out. …Then they had to clean up the mess these ‘guests’ had left.“

The few serious fanciers managed to clean up some of the mess of the early days and by the 1960s some of the damage had been repaired. For hunters, however, the recovery was not without a price. By the 1970s, the Weimaraner was quickly becoming yet another breed of gundog transformed from hunter of game to hunter of blue ribbons. If it were not for a small, dedicated group of field trialers and hunters, Weimaraners could have faded completely from the field, forest, and waters of North America.

Then, in the 1990s, the breed was dealt another blow as a new generation of fast-buck operators rediscovered the lucrative market for grey dogs. And once again it was largely due to one man—this time, a photographer named William Wegman—that the breed captured the imagination of the general public. But instead of touting it as a wonder dog for hunters, Wegman’s work portrays Weimaraners as cute dress-up dolls and even part of Sesame Street. The artist made a fortune flogging all manner of kitsch featuring photos of his Weimaraners dressed in humiliating costumes, and the market for the Grey Ghost became red-hot again as tens of thousands of Weimaraner pups were bred and sold. Inevitably, many were dumped into rescue shelters (or worse) as new owners realized that a rapidly growing adolescent Weimaraner is anything but a cuddly dress-up doll.

For Wegman and the eager breeders riding his coattails, it was a gold rush. For the Grey Ghost, it was yet another disaster.

The Weimaraner’s Current StateFirst, the bad news: most Weimaraner breeders do not hunt. Most Weimaraner breeders do not participate in field trials or prove their dogs’ ability in hunt tests. Most Weimaraner breeders focus their efforts on servicing a massive and growing market of non-hunters seeking sleek grey dogs for companionship or showmanship. As a result, for every decent, hard-hunting Weimaraner in the world today, there are at least 100 others that range from mediocre to completely useless in the field.

As a lover of the breed, it pains me to admit such things and I expect to receive some hate mail for doing so, but I would be less than honest if I did not point out the fact that most Weimaraners being bred today are not really hunting dogs. They may be great pets, beautiful blue ribbon champions, and loving members of the family, but the hunting heritage of most lines has been neglected for so many generations that dogs from them no longer have enough natural ability to do a decent day’s work in the field.

Now, the good news: A great hunting Weimaraner is not that hard to find! The comparatively small number of breeders that continue to hunt and test or trial their Weims produce dogs that can hold their own against any other breed of Continental pointing dog in the world. Ninety-nine percent of the Weimaraners born in Germany, for example, are from proven, tested stock.

Outside of Germany, the largest group of field-oriented breeders is in the US where dedicated individuals have made tremendous progress in the last 30 years. They produce top-notch hunting dogs, even a few that are competitive in all-breed field trials. There has also been a significant increase in the number of Weimaraners being tested in NAVHDA and, while only a few of them have earned the title of Versatile Champion, that number will surely increase as a new generation of NAVHDA-oriented breeders develops more lines based on fully tested dogs. Other areas showing progress in producing good hunting stock are France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

Weimaraner Tests and TrialsThe Weimaraner club of Germany follows a testing and breeding program similar to other JGHV-affiliated clubs. It sanctions VJP, HZP and VGP events, as well as various tracking tests. In Germany, Weimaraners must pass at least the first two levels of tests (VJP, HZP), as well as a coat, conformation and character examination, in order to be certified for breeding. The Austrian and the Czech clubs run similar tests, although they use a slightly different scoring system.

In the US, there is a fairly active AKC field trial scene for the breed. The Weimaraner Club of America and its affiliates organize 20 to 30 trials every year, including a National Championship held near Ardmore, Oklahoma. Several kennels have been very successful in the field trial arena and have done an outstanding job of keeping the hunt in their lines, while working toward developing class bird dogs for all-breed competition. The WCA also holds field-oriented ratings tests. Dogs can earn titles for upland bird work and/or retrieving. There is a small but growing number of Weimaraners participating in the NAVHDA testing system, with several kennels now using it to select their breeding stock.

Austrian Weimaraner club 1946In the UK, France, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Weimaraners can occasionally be seen in field trials and hunt tests. Like their American counterparts, European Weimaraner enthusiasts outside of Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic tend to place more emphasis on the breed’s upland bird hunting abilities than on big game hunting or blood trailing.

Function of the WeimaranerField Search I have seen Weimaraners that were ultra- close workers, hunting at a fairly methodical pace. I have also seen one or two that ran for the horizon like bats out of hell. However, most Weimaraners have a close to medium range and hunt at a medium gallop. Judy Balog, a leading American Weimaraner breeder, says, “Good Weims can search a field as well as any other versatile breed. But even the widest-ranging Weimaraners are not run-offs. They keep a sharp eye on their owners and willingly hunt for the gun while handling kindly.”

PointingThe pointing instinct can be slow to develop in some Weimaraners. Once they mature, however, they are generally strong pointers. Those selected for field trials in the US and Europe tend to have a very strong pointing instinct that develops earlier. Americans, in particular, place more emphasis on style of point, and look for dogs that display a higher head and tail. Like most other Continental breeds, natural backing is occasionally seen, but it is not particularly common.

RetrievingMost Weimaraners are natural-born retrievers that show a strong desire to fetch anything and everything at a very early age. The retrieving instinct may, in fact, be one of the most deeply seated traits of the breed. Even in lines where the run and point have almost been completely bred out, the desire to retrieve often remains quite strong.

TrackingPerhaps because of its Leithund heritage, the Weimaraner has always been known for a “deep nose”. In Germany, a lot of emphasis is placed on selecting and testing for tracking ability. A lower head is greatly valued. So is giving voice on track, a behavior called spurlaut. In America, many breeders prefer a higher head, but do not ignore tracking ability completely as it is an important aspect of upland game hunting and NAVHDA testing. However, there is very little emphasis placed on big game tracking among Weimaraner fanciers outside of Germany and Eastern Europe. Nor is there any attempt to select for traits such as spurlaut.

Water WorkWeimaraners can be excellent water workers. Some may need more encouragement than others when first being introduced to water, but once they have learned to swim, they can be top-notch performers. The short-haired version of the breed may not be the best choice for the late-season waterfowler. Even the long-haired variety, which is better able to work in cooler temperatures, may not be well suited to breaking ice in deep waters.

Judy Balog says, “The young Weim may need a little more early encouragement, but once they mature I think they’re hard to beat and most make top-notch water retrievers.”

Craig’s Take on the WeimaranerThe Weimaraner is not the only breed dominated by non-hunting breeders and owners. And, to be fair, some Weimaraner breeders do select for “dual” dogs capable of winning in the field and the show ring. But the fact remains: the majority of Weimaraners in the world today are not bred to hunt. Anyone seeking one as a hunting partner needs to keep this in mind. If you deal only with breeders who actually hunt and/or prove their dogs in tests and trials, you stand a very good chance of getting a great Weim.

If you don’t, then all bets are off.

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The American wigeon (Mareca Americana/Anas americana) is a subtly beautiful member of the dabbling duck family. The American wigeon is equally at home foraging on land as it is rafting around in deep water with traditional diving duck species, but it can also occur anywhere in between the two. Here’s some more information you might find helpful on this interesting duck species.

Description and Life History of the American WigeonThe American wigeon is smaller than a mallard, measuring roughly 16 to 23 inches long and weighing about 1 to almost 3 pounds (All About Birds 2019; NatureServe 2019). Breeding drakes have a dappled, brownish head with a bold creamy-white cap extending from their bill to the top of their head, and an iridescent green stripe behind the eye (All About Birds 2019). Their bodies and outer wings are light brown or cinnamon colored, their bellies are creamy white to yellowish, and they have a white rump with black tail feathers. In flight, their wings expose the green secondary feathers and white upper wing patch (All About Birds 2019). Hens and most non-breeding drakes have light brown/tan/reddish body feathers, with a dappled brown head and darker patch around their eyes (All About Birds 2019). Both sexes have short, light grayish-blue bills with black tips. Their legs and feet are generally gray.

American wigeon pairs form during the winter. Males display for females by showing their white wing patches and bobbing their heads. They generally arrive at northern breeding grounds in April or May and begin nesting later than many other dabbling ducks (NatureServe 2019; National Audubon Society 2019). Hens mostly choose nest sites on dry ground within one-half mile of water sources, hiding the nest among tall vegetation. They also line it with grass stems, reeds, cattails, weeds, and downy feathers (All About Birds 2019). The hen typically lays 6 to 12 cream/white eggs and incubates them alone for 22 to 28 days (All About Birds 2019; NatureServe 2019). The male usually leaves during the incubation period and molts his feathers. After hatching, the hen tends the ducklings alone until they are capable of flight and become independent at about 6 to 7 weeks.

The American wigeon feeds on both land and water and is very efficient either way. On deeper water, mostly while at their wintering grounds, they tend to associate with diving ducks and the American coot. They are very skilled at stealing plant materials foraged by these ducks as they aren’t very capable of diving themselves (NatureServe 2019; National Audubon Society 2019). During their brood rearing and molting phases, they feed on plant material and seeds (e.g., wigeon grass, wild celery, pond weeds, cattails, sedges, duckweed, watermilfoil, etc.) and agricultural crops (e.g., rice, wheat, barley, etc.) (National Audubon Society 2019; NatureServe 2019; All About Birds 2019). They will duck their heads underwater for some of these plants, but they will also happily graze on land. They will also eat insects and aquatic animals, including midges, flies, crickets, beetles, snails, and crustaceans.

When it comes to predators, the usual cast of characters are present. Foxes, raccoons, skunks, hawks, and crows steal eggs, catch ducklings, or nab an occasional adult bird whenever they can. But the American wigeon hen is savvy – if she locates an approaching predator, she will silently fly off and perform a distraction display to lure the predator away from her eggs or brood.

Range and Habitat of the American WigeonThe American wigeon has a large winter range, extending along most of the Pacific Coast (from Alaska to southern Mexico), throughout the Gulf Coast states, and up the Atlantic Coast to New England (National Audubon Society 2019). During the summer breeding season, it migrates through much of the Eastern and Midwest states to arrive in the Plains states and throughout most of Canada. They will stay in these areas to breed, raise broods, and molt their feathers until it is time to return to their wintering grounds in the fall.

As mentioned above, the American wigeon is at home on land, in shallow water, or floating in deeper water. During the winter, they will raft up on deep lakes or coastal estuaries with other duck species. However, they spend most of the summer breeding season in shallow marshes, wetlands, lakes, bays, and flooded fields (National Audubon Society 2019; NatureServe 2019). Much like the northern pintail or blue-winged teal, hens typically nest on dry ground within fields and grasslands adjacent to water sources.

Conservation Issues for the American WigeonThe American wigeon is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2019). The global breeding population is estimated at about 1.4 million birds, but their population has decreased by about 2 percent each year between 1966 and 2015 (All About Birds 2019). The conversion and loss of wetlands and grasslands due to agriculture and other development has decreased the amount of total habitat available for this species, like many others. Additionally, droughts during the summer breeding season can also shrink the remaining habitat and food supplies, which definitely affects waterfowl production in a given year. Hunters were permitted to shoot 647,835 American wigeon annually from 2012 to 2016, but these numbers are watched carefully to avoid over-harvest (All About Birds 2019).

Hunting Opportunities for the American WigeonAlthough the American wigeon tends to spend its summers throughout Canada and the Plains states, you will probably still have a chance to hunt them as they migrate through your state in the fall. That being said, they are common migrants within the Pacific and Central flyways.

Equipment and Bag LimitsDuck hunting gear can get as complicated as you want it to, but you don’t need all that much specifically for wigeon hunting. If you already duck hunt, it’s likely you have everything you need. Essentially, you will need a reliable shotgun (12-gauge is generally the sweet spot for most ducks), wetland or grassland-appropriate camouflage clothing, a blind of some sort, and some decoys. As with other duck hunts, the American wigeon is a migratory waterfowl species, so you will need a federal duck stamp to hunt them in addition to your hunting license. As always, you will also need to use non-toxic shot. The current daily bag limit for the American wigeon is six birds.

American Wigeon Hunting TechniquesIf you live in an area without a lot of wigeon, it will probably help to do some scouting and find locations that might attract or support migrating flocks beforehand. Flooded fields and pastures adjacent to water-bodies can be very attractive to this duck species, and are definitely worth checking. In these areas, you can get by using strictly American wigeon decoys or as part of a mixed dabbling duck decoy spread. But adding a few diving duck decoys or American coot decoys (if you have them) may help entice a small flock to land – remember, they like to steal food from these species over the winter. Keep this trick in mind if you’re noticing wigeon but they just aren’t committing to your spread.

As for calling, you can use a wigeon whistle to get the attention of flocks passing by. They may respond to your other mixed duck calls as well, but the whistle seems to really call them in. It’s fairly likely that wigeon will come in as part of a total mixed bag hunt, so make sure you study the proper identification beforehand. If you’re fortunate enough, you may end up getting a few wigeon within range to liven up your next hunt.

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Osceolas are native to the Florida peninsula and offer unique hunting opportunitiesIn 1804, the son of a Creek woman and a white man was born in Talisi (now Tallassee, Alabama). This multiracial child was born with the name Billy Powell, but little did he know he would grow up to be the famous Seminole Chief Osceola, the namesake of Florida’s native wild turkey subspecies.

Chief Osceola grew up as a typical Creek kid would due to his mother Polly’s matrilineal kinship system. “In 1814, after the Red Stick Creek were defeated by United States forces, Polly took Osceola and moved with other Creek refugees from Alabama to Florida, where they joined the Seminole,” according to the Native Heritage Project. “In adulthood, as part of the Seminole, Powell was given his name Osceola.” The name “Osceola” is an anglicized version of the Creek words for both a ceremonial black drink made from yaupon holly and the word for “shouter”: “Asi-yahola.”

Drawing from the book Osceola Chief of the Seminoles (1899)“Though he was never a Tribal leader, his skill and charisma quickly made him the most famous Seminole outside the Tribe,” says the Seminole Tribe of Florida. He would go on to be a leader for the Seminoles and, after years of war, battles, imprisonments, and other struggles, died of quinsy on January 30, 1838, three months after he was captured by General Thomas Jesup. Fast forward to 1890, and ornithologist W. E. B. Scott named the Floridian subspecies of wild turkey after the famous leader.

Known for their difficulty to hunt and long spurs, the Osceola wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo osceola), also known as the Florida turkey, is one of five subspecies of wild turkey. Osceolas only occur on the Florida peninsula. Since Osceolas have such a limited geographic range, they are a challenging yet popular game bird for many hunters to pursue.

Osceola Wild Turkey Physical DescriptionThe Osceola wild turkey subspecies is smaller and darker than the highly familiar eastern subspecies. On average, males usually weigh between 15 to 20 pounds, and females weigh eight to 12 pounds. Males have iridescent green and red hues on their feathers; they are not as bronze as the eastern subspecies. Females have a dull feather finish. They can also be distinguished from the eastern wild turkey by their dark brown tail feather tips and wing bars and primary feathers consisting of more black than white. The Osceola turkey typically has a shorter beard than the eastern wild turkey but has very long spurs. The caruncles (wattles) on gobbler heads are red-colored throughout the year but may also contain intense shades of blue and white during the breeding season. Females usually have bluish-gray heads and typically do not have a beard, although bearded hens are not unheard of.

Osceola Wild Turkey Life HistoryThe Osceola breeding season runs from January to May in southern Florida. Males start gobbling and strutting for females at the beginning of the breeding season. The Osceola is known to be a loud gobbler. Osceolas may interbreed with eastern turkeys where their ranges overlap. Hens scratch a depression into the ground to build their nest in March or April and lay nine to 11 eggs. After 25 to 26 days of incubation, the poults hatch and immediately follow the hen. After two weeks of feeding themselves and building their flight muscles, they can roost safely off the ground.

Poults transition to their adult diet of seeds, fruits, leaves, acorns, insects, and small reptiles as the summer turns into fall. Though turkeys spend their day foraging on the ground for these foods, they usually fly up into open-limbed mature trees to roost for the night. This keeps them safe from ground predators, which include bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and snakes.

Osceola Wild Turkey HabitatAs mentioned, the Osceola turkey has one of the most limited ranges of all the turkey subspecies, occurring only on the Florida peninsula. The eastern turkey overlaps some of this range on the Florida panhandle and the Florida-Georgia line.

Generally, turkeys require a few different habitat types throughout the changing seasons to thrive. Nesting cover consists of vegetation about three feet in height. In Florida, this includes saw palmetto, old fields, pastures, and under fallen trees. These areas provide cover for the hen as she incubates her eggs. After the poults have hatched, hens seek out shorter vegetation like grassy openings and short hayfields with ample insects for forage and where the hen can spot approaching predators. Preferred roost trees for adults include cypress or pine trees with open limbs near water sources. Fall and winter habitat includes hardwood hammocks, bottomland hardwoods, wooded swamps, cypress woods, and mixed pine-hardwood habitats.

Osceola Wild Turkey ConservationEstimates place the Osceola turkey population at approximately 100,000 individuals in Florida. However, it is difficult to get an accurate estimate due to the secretive nature of the species and the dense vegetation where they reside. During the initial decline of the turkey in our country, Florida’s inaccessible swamplands provided refuge for the species while many other states struggled to keep turkey populations viable. However, the Osceola was nevertheless eliminated from portions of the Everglades in the 1900s due to extensive timber harvests and hunting pressure, according to the National Park Service (NPS).

“Wild Turkey and six other upland species disappeared shortly after a dramatic reduction in the area of the Atlantic rock ridge pinelands and extensive logging in the region,” said NPS. “Hunting almost certainly contributed to the turkey’s disappearance because of its establishment as a popular game bird.”

Floridians tried to restore the wild turkey population in the state’s southern end in both the 1940s and 70s. “A cooperative effort to restore the Wild Turkey to Everglades National Park was organized in the fall of 1999 because in addition to hunting now being illegal, a natural fire regime was being restored, and the forests had recovered from logging,” said NPS. In January 2000, 29 turkeys (22 females and seven males) were captured in central southern Florida and released in the Everglades.

Since then, efforts to reintroduce the Osceola into the National Park have had mixed results. Seventy percent of the 29 turkeys died within a year of the release, and the remaining population was very male-heavy. In 2006, 31 more turkeys were released in the park, and while that effort was more successful than the 2000 turkey release, the population is still declining within the Everglades. “Long-term success of the reintroduction will ultimately be determined by the development of a viable self-sustaining population,” said NPS.

In 1985, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Wild Turkey Stamp Act, which required all turkey hunters to buy a permit or license. Revenues helped support wild turkey research and conservation efforts. In Florida, brood considerations and the availability of roosting trees can often be the most limiting factors in determining habitat, though increased urbanization is also responsible for habitat destruction. Given their limited range, unique coloration, and small population size, unregulated hunting pressure could quickly affect the persistence of the subspecies.

Hunting Osceola Wild TurkeysFortunately, Florida manages hunting pressure on these turkeys well. Florida has spring (March to April) and fall (zone-dependent season dates) turkey seasons. There is a two-turkey daily bag and season limit on gobblers and bearded turkeys for both spring and fall seasons. The exception is in Holmes County, where the daily bag and season limit is one gobbler or bearded turkey in spring. Always check the most recent Florida hunting regulations for updated rules.

While you can apply for special hunts and limited entry/quota hunts, there are also many public hunting areas where you can pursue turkeys with only an over-the-counter license. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission maintains a list of wildlife management areas where you can find the Osceola subspecies, as well as information to help you get started.

After a successful turkey hunt, hunters must report their harvest to the Florida Wildlife Commission within 24 hours and prior to the final processing of the turkey. It must also be reported before “any parts of it transferred to another party including meat processors and taxidermists, or the wild turkey the state,” according to Florida’s e-regulations. Turkey harvests can be reported online, via phone, or through the Fish/Hunt Florida app. Additionally, before a wild turkey is dismembered and divided between individuals at a hunting camp, each part of the turkey must be labeled with the name, address, FWC customer number, date of harvest, and harvest location.

Spring 2024 Florida Osceola Turkey Hunting Seasons(Last updated May 4, 2023)

| State | Method | Season | Daily/SeasonLimit | | Florida | General: North of State Road 70 outside of WMA system | March 16 – April 21, 2024 | 2 bearded | | General: South of State Road 70 outside of WMA system | March 2 – April 7, 2024 | | Youth: North of State Road 70* | March 9-10, 2024 | | Youth: South of State Road 70 | Feb. 24-25, 2024 |

Holmes County’s daily bag and season limit are 1 bearded turkey. Youth hunts are for hunters 15 years old or younger. Information was retrieved from the Florida Wildlife Commission website.Fall 2023 Florida Osceola Turkey Hunting Seasons(Last updated May 12, 2023)*

| State | Zone | Method | Season Dates | | Florida | Zone A | Archery | July 30 – Aug. 28, 2023 | | Zone A | Crossbow | July 30 – Sept. 2, 2023 | | Zone A | Muzzleloader | Sept. 3–16, 2023 | | Zone A | Shotgun | Oct. 3–16, 2023 &Nov. 19, 2023 – Jan. 1, 2024 | | Zone B | Archery | Oct. 15 – Nov. 13, 2023 | | Zone B | Crossbow | Oct. 15 – Nov. 18, 2023 | | Zone B | Muzzleloader | Nov. 19 – Dec. 2, 2023 | | Zone B | Shotgun | Dec. 3, 2023 – Jan. 29, 2024 | | Zone C | Archery | Sept. 17 – Oct. 16, 2023 | | Zone C | Crossbow | Sept. 17 – Oct. 21, 2023 | | Zone C | Muzzleloader | Oct. 22 – Nov. 4, 2023 | | Zone C | Shotgun | Nov. 5, 2023 – Jan. 1, 2024 | | Zone D | Archery | Oct. 22 – Nov. 23, 2023 | | Zone D | Crossbow | Oct. 22 – Nov. 23 & Nov. 28 – Dec. 2, 2023 | | Zone D | Muzzleloader | Dec. 3–9, 2023 | | Zone D | Shotgun | Nov. 24–27, 2023 & Dec. 10, 2023 – Jan. 15, 2024 |

*Information retrieved from Florida’s 2023 e-regulations. Daily bag limit is two turkeys. The possession limit is two turkeys for all seasons combined.The post Osceola Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo osceola) – A Wild Turkey Profile appeared first on Project Upland.

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Ontario offers vast wilderness and ample upland hunting opportunities from various grouse species to pheasantOntario is over 415,000 square miles. That’s almost 150,000 square miles more than the state of Texas. It takes over 24 hours to make it across Ontario, and over 44 hours to make it all the way to the northern border. Best of all, 87 percent of the province’s vast wilderness is “Crown Land,” or Canadian public lands, which are open to both resident and non-resident hunters.

Since most of the province’s populations reside within a few hours of the US border, it leaves massive swaths of natural, largely untouched wilderness. Within those large borders, Ontario comprises a wide range of topography and unique environmental biomes, everything from rolling pastoral pastures in the south to dense boreal forests and even arctic tundra in the north. Each biome contains its own unique upland species and hunting opportunities.

Ontario isn’t just known for its trophy white tail, black bear and moose. It’s also an upland hunter’s paradise. Ontario is home to almost species a hunter could dream of, including grouse (sharp-tailed, ruffed, and spruce), woodcock, turkey, dove, huns, and the famous Pelee Island pheasant hunt.

Ontario Upland Bird Hunting Seasons

| Species | Wildlife Management Unit | Season | Daily / Possession Limit* | | Ruffed Grouse | 1–4, 16–18, 24–27 | Sep 15 – Mar 31, 2024 | 5/15 (combined with Spruce Grouse) | | 5–15, 19–23, 28–50, 53–67, 69B | Sep 15 – Dec 31, 2023 | 5/15 (combined with Spruce Grouse) | | 68, 73–76, 82–84 | Sep 25 – Dec 31, 2023 | 5/15 | | 69A, 70–72, 77–81, 85–95 | Sep 25 – Dec 31, 2023 | 2/6 | | Spruce Grouse | 1–4, 16–18, 24–27 | Sep 15 – Mar 31, 2024 | 5/15 (combined with Ruffed Grouse) | | 5–15, 19–23, 28–50, 53–67, 69B | Sep 15 – Dec 31, 2023 | 5/15 (combined with Ruffed Grouse) | | Sharp-tailed Grouse | 1–4, 16–18, 24–27 | Sep 15 – Mar 31, 2024 | 5/15 | | 5–15, 19–23, 28–35, 38–41 | Sep 15 – Dec 31, 2023 | 5/15 | | 36, 37, 42–50, 53–67, 69B | Sep 15 – Dec 31, 2023 | 2/6 | | Ptarmigan | 1–4, 16–18, 24–27 | Sep 15 – Mar 31, 2024 | 5/15 | | Gray (Hungarian) Partridge | 36, 37, 42–50, 53–67, 69B | Sep 15 – Dec 31, 2023 | 5/15 | | 68, 69A, 70–95 | Sep 25 – Dec 31, 2023 | 5/15 | | Ring-necked Pheasant | 1–4, 16–18, 24–27 | Sep 15 – Mar 31, 2024 | 10/10 | | 5–15, 19–23, 28–50, 53–67, 69B | Sep 15 – Dec 31, 2023 | 10/10 | | 68, 69A, 70–94 | Sep 25 – Dec 31, 2023 | 3/10 | | 95 | Sep 25 – Feb 28, 2024 | 10/10 |

These season dates were last updated on January 4th, 2023 and may not reflect any changes since that date. For the most up-to-date information, click here.
Ruffed & Spruce Grouse*Ruffed grouse, arguably the most prized and sought after game bird in the province, has an extensive range throughout Ontario. In fact, 80 percent of the world’s ruffed grouse population is found within Canada, and a large percentage of that is found in Ontario. Ontario hunters shoot over one million ruffed grouse each year, which is almost double that of the idyllic grouse state of Minnesota. Their wide range creates birds with unique personalities from timid and easy to flush in the southern regions, to curious and seemingly unafraid birds to the remote north.

Ruffed grouse are found in higher concentrations in areas where successional forestry is taking place. They’re also found where new aspen, birch, or other forests and vegetation are regrowing due to sustainable logging or forest fires. A popular species to hunt in Ontario, many hunters choose to either hunt by walking logging trails, using dogs, or road hunting. For more information on grouse hunting tactics, check out A Full Guide to Ruffed Grouse Hunting.

Spruce grouse, sometimes referred to as a Canadian grouse due to their extensive range within the country, are found in the central to northern ranges of Ontario. They prefer to live in dense, coniferous woods. Their native range tends to overlap with the ruffed grouse, which can provide for even more shooting opportunities in the many areas of the province. Spruce grouse are much more likely to be found perched on tree branches and moving from tree to tree than down on the ground like its cousin, the ruffed grouse. It goes by the nickname “fools hen” because they often choose to freeze and remain still instead of running or flushing.

Sharp-Tailed GrouseSharp-tailed grouse tend to be more elusive and harder to find in Ontario. This is mostly due to their preference for the remote northern regions of the province and Manitoulin Island to the west. Two subspecies of Sharp-tailed grouse live in Ontario: the northern sharp-tailed grouse and the prairie sharp-tailed grouse, the former being more prevalent. The sharptails in Ontario share some of their home range with ruffed and spruce grouse, adding another reason to travel to the northern regions of the province. Interestingly, northern Ontario populations of sharp-tailed grouse tend to live in swampy, brushy habitat in the boreal forests, and they are darker in appearance than birds found in more southern, open-prairie populations.

Ptarmigan (Rock and Willow)Ontario is home to two species of ptarmigan: the rock and willow varieties. Finding one of the province’s most elusive game birds will require a long trip to the far northern end of Ontario near the James and Hudson Bay region. Willow ptarmigan are present in huntable populations, and the rock ptarmigan can only be found sporadically during the cold winter months. Not many roads or infrastructure exists where ptarmigan are found, so a fly-in trip may be required. Ptarmigan can sometimes be found farther south during cold winter seasons, but not in high enough concentrations to warrant pursuing.

Hungarian Partridge (Huns)Huns were introduced to Ontario in the late 1800s and experienced a population peak in the 1960s. Unfortunately, Hun population levels have been in steady decline since then. Remaining populations are found in southwestern and eastern Ontario; northern populations have not been seen in years. Due to the fragility of the species in Ontario, the limited numbers that remain are often found on private land with highly protective owners. With high bag limits and challenging birds, it’s still an option for a dedicated hunter looking for a hard-to-hunt Ontario game bird.

Migratory Upland Game Bird SeasonManaging migratory game birds’ hunting seasons is the responsibility of the federal government of Canada. Hunters are required to have a federal Migratory Game Bird Hunting Permit, Wildlife Habitat Conservation Stamp, and an Ontario small game license to hunt migratory game birds in any provinces or territories. Wildlife Habitat Conservation Stamps and Migratory Bird Permits are available for purchase at most post offices or online.

| Species | Wildlife District | Season | Daily / Possession Limit* | | Woodcock | Hudson James Bay | Sep 15 – Dec 16, 2023 | 8/24 | | North | Sep 15 – Dec 16, 2023 | 8/24 | | Central | Sep 15 – Dec 20, 2023 (WMU 60-67, 69B) | 8/24 | | South | Sep 25 – Dec 20, 2023 (WMU 68, 69A, 70-95) | 8/24 | | Dove | Hudson James Bay | No Season | | North | No Season | | Central | Sep 1 – Nov 30, 2023 | 15/45 | | South | Sep 1 – Nov 30, 2023 | 15/45 |

Migratory Upland Game: Doves and American WoodcockAmerican Woodcock range throughout most of the central and southern parts of Ontario with both resident and migratory birds. Woodcock are often found on the edges of wet areas with new plant growth; places that ruffed grouse also enjoy. Despite being a migratory bird and requiring the related permits, non-toxic shot is not necessary when hunting woodcock in Ontario.

One of the newest huntable species in the province and one of the least targeted, the mourning dove is a migratory bird which requires all related permits in addition to non-toxic shot. Doves frequent agrarian areas found throughout the province, but are only huntable in the central and southern regions of Ontario.

Eastern Turkey Hunting in OntarioThe eastern turkey almost went extinct in Ontario and other parts of Canada, but the species was resurrected after efforts by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters through successful reintroduction programs. Twenty years later, eastern turkeys are now thriving and have huntable populations in many areas of the province. Due to the importance of the species for hunters, mandatory reporting of hunters’ harvest and observations are required after the season. Hunters may not use a shotgun not larger than 10 gauge or smaller than 20 gauge, and may only use shot sizes of 4, 5, 6 or 7. Unfortunately, regulations haven’t caught up to the improved ballistic capabilities of non-toxic materials like tungsten and TSS blends, so smaller shot sizes and calibers are not allowed. For turkey hunting tips, check out How to Run and Gun in Turkey Hunting.

| Eastern Turkey | Wildlife Management Unit | Season | Daily / Possession Limit | | Spring Season | 36, 42, 45, 46–50, 53–65, 66A, 67–82, 83A, 84–95 | Apr 25 – May 31, 2023 | 1 bearded bird per day, 2 per season. | | Fall Season(Bow and Shotgun) | 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66A, 67–70, 72–78, 80–82, 84-87, 89–94 | Oct 11 – Oct 23, 2023 | 1 Male or Female bird | | Fall Season (Bow Only) | 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66A, 67–70, 72–78, 80–82, 84–87, 89–94 | Oct 1 – Oct 31, 2023 | 1 Male or Female bird |

Upland Bird Hunting Licensing Fees and Hunter Orange RequirmentsTo hunt small game, upland, and migratory birds in Ontario, hunters must be at least 16 years old, purchase and possess a small game license, have an Ontario Outdoor Card, and have proof of having a firearm license if you are hunting with a gun. All hunters must have passed the Ontario hunter education program or, if a non-resident, have completed a similar hunting program that’s recognized by the province. If you have a US hunter education card, a copy must be submitted to the Canada’s Fish and Wildlife Service prior to hunting. For upland species, only wild turkey hunting requires the hunter to purchase and use a game tag. In certain locations, additional licenses or permits may be required for turkey hunting.

All licensed hunters who are hunting during a concurrent gun season for either deer, elk, or moose are required to wear fluorescent orange while hunting. This regulation does not apply to people who are hunting migratory game birds, except woodcock. Orange clothing and an orange head cover must be worn. The orange garment includes either clothing or your pack, and must cover a minimum of 400 square inches above the waist and be visible from all sides. The hunter orange must be solid orange and cannot contain open mesh or camouflage orange.

| License | Resident | Non-Resident | | Outdoors Card | $8.57 | $8.57 | | Small Game | $22.76 | $121.52 | | Migratory Bird Permit | $17 | $17 | | Canadian Wildlife Conservation Stamp | $8.50 | $8.50 | | Wild Turkey Tag (Fall or Spring) | $26.33 | $30.30 |

*These fees were last updated on January 4, 2023 and may not reflect any changes since that date. For the most up-to-date information visit Hunt and Fish Ontario. Prices in Canadian Funds.Firearms in Ontario, CanadaIf you are hunting small game in an area where there is an open season for big game, you may not possess or use a rifle of greater caliber than a .22 caliber rim-fire rifle, shells loaded with ball, or shells loaded with shot larger than No. 2. This includes center-fire rifles, unless you have a valid license to hunt big game during the relevant open season. Outside of big game seasons, a small game hunter may not carry or use a rifle of greater caliber than a .275-caliber rifle, except a muzzle-loading gun.

Shotguns must be plugged so that they cannot hold more than a total of three shells in the chamber and magazine combined. Shot material for migratory birds like doves, ducks, and geese requires non-toxic shot. For all other species, including woodcock, lead shot may be used. For more information about bringing shotguns into Canada, check out How to Bring Shotguns to Canada.

Border Crossing With a Hunting DogIf you are bringing a dog into Canada from the United States, your dog must appear healthy and you must also have a signed certificate from a veterinarian licensed in Canada or in the United States that indicates that the dog has been vaccinated against rabies within the last three years. For more information read Project Upland’s How to Bring a Dog Into Canada and Back to the States.

Game Bird Hunting PreservesIf you happen to visit the province out of hunting season, there is still hope! Ontario has several game hunting preserves that provide year-round hunting opportunities for northern bobwhite quail, Hungarian partridge, chukar, pheasant, and even wild turkey, for a fee. You are still required to have a valid Outdoors Card, hunter accreditation (e.g. license summary), and proof of firearm license if you are hunting with a gun.

Related Hunting Conservation Groups in OntarioOntario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH)

Canadian National Wild Turkey Federation (CNWTF)

North American Versatile Hunting Dogs Association (NAVHDA)

Ruffed Grouse / Woodcock Society of Canada (RGSC)

*Ontario honors the treaty rights of Indigenous peoples, therefore some of the information listed above may not be relevant to treaty hunters. Bird hunting season dates, game bird species available, and other information is subject to change. The article may not reflect this. Please visit Ontario.ca for the most up to date information on bird hunting in Ontario.

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Life history, biology, and habitat information for the arctic’s most charismatic goose

The emperor is one of the handsomest of the American geese.

George Bird Grinnell

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, located in western Alaska along the Bering Sea, is a bird paradise. Arctic terns swarm the sky, flying low over flat floodplains, mobbing anything threatening their nests. Spectacled eiders lounge on the muddy banks of the estuary. Red-neck phalaropes twitter in shallow waters, while greater white-fronted geese honk and feed in the swaying grasses. Familiar sandhill cranes identify new nesting grounds far from Wisconsin, where restoration ecologists recovered them from near extinction. However, the flashiest bird of all is the silvery, pastel-beaked emperor goose.

During the summer of 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey hired me to collect data on emperor geese for a month. After flying out from Anchorage to Bethel to Chevak and enduring a four-hour boat ride through the sea, I watched dunlins zip over me while I waited patiently in a tidal slough near the Manokinak River. I had just bumped an incubating female emperor goose off her nest, set a bownet trap, camouflaged it, and jogged my pull line back to my hiding place. Before long, the female waddled back to her nest. She was curious about the new pile of grass on the side of her nest, but ultimately, she wasn’t alarmed and went right back to incubating her eggs. After I gave her a moment to settle in, I jerked my pull line.

The free side of my bownet launched itself over the goose; she was trapped. Her well-being and safety were my highest priorities as I sprinted in my waders and oversized hiking boots through mosquito clouds and humid air to get to her. Upon arrival, I placed firm hands over her wings and body to keep her wings from getting tangled in the trap. I released her, tucking her head under her wing to calm her down while I waited for my colleague to catch up to me with our data collection supplies. This female would have her third primary measured, get a leg band mounted above her webbed foot, get weighed, and have blood drawn from the long vein in her neck before being released.

Spending the summer solstice in the far reaches of western Alaska was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I had never witnessed a landscape so entirely covered in birds, let alone 24-hour sunshine. The beauty of emperor geese was imprinted in my mind, and I treasured every moment I got to observe their life history in action. Those smooth white eggs hatched into dusty gray goslings, peeping and plodding behind their mothers, ensuring that this near-threatened seabird lasts for at least a few more generations.

Where You Can Find Emperor GeeseEmperor geese are short to medium-distance migrants. As previously mentioned, emperor geese are predominately found along Alaska’s western shores in the summer and the Aleutian Islands in the winter. A few rare stragglers have been recorded wintering in California and Hawaii. Emps are also located across the Bering Sea in the far northeastern reaches of Russia. During the summer breeding season, they live in the Chukotka Peninsula. During the nonbreeding winter season, they live in the Kamchatka Oblast. Emps are also known for a unique migration coined the “molt migration,” during which they fly to Chukotka, molt their flight feathers, and are flightless until new feathers grow in.

In these locations, emps prefer low-lying tundra grasslands featuring brackish water. They feed in tidal sloughs, mudflats, lagoons, rocky shorelines, and marshes. Berries and marsh plants comprise most of their summertime diets, and crustaceans and aquatic vegetation fill their bellies during the winter.

Emperor Goose Life HistoryEmperor geese (Anser canagicus), lovingly called emps, are among the rarest goose species in the United States. They are stocky, short-necked geese with white faces and necks and silvery gray bodies. Their legs and feet are bright orange, and their bills are a dusty pink and pastel blue, similar to a coquina shell.

When spring arrives, monogamous pairs select a place to build their next nest. Emps don’t mate until they are at least three years old. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, “90 percent of the world’s population of emperor geese nest on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.” Based on only a few observations of this species, females conduct all the nest-building and incubation activities for their three to five eggs. Males guard the nest and the female from predators, including foxes, gulls, other geese, or humans. Emps prefer to nest in tall, dead grass along landscape features like water lines or on the top of a small rise. Their nests are made up of soft, dry vegetation and down feathers. Similarly to other geese, males, females, and their offspring feed together for the summer.

Like other geese, emps tend to feed on invertebrates and plant material. Because they live in brackish water, critters ranging from aquatic bugs to mussels are on the menu. When they feed on plants, they often probe around the mud for soft shoots and roots. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, plant species they feed on include “creeping alkaligrass, marsh arrowgrass, beach rye, blue lyme grass, beach pea, seabeach sandwort, Fisher’s tundragrass, Hoppner’s sedge and other sedges, black crowberries, eelgrass, and marine algae such as sea lettuce.” As a result of this foraging behavior, they often stain the white feathers on their head and necks red due to the iron oxide in the soil and water.

Emperor Goose Hunting and Conservation in AlaskaEmperor geese populations have wavered in the last 60 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) surveyed approximately 140,000 birds in 1964. However, this number plummeted to 42,000 geese by 1986. The USFWS is not quite sure why their numbers dropped so swiftly, but they assume it was because of high adult mortality rates and periods of low breeding success. To help protect the species from further population declines, Alaska closed its hunting season in 1986, and subsistence hunting ended in 1987. Fortunately, their population was estimated to be around 98,000 birds in 2015, and the Emperor Goose Management Plan stated that hunting could resume under these conditions. Emperor goose fall and winter hunts and spring and summer subsistence hunts resumed in 2017.

Today, emperor goose hunting is extremely limited. Because they are only found in Alaska within the United States, interested waterfowl hunters can look to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s website for more information. ADFG states that permits are required to hunt emperor geese during the fall and winter. Only 25 permits are available for nonresident hunters. Additionally, the state has a quota on emps that cannot exceed 1,000 birds, and there’s an annual limit of one emperor goose per hunter. Additionally, Alaska Native Peoples are authorized to conduct subsistence hunts on emperor geese during the spring and summer because it is “a customary and traditional hunt.” Emps are “an important food source and cultural resource for Alaska Native Peoples where they are referred to as nacaullek, leghlleq, ligliqpak, mitilgruaq, or neqlleq,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 2022, USGS began emitting radio announcements stating that if you find, shoot, or spot a banded emperor goose, report its band number. Many hunters and Alaskan Native Peoples believed it was illegal to hunt or possess and banded goose; that is not the case. This radio announcement is an effort to clear up some misunderstandings and help USGS gain important migration information about this special, near-threatened species.

It’s incredibly rare for someone to see an emperor goose in their lifetime, let alone have the opportunity to hunt one. However, I can confidently say that traveling to Alaska and taking the time to glass up one of these royal birds is worth it. Plus, you’ll add countless new birds to your life list while you’re searching for them, like spectacled eiders, common eiders, arctic terns, and maybe even a white wagtail if you’re lucky. Hopefully, their all-hands-on-deck state and federal level management techniques and limited hunting opportunities will help this resilient species persist for generations to come.

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A growing market for youth shotguns means there are many options to choose from when shopping for a young hunterThe youth 20-gauge shotgun is no stranger to me. Over 30 years ago, I opened a Christmas gift underneath my father’s tree. I unwrapped a Remington youth model 870 pump 20-gauge shotgun I have coveted for years. I brought it out from the back of the gun cabinet this spring and dusted it off to take the 20-gauge turkey hunting. It has killed deer, coyotes, ruffed grouse, woodcock, rabbits, squirrels, and now a wild turkey. Learning to hunt with that shotgun was the medium through which I fell in love with hunting. By that logic, any parent or mentor outfitting a kid for the first time no doubt wants to make the right choice regarding firearms to set the stage for a lifelong passion.

The most popular shotgun gauge has significantly shifted over the past 100-plus years. Once the 16-gauge, then the 12-gauge, today, the 20-gauge is the most popular gauge in the upland community. 20-gauge shotguns are the preferred gauge for 43.6 percent of upland hunters, according to a 2023 survey. It’s even more popular with millennials; 45.8 percent prefer to shoot a 20-gauge. While I remember 20-gauge ammunition being much harder to find in my younger years, no gun shop is short on a wide range of 20-gauge shotgun shell options today. This makes a strong case for the 20-gauge youth shotgun out of the gate. The gauge’s increasing availability, technological advancements, and expanding market make the 20-gauge shotgun a prime choice for youth hunters.

Is the Remington youth 20-gauge shotgun the best youth option out there? It may have been at one time. However, with manufacturing changes, the end of production due to bankruptcy, and the rise of other competitive brands, I am cautious about claiming such a title for the Remington. To answer the question about which shotgun is the best youth 20-gauge, I explored some of the most popular and best models on the market today with Dave Sheley, who has seen the industry change over time and outfitted countless customers with youth shotguns.

The youth 20-gauge shotgun market evolves over the yearsRight in the center of the grouse country of Minnesota is Backus Corner Store and Gun Shop. Owner Dave Sheley started selling guns here 24 years ago. Before that, he worked for over a decade at the iconic Reeds Family Outdoor Outfitter. All together, Sheley has been selling youth model shotguns for almost 40 years.

“There are more options for youth shotguns than ever,” Sheley said with conviction, “and rightfully so as there is a real demand for them.”

He points to the rise in turkey hunting as one of many factors creating a bigger demand.

Why the 20 gauge for a youth shotgun?But first things first, why the 20-gauge over other options? Sheley weighs multiple factors when answering this question: price, availability, and practical application.

“Many want to think the .410 is a great option but reality is that, as adults, only the most expert shooters rely on this gauge,” he said. “We cannot expect that from a kid and it will most likely discourage them.”

In recent years I have found myself gravitating to the 28-gauge, but the popularity is still not as high as other gauges. As Sheley points out, the availability of 28-gauge loads, the cost of said loads, and the shotguns built for that gauge limit selection.

“It just isn’t there yet,” Sheley explained.

The 12-gauge is still one of the most widely available gauges on the market, but Sheley warns, “It has a lot more recoil than a 20-gauge and the weight of the shotguns themselves can be challenging. Sure, you may have a bigger-built kid, but for the most part, the 20-gauge is still king of the youth shotgun.”

Even though the 16-gauge is his personal favorite, it barely got a mention in our conversation and I can only attribute that to a combination of recoil, scarcity in ammunition, and not a wide selection in shotgun models to go with it.

“A lot of manufacturers are building youth shotguns for the 20-gauge platform. You have a lot of models to choose from as well as a lot of loads to choose from. You can find lighter loads to reduce recoil and ultimately the cost of the ammunition is better than most gauges when it comes to shooting a lot at the range.”

How to choose a youth 20-gauge shotgunSheley says that most people are buying youth model shotguns in his store at the last minute, perhaps ahead of a hunting trip or a holiday. Customers often rely on the store to help guide them through the process, because very little research is usually done ahead of time.

“Price is always the biggest factor,” Sheley said. “It is a big investment, and most people look at it as money lost in the short term. I do my best to communicate to people that the youth shotgun market is really good, and the shotgun can be easily sold some years down the road with little loss in value.”

Although price is the biggest factor for buyers, Sheley stressed that fit should be the top priority.

“Getting a youth 20-gauge shotgun that fits is going to help make the experience more enjoyable, and that, after all, is our long-term goal,” he said.

The best youth 20-gauge pump-shotgun models on the marketThe Remington 870 Fieldmaster Youth ModelSheley did not hesitate to say that the Remington 870 youth model is the most popular and, according to him, rightfully so. But with new owners the classic options are no longer in production. While some “Express” models can be found used it has now moved to the new Remington 870 Fieldmaster Compact and Remighting 870 Fieldmaster Jr. Compact.

“Remington has started producing shotguns again and the selling price is around $470,” he said. “You can do some searching and maybe find a used one usually in the ballpark of $250. It’s reliable, it’s versatile, and it’s really a good investment in letting a kid enjoy the world of shotguns.”

The Remington Express 870 Youth ModelThe 870 Youth Model is a pump shotgun originally came in the Express platform, which removes part of the bluing process but is mechanically the same shotgun as the Wingmaster. The matte finish barrels reduce the price, but also give it a great look. It has a 13-inch length of pull and a 21-inch barrel with interchangeable chokes. It weighs in at 6.25 pounds and can take 2 3/4-inch and 3-inch shells.

The new Remington Fieldmaster has many of the same features of the original Express. However the Jr. Compact introduces a 12-inch length of pull option to the mix. The current MSRP is $610 for the new Remighting Youth Model 20-Gauge shotguns. With some shopping you can find them for around $480.00.

The Mossberg 500 Youth Bantam and 510 Youth Mini Super BantamOn the heels of the 870 is the Mossberg. While Sheley acknowledged that the quality of the Mossberg is not as good as the Remington, he did point out the savings.

“Depending on which model you choose, you are in the $300 to $400 range,” he said, “but probably the most exciting part is the variety in size that these shotguns come in. The 500 Youth Bantam is essentially Mossberg’s answer to the Remington 870 Youth. But the 510 Youth Mini Super Bantam offers some other options, including a .410 but, more importantly, a length of pull that varies from 10.5 inches to 11.5 inches. Step up from there and the 500 Youth Super Bantam offers an adjustable length of pull from 12 inches to 13 inches.”

The 510 Youth Mini Super Bantam weighs 5 pounds with an 18.5-inch barrel with adjustable Accu-set chokes. It has a 3-inch chamber with a 3+1 capacity. The 500 Youth Super Bantam weighs 5.25 pounds, has a 22-inch barrel with interchangeable chokes, and a 3-inch chamber. It holds 5+1. The Youth Bantam matches the “Super” but with a weight of 6.5 pounds.

The 500 Youth Bantam MSRP is $399. The 510 Youth Mini Super Bantam MSRP is $569.99.

One issue Sheley identified on the Mossberg was frequent problems with breaking the shotgun down and putting it back together.

“We get people coming in all the time who have issues with the assembly of the Mossberg. It can be tricky, but overall it holds up,” he noted.

Winchester Youth SXP Field Micro 20 Gauge Pump Action ShotgunWinchester is a name we all recognize. The concept of youth 20-gauge pump shotguns would not make sense without mentioning the Winchester Youth SXP Field Micro shotgun. I particularly like the versatility of barrel length with this model. The 20-gauge is available in 18”, 20”, 22”, and 24”. After-market options make it easy to find longer trap barrels and other options as a youth hunter grows into the shotgun.

Starting at 5 pounds, 14 ounces, the length of pull on this model is 12 inches. It comes with three shotgun choke options: improved cylinder, modified, and full. While the 12” length of pull is great for younger hunters that can genuinely have a better experience with a better-fitting shotgun, it will become a challenge as the hunter’s natural length of pull increases with age. To have a longer runway on adjusting the stock length, one must rely on after-market options.

MSRP on the Winchester Youth SXP Field Micro 20 Gauge costs $399.99. Big box retailers are selling them new for around $379.99. This is not Winchester’s only 20-gauge youth shotgun model option in pumps; their Field Compact comes in with a 13” length of pull. The Winchester 20-gauge Youth Trap Compact has a 13” length of pull and options for a 28” or 30” barrel.

The best youth 20-gauge break-action shotgun models on the marketThe world of double guns is also expanding and with it is the availability of break-action shotguns for youth hunters.

While Sheley was not a fan of single shots because of the often-high recoil of the lightweight designs, he certainly expressed a love for double guns. When considering safety, break-actions offer a quick and easy way to know that a shotgun is safe–something that is not just important with youth but in many other situations, too, such as hunting with guides.

The Stevens 555 CompactHolding to the idea of price being the largest factor for people in search for a youth 20-gauge shotgun, Sheley brought up the Stevens 555 Compact as the third shotgun in the mix.

This Turkish-built over/under shotgun has a 13.25-inch length of pull, 24-inch barrels with interchangeable chokes, 3-inch chambers, and weighs just 5 pounds.

“You can find one new for about $699 and if you are lucky, maybe score one for around $600 used,” Sheley said. “This shotgun really makes the idea of an entry-level over/under possible.”

The listed MSRP of the Stevens 555 Compact is $770.00

CZ Redhead Premier Reduced Length“It costs a little more money, but CZ offers a upgrade in quality over the Stevens,” Sheley noted.

With an MSRP of $999, the CZ Redhead Premier Reduced Length comes in 20-gauge with a 13-inch length of pull, 24-inch barrels with five interchangeable chokes, a 3-inch chamber, ejectors, and a weight of 6 pounds.

Browning Citori Micro Midas Satin HunterThe next two shotguns that pull their weight–or the “Cadillacs” of the youth 20-gauge shotgun world according to Sheley–are made by Browning. The Citori Micro Midas Satin Hunter, which is listed as discontinued on the Browning website, is still available in stores.

“This is a real investment for a shotgun, but I believe it’s really the best option if people weighed the ability to resell it,” Sheley said.

Coming in with an MSRP of $1,649, you would be lucky to find one on the used market. With a 13-inch length of pull, 24-inch barrels with three interchangeable chokes, a 3-inch chamber, and coming in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces, I am sure no kid would be disappointed to end up with one of these.

My own father coveted the Citori platform, and would dream of one day owning one.

The best youth 20-gauge break-action side-by-side shotgun models on the marketI am devoted to side-by-side shotguns. However, this devotion came much later in life. If you ask my father, he has nothing but bad things to say about his youth experience with side-by-side shotguns, which is probably why I never got the chance to shoot them early on. To be candid, I don’t think side-by-sides are a good starting point for youth hunters. This is due to the need for more availability in choices. Stoeger makes the only youth-dedicated 20-gauge side-by-side on the market that is not custom-built. Unless you are willing to pay a lot for a custom-built side-by-side youth shotgun, here is your choice.

Stoeger Uplander Youth 20-Gauge Side-by-Side ShotgunMy first side-by-side was a Stoeger. I hated it. It affirmed everything my father told me and just about ruined side-by-side shotguns for me. My biggest criticism is the weight and balance of these shotguns. My current go-to, Upland Gun Company’s Venus side-by-side shotgun, comes in at 5lbs, 1 oz. The Stoeger Uplander Youth 20-gauge side-by-side shotgun comes in at 6.8 lbs. While the weight can help with recoil, it will not help with carrying it in the woods.

The MSRP on the Stoeger Uplander Youth 20-gauge Side-by-side shotgun is $499.99. It has a 13” length of pull, a pistol grip, and a 22” barrel with a double trigger. The chokes are interchangeable but must be purchased separately. Only improved cylinder and modified chokes come in the box. The only thing I like about this shotgun is that it has extractors instead of ejectors. After a bit of shopping, you can get this shotgun new at about $449.99.

The best youth 20-Gauge semiautomatic shotgun models on the marketSemiautomatics generate a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to youth shotguns.

As a kid, my father was an Auto 5 devotee and my grandfather subscribed to the Remington 1100. Both my older brother and I wanted semiautomatics for deer hunting, but late nights at camp would often be filled with debates over gas-driven and inertia-driven platforms and the safety of each, ultimately crushing us with the “when you are older” admonition. But Sheley does think the youth 20-gauge semiautomatic shotgun option is a good one, albeit more expensive than other models already mentioned.

He offers a great tip for starting youth on a semiautomatic by only allowing one shell in the shotgun at a time and moving up from there as safety and confidence improves.

Browning Silver Field Micro MidasThis is the other shotgun that Sheley truly got excited about.

“You can find one for around $999 and it really is a gun that can do anything,” he said. “It’s reliable, built in Japan, but built well. It is gas-operated but built to handle light loads, and the action really reduces the recoil for youth.”

The Browning Silver Field Micro Midas 20-gauge is available in 24-inch or 26-inch barrels with a length of pull of 13 inches, a 3-inch chamber, and weighing 6 pounds and 6 pounds 2 ounces, respectively.

The MSRP for the Browning Silver Field Micro Midas starts at $1069.99 to $1329.99.

Weatherby SA-08 Compact Youth 20-Gauge ShotgunIf you are looking for an option that is less expensive while still being a reliable semiautomatic youth shotgun, then Weatherby has you covered with the Weatherby SA-08 Compact Youth shotgun. The gas-operated action reduces recoil, giving youth a better experience. It can also increase accuracy for young hunters. Most importantly, Weatherby prides itself on the dual-piston system, which can be adjusted for heavy or light loads.

With an MSRP of $679.00, this 20-gauge youth 12 ½” length of pull shotgun is a great option. Coming in at 5.75 pounds with a 24” barrel that comes with full, modified, and improved cylinder chokes. It takes both 3” and 2 ¾” rounds. Most big box retailers are selling these Weatherby youth shotguns for $579.99.

Beretta A400 Lite CompactThe Beretta A400 Lite Compact is no longer in production. But Sheley put it plainly: “The Italians build good shotguns.”

It was available with barrel lengths of 26, 28, and 30 inches, the Beretta A400’s biggest claim to fame is the ability to add spacers to the stock so that the gun can adjust to the young hunter’s growing length of pull. A 13 1/4-inch length of pull with a recoil pad and spacers allow adjustments from 1/2 inch to 1 inch. Add in the science put into the Optima Bore HP, which they claim reduces the recoil, and this shotgun has a lot of versatility with low recoil.

But Italian shotguns do come at a price and with an original MSRP of $1,520, it’s pretty reasonable. They can still be found for around $1350

Let the kid get involved in the choiceSheley’s final piece of advice: “Bringing the child along to the gun shop to help in the process can be both exciting and rewarding. Allow them to get the feel for different models and fall in love with one.”

He also took the time to remind me that the resale value on any of these purchases should be part of the calculation when making the investment. It can open better options and ultimately create a more rewarding experience for the youth involved in the field.

The post What is the Best Youth 20-Gauge Shotgun? appeared first on Project Upland.

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Make a fantastic Asian inspired soup out of your wild turkeyMiso soup is a traditional Japanese soup on many sushi restaurants’ and hibachi grills’ menus. The soup’s flavor tone stresses umami, which is recognized as savory and considered one of our five basic tastes. Traditional miso soup is made from a Japanese stock called dashi, but instead of using dried fish flakes, we are using leftover wild turkey bones in this recipe.

I’ve covered how to make stock and broth here, which I recommend you attempt whenever possible. The miso soup you find at Japanese restaurants is rich and savory because someone spent several hours tending to the fine art of making stock or broth. It’s not too hard; it simply requires checking in on the stock pot occasionally.

The toppings you want to put on your wild turkey miso soup are up to you, but I recommend some ingredients in this recipe. Sometimes miso soup is just broth with miso paste stirred in and garnished with scallions. I also share how to adequately tenderize and prepare wild turkey wings, though you can use any bird protein (or tofu) if you’d like.

The bottom line? Save and roast your spring turkey carcass, and make amazing soup.

Here are some less common ingredients you will need:

• kombu
• white miso paste
• nori sheets
• thin rice noodles
• shiitake mushrooms

PrintWild Turkey Miso SoupMake a fantastic soup out of your spring turkeyCourse SoupCuisine JapaneseKeyword Wild TurkeyPrep Time 1 dayCook Time 8 hoursServings 4IngredientsStock Ingrediants 4 carrots sliced * 1 large yellow onion sliced * 1 celery stalk sliced * 1 cup whole black peppercorns * 1 sprig fresh rosemary * 1 sprig sage * 1 sprig oregano * 1 sprig thyme Other Ingredients 1 gallon wild turkey stock or broth * 4 large fresh garlic cloves smashed * 1 oz package of kombu * 1/3 cup white miso paste * 4 nori sheets broken into pieces * 8 oz thin rice noodles * 5-8 oz sliced shiitake mushrooms * 1 cup sliced scallions for garnish * 2 wild turkey wings cut in half, sous vide cooked, then fried * Sunflower oil * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper Instructions* Using the remaining carcass of your turkey after you’re done butchering, make turkey broth following these steps. Make sure to use a large stock pot capable of holding two gallons or more, as you’ll want to cover your bones by several inches, and some water will evaporate while the stock warms. * After sautéing your vegetables and roasting your turkey bones, add cold water and fresh herbs to the pot. Set the burner heat so water barely steams and leave it to steam for at least eight hours. Twelve hours is preferred, but don’t do it overnight; check the pot regularly so water never goes above a steam. Add more water if necessary to always keep the bones covered. Remove herbs after one hour. * Strain your stock through a paper towel-lined sieve. Either refrigerate your stock or start making soup. You can also can it to save for later. This broth will keep in the fridge for five to six days. * To make soup, lightly dust both wings with salt and pepper. Seal and sous vide your turkey wings for at least six hours at 180. You should go as long as 10 hours for larger, more mature turkeys. If you don’t have a sous vide, barely simmer your turkey wings in either chicken stock or turkey broth (if you have extra) for three hours. * Add one gallon of turkey broth to the pot for the soup, along with garlic and kombu. Allow to steam for one hour. * Twenty minutes before getting ready to serve, remove the garlic and kombu from the broth; strain if necessary. Add in miso and stir it in until it’s dissolved. * Meanwhile, heat an inch of sunflower (or similar cooking) oil in a large skillet to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the wings from the sous vide, pat them dry, and fry each side until golden brown. Set aside. * Once the miso is dissolved in your soup, salt it to taste. Then, add the thin rice noodles. Once the noodles are al dente, add the mushrooms and nori (torn into bite-size bits). You can add in the sliced scallions now or when you go to serve the dish. * To serve each serving, ladle a quart of soup into a large bowl. Add a fried turkey wing, and garnish it with more sliced scallions. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Wild Turkey Miso Soup appeared first on Project Upland.

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Have we been all wrong when it comes to Northern Bobwhite nest hatch timing?As a bobwhite quail biologist, one of the first things I learned was that the peak of the bobwhite quail hatch occurs on June 15th each year.

This peak date has become so pervasive in the quail world that it is dogma. This date is accepted at face value, dictating timing of summertime habitat management and even state and Federal agency policy. But is this “fact” of quail biology true? And, if not, have quail managers been operating on a paradigm that might have been detrimental to bobwhite management for over three decades?

Let’s look at where the June 15th peak originated and what new science is telling us about the bobwhite hatch. The lessons learned should have major implications to how we think about bobwhite breeding ecology and bobwhite management in the future.

A History Lesson in Northern Bobwhite ManagementJack Stanford was a famous quail biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation in the mid-20th century. His word was gospel for generations of quail biologists. He did groundbreaking work and expanded our knowledge of bobwhite ecology in ways never seen; his contributions should be lauded. One of his most famous contributions was to utilize roadside observations of quail broods from statewide field agents. These agents collected brood data as they performed their daily activities.

These observations were used to estimate bobwhite hatching dates. The agents would estimate the age of these broods by noting the size of the chicks and report these observations back to Stanford. He then used this data to determine that the peak of quail hatch in Missouri was June 15th. Furthermore, he reported that in favorable hatch years, meaning average weather conditions with no drought or excessive rains, the peak of the bobwhite hatch was June 15th and that 64 percent of nests hatched by July 15th. These numbers became the standard for Missouri and much of the quail world, driving habitat management recommendations ever since.

New Bobwhite Data From 2006 to 2011, I collected wings from hunter-harvested bobwhites at a public wildlife management area in Missouri to better understand the dynamics of the local population. Many hunters know that one can differentiate between adult and young-of-the-year bobwhite by wing characteristics. However, few know that early in the hunting season, the primary feathers on a bobwhite wing can be measured and a date of hatch can be determined.

I aged 93 wings over that period and found that only 6 of those harvested birds were hatched on or before June 15th; this did not match what I had been taught at all. I began to worry about the potential quail nests that I had inadvertently disturbed when I had my staff burning fields, spraying herbicide, and doing other field work. Field work began after June 15th based on that widely held peak hatch date, yet my wing data was telling me this midsummer period was a critical time for quail hatching. I immediately began to rethink my management strategies and establish new protocols for when and how we were doing field work in the summer.

Building a Digger Dataset on Bobwhite QuailMy data, however, was very local and a small sample size. I knew we needed more data to make stronger inferences to understand what was really happening with quail hatch timing. Luckily, a fellow biologist, Kyle Hedges, and I were leading a seven-year study of quail breeding ecology on six wildlife areas in southwest Missouri at the time. During that study, we were able to monitor bobwhite nests for hatch dates, success rates, and causes of predation.

We were able to record 176 successfully hatched nests during our study. This number in itself is eye-opening considering we monitored over 500 nests! Of those 176 nests, only 15, or 8.5 percent of nests, were hatched on or before June 15th. This is a far cry from the commonly accepted June 15th peak hatch date. Furthermore, the median hatch date for all nests was July 17th, meaning just as many nests hatched after that date as before. We also noted a couple hatching peaks. One occurred from June 5th through July 12th during which 49 percent of the nests hatched and the other happened July 27th through September 6th when 39 percent of the nests hatched.

What does this mean for bobwhite management? First, and most important, the entire summer period is important for bobwhite nesting. Bobwhites are incubating and hatching nests throughout the summer period and even earlier in the South. But there is more to the story. A typical bobwhite nest cycle takes 55 days from egg laying, through incubation, culminating with hatching. That means that the nest hatched on July 1st was initiated in mid-May and a nest hatched on September 15th was initiated in early August. Not only this, but newly hatched quail broods are also very vulnerable for the first two weeks of their lives because they cannot fly. As a result, disturbance to nesting cover should be minimized during this critical period.

Our Data’s Impacts on Northern Bobwhite ManagementLand managers have been utilizing prescribed fire in the summer for bobwhite management more often. Summer fire can be very useful for reducing grass dominance in a field and controlling tree invasion. However, many of these fires occur in July and August, a time many managers believe is safe to burn based on the widely held belief that June 15th is the peak of the quail hatch. If one is interested in maximizing quail survival and fall populations, this burn timing is much too early. Instead, consider holding off until September or October when many of the same objectives can be met.

Additionally, Federal agencies often allow managers to hay, graze, or mow grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) during the summer months to provide forage for cattle during drought conditions or required tree encroachment control. Federal policy states that these activities cannot be done during the primary bobwhite nesting season which they define as May 1st through July 15th. CRP fields often provide the only suitable bobwhite nesting habitat in many areas dominated by cropland and allowing landowners to disturb these areas after July 15th is putting many bobwhite nests in jeopardy. The results of our study should give CRP policymakers pause, and a reevaluation of the primary nesting season dates is encouraged.

What about renesting? Many know that bobwhites can renest after a nest has been destroyed. Folks that see very young chicks in August often proclaim those birds were from a second nest or even a second hatch. Our data tells a different story. We only found 13 percent of hens will renest after their first nest is destroyed. That means the first nest is of utmost importance and managers cannot always rely on hens to renest if their first nest fails.

Just Because it’s Dogma Doesn’t Mean it’s RightThe efforts made by past biologists to understand bobwhite ecology have been Herculean, providing valuable guidance on bobwhite conservation for nearly 100 years. However, science is not static. Biologists today have technology available that our counterparts of old could have never dreamed. Radio-collared birds allow us to know within hours when a nest hatched, providing much more precise estimates than roadside observations of broods collected by field agents of varied skill.

For the land manger interested in maximizing bobwhite numbers, stay off that mower between May and September, delay burning until the fall, and be strategic when conducting any summertime field management. With bobwhite populations struggling more than anytime in recorded history, it is imperative that we do whatever it takes to ensure birds have every chance to successfully raise a brood. There are enough dangers to quail in the natural world, we certainly do not need to add to them.

The post The Science of Bobwhite Quail Nesting Dates appeared first on Project Upland.

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The Hungarian Vizsla is a Medium-sized pointing dog breed with an energetic, affectionate, eager-to-please personalityThe name of the breed in Hungarian is Magyar Vizsla. The official FCI translation is Hungarian Short-haired Pointing Dog, but in English the breed is most commonly called Vizsla or Hungarian Vizsla.

“Magyar” means Hungarian. There are several theories regarding the origin of the word “Vizsla”. Some authorities claim the word is of Turkish origin meant “to seek”. Others suggest that it was the name of a village on the Danube. Whatever its origin, today Vizsla means “pointing dog” in the same way the word “braque” does in French.

Pronouncing: Mag yar VEEZH-luk (“Zh” and in “vision”)

Drawing an accurate timeline for the development of the Vizsla is not easy. Many of the published histories on the breed seem more like wishful thinking than true scholarly analysis. I’ve read many claims about the breed being 1,000 years old and of ancient rock carvings depicting Vizslas hunting with hawks, but I have yet to find anything that substantiates those claims or even attempts to put them into an accurate historical context.

For example, many authors claim that references to the Vizsla can be found in a 14th century manuscript known as the Vienna Illuminated Chronicle. If true, such a reference would certainly support the idea that the Vizsla is an old breed of hunting dog. However, the Chronicle was written entirely in Latin and that the word Vizsla appears nowhere in it. Sure, the Chronicle has some beautiful illustrations of hunting scenes, some of which include dogs. If you squint hard enough and use your imagination, you may see one or two dogs that have a vague resemblance to a modern Vizsla. The problem is, the dogs look like just about every other short-haired hunting breed in the world. They could be anything from English Foxhounds to Rhodesian Ridgebacks…yet Vizsla supporters claim that not only are the dogs definitely Vizslas, but the illustrations actually prove that the breed has been kept pure for centuries!

Vizsla FormThe Vizsla is an undeniably handsome dog. Its rich golden-red color and smooth elegant build is very pleasing to the eye. However, like the Weimaraner, the Vizsla’s beauty has proven to be a double-edged sword.

Size of the VizslaMales: 22-25 inches (56-64 cm) and 48-66 pounds
Females: 21.25-23.5 inches (54-60 cm) and 45-60 pounds

Coat of the VizslaThe Vizsla has a smooth, short coat. Very occasionally pups appear with long-haired coats. According to Zsuzsa Füzesi, one of the top Vizsla breeders in Hungary,

“Now and then an individual with long hair is born, though these fortunately are few and far between, their births often kept a secret and surrounded with gossip. Given that the gene for long hair is recessive, it may be present throughout generations without the breeder becoming aware of it, until by blind luck the dog is mated with another latent carrier. The Hungarian Kennel Club supports no initiatives to breed the long-haired variety.”

Zsuzsa Füzesi writes that when it comes to the Vizsla’s color:

“It is nearly impossible to define. The written descriptions are especially hard to translate into foreign languages and can give rise to misunderstandings.”

The official FCI description of the breed is therefore rather broad, stating that the color is: “various shades of russet gold and dark sandy gold. Red, brownish or lightened color is undesirable. the color of the lips and the eye rims corresponds to the color of the nose.”

Character of the VizslaThe typical Vizsla is an energetic, affectionate, people oriented dog with an eager-to-please personality. They generally form a strong bond with their owners, and are friendly toward people and other dogs, but some can be territorial.

Vizsla and ProtectionI have never thought the of the Vizsla as anything but sweet, amiable gundog, so I was surprised when Zsuzsa Füzesi told me that while they are indeed very friendly, they have a protective streak in the as well:

“Vizslas typically make friends easily and enjoy the presence of other dogs and unfamiliar humans. However, the should not be underestimated as an opponent: they are jovial but not sheepish. One should not enter a house or reach into a car uninvited if there is a Vizsla there. If threatened, a Vizsla will actively defend himself, his pack or property.”

Training a Vizsla The Vizsla has a reputation for being a soft dog that responds best to gentle training methods. I asked Bill Gibbons, one of the most respected gundog trainers in the US and a long time supporter of the Vizsla, about this trait.

“Yes, Vizslas are soft, but not as much as they used to be. The first dogs I had were the old style Vizsla and you had to be very careful with them. They liked birds but they were not like Pointers and Setters who live for birds. I’d almost say they had an attitude problem. If they decided you were doing something they did not want to do, they would get ticked off or mad. And if you then put more pressure on them, they would just melt. They took things personally. But you know, those dogs really taught me a lot. That is how I learned to use gentle methods.

But nowadays the Vizslas we have, especially the ones from field trial lines, are different. They are much easier to train. They live for birds, they want to get out there and hunt and they don’t have attitude problems any more.”

Zsuzsa Füzesi agrees that the best way to train a Vizsla is with a firm but gentle hand.

“A Vizsla can react very sensitively to any rough treatment. If they are raised and trained with too strong a hand and too many restrictions, they can become uncertain and shy or lose their enthusiasm for work. A well-timed reward or encouragement helps more in training than threats and retribution.”

Vizsla PopulationsWell over 5,000 Vizsla pups are whelped every year, mainly in the United States, Hungary, and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th highest dog registration with NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association) in 2022. Its popularity staying pretty steady over the past decade.

Vizsla Health IssuesIn addition the more common health issues all breeds have to deal with, Vizslas seem to have a higher than average rate of immune mediated illnesses such as rashes and allergies, hypothyroidism and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, new concerns about what is being called Vizsla myositis or polymyositis have been raised recently in the UK. Myositis is an inflammation of the muscles in the head and neck area. In Vizslas, the condition leads to excessive drooling, problems with drinking and eating and severe atrophy of the muscles around the head. With prompt diagnosis and treatment, it can usually be well controlled by immune suppressive drugs.

The Vizsla at a Glance

| Characteristics | Short, golden-red coat Typical size is 21-24 inches at the shoulder and 45-66 lbs | | Hunting Style | Range and speed varies by line; some field-trial lines produce fast, big-running dogs, while others are closer working at a medium gallop | | Grooming Requirements | Very little grooming required of their short coat | | Training Approach | Responds best to gentle training methods | | Health Concerns | Immune-mediated illnesses such as rashes and allergies, hypothyroidism, and inflammatory bowel disease. Recent concerns about myositis, which is an inflammation of the muscles in the head and neck area that leads to excessive drooling and problems with drinking and eating | | Population | Around 2500 puppies registered annually in the U.S. | | Country of Origin | Hungary | | Breed Clubs and Organizations | Vizsla Club of America, AKC (Sporting Group), FCI (Group 7), NAVHDA |

A Detailed History of the VizslaFortunately, more level-headed people have taken a closer look at the history of the breed. One of the best analyses that I’ve been able to find is in an article written by Géza Frank Say in The Hungarian Review, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 1971:

“A thousand years ago the Magyars occupied the land that is now known as Hungary. These people were hunters accompanied by various breeds of dogs, among them a “yellow dog” used for hunting. This information, however flattering, needs thorough research…This writer…regrets not being in the position to elaborate on the early history of the Vizsla due to a lack of available literature. That there was a ‘yellow dog’ is an undeniable fact.”

Okay, the ancient Magyars had yellow dogs; fair enough. Were they similar to the modern Vizsla? I doubt it. My hunch is that they were actually some kind of hound similar to the modern Erdelyi Kopó (Transylvanian Hound) or Slovenský Kdopov (Slovakian Hound), or perhaps a sighthound similar to the Magyar Agár (Hungarian Sighthound). They were undoubtedly used for hunting small game such as hare, upland birds, and waterfowl that they flushed for hawks and falcons, and some were probably taught to “set” when hunting with a net.

At some point, they began to be called Vizslas. But in Hungarian, the word vizsla—whose etymology is unknown—is a term used to describe a type of dog, not a particular breed. Like the French term braque or the Spanish terms perdiguero or braco, vizsla simply means “pointing dog.” So, to Hungarians, the breed we know of as the Vizsla is actually the Magyar Vizsla (Hungarian Pointing Dog). A German Shorthaired Pointer is a Német Vizsla and a Perdiguero de Burgos is a Burgosi Vizsla.

Development of the modern VizslaIn any case, efforts to develop a modern breed of pointing dog in Hungary did not get underway until about the middle of the 18th century when Hungarian hunters, like hunters across Europe, started to shoot birds on the wing. They probably began by crossing whatever local dogs were on hand to the pointing dogs that were spreading across Europe from Spain, France, Italy, and—later—from England. By the mid-1800s there was probably a fair number of locally-bred pointing dogs called Vizslas, and by the 1880s we find the first records of Magyar Vizslas in a public competition. In 1881, a field trial club was established for the breed and hosted its first trial near Budapest in 1882. Several Vizslas were entered but it is not known if they were purebred or, as some speculate, actually crossbred with German Shorthaired Pointers or English Pointers.

Whatever they were, they failed to spark much interest in field trials among Vizsla breeders and, by 1886, the club disbanded. Around the same time, new hunt tests were being developed in Hungary, but not many Vizslas appear to have participated. It seems that Austro-Hungarian hunters, like their counterparts in France, Italy, and Spain, were abandoning their native breeds in favor of the more fashionable Pointers and Setters from England. By 1900 there were so few Vizslas left in Hungary that many worried the breed could disappear completely. Fortunately, a few dedicated supporters decided to take action. They searched the country for any Vizsla that appeared to be of “pure” blood and managed to find about a dozen. Out of necessity, they crossed them with other breeds. It is not known which breeds they used, but it is very likely that Transylvanian Hounds (Erdélyi Kopó), German Shorthairs, English Pointers, and Irish Setters were used.

Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the breed’s decline continued. By 1914 the Viszla was nearing extinction. In November 1916, in a last-ditch effort, Dr. Tibor Thuróczy published an article in the hunting magazine Nimród Vadász Újság appealing to his fellow countrymen to save the Magyar Vizsla. He succeeded in rallying enough support for the cause and breeding efforts were renewed. But then, in 1920, the breed received another tragic setback. With the signing of the Trianon Peace Treaty, Hungary lost huge parts of its territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Many Vizslas remained outside of Hungary and were lost to breeders that were trying to revive the breed. However, the political situation did lead to increased nationalism in Hungary, which led patriotic Hungarian breeders to redouble their efforts. They established the Hungarian Vizsla Club and created the first studbook for the breed in 1920. The first official standard was published in 1928. In 1935, the FCI recognized the Vizsla and in 1936 the studbook was closed. Crossbreeding was no longer allowed from that point forward and the breed was declared “pure.”

Rebuilding the Vizsla after World War 2By 1940, the population of Vizslas in Hungary was approaching several thousand and it looked like the breed was out of the woods. Then, yet again, the ravages of war dealt the Vizsla another near-fatal blow, reducing the population to dangerously low levels. The club disbanded and the original studbook was destroyed by fire. In 1947, reconstruction of the breed got underway in a state-sponsored breeding farm at Gödöllő, east of Budapest. Dogs with known pedigrees, and those without pedigrees but meeting all the criteria for appearance and hunting ability, were used to recreate the Vizsla. In 1956, a new Hungarian Kennel Club was established and accepted by the FCI in 1963. By the 1970s, performance tests and trials had once again been established and breeders started selecting for dogs with a sleeker, more athletic build and a faster, more dynamic working style. The Vizsla’s popularity grew exponentially both at home and abroad, with clubs forming throughout Europe and North America.

The real story of the Vizsla is far more compelling than any half-baked legend about lines going back to the kennels of Attila the Hun. While the tall tales may be interesting to read, they draw attention away from where it should be: on the tremendous courage and dedication of the Hungarian patriots who developed a national breed of gun dog and kept it alive through two world wars, a violent revolt, and decades of political oppression. The truth of the matter is that brave Hungarian hunters re-created the Vizsla out of very little, if any, original material. According to Zsuzsa Füzesi,

“The re-creation took place in two phases. The first, from about 1880 to 1920, was a time of unregulated crossbreeding, mainly to Pointers, Setters, and hounds. One of the opinions is that the modern Hungarian Vizsla came out of crossbreeding between various pointing dogs and hounds, because as late as 1935 there were some puppies born in Vizsla litters that looked like Pointers and others that looked like hounds. No matter what we believe about such breedings it is certain that breeders at that time kept to the vision of the final goal—bringing the Hungarian Vizsla back.”

During the second phase, crossbreeding also occurred, but on a much smaller scale and in a much more controlled manner. The main goals seem to have been a broadening of the breed’s gene pool, a more stable coat and/or color, and—in later years—the development of smaller, sleeker Vizslas. Since the end of the Second World War, further crossbreeding has, in all likelihood, occurred in Europe and in North America. It is almost certain that Pointers have been bred into some lines in order to increase the breed’s speed, range, and point. Controversy still surrounds the issue and measures have been put in place by the Vizsla Club of America to verify the parentage of dogs by way of DNA testing. The club also has a unique requirement of “qualifying on the line” for all dogs entered in the National Field Trial. Judges inspect all the dogs entered and verify that they meet conformation requirements before they are allowed to run. DNA from the dogs must also be submitted to verify their parentage. Dogs that do not meet the requirements can be expelled from the trial.

Hunting with a VizslaIn North America, the Vizsla is still considered a “dual” breed by many of its supporters. They point to the fact that many Vizslas have both show and field champions in their pedigrees and that since 1965, nearly 160 Vizslas have become dual champions. But no one denies that a division between show lines and field lines exists in the breed. The only question is: How big is the division? Personally, I believe it is fairly significant and growing, not only in North America, but in Europe as well.

“…today MORE THAN HALF of the litters born in Hungary are hunting dogs on paper only. Their ancestors have never been evaluated regarding conformation or hunting ability. It is possible that there are some good hunting dogs among these, but there are no guarantees. I am certainly not against conformation shows, as they also have their place. I feel, however, that today the emphasis has been excessively placed on appearance alone, and we concern ourselves far less with inherent hunting traits”. —Zsuzsa Füzesi

Unfortunately, along with very rapid and uncontrolled growth came the inevitable development of show and pet lines within the breed. Today, most Vizslas are still naturally gifted, easily trained gun dogs. However, the breed continues to struggle with growing popularity among non-hunters, even in its native land.

Field search, pointing, and retrievingGenerally speaking, the Vizsla is a close- to medium-range worker that is expected to run at a medium gallop. There are, however, different lines bred in different regions for different styles of hunting or competition. At one end of the spectrum are dogs from Hungary where most hunting is done in social groups. Since there are usually several dogs on the ground at the same time, many Hungarian hunters prefer closer-working dogs. The Vizslas I saw in Hungary were relatively swift in their movements and covered a beat of 80 to 100 yards on either side of the handler. In many other European countries, breeders also select for a close- to medium-range search, but in some areas such as France and the Netherlands, there are a few breeders who prefer a somewhat faster, wider search for their style of field trials.

At the furthest end of the spectrum are Vizslas from North American horseback field trial lines. Their speed and range are comparable to that of German Shorthaired Pointers from field trial lines and can even approach that of some Pointers and Setters. It is important for anyone seeking a Vizsla as a hunting partner to study the various types of dogs available today to find one that best suits the type of hunting and terrain for which it will be used.

Vizslas tend to be very good pointers whose pointing instinct develops fairly early. They are also natural-born retrievers. Throughout its modern history, most breeders have placed tracking abilities fairly high on the list of priorities. In North America, where there is far less emphasis on blood tracking, Vizslas are still quite capable of tracking wounded small game as well as any of the other continental breeds. A well-bred Vizsla can be a decent water worker as long as it is not expected to sit for long periods of time in a cold duck blind.

Vizslas in field trials and hunt testsField trials and tests have been instrumental in the development of the breed since the late 1800s when a small handful of Vizslas ran against Setters and Pointers in Hungary. Since then, breeders in many countries have used a variety of testing systems and field trial formats to help them identify breeding stock. In the breed’s native land, its parent club runs hunting tests that are similar to German and Austrian tests.

“The so-called All-round Trials evolved in Central Europe to simulate practical hunting situations. They measure and compare the performance of the dogs that are tested. The “Field and Water” trials are of relatively new origins, having been established in Hungary in the last twenty years; these suit the personality of the Hungarian Vizsla very well and are close to the way we hunt in present day Hungary.” —Zsuzsa Füzesi

In the U.S., Vizslas have been competing in field trials since the 1950s when they were registered with the Field Dog Stud Book. In the 1960s, when the breed gained AKC recognition, Vizsla owners and breeders also began to participate in AKC trials, dog shows, and other events. Today, regional and national AKC events are still very popular among Vizsla breeders, but there are some that continue to run in trials under American Field rules. There are a few breeders active in NAVHDA and other versatile test organizations but, for the most part, field-oriented breeders are more active in competitive field trials.

The Vizsla todayI’ve learned from experience that the chances of seeing a Braque in Paris or a Pudelpointer in Berlin are not very good. So when my wife and I visited Hungary in 2007, we were quite surprised to see a good number of Vizslas strolling down the wide avenues of Budapest. We even stopped to talk to a well-dressed man with two Vizslas on a leash. With the help of a travel dictionary and some sign language we figured out that he did not hunt with his dogs but owned them because they are “the breed of the Hungarian nation.”

Just outside of Budapest, we visited with Zsuzsa Füzesi, one of the top breeders in the country. In addition to breeding handsome, enthusiastic gundogs, Zsuzsa has an encyclopedic knowledge of the breed and its history. After speaking with her and seeing her dogs in action, my thoughts about the Vizsla were confirmed: they are beautiful dogs with great personalities and when they come from lines selected for performance, they can be outstanding gun dogs.

But my experience with the breed is not limited to the dogs I saw in its homeland. I’ve seen Vizslas in Canada, New Mexico, Québec, Ontario, North Dakota, France, Holland, and Italy. I’ve seen pet Vizslas, show-bred Vizslas and field-bred Vizslas. I’ve liked just about every Vizsla I’ve met. I like the look of the breed and I like the way they hunt. I admire the hunters on the plains of Hungary still breeding dogs for Hungarian hunting traditions and I respect breeders producing supremely athletic Vizslas for upland bird hunting and field trials in other countries. But it looks like a prediction made 40 years ago by a Vizsla enthusiast named Phil Wright has come true. He wrote:

It is one of life’s facts that anything which is beautiful as well as useful will soon be coveted for its beauty and that those who so covet will soon outnumber those who treasure its utility.

The Vizsla is now in a situation similar to the Weimaraner: both are great looking dogs and, at least on paper, excellent hunters. But both breeds struggle with a growing number of breeders who do not hunt, test, or trial their dogs. Fortunately, both breeds still have a good number of supporters breeding excellent dogs that any hunter would be proud to own.

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Cooey rifles became a Canadian household name because of their simplicity, reliability, and affordability.Many countries are home to iconic and world-renowned firearms manufacturers. Inventors and engineers like Bartolomeo Beretta of Italy, Samuel Colt of the US, and William Anson and John Deeley of Great Britain are just a few examples. These are names that are synonymous with innovation, craftsmanship, and quality. Despite Canada’s notoriety as a country with restrictive firearm laws, Canada is not without its own iconic firearm manufacturer.

H.W. Cooey Machine & Arms was founded in 1903 as Cooey Machine & Gear by inventor Hebert William Cooey. Cooey Firearms may not be known for high-quality finishings, elaborate engravings, or prestige like Purdy, Holland & Holland, or Beretta, but they are simple, reliable, and affordable. This reputation made them a household name in Canada. Cooey produced over 12,000,000 firearms during the 20th century. An advertisement for the Cooey Canuck, which appeared in an early edition of Rod & Gun Canada, perhaps best described a Cooey rifle as “The ideal Christmas present for the red-blooded boy, whether he lives in the city, the town or the country.” If you were a kid growing up in Canada between the 1930s and 1980s, chances are you grew up shooting a Cooey rifle.

Image from Cobourg Museum FoundationOrigins of H.W. Cooey Machine & ArmsHerbert William (H.W.) Cooey was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1881. At 15, he began a three-year apprenticeship with the Grand Turk Railroad. Before his contract was up, he left and traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to meet his brother to take up a job working on a factory assembly line. This negative experience left a lasting impression on the young industrialist; he found the working conditions and treatment of the factory employees so appalling that it influenced how he ran his own company and treated his future employees.

In 1903, Cooey was confident enough with his skillset to venture out on his own as a “Mechanical Expert and Practicing Machinist. He opened a shop in the heart of Toronto named “Cooey Machine and Gear.” As his talents and reputation grew, so did the demand for his services as a machinist and inventor. Eventually, Cooey moved to a larger facility where he bidded on government contracts to assist the war effort. Cooey Machine and Gear won the bid to produce flip-up sites for Canada’s primary service rifle during the First World War: the Mark III Ross Rifle. This initial experience with the firearms industry sparked Cooey’s interest in firearm manufacturing. He realized he could do more than just produce parts; he could design firearms.

Image from Cobourg Museum FoundationIn 1919, Cooey Machine and Gear unveiled the Canuck, its first iconic firearm, chambered in .22 caliber. It was a single-shot, utilitarian rifle that was reliable, accurate, and cheap. This rifle was mass-produced under many names, including the “Ace,” “Eatonia,” “Model 39,” and “Model 75,” as the rifle was licensed under contracts to many major Canadian retailers like Sears and Eaton’s.

The Canuck single-shot .22 was frequently advertised as a great youth firearm, a “boy’s rifle,” because it was tough, very safe, and almost impossible to fire accidentally. Innovative for the time, what made it so safe was not only that it was a single shot, but even when loaded, the shooter was required to pull back a cocking handle at the rear to make it operable. When the round is chambered and the bolt is locked into place, it only half-cocks the rifle. Even loaded and chambered, the gun would not shoot unless the striker was manually cocked. This was a terrific safety feature for a young, first-time shooter.

Cooey Firearm’s Rise to FameA Cooey advertisement from 1922 boasts, “Over 6,000 Canadians have purchased Canucks during the past 12 months.” Major Canadian retailers like the T. Eaton company distributed Cooeys across the country. It quickly became evident that he needed bigger manufacturing facilities to accommodate the increased demand for Cooey firearms. A factory in Cobourg, Ontario, became the new home for H.W. Cooey Machine and Arms Co until the 1970s when it expanded to a bigger facility yet again.

To highlight the strength, power, and ingenuity of countries from around the globe, an exhibition was held in London in 1924. The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was an opportunity to showcase cultures and industries from around the world. Cooey sought this opportunity for his firearms to be showcased on the world stage, providing himself and the company with the international notoriety they needed to attempt an expansion throughout the British dominion. H.W. Cooey Machine & Gear was featured to a great deal of success and fanfare, and the Cooey Canuck rifle was recognized for its innovation. Cooey won a prestigious gold medal and certificate of honor.

Image from Cobourg Museum FoundationOne of the many reasons that H.W Cooey became such an incredible firearms manufacturer and inventor was because he lived and breathed firearms. He not only designed, invented, and manufactured firearms, but he was an Olympic-level shooter in his own right. Cooey supplied the Canadian Olympic shooting teams with firearms and personally represented Canada at the 1924 Olympics in France, taking home a silver medal in trap shooting. With the newfound fame from the exhibition and his Olympic success, the company updated its name to reflect its commitment to sport shooting. They rebranded to Cooey Machine and Arms Co.

After the word spread about Cooey’s quality craftsmanship, many major US firearms manufacturers inquired about whether Cooey could be used to manufacture firearms north of the border to bypass international taxes. Around 1932, Cooey Firearms was contracted out by US firearms manufacturing companies like Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works to make their shotguns. H.W Cooey Machine & Arms soon began manufacturing the single barrel “Champion” and the double-barrel “Hercules” shotguns for Iver Johnson & Cycle in their Ontario factory, creating their first non-rimfire rifle. Even though Cooey was making them in their Cobourg, Ontario, facility, they all received the stamp identifying them as Iver Johnson firearms and “Made in Montreal.”

Around 1935, Cooey identified their firearms with model numbers. Previously, they would just be called “Canuck,” “Ace 1, 2, 3,” “Cooey .22 cal,” or “Cooey Special.” The single-shot rifle became the Model 39 and 75, while the .22 repeater became the Model 60. From 1935 to 1939, they also produced the Model 35, a pump action .22. Although the Model 35 was one of the few Cooey firearms known to have reliability issues, it has made it a very valuable collectible firearm today.

In 1937, Herbert, the heart and soul of the company, notified his employees that he was ready to retire. He left the company in the hands of his competent son, Hubert, who resumed responsibility for H.W. Cooey Machine and Arms that same year. In 1939, capitalizing on the success of the Cooey Canuck, Cooey unveiled their newest rifle, a repeating, tube-fed bolt action rifle called the Model 60. It was a rifle that Herbert had designed and finalized before his retirement. Chambered in 22 shot, .22 long, and .22 long rifle, it provided a great deal of interchangeability and an increased rate of fire. The Model 60 was much more complicated because it included a tubular magazine, and when the bolt was cycled, it also cocked the striker simultaneously, unlike the single-shot Model 39.

With the popularity of the Canuck, its subsequent variations like the Ace, and the repeating Model 60, the market for Cooey rifles had grown exponentially within Canada. The majority of Cooey sales originated from Canadian sportsmen and women. However, before the outbreak of World War II, H.W Cooey Machine & Arms had begun to break into the commonwealth market with a few smaller contracts with distributors as far away as Australia.

During the Second World War, Cooey Machine & Arms returned to its roots by assisting the war effort. They made parts and rifles for the Canadian Military and their allies. Over 35,000 Model 82 training rifles chambered in .22 LR were produced as a cost-effective and easier way to train soldiers. The Model 82 was later developed and released for the civilian market in the late 1940s.

Image from Cobourg Museum FoundationFollowing the war in 1948, Hubert Cooey decided to break from the company’s tradition of creating only rimfire rifles under the Cooey brand. He began designing an economical, compact, single-shot shotgun produced in various gauges. Transitioning into the relatively new market for shotguns could have been a revelation within the company. But remember, the Cooey family had a long and storied tradition of shotgunning skills and experience manufacturing the Hercules and Champion shotguns for Iver Johnson.

The shotguns were built as utilitarian firearms, perfect for the field or farm. Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons commented, “It’s everything that a practical, everyday use, sort of working firearm ought to be.” What makes them unique is that the lever is ambidextrous, breaking either way, and the disassembly of the forend is just spring tension. Both innovations set the shotgun apart from other single-shot shotguns of the time.

Hubert Cooey’s innovations and changes didn’t stop there. By the war’s end, Hubert had led the design and development of entirely new products and services. By 1950, the factory included nine different departments: bluing, buffing, barrels, pressed parts, small parts, automatic screws, automatic assembly, woodshop, and rifling.

Female workers Eleanor Cowin (left) and Evelyn Gaffin operate lathes machining .22 calibre training rifles in the H.W. Cooey Co. Ltd. munitions plant. Canadian ArchivesTragedy Strikes Cooey Machine & ArmsHubert Cooey died suddenly in 1957. His death left the company without any direction. Hubert’s father, Herbert, came out of retirement and returned to lead Cooey Machine & Arms one last time. Unfortunately, due to his age and the magnitude of the responsibility, Herbert Cooey sold the company to Olin-Mathieson Ltd, making Cooey Machine & Arms a division of Winchester Repeating Arms. This sale occurred shortly before Herbert’s own death.

The last Cooey rifle, the Model 64 under Winchester ownership, was unveiled in 1970. The Model 64 was primarily designed by Hubert Cooey before his death and was released the same year as the Ruger 10/22. The Model 64 was a box-fed semi-auto .22 rifle offered in standard or deluxe finishings. Hubert recognized the need for Cooey to have an affordable semi-automatic offering to compete with other brands like Marlin and Ruger. Even after ten years of being on the Canadian market, this standard rifle still cost under $50.

With the influx of investment money and the popularity of Cooey rifles in Canada, Winchester moved the manufacturing to a bigger and more modern facility fitted with the latest German tooling and machinery. This allowed the company to significantly ramp up production by up to 2,000 firearms per day. Unfortunately, due to higher-than-anticipated costs, labor issues, and changing political climates, the manufacturing plant was finally closed in 1979.

Cooey Firearm’s Canadian LegacyAfter the plant closed, the machinery, including parts, tooling, and firearm plans, were sold to Lakeside Arms. Cooey’s workforce also moved north to continue manufacturing firearms for the new owner in their Lakefield, Ontario, factory. Lakeside Arms was then purchased by Savage Arms, who is the current owner. The Cooey 64 remains today in its relatively untouched evolution as the Savage Model 64.

Canada produced over 12,000,000 Cooey firearms in Canada. Many are still being used for target shooting and small game hunting today. Cooey Firearms taught generations of Canadians how to shoot; in fact, during the Great Depression, it was a Cooey rifle that helped my grandfather produce a steady supply of small game to feed his family. Despite Canadians’ endearment to the manufacturer and their products, the affordability and commonality of the firearms in Canada sprung a joke amongst enthusiasts, “My buddy is a Cooey collector and has a bunch of really nice examples…some are worth at least 40 bucks!”

The Cooey Ace, a renamed version of the original Canuck rifle, received international notoriety in 1935 after being used to kill a world-record grizzly bear in Slave Lake, Alberta. The bear was shot and killed by Bella Twin, a talented Cree outdoorswoman and trapper, who encountered the massive animal while tending to her trap line. She used her single-shot Cooey Ace chambered in .22 LR to take down the enormous beast. Not only that, but her rifle was in horrible condition: the barrel was attached to the stock using “hockey tape,” the barrel and crown were corroded, and the stock was cracked. Yet, it was still accurate enough to put down the bear.

Bella determined that it would be safer to try and shoot the bear at close range than to hide and risk being mauled. Using her detailed knowledge of animal anatomy, she shot the bear in the head, aiming between the eye and ear where the skull was weakest. She unloaded her remaining seven shells into the massive skull of the downed bear “for insurance.” The world record bear skull, complete with multiple .22 holes, measured in at 16 9/16” long and 9 14/16” wide, making the total score a whopping 26 7/16”. Presumably, it’s the largest animal ever killed with a Cooey rifle.

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This wild turkey recipe will give you mouth watering flavor without over drying the meat.Often, turkey hunters long to carve out wild turkey breast meat and throw them directly over a fire after a successful spring outing. In fact, it’s a ritual for some turkey hunters. However, it is very easy to overcook the outer layers of a turkey breast by simply throwing it over a fire. When dealing with a hunk of meat the size of your head, by the time the middle reaches 155 degrees Fahrenheit, the outer layers will be dry and well-well-done due to high heat methodology.

To avoid overcooking your wild turkey breasts, either carve up the breast and cook pieces separately or keep it whole. If you’re keeping the breast whole during cooking, we want to cook the meat slowly, allowing a low-heat temperature to move slowly through the meat. To do this, I recommend a sous vide cooker. If you don’t own one, you can try a similar technique in your oven, assuming your oven will go as low as 150 Fahrenheit (or potentially lower).

Turkey breasts can also be smoked whole. However, I don’t recommend going above 160 degrees when cooking a whole breast under any circumstances. Instead, finish with a sear to put a nice crust on the breast meat while keeping the meat’s internal temperature at 155. You don’t want the internal temperature of the meat to get hotter than this, which includes during the resting period when that internal temp continues to rise. Instead of a white meat appearance running through the entire breast, we want a slight blush in the meat that’s the color of a cheap rosé.

Turkey breast sizes vary. That means cooking directions vary, too. I cover this in detail below.

PrintDelicious Wild Turkey Breast RecipeThis easy wild turkey recipe will give you mouth watering flavor without over drying the wild turkey meat.Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Wild TurkeyPrep Time 20 minutesCook Time 3 hoursServings 6Ingredients 1 whole wild turkey breast likely at least 3 pounds * Dustings of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper * 2 Honeycrisp (or similar) apples sliced * 1 garlic bulb peeled and cloves cracked * 1 sprig fresh rosemary * 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme * 2-3 sprigs fresh sage * 2-3 sprigs fresh oregano * ½ cup white wine * 1 carton of chicken stock If you’re using your oven * Olive oil for coating ahead of searing Instructions* Lightly dust the turkey breast with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Seal the turkey breast in the sous vide bag with sliced apples, crushed garlic cloves, fresh herbs, and a little white wine. Allow this mixture to marinade in the fridge for a few hours. * To sous vide cook, if you’re working with a turkey breast larger than two pounds, set sous vide to 140 degrees. If the breast is smaller than two pounds (think of a young jake), set your sous vide to 130 degrees. * If the sous vide is set to 140 for a larger breast, sous vide cook for three hours. If it’s set to 130 for smaller breasts, sous vide cook for two hours. When finished, remove the breast from the bag and pat it dry. Then, heat a skillet or grill to 600 degrees. Lightly coat the breast meat with olive oil and sear each side for one minute. Allow the breast to rest for 10 minutes before carving. * If you don’t have a sous vide and need to use an oven, lightly dust your turkey breast with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Put it in an oven-safe baking dish. Add your sliced apples, garlic, and herbs overtop. Add one cup of white wine and enough chicken stock to cover the ingredients. Cover the tray with aluminum foil and place it in an oven set to 150 degrees. Bake for two hours for larger breasts and 1.5 hours for smaller breasts. When done, remove the breast, pat it dry, lightly coat it with olive oil, and sear each side for one minute on a 600-degree skillet or grill. * Wait 10 minutes before carving. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post How to Cook a Whole Wild Turkey Breast appeared first on Project Upland.

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The Bracco Italiano is a large pointing breed with a hound-like appearance known for its unique gait, affectionate, but at times, stubborn personalities. On a sunny day on the fall of 1990, I was aboard a train traveling through the beautiful countryside of northern Italy. As I watched the rich, green valley of the Po River pass by my window, I was reminded of an area where I hunt ruffed grouse near my home in Manitoba. I couldn’t help wondering what kind of game could be hiding in the root crops and corn.

During one of the many unscheduled train stops in the middle of nowhere, for unknown reasons, I noticed a man walking in the field about 200 meters from the track. He was carrying what I assumed to be a shotgun and appeared to be following a hedgerow that angled toward us. Un cacciatore, I thought, a hunter!? As I pressed my nose against the window to get a better look, I could see that the hunter was not alone; he had a dog. It was fairly large, had an orange and white coat, and was about 50 meters to the hunter’s left, trotting along the other side of the hedgerow.

Typically, an unscheduled stop of an Italian train is a brief inconvenience lasting a minute or two. But on this occasion I found myself hoping that the train had come off the rails. I was absolutely fascinated by the scene outside my window. I had never seen a dog like that before. From its look and range I surmised it was a pointing dog. The way it held its head, obviously air-scenting, told me it was probably hunting feather, not fur. Fortunately, the train remained stationary for about a quarter of an hour, giving me a fantastic opportunity to watch the hunter and his dog work the field.

The first thing that struck me was the pace and stride of the large but very agile dog. It was actually covering a lot of ground at a very smooth, quick trot. Its movements were graceful, fluid. It reminded me of the pace of a Tennessee Fox Trotter.

After reaching the end of the hedgerow, the hunter turned back as the dog worked toward a short line of bushes further out in the field. Half way there, the dog slowed to a tense creep, then froze. The hunter made his way toward the dog, stepped up beside it, and hunter and dog together advanced cautiously toward the cover. They had taken only a few steps when a small covey of what looked like partridges flushed about ten meters in front of them. Just then, I felt a jerk as the train came back to life; we were on our way again. I’d seen the hunter raise his gun, I even heard the distant gunshots, but I couldn’t see if any birds fell. And I didn’t get the chance to see if the dog was sent for a retrieve. The hunter and his dog had disappeared from my view, but not from my memory.

Five years later as I thumbed through a book of dog breeds in my local library, I came across a photograph of the kind of dog I saw that day. It was a Bracco Italiano.

Bracco Italiano FormThe Bracco Italiano has perhaps the most hound-like appearance of all the gundog breeds. The large head, droopy jowls and long, low-set ears give them a look of a tall, athletic Bloodhound.

Size of the Bracco Italiano Males: 22-27 inches (55-67 cm) and 55-88 pounds
Females: 22-25 inches (55-62 cm) and 53-86 pounds

The wide range of size in the standard is due to the fact that two slightly different types were bred in different regions of Italy. Today most breeders select for dogs in the middle of the standard, but dogs from field lines tend to be smaller than dogs from show lines.

Coat of the Bracco Italiano The coat is short and dense. It has glossy appearance and is very smooth to the touch. Acceptable colors are: all white, with white orange or dark amber markings, white with chestnut markings, white with pale orange ticking, and white mottled with chestnut ticking (roan-chestnut) eyes and ears.

Character of the Bracco Italiano Among the most common terms owners of the Bracchi use to describe their dogs is “affectionate”. But many will also tell you that, at times, their dogs can be stubborn.

Training the Bracco Italiano The breed is known to be slow to mature and quite soft. Harsh discipline and forceful training methods are to be avoided. According to American Bracco breeder Chris Goodman:

“Bracchi have a houndy appearance, but there is nothing hound-like in their personality. They are soft and affectionate animals that do not take well to heavy-handed training. Lean on them to hard and they will sulk. Positive reinforcement techniques work best with them.”

Bracco Italiano and ProtectionThe Imposing size and deep voice of a Bracco Italiano would seem to make them a good candidate for a guard dog. And while I am sure they can, I’ve never actually heard one bark, let alone growl.

“They might make a good doorbell but that’s about it. They are just too friendly to be considered a guard dog.” (Chris Goodman)

Bracco Italiano Health IssuesIncidences of hip dysplasia and other common canine health issues are not unknown in the breed, but are not particularly common. As can be expected in a breed with somewhat loose skin on and around the head, ectropion can occur. Ther have also been known cases of gastric torsion.

Bracco Italiano Clubs The official club for the Bracco Italiano in Italy is the SABI (Società Amatori Bracco Italiano). Formed in 1949, it organizes field trials and conformation shows throughout Italy. In the United States it is the Bracco Italiano Club Of America (BICA). There are also clubs in Holland, Belgium, and the UK.

Bracco Italiano Populations Today in Italy, there is a healthy and stable population of Bracchi Italiani. Approximately 600 to 700 pups are whelped there each year. The breed enjoys a good reputation among Italian hunters as a reliable gundog with outstanding natural abilities and an excellent nose. There is even a fairly active field trial scene for Bracchi in Italy with a number of professional handlers and trainers specializing in the breed.

Worldwide populations are estimated to be around 3500 to 4000. NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association) had 102 registered in 2022. Over a 450% growth in the last decade. Outside of Italy, the breed is slowly gaining ground, particularly in Holland and the UK. In North America, however, it lags far behind its cousin, the Spinone.

A Detailed History of the Bracco Italiano Dogs fitting the description of the Bracco Italiano have existed for centuries, mainly in the northern half of the Italian peninsula. Written references to their general type can be found as far back as the 13th century. Some authorities argue that they are the ancestors of all pointing dogs including the Old Spanish Pointer which, they claim, made its way to Spain from Italy. Others disagree. We will never know exactly where pointing dogs were first developed, but it is clear that the Italians were among the first to systematically breed them.

But it was not until the 17th century as hunting methods changed from netting to the use of firearms that the Bracco Italianos began to take on a form and function that we would recognize today. Former club president Cesare Bonasegale wrote about the period in an online article:

“…at the beginning of the 1600s, with the evolution of the matchlock and wheel-lock arquebuse… guns became more manageable and could be used to shoot flying game, something which must have brought about a remarkable turning point in the use of pointing dogs. Dogs would have had to point more solidly, something not required when hunting with a hawk. But above all it became important to develop dogs with the scenting ability to locate game from a greater distance than what was required to hunt with a net. Nevertheless, it would take a hundred more years before the advent of guns of a modern design that enabled the dissemination of the new type of hunting, resulting in the golden age of the Bracco Italiano, beginning in about 1700.“

During this transformative era, the breed’s popularity rose and it became the favorite hunting companion of the Italian nobility. The famous and influential Gonzaga and the Medici families bred some of the finest Bracchi of the time. Eventually, dogs from these lines made their way to royal kennels elsewhere in Europe, including the court of France’s King Louis XIV in the 17th century.

As the breed increased in popularity and population, it became clear that two general types of Bracchi were being bred: one, a smaller, lighter, orange and white version; and the other, a somewhat larger dog with a brown and white coat. Various authorities conclude that the two types developed due to different hunting conditions, traditions, and game densities in their native regions. It is speculated that on the plains of Lombardy the local cover was sparser and the game more wary. A more cautious, methodical dog was therefore required to hunt them effectively. In the Piedmont region, the dogs were said to be faster and wider ranging.

In the decades just prior to the establishment of official kennel clubs and breed registries, there is said to have been other versions of the Bracco Italiano. The most well known was the Bracco Ranza from the area around the city of Piacenza. Apparently, this breed’s origins can be traced to 1820 when the Duke of Piacenza presented the Marquis Gaetano Scotti of Vigoleno with two dogs he had brought back from Spain. The female of the pair got lost during a particular hunt. Eventually, a farmer named Ranza found the bitch and was allowed to keep her. He then bred her to a white and brown Bracco Italiano. Pups from that litter were used to establish the Bracco Ranza. The breed managed to survive until at least 1909, when a standard was published. By 1930, however, it had died out.

As with most of the other Continental breeds, war and revolution have endangered the survival of the Bracco Italiano several times. And like other breeds on the continent, the Bracco was almost completely overtaken by the massive importation of Pointers and Setters from England in the 1800s. In fact, by the turn of the last century, the breed had been more or less abandoned by nobility and common hunter, alike. With game populations in decline, the close-working, methodical Bracco simply could not compete with the faster, wider-ranging British breeds.

Perhaps the lowest point came just after the Second World War. Many kennels did not survive the war and of the few that did, some went under during the extremely difficult post-war years. Fortunately a small but loyal group of enthusiasts managed to hang on. In 1949 they formed a club for the preservation and promotion of the Bracco Italiano.

The Bracco Italiano TodayThroughout the history of the Bracco Italiano, breeders have modified their dogs to suit local conditions. At the turn of the last century in particular there was a great deal of “creative” breeding done in reaction to the massive importation of other breeds.

Writing in the late 1950s about the experimental period in the Bracco’s development, French author Jean Castaing declared that:

“The Italians tried to transform their dog for the sake of the fashions of the time. They must have used the same processes as breeders in our country, for there were no other ways: crosses to Pointers, reduction in the size and weight by artificial means, and selection of dogs less Continental in type… For the last 20 years, breeders have denounced this destruction of their Bracco and these half-breeds have almost disappeared.”

In his more recent article, Cesare Bonasegale comments about this period as well:

“The penultimate episode, which took place between the two wars, was one of evil bastardization with the Pointer; a shortcut to make the Bracco more dynamic since at that time it was too slow, lethargic and too close-working for the lower densities of game. These crosses were excellent dogs responding to the needs of our hunters… But they were not Bracchi Italiani in their movement, behavior or psychology. There are ways to create a new breed, as the Germans did so well–and people did in fact call them “Bracco Pointers” and considered them to be a new breed. But the characteristics of these crossbred dogs were too variable, and the crosses produced dogs that were unable to trot properly.”

By the 1960s, breeders had managed to weed out the overly “Pointerized” dogs and lines. But they continued to select for hard-working, athletic dogs with a more dynamic and wide-ranging search than their ancestors and eventually arrived at the modern Bracco Italiano seen today.

It’s been almost 20 years since that day on the train when I first laid eyes on a Bracco Italiano. Since then, I have had the pleasure of Italy. And what I’ve seen leaves me with no doubt: a well-bred Bracco Italiano can be a excellent gundog.

Among the most memorable experiences I’ve had with the breed was at a field trial organized by the SABI, near the Italian city of Piacenza. In attendance were a number of club members and several professional handler/trainers. Some of the dogs presented that day were among the best of the best. All of them ran solo for about half an hour. The terrain was a mix of knee-high grasses and low, thick bushes. The quarry was wild pheasant and partridge.

Following the judges, with cameras in hand, I was absolutely mesmerized by what I saw. There in the distance, barely visible in a morning fog that still lingered over the field, was a Bracco Italiano quartering back and forth at an amazingly fast trot. It was the same trot I had seen from the train window nearly 20 years earlier, but it was astonishingly quick and powerful. It is truly difficult to describe the power, elegance and speed of this kind of trot; it is something you have to see to believe. But there it was, the trotto spinto I had read so much about. It is the unique gait and style of movement that Bracco breeders in Italy strive so hard to preserve in their lines. Later on, I noticed that some of the younger dogs galloped most of the time. Club members explained that it is normal for young dogs to gallop a lot, and that the judges will accept it at that age. As they mature, these same dogs will be expected to trot most of the time.

I also visited with former club president and longtime breeder Cesare Bonasegale, who had graciously agreed to run two of his dogs for me in a forest near his home. Both dogs displayed the absolutely classic Bracco style of trotting. They were very thorough in their search and covered a lot of ground. Their points were solid, almost statuesque.

In Europe, the Bracco Italiano has a good reputation for being a dependable, hard working hunting dog. But it is not even on the radar of the majority of Canadian and American versatile dog enthusiasts. And that is a shame. The breed should be better known over here. I understand that the trotting style or houndy look may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but after having seen Bracchi in Italy, France and Holland, I can confirm that a Bracco Italiano from proven lines can be a fantastic hunting dog.

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Whether they’re considered an upland bird or waterfowl, sandhill cranes are an emblem of North American conservation successesRaspy trumpets descending from the heavens broke the crisp silence and broke me out of my ice fishing trance. It’s easy to lose yourself while staring into the flashing circles and lines of a Vexilar screen, but the first sandhill crane calls of the year would snap anyone back into reality. I looked up through my copper-tinted glasses and counted nearly 200 cranes flying west over Blue Mesa Reservoir towards Montrose’s agricultural fields and milder temperatures. That’s more cranes than were left in Wisconsin in the 1930s.

Sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) are one of North America’s great conservation successes. This enormous bird species was extirpated from many states within its home range almost a century ago. Amazingly, in 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated their population to be 945,996 cranes. They’re the most abundant crane species in the world. Between 1966 and 2019, their populations have been increasing about four percent annually, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Additionally, Partners in Flight estimates there are 560,000 breeding birds.

Whether one considers them more of an upland bird species, waterfowl species, or something else entirely is still in the air. But however hunters may classify them, these red-crowned birds are becoming legal to pursue across the US.

A Brief History of Sandhill Crane ConservationCranes are some of the oldest bird species on Earth. Fossils from the Eocene revealed that cranes were present on our planet over 50 million years ago. According to the Audubon Society, “A Crowned Crane fossil, a close relative of the Sandhill Crane, was found in the Ashfall Fossil Beds in northeast Nebraska, estimated to be about 10 million years old.” The earliest sandhill crane fossil, found in the Macasphalt Shell Pit in Florida, dates back to 2.5 million years ago. Other sandhill fossils, like one found in Nebraska, support the narrative that sandhills are “one of the oldest known bird species” (International Crane Foundation). Cranes are unarguably an iconic species for our entire planet.

Fast forward to the 1800s and 1900s, and market hunters nearly drove this ancient species to extinction. Sandhills were extirpated from most of their home range, including most states east of the Mississippi River. In addition to being overhunted, increased human development eliminated suitable crane habitat across the US. The reduction in suitable habitat and population size contributed to their population declining to an estimated several thousand individuals by 1940.

Captive breeding programs and translocating live-trapped birds helped wild sandhill crane populations rebound through the second half of the 20th century. Although the Cuban and Mississippi sandhill crane subspecies are still listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, the lesser, Florida, and greater subspecies are rebounding.

Sandhill Crane ClassificationsSandhill cranes are found in the family Gruidae within the order Gruiformes. Their closest relatives are the other 14 species of cranes found in their family, and rails, coots, and gallinules are their Gruiformes cousins. There are six subspecies of sandhill crane:

1. Lesser sandhill crane, A. c. canadensis
2. Greater sandhill crane, A. c. tabida
3. Canadian Sandhill Crane, A. c. Rowani
4. Florida sandhill crane, A. c. pratensis
5. Cuban sandhill crane, A. c. nesiotes (endangered)
6. Mississippi sandhill crane, A. c. pulla (endangered)

Interestingly, the greater, lesser, and Canadian subspecies are migratory, while the Cuban, Mississippi, and Florida subspecies are year-round residents within their home ranges.

Previously classified under the genus Grus, sandhills were reclassified to the genus Antigone in 2016. When the reclassification went public, the American Birding Association mentioned, “Antigone is the name of Oedipus’s daughter/half-sister in Greek mythology.” It’s understood that Antigone is known for her unwavering beliefs, and her name means “in place of one’s parents.”

Sandhill Crane Life HistoryThese tall, long-necked birds are not a sexually dimorphic species; both male and female sandhills look alike. They are covered in brown-tipped, heavy-looking gray body feathers and red crowns and white throats adorn their heads. However, immature birds have very little to no red on their heads and have rust-colored necks. All birds have thick black bills and long black legs. Lesser sandhills stand around three to four feet tall and weigh around 7.5 pounds. Greater sandhills can be four to five feet tall and weigh nine to twelve pounds.

Sandhill cranes mate for life and stay together year-round. This helps increase the survival rates of their offspring. They establish their partnerships through an iconic, showy mating dance. Displaying cranes will outstretch their wings, bow to each other, bob their heads, and even jump into the air. They’ll also dance with their mates to strengthen their bond and ward off potential nest predators. These birds live for a long time in the wild, generally 20 to 40 years. “The oldest Sandhill Crane on record was at least 37 years and three months old. Originally banded in Florida in 1982, it was found in Wisconsin in 2019,” writes the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Birds typically locate a mate between ages three and five and produce one to two offspring a year for the rest of their lives.

Sandhill crane offspring are called colts. Colts hatch in ground nests near small, isolated wetlands like bogs, marshes, and even irrigation ditches. Preferably, nests are built on elevated vegetative areas within these wet spots, but sandhills will also tolerate building nests on dry ground. Each nest is constructed with whatever dominant vegetation is around, whether it’s cattails, grasses, sedges, or other similar species. Females typically lay one to two eggs each spring and incubate them for about a month.

When the fall migration rolls around, family units migrate together and join up with other units and nonbreeding cranes. Migrating cranes travel around 30 mph and may fly up to 400 miles in one day. Together, the cranes congregate on their wintering grounds and protect each other from predation. In the spring, when the colts reach nine to ten months of age, they leave their parents to become single, nonbreeding cranes until they find a mate.

Sandhills are omnivores and probe for foods like aquatic plants, seeds, cultivated grains, berries, tubers, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. Nonmigratory subspecies tend to eat more insects, larvae, snails, reptiles, amphibians, small nestling birds, and berries. This wide palate is easy to satiate in their favorite habitats, which are typically small wetlands or agricultural fields surrounded by woods and shrubs.

Sandhill Crane HuntingSandhill crane hunting isn’t for everyone. Shooting a bird in the face that can live to be 40 years old in the wild, mates for life, and mourns the loss of loved ones makes it hard to pull the trigger. However, they earned the name “ribeye in the sky” for a reason, and they decimate crops in some parts of the country.

Most crane hunters hunt cranes like waterfowl. They set up decoy spreads in agricultural fields and use calls to tempt birds within shooting range. Like waterfowl hunting, hunters must be discretely concealed so the birds cannot see them when coming into the decoys. Most folks use 12-gauge, semiauto shotguns for hunting cranes. Even though using lead ammunition to hunt cranes is legal, I would highly advise against using it, especially if you are hunting near water or in a field where food for humans or livestock is grown.

Sandhill crane hunting was outlawed in the US from 1918 through 1960 to help protect the rebounding population and because of the enactment of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The first hunting seasons reopened in the 1970s. Since then, sandhill crane hunting has been offered annually throughout the Central Flyway in portions of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, and all the Canadian provinces in the Central Flyway. Nebraska is the only state in the flyway that does not allow crane hunting. “Within the Central Flyway cranes are hunted in 14 states and all of the Canadian provinces. They are not hunted in Nebraska. They are difficult to hunt, and usually less than 5 percent of the population is taken annually,” says the Nebraska Game and Parks website. In Minnesota, sandhills are still a protected species. However, in 2010, the MNDNR started offering sandhill crane hunting in the northern portion of the state.

Special Sandhill Crane Hunting Permits, or more recently, HIP certifications, have

been required for crane hunters in the Central Flyway since 1975. Minnesota also requires a state-issued permit to hunt them.

The Rocky Mountain sandhill population was not hunted from 1918 to 1980. “Arizona initiated the first modern-day season in 1981. Since that time, hunting programs have been guided by a cooperative management plan, including a harvest strategy that has been periodically updated and endorsed by the Central and Pacific Flyways,” says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their report titled “Status and Harvest of Sandhill Cranes.” A limited hunting season during the fall and winter of 2019 and 2020 yielded 1,100 hunted Rocky Mountain cranes. Management guidelines allowed for a “maximum allowable take of 1,536 birds during the 2020-21 hunting season, a six percent decrease from that for the 2019-20 season” according to the USFWS report.

The Lower Colorado River Valley sandhill crane population is the smallest of all the migratory crane populations in the US. The USFWS admits that historically, this population has not been well-monitored. However, they started doing annual aerial surveys in 1998. They counted 2,941 birds in 2020; the three-year population average is 2,753 cranes. Only Arizona has attempted to hunt this population. The state conducted a youth hunt in 2010, and no cranes were killed. Since then, there have been no plans by Arizona, New Mexico, or California to hunt this population.

Lastly, the eastern population of cranes has been counted annually since 1979. The current three-year estimate for this population segment is 86,222 cranes. In 2010, the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyway Councils endorsed a management plan for these cranes, and “one of the plan’s provisions included guidelines for a potential harvest of this population when the three-year average of the fall survey is above 30,000 cranes.” As a result of meeting this goal, Kentucky has had an operational hunting season since 2015, and Tennessee has had a hunting season since 2017. Alabama started its experimental hunting season just three years ago. In these three states, the sandhill season must occur between September 1 and January 31 and last for a maximum of 60 days. Actual season dates for these states have been from December through January. Hunters may only shoot one crane and must complete mandatory crane identification training, tag and report harvested birds, and complete a post-season survey. “The total number of Eastern Population sandhill cranes harvested during 2019-20 hunting seasons was 1,133 birds,” says USFWS.

Wisconsin proposed a sandhill crane hunt in 2021, but it did not move forward during the 2022 legislative session. The International Crane Foundation (ICF) wrote, “In 2021, a bill (SB-620) was introduced to the Wisconsin State Assembly to create a hunting season for Sandhill Cranes in Wisconsin. Approval of a Sandhill Crane hunt is sought by the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and other farmers to reduce crop depredation on farms and trigger compensation payments to farmers.” However, the ICF argued that a fall crane season would not decrease crop depredation because that mainly occurs in the spring when seeds germinate. SB-620 may be on the docket for consideration again this year.

To help prolong sandhill crane populations for generations to come, their habitat must be protected. “It’s particularly important to conserve wetlands in the ranges of nonmigratory populations, and in staging and wintering areas where large migratory flocks congregate,” states the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Between commercial development, natural resource extraction, and urban sprawl, places like wetlands, grasslands, and stopover sites are at risk of being developed for human purposes. Sandhill cranes (and the endangered whooping crane) rely on these places to breed, feed, and live. Hunters should actively advocate for the protection of at-risk habitats to increase the sustainability of annual hunting seasons and the resiliency of the landscapes these birds depend on.

The next time you hear a five-foot-tall bird with a seven-foot wingspan trumpeting at you from the sky, look up. Take it in; birds just like that one in front of you have been flying across our continent’s skies for millions of years.

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Learn how to identify male or female woodcock and adult and juvenile woodcock with these steps and charts “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is a common phrase most folks are familiar with. From a sustainability standpoint, it’s easy to understand that leaving more birds on the landscape than you take is something worth valuing. However, when we are lucky enough to have a bird in the hand, how do we begin to identify what that bird is?

Hopefully, if you’re an upland hunter, you already know how to identify a game bird to species. Given that hunting regulations are almost always species-specific, it’s our responsibility to know what’s flushing in front of us before pulling the trigger, especially when multiple species can look incredibly similar. Wilson’s snipe come to mind as an example because they share their favorite habitats with federally protected shorebird species. Luckily, when hunting American woodcock, you probably won’t run into any lookalikes; I can’t imagine anyone’s ever mistaken a ruffed grouse for a woodcock.

When your dog retrieves a woodcock to hand, it’s nearly impossible not to take a moment to admire the bird. Long bill, tiny feet, feathery details, and the lightness of its body; can you believe this handful of hollow bones and wild meat flew hundreds of miles twice a year, only to find a final resting place in your vest? Paying attention to the little details of this remarkable bird can tell you more about that individual’s life, too. Is it a male or a female? Adult or a juvenile? Here are some tips for deepening your knowledge about the woodcock who will feed your family this fall.

Telling a Male Woodcock from a Female WoodcockAmerican woodcock are sexually dimorphic. This means that males and females are different from each other. In the case of the American woodcock, females are larger than males in just about every way, even though they look nearly identical. Interestingly, Eurasian woodcock are the opposite; males are much larger than females.

When determining whether your bird is a male or female, start by looking at the wings. “You can get all this information from a wing,” said Andrew Weik, a former American Woodcock Society Regional Wildlife Biologist, in a YouTube video from 2015. He’s referencing Greg F. Sepik’s handbook, A Woodcock in the Hand. “When we determine the sex of a bird from a wing, we look at the three primary wing feathers.” The three primaries that Weik is referring to are the three outermost wing feathers, the farthest flight feathers from the woodcock’s shoulder. In the video, he compares the width and length of these three feathers. A male woodcock’s three outer primaries are shorter and narrower than a female’s. You can see the difference at a glance, but researchers in Dr. Erik Blomberg’s lab at the University of Maine get a little more specific.

“There are three things I look for,” said Colby Slezak, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rhode Island who works with Dr. Blomberg. “Female bills are typically greater than 70 mm, wing chord measurements are typically more than 139 mm, and width of the outer three primaries is greater than 13 mm.” These specific numbers help researchers tell the difference between birds when the size difference isn’t as exaggerated, like between slightly larger males and slightly smaller females.

“Females are heavier as well, typically weighing approximately 210 grams,” Slezak added.

Weik has a neat way to measure bill length in the field, too. If you’re out hunting, “take out a greenback,” he said, “and slide your currency into the woodcock’s bill . If it’s up tight to its face and the upper mandible comes up short, it’s a male. You’ll notice that the female’s larger, longer bill will reach the edge or go past the edge of the dollar bill.”

Telling an Adult Woodcock from a Juvenile Woodcock“You can tell adult from juvenile woodcock based on patterning found on feathers 15-18,” said Slezak. To locate feathers 15-18, count down from the outermost wing feather until you hit feathers 15, 16, 17, and 18. These are a set of secondary wing feathers. Slezak explains, “Juveniles have a light-colored terminal band and mottling on the feather.” Adults do not. Instead, adult woodcock have no distinct dark band, and if they have any mottling, it’s asymmetrical.

“That nice, bright, even, buffy tip stands right out,” said Weik. “Just under that buffy tip, it’s nice and dark. It’s a nice contrast between the buffy tip and the dark feather.” He mentions that juvenile birds have more arrow-shaped feather tips, too. “Adult birds will have no distinct buffy tip or much less. Also, the feathers tend to be narrower on one side of the rachis, or that center line, and wider on the other.”

In the video, Weik takes his wing analysis a step further. He explains that woodcock, just like other birds, experience an annual molt. However, they don’t lose all their flight feathers at once like some birds do; instead, they lose “one flight feather on a wing at a time, so they are always capable of flying.” On the adult female woodcock he uses as an example in the video, it’s apparent that she didn’t molt all of her flight feathers that year. Her old, worn feathers are light brown, and her new ones are dark brown. “It’s been a dry summer here in Minnesota, and when it’s dry, there’s not as much food available to woodcock. This bird didn’t have enough energy to replace some of these feathers.” As a result, that female only grew a few new feathers instead of replacing all of her flight feathers prior to the fall migration.

The next time you find an American woodcock in your hand, take a look at its wings, bill, and overall size prior to sticking it in your vest. Knowing the age and sex of your woodcock helps you build local knowledge about the birds that live in your favorite covers, and it’ll likely make you appreciate them even more, too. The more we understand about the birds we love, the more we can appreciate the lives they gave up for us.

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Learn the best practices for butchering, carving and cooking your wild spring turkeyWhen people most people think of turkey, domestic or wild, they envision a whole bird. The skin is crispy, caramelized from a long oven roast, and stuffed to the brim as a dinner table centerpiece. This was the picture I had in my mind when I bagged my first wild turkey over 12 years ago. I treated it no differently than a Thanksgiving bird. Upon trying to carve and bite into the thighs, I immediately realized that one does not simply roast a wild turkey whole.

While I still know alleged wild game chefs that do this and proclaim it works based on XYZ, I think they’re spitting on my cupcake and telling me it’s frosting. The truth is that wild turkey meat can taste incredible if you know how to butcher and cook it correctly.

Here is how it’s done.

Do I Pluck or Skin a Wild Turkey?In past articles, I advocate for plucking when possible. Additionally, I have suggested not gutting the bird before plucking, as tears in the skin may make plucking difficult. In the instance of wild turkeys, based on the toughness of the skin, you can indeed gut the bird before plucking. Additionally, because these large birds are heavily insulated and hold a lot of heat, you’ll want to gut that bird within a couple of hours, especially if the day is supposed to be a warm one.

And, yes, you should absolutely save your giblets. More on that here.

Wild turkey skin has flavor, but wild turkey is one of those birds where I don’t consider plucking to be essential. In terms of the wings, though, plucking those is worth the effort. This is because of the skin-equals-flavor argument and because skinning (e.g., knife work) along the wings runs the risk of damaging meat.

But the thighs and legs require low-and-slow cooking techniques. When using these methods, the skin may turn into gelatin and actually offer an unwanted texture in your wild turkey dish. Regarding the breasts, skinning or plucking them is up to you. In the butchering section, I’ll explain why the effort of plucking wild turkey breasts may not fit your needs in the kitchen.

If you do plan to pluck your bird, you can dry pluck or scald it, which means dunking the whole bird in 150-degree Fahrenheit water multiple times until the wing feathers easily pull out. Once they do, you’re ready to pluck the rest of the bird. Remember that it might take three to five minutes of dunking for the wing feathers to pull out easily.

Wild Turkey Butchering StepsWild Turkey BreastsBefore you remove your turkey breasts, make sure your knife is razor sharp and, ideally, somewhat flexible. You’ll want to use a fillet knife or something similar to remove turkey breasts. (Read: do not use a carving or chef knife as you might use at the Thanksgiving table.) You don’t even need a long knife; a sharp pocket knife will serve you well.

When butchering my wild turkeys, I start by removing the breast meat. You can pluck or skin them, but I suggest beginning with an incision to either the left or right of the keel bone, just below the wishbone, with the bird’s feet pointed toward you. Keep the blade tight to that keel bone as you run your knife down to its base. From there, it’s a matter of angling your blade to free the meat from the bone via gradual swipes. To do so, place your index finger along the back of the unsharpened side of the blade to help steer the edge up toward the wings. With your non-knife hand, pull the breast meat up and away from the bone, so your knife can get underneath the meat and continue to work inhibited. The contour line of the bone below the breasts isn’t flat, so go slow and angle your blade so it carves off every morsel of meat from the bone.

As you work, you may turn the bird so the head faces me instead of the feet. This helps as I work the blade along the side of the turkey, up towards the shoulder joint. Once you reach the shoulder joint, return to the keel bone and follow the line along the wishbone, eventually meeting at the shoulder and pulling the breast. Repeat these steps on the other side.

Turkey breasts are enormous. Each breast may be the size of your head. When cooked whole, a wild turkey breast’s outer layers often dry out before the center hits that 150 temp. For this reason, I suggest butchering breasts into smaller portions, approximately eight ounces each. When cutting up these portions, it may help to butterfly the breast, or cut it in half like you’re opening up a book. From there, carve it into pieces resembling a chicken breast’s size and shape.

Because of the need to butcher wild turkey breasts into smaller portions, plucking turkey breasts is not worth it to me. Even if you pluck the breasts, you’ll end up with several skinless pieces anyways.

Butchering Wild Turkey TenderloinsThe tenderloins are that smaller, finger-like piece of meat hidden below the breasts. They have different muscle striations and should be cooked separately. On a large spring gobbler, they can be the size of a pheasant breast. As you might have guessed, they are the most tender cut on a wild turkey. You shouldn’t need a knife to remove them; you can carefully peel turkey tenderloins off the bone.

Butchering Wild Turkey Thighs and LegsI skin turkey legs and thighs, which means I make a small incision in the skin on both thighs to rip it open and pull the skin off the thighs. Next, I fold the thighs backward, popping the socket-shaped bones from the hip joints. Using my knife and concentrating on starting as far back as possible, I start cutting towards the base of the back of the bird. This helps to remove as much thigh meat as possible. Continuing to fold the thigh backward might help you as you cut, too. Doing so will show you which line to follow.

Once the thigh is freed from the bird’s body, pull off any remaining skin. Roll the base of the leg at the foot joint, attempting to crack that joint and remove the feet. If you’re separating the thigh from the turkey leg, carefully roll the leg back and forth at the thigh joint. Once it’s loose, use your knife to sever the tendons.

Butchering Wild Turkey WingsIt’s easier to butcher wings if they have been plucked. If you’re dry plucking, this may take some muscle and patience, but it’s more than possible to pluck the wings within ten minutes.

If you’ve already removed the breasts, you should be able to see the wing shoulder joints. Pop them upward as if the bird is attempting to fly. Use your knife to carve around the joint, somewhat back into the bird’s cavity, to free the wing. Unlike thighs, which follow a straight line when cutting them away from the body, wings require you to make a half circle with your knife edge back toward the breast bone.

After removing a wing, you can separate it at the drumette joint or keep it whole. If you’re separating it, just like the thigh and leg, carefully rock that joint back and forth until it loosens; toughly handling joints runs the risk of mangling meat. Then sever any remaining tendon or skin connections.

Wild Turkey Giblets

Cut off your turkey’s neck to include it in gravy or stock. If you pluck the bird’s back, you can cut out the spine to use in stock or gravy using a pair of kitchen shears. There might be meat tucked underneath the wishbone, too. Using those same shears, cut off the wishbone and either peel off the meat or save it whole to cook that little bit of meat on its own. You can also save the liver, gizzard, and kidneys from your turkey.

How to Cook Wild Turkey Cuts

Before you cook any part of your wild turkey, brine your cuts. Here’s how to brine wild bird meat. Next, understand this is a wild, lean, and old bird compared to domestic turkeys. For context, chickens are killed and butchered when they’re seven to nine weeks old. You likely killed at least a 2-year-old wild turkey.

Avoid cooking the breast whole unless you’re smoking it low and slow for a while (or a similar technique where low heat can move more evenly through the meat).

Collagen is prevalent in the working cuts, including the wings, thighs, and legs. Collagen will toughen up before it tenderizes. This is why you need to cook these tougher cuts via low-and-slow methods. Here’s a recipe for BBQ Wings, and you can apply these same cooking methods to turkey thighs and legs. There are other great turkey recipes on Project Upland’s website, so scroll through and find something that sounds delicious. I’ll have more recipes to follow this butchering guide, too, once I shoot my own spring gobbler this year.

For more general wild-turkey handling and cooking tips, check out this article.

Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.

The post How to Butcher a Wild Turkey appeared first on Project Upland.

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The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is a medium-sized dog that combines a rough-and-tumble coat with a driven but friendly personalityThe word griffon (or griffin) can be traced back to the Greek and Latin roots meaning “hook” or “claw” or even “hawk” ( i.e., a bird with claws). Long ago, it was the name of a mythical beast with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion—with clawed feet, of course.

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Eventually the word “griffon” became associated with many of the rough-coated dog breeds found throughout Europe. That is why the word “pointing” is in the name of the Korthals griffon. It is there to indicate that, unlike the Blue Gascony griffon, a type of running hound, or the Belgian griffon, a companion breed, the wirehaired pointing griffon is a pointing breed. The name also refers to the wire-haired coat. This is to differentiate it from other griffons with non-wiry coats, such as the French woolly-haired pointing griffon developed by Emmanuel Boulet and the Brabançon griffon that has a smooth coat.

A Wirehaired Pointing Griffon points an American Woodcock during spring training. Wirehaired Pointing Griffon FormWirehaired Pointing Griffons can sometimes be mistaken for other wire-haired breeds such as the german Wirehaired pointer, Cesky Fousek or Stichelhaar. On average, however, Wirehaired pointing griffons are slightly smaller than those breeds and tend to have a longer coat and more pronounced beard, moustache and eyebrows.

Size of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Males: 23-26 inches (58-63 cm) and 55-69 pounds
Females: 21.5-24 inches (55-60 cm) and 50-65 pounds

Coat of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon In terms of length and harshness, the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon’s coat may be the most variable of all the wire-haired breeds. I have seen Griffons with practically short-haired coats and Griffons with very long, woolly coats, and nearly everything in between.

According to the breed’s FCI standard, the ideal coat is harsh and coarse, reminding of the touch of a wild boar’s bristles. The AKC standard does not mention boars’ bristles probably because most Americans have never seen a wild boar, let alone touched its bristles. Nevertheless, the coat is made up of a coarse, harsh topcoat and a fine, dense undercoat. Wirehaired Pointing Griffons should have pronounced eyebrows and a full beard and moustache.

The coat color is generally a steel-grey shade with liver patches. It is often seen in a liver roan pattern with a mixture of brown and white hairs. Wirehaired Pointing Griffons can also be “self-colored”, that is to say, all brown. The FCI standard also states that clear white and brown coats and white and orange coats are permissible, but such coats are extremely rare. The AKC standard states that a uniformly brown coat, all-white coat, or white and orange are less desirable. Neither standard allows black.

Historically, there were other coat colors associated with Griffons. Jean Castaing himself had an almost all-white Griffon and Pierre Mégnin, in his book Les Races de Chiens (1889), describes dogs that had mainly white coats with brown and tan ticking.

Character of the Wirehaired Pointing GriffonWhen describing the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon’s personality, owners and breeders often use terms such as outgoing, fun loving and eager to please.

According to Serge Dumont, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breeder in Quebec with over 30 years’ experience with the breed:

“The typical Griffon is a great family dog, good with kids and easy to get along with. They tend to be on the calm side, but they are still hunting dogs with a lot of energy–not couch potatoes.”

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and ProtectionA hallmark of the breed is sweet, friendly personality. However the FCI breed standard actually refers to a natural protective instinct, stating that Korthals Griffon is attached to his master and his territory, which he guards with vigilance. The German Griffon club seems to agree, stating on their website that the breed is regarded as a good family dog with pronounced protection drive.

Training Wirehaired Pointing GriffonsThe Griffon is best trained by using a soft touch. Harvey Storey, a Griffon owner in Oregon, sums it up well:

“You really have to go softly and let the dog think that it had thought of everything. Give the dog the opportunity and it’ll figure things out. Force the issue, and you may create a roadblock.”

Serge Dumont agrees:

“Time and patience are the best tools, better than using force. You should be in control of your own emotions when you train. After all, you have just as much to learn about your dog as it does about you.”

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon PopulationsThe Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. NAVHDA registration has shown over a 63% increase in numbers over the past 10 years and is the second most registered breed. Approximate numbers in France would out the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon at 10,000 to 15,000. Another 3000 to 4000 in Canada, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium combined.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Health IssuesThe Wirehaired Pointing Griffon faces all the same health-related challenges as the other Continental breeds. In addition, there have been reports of panosteitis, and inflammatory condition of the long bones. They have also been isolated reports of entropion, a condition with their eyelids that may require corrective surgery.

Function of the Wirehaired Pointing GriffonThe Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is prized for its all-around abilities and admired for its feline style movement, excellent nose and ability to work in the toughest conditions.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Field Search AbilitiesWhile there is some variation within the breed, on average Griffons hunt at a smooth, sustained gallop out to medium range. Some dogs from field trial lines in France run much faster and wider than average. Yet for some reason the idea that Wirehaired Pointing Griffons are slow and very close-working dogs has taken hold in certain circles, particularly in North America. It is not uncommon to see words like “careful”, “methodical” or even “plodding” used to describe a Griffon’s search. One American author even wrote that the Griffon “is very definitely the closest-working and about the slowest, most deliberate pointing breed available in North America.”

That description is a far cry from how Wirehaired Pointing Griffons were first described in the press after a field trial held in 1897. Reporters on the scene described them as hunting at such a fast gallop and distance that they “astonished” the men of the time. Other reports from the same period describe dogs handled by well-known personalities, including Korthals himself, searching as far as the horizon and running almost as fast as English Pointers and English Setters. There are even reports of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons running in the same stakes as English Pointers and English Setters. Of course that is not to say that all Wirehaired Pointing Griffons ran like English Setters, or that there were never any methodical, close-working Griffons.

Some European and American sources from the early 1900s mention dogs that hunted relatively close and not as fast as other breeds. And it is clear that when the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon fell on hard times between the wars in France, and again in the 1960s and ’70s in the US, the overall level of performance had declined. So the breed may have been branded an “old man’s dog” simply because there were not many good ones around.

In any case, anyone who takes the time to seek out a well-bred Wirehaired Pointing Griffon in North America or in Europe today will soon realize that it is anything but the slowest, most deliberate pointing breed available.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons generally have a strong pointing instinct that can develop ear- ly in some lines but may be somewhat slower in others. The French working standard offers a detailed explanation of the unique feline style of point the breed should display:

Whether is be a sudden stop or after working into the scent cone, the head and the nose arein line with the back, the body is tense and rigid, the neck extended, and the legs are often bent. The dog may be semi-crouched…and the tail is rigid and must not flag. The roading style is always feline and done with determination and drive. The dog crouches more and more as he approaches the game. He can end up with his belly on the ground when he finally stops…

It is only during the act of working into the scent cone and during the act of roading int that

Griffons take on this feline movement which earned them the nickname of “Korthals Cats” in the last century.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Retrieving AbilitiesOne of the prime goals of Eduard Korthals was to breed dogs possessing a strong desire to retrieve on land and in the water. Ever since, Griffon breeders have placed a natural retrieving instinct high on their list of priorities. As a result most Wirehaired Pointing Griffons today are excellent retrievers. Some may need more encouragement early on than others, but in general retrieving comes naturally to most.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Tracking AbilitiesGriffons are said to be very good trackers. Test results from various organizations seem to support their assertions. Griffons bred and tested in Germany regularly pass the most demanding tracking tests. In North America, NAVHDA scores reveal that the breed does well in the Natural Ability test, a portion of which evaluates the tracking abilities of young dogs.

In France tracking, especially blood tracking of big game, is not typically viewed

as a job for pointing dogs. But tracking wounded birds or small game is, and in that regard the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is said to be an excellent worker.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Water Work AbilitiesThere was a time, particularly in North America, when water work was not the strong suit of many Wirehaired Pointing Griffons. Fortunately, over the last 30 years tremendous progress has been made in that regard and many of today’s Wirehaired Pointing Griffons are excellent water dogs. Their harsh coat offers a good degree of protection and their calm, steady nature is an advantage in the duck blind.

The Etymology of the Wirehaired Pointing GriffonSo, the wirehaired pointing griffon is the name of a pointing breed with a wire-haired coat that is part of the overall family of griffon-type dogs. Simple enough, right? Not quite. We need to keep in mind that the term “wirehaired pointing griffon” only came into widespread use after the turn of the 20th century. Depending on the source, rough-haired dogs were called everything from Polish and Hungarian water dogs, to pudels, budels and Hessian rough-beards. In fact when the first wirehaired pointing griffon was imported into the U.S. it was listed as a “Russian Setter.”

Even Eduard Karel Korthals, the founder of the breed, did not use the name griffon until the 1880s. He originally called his dogs smousbarts and when he moved to Germany he used the German term Drahthaarige Vorstehhunde, which means wire-haired pointing dogs. Eventually, he and members of the newly formed international breed club settled on the term “griffon.”

Elsewhere in Europe, other breeds of pointing dogs were developed from the same griffon-type ancestors. The Spinone Italiano, Cesky Fousek, Slovak pointer, wirehaired vizsla, Stichelhaar, German wirehaired pointer and Pudelpointer are all “griffons” in the broadest sense of the word. And since they all point and have wire-haired coats, are “wire-haired pointing griffons.”

“It was therefore logical, and even necessary, to put an end to the confusion that resulted from the fact that all griffons with a wire coat of various kinds had the same name expressed in different ways in French or German. By adding the word “Korthals” to the name of the breed, French griffon supporters proclaimed themselves the heirs and upholders of the works of the great breeder.” – Jean Castaing, Les Chiens d’Arret

So, today in France and Québec, breeders and owners call the breed Griffon Korthals. In conversation they shorten it to just “Korthals.” But the situation in other countries is not as cut-and-dry. The FCI website shows that the international organization can’t quite figure out where to put the word “Korthals” in the English translation of the name. On the website’s nomenclature page, Korthals is in the middle of the name: French Wire-Haired Korthals Pointing Griffon. But in the English translation of the standard published by the Fédération cynologique internationale (FCI), Korthals is at the end: wirehaired pointing griffon Korthals.

Americans solve the problem by simply dropping the word Korthals from the name. They refer to the breed as the wirehaired pointing griffon, and shorten it to “griff” in conversation.

In the U.K., it is the word “wirehaired” that is dropped. British breeders and owners call their dogs Korthals griffons. And in the German standard, the word griffon is dropped! The name on the German translation of the FCI standard is Französischer Rauhhaariger Korthals Vorstehhund (French rough-haired Korthals pointing dog)—yet the name of the German club representing the breed is Griffon-Club. Go figure!

An In-depth History of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon One of the most interesting – and frustrating – challenges I faced when writing my book Pointing Dogs Volume One: The Continentals was trying to come up with a reasonably accurate profile of the wirehaired pointing griffon. Despite the fact that the sporting literature from the late 19th century contains a wealth of information on the breed and that a good number of books have been written about it since then, I had a hard time coming up with a coherent summary of the breed’s development and its current situation.

What I discovered was that the wirehaired pointing griffon was created mainly in Germany by a Dutchman working under the patronage of an Anglophile German prince. Today, there is still a remnant population in Germany and even a small club for the breed there. But France has the largest population of griffons and the largest and most influential griffon club. It is also considered by the Fédération cynologique internationale (FCI) to be the parent country of the breed. The first griffon to make its way to North America was imported in 1887 and listed as “Russian Setter” by the AKC. More were brought over after the turn of the century and the breed eventually attracted a small but devoted following among North American hunters, particularly in Québec and the American Midwest.

Today, it is not difficult to find a well-bred, hard-hunting griffon in Europe or North America – if you do your homework. But, as I found out when I wrote the chapter on the breed, any homework on the griffon involves familiarizing yourself with the various types within the breed, the myriad of clubs representing it, and the sometimes quite different breeding directions followed by individual breeders.

So no wonder it took me such a long time to write the griffon chapter! Not only did I have to translate references from German, French, Dutch and English sources but I had to cut through the spin each one put on their version of the events that lead to the creation of the breed and how it should look and perform today. Heck, even the name of the breed took me an entire page to explain!:

Eduard Karel Korthals: Founder of the Wirehaired Pointing GriffonFew specifics are known about the early development of many of the continental pointing breeds. But when it comes to the wirehaired pointing griffon a surprising amount of information is available about the breed and its creator, a young Dutch sportsman named Eduard Karel Korthals.

References to griffin-like dogs can be found as far back as the mid-16th century, but development of the wirehaired pointing griffon began in the Netherlands in the 1870s when Korthals set his sights on creating an all-purpose breed of gundog. The son of a wealthy Dutchman, Korthals developed a strong interest in the art and science of breeding livestock while growing up near Haarlem in the Netherlands.

In 1873 at age 22, he left his homeland to further his breeding projects at the estate of a wealthy patron named Prince Albrecht of Solms-Braunfels in Germany. By 1881 he was working full-time on the breed that would eventually take his name.

Eduard Karel Korthals the founder of the wirehaired pointing griffonKorthals dreamed of creating a gundog that possessed the best qualities of English setters and English pointers, a keen desire for retrieving on land and in water, as well as an excellent ability to track wounded game. He was not alone in this desire; others had similar goals and were also attempting to create their own versions of a rough-haired, all- around hunting dog.

Pudelpointer breeders used pudels and pointers. It is not clear exactly what Stichelhaar breeders were using, but Korthals seems to have used just about anything he could get his hands on. His handwritten kennel book shows that between 1863 and 1876 he purchased 20 dogs including griffons, spaniels, a retriever, a three-quarter English pointer, a German spaniel, a Barbet, a Braque Français, a German shorthaired pointer, and two pointer-German-shorthair mixes.

Eventually, by judicious crosses of those dogs and many others, he developed his own strain of wire-haired pointing dog that would eventually make him famous around the world. But success did not come easily. Korthals was a Dutchman living in Germany, developing an international breed of gun dog with a French sounding name. And all this was at a time when political tensions were still running high after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. So there were plenty of naysayers around ready to dismiss his dogs as mongrels, mutts or worse. One German writer wrote that:

“We will leave the griffons and the water spaniels unnoticed, otherwise we would have to pay attention to the pig as well, because that animal is also trained for hunting poultry.”

Eventually, two sides formed within the rough-haired dog breeding community. On one side, nationalistic supporters of the German breeds believed that their dogs were the only true rough-haired pointing dogs and that Korthals’ griffons were nothing more than impure “mutts.” On the other side were internationalists who believed that all the rough-haired breeds, pudelpointers, Stichelhaars, griffons and Spinoni were in fact one family, with various strains reflecting the personal preferences of their breeders. For a while, the international “one-big-family” opinion held sway. But when some breeders began to cross their rough-haired dogs to German shorthaired pointers, unity was lost and the breeds were declared separate and independent.

In 1888 a club was formed for the wirehaired pointing griffon. It was international in scope with German, French, Dutch and Belgian members. A stud book was created with records kept in German, French and Dutch. With its publication in 1888, the wirehaired pointing griffon became the first breed to have an official stud book and the first to be represented by an international club.

Throughout the 1880s and into the 1890s, Korthals continued to develop his breed and was instrumental in establishing the first formal testing system for versatile hunting dogs. His dogs proved to be outstanding performers in these tests and soon gained an enthusiastic following in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Tragically, just as he was winning the highest praises of the sporting dog press, Korthals developed cancer of the larynx. He died of the disease on July 4, 1896. He was only 44.

The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon moves to FranceIn the years following Korthals’ death, a group of followers continued to breed dogs according to the standard established in 1897. Independent breed clubs were formed in Belgium and in France, but the stud book for the breed remained in Germany until the First World War. After the war, separate stud books were established in France and Belgium, while in Germany the wirehaired pointing griffon joined the pudelpointer and the Stichelhaar in a club representing all three breeds.

A wirehaired pointing griffon in a field trial in France in 1913World War Two had severely reduced the Griffon population in Europe, especially in Germany. But by the end of the 1950s there were signs of a comeback, most notably in France where the wirehaired pointing griffon was well on its way to becoming one of the most popular gun dog breeds among French hunters. German, Belgian, Dutch and American breeders continued to breed wirehaired pointing griffons as well, but in very limited numbers. In 1951 the French club added the word “Korthals” to the official name and declared itself the breed’s parent club.

Today the wirehaired pointing griffon remains much as it was when Korthals first developed it: a robust, all-around bird dog, well adapted to hunting in the field, forest and water. The breed enjoys a loyal following among hunters throughout much of Europe and North America. In terms of numbers, France is home to the largest population. French breeders annually produce over 2000 wirehaired pointing griffons and their club, Club Français du Griffon d’Arrêt à Poil Dur Korthals, is by far the largest of the half-dozen wirehaired pointing griffon clubs in the world.

Elsewhere in Europe, the breed faces stiff competition from the other wire-haired breeds. In Germany, for example, there are fewer than 100 wirehaired pointing griffons whelped each year compared to over 3,000 German wirehaired pointers. In the United States and Canada the breed has a small but devoted following, with approximately 350 wirehaired pointing griffon pups whelped in those countries each year.

Eduard Korthals developed the wirehaired pointing griffon by systematically crossing a variety of breeds and types to create his own strain of all-around gun dog. Once his breed was established and its standard set, his followers sought to adhere as closely as possible to the founder’s original vision. For the most part they succeeded. I am sure that if Korthals were here today, he would easily recognize many of the modern dogs that carry his name. But I am equally certain that he would be surprised to see how many different types can now be found within the breed.

In order to find out how the breed ended up with such a variety, we need to follow the twists and turns in the wirehaired pointing griffon’s development after the death of Korthals in the three main areas where breeders continued to develop it: Germany, France and North America.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons in GermanyThe vast majority of Korthals’ work was done in Germany while he was under the patronage of Prince Albrecht of Solms-Braunfels, one the most influential personalities on the German gun dog scene of the time. Yet Korthals’ dogs never really achieved the level of acceptance among German hunters that he had hoped for. It is now clear that they fell victim to two powerful forces: competition and nationalism.

As Korthals was working on his breed, there were other gundog breeds under development in Germany which were promoted as being more “Germanic” than the wirehaired pointing griffon with its French sounding name and international background. Korthals was also accused of using “foreign blood,” something he always denied. In 1888 he wrote, “From the beginning up to today, i.e. 18 years, I have bred only with griffons without the aid of a foreign breed.”

After the death of its creator, and in the years leading up to the First World War, the wirehaired pointing griffon became increasingly marginalized in Germany. Many of its supporters joined the German wirehaired pointer movement, taking some of their best dogs with them. By the 1930s there were practically no wirehaired pointing griffons left in Germany.

Surprisingly, after the Second World War the original breed club was re-formed in West Germany where a few diehard breeders had managed to keep their lines alive. In East Germany the breed was completely absorbed into German wirehaired pointer lines. Today in reunified Germany wirehaired pointing griffon breeders produce approximately 80 pups per year.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons in FranceIn France, after the death of Korthals, the people who continued his work tried to follow his vision and did their best to keep their lines “pure”—at least at first. In the 1920s, perhaps motivated by the increasing competition from English pointers and setters, some breeders attempted to “regenerate” their lines by crossing to the English breeds. Former president of the Club Français du Griffon d’Arrêt à Poil Dur Korthals in France, Jacques Carpentier, wrote about this period in his book Le Griffon d’Arrêt de Korthals, published in 1998. He claims that in 1925, as breeders became increasingly worried about the state of the breed and especially concerned about its inability to compete with other breeds in trials, French dog expert Ronan de Kermadec “set fire to the powder by advocating a cross to the pointer”.

Apparently a number of prominent club members agreed with de Kermadec’s suggestions and crossed pointers and setters into some lines. Carpentier mentions that a certain Colonel Dommanget was involved in the case of a “dark pseudo-griffon, named Homer” from pointer lines that was exported to the U.S. and used there for breeding. But “the results of the offspring were terrible, and at the time undoubtedly brought a hard knock to American griffons.”

Wirehaired pointing griffon in a dog show in* France, 1923.*** It is not clear just how much crossbreeding actually occurred in France in the 1920s and ’30s. In all likelihood there was some, but with the onset of the Second World War dog breeding of any kind came to a near standstill.

Interest in the breed was rekindled after the war. The Griffon population in France continued to expand throughout the 1950s and ’60s, and by the 1970s it was one of the most popular gundogs in the country. In the late 1990s rumblings about “unorthodox” breeding practices were heard once again. Soon complaints were being circulated via private letter and e-mail. Eventually, they were voiced at club meetings. In 2008 the debate spilled into the open.

A group called the “Circle for the Defense of the Korthals Griffon” was formed and its members leveled shocking accusations at some of the country’s most high-profile breeders. Led by Jacques Carpentier, the group claims that increasing numbers of wirehaired pointing griffons are being bred well outside of the breed standard in terms of performance and appearance. They contend it is due mainly to wholesale crosses, mainly to English setters, in some of the most prominent griffon lines in the country.

Beyond just sounding an alarm, the Circle’s main goal is said to be the promotion and defense of what it calls “authentic” Korthals griffons. They contend that griffons from “clean” lines still correspond very closely to Korthals’ original vision in terms of performance and overall appearance. The supposedly crossbred dogs, on the other hand, are said to have a different look. Some have very light or long coats and some even have tan points above the eyes. Some are said to also have a different hunting style, running almost as fast and far as English setters and English pointers.

On the other side of the debate members of the Club Français du Griffon d’Arrêt à Poil Dur Korthals, including the current board of directors, vehemently deny the accusations. They refuse to accept that there has been any deliberate crossbreeding and claim that the increase in speed and range seen in some of the wirehaired pointing griffon’s lines has come only from selective breeding. They contend that the oddly colored coats are simply throwbacks to the founding breeds used by Korthals and others, and even now are bound to occur from time to time.

Whatever the truth of the matter—my guess is that it is probably somewhere in the middle—the fact remains that the French produce many of the best wirehaired pointing griffons in the world today.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons in North America and BeyondThe first wirehaired pointing griffons arrived in North America in 1887, and despite being far away from the German and French influences they became the subject of much controversy in America. Between 1983 and 1986 the breed went through some fundamental breeding shifts that involved the introduction of “foreign” blood and resulted in the splitting of its North American club.

The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America (WPGCA) formally split into the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association (AWPGA) which is now the breed’s parent club in the AKC. The results of the “foreign” blood experiment was the introduction of the Cesky Fousek (Bohemian wirehaired pointing griffon), a breed from the Czech Republic. Eventually the originally club was renamed the Cesky Fousek North America. Both are respectable organizations and breeds.

READ: The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Controversy in North America

But beyond the dogs themselves, my research into the history and development of the wirehaired pointing griffon has opened my eyes to the fact that dog breeds are really just the physical manifestation of the ideologies, hopes and dreams of the people who breed them. Today, for better or worse, the Griffon is in the hands of several different groups each of which is following a slightly different path. The fact that good, solid gundogs can still be found within most of those groups is testament to the vitality of the breed and the vision of its founder, Eduard Korthals.

Hunting Dog Confidential Editor Craig Koshyk’s take on the wirehaired pointing griffonI have had the pleasure of watching a good number of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons work in the field, forest and water in North America and in Europe. I’ve hunted over a few right here in my home province of Manitoba and watched Griffons run in NAVHDA tests in the pothole country of North Dakota and in the rolling hills of central Québec. I’ve seen a fair number run in field trials in the sprawling wheat fields of northern France, and I have even watched a young Griffon hunt in a polder (a small field enclosed by dikes) near the Dutch city of Haarlem—where Eduard Korthals himself was raised.

Each time I saw one I came away with an even greater appreciation for the breed. The best Wirehaired Pointing Griffons I have seen left me no doubt regarding their purpose in life: they hunt. And while they may not be quite as hard-charging as some breeds, nor as fast or far-ranging as others, the good ones are outstanding all-around workers with a great personality and classic rough-haired look.

But beyond the dogs themselves, my research into the history and development of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon has opened my eyes to the fact that dog breeds are really just the physical manifestation of the ideologies, hopes and dreams of the people who breed them. Today, for better or worse, the Griffon is in the hands of several different groups each of which is following a slightly different path. The fact that good, solid gundogs can still be found within most of those groups is testament to the vitality of the breed and the vision of its founder, Eduard Korthals.

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After being extirpated from the province, reintroduced turkeys have created a stable, huntable population in OntarioSnow begins to melt in many parts of Ontario, Canada, each April. Ontario’s fields and forests have become the setting for an all too familiar sight: tom turkeys establishing their dominance through bouts of combat, winter flocks splitting apart, and, best of all, the early mornings are filled with a cacophony of gobbles and yelps. However, it wasn’t long ago when those iconic and endearing sounds of spring were all but silent in Ontario.

Historically, European settlers hunted Ontario’s eastern wild turkeys to extinction due to unregulated private and market hunting. The last native Ontario turkey died at the turn of the 20th century. Almost 75 years later, a group led by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and partners like the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters began one of the world’s most successful wildlife reintroduction programs. Today, the province boasts approximately 70,000 to 100,000 eastern wild turkeys, fall and spring hunting seasons, and a growing list of huntable populations.

Origins and Decline of Ontario’s Wild TurkeyOntario is home to just one type of wild turkey: the eastern (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris). Ontario is in the northernmost edge of the eastern wild turkey’s range. The earliest recorded sighting of a wild turkey in Ontario was in 1624 by Gabriel Sagard, a Recollect priest who reported seeing them in central Ontario near Georgian Bay. In the late 1700s, the wild turkeys were so prolific in central and southern Ontario that early European settlers considered them pests. The turkeys frequently pillaged crop fields to the point where bounties were occasionally paid to reduce turkey numbers in problematic areas.

Zoologist L.L. Snider with the Royal Ontario Museum confirmed that turkeys were considered “common” in Ontario until the 1880s when European settlements expanded, resulting in a loss of habitat as farms replaced forests. Coupled with live trapping for sale in markets and unregulated private hunting, Ontario’s native turkey population was decimated. Live-trapping turkeys was “rampant” and led to the province enacting one of its first conservation laws that outlawed the practice in the hopes of curbing declining turkey numbers. Unfortunately, market hunters kept doing it even with the illegalization of live trapping. Within less than 100 years, Ontario’s eastern wild turkeys were locally extinct. The last native turkey to be seen alive in the province was in 1909 near Aurora, 30 miles north of Toronto.

Reintroducing Wild Turkeys to Ontario, CanadaBiologists’ early reintroduction efforts used hatchery programs. Pen-raised wild turkeys would eventually be released into the wild as adults. This was promptly shown to be a horrible strategy for reintroduction purposes but fantastic for feeding local predators. Once turkeys hatch from their eggs, they imprint on the first thing they see, which should be their mother. However, when turkeys are born in hatcheries, they often imprint on people. This quickly leads to confused birds that, once released, were susceptible to hazards like vehicles or eager predators.

With the invention of net cannons, a rocket-like device that sends out a net capable of containing large groups of turkeys at a time, the possibility for successful reintroductions skyrocketed. With the advent of this new technology, biologists and conservationists could capture groups of turkeys from different locations. Then, they moved these captured turkeys to new locations with a more diverse turkey gene pool within their populations. That diverse genetic make-up provided heartier stock less susceptible to disease and inbreeding.

After successfully using net cannons in the United States, Ontario recognized the potential for success. In the 1970s, the province launched its own wild turkey reintroduction program, this time with live-trapped wild birds. The province’s Ministry of Natural Resources and its partners invited renowned wild turkey specialist James Pack from West Virginia to assess the situation and identify different areas with suitable habitat. By 1983, Ontario made agreements with several U.S. states to exchange different species for aiding each other’s respective wildlife reintroduction programs.

Ontario traded river otters to Missouri, moose to Michigan, and partridges to New York, in exchange for 74 eastern wild turkeys that would later be released in Southern Ontario, near Kingston. Later exchanges with Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Jersey, and Tennessee would bring the total to around 274 live trapped and relocated birds. The reintroduction program cost $120,000 Canadian dollars, of which only $20,000 came from the government. The remaining $100,000 was donated by conservation groups like the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Eventually, the program’s success became self-sustaining. The MNR could begin to trap and transport turkeys from different areas of the province and relocate them to areas of need. Between 1985 and 2005, 4,400 wild turkeys were trapped and relocated to 275 different locations throughout the province. According to the MNR and the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, Ontario’s wild turkeys population is robust and wide-ranging, with populations as far north as Lake Nipissing and throughout most of the central and southern parts of the province. The MNR published the most recent estimate of Ontario’s wild turkey population size in 2007 at 70,000 birds. However, this number is a rough estimate based on annual harvest numbers and extrapolations from annual harvest reports. Some wildlife biologists have questioned the validity of that figure. The estimate tends to range by plus or minus 20,000 birds, depending on the source and their assessment method.

Factors Inhibiting Wild Turkey Population Growth in Ontario, CanadaSince hunters and conservationists have recognized the critical importance of selective harvests, quotas, and hunter reporting, the population of wild turkeys has responded by growing exponentially. However, factors still impact the success and proliferation of turkeys in Ontario.

Until recently, some biologists were concerned about pathogens like West Nile Virus impacting wild turkey populations. They worried that game birds might be susceptible to infection and other related symptoms. Additionally, there were wonderings of whether or not hunters who eat their harvest could get sick and if wild turkeys could be a potential vector for animal-to-human disease transmission. Fortunately, a recent study by Dr. Amanda McDonald at the University of Guelph, who studies pathogens in wild turkeys, found that “Wild turkeys don’t seem really susceptible to developing disease from West Nile infection, but they do get infected.” Her study, coupled with one from the US, showed that many birds seem to be infected by the virus but don’t develop the disease or suffer any ill effects from its symptoms. West Nile Virus doesn’t seem to have any noticeable impacts on turkey mortality.

Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Baici, who is studying Ontario’s wild turkeys at Trent University, reports that one of the most significant factors in limiting Ontario’s wild turkey’s expansion into the northern parts of the province is related to snow depth and cold temperatures. Biologist Matthew Gonnerman and others have shown that all wild turkeys are significantly impacted by deep, powdery snow, which restricts their ability to move across the landscape to forage and evade predation. There has even been a reported case of a wild turkey freezing to death in northern Ontario due to frostbite, supporting the notion that the winter conditions often result in a higher mortality rate than during warmer seasons.

Baici noted, “We found that the strongest predictors of turkey presence were building density and snow depth/temperature.” She hypothesized that the relationship between turkey presence and building density comes from turkeys’ abilities to adapt to changing landscapes and locate alternative food sources, such as bird feeders or leftover farm grains. In the future, changing climates and warmer weather could decrease the snow load in the northern parts of the province, eventually leading to an expanded wild turkey range.

The Future of Ontario Turkeys and Turkey HuntingOntario’s first turkey hunting season opened in the spring of 1987 in just two Wildlife Management Units located in the southeastern portion of the province. Twenty-six years later, Ontario boasts spring turkey hunting seasons in 90 Wildlife Management Units. Fifty-four of those same units also have populations high enough to support a fall hunting season.

Initially, the Ministry of Natural Resources required all hunters to participate in a mandatory turkey hunting education course that reinforced safety measures, tactics, and proper identification of male and female birds. Today, that turkey component is incorporated into the general hunter education course required for all Ontario hunters.

Ontario’s Turkey Management Plan outlines guidelines that aim to harvest approximately 30 percent of the male population through spring seasons which begin on April 25th and go until the end of May. Through this management plan, the Ministry of Natural Resources determines whether or not an area can be opened to hunting based on whether or not the site has at least an estimated 200 birds. Hunter reports and scientific observations determine this number. The spring turkey hunt season consists of bearded birds only. In the fall, hunters can harvest either a male or female turkey.

Fall seasons are determined by similar guidelines set forth by the Ministry. They include having a spring harvest of at least 200 birds in the three preceding seasons. Alternatively, a fall season can be opened if the harvest density within that Wildlife Management Unit is equal to or greater than 0.4 turkeys per square kilometer of turkey habitat. This reinforces the importance of hunters reporting their harvests accurately and related sightings because they are used to determine future hunting opportunities within the province.

The Ministry of Natural Resources reports that the number of jakes harvested each season varies based on the success rate of the previous year’s hatch. Still, the age structure of harvested male birds has remained relatively stable in recent years. After studying Ontario’s Wild Turkeys for her Ph.D., Jennifer Baici reports, “We don’t have any evidence to lead us to believe that Ontario’s turkey populations are in trouble… We likely have fewer turkeys than were estimated in the 2007 management plan. However, this is likely a reflection of the accuracy of the 2007 estimate rather than the dynamics of the population. Ontario’s turkeys seem to be doing just fine for now.”

Wild turkey populations look healthy and stable and should continue to increase in number due to strong conservation efforts and support from organizations like the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and the Canadian Wild Turkey Federation. In the future, that stable growth should translate into additional spring and fall hunting opportunities within the province of Ontario.

For more information about turkey hunting in the Province of Ontario, contact the Ministry of Natural Resources at www.Ontario.ca

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Pheasant feathers are one of the most useful and versatile supplies in fly tying Whether you are new to the vice or have been tying for years, it is easy to see the versatility and importance of ringneck pheasant feathers when it comes to fly tying. The influence pheasants have on fly tying culture is deep and rich. As the famous fly tyer Jack Gartside wrote, “There’s probably not a bird that flies that has more uses for the fly tyer than the ringneck pheasant.” Take a pheasant from the field, and you can create historic and iconic patterns, new and innovative designs, or experiment by incorporating pheasant feathers into your favorite flies.

When looking over a pheasant skin with all the colors, shapes, and sizes, it can be somewhat disorienting to decide which feather to use. I prefer placing the feathers into a handful of categories with specific applications. The categories listed below are a great starting point and will help you to utilize an entire pheasant skin. However, don’t be afraid to experiment with your feathers. You will be surprised by what you can come up with at the tying bench.

Green Neck FeathersThe green-hued neck feathers have a beautiful iridescent color and offer smaller feathers for dry flies and nymphs. One application is to use the neck feathers for wings on terrestrial patterns like grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles such as the Letort Cricket. It is best to apply Flexament, Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails, or thin UV resin to the feather to hold the wings’ shape and protect against a fish’s teeth.

White Neck Feather, Almond Hearts, and Church WindowsWhite Neck FeathersThe narrow band of white neck feathers is fun to experiment with and apply to different patterns. Typical uses for them are fan wings for mayfly patterns, either tied upright or in a spent (spinner) position. Another application is tying them onto streamer patterns for eyes or cheeks that add some contrast and pop. You can also dye the feathers (pink, orange, purple, etc.) to add a hotspot wingcase to nymphs.

Almond HeartsLocated further down the neck and along the flanks and breast of the bird are almond heart feathers. They are an amber or dark bronze color with a black tip. Rather than coming to a point at the end of the feather, they curve back towards the stem, creating a unique heart shape.

Like the green neck feathers, tyers can use the smaller almond hearts to make wings for terrestrial and caddis patterns like the Gartside Caddis, and they can also be tied in to create carapace bodies for crayfish. For the larger almond hearts, you can wrap them around the hook shank to form bodies on streamer patterns.

Church WindowsThe church window feathers are on the upper and middle of the back. These feathers have a brown border with a black and white mottled center. Church windows are popularly used as wings on Matuka-style patterns and as cheeks for streamers. However, lower down on the back, the feathers soften up and change into a blue/greenish-hue. These greenish church windows are a larger size and fantastic soft hackle for larger wet fly collars and bodies for streamers. Tyers can also pull individual fibers from the stem to form tails and legs for nymphs.

Rump Feather with After-Shaft Feather Still Attached, Pheasabou (with Stiffer Terminal Barbs), and PheasabouRump FeathersFurther down on the back and into the rump of the bird, the church windows fade into even larger feathers with longer, stiffer barbs. These rump feathers are a mixture of brown, blue, and green with lanky and wiry barbs better suited for tailing on dry flies. I also enjoy incorporating them into streamers to help define the fly’s shape and to flare out other softer feathers like marabou (or pheasabou).

The barbs can also be wrapped individually around the hook shank to form quill bodies for nymphs, wet flies, and dry flies. Whenever doing this, though, it is best to reinforce the fly body with UV resin or head cement.

After-Shaft FeathersBehind most body feathers, a second, smaller feather is attached to the base of the stem. This smaller feather is called an after-shaft feather, and they are down-like. Although after-shaft feathers are brittle, they are still handy at the vice. They can be used in dubbing loops and can be wrapped around the hook shank to create unique, buggy bodies in patterns like the Filo Bugger.

PheasabouAlong the flanks of the pheasant and around the vent are larger, marabou-like feathers that many tyers call pheasabou. Pheasabou is a smaller version of marabou (which comes from turkeys). It has a variety of uses, such as tailing for smaller Wooly Buggers, body material for nymphs, emergers, and damselflies, and collars on smaller streamers.

There are also pheasabou feathers that have stiffer feather tips and do a better job trapping air bubbles. These stiffer pheasabou feathers are better applied as emerger wings in patterns like the CPF No Hackle and Matt’s PMD Emerger.

Primary and Secondary Flight, Covert, and Tail FeathersPheasant WingsWhile I don’t tie with the wing feathers very often, the leading edge of the primary flight feathers can be stripped, and the quills are used for smaller stonefly tails and antennae. The secondary flight feathers are webby, and matched pairs (i.e., one from either wing) are great for smaller-winged wet fly patterns. The next row of feathers above the primary and secondary flight feathers are the coverts, and they have some applications for tails, wings, or cheeks on streamers.

Pheasant Tail FeathersPheasant tail feathers are the most ubiquitous natural fly tying material found next to any vice. Everything from nymph bodies and thoraxes to grasshopper legs and tailing material can be created from pheasant tail feathers. However, when harvesting tail feathers from a pheasant, you want to keep the long main two tail feathers since they have stiffer barbs on either side of the stem. The other, smaller tail feathers will only have stiffer barbs on one side of the stem.

Example Fly PatternsJigged Feather BuggerThis pattern is one to experiment with by varying the pheasant feathers for the body by mixing church window, rump, and pheasabou feathers.

• Hook: Jig style hook, sizes 4-10
• Weight: Slotted tungsten bead
• Thread: Gel spun 50D
• Tail: Pheasabou and flashabou
• Body: Pheasant church window feathers
• Collar: Pheasant after-shaft feather wrapping using a dubbing loop

Fan Wing MayflyWith this pattern, change up the hook size to match the mayfly you would like to mimic, along with the color of the body and hackle. You can also dye the pheasant’s white neck feather a bright color (orange or pink, for example) to help it to stand out on the water.

• Hook: Standard dry fly hook, sizes 10-16
• Thread: 6/0, color to match fly pattern
• Tail: Barbs from a pheasant rump feather
• Ribbing: Small copper, silver, or gold wire
• Body: Dry fly dubbing, color to match fly pattern
• Hackle: Rooster saddle or cape dry fly hackle, color to match fly pattern
• Wings: Pheasant white neck feathers

Matt’s EmergerThis pattern combines Matt’s PMD Emerger and Jack Gartside’s CPF No-Hackle Emerger. Pay attention to the feather you use for the wing; you will want to use the particular pheasabou feather with stiffer terminal barbs. Feel free to vary the color of the tailing, body, and foam material.

• Hook: 2x long, 2x wide gap nymph hook, sizes 12-16
• Thread: 6/0, color to match fly pattern
• Tail: Glo Bright Floss, color to match fly pattern
• Ribbing: Small mirage tinsel
• Body: Dry fly dubbing, color to match fly pattern
• Underwing: Krystal flash
• Wing: Pheasabou (with stiffer terminal barbs)
• Foam: 2mm, color to match fly pattern
• Legs: Barbs from a pheasant rump feather
• Head: Dry fly dubbing, color to match fly pattern

Mini Feather CrawThis pattern was developed by Gunnar Brammer and uses nothing but pheasant feathers in the design. It is an excellent imitation of smaller crayfish or baitfish and is effective for both bass and trout.

• Hook: Jig hook, sizes 4-8
• Thread: Gel spun 50D
• Weight: Slotted tungsten bead
• Antennae: Pheasant tail fibers
• Claws: Pheasant rump feathers
• Legs/Body: Pheasant rump feathers
• Carapace/Body: Pheasant almond hearts

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The Northern Pintail is a medium sized dabbling duck that occur from Canada to South America in abundance.The Northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a duck species that truly looks more like a painting than a real animal. Like the beautiful wood duck, drake pintails are stunning in a different way. Their sleek bodies and elegant form help them stand out among the rounder duck species. While they occur throughout the world and are quite numerous, they do face some critical conservation struggles today that need addressing. Spend some time acquainting yourself with this amazing duck species if you’re not very familiar with them.

Description and Life History of the Northern PintailThe Northern pintail is a medium sized duck, measuring about 21 to 26 inches in length and weighing anywhere from 1.9 to 2.3 pounds on average (Ducks Unlimited 2019; NatureServe 2019). As with most ducks, they display sexual dimorphism, meaning males look different from females. In general, they both have a sleek body, long neck, and slender wings, but males have a longer black pointed tail, which is obviously where their name comes from. Breeding drakes have chocolate-colored heads with a white stripe extending up the back of their head. Their necks and breasts are bright white and their body feathers are an intricate pattern of gray and white (National Audubon Society 2019). In flight, their wings have a green and white speculum. Their bills and feet are dark gray to black in color. Hens are uniformly mottled brown and tan, with light tan heads and a brownish-bronze speculum showing on their wings in flight (All About Birds 2019). Non-breeding males look much more similar to hens.

Northern pintails are early breeders, often showing up in northern breeding grounds as soon as the ice thaws. Drakes and hens often pair up in southern wintering grounds, when drakes stretch their necks up and down while making a whistling call to attract females (All About Birds 2019). Females choose the nest site, which can often be far from water in several different short grassland or cropland habitats, even right in a tilled field. The female makes several scrapes on the ground and lines one with grasses and her own downy feathers. She typically lays a clutch of 3 to 12 greenish buff eggs and incubates them by herself for about 21 to 25 days (All About Birds 2019; NatureServe 2019). Males often abandon the hen during the incubation period to flock up with other males. Soon after hatching, the hen leads the precocial ducklings away from the nest and tends to them, although they can feed themselves. They can fly at 5 to 7 weeks (National Audubon Society 2019).

The Northern pintail is a dabbling duck, like the mallard, and so it feeds by floating in the water and dipping their heads underwater or up-ending (National Audubon Society 2019). They feed on seeds and nutlets of several aquatic plants (i.e., sedges, grasses, pondweeds, smartweeds), but they will also eat mollusks, crabs, tadpoles, minnows, worms, fairy shrimp, and aquatic insects (National Audubon Society 2019, NatureServe 2019). In cultivated fields, they are very capable of walking overland to consume standing or waste grain (e.g., rice, wheat, corn, barley, etc.).

Like most waterfowl species, adult ducks are susceptible to aerial predators, including several hawk species. But the biggest threat is usually to eggs, ducklings, and incubating females. Crows, gulls, magpies, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, skunks, raccoons, and badgers all commonly prey on the eggs or adult pintails (The National Wildlife Federation 2019). It is possible that their early nesting period puts them at additional risk of predation.

Range and Habitat of the Northern PintailThe Northern pintail occurs across a very large range in North America, breeding all the way north to Alaska and Canada in the summer and migrating as far south as South America in the winter (NatureServe 2019). Populations also occur in Europe, the Middle East, India, and Asia, making them one of the most numerous ducks in the world (All About Birds 2019; National Audubon Society 2019).

The Northern pintail can occur in several different habitat types throughout the year. The usual lakes, rivers, marshes, sloughs, and ponds are good bets for the pintail in wintering grounds. But during the summer breeding period, it shows a preference for grasslands with short vegetation, including short grass prairies, pastures, crop fields, and tundra, provided water sources are located within a half mile (National Audubon Society 2019; NatureServe 2019). Pintails tend to nest in much more open areas than many other duck species. The prairie pothole region in the center of the country is a prime habitat for this species, as it provides grasslands and farm fields in close proximity to small seasonal water sources.

Conservation Issues for the Northern PintailThe Northern pintail is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2019). However, populations declined by 70 percent between 1966 and 2015 and again declined in 2018 versus 2017 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2018). The current global breeding population is estimated to be 4.8 million birds (All About Birds 2019). Droughts, loss of wetland habitats, conversion of grasslands to farmland, and badly timed agricultural practices (e.g., nest destruction) are thought to be the primary threats facing this species. Using the prairie pothole region as an example, vast stretches of this habitat have been destroyed or altered by the threats mentioned. Additionally, around a half million Northern pintails are harvested in North America each year (All About Birds 2019). While it is not expected that this impacts populations much, it is closely regulated each season.

Hunting Opportunities for the Northern PintailWhile they are still somewhat common birds, they certainly aren’t as numerous as mallards. And because they can be so cautious, you might have a tough time coaxing any pintails into range. But don’t give up; they are unique looking ducks and most hunters feel grateful to get one. Here are a few tips to help you key in on one.

Equipment and Bag LimitsNorthern pintails aren’t huge ducks, so some basic hunting gear will do. If you plan to hunt crop fields, you don’t need much gear at all – just a shotgun, a blind of some sort, and some decoys. If you are hunting over shallow ponds, you should also bring some waders to retrieve fallen ducks. A 12-gauge shotgun is the perfect choice for most duck hunting. If you know the pintails will be spooky where you plan to hunt, try shooting a full choke to give you a little more distance. But you should always try different chokes and loads and see how your shotgun patterns them before you hunt. Generally, 3-inch shells with non-toxic shot sizes of No. 3 or 4 are fine for ducks of this size.

As with other migratory bird species, you will need to buy a federal duck stamp, which supports habitat and research efforts for waterfowl species. The current daily bag limit for northern pintail is two birds, but after their population decline in 2018, it is possible the daily bag limit could drop to its historic level of one bird.

Northern Pintail Hunting TechniquesSince Northern pintails don’t have a problem with nesting and feeding in relatively open farmland settings, they can be hunted in the same situations fairly easily. Pintails are social birds and do not mind mingling with other species, which is a big advantage for you. By adding a dozen pintail decoys to a spread with other duck species, you might be able to get a mixed bag hunt and harvest a few mallards at the same time. As many drakes flock up and migrate before northern hunting seasons, you might only catch hens. But further south, especially in states like California or Texas, you will likely see a lot of drake pintails.

Northern pintails are pretty cautious birds and will flush at the hint of danger, so jump shooting is usually not very effective. Even hunting over a well-concealed blind on a flooded field or shallow water source, pintails approach very slowly. Make sure you have a gun and load that is patterned for shooting accurately out a good distance – the full choke will help with that. You will always need to lead them appropriately based on how fast they are flying. If they commit to the spread, pintails tend to slow down significantly before landing, which should give you a better shot to make your pintail hunt just a little better.

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Selling hunting licenses is the only way underfunded state wildlife agencies can increase their budgets and therefore habitat managementNo one has to dig into the depths of social media to find that the topic of hunter recruitment descends into the darkest corners of keyboard dissertations. Some points against hunter recruitment have partial validity, others come from genuine concern, and some misguided thoughts need actual attention. But the people who rant about this issue are playing checkers when a chess game is afoot. Hunter recruitment is more complex than people believe. Frankly, some folks miss the point altogether.

Negative opinions regarding hunter recruitment are a symptom of a larger issue: state wildlife agencies are underfunded. Nearly everything about how states fund wildlife management is complicated, including how states collect funds. One of these ways is through hunting license sales. This is why states care about increasing the number of licenses sold. In its simplest, most watered-down form, this is why states are investing time, energy, and money into hunter recruitment:

1. State Departments of Natural Resources or Departments of Fish and Game (DNR) need money to operate
2. They usually do not get access to general funds and rely on self-funding to match federal money
3. Selling more hunting licenses is the only real way state wildlife agencies can raise funding for themselves

State wildlife agencies are chronically underfunded because of this limited fundraising model. There have been many attempts to resolve the issue of underfunded state agencies and help make them less reliant on hunting license sales. Several pieces of legislation have been proposed as funding model solutions in recent years. However, none of them have gotten passed. Ironically, those angriest about hunter recruitment were silent on supporting those pieces of legislation, the most recent example being Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. That means one of two things: they do not understand the real issue, or they just like to be trolls. Either way, had RAWA passed, states would be less reliant on hunting license sales and would be recruiting new hunters at far slower rates. As a result of RAWA’s failure, state wildlife agencies are desperate to increase their license sales to stay afloat.

State Fish and Game Agencies Are Generally Underfunded If you spend some time poking around home state’s issues, you’ll quickly learn that state DNRs are the most underfunded government institutions. When the budgets get cut, they go first; they kiss that general fund money goodbye. That statement may be a bit generous because most of these agencies rarely get access to general funds in the first place. General funds are essentially our state tax dollars being put to work. They are dispersed between transportation, education, law enforcement, and other departments to make our world function on a daily basis. The words “habitat work” and “general funds” are probably meeting in a sentence for the first time right here. For more clarity, a well-funded DNR means habitat creation, data collection, and wildlife research for that state, which results in sustainable game populations and the conservation of non-game species.

As mentioned, state DNRs are mostly self-funded via hunting license sales. However, they’re also supported by the Pittman-Robertson Act (or PR funds).

Pittman-Robertson is Complicated The Pittman-Robertson Act is not fun to read. I’m talking about the actual law, the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act from 1937. Without question, it’s the single greatest piece of legislation for our wildlife since the Lacey Act of 1900. If I said I fully understand the formula used to calculate a state’s access to PR funds, I would be a liar. It takes teams of lawyers to wade through it each year. I contacted Ben Paige, the Marketing Manager for Sovereign Sportsman Solutions (S3), to clarify the PR funding formula.

“Hunting license sales are an extremely important factor in receiving PR funds,” said Paige. “There’s a lot of stipulations as to what you can do with that money, as well as what can count for and certify as eligible for match funding. The specific formula used to determine the limit is outlined in 50 CFR Part 80 and includes a set of complex calculations that take into account the factors mentioned above. The limit is adjusted annually to reflect changes in the number of hunting licenses sold in each state and changes in the population of each state.”

The PR formula takes the following factors into account:

1. Number of Hunting Licenses Sold
2. Land Area of the State
3. The State Population
4. A State cannot get more than 5% or less than 1% of PR Funds

States get access to funds in other ways besides the formula, too. For example, the federal government can match the value of lands donated to the state to acquire more land for said state. While this is a great mechanism to acquire more land for state wildlife management areas, it does not resolve the funding to manage habitat on that land.

If a DNR does not have access to general funds and maxes out its access to PR funds, how can it increase its budget? There’s only one answer: sell more hunting licenses. States increase license sales through R3 (the recruitment, retention, and reactivation of licenses), otherwise known as hunter recruitment.

Hunter Recruitment has a Direct Impact on Habitat Creation and Management “To understand the importance of R3 and its impact to habitat work, it’s important to understand some economic principles,” said Ben Paige. “Habitat projects require state agencies to have the money and resources to execute them. To agree that R3 is a part of that, you must acknowledge that the law of supply and demand is in play in the ‘economics of habitat.’ Therefore, for a business (agency) or product (habitat) to succeed in the market, there must be sufficient demand from consumers.”

The elephant in the room around this issue is the balance between creating more funding (by creating more hunters) and creating habitat. This consumer-based habitat mechanism highlights how capitalistic supply and demand can create a potential net negative in supply. The angst we are experiencing as a community around hunter recruitment is one of the symptoms of this problem.

Bad Marketing Decisions Around Hunting Funding Biologists are good at scientific research, wildlife management, habitat creation, and many other things that significantly contribute to the sustainability of wildlife populations. Because of R3, biologists also had to begin marketing why hunting is good for conservation. But biologists are not marketers. They are not social engineers. They didn’t foresee how their honest work would be turned into weaponized monsters.

Shane Mahoney is probably the most famous name in this conversation. A Canadian, he coined the term “North American Model of Conservation.” He formulated how unique North America’s relationship with wildlife management is. More importantly, he emphasized how successful it is. His articulation of this concept is by no means a marketing failure.

However, his teachings got legs of their own. Eventually, we landed in a world where hunters weaponized “we do more for conservation than anyone else.” That snowballed into “hunting is conservation.” I am not saying either of those things are untrue, but those claims escalated in the most unhelpful ways.

Buying a hunting license does not make someone a conservationist. It just means they have done the bare minimum to comply with the law. We need to live in a world of conservation activists not passive conservationist. Being a conservationist is taking things a step further, such as advocating for legislation that could increase the state’s funding. Those emails, phone calls, and letters matter.

Not only did the role hunting plays in funding conservation get conflated, but R3 marketing got out of hand as well. Marketers should have made the very literal statement, “We need to sell more licenses or cannot function as an agency and manage habitat.” However, that turned into “We need to save the future of hunting.” I consider myself guilty of helping build that narrative.

Our Current Wildlife Management Funding Model Overlooks Ecosystem-level ManagementTo further complicate things, the North American Model of Conservation is based on a relationship between state agencies and the consumptive use of our wild resources. In plain English, that means agencies are mandated to manage for game species for hunting. That sounds great until we consider the negative impacts of single-species management on biodiversity and the balance of our ecosystems. The point is that non-game species management, including plants, reptiles, mammals, birds, and insects, are even more underfunded than game species management. There is no stopgap in funding before they hit the endangered species list, which then causes a cascade of other management issues.

Managing purely from a game species perspective is why some parts of the country have intentionally overpopulated white-tailed deer. Seeing a ton of deer when hunting looks good on paper, but overpopulated deer herds degrade massive amounts of habitat that animals depend on. To exacerbate the issue, overgrazing is affecting native plants, giving invasives an advantage in expanding. It is tough to say, “Let’s reduce a whitetail herd to a healthy level,” and have deer hunters agree that’s a good idea. In fact, I do not think that has ever happened.

If we have learned anything in the modern era, it’s that the Indigenous people of North America had it right. They managed for all species, humans included.

This issue is the greatest threat to hunting. If we as hunters do not advocate for biodiversity, for actual ecosystem-level ecological management, then what value do we have to a modern eco-conscious society?

Why Are Some People Afraid of Amending the PR Act? “We’re fortunate as constituents and hunters that state agencies are charged with responsibilities and forces outside of economic principles,” said Ben Paige. “Otherwise, our increasing lack of relevancy (as hunters) within the national space and how resources are deployed would have driven much more deprecation of investment in our ability to hunt. We’re very lucky for that and need to fight for our relevancy in the coming years.”

Many believe that changing the way PR money is raised would have dire consequences on the relevance of hunters. Currently, we can thank the taxation of firearms and ammunition as the lion’s share of the funding source for PR. New, proposed amendments to PR like RAWA would add additional funding sources, like legal nexus from environmental disaster mitigation. It would not remove the current PR mechanisms of matching hunting licenses and taxation on firearms and ammunition. While I understand these concerns, the core issue of matching funds through hunting licenses would not become mute.

One of the most important goals of RAWA was to create more stable funding that’s less dependent on consumer-driven devices. It also aimed to generate funding for non-game species and increase funding to tribes for wildlife management, which are important pieces to the larger puzzle.

When we make statements like “hunting is conservation,” is that actually true? Is ignoring biodiversity, policy-driven attempts to eradicate natural predators, and that lead is toxic to the landscape our idea of conservation? If so, I would rather identify as an environmental activist than a conservationist. The perception of hunting and the future of hunting requires us to embrace true ecology even when it goes against our self-interests. Only then will society say, “Glad those hunters were keeping watch on our environment.”

Rejecting Hunter Recruitment is Not The SolutionIf anyone thinks some bad things have come from hunter recruitment, I would agree. The focus on quantity, not quality, is at the forefront of the R3 issues for many of us. Newer hunters did not grow up with a basic understanding of hunting ethics or how to share the woods with others. Say someone beat a new turkey hunter to a roost, and that new hunter decides to stay in that spot anyways. Now, the experienced hunter is annoyed that someone’s in his spot. But did anyone ever tell that new hunter that the proper thing to do here is go find turkeys somewhere else? This is a basic example of where the growing pains start.

There are some bright sides to recruiting new hunters, though. Younger generations grew up in one of the largest environmental movements in modern history. They inherently concern themselves with their ecological impacts in everyday life. You will not find shotgun shells left behind from a generation that grew up recycling as soon as they could walk. Climate change is among the top three concerns for millennials and Gen Z.

Insane tag drawing odds, overcrowding, and limiting hunting seasons due to more hunting pressure are valid concerns. However, so are the increasingly stupid things people post on the internet. Rejecting hunter recruitment is not how hunters should address the symptoms of underfunded state wildlife agencies. We can remedy the problem as a community by supporting federal legislative solutions that increase conservation funding. We also need to make stronger effort to be involved in state level decisions through our elected and appointed officials .

In the meantime, we can help educate newer hunters about our traditions. Sure, some of it will fall on deaf ears, but rejecting hunter recruitment will negatively impact habitat creation and the management of our game species and lands until more stable DNR funding sources are found.

The post Hunter Recruitment is Not the Problem People Think it Is appeared first on Project Upland.

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The most comprehensive ongoing research in the upland hunting community. Welcome to our annual North American Upland Bird Hunting Survey. First launched in 2018, this unique look into upland hunting culture has tracked critical data about how the community is evolving. Data from this survey has identified key trends that have informed state agencies, federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations as they prioritize their efforts toward conservation and hunter access.

Thank you to our partners Weatherby, Upland Gun Company, Garmin, Kent Cartridge, and OnX Hunt

TAKE SURVEY2023 Upland Hunting Gear PrizesThis year includes over $6000 (retail value) in prizes generously donated from some of our advertisement partners *

1. One prize for a Weatherby 20-ga Element Upland Shotgun
2. One prize for a $1000 gift card to Upland Gun Company
3. One prize for a Garmin Alpha 10 and TT 15x Collar
4. Two prizes of one case of 12-ga Kent Bismuth Upland
5. Three prizes for one case of 12-ga Kent Upland Fasteel
6. Twenty prizes of a one-year OnX Elite Membership

*Limited to one entry per person, multiple entries will be disqualified. Winners will be randomly selected at the end of the survey period which is 30 days after its launch. No purchase is required, but the survey must be fully completed to enter. All state and federal laws apply in the transfer of firearms and ammunition.

In this survey, you will find questions about your demographics, how you consume hunting media, your hunting habits, your relationship with conservation, and your bird dogs.

Here are a few key things to know about this ongoing project:

• We do not share your personal data
• We do not sell your personal data or email address
• We do not sell the information gathered from this survey

TAKE SURVEYThe post The 2023 North American Upland Hunting Survey – Over $6000 in Prizes appeared first on Project Upland.

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With the increasing popularity of air fryers we explore how to roast your next pheasant recipeAir fryers are rising in popularity and have a dedicated spot on approximately 60 percent of American kitchen counters. For most home cooks, compared to other equipment, these smaller appliances offer both greater consistency and simpler cooking methods. If you own one or are considering purchasing one, air fryers are a solid option for turning out crispy, delicious upland birds if a few key steps are followed.

An air fryer does not actually fry food. Instead, similar to a convection oven, it thoroughly circulates heat for an even cook. In a much smaller space than your oven, it heats up quickly and reliably applies heat around all 360 degrees of your food. This results in consistently crispy food. Yes, it is a healthier option for crispy food compared to traditional frying methods.

The truth is, though, that if you have a reliable oven with which you are very familiar, and that oven has a trustworthy thermometer inside, you can produce similar results. However, many ovens have trouble maintaining temperatures aligned with user settings. For example, thanks to an oven thermometer, I know my oven will run anywhere from 75-100 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than what I set. For instance, if I set it to 300 F, the oven will likely stay at 375 or a bit hotter.

With all its various settings, an air fryer can help eliminate human or equipment errors one might experience with an oven. I recently picked up an Instant Vortex Plus 10-Quart Air Fryer, which comes with a rotisserie spit. It cost $110 when I purchased it, and no, I don’t get a cut from plugging their product. If you find one that works better for your needs, go with that.

Some things I learned from my first use:

• The instructions recommend only one 20-minute trial run before cooking to burn off factory oils. I did two 20-minute 400-degree trial runs. My wife felt she still tasted “factory residue” in our first pheasant, and I agreed. I recommend doing a 60-minute, 400-degree trial run followed by a quick clean (see instructions for cleaning). Then, do another 60-minute, 400-degree trial run before cooking.
• The 10-quart oven, while using the rotisserie spit, could barely fit a pheasant rooster. I am unsure if you should roast a fat domestic chicken in this oven.
• When set to roast using the rotisserie spit, the air fryer resulted in more skin caramelization than an oven roast. Check out my see comparison photo below. Plus, it’s more fun to watch than sports these days. Grab a chair and a beer, and watch that bird spin.

You can make this recipe with any upland bird, though roasting and brine times will vary based on the size of your bird. If you have any specific questions, hit me up on Instagram (@WildGameJack) or drop a comment here. I also would advocating for plucking the birds rather than skinning.

Lastly, I aged these birds. Doing so concentrates flavor and denatures proteins. While one usually might cook legs, thighs, and wings separately because they’re tougher and require longer cooking times and lower temps, an adequately aged bird will turn out tender legs, thighs, and wings after a proper whole roast.

To learn more about aging read: How and Why You Should Age Your Upland Bird Meat

PrintDelicious Air Fried PheasantWith the increasing popularity of air fryers we explore how to roast your next pheasant recipeCourse Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword fried, Pheasant, RoastPrep Time 1 dayCook Time 40 minutesServings 2Equipment 1 Air Fryer Ingredients 1 whole rooster preferably plucked * Olive oil for coating pheasant Brine* 1 gallon water * ½ cup kosher salt * ½ cup brown sugar * ½ cup whole black peppercorns * ½ cup whole anise stars * ¼ cup coriander seeds * 1 garlic bulb smashed * 8 oz fresh ginger smashed InstructionsBrining and Pheasant Meat Preparation * Add all of your brining ingredients to a large pot. Use only a half gallon of water to start. Turn the heat to low and stir it for 20 minutes. Remove your brine from the heat and add the other half gallon as cold water. When it’s safe to add it to the fridge (the pot bottom is cool to the touch), do so. Once the brine is cold, add in your pheasant and brine it for 12 to 16 hours. * Remove the pheasant from the brine and thoroughly rinse it under cold running water. Pat dry, and let it dry in the fridge for at least 12 hours. Twenty-four hours is preferred—dry skin results in crispy skin. * Pull out the pheasant two hours before cooking and lightly coat it with olive oil. Truss the bird. Using kitchen twine, I make sure the base of the legs are tied tightly together, then take a separate length of twine and tie the wings close to the body. Nothing fancy. Allow the pheasant to sit at room temperature for two hours before cooking. Cooking Air Fried Pheasant * To cook, set the air fryer to roast at 375 Fahrenheit. Once ready, insert the trussed pheasant and follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to use rotisserie spit. Hit the rotate feature and roast for 40 minutes. * When it’s done, remove the bird and let it rest, uncovered, for ten minutes before carving. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post How to Air Fry a Pheasant appeared first on Project Upland.

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Keep these tips and ideas in mind to keep in mind when introducing your dog to water trainingSweat beaded on the handler’s forehead as I gave my instructions on the water. A cloud of nervous energy consumed him in anticipation of the day’s last event. After all, a prize one score was on the line. His young Brittany gave a stellar performance in both the field work and tracking portions of its test. Now, the pup excitedly pulled at the end of the lead, giving the handler a glimmer of hope that it would swim.

The NAVHDA Natural Ability test requires a young puppy to swim twice to show its affinity for water. It quickly became apparent this would be a challenge for this pair. The water’s edge was thick with black mud and decaying leaves, and it gradually got deeper.

After my instructions, the handler splashed wildly in the mud while encouraging the pup in falsetto tones, desperately trying to get the dog into chase mode. We all skeptically prayed for the best as the pup, and its handler darkened themselves with pond debris. We were awed by the commitment and sheer athleticism in their movements as they both somehow remained on their feet during the mud dance.

The handler dropped into a low stance and twirled in consecutive circles. The puppy’s eyes lit up. He began to chomp at the end of the bumper eagerly. Faster, faster they turned, but the bumper was not being thrown.

“Throw the bumper!” I pleaded. However, he apparently had a plan and continued to spin, but now with a bit of a wobble. Again, I begged, “Throw the bumper!” Unfortunately, he was at a point of no return. The bumper slipped from his fingers. The once-athletic maneuvers had turned towards what I could only describe as an out-of-control spinning starfish.

With one leg straight out, the handler crashed face-down into the mud. The handler rose from the muck to see his pup swimming for the bumper. Concerned for him, I asked him if he was okay.

“Okay?” he questioned. “I’m more than okay! That’s my pup’s first swim!” He wiped the mud from his grinning face. He called his pup back, and, to our amazement, he went straight back into twirling about the mud like a gleeful toddler. The crowd of friends and chapter members cheered as the pup made its second swim, elated by the team’s effort and success. It was obvious to everyone that this would be a turning point for the pup and its love for the water. It was an unforgettable day for both the young dog and its handler.

We all were excited to read him his prize one score. Our tradition for the prize one recipient is to provide the iconic Gatorade bath with water. However, since he was already soaked, we thought it was best to hand off a bucket of soapy water to help clean him up. Cheers and laughter erupted amongst the NAVHDA chapter. A weekend highlight for all of us and a memory we’ll never forget.

Water is Connected to Either Pleasure or FearSummer provides us with many sunny opportunities to relax and play. It’s also a great time of year to introduce a young dog to the joys of water work. When I reflect on that handler and his Brittany, I wonder how his introductions to the water went earlier in the pup’s development. Had there been much water exposure? Was it done properly? Handlers must understand that we can connect water to either pleasure or fear.

Without proper introductions, a puppy initially does not understand what water is. It believes it is something it can run on. The pup’s temperament dictates the experience when it falls into the water. Was it overwhelmingly negative, which might set you back in your dog training? Or was it overwhelmingly positive?

From day one, we develop a relationship of trust with our pup. The last thing we ever want is to betray that bond and delay its development. A successful swim is a culmination of many prior positive experiences while bonding. Many folks carry their pup into the water, letting it swim back or dragging it out by its lead. Again, depending on the nervousness of the pup, this could lead to a negative experience. Some throw their dog into the water out of frustration or ignorance, which is the worst experience possible for your pup. Using enjoyable tangibles like food, toys, or games to build drive are great incentives to make the water fun and encourage the pup to overcome its fears.

A pup can be encouraged to swim using what drives them. Once they get over the initial shock of their feet leaving the ground, puppies become more and more comfortable in the water. The challenge is getting the pup to decide to swim on its own. This requires us to build drive through positive associations and plenty of patience. Here are a few ways I use drive to develop a love for the water.

Using Food Drive When Training in the WaterWater development depends on various high-drive activities that help encourage a pup to overcome its insecurities. One of these activities is food drive. Food drive is built using edible rewards, which help us shape behaviors for our young pups. Trainers use food drive during training, and we reward pups with the highest-valued treats when teaching the most difficult skills, like swimming.

My go-to treat is a cheese puff when encouraging a love for water. They are bright, stinky, floaty, and puppies love them dearly. Initially, it’s just a few cheese puffs in a kiddie pool. Puddles and kiddie pools are my introductory water sources. Once the pup becomes comfortable, which usually takes a few weeks, I introduce new puddles, shallow brooks, and small ponds. I begin these introductions by tossing the puffs close to shore. Then, I slowly work my way out. After the pup acclimates to new waters, I move the treats away from the shore and towards swimmable depths, depending on the pup’s comfort levels.

Using Toy Drive to Encourage a Love for WaterToy drive is using toys to encourage behaviors in dogs. It’s built through the use of enjoyable items such as pet toys, paint rollers, and bumpers. We encourage the puppy to grab, carry, and even come to us with its favorite toys by playing and chasing with these types of toys. Be sure to encourage your dog to really love bumpers with lots of low-pressure activities.

Avoid using tug and squeaky toys to build toy drive because they encourage hard mouthing. Having a hard mouth is a big issue when retrieving birds. Dogs with hard mouths crunch game to the point that it’s no longer fit to eat. Tug-of-war games and squeaky toys reward pups for aggressively chewing and chomping, which can carry over to retrieving birds later on. However, when retrieving toys are used properly and play behavior is driven high enough, you can develop positive experiences on the water and encourage your dog to swim. You’ll use the same process of starting with puddles or a kiddie pool and progressing incrementally to deep water.

Using Prey Drive and Pack Drive to Encourage Water LoveUsing game birds in the water is the most influential and exciting way to get a pup to swim. When the pup’s prey drive is triggered, it will be encouraged to take higher risks. Game is great to use initially, however, we will need the dog to love bumpers. You’ll use various bumpers and training dummies to teach future water drills. We want to avoid making game-dependent swimmers.

As a puppy’s love for retrieving and chasing bumpers grows, I may use other dogs that swim to encourage the pup to follow or compete. This is called using pack drive. Some pups will simply follow the other dogs into the water, whereas others may require a frenzy of dogs chasing a tethered duck. The competitive nature of the pup will encourage it to swim. It’s important to be cautious not to use older dogs that could hurt or run over the pup when using pack drive; it’s best to keep similar-aged pups together for this approach. I will also walk out into the water myself and encourage the pup to come to me for praise and support.

Be Patient and Let Your Dog’s Water Love Evolve NaturallyWhen a puppy first starts swimming, it’ll look like a splashing motor. The front legs reach out of the water, its head is high, and the back legs are trying to touch the bottom. Eventually, the pup learns to plane itself out, which usually happens in conjunction with retrieving. Soon, the swim matures, and the pup becomes comfortable on the water. Once this happens, I change locations. I start acclimating pups to various entries, such as steep banks and drop-offs. It’s also important to vary the types of bottoms like sand, rocks, or mud, providing pups with plenty of exposure to be comfortable around all water.

During training, we teach pups how to get the things it enjoys in life: by following our lead. Through reading the attitude of our pup around water, we decide when and how we make the next introduction. We introduce the water only when we have developed a high-drive working relationship with our pup. Every trainer hopes that a pup will decide to learn to swim and become comfortable in the water on its own. Through making its own decisions, the pup won’t connect its concerns to you or its retrieving. Forcing pups to swim is when they become hesitant, which may encourage them to avoid swimming altogether.

Though there may be times you feel like making it swim, let your pup evolve naturally. Stick with the water training, keep things fun, and your pup will get there. A positive approach and association with going from land to water makes all the difference. With enough time and experience, your pup will launch itself into the water to get that retrieve. That being said, this obviously requires many sunny hours hanging out by the water’s edge, toes in the sand, and a choice beverage in hand, a sacrifice we must all make as trainers.

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Breaking Down the Stigma Behind the Canada GooseThe Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is just one of those birds you hate to love or love to hate. They’re often seen as an aggressive, nuisance animal at golf courses, parks, and beaches, and most people have plenty of jokes about how bad they taste. With such nicknames as “flying rats” or “sky carp,” you don’t exactly get the same warm, fuzzy feeling as you do from wood ducks, right? But is all of that stigma really fair? This resilient and hardy bird, also called a “honker” by many, is common around most of North America throughout the year.

There are several sub-species of the Canada goose depending on which region they live in, which can be confusing. Tundra sub-species tend to be smaller, while southern ones are typically larger (NatureServe 2018). Likewise, West Coast sub-species tend to be darker in coloration than eastern ones. Some examples of these sub-species include the true Canada goose (which this article discusses), Vancouver Canada goose, dusky Canada goose, lesser Canada goose, Aleutian Canada goose, cackling Canada goose, and Taverner’s Canada goose. Here’s some more information about this interesting waterfowl species that you might not have known.

Description and Life History of the Canada GooseThe Canada goose is a very large bird if you’re primarily used to hunting ducks. Most individuals measure about 29 to 45 inches in length and weigh anywhere from 7 to 20 pounds (All About Birds 2018; NatureServe 2018). They have a large body, muscular wings and a long neck. But their most conspicuous identifying feature is their coloration, which is nearly identical between males and females. Their necks and heads are black with a white cheek/chin strap. The feathers on the body are dark brown on top, fading to creamy white on the underside. Although their tail feathers are black, they have a bright white U-shaped ring of feathers on the upper side (All About Birds 2018). Their bills and feet are dark gray to black in color. Males tend to be slightly larger than females, but that’s about the only difference between them. Of course, the best way to identify them is by their loud nasally honking noise, which you’re almost certainly familiar with.

Canada goose pairs usually mate for life, and males will defend their summer breeding territories and nest sites (National Audubon Society 2018). Generally, these geese defend themselves by lowering their head, hissing, spreading their wings, and charging at rivals, predators, or humans. Females choose the nest site, which is typically located on a slightly elevated spot with good visibility near water, such as a muskrat mound, rocky ledge, or nesting platform (All About Birds 2018; National Audubon Society 2018). The nest is usually bowl-shaped and constructed of sticks and grass; the female then lines it with her own downy feathers. She typically lays 2 to 11 creamy white eggs and incubates them by herself for about 25 to 30 days (National Audubon Society 2018; NatureServe 2018). After 1 or 2 days, the male and female will lead them away from the nest and tend them, although the hatched goslings can feed themselves. The goslings can fly at 7 to 9 weeks, but they typically stay with their parents until the following spring (All About Birds 2018; National Audubon Society 2018). Over the summer, family groups will start to gather and form larger flocks leading up to the fall migration. Over the winter, they are often seen in very large flocks near water sources.

The Canada goose feeds much like dabbling ducks, such as the mallard, usually by floating in the water and dipping its head underwater to graze on plants and seeds (National Audubon Society 2018). However, they will also happily graze like a cow on lawns and in fields. They tend to seek out seeds, berries, leaves, stems, and shoots from several plants, including sedges, grasses, clover, cattails, bulrushes, pondweed, skunk cabbage, and eelgrass (National Audubon Society 2018, All About Birds 2018; NatureServe 2018). They also eat insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and small fish and will quickly consume grain (e.g., wheat, corn, etc.) in cultivated fields.

Adult geese are fairly aggressive toward most predators, but are still occasionally susceptible to predation. The biggest threat is to eggs, goslings, and incubating females. Raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, gulls, ravens, and raptors (mostly eagles) all commonly prey on the Canada goose at some point throughout its life cycle (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 2018).

Range and Habitat of the Canada GooseThe Canada goose occupies a large range in North America, breeding from Alaska across northern Canada in the summer and migrating as far south as northern Mexico in the winter (NatureServe 2018). Many populations may stay year-round in the lower 48 states provided there are open water and food sources available (National Audubon Society 2018). Populations have also been introduced in Europe and New Zealand.

The Canada goose can live in several habitat types across their great range. Lakes, ponds, marshes, pastures, grain fields and tundra can all be home to a goose, provided there is water nearby (National Audubon Society 2018). As mentioned earlier, geese are particularly fond of lawns and large grassy fields, likely because they provide a lush food source and the geese can detect predators very easily (and most lawns have very few natural predators anyway).

Conservation Issues for the Canada GooseNot surprisingly, the Canada goose is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2018). The 2015 North American population was estimated to be between 4.2 million and 5.6 million birds (All About Birds 2018).

The abundance of lawns, parks, and golf courses has likely increased the population over time, due to the food and security of nesting near humans. However, they have become nuisance animals in many places due to this habit. Many municipal governments routinely remove them for fouling beaches (causing E. coli outbreaks) or parks with their abundant scat. Near airports, they are also a legitimate safety hazard for the very real threat of collisions with aircraft. Around 2.6 million geese are harvested in North America each year, but populations appear to be unaffected (All About Birds 2018).

Hunting Opportunities for the Canada GooseNow it’s time to address the hunting stereotypes associated with these honkers. I don’t think anyone can argue how fun they are to hunt. When you get a large flock flying over you, it is sheer excitement. Though many people say they don’t like the taste of geese, that’s probably just because they don’t know how to cook them. Goose can be wonderful if prepared the right way. Here are a few tips on hunting equipment you’ll need and how to hunt them.

Equipment and Bag LimitsGeese are big birds, especially if you’re targeting the big southern sub-species. You’ll need a shotgun and ammunition that’s appropriate, and a 12-gauge shotgun is the perfect choice. If you shoot BB or BBB shot (non-lead, remember) with a modified or improved choke, you should have no problem knocking a goose down out to 40 yards or so. That being said, you should always try different shotgun loads and see how your gun patterns them before you hunt. As for shell size, 3 or 3 ½ inch shells are most common with geese simply because they hold the most shot. Remember to aim at the head and lead them appropriately based on how fast they are flying. This takes practice.

If you plan to hunt fields where you’ve noticed a lot of geese, you don’t need much more than a gun, a blind of some sort and some decoys. If you are hunting near water, you should also add a pair of waders to retrieve fallen geese. As with other migratory bird species, you will need to buy a federal duck stamp, which supports habitat and research efforts for waterfowl species. In hunting regulations, you’ll often see the terms “light goose” and “dark goose” to differentiate the species and different bag limits. Canada geese fall under the dark goose category. The current daily bag limit for Canada geese ranges from 2 to 5 birds generally, but it varies across states by how abundant the birds are.

Canada Goose Hunting TechniquesWhen you’re duck or goose hunting, you should always remember to conceal yourself well. Whether you hide within a clump of willows, back up against a rock pile, or simply use a layout blind in a low spot in the field, you’ll need to make sure your silhouette is invisible. If you’re going to use decoys, you need to gauge the flock’s reaction. As geese migrate south, they get wise to hunting tactics pretty quickly, so you will need to switch up your spread size, arrangement, and techniques until you find something that works.

If you plan on calling in geese, make sure you practice well ahead of the season. Watch instructional videos and keep after it until you really do sound like a goose. There are a few basic calls to make, including the honk, cluck, moan, and murmur. When you see a V formation flying out in the distance, get everyone in your group to hammer on the calls to get their attention. Gradually decrease the volume and excitement of your calling as the flock approaches. With any luck, you’ll be able to bring a few down and test out some different cooking methods to put the stereotypes to rest.

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How bird dogs can help wildlife managers collect data on upland birdsIt’s the second week of April in Wisconsin. Daily temperatures have just started hitting 60 degrees and t-shirt weather is in full swing. However, if you’re Brian Dhuey, you’re still wearing long sleeves; this morning, you’re taking your pointer out to help Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff collect data on American woodcock.

In the spring of 2000, Dhuey donned his Muck boots and hiked around marshes, wetlands, and other woodcock breeding areas with his colleague, Sean Strom, an environmental toxicologist. Strom was collecting data for a study on lead accumulation in woodcock and needed to locate hens and broods for his project. Dhuey offered up his German Wirehaired Pointer, Flag, as a method of data collection. Dhuey and Flag hunted woodcock each fall, and she was clued in to their scent and experienced enough not to break her points.

Instead of “hunting” early in the morning, the trio would go out between 10 am and 3 pm on perfect spring days. Because this data collection method can greatly disturb chicks and hens, they made sure they never completed fieldwork on cold or wet days.

“On those days, the hens need to protect their chicks from the elements. You don’t compromise the chicks when it’s sunny, 60 degrees, and not late in the day,” said Dhuey.

“Sometimes we got three broods in one day,” he continued, “When you can handle that many chicks in one day, it’s pretty cool… good dog work is what made that research possible.”

Volunteering your dog for conservation can be very rewarding. Not only does it offer opportunities to train your dog on wild birds in the spring, but you’re helping conserve the very species you enjoy hunting each fall. Get in touch with your state’s game agency to see if any upland bird research is going on near you. If not, consider advocating for wild birds and calling for more research on these at-risk species.

How hunting dogs were selected to volunteerLuckily for Strom, several of his coworkers were avid upland hunters and owned trained pointing dogs. Knowing he’d have a hell of a time finding and trapping woodcock broods on his own, he recruited those fellow WDNR employees, including Brian Dhuey, a wildlife surveys specialist. It never quite got to the point where they put out a call out to the public because so many of his colleagues volunteered their time and dogs.

Strom specifically chose to work with pointers instead of flushers for several reasons. One reason is that woodcock nests, chicks, and hens are extremely camouflaged. It’s almost impossible to see them on your own, and having a pointer around means you can utilize the dog’s sense of smell to locate birds. Additionally, these birds hold very tight in the spring. A well-trained pointer who stays very still decreases the risk of injuries to chicks and hens.

“Flushers would have trampled nests,” said Strom. “Pointing dogs were more desirable from a practicality standpoint.”

The breeds selected for volunteering were incidental. “German wirehaired pointers are my dogs,” said Dhuey, “I like their versatile background, although I primarily do upland hunting.” He mentioned how much he enjoys having a dog that both points the bird and follows through on the retrieve.

How wildlife researchers captured pointed woodcockStrom utilized both live capturing and hunting of woodcock for data collection purposes. In the springtime, Strom captured live woodcock hens and chicks during their flightless period by conducting nest searches. This period lasts for 10 days after woodcock eggs hatch.

After selecting a few properties with breeding woodcock habitat on them, Strom and Dhuey traveled to the site and let the dog down. When Flag would go on point, they moved slowly towards the direction of her nose to try and locate the woodcock nest. Most of the time, the female woodcock would not flush, and Strom would be able to catch her in a hand net. Typically, woodcock hens lay four eggs, so they kept their eyes peeled for four chicks at each nest, too.

“It helps to have two extra people because the woodcock are usually spread out in a feeding pattern,” said Dhuey. “Once they give the alarm call, they all start running, so you need to pick up all the chicks at once.” Needless to say, that sounds like a difficult task to attempt alone.

After being captured, body measurements were taken from each bird. In fact, there’s an equation biologists use to estimate age based on bill length. Blood samples were taken from hens. Additionally, one chick per nest was sacrificed for scientific purposes; this is how they gathered the biotic material necessary to measure the concentration of lead isotopes in nestling bones.

“Those nestlings were accumulating massive amounts of lead,” said Strom.

If the remaining chicks were strong enough, Dhuey, the master bander for Wisconsin, would place a band around their legs. When measurements were collected and the chicks were all banded, the birds would be released.

“I’m authorized to band woodcock, although it’s not an important piece in the management of woodcock ,” said Dhuey. “Wing collections and singing surveys play a much bigger role in managing our woodcock.”

In the fall, Strom and Dhuey would hunt woodcock with steel shot a few days before the season opener. This way, they were able to collect woodcock before lead shot accumulated on public hunting grounds each fall. By doing so, they knew that woodcock were accumulating lead in their bodies outside of hunting seasons, too. Body lengths and lead concentrations were measured for each dead woodcock.

Bird dogs help collect important wildlife research data“Woodcock are a funny species,” said Strom, “There’s been concerns about their reproductivity and how well the overall woodcock population in the U.S. is doing. This lead issue is another wrinkle in that story.”

Based on what he’s found, Strom isn’t “overly concerned that lead is having a significant impact on woodcock health.” However, he advocates for all bird hunters to switch to nontoxic shot for all their upland hunting.

“This study gave me an appreciation for hunting,” Strom continued. Growing up, his family didn’t hunt, and collecting woodcock data over Flag was his first foray into woodcock habitat and hunting strategies. He mentioned that it really gave him an appreciation for hunting dogs and was impressed by Flag’s ability to pierce through thick habitat.

If you’re interested in volunteering your bird dog for conservation, get connected with your local wildlife biologist. You can ask your local DNR office if they know about any upland studies going on, too. “Ask if you can get involved as a volunteer,” said Dhuey.

Unfortunately, the WDNR doesn’t have any plans to conduct a study like this again. However, Michigan and Minnesota have used hunting dogs to collect wildlife data in the past, and it may be worth checking in with these states to see if they’re collecting data on upland birds anytime soon. I’m sure biologists would find it helpful to have a long list of uplanders to call, ready to donate their pointer and skill set for bird conservation.

“I’m an avid woodcock hunter and my dogs have had a lot of woodcock experience,” said Dhuey. “It was nice to take my dogs to work and have a reason to do it.”

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Defining the attributes of the perfect ruffed grouse gun over generations of grouse hunters and authors from weight to barrel lengthThe text came through immediately: “Are those my initials?” I had just sent my dad a photo of my newest grouse gun: an Upland Gun Company, RFM-built Venus boxlock 28-gauge weighing five pounds, one ounce with 28” barrels choked skeet and skeet. Being a Junior makes my custom guns a regular lighthearted topic between us. Candidly, I owned a lot of shotguns before this one, and I’ve made many errors in judgment along the way. I am already sure I would change a couple of things on this one. However, this was my error, not Upland Gun Company’s.

One of the few things my father and I bond over is guns. He’s why I started collecting guns as soon as I was old enough. I went through phases of obsession ranging from action types to unique calibers and even historical pieces. I would sell them and buy others or find one to save up for but never actually buy them. I am what someone could call “gun poor;” I own guns beyond my practical means at the expense of other things. It’s habitual, and I have no regrets. However, along the way, I learned a lot of lessons about poorly made guns, guns that didn’t fit me, and, ultimately, guns that did.

I grew up on pumps and semi-automatics. My first over/under didn’t come until 20 years ago, and my first side-by-side shotgun arrived eight or nine years after that. However, I accelerated my journey into double guns by taking many trips overseas. I toured gun factories on said trips and spent time with owners, experts, and engineers. They patiently answered my never-ending questions. Since then, some have come stateside to see the sights and even hunt grouse.

There are many strong opinions about what makes a good grouse shotgun. While I’m in line with most of them, others were more outlandish. One time, over lunch, a gun company owner told me that the weight of a grouse gun did not matter. In my typical uncensored fashion, I blurted out, “Then you haven’t truly grouse hunted.” That relationship has been rocky ever since, but I said what I said, and I meant what I said, and I would not be alone in that opinion. Honesty has to count for something.

What makes an ideal grouse gun, or what Gene Hill would call “a gun of specialist function?” Does action type matter? What about gauge? How does the environment play into it? How has the modernization of gun-making changed grouse guns? How different is a grouse gun from a clays gun? How different is a gun built for ruffed grouse hunting versus shotguns used for other wild game? While I don’t have all the answers, I do have theories. Like any evolving tradition, they’re built on the backs of those who came before me.

“An ideal grouse gun may be defined broadly as the one that a certain hunter will find most pleasant to carry to the spot where a grouse is to be shot at, and there prove most efficient when the shot is made.” Foster’s words may be the most elegant I have ever encountered when defining a grouse gun. They capture the subtleties of practical factors like weight, gauge, and gun fit while never explicitly mentioning them. Less poetically, he says, “I need to carry this gun through a mess of grouse cover and shoot when I get there.”

Gene Hill would echo that sentiment over 50 years later in Shotgunner’s Notebook:

It’s a special gun, built for snap shooting in the heavy alder and birch covers and for ease toting up and down New England hillsides . . . I think we can agree that among its special functions is that it’s easy to carry, meaning it has decent balance and doesn’t weigh more than seven pounds and preferably a bit less.

The Weight of a Grouse GunOne can only wonder why some modern gunmakers push upland shotguns built for field applications into the eight-pound category. As Gene Hill said, let’s try and keep them under seven pounds. I argue that weight is the most relevant conversation around the ideal grouse gun.

To be frank, grouse hunters do a lot of gun carrying, often one-handed, navigating thick cover, and do a lot more lugging than shooting. The weight of the gun is a centerpiece of this whole conversation. If you account for the standard good practices, like buying a gun that fits, is mechanically sound, shoots a standard load that patterns well, and you take the time to get good with that chosen shotgun, then the weight is about the only conversation left.

One’s physical build, whether towering six-plus-feet tall or a more average 5’10”, can push the weight of a gun across that five- to seven-pound spectrum. Simple things that contribute to weight can be gauge size, barrel length, quality of manufacture, and the action type. The whole conversation of a grouse gun cascades from the idea of weight.

The Double Gun RuleIndeed, shoot whatever action type you like when grouse hunting. However, those expecting more mention of a pump or semiautomatic will be sorely disappointed. If we are talking about grouse guns in the classical sense (and we are), then we are talking about double guns.

I did not make the rules; the culture did. The double gun rule began at the dawn of modern grouse hunting. George Bird Evans called it the “gentlemen’s agreement.” It has to do with your number of shots and giving a ruffed grouse a fair chance on the wing. Being humbled is a cornerstone of the enjoyment of grouse hunting. Practice good conservation ethics and consider how your bag limits affect your local population.

How Gauge Plays a Role in Grouse ShotgunsRuffed grouse’s difficulty is in their cunning behavior, not in their ability to take a shot. The point is it does not take much to kill a ruffed grouse. William Harnden Foster wrote, “In referring to some carefully-kept records . . . we find that the average distance at which grouse were killed throughout the seasons was in the neighborhood of twenty-three yards. These records were compiled by shooters of average reactions who use guns weighing a little under six pounds.” He advocated for pattern testing the first barrel at 25 yards and the second at 35 yards noting:

Since a missed grouse going away will travel at least ten yards before the shooter can recover his aim for the second shot and because the second bird of the rare, true double will also be ten yards farther away by the time it comes in for attention, there seems to be no more reasonable solution to the second barrel boring problem than to give it the pellet-to-the-square-inch average at 35 yards instead of 25 as was the accepted range of the first.

The 12-, 16-, 20-, and 28-gauge are acceptable gauges for ethically killing a bird, considering shots occur almost entirely under 35 yards. When choosing your gauge, you’ll find it’s very similar to the weight spectrum. The smaller you are, the more you will benefit from a lighter gauge. That applies to performance with recoil, how your hands fit on the shotgun, and the overall weight of the grouse gun.

While I often scratch my head at grouse guns that can take 3″ or greater loads, I guess it is not a bad option for those that occasionally seek waterfowl and do not have a dedicated shotgun for such an adventure.

Barrel Length on a Grouse GunOne of my favorite grouse guns is a wonderful 20-gauge Bernadelli with 24″ barrels and custom Briley chokes that weighs five pounds and 11 ounces. However, I have never said, “If I only had four inches less on my barrels, I would have hit that grouse.” If I had been more observant or technical, I might have learned sooner that a longer barrel makes for a better swing and, therefore, more successful shots. I know some old-school folks will send me hate mail on this, but the need for short barrels is no more than a myth in grouse hunting. Quite the opposite is true. When brush gets in the way, as it often does, it won’t matter what your barrel length is.

“When we talk of the length of the barrels we have in mind the symmetry and balance of the gun,” wrote Foster in his one-sentence elegance. The need for longer barrels often becomes more evident with the lighter gauge you shoot. Twenty-eight-inch barrels on a 28-gauge feel like a must to me. I am not sure I would ever want any shotgun with less than 28” barrels unless there were no other options. This leads to the next point of the ideal grouse gun. It is not built to win gold medals; it is meant to be hauled great distances while still being effective.

Always Practice with Your Grouse Gun“Because you lose the natural momentum that exists in a heavy (eight pounds or so) 12-gauge, you have to learn a new set of shooting habits,” wrote Gene Hill when talking about upland shotguns. Hill refined the difference between shooting on the range and upland hunting. While he pointed out differences in how these specialty guns are designed, he emphasized getting good with the hunting gun you choose. It’s that simple. A “specialist shotgun” requires a specific set of shooting skills, and if we are to hold to Foster’s simple definition, then we must be “efficient” with the grouse gun we choose.

My practical behavior in this realm began in the past five years. I made a point of sticking with the same shotgun from August until the end of the season. I keep my shotgun beside my desk, allowing me to religiously practice my gun mount, developing my muscle memory. Since that commitment, I have certainly experienced a significant change in my shooting abilities.

Final Thoughts on the Ideal Grouse GunOne of the greatest failures of modern grouse gun manufacturing is the need for more ability to order custom dimensions. Shooting a shotgun built to your measurements may be the greatest advantage to shooting straight. Some of us are luckier than others; they can pick up that gun rack gun, and it’ll be a close fit. They are built to fit the average person, after all. We outliers can genuinely benefit from getting measured for a custom gun fit.

My newest grouse gun, the Upland Gun Company Venus 28-gauge, meets my individual needs almost perfectly. One of the gun’s perfections is that it’s built to my dimensions. Their base model, the Zeus, starts at $1,999.99. That price tag includes custom-building it to your dimensions. As every gun collector knows, we always think of an excuse to buy that next “ideal” shotgun.

While collecting and shooting guns is a great way to learn foundational lessons in identifying good shotguns, grouse hunting is the only way to know a gun intimately enough to say it’s an ideal grouse gun. “Few sportsmen are fortunate enough to make, early in their careers as grouse hunters, their ultimate choice of a gun,” wrote
Foster. “Some never settle on one with which they feel wholly satisfied, but keep on changing and experimenting, swinging like a pendulum from one extreme to the other. Fortunate and heroic indeed is the grouse hunter who can say, ‘I can think of no change that I would care to make in the gun that I have used all these years that might improve my shooting.’”

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This visually stunning duck species is known for its forest dwellings and habitatAlthough drake ducks are often more decorated than hens, the wood duck (Aix sponsa) drake puts the rest to shame. And honestly, the hen is pretty unique looking too. This gorgeous bird is somewhat unusual among ducks in terms of its nesting habits and tendency to perch in branches. In this profile, we’ll describe the basic characteristics, range, habitat, conservation issues and some hunting tips for the wood duck.

Description, Identification, and Life History of the Wood DuckThe wood duck is on the small side compared to the mallard, measuring about 18 inches in length and weighing about 1.5 pounds (NatureServe 2018). As with most ducks, drakes look very different from hens during the breeding season. They have a beautiful crested head, with iridescent green feathers striped with white and a splotch of reddish purple behind their bold, red eyes. Their bills are red and white, tipped with black. The bodies are just as stunning as the head, with rusty/chestnut colored breast feathers, a white throat patch, a tan and white belly and black wings, all with white and blue accents throughout (All About Birds 2018). Hens are much more subtle, with brownish body feathers and a slightly gray crested head. Their bills are usually a dark gray color and their eyes are dark surrounded by a ring of white feathers. Both sexes have muted yellow legs and feet, and brownish black wings with a dark blue wing patch (speculum) that is bordered with white.

Wood ducks start forming pairs in January with courtship displays that consist of the male displaying his feathers (All About Birds 2018). The pair will seek out a nest site in large tree cavities (especially if it is located near water sources) or artificial nesting boxes and line it with down feathers (National Audubon Society 2018). The hen will typically lay nine to 15 pale buff eggs and incubate them by herself for about 25 to 37 days (National Audubon Society 2018; NatureServe 2018). Hens may lay eggs in other hen nests as well – a behavior called egg dumping – to get the other hen to care for her eggs. Wood ducks are known for producing two broods each year in the South, and occasionally even in Northern breeding grounds (NatureServe 2018). The day after hatching, ducklings need to use their sharp claws to climb up out of the nest box or tree cavity which may be several feet deep (All About Birds 2018). Since wood ducks may choose tree cavities 50 feet high or more, the hatched ducklings have a long way to free fall to the forest floor – yet very few are injured in the process. The hen leads the ducklings to water, which may be up to one mile away (All About Birds 2018). The hen tends the ducklings until they can fly (at about 8 to 9 weeks) and then abandons them (NatureServe 2018).

Wood ducks are members of the dabbling duck group, which means they feed by floating in the water and submerging their head to graze, although they may make short dives underwater (All About Birds 2018). Primary natural food sources include seeds, nuts (especially acorns), leaves (e.g., smartweed, duckweed, water lily) and other mast (e.g., blackberries, wild cherries, etc.) (National Audubon Society 2018; All About Birds 2018). They also eat insects, crustaceans, and even frogs (NatureServe 2018). In agricultural fields, they will also eat waste grain (e.g., rice, millet, soybeans, etc.). Their feeding schedule peaks in the morning and afternoon.

Wood ducks experience a high annual mortality rate – up to 50 percent in adults and much higher in ducklings, likely due to the number of predators. Eggs and hatched ducklings are very susceptible to predation from mink, raccoons, snakes, snapping turtles, bullfrogs and many large fish (NatureServe 2018).

Range and Habitat of the Wood DuckThe wood duck is a migrant species, breeding in the northern part of the United States during the summer and retreating south to the Gulf or to the East and West Coasts for the winter. However, they do occur year-round in southern climates. Migrating pairs typically leave southern wintering grounds by mid-March and depart from northern breeding grounds by October or November (NatureServe 2018). Wood ducks are most common in the eastern half of the U.S., but some populations do occur along the West Coast and interior to Montana (National Audubon Society 2018).

The wood duck is a common inhabitant in shallow, freshwater areas, especially those that are surrounded by or in close proximity to forests (National Audubon Society 2018). Wooded swamps, flooded timber, beaver ponds, rivers, streams, and sloughs are all good places for them, especially if trees or shrubs overhang water sources (National Audubon Society 2018; All About Birds 2018). They may also utilize open marshes or emergent swamps in generally forested regions. While they prefer freshwater habitats, they may also winter on brackish waters. Ideal trees for nesting cavities include elms, maples and basswoods as these naturally develop cavities over time (NatureServe 2018).

Conservation Issues for the Wood DuckThe wood duck is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2018). That’s good news because it wasn’t always that way. During the 19th century, the wood duck population suffered from market hunting and loss of nesting sites/habitat. Continued threats to wood ducks primarily include destruction of habitat (e.g., wetlands, especially forested wetlands). However, they have historically responded very well to artificial nesting boxes in the absence of natural tree cavities. To make your own, here are some wood duck box plans to supplement the nesting opportunities on your property.

Hunting Opportunities for the Wood DuckThe wood duck can be found across all four flyways (Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic). However, they aren’t as common throughout the Central flyway simply because the habitat types along it aren’t as optimum for the species. Besides mallards, wood ducks likely account for more harvests than other duck species. Here are a few wood duck hunting tips you can use this season.

Equipment and Bag LimitsSince wood ducks like to feed in wooded swamps, you’ll want a durable pair of waders to mitigate the chance of a sharp stick punching a hole in them. A 12- or 20-gauge shotgun would both work for these small to medium-sized ducks. If you want to use decoys, no more than a dozen would be necessary. As a migratory bird species, you’ll need a federal duck stamp to hunt wood ducks and will need to use non-toxic/non-lead shot.

Current daily bag limits for most duck species are six birds, no more than three of which can be wood ducks. The possession limit for all migratory birds is three times the daily bag limit (i.e., nine wood ducks).

Wood Duck Hunting TechniquesTo effectively hunt wood ducks, there are a couple things you should keep in mind. First, wood ducks tend to be sensitive to hunting pressure. If you find a good number of woodies, be careful to not get greedy and over-hunt as it might push the others out of that area for the rest of the season. As with most duck hunting, it helps to do some pre-hunting scouting to know where the birds are hanging out. Silently sneak into the following areas to check them for duck activity before you hunt: streams and ponds with overhanging oak trees, picked grain fields, flooded bottomlands, etc. Make sure you are in position well before daylight, as wood ducks are often only active for the first several minutes of shooting light. You may want to toss a few decoys out to add some realism, but it’s not always necessary. Similarly, some people have luck calling them, while others just can’t put it together. If you’re not a particularly great caller, go without it. Another strategy that can work well for midday hunts (after the brief morning action) is to silently stalk streams and ponds and jump-shoot them. No matter how you choose to hunt them, there’s a lot to admire about the wood duck.

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This traditional Irish dish can be adapted to upland game bird meat for a delicious American twist.This recipe is based on a traditional Irish meal: Dublin Coddle. Some origin stories suggest this stew (more of a casserole, really) was created by devoted Irish wives who threw this together and left it simmering late into the night for their pub-loving husbands. Regardless of this speculative origin, the fact that this is an immensely popular Irish dish and comes in many variations is certain.

Coddle traditionally calls for Irish banger sausages, which are hard to find locally. l made the sausage in this recipe with upland birds and some pork shoulder. I used rooster meat as my main protein. Additionally, I don’t see sense in stuffing pheasant meat sausages since coddle calls for you to ultimately cut up said sausages. Therefore, I used loose sausage for this recipe. The flavor is the same; no casings or sausage stuffer are needed. You will need a meat grinder, though.

The rest of the stew is straightforward. However, you’ll find no bacon in this variation. Besides bacon, this dish pairs incredibly well with freshly baked soda bread. My wife (@BespokeBundt on Instagram) made this loaf. If you want to learn more about the baking side of this spread, please feel welcome to give her a follow. Get the good Kerrygold varieties for the butter that goes on the bread and the cheese for topping your potatoes. After all, you should treat yourself this St. Patrick’s Day.

PrintUpland Dublin CoddleThis traditional Irish dish can be adapted to upland game bird meat for a delicious American twist. Course Main CourseCuisine IrishKeyword upland game birdsPrep Time 20 minutesCook Time 3 hoursServings 4IngredientsBanger Sausage 1 pound ground upland bird meat * 5 oz ground pork shoulder * 1 tbsp kosher salt * ½ tbsp freshly minced sage * ½ tbsp freshly minced rosemary * ½ tbsp freshly minced thyme * 1 tsp white pepper * 1 tsp marjoram * ½ cup Guinness * ½ cup plain breadcrumbs * Olive oil for cooking Stew 1 ½ ,medium yellow onions chopped * 2 tbsp freshly minced garlic * 1 cup Guinness * 3 cups chicken stock * 5 russet potatoes sliced 1/-4-inch thick, parboiled then broiled, seasoned * 7 oz Kerrygold Grader’s Select Vintage Irish Cheddar Cheese Roux ¼ cup flour * 2 tbsp sunflower (or similar) oil * Dash of Kitchen Bouquet Browning Sauce Optional Garnish finely minced chives, freshly chopped Italian parsley Instructions* To make the sausage, make sure your meat is ice-cold and barely above freezing. Grind the bird meat and pork together through a fine grinding plate. After grinding, if the meat is no longer ice-cold, add it to the freezer for a half hour. Also, make sure the Guinness is ice-cold before adding it to the mixture. When everything is cold, mix your meat and spices thoroughly. Add the Guinness 1/4 cup at a time and mix it in thoroughly. Lastly, mix in the breadcrumbs. Place your sausage in the fridge until you’re ready to cook. * When you’re ready to cook, heat a large (preferably cast-iron) skillet on medium-high heat and add a thin layer of olive oil. Add in your sausage. Once the underside is brown, flip it, and let it continue to brown. Add a bit more olive oil. Once the second side is browned, use a spatula to break it up into loose sausage. When fully cooked, remove the sausage and set it aside in a large bowl. * Add your chopped onion to a skillet with a bit of olive oil. Once slightly seared, turn the heat to medium-low and continue to brown and caramelize it. Once it’s mostly soft and slightly caramelized, add the finely minced garlic. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant. Deglaze the pan with a bit of Guinness beer. * Add the sausage back to the skillet and mix everything thoroughly. Add 1 cup of Guinness and 3 cups of chicken stock. Turn the heat to low and allow it to barely simmer for 2 hours. Add more beer and chicken stock if necessary to keep the contents covered with liquids. * After 2 hours, bring a medium saucepan to a boil and slice five potatoes approximately 1/4 inch thick. Once the water is boiling, add sliced potatoes. Boil for 5-6 minutes or until the slices are just a bit flexible. Err on the side of undercooking. You don’t want them falling apart. Drain them in a colander and season. I used Bearded Butcher Blend Original, which is always my go-to seasoning for potatoes. * After the stew has simmered for a couple of hours, make a roux to thicken the stew. Mix 1/4 cup flour and 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a small saucepan. Heat on medium and stir often, careful not to let it burn. The roux will continue to brown. You want it to be the color of wet sand. Once it is, remove it from the heat, add a dash of browning seasoning, and mix it into the simmering stew. Stand back, as the mixture will get hot and bubbly. Stir it in to thicken the stew. * Once the potato slices are seasoned and the stew has thickened, turn on your oven broiler. Cover the stew with potato slices and slide the skillet under the broiler. Broil until potato slices have golden spots (could take 10 minutes or more). Do not let the potatoes burn; check your oven frequently. Once they’re slightly golden, shred your Irish cheddar overtop. Broil it again until the cheese is brown. Remove the pan from the oven, and you’re ready to serve. Be careful, as it’ll be hot. Feel welcome to garnish with fresh minced chives and rough-chopped Italian parsley. Pair it with freshly baked soda bread! NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Upland Style Dublin Coddle appeared first on Project Upland.

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These nonprofit bird organizations are working to save the future of birds in North America. Five years ago, back when I first started hunting, one of the first things I did was network with experienced hunters. Growing up, no one in my family hunted, and I had no close friends whose families regularly hit the woods in search of wild game. Locating a hunting community became a priority, so I sought out like-minded humans to learn from, connect with, and help make my new hobby feel less lonely. As it turned out, joining conservation organizations became a great way to do just that.

I was already a member of several wildlife-based organizations due to my admiration for wild birds. I joined The Wildlife Society as an undergraduate, participated in the Christmas Bird Count hosted by the National Audubon Society in Madison, Wisconsin, and donated to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology when I could because I loved their bird identification and mapping tools so much. Identifying similar organizations centered around hunting and conservation didn’t take me long.

There are countless bird conservation organizations in North America. Some of them center around upland birds, others on waterfowl conservation. Others focus on neotropical migrants or endangered species. Whether you lean more towards restoring tall grass prairies, supporting a specific species, or protecting wetland areas, there’s a bird conservation organization for you.

Here’s a handful of international, national, and regional bird conservation organizations any conservationist looking to get more involved should consider joining and supporting. As we all know, protecting, conserving, and restoring native bird habitats benefits countless other wildlife species that depend on these ecosystems. By supporting organizations like these, you’re helping future generations enjoy the landscapes and birds we all love.

National Game Bird Conservation OrganizationsNorth American Grouse PartnershipThirteen concerned wildlife biologists formed the North American Grouse Partnership in 1999. The NAGP is an international organization that “brings the plight of declining grouse species and their habitats to the attention of the public, provides oversight for the health of grouse populations, implements solutions to the problems causing grouse declines and encourages public policies and management decisions that will enhance important habitats and grouse populations.” As their name implies, they focus on all native grouse species throughout North America.

The NAGP offers several levels of membership. Folks can sign up for an annual membership at the Forest Grouse level for $35, the Sharp-tailed Grouse level for $100, the Prairie Chicken level for $250, the Ptarmigan level for $500, or become a member for life at the Sage Grouse level for $1,000. Membership comes with benefits, including a NAGP decal, a subscription to their newsletter, grouse conservation news, and more.

Learn More: North American Grouse Partnership

Pheasants Forever & Quail ForeverPheasants Forever and Quail Forever may just be the most prolific modern upland bird conservation organization. Founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Pheasants Forever has focused on protecting upland bird habitats since 1982. Their headquarters are still located there today, as is their enormous national convention, Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic, every three years. In 2023, over 33,000 people attended the event at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Quail Forever came into the picture in 2005. Pheasants Forever formed it as their new quail division in response to declining quail numbers across North America. According to their website, the mission of this quail-centric branch is to “conserve quail, pheasants, and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education, and conservation advocacy.”

Annual memberships to PF & QF costs $35 annually. They also offer $25 student memberships and $15 youth memberships. Each membership includes a subscription to the Journal of Upland Conservation, a calendar, invitations to local and national events, and more.

Learn More: Pheasants Forever

Ruffed Grouse Society/American Woodcock SocietyThe Ruffed Grouse Society has been around since 1961. RGS has supported science-based forest and wildlife conservation since the organization’s inception. The American Woodcock Society was founded in 2014; however, the two groups operate as one. The idea between the two native bird-centric groups is to unite upland bird hunters to support healthy, well-managed forests.

Read: Dr. Ben Jones President and CEO of the Ruffed Grouse Society – Champion of the Bellwether

Hunters, conservationists, birders, and wildlife enthusiasts can join either group for $35 a year. Additionally, one can join both groups simultaneously for an annual fee of $60. Membership benefits include access to their extensive network of wildlife professionals, local events, and hands-on land stewardship opportunities. They also offer a Junior Membership option for folks 17 years of age or younger. All memberships come with a subscription to Covers Magazine, too.

Learn More: Ruffed Grouse Society

Ducks Unlimited (and Ducks Unlimited Canada)Ducks Unlimited is one of the oldest bird conservation organizations in North America. Founded in 1937, the same year the Pittman-Robertson Act was passed, this group started when waterfowl populations plummeted after the Dust Bowl. Today, they’re the “largest and most effective private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization.” If you care about ducks, geese, and the thousands of other species that rely on waterfowl habitats, DU is for you.

As of 2021, 88 percent of DU’s donation dollars have gone towards its mission to “conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl.” You can join Ducks Unlimited for $35, $50, $100, or $250 annually. Membership with DU comes with a one-year subscription to the Ducks Unlimited Magazine, special access to their website, invitations to local and national DU events, and decals.

Learn more: Ducks Unlimited

Regional Upland Bird Conservation Organizations*Lesser Prairie-chicken Landowner AllianceIf you’re a landowner in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, or Oklahoma, consider joining the Lesser Prairie-chicken Landowner Alliance. This alliance consists of private landowners and producers that voluntarily work with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to conserve Lesser Prairie-chickens on their land. The technical assistance the NRCS provides is free, and financial aid to implement conservation strategies is readily available.

Learn More: Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative

Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse SocietyThe WSGS has protected Wisconsin’s rarest upland bird species, the Sharp-tailed Grouse, and its globally endangered habitat since 1990. Its 200 members advocate for sharpies, educate the public about this species, and encourage science-based management of this species and the pine barrens. You can join the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society even if you don’t live in the state, starting at $30 a year.

Learn More: Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society

Sisk-a-deeSisk-a-dee, the Shoshone word for sage grouse, is the name of a nonprofit based in Gunnison, Colorado. They advocate for conserving the incredibly rare Gunnison Sage-grouse and its sagebrush habitat. This 25-plus-year-old group partners with private landowners, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the federal government to protect this species and offer coordinated viewing opportunities during their lekking season. You can see the Gunnison Sage-grouse yourself by reserving a spot at the Waunita Viewing Site in April, run by the Watchable Wildlife Program. They take donations by check and through their website.

Learn More: Sisk-a-dee

*If you know of a regional bird conservation organization near you, let us know, and we’ll add it to our list.

National Bird Conservation OrganizationsAmerican Bird ConservancyThe American Bird Conservancy’s mission is to “conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas.” Guided by science, this international organization prevents extinction, prevents declining species from being listed as endangered, restores bird habitats, and reduces threats to bird populations. The ABC partners with public and private groups to benefit all birds. Private citizens can make a tax-deductible donation to the ABC, and other conservation groups can join their Bird Conservation Alliance.

Learn More: American Bird Conservancy

International Crane FoundationThe ICF is based in Baraboo, Wisconsin, right down the road from Aldo Leopold’s historic shack. For over 50 years, the International Crane Foundation has “led effective community-based conservation programs, important research projects, and innovative captive breeding and reintroduction efforts.” The Foundation is open to the public; visitors can view their 100+ captive cranes. You join the organization and become a “Craniac” starting at $40 a year.

Learn More: International Crane Foundation

National Audubon SocietyThe National Audubon Society is the United State’s oldest bird conservation organization. Founded in 1896 by two women, Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall, the group’s list of accomplishments is long. The Audubon Society has done everything from advocating for the passing of 1918’s Migratory Bird Treaty Act to developing a strategic partnership with Esri, the leader in GIS mapping capabilities. You can become a member starting at $20 a month.

Learn More: National Audubon Society

The Wildlife SocietyAlthough The Wildlife Society isn’t bird-specific, this organization does immeasurable work for wildlife conservation. TWS’s mission is to “inspire, empower and enable wildlife professionals” by giving them resources to succeed. However, you don’t need to work in the field of wildlife to join. If you’re interested in wildlife science, management, and conservation, you can join for $91 a year. Members receive a subscription to their publication, The Wildlife Professional, discounted conference registration fees, access to their professional networking tools, and more.

Learn More: The Wildlife Society

Other Ways to Get Involved with Bird ConservationJoining organizations isn’t the only way to get more involved with upland bird conservation. If you’d rather spend time, not dollars, on supporting wild birds, consider logging your bird sightings on eBird. eBird is the world’s largest citizen science-based resource regarding bird data, and anyone can add information. I also recommend downloading the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s bird identification app, Merlin. Merlin is a priceless resource for identifying birds, plus it’ll come in handy when looking for species’ native ranges, learning your quarry’s bird calls, and telling the difference between male and female and juvenile and adult birds. You can find nearly every bird in North America on Merlin.

Another great way to get involved with bird conservation near you is to call your local wildlife biologist. Volunteering with your state game agency and learning about conservation efforts near you is an excellent way to donate your time and help conserve the same bird populations you hunt every year. Additionally, if you’re a landowner, talk to your local wildlife managers about best practices for managing your property for wild birds. There are tons of ways to increase the bird habitat on your land, and small steps you can take in your garden or yard today will help improve native bird habitat down the line.

Most of us fell in love with birds through upland hunting. By extending this love to nongame species, habitats increase in quality, native bird populations grow, and landscapes are restored. Whether you donate your time, dollars, or land to conservation, future generations will thank you.

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This Mexican inspired pheasant dish is sure to be a family favorite Depending on who you ask, flautas are the same thing as taquitos: loose meat rolled in a tortilla and fried until crispy. Some argue the difference is flautas used flour tortillas, while taquitos use corn tortillas. In a cooking context, “flautas” translates to “flutes,” and that is exactly what flautas look like after frying. My daughter saw these on the menu at a local Mexican restaurant recently and told me, “The second I saw those, I knew they were for me.” Of course, I went home and replicated the recipe with pheasant.

You can make this dish with any wild game meat. I recommend using a sous vide to cook your pheasant, but you can also poach your birds in chicken stock, chili paste, and tequila for a similar result. The recipe calls for a pepper puree, or thoroughly blended dried chiles after they have been rehydrated. Using actual pepper puree is best, but you can substitute tomato paste here or even pureed chipotles in adobe sauce. Keep in mind that the chipotles in adobo will be spicy, so you may wish to dial back the amount or keep the amount of seeds in the puree to a minimum.

Sometimes, I have trouble finding cotija cheese in my local stores. Don’t tell the purists, but feta is a comparable substitute. I also recommend making the sauce ahead of time and reheating in a saucepan prior to serving if you’re on a time crunch.

PrintPheasant FlautasThis Mexican inspired recipe is sure to be a family favorite while using up your pheasant meatCourse Appetizer, Main CourseCuisine MexicanKeyword PheasantPrep Time 4 hoursCook Time 20 minutesServings 4Ingredients 1 pound deboned pheasant * kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper * 2 tbsp Sambal chili paste * 1 ½ oz tequila * 48 oz chicken stock If not using a sous vide * 1 medium yellow onion finely diced and caramelized * 12 medium flour tortillas * 8 oz Mexican shredded cheese (any mix of asadero, oxaca, or quesadilla) * 2-4 oz cotija cheese (you could use feta in a pinch) * Freshly chopped cilantro * Avocado oil or similar cooking oil * Cornstarch to make a slurry to serve as glue for tortillas Green Chili Enchilada Sauce Ingredients 1 ½ pounds tomatillos roasted and pureed * 5 large jalapeños halved, seeded, roasted, and pureed * 4 large garlic cloves roasted and pureed * ½ cup pepper purée (or tomato paste or pureed chipotles in adobe sauce) * 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter * 2 tbsp honey * 1 tbsp chili powder * 1 tbsp dry oregano * 1 ½ tbsp kosher salt * ½ tbsp cumin * ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar Instructions Make the sauce first. Remove the husks from your tomatillos. Cut off the stems, halve, and remove the seeds from your jalapeños. Peel the garlic. Lightly oil all these vegetables and roast them at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour. * Meanwhile, remove the seeds from the dry chiles and rehydrate them in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, or until soft. Remove the stems and blend them thoroughly in a blender. A food processor won’t blend the chiles as thoroughly. * Once the tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeños are adequately roasted, thoroughly blend all of them along with 1/2 cup of your pepper purée. Add the mixture to a medium saucepan along with the peanut butter, honey, chili powder, dry oregano, kosher salt, cumin, and apple cider vinegar. Barely simmer the sauce for one hour, stirring frequently and being careful not to let it burn. Salt to taste. * To prepare the pheasant, debone all the meat and lightly dust it with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. If you’re using a sous vide, seal the pheasant meat up with tequila and chili paste. Sous vide cook at 180 F for two hours for breast meat or eight hours for leg and thigh meat. This may require you to separate different cuts into different sous vide bags. If you’re not using a sous vide, after seasoning the meat, add it to a medium saucepan and cover it with chicken stock plus chili paste and tequila. Barely simmer the meat for 2.5 to three hours, or until all meat shreds easily. * When you’re ready to prep and cook the flautas, in a large skillet, add a thin layer of avocado oil (or similar cooking oil). Heat it on medium-high. Add the finely minced yellow onion and lightly salt and pepper it. Once it’s slightly seared, turn the heat to medium-low. Remove the onions once they’re slightly caramelized and soft, approximately 20 minutes. * Add a bit more avocado oilI to that same skillet that you cooked the onion in. Turn the heat medium; the ideal frying temp here is 400 F. * Shred your pheasant meat and mix it with Mexican-style shredded cheese. Add it to the middle of each tortilla and roll it up tightly. Remember, it should look like a flute. To seal the edge of the rolled tortilla end, mix a bit of cornstrach with water to create a paste. Add that paste to the edge, which serves as an adhesive. * Roll all flautas and fry two to three at a time, being careful to not crowd the skillet. Rotate them until the sides are golden brown. Remove them and let grease drip off. You may wish to have them sit on a paper towel for half a minute and turn to remove the extra grease. Plate them, top them with sauce, then cotija cheese crumbles. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro. Enjoy! NotesNote: Pepper purée is made from rehydrated dried 4-5 each of California and chipotle chiles (seeded, stems removed before blending thoroughly).Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Pheasant Flautas – Flautas de Faisán appeared first on Project Upland.

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Learn how to increases your duck hunting chances with these basic tips in duck calling skills for this hunting seasonMy old man made duck calling look easy. He’d take a thirty-year-old, single-reed duck call caked in gray mud and turn birds around from the other side of the marsh. However, his grandfather preferred the old-school method. When my dad was ten, his grandfather quacked and hummed at a lone mallard drake by hand and mouth only on an icy, briny creek. That bird became the first duck my dad ever shot. Hearing those stories and watching my dad use a call as effortlessly as a chef using a knife, I got the impression that duck calling was easy. But when I picked up my first duck call in high school and tried to teach myself how to use it, it sounded like a kazoo.

It took my entire senior year to get it right. I’d play recordings of mallards over my car’s stereo system. I mimicked the sounds with my double-reed Echo call, which I kept slung over my rearview mirror with a lanyard. I’d rip hail calls at stop lights and let quacks form a symphony on the highway. Pedestrians rubbernecked at the cacophony of croaks and purrs, whistles and chatter coming from my car. I looked like a duck-hunting fool to my friends who wanted to listen to the radio. Yet none of that mattered because, by graduation, I had finally learned how to use a duck call the right way.

It took several more years to actually become a good duck caller; that’s tough. Matching your duck call to the same cadence, tone, pitch, and crescendo as real ducks are one thing. Putting it all together in a way that fools wild birds is a much bigger chore. The trick is bridging the gap between making duck sounds and speaking duck language. You can sound like a duck, but unless you can speak with them, you might as well leave the call at home. Luckily for us, learning duck speech isn’t all that hard, and in terms of hunting, it can be broken down into five simple core principles.

Choose the Right Duck CallDuck hunters preach so much about choosing the right duck call that it’s become a cliche. Of course, choosing a good duck call is important, but what does that mean? Truthfully, it’s not all that complicated. The right duck call needs to sound like a duck, and there are two ideal sources you can turn to when figuring out which calls work best: nature and science.

Nature will tell you the cadence and tone of duck calls. Lousianian duck hunters know this well. Ducks on the Gulf Coast are gluttons, and when female dabblers call at incoming birds, they rarely produce the sharp and concise tones typical of other parts of the country. Instead, these birds talk with their mouths full of grain, and their calls squeak. Hunters call it the Cajun Squeal, and it’s basically a hail call with subtle squeaks marking the end of each note. To make a sound like the Cajun Squeal, some companies like Haydel’s Game Calls have created calls specifically to mimic that higher pitch.

Most folks don’t need to go out of their way to find a call tailored to their local ducks’ dialect. The tone and pitch of a typical duck call are predictable and easily imitated with quality calls. Today, we’re inundated with models ranging from single reeds to triple reeds, different lengths and bore diameters, and diverse barrel materials such as acrylic to exotic woods. Duck hunters have their preferences, but a 2013 research paper aimed to put the debate to rest: what kind of duck call sounds most like a duck?

The researchers compared the vocalizations of hen mallards to 38 duck callers who used single and double reed calls crafted of various kinds of wood and casted acrylic. The researchers found that calls made of more rigid, denser materials, with a double reed insert, sounded most like a mallard hen. Of those studied, the researchers identified cocobolo, osage orange, pecan, and bocote wood as the best materials. Among the top rankings of calls, acrylic came in at number 5.

When selecting a duck call, choose based on the accuracy of tone, pitch, and volume to real live ducks. Once your call is picked, it’s time to focus on mastering the language.

Learn the Vocabulary of Ducks for CallingBefore becoming bilingual in duck chatter, you need to learn the vocabulary. Vocab class occurs in the field, and the process begins exactly like how you learn to set up a natural decoy spread. Sit in the blind, go out to the marsh, lake, or duck creek, and pick up cues from wild birds. A few things about duck language become apparent if you listen long enough.

Ducks leaving a body of water tend to belch a sequence of single quacks. Using a series of single quacks in quick succession would be a mistake when mimicking a bird on the water. Conversely, content birds loafing on the water often emit a single quack without any follow-up. That makes a lone single quack or single quacks separated by intervals of a few seconds a good choice for small decoy spreads. Ducks emit a rolling chuckle, usually called a feeder call, in two instances: dabbling on a food source and flying at dawn or dusk towards a feeding or loafing area. Waterfowlers can use chuckles to imitate birds on a food source, but using the feeder call when hunting loafing areas would be unwise. Female dabbling ducks of most species use the decrescendo call to attract other birds. This is called the hail call, often stimulating other hens in the flock to decrescendo. You can imitate them by letting your hail calls cascade like dominos, or emitting two or three hail calls quickly. That technique works best with a buddy, where each hail call rolls into the next.

Master the Single Quack with a Duck CallThere’s a hot topic debate among the duck hunting community about which call better seals the deal for stooling birds: the single quack or the feeder call. In my experience, the single quack takes the cake.

Single quacks mimic content birds. It’s a simple call, and because it’s not as flashy or complicated as calls like the feeder or hail call, it’s often overlooked by hunters. In the late duck season, subtlety becomes crucial, which makes the single quack an ideal call choice.

Waterfowlers can use single quacks in several ways. First, it can be used as a finisher. When birds circle your decoy spread, keeping them hooked is essential. Space out single quacks by several seconds. This sounds like a duck in your decoy spread saying, “Hey, it’s not so bad down here, and we plan to hang out for a while.” In that manner, the single quack can become deadly.

Single quacks can also be used as an enticement call to replace the hail call. Many internet articles will hold the hail call in high esteem for its power in persuading flying birds but pressured ducks pick up on that trick quickly. Separate yourself from other hunters by using the single quack at fly-by ducks. To wild ducks, this can sound more natural, and it can also make your decoy spread more enticing. Again, space out single quacks by several seconds to avoid sounding like an alert bird or a bird leaving the water.

Keep Duck Calling Realistic Thus far, we’ve been talking about duck calls in the context of common dabbling species, like mallards, black ducks, gadwall, and mottled ducks. But what if you’re hunting a mudflat filled with teal or a bay marsh loaded with pintail?

Nearly every duck hunter owns a call that can quack, but always keep a whistle call handy. With a dynamic whistle call, you can imitate other species of ducks, including teal, widgeon, pintail, and drake mallards. Wood ducks have their own style of duck call, designed explicitly for their iconic “too-weet” cry. Stringing both a whistle call and a standard duck call on your lanyard allows you to imitate a dynamic decoy spread containing various species of ducks. The more natural it looks and sounds, the better the hunting will be.

It’s also important to use appropriate calls at appropriate times. If you have six ducks in your decoy spread, keep calling to a minimum. If you’re hunting over several dozen decoys, you can get away with quite a bit more calling. If you’re hunting a feed area, throw in some duck chatter, and if you’re hunting a loafing area, stick to the standard quack, hail call, and species-specific whistles.

Don’t Be Afraid to Put the Call DownDuck calls can be as harmful as they are effective. Too often, new or eager hunters find themselves relying on their call, yelling and screeching at ducks from a mile away, or even worse, wailing out hail calls at ducks that are stooling into their decoys. Few things can be steadily relied on in duck hunting, but the fact that overcalling scares smart ducks always holds true.

Duck calls perform as a tool. They are used to make your decoy spread appear more real – nothing more and nothing less. Duck calls won’t work without decoys, but decoys will work without the duck call. Most wild ducks land into flocks that hardly make a peep. When hunting gets tough, especially in the late season, don’t be afraid to put the call down altogether. Come January, I often find myself tucking my calls inside my coat pocket. It helps me avoid the temptation of talking to ducks that don’t want to be talked to, and it’s probably saved more hunts than it’s hurt.

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Gaining actual experience in the woods and becoming a better hunter takes true dedication of time.The coming of turkey hunting season often reminds me of the hunting’s unknowns. This idea that the best gear, best call, and best decoy are the catalysts to be successful is merely materialism permeating the hunting space. It is as if we are one purchase away from consistently filling tags, bagging limits, and being a social media god. I could write a novel on how those things are factually and ethically wrong. However, there is one thing above purchasing gear, reading online articles (even this one), and following some account that can make someone successful in hunting: woodsmanship.

Woodsmanship is a collection of firsthand experiences and a familiarity with biology, animal behavior, weather, and the very land you hunt, among other things. Combining this knowledge helps you to subconsciously make decisions and take actions that put you in an informed situation, increasing your potential for success. Woodsmanship comes with time, and there will be lots of failures. Anyone telling you anything to the contrary is probably trying to sell you something.

The best shotgun will not make you a better shot. That comes with actual range time and developed skills. The best gun dog will not make you a better hunter. That comes with knowing how to handle a dog and where to find birds. Being the best turkey caller does not mean you kill turkeys. And the next article you read online cannot teach you this collective knowledge. While some of these things can give you advantages, they must be combined with real-life experience.

There is no golden ticket to filling a tag or bagging limits. People need to dedicate themselves to being better woodsmen and women. If someone gravitates towards the easy button, hunting may not be for them. That’s ok. Real hunting skills come with intimate knowledge that one can only gain with time and experience.

Lesson One: Learn to Fail, Not Fail to LearnWe don’t know what we don’t know. Until that statement smacks us in the face, it’s tough to internalize it truly. Knowing, more often than not, comes from firsthand failures. For people like me, this may take many failures until that lightbulb goes off.

After many failures, one can expect to gain some spider senses that inform decisions during a hunt, resulting in occasional success. A curated social media feed is not a good measure of what truly happens in the woods. For every wild animal killed, there were undoubtedly countless encounters that humbled the hunter. Sure, there’s dumb luck and first-time successes, but long-term consistency is always, literally always, littered with animals that beat that hunter. Can that frequency go up and down as skills are gained? Absolutely. But failure is always present. People who do not enjoy failure should not choose hunting as their outlet.

Lesson Two: Know the LandKnowing the land is understanding how game animals react to geography and habitats. That means trails, edges, contours, and even soil types can change an animal’s course or behavior. It matters both in their habitual use of the land and theories of threat response behavior. There is no article out there for where every one of us hunts that will teach you these things. It is nearly impossible to pass on land-based knowledge in writing, but if someone were to do it successfully, that would be next-level hot-spotting.

I have hunted the same woods for most of my life. With high confidence, I can tell you how a deer, turkey, or grouse would evade a situation on those properties. I did not read an article on “public land success” or any general commentary to gain that knowledge; recall lesson one on failure. I’ve run up and down those forests and fields until I was blue in the face. I saw how those animals reacted over the decades to land changes and logged that information subconsciously. This knowledge informs me when I hunt new land, but new turf still requires me to burn endless amounts of boot leather and experience failure to make progress.

When I moved to my current home, I did not have a single grouse cover to hunt. No one dropped me a pin and said, “Here you go.” I spent months and months covering the land in person, and each year, I added more covers. Most importantly, I experienced game in those locations as I found those spots. Each time a grouse put the slip on me, I learned something new.

We should all intimately learn the places we hunt. Each small parcel is part of a larger ecosystem, and seeing the complete picture is nearly impossible. Sure, maps help, but the most helpful thing is to grid the land with boot leather. E-scouting cannot replace in-person scouting.

Lesson Three: Know the Habitat Where You HuntHabitat means so many things. It changes based on what you are hunting. Habitat includes complex forest structures, the height of prairie grasses, food sources, shelter, travel routes, and many other things we can never fully grasp. You cannot cut and paste that information from one place to another. Despite the same species occurring across many states, the habitat and the species’ adaptive behaviors will always differ.

Consider ruffed grouse. The primary food sources for grouse in southern New England differ from those in northern New England. Northern grouse crops during hunting season are primarily full of leaves and buds. Southern crops tend to be more fruit-based. I learned that from checking more grouse crops than I can remember. I was giddy when I read that very same conclusion in New England Grouse Shooting. I was giddy because I earned that knowledge with the experience of time.

I am not saying, “Do not read about what some species like to eat or where they live”; quite the opposite. Read every biology and research paper you can, especially those based on the places you are from. While certain theories or tactics have foundations everywhere, the sausage gets made at the microscopic level.

Lesson Four: Know the Animal Wild game lives outside 365 days a year. Their behavior changes wildly with the seasons. Brood grouse in late summer are different from dispersed grouse during hunting season. A bachelor group of deer is different than a rutting buck. Animals are also independent beings that make individual choices despite being influenced by innate and learned behaviors. Good woodsmanship usually comes with the knowledge of understanding an animal year-round.

Genuinely understanding an animal combines learning its life history and seasonal behaviors. While you can learn some of this in books, it takes years of experience to truly grasp how your local animals behave. The very same species can behave very differently in different areas. Now, add how weather changes things, yearly conditions, and many other variables that impact how the animal behaves.

Lesson Five: Live Where You Want to HuntDo-it-yourself hunting on road trips are fantastic experiences. I love getting humbled by a new challenge. But if someone truly wants to specialize in one particular game animal and gain vast knowledge, they need a lot of time. Be wary of the generalist (insert versatile dog jokes here). Some of us may be privileged with more time and resources to be vagabond hunters, but in reality, if someone wants to truly specialize, they must live in that place.

If someone wants to be a grouse hunter, they should live in grouse country. To be an elk hunter, they should live in elk country. And while some may experience some success as they cross borders and learn new habitats, specialist skills only come with extreme amounts of time in that location. That’s why I moved to grouse county. The grouse I grew up on are now long gone.

I can walk out my doorstep and run my dog on wild birds. That lower bar of entry means more ability to manage my time and get in the woods. Job restraints have a similar factor. When I was younger and worked for the sheriff’s department, I saved all my comp time and credit time, volunteered for details for said time, and built it up to take 45-plus consecutive days off to deer hunt in the fall. More time spent hunting leads to developing better woodsmanship skills.

A Hard Lesson: Coming to RealityKilling an animal with a guide is just that: killing an animal. To be clear, I have nothing against guiding. What I take issue with is when someone thinks they succeeded as a hunter under these conditions. Maybe, we could say they are at least a good shot? But the guide hunted the animal through years of experience, which resulted in good woodsmanship; more power to the guides for having to navigate those skills alongside someone who does not have these skills. Some good hunters may use guides to experience new places with limited time, and they know that success comes with years of experience. We should all learn to separate those things.

The second reality check is that chasing stocked birds and stalking behind high fences is not hunting. Captive animals are for farming, and wild animals are for hunting. Hunting is the use of personal skills in the pursuit of wild game in a free-range capacity—hard stop. Only dog training and breeding standards are gained with captive animals, and even those have their limitations. Taking people hunting over pen-raised pheasants is not hunter recruitment. It’s setting false expectations. Quality over quantity should be every hunting mentor’s goal.

A Moral Lesson: Good Woodsmanship Comes with Ethics Success in woodsmanship comes with good ethics. Fanning a turkey may fill a tag, but it will not make someone smarter. Shooting a bird in the road may get you that limit, but that person did not learn anything. I know some may have a very meat-oriented approach; after all, that’s how our species began hunting in the first place. But for the resource to be sustainably managed, we must have a strong conservation ethic to maintain populations.

If someone finds themselves aggressively motivated to put food on the table, as in “Do anything to put food on the table,” I humbly request that person tries homesteading. Not to downplay my love for wild game meat, but the wildlife of this country and our advancement in society certainly require rules, regulations, and ethics to maintain them. To be a conservationist, one must take hunting further and practice a robust personal code of ethics.

The irony of becoming a better hunter is we find ourselves less motivated to always fill that tag or bag that limit. The act of killing must always be present, but the moral responsibility of understanding that an animal is giving its life is imperative.

Final Lesson: Time and Experience is the Only Way to Gain Woodsmanship SkillsSome articles, books, and YouTube videos may help us learn some things. However, no lesson is complete without practical, real-life experiences. Hunting is hard. That is the reason someone should want to do it. It’s a mess of variables that, no matter how experienced we may think we are, we will always be humbled by wildlife.

Experience comes with time. Gaining real-life experience outdoors is how you become a better hunter. That single lesson will never be replaced with a device, app, or online article. Taking the time to learn about animals in real life is truly a wonderful experience.

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Pursue a new hobby in the off-season by participating in winter dog sports with your bird dogsLiving in the center of a continuous forest, my nomadic bird dogs don’t spend much time walking on a leash around our home. As a result, they have terrible leash manners. Luckily for me, their tendency to pull works wonderfully with pulling sports like skijoring and kicksledding, as long as you can get them to stop. This is where “whoa” comes into play. This one word allowed me to dive into winter dog sports with my bird dogs.

“Whoa”is a critical command nearly every pointing dog and sled dog owner uses. In both worlds, it simply means “halt.” This term encourages or demands steadiness on birds in the upland scene. However, regarding sled dogs, this command is paired with heavy pressure on the foot brake while setting the snow hook.

The patchwork of logging roads, snowmobile trails, and minimum maintenance roads that weave around my home have several feet of snow on the ground for five or six months out of the year. This gives me plenty of opportunities to get creative about exercising the dogs in the off season, exploring the frigid wilderness, and finding more ways to enjoy the long, cold winter season.

I was introduced to dog sledding in college at an employee team-building weekend in Ely, Minnesota. Since then, I have met many mushers, especially in the last eight years living in far northeastern Minnesota. My town is seated along the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon route, the longest sled dog marathon in the lower 48. Several of my coworkers and friends race in the event. There, you can watch, hear, and feel the excitement of these dogs. Although the energy at these races is addicting, it’s not quite as addicting as running bird dogs through the northwoods in October. Alas, a kennel full of pointing dogs is slightly more alluring for me than a kennel full of high-powered racing dogs. But I had to think, what’s stopping me from participating in both worlds? Nothing more than buying harnesses, booties, a sled, and some simple rigging. What upland fanatic doesn’t love to buy more gear, anyways?

Types of Winter Dog SportsThe winter dog sports that are most popular in Minnesota today are skijoring, kicksledding, and sled dog racing. Dog sledding is estimated to have originated 3,000 years ago in Siberia. Sled dog racing began as a formal sport in the United States over 100 years ago. Mushers have been selectively breeding cold-hardy, long-distance endurance racing dogs for centuries. This is similar to how bird dog breeders select for their suite of preferred traits in their hunting dogs. An exception is that most mushers own 12 to 50 dogs, whereas the average upland bird hunter owns one to three dogs.

Skijoring is a sport dating back to Scandinavia, possibly over 1,000 years ago. Skijoring is where a skier is pulled by a single dog, a pair of dogs, or a horse. In Minnesota, many groomed ski trails allow skijoring in both classic and skate skiing methods. However, always check the rules before bringing a dog to run on maintained or groomed trails.

Kick sledding is a relatively new sport that combines skijoring and dog sledding perfectly. Two skis fixed with snow runners are attached to a chair-like structure with a handlebar on top. In Scandinavian mountain towns, kicksledding was simply a way to travel around the city, but it was not necessarily a dog-related activity.

Kicksledding with Dogs in MinnesotaKicksledding is the sport I landed on since I don’t run enough dogs to pull a racing sled, and I have very few areas to skijor around my area. While there are many hard-packed lakes I could run on, I find bringing bird dogs out and expecting them to run a straight line and not just to the nearest shoreline to look for birds to be a difficult task. Additionally, I avoid groomed or maintained snowmobile trails because I do not want a conflict with fast-traveling snowmobilers who pay to use those trails. Instead, forest roads, minimum maintenance roads, and ice roads plowed on popular fishing lakes are wonderful places to bring the dogs to kicksled. Narrow trails with high snowbanks acting as guard rails are the perfect place to start. When hooked up to the sled, the dogs learn their job quickly when praised with a few excited hoots and hollers when you get going fast.

I enjoy getting much-needed exercise during the long and snowy winter, and kicksledding is a fabulous way to keep dogs conditioned, too. I run them one to three miles per run at a fast pace and usually run two dogs simultaneously. Snow and trail conditions dictate how many dogs I attach to the sled. The other dogs run ahead of us on the trail, creating a draw for them to chase and run even faster. I will run all three dogs if the snow is deeper, softer, or slower, and sometimes only one if the snow is hard and fast.

Gear Required for Going KicksleddingThe gear required for the dogs for winter pulling sports is harnesses and booties. I prefer the endurance-style X-back harnesses with padded nylon webbing. Measuring my dogs for their harnesses took work, as these things are built for much deeper-chested dogs than my Setters and Small Munsterlander. I ordered three different sizes for three dogs and exchanged harnesses until we hit the right size combination.

Regarding booties, I prefer a kipmik-style bootie with a quality, stretchy elastic velcro strap (10squaredracing.com). They are not meant for hunting the deserts of the American southwest, but they sure work well at preventing ice buildup and paw damage from crusty snow. These are the same booties I use during late-season hunting. I have only lost two in the last two seasons; the trick is to strap them on real tight and pull them if they get too wet.

I purchased the kicksled online through a company that imports Esla sleds from Finland (bravethesnow.com). The rigging was the most challenging thing to piece together. When I started, I simply hooked the dogs up with harnesses and a few nylon leashes and zoomed up and down the driveway. Then, I researched options that would work best for the number of dogs I had and how I wanted to arrange them. Most sled dog supply stores sell skijor kits, and kicksled supplies are becoming more common. Before long, I upgraded to a gangline that connects the sled to the dog’s rigging. The line has substantial bungee properties that absorb any shock or stress on the dogs. I shopped at a different store for the tug lines and necklines. Tug lines connect the gangline/mainline to the dogs via the loops at the rear of their harnesses. Necklines attach the lead dogs via the D-rings on their collars.

Once the sled is rigged and the dogs are hooked up, there’s nothing left to do but mush, mush, mush! From personal experience, cross your fingers that your pointing dogs don’t smell a grouse along the way. Nothing causes a pile-up faster than a lead dog hitting point!

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Journey to the boreal forests of Sweden in pursuit of capercaillie, black grouse, and willow grouse from the cover story of our Spring 2023 issue of Project Upland Magazine Common wisdom says that to connect with someone we don’t know, the starting place is shared interests and history. However, bonds can readily grow even when folks don’t have much in common. One example of such an unlikely connection was between Miguel Canaverde, a Portuguese transplant to the southern region of Sweden, and me, a northeastern U.S. native. Although our mutual Instagram followers and love of bird dogs were commonalities in our improbable friendship, it was our differences that drew Miguel and I together.

Lapland Grouse is featured in The Monocular 2022 Hunting Film Awards shortlist for Professional Hunting Videos.

“Those European woodcock are fascinating, Miguel,” I texted him last year, “How do they handle for the dog? Do they run or hold tight? What do they taste like? What kind of habitat do you find them in?” He answered all of my questions with thoughtful, descriptive replies. Miguel countered with his own questions, which I answered with pictures, videos, and verbal depictions of my experiences here in the U.S. The differences in experiences and pursuits enabled us to build a friendship in spite of a 4,000-mile gap spanning oceans and continents.

Miguel’s lifelong dream was to move to Scandinavia. He took the first work opportunity that he could to relocate to Sweden. “I moved from Portugal to Sweden ten years ago. The bird hunting and the nature were what brought me here and what made me stay. I have a passion for these birds.” Needless to say, he has never looked back. His new homeland has allowed him to mature as an upland hunter in a beautiful part of the world. Sweden has a diverse landscape that includes tundra, boreal forest, and mountainous habitats. The hills, bogs, and knolls of these Nordic wildlands are home to an abundance of unique upland game species. Capercaillie, black grouse, and willow grouse (or ptarmigan) thrive in Sweden, and Miguel has found them all.

After our initial connection, we occasionally discussed how exciting it would be to experience each others’ upland lifestyles. We talked of Miguel chasing the infamous ruffed grouse in thick, forested New England coverts. We imagined me seeing capercaillie and black grouse erupting out of blueberry-covered bogs and spruce stands in Sweden’s boreal forest. And, of course, we longed to see each others’ dogs work.

“The first time I stepped in a boreal forest,I knew it was where I always wanted to be.”

Miguel Canaverde

I thought our ideas were out of reach. However, soon after we starting talking about visits, I scheduled a trip to Norway to create a marketing film for a small, Stockholm-based hand-knit beanie company. With my trip to Scandinavia already booked, I pitched the idea of a Project Upland film about Miguel and his Bracco Italiano, Chica. We knew it was a unique opportunity to tell a story about hunting foreign lands for birds that would be completely unfamiliar to those of us who hunt the North American forests. To my utter disbelief, I was finally going to join Miguel on a bird hunt in his neck of the woods.

Last August, Miguel and I met in person for the first time in an Ikea parking lot in southern Sweden, a few hours from his coastal home in Gothenburg. During the three hour road trip back to his place, our conversation was fast-paced and expansive in scope. Multiple times we confessed how excited we were that we were able to make this trip happen. We spent the next three days tirelessly exploring cover in the subarctic tundra and boreal forests, chasing Chica wherever her strong and sensitive Bracco nose took us.

On our first morning, Miguel was pouring over maps on his computer before we piled into his small SUV and traversed a network of well-maintained gravel roads. He called me over to describe the kind of cover he was looking for: old-growth boreal forests surrounded by blueberry bogs. As it turns out, blueberries are a main food source for both black grouse and capercaillie. I eagerly watched and listened, learning about this Nordic habitat while making comparisons to what I looked for back at home in Pennsylvania. After we dropped into our first cover, I noted the immense differences between the flora of Sweden and that of the thick, young forests of the northwoods.

Each new patch of old evergreens was full of possibilities. Chica left no dark corner or mossy knoll unchecked. With caution and poise, she sought our feathered quarry, stopping often to allow us to catch up. The birds behaved and allowed for plentiful shooting opportunities. Throughout my three days with Miguel, he brought each of the three available species to the bag.

The willow grouse were grouped up, making for an exciting flush. They were a comical sight as they cackled while flying out of sight, mostly unscathed. The solitary male black grouse reminded me of a mature ruffed grouse, fleeing on foot from Chica’s confident points and requiring cautious and experienced dog work. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock and awe of the flush of the mighty capercaillie.

“The solitary male black grouse reminded me of a mature ruffed grouse, fleeing on foot from Chica’s confident points and requiring cautious and experienced dog work.”

Kevin Erdvig

When it was my turn to take the gun for a walk, and after a skeptical Chica got over the fact that I was now going to shoot over her, we encountered a large family group of birds. After 250 yards of tracking, she brought me to the base of a large tree full of capercaillie. All at once, they flushed in all directions with a loud, yet strangely muted feathery blast. It was as if I had spooked a group of jake turkeys. Though they rocketed in every direction, I shouldered Miguel’s 12-gauge Beretta, and cracked off a shot at the bird closest to me. As it toppled to the ground, Chica was on it in a flash and happily brought it to me. Chica was still uneasy with me, but our somewhat strained relationship struck a new chord and I got upgraded in her mind. In that moment, I was tolerated, and perhaps even liked, by her.

It didn’t take much time for me to realize why Miguel had such a passion for this place and the wild creatures that live there. The quiet, almost melancholy scenery was an honor to traverse. I swapped Miguel’s gun out for my camera after that successful 20-minute walk, and was able to capture stunning videos and photos that could only offer the most limited glimpses of this beautiful Nordic terrain.

That afternoon, we sat in a patch of blueberries and ate until our mouths and hands were stained blue. Miguel pulled out his phone and perused possible locations to check for birds next. He beckoned me over to take a look and asked for my advice on where we should go.

Puzzled, I said, “I’m new to this country. I don’t understand these birds or their habitat like you do!”

Later that evening, Miguel revealed this was his first time hunting grouse with another person. It wasn’t until then that I finally understood why he asked me to collaborate with him even with my lack of experience in this wild tundra. I reflected on my own privilege of being surrounded by like-minded people all the time, fellow upland hunters that readily set aside weekends for “grouse camp.” I thought about my favorite parts of those trips. Besides the dogs and birds, the planning, scouting, cooking, and fellowship are the obvious high points of grouse camp.

Sweden is a country that is heavily focused on big game hunting. Miguel told me how people often give him funny looks and make sly remarks about bird hunting with dogs, as if it is somehow less than their way of hunting. Those that do enjoy upland hunting often keep to themselves and don’t yearn for community the same way Miguel does. No wonder he was having a difficult time finding people that shared his passion for birds, well-trained dogs, and wild spaces.

Miguel’s revelation made this trip even more important to me. I felt special to be a part of his first real grouse camp. I shared what made these gatherings of friends so special to me and explained that it was the biggest reason I got into bird hunting. I told him that it is what will inevitably keep me pursuing game birds with dogs. We most certainly plan to have our own Swedish camp again.

The rest of the trip brought more new experiences that became memories etched into my mind, punctuated by great dishes centered around our hard-earned forest grouse. By the end of the week, Miguel reached out to social media acquaintances and people who owned puppies from Chica’s most recent litter of Braccos to drum up interest for a 2023 grouse camp. I could see his excitement and anticipation welling up as he developed these future plans.

The best part of my trip was not the stunning views or the chance to shoot my first capercaillie. It was the new-found passion that I saw in Miguel to build a community of his own in a place that lacks the camaraderie I so easily enjoy here in the U.S. I would love to get back to Sweden to be a part of one of Miguel’s future grouse camps, to meet his friends, and to share the joy of gathering to chase wild birds in wild places.

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Life history, biology, identification, and habitat of the Greater White-Fronted GooseThe greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) is a small brown goose named for the white feathers surrounding its bill. Because of the dappled black markings on its creamy light breast (kind of resembling a birch or aspen tree), it is often called the “specklebelly” by waterfowl hunters.

Description and Life History of the White-Fronted GooseGreater white-fronted geese are usually about 27 to 29 inches in length and weigh about 5 to 6 pounds (Ducks Unlimited 2020). Its cousin, the lesser white-fronted goose (A. erythropus) is smaller and occurs primarily in Europe and Asia. The goose’s sides, neck, and head are brown, and its back and tail end are darker brown than the rest of it (All About Birds 2020). Its breast is creamy brown, with black or dark brown bars, as mentioned above. Its belly, under-tail, and around its bill are white. Specklebellies have orange legs and a pinkish/orange bill. While flying, their wings are gray colored and they have a white U-shape on their rear above their darker tails. Males and females look basically the same, apart from the males being slightly larger.

These small geese often spend their winters with flocks of snow geese and sometimes Canada geese. But during the breeding season, they tend to nest alone or in very loose colonies. White-fronted geese mate for life, and nesting usually begins by early June in North America (NatureServe 2020). Females pick the nest site, which is typically on the ground adjacent to waterbody, with ample grasses, sedges, or shrubs around (All About Birds 2020). The surrounding vegetation is woven into a loose bowl, which the female lines with other plant materials and soft feathers from her breast and belly. Females usually lay 3 to 6 brownish white eggs and incubate them for 22 to 28 days (NatureServe 2020; National Audubon Society 2020). Meanwhile, the male defends the nest site. Both parents tend the goslings after hatching, and family groups may loosely stay in contact for several years (NatureServe 2020).

The white-fronted goose is mostly a grazer of grasses, grains crops, and aquatic plants, although they will also eat some fruits and insects (NatureServe 2020; Ducks Unlimited 2020). In addition to the leaves, these geese eat seeds, stems, and tubers/roots. During the breeding season, they target sedges, arrowgrasses, horsetail, crowberries, aquatic insects, and snails (NatureServe 2020; National Audubon Society 2020). During the winter, they feed heavily on cereal grains, seeds, and waste grain.

Like other goose species, white-fronted geese are most at risk of predation during the breeding season. Common predators during this time include gulls, ravens, eagles, owls, foxes, wolves, and bears.

Range and Habitat of the White-Fronted GooseThere are two recognized populations of white-fronted goose in North America, and each one occupies a slightly different geographical range (Ducks Unlimited 2020). The Pacific population generally breeds in Alaska and northwest Canada, and then migrates along the Pacific coast to spend its winter in California and western Mexico. The Mid-Continent population spends the summer in northern Canada and migrates along the Central flyway to the Gulf coast in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and eastern Mexico. During their migration, they often stop for several weeks in key staging areas (e.g., Canadian Prairie Provinces with lots of grain fields) to rest and replenish themselves (NatureServe 2020).

During the nesting season, these geese usually occupy tundra habitats, especially when adjacent to marshes, ponds, lakes, or rivers (All About Birds 2020). They may also make their nests on islands, on hillsides near open water, or on raised hummocks in bogs (NatureServe 2020). During their migration or over the winter, they utilize croplands/grain fields (barley, oats, corn, rice, or wheat), pastures, wetlands/marshes, mud flats, and shallow lakes/ponds (All About Birds 2020; National Audubon Society 2020; NatureServe 2020).

Conservation Issues for the White-Fronted GooseThe greater white-fronted goose is a stable species in North America, although its population does fluctuate a little. It is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2020). Its estimated global breeding population is about 2.1 million birds (All About Birds 2020). A subspecies of this goose, called the tule goose (A. a. elgasi), is having a tougher time. It occurs only in the Pacific flyway (utilizing forested breeding grounds in Alaska), and its population is thought to only be about 7,500 individuals (All About Birds 2020). Hunters in the U.S. shot roughly 269,000 greater white-fronted geese each year between 2012 and 2016 (All About Birds 2020).

Hunting Opportunities for the White-Fronted GooseHunting specklebellies will likely test you as a waterfowl hunter. They are very reclusive animals and can be pretty discerning when it comes to decoy spreads and hunting blinds. But if you can pull it off, you’re among a special and select group. The Central and Mississippi flyways may offer more opportunities than the Pacific flyway, and states like Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas are prime spots to catch wintering birds. However, California is your best bet for a shot at the Pacific population. If these areas aren’t near you, try hitting the road and hunting somewhere new.

Because tule geese are struggling and resource managers want to conserve their population, some areas that are known to support them during their migration (e.g., Oregon) may have lower daily bag limits on white-fronted geese. It’s difficult to tell a tule from a regular greater white-fronted goose in the field, so this lower limit reduces the chance of harvesting too many tule geese by accident.

Equipment and Bag LimitsAll the typical waterfowl hunting gear is needed, including a hunting license/federal waterfowl stamp, a 12-gauge shotgun, non-toxic ammunition, and a really good blind. Incorporating a specklebelly goose call into your gear is usually a bonus. Compared to snow geese, you don’t need a ton of decoys to be successful. Use floating decoys for deeper marshes or puddles, and full body or shell decoys for field settings.

The current daily bag limit varies widely among states and even within different hunting zones of each state, so check your specific hunting area before heading out. But generally, the limit is lower than other goose species. In some states (e.g., New York), you include white-fronted geese in your daily bag limit for Canada goose.

White-Fronted Goose Hunting TechniquesBecause large flocks of geese can be very damaging to farm fields, especially cereal grains or rice, many farmers are willing to let hunters use their property. Before the season, try to secure permission to hunt a few properties, which will give you a better chance of finding geese using it during the season. Treat the landowners and their property with respect, and you may get another invite for the following year.

Because these birds are timid compared to even snow geese, spend some time really making your blinds disappear – blend them into the surrounding topography and vegetation, smear some mud on to reduce glare, and do anything else you can to hide your profile. Try targeting picked cereal grain fields, rice fields, and shallow marshes or mud flats during the hunting season.

Although specklebellies are fairly common, they don’t usually migrate in gigantic flocks by themselves. Often, they occur in mixed flocks with snow geese. Because of that, you can use a mixed decoy spread to attract multiple species. While hunting light geese, hunters are often successful putting some white-fronted goose decoys off to themselves. Try to keep your specklebelly decoys in loose family groups of 2 to 5 decoys that are spread out a bit to be more realistic. Flags can also be effective if you have good visibility around your blind.

Buying and using a specklebelly call is a good idea, as many flocks do respond well to them. These geese are often also called “laughing geese” for their high-pitched cackle. If you’re not seeing geese overhead or on the horizon, start a sequence of two-note goose calls and see if anything answers. If you get a response, call right back and continue this game of cat and mouse until they are close. Then transition to lower volume feeding calls to entice them fully in.

While hunting specklebellies may be tougher than other geese and the bag limit smaller, that is part of the attraction for many hunters. If you haven’t tried it before, study up for next season and give it a whirl.

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Learn how the German hunting dog testing system works and how it built the breeds we love in the United StatesDuring a beautiful fall day in Wyoming, one of the Verbands-Gebrauchs-Prüfung (VGP) judges advised me to handle my dog just like we were hunting. I did as I was instructed, but I had to chuckle a little to myself. I was handling a 15-month-old Deutsch Langhaar in this hunt test who wasn’t yet old enough to have a full hunting season under her collar. Maizey had been whelped in June of the previous summer. I had taken her out toward the end of the season to hunt for pheasants and quail in Nebraska, but she had only been about six months old at the time. She had a few points on hen pheasants and quail and she’d made a few quail and rabbit retrieves for me. But here I was, running her in the most demanding gundog test in the world with virtually no real hunting experience. It is in these moments when I really come to understand the incredible value of breeding standards that include a performance element. Thanks to a century of strict testing and breeding requirements, Deutsch Langhaars today have not only a ton of natural hunting ability, but also a high degree of trainability. When the scores were read the next day, Maizey had passed the test with 295 points out of a possible 312 and a Prize II rating. She was the highest-scoring dog of the weekend and became the youngest Deutsch Langhaar in North American history to pass the VGP.

Maizey is the ninth Deutsch Langhaar that I have run in a VGP and definitely not the most talented dog I’ve ever trained, nor am I an expert trainer by any means. Instead, Maizey is the product of a system that has followed strict regulations for over a hundred years to produce dogs that are capable of handling anything they may encounter during hunting season. The VGP in particular is a great way to measure a dog’s preparedness for hunting season by evaluating the dog for two full days in a wide variety of field, forest, and water hunting scenarios. As a hunter, there are few feelings better than walking away from a VGP with finished gundog just as hunting season is getting underway.

Our bird season was full of highs and lows, just like any season of chasing birds in the field. Maizey improved a great deal as she gained practical experience on wild birds. But the best thing about hunting with a finished and proofed dog like Maizey is how relaxing it can be. I do not have to worry about whether she is going to bump birds. I do not have to worry about whether she will find and retrieve a downed bird to hand. I do not have to whistle or call her to keep her hunting with me. I never have to wonder how she is going to react to hunting with different people or dogs. I don’t even have to wonder if she is going to whine or bark in the truck should I decide to rotate her out and hunt with another dog. She is a finished dog that I can completely rely on in any circumstances. That purpose-driven outcome is the primary value of a testing system with specific deadlines and clear requirements for passing tests.

The Levels of Testing within the German Versatile Hunting Dog SystemThe Jagdgebrauchshundverband ( JGHV) is the German versatile hunting dog association that conducts performance hunt tests for the purpose of evaluating several different gundog breeds, including versatile dogs in North America. It is up to the individual breed clubs to decide which of those tests will be considered requirements prior to breeding an eligible dog. For the Deutsch Langhaar, the parent breed club in Germany requires passing scores on the first two levels of JGHV testing, in addition to a few other requirements, before a Deutsch Langhaar can be certified for breeding.

The Verbands-Jungend-Prüfung (VJP) – Spring Puppy TestThe first level of JGHV testing is the Verbands-Jungend-Prüfung (VJP), or the Spring Puppy Test, which is a natural ability test held each spring. In this test, Deutsch Langhaars and other German-bred dogs are evaluated on their ability to search, point, and track. Nose and cooperation are also scored. The dog’s reaction around gunfire is assessed. It is preferred to have all search and pointing work done on wild game, but many test sites in the country require that liberated birds are used for pointing evaluation. The tracking must be done on wild, furred game which, in North America, is typically cottontail rabbits or jackrabbits. The overall focus of this test is on a dog’s natural ability.

During the course of the VJP, and again at every level of JGHV testing, the dog’s temperament is evaluated throughout the day. Dogs can be marked as impassive, calm, lively, or restless. If a dog is marked as being shy or aggressive towards dogs or people, that dog is automatically disqualified from breeding, regardless of how well he or she may score in the test.

The Verbands-Herbstzucht-Prüfung (HZP) – Fall Breed TestThe second level of JGHV testing is the Verbands-Herbstzucht-Prüfung (HZP), or Fall Breed Test, which is an advanced natural ability test held each fall. In this level of testing, dogs are evaluated on their ability to search, point, and retrieve. Nose, desire, and cooperation are also scored. The dog’s reaction around gunfire is measured on land and in the water. In the field, dogs are expected to hold point until their handler is within gun range. We want to know that the dog points well enough to have birds effectively shot over them. The rest of the test is comprised of two land retrieves: one 200m duck or pheasant track and retrieve and one 300m rabbit track and retrieve; and three water retrieves: one marked retrieve of a dead duck, one blind retrieve of a dead duck, and one search behind a live duck. The overall focus of this test is split between the dog’s natural ability, particularly on subjects such as the search behind the duck, and the dog’s trainability for the retrieves, especially out of sight of the handler when completing the long tracks.

The Verbands-Gebrauchs-Prüfung (VGP) – Utility TestThe third level of JGHV testing is the Verbands-Gebrauchs-Prüfung (VGP), or Utility Test, which is held each fall and truly measures the finished gundog. In this level of testing, dogs are evaluated in 26 subjects across four major categories: Field, Water, Forest, and Obedience. Basically, the dogs are expected to be steady to wing and shot in the field, able to complete multiple blind retrieves at the water, able to blood track, able to complete both cooperative and independent searches in the woods, able to retrieve all manner of feathered and furred game (including a predator such as a raccoon or fox), and they must be obedient and mild-mannered while performing and between tasks. The VGP covers such a breadth of subjects that it is difficult to pinpoint an overall focus other than to say that a dog must have a balanced temperament, a lot of natural ability, and a high level of trainability to pass this test.

Timing of Testing and the Influence on Maturity RatesJGHV testing is similar to horse racing in that dogs are required to complete these tests based on when they were whelped. A typical puppy whelped in the Spring of 2020 would need to run in their VJP in the Spring of 2021 and their HZP in the Fall of 2021. The VGP is an optional test that can be run at any time.

The timing is important for two reasons. The first is that the testing system was set up with hunting first and foremost in mind. In order to prepare your pup for his or her first hunting season, they should be showing some strong pointing and tracking instincts in the spring after they were whelped. You then have that whole summer to complete a trained retrieve program with your dog and get them comfortable with blind retrieves in the water. Immediately following the HZP, typically held in September or October, you are ready to hunt with a dog that you can comfortably shoot over and that you can trust to retrieve game.

The other reason why test timing is important is because it promotes fast-maturing dogs. When every dog in the breed has to pass an HZP before they turn two years of age, it ensures that we are only breeding dogs that are trainable. It does take a certain mental toughness for a dog to be able to take the pressure of the trained retrieve or steadiness training. Personally, I believe that our dogs’ lives are too short to wait for a slow-maturing dog to be able to handle advanced dog training, so I love that the JGHV system promotes getting young dogs trained early and then out hunting effectively at a young age.

Another limiting factor is that each dog is only allowed to run a maximum number of two times in each level of testing. Why give the dogs only two chances to pass each test? The reason for limiting test opportunities to just two attempts is to ensure that dogs are being fairly evaluated on their innate abilities. Even the best dog can have an off-day or have something unusual come up on test day, so the second chance is certainly understandable. But if a dog cannot pass a given level of testing within two attempts, then that dog is not eligible for breeding. The dog will probably still be an excellent hunting dog for his or her handler, but when we are looking at which dogs we want to contribute to the next generation of our breed, trainability has to be a priority. If the dog cannot be trained to a point where he or she can pass an HZP within two attempts before he or she turns two years of age, then that dog is not a suitable breeding candidate. We may never know if the dog or the handler was at fault for failing, but for the purposes of breeding, we strive to produce dogs that will be easier to train for the next generation of handlers.

The Role of Testing in the Continued Development of German DogsThe Deutsch Langhaar Verband requires every Deutsch Langhaar to pass the VJP and HZP before they can be certified for breeding. This ensures that all Deutsch Langhaars not only have a lot of natural ability, but that they are also very trainable and fast-maturing dogs. The VGP is highly encouraged, both as a measure of the dog but also for the incredible benefit of preparing both handler and dog for exceptional hunting seasons in the future. Selectively breeding dogs for the purpose of hunting is always very challenging. Because there are so many genes involved, you never know exactly what you are going to get from a particular pairing. But by requiring that all of the dogs in the entire pedigree have passed at least the VJP and HZP, it is reasonably certain that every Deutsch Langhaar puppy whelped in North America will point, track, and retrieve on land and water.

The value of testing goes beyond just achieving breeding certification, too. We emphasize testing every puppy in the litter, not just the ones that people are planning to breed, because the performance data of the litter gives valuable feedback on the relative success of that particular pairing. Since the Deutsch Langhaar-Gruppe Nordamerika (DL-GNA) was founded in 2008, 53% of all Deutsch Langhaar pups whelped in the US and imported from Germany have been run through a VJP. Astonishingly, one hundred percent have passed! That is an incredible statistic. A Deutsch Langhaar has never failed a JGHV natural ability test for not pointing or tracking. Further research shows that no Deutsch Langhaar has ever failed a natural ability test in the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) or the Versatile Hunting Dog Federation (VHDF) system, either. To put it simply, all Deutsch Langhaars point and track, which is a true testament to the value of the JGHV system and strict breeding regulations that have been built around it.

Since 2008, 33% of Deutsch Langhaars whelped in the US or imported from Germany have completed the HZP with a passing rate of 79%. This means that about a third of Deutsch Langhaar pups go into their first or second hunting season as reliable retrievers on land and water, in addition to their natural abilities in search and pointing. Further, 10% of Deutsch Langhaars have completed the VGP with an 84% passing rate. What’s even better news is that the number of dogs entering and passing VGPs continues to climb each year. As the DL-GNA breed warden and advocate for the breed, it is exciting that 1 in 10 Deutsch Langhaar pups whelped in the US or imported as a pup from Germany are currently going on to complete the VGP and, ultimately, to hunt as truly finished gundogs.

The HZP and VGP numbers are the most exciting to me, not because of breeding, but because of hunting. In America, the focus often is placed on the dog’s work before the shot. Attributes such as a big-running search, a 12 o’clock tail, or a “cleaner” colored coat are often valued most. But the JGHV focuses much more on the recovery of game after the shot. JGHV testing, and therefore the Deutsch Langhaar Verband breeding requirements, focus much more on tracking ability, a calm and focused demeanor, and persistence in the pursuit of game. As a wildlife biologist, I find that ethical mentality very appealing. Research shows that most of the birds we cripple will perish within a few days from wounds and/or starvation. I value a humane harvest without animals suffering for any length of time. I love seeing a dog on point as much as the next person, but nothing compares to that mixed feeling of excitement and relief when your dog finds wounded or dead game that you could not have recovered without them. I have gotten goosebumps when my dogs recover deer after any length of blood track and I have nearly cried in relief when my dogs have brought back a goose or pheasant that I thought was lost.

Why Performance Testing Matters to the Average HunterDespite the number of hunters declining around the country, the number of people hunting with German-bred dogs, including the Deutsch Langhaar, is growing. Hunters are seeing the value in fast-maturing, easily trainable gundogs that can transition easily between being family pets and passionate hunters. Versatile dogs are becoming increasingly popular as hunters realize that a dog bred for feather and fur, before and after the shot, means more harvest opportunities and more meat in the freezer. Ten years ago, everyone that contacted us about a puppy was a bird hunter. Now, some of the people that contact us are specifically looking for a dog with which they can recover deer and nearly everyone looking for a puppy hunts some sort of furred game in addition to feathered game. The comprehensive German testing system has enabled the Deutsch Langhaar breed to become one of the most consistently talented breeds of gundog today. You can pick a Deutsch Langhaar pup out of any litter in America or Germany and know that your pup is going to point, track, and retrieve on land and water. There is also consistency in the health, temperament, and conformation of the breed, thanks to strict breeding standards in those areas as well.

Whenever you get a new puppy, you are getting a bundle of potential. Most of us do not have unlimited time and resources to develop that pup into our dream gundog, so it is really important to stack the deck as much as possible and start out with a well-bred puppy that just needs more exposure than actual training. We all want a puppy with a ton of natural pointing/tracking/retrieving instinct. We all want a puppy who can live a long, healthy life. And most of us want a pup with a cooperative temperament who is easy to train. Thanks to the rigorous testing and breeding system put into place by those who came before us and upheld by enthusiasts today, the Deutsch Langhaar is an incredibly consistent breed in temperament, health, and performance.

All of the training and testing can seem intimidating at times. A good friend and I are always joking about how we “just wanted a cute puppy,” and now we have extra freezers full of training game, flight pens to hold live birds, and are giving up many weekends in the spring and fall to test or judge dogs. But because of those efforts, we ended up with really talented gundogs that are beloved family members as well.

On opening weekend of the 2020 pheasant and quail season in Nebraska, Maizey and I were hunting alone at a Waterfowl Production Area that I had not been to before. We had walked for about 45 minutes in well-above-average hunting temperatures without any sign before Maizey locked up on point near the end of a shelterbelt. She held staunch as I approached and suddenly a covey of twenty bobwhite quail flew out in all directions. I picked out one bird and shot. The quail dropped to the ground. Maizey quickly found it and sat to retrieve it to hand. We continued hunting in the direction where several of the quail had flown to look for singles. Maizey went on point again at the end of some taller grass, where I flushed the single quail and dropped it. On her way to find that bird, Maizey locked up on point yet again. I was not sure if she was pointing the shot bird or another quail, so I cautiously approached with my hands at the ready position on my wellworn over under. Right as I stepped in front of Maizey, a single quail rocketed out of the grass. I raised my gun and fired; that bird also dropped. Maizey had a good mark and she quickly found that quail and retrieved it to hand. But that meant that I had dropped three quail and yet only had two birds in the bag. There had to be one still hiding in the tall, dense, warm season grass. Maizey was panting pretty hard from her efforts so I put her on a down with some water to relax and cool off while I attempted to locate the final quail on my own.

After several minutes of searching the area in a grid pattern, I was not having any luck. Maizey looked like she was rested so I sent her into the heavy grass cover with a blind retrieve command. Not one minute after I sent her, she was on point again. This time, her head was pointing straight down into the grass directly beneath her. She held tight while I walked in front of her. Rather than trying to flush anything, I kneeled down and gently parted the grass. Sure enough, tucked down deep underneath thick layers of grass was a single live quail. With daylight now shining on it, the bird leapt into the air in an attempt to flush, but my earlier shot had rendered it flightless. I released Maizey with a tap on the back of her head and she launched into the cover to grab the wounded bird. Then she proudly trotted up to me to sit and deliver to hand. We ended up harvesting a pair of rooster pheasants and another quail from a different covey as we finished hunting that property, but that sequence of Maizey’s work on that first covey and the two singles afterward is what I will remember for a long time. I would never have found that live quail without a dog. To see her handling all of that excitement with all of those birds on the opening weekend of her first real hunting season, while maintaining all of her steadiness and retrieving manners, was impressive. I am grateful to the JGHV testing system and to the Deutsch Langhaar Verband breeding requirements that ultimately gave me that wonderful experience with a 17-month old Deutsch Langhaar. Because of that, I am genuinely excited to hunt with Maizey and our other Deutsch Langhaars knowing how relaxed and enjoyable the hunting will be with talented and capable dogs that I trust completely to find and recover game.

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The mallard is a duck species iconic in the world of waterfowl and common called the greenhead. Even if you’re a brand new duck hunter, you’re no doubt familiar with the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), also called a greenhead. This adaptable bird is commonplace throughout most of the country and for most of the year. It’s likely the most numerous duck species in the world and is the ancestor to most domestic ducks. In this species profile, we’ll dive into the description, range/habitat, conservation issues and some hunting tips for this popular waterfowl species.

Description and Life History of the MallardThe mallard is a relatively large duck species, measuring about 20 to 26 inches in length and weighing about 2 to 3 pounds (All About Birds 2018; NatureServe 2018). It has a large and long body, a thick neck, round head, flat bill, and a short pointed tail that sticks up above the water when floating. Drakes (males) look quite different from hens (females) during the breeding season, although they look similar during their summer molt period (called eclipse plumage). The most prominent part of a drake’s coloration is its bold, iridescent green head. They have a bright yellow bill and white ring around their neck, which separates the head from their grayish brown colored body. Their rear tail feathers are black and white, and they have curious curled black feathers on the top side of their tails. Hens and juvenile birds are mottled brown almost from head to tail. Hen bills are usually more orange and brown rather than yellow. Both sexes have orange legs and feet, and brownish wings with a bright blue wing patch (speculum) that is bordered with white and black. Hens are the more vocal of the sexes, making the classic duck quack in a series of 2 to 10 notes. Drakes do not quack like that – instead, they make a raspy, humming sound (All About Birds 2018).

Mallards form monogamous pair bonds in the previous fall or winter, with a courtship display that consists of the male dipping its bill in the water and splashing about (All About Birds 2018). After mating, the pair searches for a nest site which is typically on the ground and concealed by thick vegetation, but it may be located on a tree stump or nest platform (National Audubon Society 2018). The nest is constructed by the female who forms a shallow bowl of vegetation and twigs approximately one foot across and lining it with downy feathers. The hen will lay 5 to 10 creamy and olive-colored eggs and incubate them by herself for about 26 to 30 days (National Audubon Society 2018; NatureServe 2018). The hatched ducklings are led to water by the hen within the next day. The ducklings feed themselves, but they are tended by the hen until they are able to fly on their own at 52 to 60 days (National Audubon Society 2018).

Mallards are part of the dabbling duck group (also called “puddle ducks”). They feed by floating in the water and simply tipping forward to graze on underwater plants and invertebrates, rather than diving for them (All About Birds 2018). Primary natural food sources include seeds, leaves, tubers and roots of many plants (e.g., sedges, grasses, pondweeds, smartweeds, etc.), as well as acorns and other mast (National Audubon Society 2018). They also eat insects, crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, earthworms and small fish. In cultivated fields, they will also readily consume grain (e.g., wheat, rice, milo, corn, soybeans, etc.), particularly if the fields are somewhat flooded. Because they are dabblers, mallards only need a foot or two of water to provide optimum foraging. They will often feed heavily in the early morning hours and late afternoon.

Adult mallards do not have many natural predators that can catch them, except various raptors (e.g., eagles, hawks, falcons, owls). However, hens are vulnerable to ground predators when they are on their nests. Eggs and hatched broods are very susceptible to predation from crows, mink, raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, snapping turtles and even large fish (University of Illinois Extension 2018).

Range and Habitat of the MallardAs mentioned, the mallard is probably one of the world’s most numerous and wide-ranging duck species. Most of the global population occurs throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Canada to Mexico in North America, but also across Europe and Asia. The North American population arrives in northern breeding areas from March to June and migrates south again from August to November, depending on winter conditions (NatureServe 2018).

The mallard primarily uses shallow water systems with lots of vegetation during its breeding and brood-rearing phase. Ponds, lakes, rivers, sloughs, swamps, marshes, flooded fields, prairie potholes and bays can all be used by the mallard. In cities and suburbs, the mallard may also thrive using backyard water features, fountains and storm water detention ponds. The mallard is a freshwater duck and it rarely uses brackish or coastal waters.

Conservation Issues for the MallardThe mallard is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2018). The 2014 North American breeding population alone was estimated to be approximately 11.6 million birds (All About Birds 2018). However, some populations have been decreasing steadily over the last several years, particularly eastern mallards that use the Atlantic flyway.

Historic threats to mallards included destruction of habitat (e.g., prairie pothole wetlands), use of lead shot and overharvest. Wetland restorations continue to help provide habitat for ducks, but there is likely a persistent population effect due to historic destruction. The mandated use of non-toxic shot for waterfowl species and migratory birds has reduced the chance of lead poisoning. Mallards are heavily hunted in North America, with 3 to 5 million ducks being harvested nationwide each year (Flyways 2018). However, they are closely monitored and it has not appeared to affect the breeding population in any significant way.

Hunting Opportunities for the MallardBecause the mallard is so prevalent across the country, you’re probably not too far from some decent duck hunting. They can be found across all four flyways (Pacific, Central, Mississippi, and Atlantic). Here are some duck hunting tips to help you get out after them this fall.

Equipment and Bag LimitsA 12-gauge shotgun is the only way to go for most waterfowl hunting, particularly if you expect to see some geese, too. Likewise, a modified choke is probably the best all-around shotgun choke choice for duck hunting. Improved cylinder may be too open for ducks that aren’t flying in close and full may be too tight. But you need to try some different shotgun loads and see how your individual shotgun patterns them. Although mallards are large ducks they can still fly somewhat fast, which means you need to lead them well unless they have flared their wings and have slowed down significantly. As for ammo choice, 3-inch shells with shot sizes of No. 3 or 4 should work great for these tough birds.

Since they are migratory bird species, you will need to buy a federal duck stamp and use non-lead shot. Current daily bag limits for most duck species are 6 birds, no more than 4 of which can be mallards (only 2 hens allowed). In the Atlantic flyway, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a decrease to this bag limit for the 2019-2020 season, dropping it to 2 mallards daily, both of which could be hens.

Mallard Hunting TechniquesAs for mallard hunting techniques, it depends on the time of the season and the area you are hunting. Early season birds are generally in smaller groups and not truly migrating anywhere yet. Late season birds will be flocking up and heading south. On smaller ponds, wetlands, or flooded fields, using a dozen decoys may be enough to catch a passing flock’s attention. Use mostly hen decoys to attract drakes, and toss in a few other duck species or goose decoys to make it more realistic. On larger bays or lakes, you’ll probably need larger decoy spreads to attract ducks.

If possible, identify two hunters in your group to do the calling. The lead caller should be the more experienced duck hunter and will be responsible for reading the flock. Loud hen comeback calls work great to get a flock’s attention. The supporting caller can add hen calls or make drake whistles or feeding chuckles to add more confidence to the sound.

Waterfowl hunting is a game of adaptation. What worked one day (or even earlier that same morning) may not work later. You need to adjust your decoy spread, position, and calling until you find what works. While that can be really frustrating, it’s also very satisfying when you put a pattern together and see a flock set their wings toward you.

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The Curly-Coated Retriever is the first retriever developed in history but lost out to more popular retrieving dog breeds over the years.If you were to ask a bird or rabbit hunter in nineteenth century England which dog he would prefer to accompany him, the answer was often a Curly-Coated Retriever. That may surprise you, given the rarity of the Curly today. Hunters in the 1800s knew the Curly-Coat as a persevering, talented, hardy hunting dog who could handle both fur and feather in upland and waterfowl work. The Curly was also useful in a secondary role as a guard dog.

The Curly-Coated Retriever owes much of its early popularity to the simple fact that it was the first retriever breed to be developed. While the Wavy-Coat Retriever was being developed around the same time, most canine historians give a slight edge to the Curly’s claim of being the oldest by a few years. In the nineteenth century, guns were increasingly more accurate and accessible and retrievers were the up-and-coming canine specialists. With more accurate guns, hunters could shoot birds from much longer distances. Shooting no longer required a pointing or setting dog to range far afield and hold a bird on point while the hunter hurried to get close enough for an accurate shot.

By 1860, the Curly was breeding so true to type that the breed was given separate class status at the first English dog shows. It would be more than 40 years before Labradors and Goldens were given separate breed recognition. And if you page way back into Labrador and Golden pedigrees, you will find Curly-Coated Retriever ancestors.

Men who made their living by harvesting game became some of the earliest Curly-Coat breeders and advocates. Poachers and gamekeepers, commercial market hunters and sportsmen alike valued the Curly-Coated Retriever for its courage, keen intelligence, and trainability. Be it snipe downed in a marsh, rabbits running a farmer’s field, or ducks swimming a long lake, the Curly-Coated Retriever could handle all with conviction.

Don’t take my word for it. History has left us with accounts from men who traveled the meadows and marshes, seeking game and birds, with a Curly at their side.

Snowden Slights: The Great Yorkshire Waterfowler take on the Curly-Coated RetrieverIn the mid 1800s, commercial waterfowl hunting was excruciating, back-breaking work. Grueling day followed grueling day and the hunter would sometimes sleep on shore or in his boat rather than row the miles back to home. Long days and nights didn’t necessarily mean success either.

There were nights of returning home after days on the marsh with an empty game bag and being “…half-dead from lack of food and sleep, wet-to-the-skin and half frozen,” the legendary English market hunter Snowden Slights said.

Born in 1830 at East Cottingworth, Yorkshire, England, Slights learned the craft of market hunting from his father. At age nine he left school to begin his waterfowling career and, by age fifteen, he was hunting solo. His was a hardscrabble life, marked by hard work and poverty; his life and fortune were often determined by the vagaries of weather, the whims of duck flocks, and the fluctuations of commercial game prices.

Throughout his more than 70 years of market hunting, he partnered with dogs to help him recover as many birds as possible in order to pinch out every available pound and shilling. His preference was for a Curly-Coated or Flat-Coated Retriever, with a slight nod to what he considered the superior hardiness of the Curly.

The job description for the dog was a unique one. Slights mounted his 140-pound punt gun in the middle of his 34-inch-wide sneak boat. The barrel of the 10-foot gun extended beyond the prow of the boat. The curly dog huddled beneath the giant gun, settling into the belly of the boat, which was a mere ten inches deep.

As Slights rowed or poled silently through the long, vegetation choked marsh channels, the dog had to lie absolutely still and silent beneath the gun, body extended, head down, never flinching. Some days he might have to hold this pose for hours at a time.

Slights said a market hunter’s dog “…must be quiet of tongue, of body, and absolutely without a trace of gun shyness. It must retrieve any kind of fur and feather, the latter invariably through water, and, lastly, it must retrieve quickly to hand without any fuss.”

After the giant gun boomed, killing 10-40 ducks at a time, the dog had to slip over the gunwale upon command to recover dozens of birds to hand. To do this day after day during a long waterfowl season in icy cold, choppy water or during a cold, hard rain, the Curly must be courageous, bold, and tough inside and out. The giant punt gun may have been Slight’s primary weapon, but the dog’s role was crucial in ensuring that every valuable bird or fur-bearing marsh critter was collected.

A Curly-Coated Retriever was ideal for the job. Courageous with a coat of curly armor, Curlies were known—and still are—for being able to button down their excitement when required and then ramp back up for a find, a flush and retrieve, or a long swim after a crippled bird.

Although Slights tried many different types of dogs, including spaniels, he said the Curly and Flat-Coated Retrievers were more tractable than spaniels and had temperaments more suitable to the tasks at hand.

Henry Coleman Folkard: Sportsman, Duck Hunter, Boating Expert, and the Curly-Coated RetrieverAbout the time that Slights began his solo market hunting career at age 15, a sportsman who loved all things wildfowl and boating published a book in praise, not only of the pursuit of ducks and geese, but also of the hunting talents of Curly-Coated Retrievers.

Sailboats, sneak boats, row boats, yachts—London lawyer Henry Coleman Folkard loved them all, along with seas, lakes, rivers, marshes, and all the critters swimming thereon. His book, The Wildfowler: a treatise on ancient and modern wild-fowling, historical and practical, is one of the first ever devoted to all manner of waterfowl hunting, methods, supplies, and duck dogs.

Without a doubt, the Curly-Coated Retriever was the best of the duck dogs to be had in England, particularly, according to Folkard, for those wildfowlers who had no access to a boat and were forced to hunt from shore. He wrote that the wildfowl shooter’s dog must “keep to heel” when required, not chase or give tongue, and obey its master’s verbal or hand signals and directions at all times.

The dog “must also possess fine courage, and be ready and willing to dash into the water after a winged fowl on the coldest days of winter,” he wrote. “The best bred dog for the purpose is the Curly-Coated Retriever. Newfoundland dogs are used for this sport by many wildfowl shooters; but, generally speaking, they are too large.”

Curiously, Folkard said the Curly was less inclined to create a mess in the boat, too. That might cause pause for some readers, considering the density and texture of the coat, but a Curly is unlikely to pick up burrs, seeds, or mud while engaged in water work. The tight curls can also trap air between the skin and the coat, creating a sort of natural insulation against the cold.

“The Curly-Coated Retriever, from the nature of its skin, is far less dirty; and, when carefully trained to the sport, is the best breed of dog that can be had for the purpose,” Folkard wrote.

His favorite dog, a parti-colored Curly-Coated Retriever named Sambo, seldom lost a winged or wounded bird. The dog accompanied him on hundreds of shooting trips and would obey signals to pick up wounded birds before dead ones. Retriever trainers these days would call Sambo a dog who was trained on blind as well as marked retrieves.

Sambo was more than just a retriever of game to Folkard, too. “Would that all my friends were faithful as that dog,” he exclaimed in his book.

Sambo was born sometime during the early development of the breed, probably in the 1830s or early 1840s. As an early example of the breed, he did not sport the solid black or liver coloration now required by official kennel club standards worldwide. Around the 1850s and 1860s, many breeders of various breeds established a preference for solid-colored dogs as a mark of being purebred dogs. The history of the Curly-Coated Retriever records dogs with white patches, solid white, and solid yellow dogs, but only solid black and solid liver (with a few white hairs) are accepted today.

Sambo’s coloration was likely a result of an English Water Spaniel ancestor, as the now-extinct water spaniel is believed to be a Curly ancestor by nearly every respected canine historian.

Nightwalkers: The Poacher and the Curly-Coated Retriever A decade or two after Folkard’s book was published, another Curly-Coated Retriever enthusiast chose to walk by night, a Curly at his side, down dark paths and through moonlit, thick woods, facing dangers more threatening than those of the market hunter or the sportsman.

The self-described King of the Norfolk Poachers, Frederick Rolfe, began his nighttime poaching forays as a way to snare a rabbit or maybe a couple of pheasant to feed his family. By Rolfe’s birth in 1862, Curlies had become a well-established
breed that was shown at fancy dog exhibitions, found on many a gentleman’s country estate, and housed in gamekeepers’ kennels across England.

Rolfe’s first encounter with a Curly-Coated retriever was probably at a gamekeeper’s kennel. Although his poaching activities began when he was just a boy, Rolfe quit the poaching life for a time and took a job as a gamekeeper. Eventually, though, he was lured back to the intrigue of poaching for the thrill of chasing and being chased, and the danger inherent in it all. He loved the planning of the deceit and outwitting the gamekeepers and sheriffs who patrolled for poachers. When the game was afoot, the King of the Norfolk Poachers chose a Curly-Coated Retriever as his companion in deception.

“I do not think there is a more sencible (sic) dog than the old English curly coated retrever (sic),” Rolfe wrote in his memoirs. “It is hard to beat him as a sporting dog.”

It’s no surprise that the same traits that market hunter Snowden Slights valued in Curlies—the silent work, the willingness to work on signal, the hardiness and courage—would also suit a poacher. Poachers were often chased, shot at, arrested, jailed, and even hanged. A poacher would need a dog to work silently, swiftly, and without a lot of direction; a dog to lie still among the bushes as patrollers passed by, and a certain toughness to both warn and guard.

Of one of his retriever bitches he trained for night gunning he said, “I well remember goen (sic) in a wood not far from Bungay. I shot a bird from a tree and the bitch brought it to me growling. There were two keepers within 20 yards of me, but I simply crawled in the wood and laid down and they passed me by.”

Rolfe wouldn’t always be so fortunate, however. He was arrested and imprisoned a couple of times for poaching. His dogs were trained to drive rabbits into nets. The dog had to find and flush the rabbit, then run so fast as to be able to turn the rabbit and drive it into a net stretched across two posts. Rabbits were a meaty and important food source in rural England in the 1800s and a dog that could catch up to them and turn them into a net was a very valuable tool.

At least one of Rolfe’s Curly Coats would also bring back gamebird eggs, unscathed and uncracked. I can attest this gene has been passed down to the current generation of Curly Coats as my dogs have frequently brought me turkey eggs and, this past spring, one of my bitches brought me a large, beautiful goose egg. Rolfe’s dogs one-upped mine, because one of his bitches often brought back two plover eggs in her mouth without cracking them.

Winter duck hunting with the same bitch one night, Rolfe shot a duck that sailed over a large dike. When his Curly gal started to bring it back, she walked onto the ice but the ice broke in the middle of the dike and the dog fell into the deep water.

“She could not get a foothold, and was like to go under the ice, so I got down to the edge to help her and the side gave way and there I was up to my neck in freezing mud and water and stuck fast,” Rolfe wrote. The dog struggled onto the ice, freed herself, and then returned to Rolfe. He was able to grab her collar and part of a bush and pull himself out. He returned home unharmed but, writing his memoirs in his 70s, opined he might well be paying in ill health for the icy water tumbles he took in his younger days.

In his tough old poacher’s heart could be found spots of tenderness for his Curly-Coated retrievers. After his bitch had saved him from suffocating in the freezing mud and water slide, they were hunting alongside a railroad track when Rolfe’s boss shot at and wounded a hare. The dog went after it and was killed as she ran onto the tracks and was hit by a train.

He lamented her demise. “You may be sure I thought a lot of her (after having saved his life), but like everything we human beings set the most store by some thing is shure (sic) to happen to them…I felt the loss of her as much as I would of a friend. I could never get her equal for sagasity (sic) and sence (sic).”

It appears he had no regrets in choosing the poaching life. He concluded his memoirs in this way: “If I had my time to come over again I still would be what I have been: a poacher. So, I remain, Gentlemen, The Ex-King of the Norfolk Poachers.”

Gamekeepers and Curly-Coated RetrieversIn a bit of irony, the poachers working with Curly-Coated Retrievers were often chased by gamekeepers with their own Curly-Coated Retrievers. If evidence of a poacher was found, a gamekeeper might unleash his Curly pack to find or at least scare off the intruder.

Curly-Coated Retrievers could be found on almost every large estate in England in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were often the personal dogs of the keeper, although many estate owners kept a few Curlies for breeding as well.

After an estate shoot, in which the spaniels and other retriever breeds would be given their chance to find birds, many a gamekeeper would bring out one or two Curly-Coated Retrievers to pick up all the cripples and dead birds that the other dogs had missed.

Here’s how Norman Mursell, a gamekeeper of more than 50 years for the Dukes of Westminster, described one such situation in his autobiography Come Dawn, Come Dusk: Fifty Years a Gamekeeper.

“Most of the dogs used in those days (late 1920s and early 1930s) were black Labrador Retrievers as the yellow only became popular much later. Several keepers had Flat-Coated Retrievers, dogs seldom seen these days, but I had at the time a black Curly-Coated Retriever named Sam. He was particularly good at finding snipe, or for that matter almost anything so I frequently had the job of remaining behind at a pit to find any snipe that hadn’t been picked up,” Mursell wrote.

“I remember once, at a pit which was particularly good for snipe and had a large area of the type of rush the birds favoured (sic), having to remain behind to find a jack snipe. Everyone thought all the birds brought down had been accounted for, but the Duke was insistent that one still remained and it was a jack snipe. This variety of snipe is the smallest of the breed and not easy to find on grassland, let alone in thick rushes.

“A couple of dogs had hunted the pit pretty well, picking up several birds, and of course this made it less easy for Sam. However he started working the pit systematically, as good dogs will, and after about ten minutes started to scratch away at the rushes until the mud underneath started to fly. Eventually he poked his nose down into the mud and his tail started to wag. Then he straightened himself up and picked his way to me with his head in the air and his muzzle covered in mud. I opened his mouth and there was a snipe—a jack snipe at that! His Grace was very pleased, to his credit he did not say, ‘I told you so.’”

There is a sense of pride in how Mursell relates this incident. Not only did his dog perform admirably in locating a difficult bird to find that other dogs could not, the dog proved Mursell’s boss, the Duke of Westminster, correct in remembering a bird was still down.

Genetic Origins of the Curly-Coated Retriever One look at a Curly-Coated Retriever and some observers automatically think the breed is a Poodle mix or at least has Poodle ancestry. That is totally incorrect, despite what you may have read elsewhere.

There has never been any evidence of a Poodle ancestor in the breed, only supposition by some early authors. Most Curly breeders and owners know the theory that a Poodle cross was used in the late 1800s to “tighten up the curl” is complete balderdash. A cross to a Poodle would in fact do just the opposite. A Curly’s coat does not continue to grow like a Poodle’s coat and the curl is much tighter than that of a Poodle.

Genomic research has given us much new information on breed ancestry and the Poodle and Curly Coat are far separated on the genomic map. The Curly-Coated Retriever’s closest ancestor on the genome map is actually the Irish Water Spaniel. That comes as no surprise to those who know the Curly well, for the breed often excels in upland hunting.

There were once two strains of Irish Water Spaniels—the Northern and Southern varieties. Some were liver but others were solid black. The Curly and the Irish Water Spaniel probably share a common ancestor in the now-extinct dog breed the English Water Spaniel, a dog of some repute in waterfowling beginning in the late 1700s and up into the late 1800s when the breed faded out.

An intriguing breed thought to have contributed to the Curly-Coated Retriever gene pool is the now-extinct Llandiloes Setter. This breed, usually cream or white in color, is said to have had a coat so tightly curled as to resemble a Cotswold sheep. A wealthy landowner and early Curly breeder, R. J. Lloydn Price, owned a 17,000-acre estate in Wales located just 60 miles from the village of Llandiloes, so potential breeding stock was close by.

The Curly-Coated Retriever TodayWhy would a breed considered so talented in the pursuit of game in the 1800s have
seen its popularity decline and its position as the retriever of choice be overtaken by the other retriever breeds? Of the six retriever breeds—the others being the Labrador, Golden, Flat-Coat, Chesapeake Bay, and Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever—the Curly is last in registrations in North America. They are also losing popularity in their native England and are listed by the British kennel club as one of England’s vulnerable breeds.

If one reads the accounts of the revered dog men and breed chroniclers, the old bugaboo of show ring people breeding solely for appearance is theorized as contributing to the decline of the breed as a field dog. Some historians specifically mention pursuing the perfect coat above all other traits.

Perhaps prioritizing conformation above working ability did contribute to the decline in popularity, but there are pockets of very talented working Curlies in the world today. A couple of Curlies imported to the United States in the late 1930s went on to successfully compete in field trials, even winning stakes on occasion. Within the past ten years, another Curly has won a couple of U.S. field trial qualifying stakes. Australia and New Zealand have always loved a good Curly Coat and there have been many Australian and New Zealand field champion Curly Coats.

Hunt tests, with lower competitive costs and less technical tests, have brought out some Curly owners and breeders who found field trials and field trial training prohibitively time consuming and expensive. On a percentage basis of registrations vs. titles, Curly Coats are actually quite well-ranked in hunt test competition.

Traditional training methods don’t suit all retriever breeds. The Curly Coat was traditionally valued for its ability to work independently with minimal direction from its handler. This independence can be of value in some hunting situations, particularly upland work, but be somewhat of a deterrent in the field trial or hunt test upper level stakes where handler control is valued more than natural hunting talent.

The bottom line is that well-bred Curly Coats can be stunningly talented natural field dogs if care is taken to find a breeder who understands hunting and who prioritizes field ability. The reward for such effort is a devoted companion at home and a capable hunting partner in the field.

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Learn these tips for bird plucking to avoid common mistakes in techniques and methodsPluck your game birds whenever possible. Not only does flavor reside in their skin, but keeping the skin on your birds helps retain moisture when cooking. Your birds will taste better and juicier if you make an effort to add this to your bird butchering routine.

I covered how to pluck your birds in an earlier piece. This article will help you avoid and fix mistakes when plucking and cleaning. Mistakes or mishaps simply happen, but how can we correct them and salvage as much skin as possible?

Deciding what Bird Plucking Method to UseHowever you decide to pluck your birds, issues may arise. These tips are universal and apply to whatever method you pick, whether dry plucking or using paraffin wax. It is potentially easier to create tears when wet plucking because once you start peeling off patches of paraffin wax, you may be tempted to go faster. That’s when mistakes occur. So, if you’re wet plucking, pay attention and take your time. Dry plucking, due to its nature, basically demands taking your time. There isn’t a fast-forward button when it comes to dry plucking, and I feel that is part of its advantages.

READ: How to Pluck Game Birds, Technique, Time, and Merits

How Long to Wait before Plucking BirdsSome pluckers advise either plucking immediately or waiting a couple of days. As a general rule, I have found that the longer you wait, the more issues you may have. I am thinking mainly of aging bird meat, which concentrates flavor by moisture evaporating over a few to several days. When this moisture evaporates, it softens and weakens the skin. For perspective, if I hang any game bird for seven to ten days, I often have trouble plucking it. The skin is gummy and may easily tear in certain sections. I often have to skin these birds, but the benefits of aging outweigh the cons of no skin.

What Causes the Skin to Tear and How to Avoid Further TearsAny initial tear in the skin can lead to further tears. If you shot a bird at close-range with a tight choke, chances are that bird is riddled with holes. You may have some gashes if your dog gets excited and handles the bird with a hard mouth.

You may need to skin those birds if the tears are large and frequent. Pull the feathers toward the tear if you come across a couple of rips. If and when possible, take some sharp kitchen shears and cut off the edges of the skin along the tear. Think of pulling a string on a shirt button versus cutting it. Continuing to pull will just make it worse.

Tears are also more likely with larger feathers and fattier patches of skin. I am mainly thinking of the hackles at the neck’s base and along the breasts’ sides. A line of fat often runs along the sides of the breasts, though this varies based on species and a bird’s diet, and that is where larger feathers also reside. When pulling these, you want to use your off-hand to press down on the skin gently. Gently pull no more than two to three feathers in the direction they are resting, not against the grain. This fattier area is the reason I start plucking birds at the breasts when plucking. My logic: If a severe mistake occurs here, it may be time to skin the bird versus plucking the more manageable parts pristinely, then messing up at the end. Also, starting with the breasts allows me to inspect the bird regarding holes or other tears. If I were to leave the breasts for last and get to the end and find some bird dog had left a gash in it, I wasted time plucking the back, wings, and other areas.

How to best remove hairs and smaller feathers

Yes, there are errant hairs on any bird after you remove its feathers. They’re often wispy and sometimes hard to see. I use a Bic lighter and run a flame about a quarter to half an inch from the skin over the entire bird once or twice. Unlike a torch, you don’t risk burning or searing the skin with a Bic lighter. Plus, you can find these tools at any gas station during an upland road trip. A Bic lighter will also burn off any small feathers, meaning you don’t have to spend as much time nitpicking those tiny ones. They don’t burn off pin feathers, though.

The Reason for and How to Remove Pin FeathersPin feathers are developing feathers and resemble the plastic tip on shoelaces. You’ll find them on younger birds, especially earlier in the season. They aren’t often easily removed when plucking, at least not all of them. I have even found a wet bird will retain more pin feathers. Is there an easy way to remove these? Sadly, not to my knowledge, unless you have kids.

Have your kids put their tiny fingers to work to pick out pin feathers. You should remove pin feathers toward the end so you don’t risk your kids pulling out a fistful of feathers and breaking skin. If you don’t have kids and your fingers can manage, you can do it yourself, or you may need tweezers. But, bottom line, you do want to remove them. They’ll affect flavor and texture when cooking.

When and How to Remove the Neck, Wing Tips, and FeetI wait to the very end, when the bird is plucked (pin feathers picked, hairs singed) to remove the neck, wing tips, and feet. I put the bird on a cutting board or another safe cutting surface and stretch out the neck. Then, I use my pocket knife to press down on the base of the neck. The knife’s edge sits between the neck bones. I continue to pull until the neck comes off. I gently roll both the wing tips and feet at the joint, gently gripping the side of the bird with meat and skin. Once I can cut off the wing tip or foot, I do so with my pocket knife.

How to Finish and Properly Clean your Game BirdsAfter you’ve got yourself a pristinely plucked bird, you want a clean bird. I bring my birds into the kitchen and set them next to the sink. Under the faucet, I place a large colander where the innards may drop. I use my pocket knife and a set of sharp kitchen shears during this process.

I start by taking a finger and gently inserting it into the bird’s crop (the bubble of skin above the breasts and wishbone and below the neck). I work my finger around and rinse this out under cold running water, should there be any bits of food left over. Next, I move to the bottom of the bird.

The following method is inspired by how I clean deer, using the logic that I want zero feces touching my meat. Using my pocket knife, I cut a line at the base and center of the breast bone, where the bone and the soft patch of skin meet near the bottom of the bird. After that, using kitchen shears, I will cut an egg shape patch of skin from that top incision, around the “exit holes,” to the tail. I avoid cutting into the bones of the thighs, though I may cut off the tail in this process for a wider exit route where the innards may drop.

Handling the bird over the colander and under cold running water, I reach up into the bird with two fingers and pull out the guts. I do this in a few phases. First, I remove the guts. Then, I remove the gizzard. Lastly, I take out the heart. After this, I ensure to rinse the bird’s cavity thoroughly. Don’t forget about the lungs. Those bright pink or red jelly-bean-like innards sit against either side of the spine. You may need to get aggressive after removing all other innards with a finger or two to scrape the lungs out. Continue to rinse, both from the bottom and from the top, via the neck. Pat dry and set aside. Place your bird in the fridge after ample pat drying to completely dry and cool the bird before vacuum sealing it or taking the next steps to cook it.

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Simple duck hunting setups is a great way to curb costs and still be successful. A homemade roll of cordgrass covers my head while I claim my front-row seat on the bay’s edge in my grassed-up kayak. The boat is lodged into a drainage ditch. The front is held in place by my oar, which I drove into the mud at an angle. This kept me from floating out into the cove. From my perspective, it’s hard to differentiate between foaming whitecaps and bobbing buffleheads; the bay seems pocked with both. The small, black ducks fly by in pairs or small flocks, their ivory heads gleaming in the sun. Their shooting opportunities have been endless, but I’m not here for them. I’m here for the pintail and wigeon.

Northern pintails and American wigeons find sanctuary from winter winds and careless duck hunters in this cove every late season. One doesn’t need much to experience a good hunt here. A hand-me-down duck call, a roll of homemade cordgrass, and a few decoys can go a long way if you know how to use them.

I haven’t come up with a name for it yet, but over the years, I’ve developed a style of duck hunting that employs no more than the bare bones. As simple as it sounds, my style is strictly dictated by strategy, and it’s more like perfecting minimalism. Minimalist duck hunting strategies cater to waterfowlers on a budget and appease unnecessary anxieties. This style can be broken down into a few basic tenants: Call less, but learn to make it perfect; hunt over small spreads, but make them right; don’t overthink your camouflage, but don’t settle for anything less than what’s efficient. When done right, perfecting minimalism can be potent in nearly any duck hunting situation.

Make Fewer Duck CallsMallards don’t frequent the cove much. They tend to hang up near the woodline with the black ducks and teal. Out in the cove, it’s a whistling bird’s game, and that’s why I left my double reed call at home. Instead, I have a whistle that can be manipulated to sound like the single-tone call of a drake teal, the three-note whistle of a wigeon, or the rolling train whistle of a pintail. Right now, the whistle is tucked in my pocket. When birds fly by, it stays there. But when a pair of wigeon circle my decoys and peel off for the other side of the bay, I pull it out. I ring off a quiet and quick wigeon melody consisting of four wigeon calls in succession and then let the call hang dead on its lanyard. Those birds peel back for another look, and just as they begin to cup their wings, I hear them whistling back.

Duck calling has broken more hunts than it’s made. It’s simply too enticing. Duck hunters feel empowered behind a duck call like they have the power to persuade hesitant birds right where they want them. According to my nameless minimalist hunting strategy, the problem is that’s not what duck calls are made for. Duck calls are made to add confidence to your decoy spread. Calling tells ducks already interested in your decoys that they are real. Duck calls rarely persuade birds; they don’t work well in sparking initial interest. The temptation is always there, and we’ve all found ourselves in situations where we wail into our call incessantly and wait for some magic to happen, but it never does. Overcalling, especially in the late season, often scares birds.

Pick the right duck call for the species you’re hunting, and when it comes time to use it, call sparingly.

Use Small Duck Decoy SpreadsWhite down feathers swung back and forth as they sank through the air and landed gently on the water; nothing but feathers on that first go around. That pair of wigeon committed to my decoys, but they committed on the edge of my shooting range. Had they landed toward the center of my spread, maybe I’d have two birds laying belly up on the deck of my kayak.

I looked at my setup. There are twelve pintails and twelve wigeons. The pintails are separated into male and female pairs on the upwind side, and the wad of wigeon flank the downwind side. I don’t like to sit still when things fail, so I paddled out to my decoys and culled twelve decoys from the spread: six pintails and six wigeons. I kept the pintail in their male-female pairs and similarly arranged the wigeon. Back at my hunting ditch, I examined my spread again. It was small, but it was natural.

As duck season ticked away, my decoy spreads got progressively smaller. During the early season, we can get away with large numbers of decoys because the ducks are forgiving. They’re willing to overlook unnatural arrangements and the spinning wing decoys that look out of place. After they get shot at a few times, however, they’re no longer willing to forgive.

Late-season spreads need to be precise, so I cut my spread sizes down by December. Then, I autoregulate. When my decoy spread isn’t doing the trick, I give it a look. How can I make it look more natural? Are the species right? How does the arrangement look compared to real birds on the water? Can I remove some decoys? Oddly, if you change one or more of these things, you’ll increase your setup’s effectiveness, and sometimes that’s all you need to draw birds in close.

Use Simple Camouflage When Duck HuntingA quiet hour goes by after I rearranged my decoys. The sun crept high in the sky, and it was beginning to cast my shadow. I’ve been here since the pre-dawn dark, and all I’d got to show for it thus far were those two shots at the wigeon. I began to count the bobbing buffleheads on the bay. Six, ten, fifteen, and I was up to thirty when I heard whistling wings cutting through the salty air. My eyes strained to the corner of my periphery and peered between the blades of cordgrass. Brown heads, porcelain bellies, and long, black tails contrasted against the blue sky.

I fumbled for my gun as the pintail blasted out overhead. They came in low and fast and swung around just past my decoys. Their chests peeled back, and their wings flapped against the wind when they came to a dead stop just above the center of my decoys. Then, they smacked the water with a splash. That’s when I gained control of the gun. Their heads perked up high like periscopes, and they busted for the air. I pressed the butt of my shotgun to my shoulder and aimed.

It’s simple; good camouflage puts hunters in a position to decoy ducks. If weary ducks can see a hunter, they won’t land. If the setup convinces wary ducks, and they can’t see the hunter, odds are, they will land.

The proper camouflage selection is all about shade and texture. Today, I’m wrapped in a cordgrass robe. Cordgrass growing out of the muck flanks my kayak. Cordgrass fringes the cove against the water. Cordgrass covers the marsh along the banks of the bay. That’s why I’m using cordgrass. If I were hunting wood ducks in a lake brimmed with willows, I’d be wearing a willow robe. If I were hunting black ducks on the upland marsh where salt hay dominates, I’d be covered in salt hay. I’ve seen hunters bring sticks to the marsh and the marsh to the sticks. We can spot a muskrat hut from a mile away because it’s a mound of mixed vegetation surrounded by a mono-crop of some other dominant vegetation. Keep it simple; avoid looking like a muskrat mound by mimicking the dominant vegetation you hunt in.

Putting It All TogetherI pluck the pintail from the water by its charcoal foot and hoist it to the deck of my kayak. Briny drops of saltwater roll down its silky belly, and its chocolate-brown head shines in the afternoon sunlight. One pintail made this hunt feel great, so I tucked the bird into my hunting jacket and rolled up my cordgrass blanket. As I picked up the decoys, a few buffleheads buzzed in low and swung around my kayak before taking off for the center of the bay. I watch them glide along the water and disappear into the whitecaps. I wonder how many there were and if they landed with others. I decide I’ll come out the next day and find out.

My favorite thing about duck hunting is the joy it brings me. Every time I try to overcomplicate it, I dilute that joy. That’s why I strive to perfect minimalism, keeping the gear, gizmos, and gadgets to a minimum and keeping the quality of the hunt at its peak. When it comes to creating great hunts, it really is that simple.

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Comparing the Mechanics, Manufacturing, and Value, of the Retired Savage Fox A Grade and the Original A.H. Fox A GradeGrouse hunters are oddballs. I know, because I am one. While a lot of people think it’s strange to spend your free time walking through the woods with a dog, a gun, and no place to go, there’s nothing I’d rather do in October and November. The Savage Fox A Grade is also an oddball. Even though it says “Fox” all over it, this side-by-side shotgun has little in common with the original A.H. Fox shotgun. And that’s what I like most about it.

The Back Story of A.H. Fox and the Fox A GradeWhat were you doing when you were 19 years old? In 1894, Ansley Herman Fox was already a renowned shooter, a businessman, and an inventor with a US patent. Over the next 12 years, he became a top live pigeon shooter, he launched three gunmaking enterprises, and he received six more US patents, including No. 801,862 in 1905, which created the new “A.H. Fox” shotgun. Ansley dubbed this new double “The Finest Gun in the World,” and a year later the first ones, available in 12-gauge and A, B, or C Grades, were being shipped around the country. But since dozens of shotgun models were already available to shooters, including those from well-known makers like L.C. Smith, Parker, and Ithaca, what would set the new A.H. Fox shotgun apart and attract buyers? Ansley was betting on his gun’s quality, simplicity, and grace.

Compared to the doubles on the market, the A.H. Fox used fewer parts and replaced things like a V-shaped mainspring with a more durable coil spring. These touches gave the A.H. Fox gun simple, reliable mechanics. They also made the action to be shallow and trim. This, along with touches to the stock and fore-end, gave the entire shotgun sweeping, elegant proportions that set it apart and made shooters notice it on the retailers’ shelves.

Even though the early years of his A.H. Fox were promising, Ansley left the company in 1914 to pursue automobile manufacturing—his generation’s tech boom. The A.H. Fox Gun Company continued on without him. In 1929, it was purchased by Savage Arms, and then in 1946, due to collapsing interest in side-by-sides, Savage stopped producing the A.H. Fox guns.

The year 1875 is significant to Fox shotguns in two ways: First, it’s the year Ansley Herman Fox was born. Second, it’s also the year two gunmakers created the Anson & Deeley shotgun action. Revolutionary in its day, the “A & D” action became one of the most popular shotgun designs ever created. Gunmakers around the world used it to build hundreds of thousands of side-by-sides. Today, you can find it in used shotguns that cost $1,000 and in new double rifles starting at $90,000. You can also find a version of it in the new Savage Fox A Grade.

Original 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade, showing the bottom of the action and the one-piece cocking arms and hammers with the spindle.Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company and the A.H. FoxMost people don’t think of Connecticut as a “gun-friendly” state these days. But over the last two centuries, it has nurtured some of America’s most famous gunmakers, including Parker, Winchester, and Colt. But the A.H. Fox Gun Company never had anything to do with Connecticut—at least not until 1993. That’s the year the Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company (CSMC) reintroduced the original A.H. Fox shotgun. These guns were true to Ansley’s design and built with modern materials and modern manufacturing techniques. They also had modern prices which ranged from $5,650 to $25,000. In the years that followed, those prices only went up, up, and up.

So in 2017, when Savage Arms wanted to add a side-by-side shotgun to the top of their shotgun lineup, the obvious choice—the CSMC A.H. Fox—was simply too expensive to consider. So, Savage picked a different side-by-side from the CSMC lineup—the RBL—and with a few tweaks, Savage created their new Fox A Grade.

Left:* Original 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade. Right:* New 20-gauge Savage Fox A Grade.Breaking Down the A.H. Fox A Grade Like the original Fox, the Savage Fox A Grade is 100-percent American made. It’s also made with some traditional methods like rust bluing and bone-and-charcoal, color-case hardening. But instead of using the crude manufacturing techniques available to gun companies a century ago, the new Fox A Grade is built with precision engineering equipment and CNC machines and then hand-finished inside and out. The action is machined from modern alloy steel, a metal more durable than anything ever available to the A.H. Fox Gun Company, and the gun uses a mix of high-tech coatings and finishes to help the gun withstand heavy shooting and to fend off rust and corrosion. The insides of the barrels are even treated to withstand everything from lead and steel shot, to the hardest of non-toxics. Touches like these, plus features like interchangeable, screw-in chokes, made the new Savage A Grade a great go-anywhere, do-anything double.

Because the Savage Fox is built on an Anson & Deeley action, it’s more complex than Mr. Fox’s gun. For example:

• On an A.H. Fox, the cocking arms, hammers, and firing pins are a single part, and the gun contains two of these parts—one per barrel. The Savage Fox uses cocking arms plus hammers with integrated firing pins—so two pieces per barrel, four parts in all, to perform the same functions.
• To secure the barrels to the action, the A.H. Fox uses a single-bite barrel extension with a rotary hook, both up by the toplever. The Savage Fox slides a bolt into the double bites cut into the barrel lumps.

Left:* Original 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade. Right:* New 20-gauge Savage Fox A Grade. Note the gold cocking rods sticking out of the new Savage Fox and machining marks on the 16.To make room for differences like these, the Savage Fox A Grade uses a bigger, blockier action. While this shotgun has been styled to look like an A.H. Fox, it’s not as sleek or trim as the original shotgun. And the 20-gauge Savage I reviewed weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces—nice for a gun that gauge, but 5 ounces heavier than my original 16-gauge A.H. Fox. The Savage Fox also had a glossy application on the wood—Savage says the wood is black walnut, but it looked like claro walnut to me. Savage claims this is an oil finish, and maybe they’re right. But the traditional oil finish on my original Fox, and all A.H. Fox guns, is nicer. Other aspects of the Savage Fox Model A are also different, but these are good differences: Its double triggers are slim and elegant, and their pulls are crisp and not too heavy; the fore-end uses a reliable Anson pushrod; and the stock is fastened to the gun with a drawbolt, a simple way to keep it secured in place for decades to come.

Top:* New 20-gauge Savage Fox A Grade. Bottom:* Original 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade. Note the slim stock on the 16.When you look at an old A.H. Fox, it’s easy to imagine it was built by men who used just their hands and hard work to create firearms of unparalleled quality. But, that’s not true. A hundred years ago, the A.H. Fox Gun Company used machines whenever it could. And while the original Fox shotguns have their merits—they were lightweight, had a dynamic feel, and were great looking—the design itself wasn’t perfect. Neither were the guns made on it.

I have several issues with old-school Fox shotguns. My biggest is with the single-bite barrel extension and the rotary hook used to secure the barrels to the action. On some guns, the hook grinds across the extension on opening, like a kennel door hung on a single hinge. And when a Fox is really worn, this setup can fail and allow the gun to pop open when fired.

Left:* Original 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade. Right:* New 20-gauge Savage Fox A Grade. Note the shapes and different releases.My next first complaint is how a Fox flops apart when you open it. To me, this feels cheap, and the force it puts on the hammers can crack the action. Other gripes are the mushy triggers and mediocre engraving a lot of Foxes have. Finally, I dislike how poorly many Foxes are filed, engraved, and finished. From the safety switches to the triggers, parts look crude and clunky, especially in the lower grades, and sloppy machining and filing marks are often visible on the barrels and action flats.

Of course, not every A.H. Fox has all these issues. But there is a problem every single one of these shotgun shares: their age. Every original Fox is old, some just over 70 years, while others more than a century or more. This means many were made with short chambers, and none were built for the high pressures and recoil generated by most modern ammunitions. Old age also means many true A.H. Fox shotguns have stock dimensions that don’t work for today’s shooters. And the longer a Fox has been around, the greater the chances exist that it has been beat up by years of rough use or messed with by a knucklehead gunsmith.

Left:* Fore-end from an original 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade. Right*: Fore-end from a new 20-gauge Savage Fox A Grade top.While I’m whining, let me throw in one of my biggest complaints about original Foxes: their cost. If you’re looking for a 16- or 20-gauge in any grade higher than a Sterlingworth, you’re going to write a big check—if you can find one at all. The
A.H. Fox Gun Company built just 3,521 16-gauges and 3,434 20-gauges. Who knows how many are still around and in good, original shape—maybe 50 in perfect condition? If you track a good one down, it’s going to be expensive. Today, a decent, original, 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade costs $3,500 or more. A good 20-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade starts at around $4,000. And when you consider how little quality this much money buys you, and compare that to the finer guns you can purchase for the same money, an original, smallbore A.H. Fox shotgun seem like very little bang for the buck.

Breaking Down the Savage Fox A GradeNow let’s talk about how the new Savage Fox A Grade stacks up in comparison. Overall, the new Savage Fox A Grade is a better shotgun. Right out of the case, its straight-gripped stock and modern dimensions (14 1⁄2-inch length of pull and 1 1⁄2 inch drop at comb) fit me better than my old 16-gauge A.H. Fox A Grade ever will—unless I spend $4,000 to restock it. The quality of the new gun also stood out. All its components—from the toplever to the trigger—were nicely shaped. Nothing looked crude or rushed, and I didn’t see any file cuts or machining marks on the outside of the gun or on the barrels. As for feel, the Savage gun was nose-heavier than my old school model, and it weighed more overall, so it lacked the slithery, “alive” feel of a true smallbore Fox. But it was still quick to the shoulder and easy to shoot. Over my pointers, it came up fast, got on a flushing bird, and fired instinctively. And there was one aspect of the new Fox that was bested by my original model: its looks. The Savage Fox A Grade is a beefy gun, and it just doesn’t have the sexy, sleek look of the real thing.

• Original MSRP: $4,999 list, $4,499 retail
• Gauge: 12-gauge & 20-gauge
• Triggers: Double only
• Action: Anson & Deeley
• Ejectors: Yes, Holland & Holland style
• Barrel Lengths: 26-inch & 28-inch
• Stock: Straight grip, splinter fore-end only
• Stock dimensions: 4 1/2-inch LOP, 1 1/4-inch DAC, 2-inch DAH
• Chokes: IC, mod, full, screw-in
• Accessories: Nice plastic/polymer case, choke-tube wrench

Action for the 20-gauge Savage Fox A Grade, viewed from the bottom, showing cocking arms, hammers, and flat-springs.As I said in the beginning, grouse hunters are oddballs—those who are into old shotguns can be even more peculiar. A lot of us are solitary, sentimental types. For us, an original A.H. Fox shotgun is more than just parts and function, it’s history in our hands and our chance to join a legacy. President Theodore Roosevelt hunted with an A.H. Fox shotgun, and so did writers like Nash Buckingham. A.H. Fox shotguns were the kinds of guns that were around when Burton Spiller was hunting coverts across New Hampshire and Maine—he carried a Parker—and George Bird Evans was creating his Old Hemlock English setters. The Savage Fox A Grade offers a little of this, but not much. It’s more of a tribute to the original gun and to its era. So, while it’s a better gun, it may not be the better gun for you.

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A mouthwatering wild chukar recipe with a lemon zest This straightforward, one-skillet recipe makes use of simple ingredients. Any white-fleshed upland bird can be used in this recipe, though remember that roasting times will vary based on the size of the bird(s) you are cooking. In this instance, I used spatchcocked chukar meat.

If you need a quick guide on how to spatchcock your birds: How to Butcher an Upland Game Bird

This recipe is based on one from Ina Garten’s cookbook Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. There are some differences, of course, like that I use wild birds. Additionally, whole lemon slices with the rind attached are incorporated. However, I would suggest cutting off the rinds and removing the seeds from your lemon halves. Otherwise, that bitter rind flavor will come through in the sauce; I learned this the hard way.

Another difference from the original recipe is that I begin by caramelizing my shallots. You can use yellow onions if you can’t locate shallots at your grocer. By caramelizing the shallots, there is a sweeter flavor profile in the sauce after deglazing with chardonnay. You may not get this flavor profile just from roasting all the ingredients together from start to finish.

I served this atop some oven-roasted chard, but whatever side dish you choose is up to you. Wild rice is another excellent option. In terms of what olive oil to use, like most things in life, you get what you pay for when it comes to olive oil. Investing in a more expensive option will likely result in a richer flavor profile, but that decision is entirely up to you.

PrintSkillet-Roasted Lemon ChukarWith zesty flavors and moist meat this chukar recipe is a must try. Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword ChukarPrep Time 12 hoursCook Time 45 minutesTotal Time 12 hours 45 minutesServings 2Ingredients 2 chukars plucked and spatchcocked * Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper * ⅓ cup olive oil * 2 tsp freshly minced thyme * 1 tsp freshly minced fennel seeds * ¼ cup ghee or clarified butter * 1 ½ cup shallots sliced julienne * 2 tsp freshly minced garlic * 1 lemon halved, sliced 1/4-inch thick, and rind and seeds removed * ½ cup chardonnay * 1 tsp freshly minced rosemary * ½ lemon juiced * Freshly chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley for garnish (optional) InstructionsNight Before Prep Spatchcock your chukar and pat them dry. Grind both fresh kosher salt and black pepper over top of your birds. Let them sit uncovered in the fridge overnight. Cooking* Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit when you're ready to cook. Finely mince the thyme and fennel seeds, and mix them into the olive oil. Set aside. * Add your clarified butter along with the shallots in a large (preferably cast-iron) skillet heated to medium-high. Lightly salt and pepper the shallots. Once they are seared and slightly soft, turn the heat to low and add your garlic. Stir it together for a couple of minutes, then remove the skillet from the heat. * Spread your lemon halves (with the rind cut off and seeds removed) atop your shallots and garlic in the skillet. Place your chukars breast-side-down and brush the backside with half of the olive oil mixture. Flip the chukars so their breasts are facing up, pat them dry, paint them with the rest of the olive oil mixture, and place them into the oven to roast. * Roast the chukars for 12 minutes. Then, add the wine to the side of the skillet, not over the chukars. Roast for five to seven more minutes or until the chukar skin is crispy and their internal temp reads approximately 155 F. * Remove the skillet from the oven and sprinkle the chukars with freshly minced rosemary and freshly squeezed lemon; half a lemon should work. Cover the skillet with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for five minutes before serving. * To serve, carve the chukars and plate them. Top carved chukar with sauce from skillet, and garnish them with freshly chopped parsley (optional). NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chukar appeared first on Project Upland.

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Exploring late season duck hunting tactics and strategies to increase your odds. When late-season ducks get weary, they head to the Pond. It’s a shallow mudflat the size of a tennis court brimming with bulrush, cattail, and all sorts of other foods ducks go crazy over. At high tide, the Pond maintains a depth of about a foot. It’s the perfect feeding depth for dabbling ducks. Here, they can eat, sleep, and loaf around all day without ever dealing with the harassment of a hunter.

The Pond is a late-season duck sanctuary, but hunting it is no picnic. Despite all the grass, there are few places to hide. Despite all the ducks, it’s about a forty-minute boat ride from the nearest ramp. Hunting places like this requires a little bit of tenacity and a lot of luck. More than anything, it requires knowing how to fool pressured late-season ducks, which boils down to strategy.

Pressured Birds Are Smart BirdsDucks that have made it into the late season have earned their stripes. They’re commanders in survival. They’ve turned every close call into a learning opportunity. Every out-of-place decoy taught them how to spot a hunter. Every off-tone duck call taught them how to hear a hunter. Every whiffed shot taught them never to fall for your tricks again. Waterfowl hunting gets more challenging through the season, especially in pressured areas, and it tends to culminate in January. By this time of year, cookbook hunting strategies no longer work, and the ducks just ain’t where they used to be.

I motored out to the Pond well before sunrise on a snowy January morning, cutting through a thin film of ice that had solidified overnight. The wind blew out of the northeast, and it scoured my cheekbones and every other bare area my thermal clothing couldn’t reach. It’s cold. Bone-numbing, frost-biting, duck-hunting cold, and I’m doing everything I can to grit through it. I planned to set up with the wind to my back, so I pulled up my motor and paddled in, carving a channel through the frozen water and clearing out a plot for my decoys before tossing them out. I wedged the bow of my sneakbox up into the grass, and it disappeared in a grove of bulrush. The moonlight cast a porcelain reflection on the ice as I settled in, waiting for the sun to break. I hear whistling wings and distant duck chatter in the dark, and hail calls are close by. But this was the Pond, and these birds were veterans. This was no easy hunt.

Making Late Season Duck Decoy Spreads Look NaturalJust as the sun eclipsed the horizon, the early morning flight unfolded. Ducks are zigging and zagging like insects scrambling after flipping over a rock. In the dull light, I caught the silhouettes of a trio. They break from a greater flock and circle over my decoys, swinging in wide arcs as if they were attached to my decoy spread by a string. Then, they float gently, lowering until they hover just above the water.

One of my favorite things about duck hunting is watching ducks stool into decoys. It’s a sight I don’t take for granted, mainly because it’s never guaranteed. I’d bet, in my life, I’ve had three or four times as many ducks check out my decoys and keep flying than actually commit. Cupped wings drive me to the edge of anticipation, and every time the plan comes together, I try to figure out what worked and why.

That day on the Pond, I had a few things going for me. For starters, the whole marsh was frozen over. It’s a perk of late-season hunting. Ice does two things: it cements other hunters in their beds and keeps ducks in the few remaining open bodies of water. Typically, you can find open water by finding fast-flowing pockets or create your own by breaking ice like I did that morning. The fewer options pressured birds have, the better the hunt.

The second thing I had going for me is that these ducks don’t have much reason to second guess what they’re looking at. My decoy spread consisted of two black ducks and three mallards. They floated in the open water and moved fluidly in a soft breeze. If they weren’t moving in the wind, I’d be using a jerk rig to keep my decoys alive, and I’d be using it sparingly. Vicious jerks raise the alarm, but subtle movement looks organic.

My decoys were also aligned naturally, not in any fancy configuration. Three mallards huddled in one corner of my spread, and two mallards clung tight to each other in another. Not a thing looks out of place. Small spreads like this keep wary ducks comfortable. Large late-season spreads can look unnatural. By now, ducks know what a hunter-made decoy configuration looks like, and these can add more risk than reward. The more decoys you have, the more pressured birds can pick out as wrong. The same holds true for spinning wing decoys and overcalling.

Less Duck Calling in the Late SeasonAs the trio lowered their feet, I got excited and ripped out a single quack to keep the birds committed. The sound that leaves the call, however, is anything but the low, raspy quack I want. It’s a piercing, high-pitched siren that sent my whole body curling into a regretful wince. The cold froze my reeds together, and my fumbled quack cut through the still air like a fire alarm in a library. It sent those birds rocketing right out the back door.

Despite the challenge posed by hunting pressured birds, success doesn’t require much hunter interaction. I know this and pound myself with the lesson as I watch those birds disappear into the distant sky. The key to not doing it again is to contain your excitement. Ripping out a duck call can feel empowering. It makes hunters feel like they’re doing something. But hunting pressured, late-season ducks is a process built on passivity. It’s an affair designed by intent. Build the right decoy spread in the right pocket. Set up in an area the ducks already want to be. And when it comes to attractions, less is always more.

Where Late-season Ducks Want to BeOne of the best things about the Pond is that it’s a refuge. Not only is it far from the boat ramps and walk-in hunting areas, but it’s a sanctuary built on shallow water and duck forage surrounded by highly pressured hunting areas. When ducks get shot at along the periphery streams, they end up here. When they bust hunters up near the wood line, they turn around and stool in. The Pond is where the birds want to be when the going gets tough, and hunting late-season pressured birds is all about finding places like this. That can require combing through digital maps, paying attention to the patterns of other hunters in your area, or scouting with boots on the ground as late season hits.

I lost sight of the trio and settled into my embarrassment. Then, I tucked away my calls in my hunting jacket and sank deeper into the grass. It was still the early morning flight, and despite scaring off those three birds, there were still dozens in the air and more to come.

Shotgun blasts cracked off in the distance. Their echoes radiated from the distant treeline, and when they reached me, it was a faded static. From one of those blasts, I noticed a hoard of birds moving an undulating ball above the meadow. At first, they were tiny pin-pricks piercing through the orange sunrise canvas. But soon, the mass grew. It twisted and broke, sending doubles off to my right and small flocks out in front. A few shot up in elevation and took on V-formations; others stayed low to the grass, checking out every pocket of water they passed by. I watched and waited. My finger felt for the trigger and hovered over it gently. The birds have swallowed the Pond. They’re on all sides. Then, I hear a jet. It’s the sound of cupped wings hissing through the cold marsh air. Above and behind me, six black ducks missiles zeroed in on my decoys. I raised the butt of my gun to my shoulder and nuzzled it in tight. I raised the barrel, leveled the bead, and held it to the sky.

I discovered the Pond after a humbling duck season about a decade ago. Marred by skunked hunts and missed opportunities, I took a boat ride just after the season ended. I twisted up the familiar tidal stream and ended up lost in a maze of unknown territory. Soon enough, I pulled up on a shallow mudflat. Upon arrival, dozens of pintail, gadwall, and wigeon launched high into the sky. I marked the area on my map and made plans to hit it the following season. Ever since, I’ve been returning to the Pond year after year, but never more than a few times. One of the most significant risks of finding a late-season sanctuary is hunting it out. Pressured birds need a place for refuge, so when you find a good one, keep it that way and hunt it sparingly.

The crack of my shotgun soared over the meadow, and soon it faded to the sound of swishing sedge in the slow breeze. My heart thumped, and the marsh settled back to quiet. Over the horizon, I noticed that the clouds had turned from orange to white. The sun hung high behind them, and the ducks continued to fly. It was the last hunt I’d have this season, and I reminded myself of that as I sat back against the bulrush and stared up into the sky. The cold wind continued to cut across my cheeks. It’s just me, the Pond, and the ducks, and this time next year, I’ll be here again.

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Learn about all the various types of bird feathers and how to identify them. Feathers tell us all sorts of things about birds. They are beautiful to look at, help us identify individual bird species, protect birds from the elements, and they’re the reason birds can take flight. Ornithologists can tell us even more about birds thanks to feather measurements and samples. Some research labs even can measure where the carbon in feathers comes from, which tells us a lot about avian diets and migration patterns. However, before we get too deep down the rabbit hole regarding ornithological research, it’s important to start at the beginning. What are feathers, and how many types of feathers are there? To answer these questions, I consulted the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Handbook of Bird Biologyfrom 2016.

Birds are some of the closest living relatives to dinosaurs. Typically, we imagine dinos as giant, scaly, terrifying lizards lacking any decorative feathering. However, current research suggests that may only be the case for some prehistoric critters. In 2001, researchers analyzing dinosaur fossils found that the “hair-like” halos of organic tissue surrounding fossilized skeletons consisted of beta-keratin, which is only found in feathers and reptile scales. From that point forward, researchers began referring to these structures as feathers. Today, it’s widely accepted that many theropods and other dinosaurs had primitive feathers. If you really want to nerd out, give the four-winged Microraptor gui a Google.

A fossil of Microraptor gui, on display at the Paleozoological Museum of China.If you’ve ever plucked a game bird, you’ve probably noticed that different types of feathers grow on different parts of the bird. Groups of varying feather types are called pterylae. Conversely, some places along birds’ bodies don’t grow feathers and remain bare skin. These bare spots are called apteria. Together, these tracts of feathered and featherless areas are called the pterylosis.

Feather types along the pterylosis vary by their “aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, insulative, repellant, acoustic, and visual properties.” Plainly speaking, different groups of feathers are good for different things. Some are meant for flight, others to keep birds warm in frigid temperatures. Other feathers are purely for attracting a mate in the spring. Keep in mind that these groupings are simply convenient ways to categorize similar-looking feathers, and there are many exceptions to these rules. However, familiarizing yourself with the physiological features of beloved bird species enhances our human connections to them and deepens our appreciation for the natural world.

Illustration of the microstructure in feather interlocking based on: A.M. Lucas, P.R. Stettenheim, Structure of feathers, in: Avian Anatomy Integument, US Department of Agriculture, Washington D.C., 1972Insulatory Down FeathersMost folks are familiar with down feathers. Down is a standard component of pillows and winter coats and is easily identifiable on game bird species like ducks and geese. If you refuse to let valuable parts of birds go to waste like our Director of Operations Jennifer Wapenski, you might even harvest the down off your waterfowl while you pluck them in preparation for the dinner table.

Down feathers are the simplest type of feather. Their rachis, or the feather’s central quill, is shorter than the longest barb, or the tuft-like strands that come off either side of the rachis. Additionally, their barbs are “entirely plumulaceous.” This property allows them to trap air, making them incredibly lightweight insulators. Down is also what makes nestling birds look so fluffy and cute.

Not only are down feathers excellent at insulating adult birds’ bodies, but they’re also a common nest material. Many waterfowl species pluck down feathers out of their breasts and line their nests with them, which helps thermoregulate their eggs.

Distinguishing Contour FeathersContour feathers are what cover the majority of adult birds’ bodies. They give birds their iconic round shapes. These feathers are defined by having a rachis longer than the longest barb, and “at least a portion of the rachis contain a pennaceous vane.” Pennaceous vanes are made up of pennaceous barbs, which are the opposite of plumulaceous barbs. These barbs are stiff, pointy, and held tightly together by many barbules. Think of barbules like a meta-barb; they’re the tiny barbs that are on the larger barbs. Barbules are what let the tips of feathers stick back together if they’ve separated when you run your fingers over them.

These exterior feathers are great at streamlining a bird’s body, reflecting sunlight, repelling water, holding in heat, and deflecting wind. They’re typically colorful and aid in camouflage, attracting mates, or both. Sometimes, contour feathers contain an additional afterfeather; if you’re a grouse hunter, you’re likely already familiar with afterfeathers. Grouse are known for that small, secondary feather that grows from the same feather follicle as a contour feather. It’s completely plumulaceous and aids with insulation, especially in cold climates like New Hampshire or Colorado.

Stiff Flight FeathersFlight feathers are self-explanatory; they’re the feathers located on the wings and tail that aid in flight. Wing flight feathers are called remiges, and tail flight feathers are called rectrices. Unlike contour feathers, remiges are attached to the wing bones via ligaments. Ligaments also connect rectrices, and the most central pair of rectrices are attached to the tailbone.

The outermost, or distal, remiges are called the primaries. These are the feathers most biologists are interested in regarding measurements and field sampling. Secondary feathers are the inner wing feathers. If you want to nerd out again, you can memorize the numbers corresponding to each primary and secondary remige and all the rectrices.

Specialized FeathersDown, contour, and flight feathers are easily identifiable and generally familiar to anyone who spends time in uplands. However, birds have a few other feathers that are less recognizable yet highly specialized and contribute to the finer details of upland bird species.

Semiplume feathersSemiplume feathers are somewhere between a contour feather and a down feather. Typically, their rachis is longer than the longest barb. These feathers don’t have a pennaceous vane at their tip; however, they retain more form than pure down feathers. If you enjoy fly tying, marabou should come to mind when you think of semiplumes.

BristlesBristles are tiny, stiff feathers that primarily consist of a rachis. They are almost exclusively located on birds’ heads. Think of those sage grouse eye combs or the fine “hairs” that line the edges of a barn swallow’s beak. Bristles, specifically rictal bristles around the beak, were previously thought to funnel insects into a bird’s mouth. However, research from 1980 provided evidence for that hypothesis to be untrue. Alternatively, they found that more particles entered a bird’s eyes when their bristles were taped down, and now our best understanding of their purpose is to keep the eyes debris-free during flight.

Filoplume feathersFiloplume feathers are the smallest feathers on a bird’s body. They’re unmistakable due to their long, bare rachis tipped with minuscule barbs. These are often the “hairs” you can’t pluck off when cleaning your game birds; most folks burn them off with a lighter. Instead of being controlled by the musculatory system, filoplumes are connected to the nervous system. It’s believed that birds use filoplume feathers to alert them when their contour feathers are disheveled, which typically triggers birds to realign their feathers, which aids in efficient thermoregulation.

The next time you pluck a grouse, quail, or duck, pay attention to its particular feather types. Identify its third primary, save its down, or when you go to remove the tail fan, check out the ligaments that connect those rectrices. Or maybe you’ll get annoyed at the filoplumes that just won’t come off. Either way, being an informed avian enthusiast can only enhance your relationship with these birds we all religiously pursue each fall. Familiarizing ourselves with ornithology and bird conservation is the least we can do to repay these species that give us so much.

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A story of hunting dogs and grouse hunting set in the Appalachia’s of PennsylvaniaPresented by: OnX Hunt

Our dogs drive our passion for wild places and wild birds. Equally important for this group of Pennsylvania grouse hunters is the community that brings them together. In the highs of the good times and the lows of the hard times, friendship and dogs stand out.

See the world of hunting ruffed grouse and woodcock with flushing dogs. This film features Springer Spaniels and Labrador Retrievers in the Appalachia’s of Pennsylvania.

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Discover the beautiful duck with whistling wingsThe common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is a medium-sized duck that is true to its name as well as its nickname. The drake’s brilliant yellow eyes stand out from its iridescent, dark green head. Often called “whistlers”, their wings make a very loud whistling sound that can help identify them from the duck blind. They are also a late migrant, often making their way south from Canada right during ice-up.

Description and life history of the goldeneyeThe common goldeneye is a moderately small duck that measures about 16 to 18 inches long and weighs about 2 pounds (NatureServe 2020). Breeding drakes stand out with their bold white body and breast, black tail and back, and iridescent greenish black head. Their relatively large heads have a sloping black bill and a bright white circle right behind the bill. Females, however, have a gray-colored body with medium brown-colored heads, a creamy white collar on their necks, and mostly black bills with a yellow tip. Adults of both genders have yellow irises (hens are paler yellow than drakes), though their eye color changes several times from the moment they are hatched (All About Birds 2020). In flight, their blackish gray wings have a white speculum only on the inner half. Their close cousin, the Barrow’s goldeneye, can be distinguished from a common goldeneye by to the drake’s iridescent purple head and white crescent shape behind the bill. The hens look very similar.

In late winter, pairs begin to form with males performing a curious courtship ritual. Like redheads, goldeneye drakes bend their heads backward to touch their tails, and then pop them forward again while making a loud call (All About Birds 2020). Hens often look for future nest locations at the end of the breeding season but may return to the same area year after year. Generally, nests are located in a natural tree cavity of large deciduous trees (including abandoned woodpecker holes), but they also readily nest in nest boxes, much like wood ducks (NatureServe 2020). Nests are typically located close to a water source, such as a pond, lake, or river (All About Birds 2020). The female lines the nest cavity with wood chips, old squirrel nest materials, and downy feathers. A hen will lay 8 to 12 olive or blue-green eggs and incubate them for 28 to 32 days (National Audubon Society 2020; NatureServe 2020). Since nest sites in tree cavities may be up to 60 feet above the ground, the ducklings need to leap to the ground shortly after hatching (National Audubon Society 2020).

The common goldeneye is a diving duck and primarily an insectivore, although plant materials are on the menu too. Crustaceans (e.g., crabs, shrimp, crayfish), mollusks (e.g., mussels, barnacles, snails), aquatic insects (e.g., caddisfly larvae, mayflies, damselflies, beetles), leeches, frogs, and fish/fish eggs (e.g., minnows, sculpin, young salmon) are all a critical part of their diet (All About Birds 2020; National Audubon Society 2020). However, they also consume seeds, tubers/roots, and leaves of pondweeds and bulrush during the breeding season.

Because hens primarily nest in tree cavities, they can be susceptible to predation while nesting. Some known predators of hens, ducklings, and eggs include black bears, marten, mink, raccoons, raptors, red squirrels, and northern pike (BioKIDS 2020).

Range and habitat of the goldeneyeThe common goldeneye’s range in North America lies throughout Canada, Alaska, and the lower 48 states. They generally migrate north to breeding areas across Canada and Alaska by February and March. In November they return to wintering areas, which primarily includes the Pacific and Atlantic coastal states, large water bodies in the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest, and the Great Lakes (NatureServe 2020). Less commonly, they may also overwinter throughout the rest of the U.S.

During the breeding season, goldeneyes mostly utilize boreal woodlands adjacent to waterbodies, such as lakes, rivers, bogs, marshes, or other small wetlands (All About Birds 2020). Migrating individuals will stop at larger lakes and rivers along their course. In the winter months, they prefer coastal areas, protected bays, and estuaries that support healthy crustacean and mollusk populations (All About Birds 2020). However, they may also use large lakes and rivers in interior states provided they stay ice-free and have adequate food sources (National Audubon Society 2020).

Conservation issues for the goldeneyeThe common goldeneye is a fairly common bird and is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2020). While the breeding population is tough to estimate due to their remote woodland breeding habitats, it’s believed that populations were stable or even increased from 1966 to 2014 (All About Birds 2020). In breeding areas, forestry practices that retain dead snag trees should be encouraged to provide additional nest sites. Alternatively, the use of nest boxes throughout their breeding range can help as well. Threats to their wintering habitats include loss of wetlands, channelization of river systems, and increased sediment loads that can affect foraging areas and reduce mollusk populations (All About Birds 2020). Hunters harvest between 85,000 and 90,000 birds annually, which includes common and Barrow’s (All About Birds 2020).

Hunting opportunities for the goldeneyeBecause the common goldeneye is such a late migrator, a late season hunt is probably your only chance of encountering one. In fact, you should expect to be most successful when the water bodies just north of you are starting to freeze over. The New England states in the Atlantic flyway, the Pacific Northwest states in the Pacific flyway, and the Great Lakes states in the Mississippi flyway offer the best opportunities for goldeneyes according to previous harvest statistics.

Equipment and Bag LimitsIn addition to your common duck hunting gear – hunting license/federal duck stamp, shotgun, non-toxic shells, a blind or boat, and decoys – you should make sure to bring multiple layers of warm clothing for those cold late season conditions. Bringing a thermos of coffee or hot soup always makes things more enjoyable in the duck blind too. If you plan to hunt river systems, having a quality retriever with you will make your life much easier. Some states consider goldeneyes to be sea ducks, while others exclude them from that classification in their hunting regulations. Common goldeneyes are not specifically addressed in many state regulations, and so the current daily bag limit is six birds. Washington, however, has a daily bag limit of 2 goldeneyes in one of their zones. Always check your specific state and location for the current limit.

Goldeneye Hunting TechniquesGoldeneyes can be antisocial and even aggressive to other species of waterfowl. So while you can certainly still attract them with a mixed spread of various diver decoys, keep a half dozen goldeneye dekes (hens and drakes) off by themselves a bit, within shooting distance of course. Also, it’s more likely that small flocks or even singles will come through – it’s not like hunting huge flocks of bluebills. As a result, you don’t need huge numbers of goldeneye-specific decoys either. Because of their nickname (“whistlers”), you will probably hear them approaching before you see them. As always, get ready if you hear the sound of whistling wings. And despite their size, goldeneyes are tough ducks that can survive in harsh, cold conditions. This can make them tough to kill and their diving skills can help them elude hunters. To reduce your crippling rate, make sure they are finished by the time they hit the water. Otherwise, best of luck if you get out after some whistlers!

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The American Woodcock has a storied history in culture that has resulted in many names and interesting history. Some may be offended when they hear the various names for the unusual species that is the American Woodcock. Author George Bird Evans was quick to condemn the act in a way that has been referenced many times since its mention in The Upland Shooting Life. But the very evolution of this bird, unlike any of its counterparts, lends itself to this creative naming.

The nicknaming of woodcock is far older than modern wingshooting. The biological history of the American woodcock is believed to date back as far as 1,000,000 years, surviving at least two ice ages. The oldest fossil record was found in Marian County, Florida, and carbon dated to the Pleistocene period (William G. Sheldon, 1971). We know they served as a food source for Indigenous people, were trapped and hunted by colonists in the 1600s onward, and, eventually, became a wingshooters’ favorite bird by the end of the 19th century. Along that road, people gave many names to what we now call the America Woodcock or Scolopax minor. The Latin name was changed from Philohela minor in the latest version of the American Ornithologists’ Union 5th Edition in 1957.

Indigenous Language and the Woodcock The woodcock is no stranger to the First Nations that live in the eastern and central flyways. History shows the woodcock was a significant staple in many Indigenous diets. Early historical records indicate several forms of trapping and hunting methods that were used to catch these birds. In 1535, Jacques Cartier reported, “Numerous clearings along the river where corn, beans and squash were planted. practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, moving every 10 to 15 years. There were many villages of 1,000 to 2,000 people. Thus pre-European inhabitants had already created habitats for woodcock” (Wildlife Management Institute, 2008). These practices would put large numbers of woodcock directly next to Indigenous settlements.

Indigenous languages can be challenging to track, preserve, and accurately depict. Hundreds of years of colonization suppressed the passing on of language, stories, and histories, including those of game birds. This is one of the most harrowing realities of the ironically named “American” woodcock. These languages were only reflected in written text in recent years as an act to preserve them, which is a controversial topic in its own right. I am sure my research does none of these languages justice.

The words for snipe and woodcock were often lost in translation because of their similar appearance and lack of ornithology knowledge by those engaged in recording such history. Ojibwa’s padajashkanji and Nispissing’s padjashkaanji are believed to translate to “wrong-clawed” and might be used for both snipe and woodcock.

In Tales of the North American Indians (1929), a creation story of the Cahto references the woodcock: “There shall be many woodcocks, yellow-hammers, and sap-suckers.” This is a perfect example of when language barriers played a significant role, as they most likely were referring to snipe as woodcock did not exist anywhere near California.

Early work on the language of Seneca believed that they used the same word to describe both the snipe and woodcock. No dzahgwe literally translates to “lifts the pot.” In the book Making Game: an Essay on Woodcock (1990), Guy de la Valdene wrote, “The Seneca Indians believed that the Creator made the woodcock from the leftover parts of every other bird. If that is true, his heart must be that of an eagle, for it is big and filled with the unique courage required to wander in solitude through the mysterious forests of his continent.” It’s a wonderfully written excerpt; however, I have yet to find this origin story in print.

In Seneca Indian Myths (1922), the woodcock appears in the story “The Trials and Death of Inchworm.” In that story, two men were referred to as the “Woodcock people.” The inchworm hides from these two men in the story. Again, in the story Quail Kills Cold Weather and the Thunder Family, “He threw; the dice became woodcocks, flew high and came down dice, all of one color.” The story itself is no doubt a colonizer’s rendition of Indigenous history.

In the 1897 book Myths of the Cherokee, “some warriors had medicine to change their shape as they pleased, so that they could escape from their enemies… Then climbing a tree he changed himself to a swamp woodcock, and with one cry he spread his wings and flew across to the other side of the river, where both took their natural shape again and made their way through the woods to another settlement.”

The Cree call them papakapittesis or “little speckled creature.” In 1832, St. Mary’s Committee of the Algic Society, in an act to evangelize Indigenous people, gave a lecture on the grammatical structure of Chippewa. The example was “the possessive is made by adding the letter m, as in maimai, a woodcock, ni maimaim, my woodcock…” What is interesting about the word structure is its similarity with words used to describe a brother or sister.

The Abenaki, the rightful landowners of much of northern New England, called them Nagwibagw sibs, or “under-leaf birds.” Pesk tha to is the word the Shawnee use. Isi Nia Pishichi and fitukhak (feeh-touk-hahk) appear for woodcock in Choctaw. The Kansa language uses the word wazhíⁿgapa. The structure wazhí is often used to describe many bird species in their language.

Modern Woodcock Nicknames Beyond their Indigenous names, English-speaking North Americans gave woodcock plenty of nicknames. John Audubon mentioned the people of New Brunswick using Bog Sucker more often than their modern name in a text from 1835. Labrador twister is believed to have been derived from people watching American woodcock perform their spring sky dance.

Timberdoodle is the most commonly accepted name for woodcock in wingshooting culture. It is believed to have first been recorded in American Turf Registry and Sporting Magazine in July of 1839 by Frank Forester. “‘Well done to all!’ said Harry-‘nine timber-doodles and five quail, and only one shot missed…” George Bird Evans would write, “I don’t know who thought up such an asinine name as timberdoodle for so lovely a gamebird but I suspect it wasn’t a shooting man.”

Perhaps the most iconic nicknaming that stuck was by famous writer Burton Spiller, who referred to them affectionately as the Little Russet Feller. This term first appeared in his iconic book Grouse Feathers (1935).

“Hokumpoke” pops up all over the internet with little to no reference to when or how it was connected to the American woodcock. Some basic etymology can dissect some purposeful meaning that often follows this bird. Hokum, meaning hoovers around words like “nonsense,” “false or irrelevant,” and even “low comedy.” The term is believed to have a connection to the phrase hocus-pocus. One who has ever spent time observing this bird can see how the woodcock could get mixed up in such wordplay.

In a 2015 film with Modern Wild by Project Upland, they referred to these birds as timber rockets. In another 2015 production, the term dood was used, most likely shortened from timberdoodle. And in yet another film, they were referred to as “God’s leftovers,” no doubt inspired by Guy de la Valdene’s work. Other words include night partridge, mud snipe, big-eye, brush snipe, swamp bat, and fiddle squeak.

While some may cringe at the large variety of nicknames given to the American woodcock, I can only think of how much of a testament it is to their uniqueness as a species. Sure other game birds have their nicknames, but even the “king of game birds,” the ruffed grouse, comes up short on such a storied and inventive history in naming.

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This simple Vietnamese comfort food will level up your latest wild pheasant meal.Miến gà, or Vietnamese chicken soup with glass noodles, is an easy, light, yet comforting meal one can pull together in under an hour. Note that glass noodles are different than the rice noodles that you may be more familiar with. Rice noodles are opaque when cooked, like the noodles used in Vietnamese phở, for example. The glass noodles in this soup are made with mung beans. When cooked, the noodles turn clear.

I’ve adapted the original chicken-based recipe for wild pheasant, especially if you don’t have a lot of bones on hand. You’ll notice I did not include an amount for the pheasant bones/legs/wings; just use whatever you have on hand. If you don’t have any bones, the chicken bouillon makes up for any lack of flavor, and you can bypass simmering the bones in step two. Also, you can deep fry the fresh shallots yourself or buy a bag or jar at an Asian grocery store. The fried shallot adds a lot of aromas to the dish, so I don’t recommend skipping it.

PrintVietnamese Pheasant Soup with Glass NoodlesThis simple Vietnamese comfort food will level up your latest wild pheasant meal. Course SoupCuisine VietnameseKeyword Pheasant, SoupPrep Time 10 minutesCook Time 45 minutesTotal Time 55 minutesServings 6Ingredients 1 pound pheasant breasts * Pheasant bones/legs/wings * 10 cups water * 2 tsp Knorr powdered chicken bouillon * 1½ tsp kosher salt * 10 oz dried glass noodles (mung bean vermicelli) * 1 bunch cilantro chopped * 1 bunch green onion chopped * Deep fried shallot to taste Instructions Place the pheasant breasts and bones in a stock pot and cover them with tap water. Bring it to a boil. You should see scum coming to the top of the water. Discard the water and scrub any scum off the pheasant breasts and bones with tap water. Set cooked breasts aside. * Clean the pot and add 10 cups of new, filtered water. Return the bones to the pot, along with two teaspoons of the Knorr chicken bouillon and 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and cook on low for 30 minutes while partially covered. Meanwhile, shred the pheasant breasts into bite-size pieces and set them aside. The breasts should be cooked through. If not, they’ll finish cooking when the hot stock is ladled on top later. * Soften the glass noodles by soaking them in hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving. You could use boiling water, but the noodles will get soft very quickly; the noodles should be al dente when served, although some like it more tender. Strain the noodles and divide them among serving bowls. Season your stock to taste. Ladle the hot stock over noodles, and garnish with shredded pheasant, chopped cilantro, green onion, and deep-fried shallot. Serve immediately. The post Vietnamese Pheasant Soup with Glass Noodles appeared first on Project Upland.

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Look to nature and replicate natural duck spreads with your decoysLate-season ducks are veterans. These birds can pick out off-tone calls from a mile away. They’ve been shot at all season long. Survivors can tell steel shot from bismuth; some buddies wear pellets in their down feathers. Experienced ducks know every trick in the book and can’t be fooled by traditional means. To find success, duck hunters must be crafty. Luckily, even the most tenured of birds have an Achilles heel.

No matter how much they’ve been shot at, how many hunters they’ve busted, or how long they’ve been wintering on the same marsh, all ducks, year after year and generation after generation, hang around other ducks. That’s why duck hunters use decoys.

Nowadays, waterfowlers have all sorts of options when it comes to decoy spreads. There are cork, plastic, and wooden decoys. There are shells on pegs and silhouettes stamped out of plywood. Electric spinning wings and butt-up feeders are also available on the market. You can even buy inflatable decoys that you blow up like pool toys. All those choices can make selecting a decoy spread daunting, but cues from nature provide a cheat sheet. By studying the marshes, ponds, and lakes we hunt and the ducks in them, we can know what to do with our decoys in any given situation.

Study duck behavior and replicate it in your decoy spreadIn January 2016, I learned the importance of becoming a good duck naturalist during a frigid hunt. The mercury dropped below zero, and my local tidal streams froze. Ducks pooled into the few open areas that remained. I set up my decoys in an unfrozen, fast-flowing ditch rimmed with ice. Although plenty of birds had checked me out by mid-morning, no ducks wanted what I had to offer.

To pass the time, I observed the ducks that failed to decoy. When the ducks landed elsewhere, they bound together in tight clumps. When ducks stooled into those clumps, they landed off to the side in singles, pairs, and trios. I analyzed the way they arranged themselves on the water. I dissected how the singles, pairs, and trios swam into the greater clump.

Noon rolled around, and I sat like a popsicle in an empty boat with a full box of shells. The gun hadn’t gone off once. So, I devised a plan. I motored out to my decoys and ripped them all out of the water. Then, I threw them back in; this time, I mimicked the ducks I had been studying all morning. I had a tight clump of a dozen dabblers, with a few pairs, singles, and trios fringing the edges. The big clump held tight to the bank. While the strays sat in the middle of the ditch as if they had just landed and were looking to join the flock. By sundown, the new spread turned a skunked hunt into a limit of black ducks and mallards.

Decoy spreads that attracted birds on opening day now signal danger. While famous decoy spreads like the J-hook and X spread have their time and place, odds are, the ducks you’re hunting aren’t used to seeing their friends laid out on the water like letters. If your quarry has previously fallen for the alphabet soup trick, they’ve probably been shot at. That’s why it’s essential to make late-season spreads replicate nature.

Unload your gun, hit the water with a pair of binoculars, and study duck behavior. What real ducks are doing may look like a pair of dabblers tucked close to the shoreline or a small flock of decoys mixed with Canada geese with a blue heron on the bank. Remember that duck behavior can change on any given day depending on weather, temperature, and relative hunting pressure; studying ducks frequently during the late season can put more ducks in your boat. If you mimic nature, knowledgeable ducks will have no reason to second guess your spread.

Replicate natural movement in your decoy spreadAlthough invitations from natural-looking spreads get ducks in the door, they may not get them to their seats. This is where movement comes in. Sometimes, a slight breeze is enough to breathe life into dead decoys. On windless days, you may need to break out a jerk rig. A jerk rig can turn buzzing wings into tight cups in an instant. Some hunters swear by spinning wing decoys, but for as much use as they may have in the early season, it’s worth packing those decoys up in a box and taping all the seams with a triple layer of duct tape when the birds get educated. Fake ducks that hover over decoys with perpetually beating wings create an alarm beacon for birds that know it’s hunting season. Once a duck gets blasted over a spinning wing decoy, it’ll never fall for that trick again.

Make movement happen, but keep it subtle. Let the breeze do the work for you when you can. When the wind howls and splashes white caps over your decoys, find a gentle cove and employ a jerk rig. Ducks don’t sit still on the water, and neither should your decoys. Even a little bit of natural movement can get veteran ducks to commit to your decoy spread.

Special considerations for your decoy spreadDucks scrutinize decoy spreads like first-time home buyers. They want a well-built home in a neighborhood that’s cozy and safe. Educated birds look for species assortment and natural movement above all else. Get those two things right in your decoy spread, and you’ve built the foundation and tacked on the drywall. However, even if the roof has shingles and the insulation is set, your decoy house may lack that finishing touch. Furnish it with the proper duck decoy selection and confidence decoys like herons or geese, and ducks will be ready to move in.

Even novice waterfowlers know to select decoys based on the species they’re hunting. The concept seems simple when you skip past the mallard aisle for a sea duck hunt. However, it becomes a bit more nuanced when you consider duck behavior.

Along the mid-Atlantic, one can kayak down a tidal creek at low tide and flush a blimp-sized undulating ball of teal. On the other hand, when you paddle those same creeks and kick up black ducks, they flush in singles, pairs, and rarely more than a dozen at a time. When I throw out decoys in the mid-Atlantic, I’ll lean towards dense teal spreads and black duck spreads, with each decoy few and far between.

You can take your setup a step further by placing a few decoys outside your main assortment. I like to take a decoy or two and put them on the bank. Whether it’s a pond, stream, or tidal ditch, ducks will likely forage on the water’s edge. By putting a few right up on the bank, you mimic ducks feeding and add some trust to birds checking out your spread. The same strategy applies to traditional confidence decoys as well.

The concept of mimicking nature can be applied to any species. It gives birds the extra assuredness they need to close the final distance. Whichever way you arrange your decoys, make it natural and subtle. Late-season duck decoy spreads are all about giving ducks what they want to see.

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A look at the differences between two wirehaired dog breeds that share a common origin in Germany Our modern hunting dog breeds have been around for roughly 150 years and, in that time, people have created countless divisions based on politics, preferences, and differing opinions on the best way to create the perfect hunting dog. These divisions yielded a broad spectrum of options when it comes to choosing a hunting dog that works best for you. In some cases, the differences were based on style choices such as color or coat length. In others, such as the division between the Deutsch Drahthaar and the German Wirehaired Pointer, the split came from different philosophies on how to manage the breed.

Brief History of the Deutsch Drahthaar and the German Wirehaired PointerThe Deutsch Drahthaar was developed by hunters in Germany during the late 1800s in an effort to produce a versatile, wire-coated hunting dog that was well-suited for hunting large and small game in the field, forest, and water. Breeders used other wire-coated hunting breeds such as the Griffon, Pudelpointer, and Stichelhaar along with the short-coated Deutsch Kurzhaar to develop their ideal dog. A national breed club, the Verein Deutsch Drahthaar (VDD), was established in 1902 to maintain the breed standard and promote the Drahthaar among German hunters.

Listen To: East of the Rhine – Pointing Dog Breed Origins

In North America, these types of dogs are known as “versatile hunting dogs;” in Germany, they are called Jagdgebrauchshund or “useful hunting dog.” In other words, they are a do-it-all dog that is equipped for any hunting task, whether it be searching, pointing, tracking, recovering, retrieving, swimming, or laying quietly on the handler’s command. They are not specialists like setters or retrievers; instead, they are expected to perform all of these tasks at a “useful” level of proficiency. As such, the VDD adopted minimum performance requirements in addition to the breed’s conformation standard. Even today, all Deutsch Drahthaars must meet these performance requirements along with health, temperament, and conformation requirements before they can be bred.

When the Drahthaar arrived in North America, hunters soon saw the value of a tough dog that was well-suited for many different hunting scenarios. The breed’s popularity grew, but the American-born puppies were now being produced outside of the German system that enforced those breeding regulations. Eventually, a breed club was formed, and they wrote their own standard for the German Wirehaired Pointer (GWP). The American Kennel Club (AKC) recognized the breed in 1959 and established the German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America as the parent breed club in the United States.

As the American-bred German Wirehaired Pointer started to diverge from the original traits of the Deutsch Drahthaar, some American hunters and breeders wanted to go back to the German performance-based system. The VDD-GNA, a stateside chapter of the German parent club, was formed in 1971 to produce and maintain Deutsch Drahthaars in the United States under the authority of the German breed club. They used the German-language name for the breed in order to differentiate from the AKC German Wirehaired Pointers.

What’s in a name?Deutsch Drahthaar directly translates as “German Wirehair”, so it’s easy to see the source of confusion when discussing them as two different breeds. Add in the fact that German Wirehaired Pointers all originated from Deutsch Drahthaars and, at least for those who aren’t entrenched in the German versatile dog world, the line can become awfully fuzzy.

The German-language name, Deutsch Drahthaar, is used in North America to designate dogs who have been bred within the German versatile hunting dog system. This means that dogs are tested in Jagdgebrauchshundverband (JGHV) performance tests, evaluated against the German breed standard, and screened for breed-specific health conditions such as hip dysplasia and other disorders before they can be bred. Drahthaars are issued papers by the parent club in Germany and are fully recognized as “equals” to their relatives born across the ocean.

READ: Comparing NAVHDA, JGHV, and AKC Hunting Dog Tests

The German Wirehaired Pointer breed name is less specific because it could refer to a dog registered with the AKC, the United Kennel Club (UKC), the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA), some combination of these clubs, or none of the above. These organizations do not impose breeding regulations, so individual breeders are free to follow their own preferences or self-assigned rules. For example, some German Wirehairs are bred to run big and perform well in horseback field trials, some are bred to perform better in versatile hunt tests, and some are bred as companion dogs with no emphasis on hunting abilities. They are all called German Wirehaired Pointers because of their pedigree which demonstrates their purebred lineage, not because of any performance-based attributes.

When is a Wirehair no longer a Drahthaar?With their shared origin, defining the point at which German Wirehaired Pointers and Deutsch Drahthaars split can often be a source of confusion. Unlike other breed splits that happened at the club level when, for example, a certain color fell out of favor, the division between a Drahthaar and a Wirehair can happen at any point in a dog’s lineage if the breeding requirements are not met. Consider the following two hypothetical scenarios:

1. Two VDD-registered Deutsch Drahthaars are performance tested, screened for the necessary health clearances, and receive a passing conformation evaluation by certified judges. By meeting all of these requirements, each dog achieves breeding certification. When bred together with the approval of the VDD, their offspring will be considered Deutsch Drahthaars and can be registered with the VDD.
2. One of those VDD-registered Deutsch Drahthaars does not meet the performance requirements at the hunt test and therefore does not receive a breeding certification. Any puppies produced by this dog cannot be considered Deutsch Drahthaars and cannot be registered with the VDD. They can, however, be considered German Wirehaired Pointers and registered with the AKC, NAVHDA, or other organizations.

A person could look at these two scenarios and wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, the genetics are identical in both scenarios and the difference comes down to simply passing a hunt test or getting cleared for hip dysplasia. Is it really enough to lose the breed name? This is when some people will argue that the Drahthaar vs. Wirehair debate is simply a matter of paperwork, and in this scenario, they aren’t wrong.

However, consider what happens in two, five, or fifty generations after these hypothetical puppies are born. The Deutsch Drahthaar puppies who remained in the German system are still being held to the same performance, health, and conformation standards as their ancestors. They will be bred within the gene pool of other Deutsch Drahthaars who have completed the same requirements. This means the dogs will generally look and perform the same, generation after generation. The offspring of the German Wirehaired Pointer puppies who were excluded from the German system will be bred within the gene pool of German Wirehaired Pointers and could follow any number of paths based on breeder preferences; as the generations continue, there’s a larger potential for divergence from the original characteristics.

Is a Drahthaar better than a Wirehair?In a word, no. Deutsch Drahthaars and German Wirehaired Pointers are ultimately considered separate breeds with different gene pools and potentially different characteristics, but neither is inherently superior. As with any other breed choice, the best decision comes down to the dog that is right for you.

The German system, which is based on pass/fail qualification, produces consistency above all else. Whether the results of this consistency are a good match for you depends on what you’re looking for in a hunting dog. Drahthaars are designed for the German-style of hunting, which includes a lot of forest work and significantly more furred game than the average American hunter ever pursues. The dogs are expected to have a high prey drive, an intense desire to search and find game (both feathered and fur), a boldness around other predators, and enough cooperation to channel all of that drive into a useful hunting companion. They can blood track wounded big game, find a quail in a dense thicket, track and sound off on a hare, recover a duck from icy water, and stand down a raccoon encountered in the field. If you aren’t prepared to give them plenty of year-round opportunities to use all of these skills, you will likely be unhappy with the outlets they invent for their excess drive.

German Wirehaired Pointers may be exactly the same as Drahthaars or they may have very different characteristics depending on their individual genetics. In many cases, the fur drive has been toned down significantly because American hunters usually demand more bird-finding skills from their hunting dogs. With enough research, you can find a Wirehair that suits your own personal preferences, whether you hunt open land off of horseback or want a calm service dog with less prey drive. You can find a Wirehair that’s primarily white, one that is all brown, or anything in between. There’s a lot of flexibility within the breed because there is no single governing organization that controls all breeding activities. If you’re open to doing some research, the possibilities are broad.

Choosing between a Drahthaar and a WirehairWhile you’re deciding which breed is best for you, it’s also important to consider the communities that exist alongside the breeds, especially if you are looking to get involved in an organization to compete or test your dog. If you have plans to breed your dog, then it’s especially important that you fully understand the culture and requirements of the different communities.

As is evident in the description of breeding requirements, the system that produces the Deutsch Drahthaar is strict and prescriptive, which is not a good fit for everyone. The people involved tend to be intensely devoted to their dogs and firm believers in the merits of the German performance-based system. After all, it takes a lot of dedication to train for and travel to the JGHV hunt tests, so it attracts a certain type of “all-in” personality. As a self-identifying “all-in” JGHV enthusiast myself, these are my people and I respect them immensely. That said, I completely understand that it isn’t for every hunter or dog owner out there. While all puppy buyers are not required to run in hunt tests, it is strongly encouraged, so there’s a certain expectation that you’ll be willing to at least test at the natural ability level.

You will find German Wirehaired Pointer enthusiasts who are every bit as dedicated and fanatical as the Drahthaar folks. Like the dogs themselves, the various Wirehair communities fit a broad spectrum of profiles. There are supportive communities out there whether you are interested in hunt tests, field trials, the conformation ring, or any combination of activities. If you simply want to hunt with your dog and have no plans to participate in organized dog activities, there’s no judgment there, either.

In the end, when it comes to choosing a hunting dog, the choice is a personal one. Consider the overall traits of the breed, the community that exists around the dogs, and any individual breeders that you particularly like and trust. Rather than trying to fit your lifestyle around a dog, you should look for a dog that fits well with your own style and preferences. Whether that’s a Drahthaar, a Wirehair, or something entirely different, the best decision is an educated one.

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Warm up on these snowy days with a classic chicken soup recipe using pheasant meatNo other cupboard staple has as much nostalgia packed inside it as a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. That red-and-white label and name are synonymous with love, care, and comfort. Mom reached for it when we were sick, and it’s a tried-and-true choice for these colder months. With this soup recipe, we’ll stay true to that classic Campbell’s taste. However, instead of centering this meal around chicken, I incorporate pheasant meat and pheasant stock to give this soup a cherished upland flavor.

Any upland bird will work in this recipe, though white-fleshed birds taste best. In the directions, I share two methods you can use to cook your pheasant meat: a sous-vide method and how to cook the pheasant meat in the soup itself. If you have a way you prefer for cooking your upland birds with soup in mind, feel welcome to follow those tried-and-true methods. The bottom line is that you want tender, small bits of upland bird in your soup. The size and texture should mirror that of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup.

Many copycat Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup recipes call for using chopped spaghetti noodles. While those resemble the noodles in the classic soup, the flavor and texture do not. Instead, I opt for a particular brand of fine egg noodles, though any egg noodles will do.

This recipe itself is straightforward. What puts it a step above other recipes is the homemade pheasant stock, which you can learn how to make here. The stock takes a whole day to cook, but the more you make, the more you will have on hand for future soups and recipes. In a pinch, store-bought chicken stock works, but it won’t compare to homemade upland bird stock.

PrintClassic Pheasant Noodle SoupWarm up on these snowy days with a classic chicken soup recipe using pheasant meatCourse SoupCuisine AmericanKeyword Pheasant, SoupPrep Time 10 hoursCook Time 30 minutesTotal Time 10 hours 30 minutesServings 4Ingredients 12-14 oz Breasts and thighs from one rooster * White wine * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper * 4 large garlic cloves smashed Soup Ingredients * 48 oz pheasant stock * 12 oz bag of Helmuth Homemade Fine Egg Noodles (or similar) * 1 tbsp granulated garlic * 1 tbsp onion powder * 1 tbsp white sugar * Salt to taste * Chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley for garnish (optional) Instructions Check out this recipe for directions on making pheasant stock or broth. * To sous-vide cook your pheasant, heat the sous-vide container to 150 degrees Fahrenheit using the sous-vide cooker. Lightly salt and pepper the thighs. Seal them with a bit of pheasant stock or broth and a couple of cloves of freshly smashed garlic. Sous vide the thigh meat for 10 hours. For the breasts, do the same thing, but sous vide them for just two hours. To do so, add the breasts to the same sous vide container as the thighs when two hours remain on the thighs’ sous vide timer. * Once the sous vide pheasant meat is ready, finely chop the meat and add it to a large soup or stock pot along with any liquids from sous vide bags, 48 ounces of pheasant stock or broth, onion powder, granulated garlic, and the egg noodles. Set the heat to low; you don’t want to see much more than a bubble here or there. Cook the soup until the egg noodles are tender. Salt to taste before serving. * If you’re not using a sous-vide cooker and are cooking the pheasant meat directly in the soup, follow these steps: Add 48 ounces of stock to a large soup or stock pot. Dice the thigh meat and add it alongside onion powder and granulated garlic. Set the heat to low. Cook until the thigh bits are tender, likely at least an hour. Dice your breast meat and add it in. Once it’s fully cooked after approximately 15-20 minutes, add in your egg noodles and cook them until they’re tender. Salt to taste before serving. * Serve each bowl with freshly baked or toasted bread and garnish it with chopped Italian parsley. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Classic Pheasant Noodle Soup appeared first on Project Upland.

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What if more than just a few of the many programs to introduce foreign species of gamebirds to North America had succeeded?Hunters everywhere train and hunt over their gundogs in a manner that suits the game they pursue and the terrain in which the game is found. In North America, the way we train our dogs and hunt upland birds over them is mainly based on the behavior of native species like the bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse, and North American woodcock. Even when we hunt non-native species like pheasants, huns, and chukar, we tend to use our dogs in more or less the same way. But what if more than just a few of the many programs to introduce foreign species of gamebirds to North America had succeeded? How would we train and hunt over our dogs if, instead of pheasants, huns, and chukar, other foreign game bird species had taken hold in the US and Canada?

The Western Capercaillie (Tetrao Urogallus)You’ve been at it all morning and haven’t seen a single bird. It’s cold. There’s a fresh layer of snow on the ground and your dog’s been working his butt off, most of the time completely out of sight. But that’s par for the course this late in the season in northern Maine.

Another half hour goes by. Nothing.

Just as you were about to call it a day, your dog rushes back towards you, excited. You can tell by his wiggling butt and wide eyes that he’s giving you the signal: “I found one, boss, follow me!”

Together, you make your way through the forest, back towards where you first saw him emerge. Creeping along, side by side, you cover 100 yards. Your dog eases into a point just ahead of you. You take a step. Bird up!

A massive black bird explodes from the cover, its 40-inch wingspan creating a noise like a tractor starting up on a cold day. It offers you a crossing shot, left to right at about 25 yards

BANG! Nailed it!

You send your dog to make the retrieve. He delivers to hand. As you hoist the nearly 10-pound bird by the neck, the incredible plumage glistens in the warm light filtering between the spruce trees. It’s your very first capercaillie, Tetrao urogallns, the largest member of the grouse family.

Good boy! Let’s tag the bird and head home.

This is, of course, pure fiction. There are no capercaillie in Maine or anywhere else in North America–but not for a lack of trying. Over the last 250 years, dozens of bird species have been introduced to North America. Only a few managed to thrive. In a fascinating bulletin published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1929, there is an overview of all the then-known efforts to establish breeding populations of game birds in the United States. Here is what the report says about the Capercaillie (spelled capercailzie with a silent ‘z’ at the time, the name comes from the Scottish Gaelic capall-coille meaning “wood-horse”).

What more natural desire among sportsmen than an attempt to introduce to the somber northern forests the capercailzie, a magnificent European game bird second only to the turkey in size and sporting attributes. Were it not for the great expense involved in procuring and shipping these large birds, many more trials would have been made. All the various attempts in widely different regions of the United States and Canada have failed to give evidence that the species has any power of adaptation to new conditions.

As long ago as 1869, Captain Hardy in his book, Forest Life in Acadie, suggested their introduction into the eastern provinces. In 1890, W. W. Thomas, United States minister to Sweden, made up some interest in the subject. The first pair, so far as known to the writer, arrived at Westerly, R. 1., in 1893 for D. F. Stillman. Through Mr. Thomas’s efforts, four were liberated at New Sweden in northern Maine in 1895. In 1904, 143 capercailzie and black game were put out on Grand Island, Mich., by the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co., and 58 more followed in 1905. It was rumored that four broods of chicks were identified by the gamekeeper, but all individuals disappeared within a year or two.

Previous to this, in 1903, 65 capercailzie, together with some black game, were imported from Denmark or Sweden and placed in Algonquin Park, Ontario, by the provincial authorities, and some of these birds wandered a long distance, so T. S. Palmer states. There were rumors, probably erroneous, of young broods and of some being seen after five years.

In 1906 the total number of capercailzie and black game imported into this country increased to 235, and most of these went to private preserves in the Adirondacks. A few were placed in Litchfield Park near Big Tupper Lake, but probably not more than a dozen, according to E. Hubert Litchfield. Eighty-five capercailzie, besides some black game, went to William Rockefeller in the Adirondacks at this time, and W.Seward Webb received many for his Adirondack preserve. J. A. Wheeler, game commissioner of Illinois, got four capercailzie and six black game, and Cecil French kept a pair of each in his aviaries.*

In the fall of 1907, 23 capercailzie, as well as 20 black game, were shipped from Copenhagen to Newfoundland, via New York, and subsequently transferred to the peninsula of Avalon without loss. The experiment was initiated through the efforts of Sir Robert Bond, and the arrangements were made by John G. Millais, who mentions the plan in his book on Newfoundland (1907). A recent letter from Newfoundland procured through Robert Bartlett tells a little about the fate of these birds. They were released in October midway between Whitbourne and Colinet on the east end of the island. Food was supplied and the birds remained in the neighborhood for several weeks. Some boys disposed of at least two, and the rest soon vanished and were never seen again.

The Corncrakes (Crex crex)It’s early season, hot enough to hunt in a t-shirt. Too many leaves remain on the trees, so chasing ruffies is out, and the woodcock flight won’t be in for a couple of weeks. Instead, you head to a local pasture that is still soggy from recent rains. You cast your dog into the wind and watch him gallop across the vast acreage.

Point! You hurry to cover the distance, doing your best to avoid puddles and water-filled ruts. Now at your dog’s side you say “easy,” and together you move slowly forward. These birds like to run before taking flight, so you’ve trained your dog to do what the Brits call “drawing,” or carefully stalking a moving bird until it flushes.
Five yards, ten yards, a sharp turn to the right, another ten yards. Flush!

Your first shot is low. Your second connects.

Fetch!

Your dog returns with a medium-sized bird. It has a grey-streaked brownish breast, chestnut markings on the wings, and white and rust-coloured bars on the flanks. It’s a corncrake, a migratory member of the rail family. In the past, corncrakes (Crex crex) were hunted in many parts of Europe, but they are now on the protected species list everywhere except in Russia where hunters still pursue them over pointing dogs.

Some of these little rails apparently were set free by the Cincinnati Acclimatization Society between 1872 and 1874, but how many seems not to be known. There are a number of records of the corncrake taken in this country, 14 up to the year 1914 and others since. It has occurred once in Bermuda, once in Maryland, three times in New Jersey, five times in New York, and once each in Rhode Island, Maine, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. These were probably genuine stragglers from the Old World.

Guinea Fowl (Numida Meleagris)You shiver in early morning light as you stand along the edge of a forest, your Golden Retriever at your feet. Two of your hunting buddies are to your left, spaced 30 yards apart along the same forest edge. Three more buddies are in the forest a few hundred yards away. They drew the short straws this morning, so they get to do the ‘beating,’ moving slowly through the trees with flushing dogs to force birds into flight and, hopefully, over you.

A bird appears high overhead; it’s too far for a shot, but there’s another right behind it. Then another, and another. Soon there are birds everywhere and you are struggling to reload your gun fast enough. But the practice sessions you spent at the gun range this summer are really paying off and so is the steadiness training you did with your dog. He’s rock-solid, sitting at your side even as you drop bird after bird.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it’s all over. Your friends emerge from the forest and everyone gets together for the “picking up.” Most shots were clean kills, but there are still a few runners to be picked up, and your dog makes it look easy as he tracks down and fetches three birds in short order. You couldn’t be more proud.
Admiring the day’s bag, you and your friends review the action, shot by shot. On the drive back home, you press the button on your iPhone, “Hey Siri, what wine pairs best with roasted Guinea Fowl?”

There was at least one attempt in the United States to make the guinea fowl a game bird. The trial was made with 40 or 50 of them on Jekyl Island, Ga., about 1890, but apparently without permanent results. Nash Buckingham writes of a temporary success in California some 25 years ago.

Guinea fowls have, of course, been domesticated all over the United States, especially in the southern part. and have thus had plenty of opportunity to escape and establish themselves in a feral state. Nevertheless, they have shown absolutely no indication of reverting to the wild, which seems rather surprising in view of the fact that they have done so in some of the islands of the West Indies. They were certainly introduced long ago into most of these islands and are now found in a wild state in Jamaica, Cuba, Porto Rico, Dominican Republic, and a few of the Lesser Antilles. Where that obstreperous animal, the mongoose, is present, it preys extensively on guinea fowl and keeps their numbers much in check. On Barbuda, in the Lesser Antilles, which was made into a sort of game preserve more than 200 years ago, the birds still flourish.

European Quail (Coturnix Coturnix)Your phone vibrates. It’s a text from your buddy from up north. “Birds are on the move, you should see them in a couple of days.”

“Awesome!” you reply, “I’ve got a new pup, a young Springer. He works close, hunts hard, and seems to have a pretty good nose. I can’t wait to get him onto those quail when they finally make it down here.”

Quail? Coming from the north?

The Common or European quail is a favorite game bird for many European hunters and field trial enthusiasts who usually pursue them with pointing dogs. The only truly migratory galliforme bird, they are found throughout much of Europe in the spring and summer. In the fall, they cross the Mediterranean sea to spend the winter in North Africa.

In the mid-1800s American and Canadian sportsmen invested considerable resources into programs aimed at establishing the species—called the Egyptian Quail at the time—as a game bird in North America. For a while it seemed that success was at hand.

The great excitement among sportsmen over the historic European, or Egyptian quail began about 50 years ago and is now almost entirely forgotten. These little game birds began to be imported into the Eastern States from Sicily and Messina, Italy, in 1875, and large numbers were introduced into Quebec, Ontario, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. Horace P. Toby, of Boston, was one of the first enthusiasts, and a great deal of information on the subject may still be found in the files of Forest and Stream and other journals in the seventies and eighties.

The history of the first cases is as follows: On March 27, 1875, W. Hapgood, of Boston, wrote to Domonic Fisher, at Messina, Italy: “How can we get European quail for introduction here’?” Fisher replied: “Two cages containing 250 European quail shipped, addressed to John H. Whitcomb, Ayer Junction, Massachusetts.” These were obtained through the good offices of Capt. P. M. Beal of the bark Neptune. Sixty-one died in passage and 189 were distributed in Massachusetts near Ayer. By a curious coincidence M. G. Evart’s birds from a different locality arrived on the same vessel and were liberated near Rutland, Vt. The 200 in this first shipment to Vermont were set free June 8, 1877. These birds were actually found breeding near Rutland, Vt., on July 7, 1877. The total cost of this shipment was said to be 18 lira (about $3) a bird.

It will be sufficient merely to summarize the experiences of many observers with Egyptian quail and to remark that the experiments were carried out on a sufficiently large scale. It is noted that 5,100 arrived May 5, 1880, and were placed in 16 different localities. Most of these birds came in excellent condition. There are many reports of breeding during the first season and also of individual birds that stayed near their point of release until November or even December; but after migration there was never any return movement. One was taken as far south as Georgia and another in North Carolina. Some are said to have come aboard a ship in November, 1877, hundreds of miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, and the theory was prevalent at the time that most of the introduced birds migrated in a southeasterly direction and perished at sea.

Thus ended another chapter of discouragement for the sportsmen of the Atlantic Coast States, who about this period were making desperate efforts to increase their game supply. There seem to have been no shipments after 1881.

Perdiz (Nothura Maculosa)“Saddle up!”

“Okay, grab the line.”

“Got it.”

You’re on horseback and so is your buddy. You spread out, about 75 yards apart, each holding one end of a long rope that you drag across the grass of a large section of CRP. About ten yards behind the rope, three friends carrying shotguns walk with their Labs at heel. As your group moves across the field, birds flush, forced into the air by the line. As they rise, the shooters take aim and drop one, then two, then three. The Labs are sent to retrieve.

Normally you hunt these birds with your German Shorthaired Pointer and your buddy’s French Brittany because they usually hold well for points. But today you decided to invite some friends to hunt perdiz like your grandpa did back home in Argentina, on horseback with a dragline.

In less than an hour, your party has limited out. Six perdiz per gun. The dogs were well-behaved and the young pup even managed to catch a cripple that tried to get away in the long grass. As you place the birds on the tailgate to take a photo, you stop to appreciate these birds, Nothura maculosa, a species of tinamou native to parts of South America.

In the early 1920s there was an attempt to import some tinamous from Argentina where they are very popular among hunters, but it was unsuccessful. In 1969 a study of the spotted tinamous conducted by Gardiner Janet Bump was published by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. The authors wrote:

In search of foreign game birds particularly adaptable to such habitat types, biologists of the Bureau’s Foreign Game Investigation Program spent almost 3 years in a substantial study of tinamous, a group of birds well adapted to the pampas, savannahs, and grassy brushlands of Argentina. A major objective of the investigation of tinamous in Argentina was the location and study of game birds potentially adaptable to grasslands, including grazed pastures, in the United States.

These birds, while not large, provide enough excellent meat to justify the price of a shell, particularly if the bird can be shot along the road or on the ground. Thus there is little excuse for trapping them except for sale which is now illegal. There are also many experienced hunters to which the bird on the wing or with evasive tactics offers a challenge within their ability to meet. It may hide and must be found. It may run and be forced to fly. It may provide a nice, straight away shot. Some sit well to a dog, others sneak away only to fly suddenly from an unexpected spot. Finally, almost anywhere in grasslands one can flush at least 5 to 10 birds in an hour. Only those deeply in love with a special species, such as waterfowl, can ask for better recreation. Most spotted tinamous are hunted by two to four sportsmen walking in a line through the fields. For special occasions there are well organized hunts in which the birds are flushed by a rope or cable, often 150 to 250 feet in length, pulled over the vegetation by two horses. The men follow the rope closely with boys by their sides to pick up shot birds and run down those wounded, often with the aid of a man or two on horseback. On one such hunt, we flushed 484 spotted tinamous from 264 acres of pasture in about 42 hours using a cable 275 feet in length. A strip about 250 feet in width was thus covered, allowing for the sag of the cable. On this hunt 9 shooters collected 256 birds. This represented 53 percent of the birds flushed. This shoot, the only hunting permitted, is an annual affair and has now been conducted over a period of about five years with consistently large numbers of birds being flushed each year. Certainly the most enjoyable way to hunt these tinamous is with a well-trained bird dog.

Despite the findings and recommendations of experts, all efforts to establish tinamou populations in the US failed. Today, if you want to hunt perdiz, you’ll need to head to Argentina.

Other Failed Game Bird Introductions in North AmericaWhat if the program had been a success? Would North American upland hunters take to capercaillie hunting like they’ve taken to hunting imported birds like pheasants, huns, and chukars? And would they have trained their dogs to perform the act of ‘reporting’ described above like some hunters in Finland, Russia, and elsewhere do? Would there be field trials or sections of NAVHDA tests that tested dogs to do it?

There is no official tally of the number of attempts made to introduce other species of game birds but the bulletin reveals that failures far outnumber the successes. Only ring-necked pheasants, huns, and chukars succeeded where so many others failed.

The early history of the introduction of foreign birds into this country is mostly clothed in darkness. The records of many attempts, if such there were, have long since been buried in back numbers of local newspapers, and if any experiment was unsuccessful it was soon forgotten. Hence, one trying to get an accurate idea of what has happened soon realizes that he is following a hopeless quest. It is much the same with the transplanting of native birds, especially game birds, which have been carried about all over the country from west to east and from east to west without much regard to the failures of still earlier attempts. Consequently the comparatively recent files of sportsmen’s periodicals and the memory of men still living must be depended upon for most of this history, and such sources are often inaccurate; even the correct name of the species may be in doubt.

Search through local newspapers might add to the slender stock of knowledge, but the results would be wholly disproportionate to the labor involved. In spite of this, it is thought worthwhile to call attention to a great number of real biological experiments that have been going on, unrecorded and almost unknown to the ornithologist.

If one could look back through some of the account books of the early Virginia colonists, it is likely that he might find mention of imported pheasants or European partridges, for the planters of the early seventeenth century were keen sportsmen and, of course, familiar with English game birds. It is known positively from George Washington’s journal that Lafayette in 1786 sent pheasants of several species as well as French partridges to Mount Vernon, although it is not known whether any attempt was made to propagate them. In New Jersey there were early introductions (1790) of game birds on the estate of Richard Bache, a son-in-law of Benjamin Franklin, near what is now Beverly. There is no evidence of any spread from these early trials.

Periods of activity in acclimatization began late in the sixties, and from that time forward something is known about what was attempted. There were, for instance, 15 or 20 years during which efforts were made to introduce European songbirds, largely through the enthusiasm of German-American bird fanciers and various cage-bird clubs. Then came a time when the Eastern States, their home stock already much depleted, turned to the West for new game birds and to the Middle Atlantic States for bobwhites. Indeed, it is believed that this last-mentioned activity had been going on in a quiet way by private effort for a long time, doubtless considerably before the Civil War, but the birds were planted secretly, with the hope of evading the ever-present market gunner.

Except for the craze over the little migratory Egyptian quail late in the seventies, not much attention was paid to foreign game birds until after the successful introduction of pheasants in Oregon in 1881. After this became known in the East the country went wild over pheasants, variously called Mongolian, Chinese ring-necked, and English, without much regard to the actual stock. The nineties saw this species more or less established in many parts of the Northeastern States. The so-called Hungarian partridge (Perdix) came next and that chapter is not yet concluded. Although great shipments were made just before the World War they have not been repeated.

In this bulletin, which is little more than an attempt to gather some of the scattered information that exists in out-of-the-way places, the writer has tried to call attention to all species that have been brought to this country with the object of adding to our list of birds, besides our American game birds, particularly the bobwhite and the California quail, which have been carried to every corner of the land, often into territory hopelessly unsuited to them. The failures, where they are known, have been considered as well worth recording, in the hope that a knowledge of them will lead to more rational selection of experimental material in the future.

The “What If” of North American Non-Native Game BirdsWhat if there were no pheasants in the Dakotas, but plenty of capercaillie in the Northeast? Would we train our dogs to “report” and then prove their abilities at hunt tests? What if there were no bobwhites, but European quail instead? Would upland hunters await their arrival as eagerly as they wait for the woodcock flight? Would we run field trials on them? And what if there were no huns, but we had open seasons for corncrakes and guinea fowl? Would we hunt flooded fields or organize driven hunts?

The game birds described above are just a few among the dozens of species North American sportsmen attempted to introduce to the continent. It is highly unlikely that other species will ever be introduced to our hunting fields and forests in the future, at least deliberately. But maybe we could adapt some of the techniques used to hunt birds in other regions to our own native birds. Reporting might be a great way to hunt spruce grouse or maybe even turkey. As for drawing in the English way, I can say from personal experience that it is very useful for hunting early season sharptail grouse. In fact, I now train all my dogs to do it. And how about using a dragline suspended between two mounted riders for pheasants? How would we modify the training of our Labs or Springers to work that sort of hunt?

Hunters everywhere train and hunt over their gundogs to suit the game they pursue and the terrain in which the game is found. Change one or the other, or both, and you’d have to change the way you train and hunt.

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How traveling hunters can have meaningful economic and cultural impacts in bird-hunting destination towns“We’re just really grateful that you’re here. Truly, thanks for coming.”

The sincere words of appreciation caught me by surprise for two reasons. First, I was recognized as a visitor—I’m not used to small towns and just how much outsiders stand out—and second, my presence was genuinely welcomed.

We were at a craft beer festival in small-town Montana during the upland bird season. Having already completed our hunt for the day, we decided to check out the local brewery scene and support the event. As I looked around, I realized that the four of us stood out like sore thumbs with our out-of-state license plates and by not knowing any of the other attendees. But rather than a “you’re not from here, are ya?” glance, we were warmly welcomed at the event. Several people struck up a conversation with us and expressed their appreciation and surprise that we’d taken the time to stop by the festival and support the town.

I’ve seen the WELCOME HUNTERS signs strung up on bars and gas stations across the Great Plains, but I figured it was just seasonal, promotional décor that beer companies distributed. It never occurred to me that the sentiment might be sincere. Living in a crowded state that does not cater to out-of-state hunters, I assumed residents viewed all visiting hunters with a degree of suspicion and a hint of resentment.

Back at the motel that evening, we surveyed the parking lot full of bird-hunting rigs. Wisconsin, Missouri, Washington, Oregon, New York, Florida; it seemed like every region of the U.S. had descended upon this tiny Montana town to enjoy its wild birds and open spaces. That prompted a spirited discussion of small-town economics and what, if any, ethical obligations visiting hunters might consider.

How do bird hunters affect rural economies?To better answer this question, I reached out to Laurie Shelton, the CEO of the Huron Chamber and Visitor’s Bureau in South Dakota. Huron hosts an annual Ringneck Festival, which attracts upland bird hunters from all over the United States. The 2022 Ringneck Festival hosted 21 teams for the competitive hunting event, only four of which were “local” hunters from within 150 miles or closer. More than 100 out-of-state hunters came to Huron to participate in the weekend event.

According to Shelton, 80 percent of Huron’s lodging revenue in October, November, and December comes from out-of-state hunters. She said that restaurants with breakfast service see a significant increase in revenue. In contrast, grocery stores only see a slight increase of about two to three percent in additional revenue during that time.

READ: South Dakota Pheasant Hunting – A Complete Guide to the Pheasant State

Numbers aside, I asked about the general feeling toward visiting hunters. Shelton said, “Our community loves to play host to our hunters and is genuinely interested in how their hunts went, along with giving suggestions of new places to hunt.”

Out-of-towners can find evidence of the community’s support in the hours dedicated to the festival, too, which is now in its 25th year. “The Ringneck Festival uses volunteers such as landowners, scorekeepers, and additional help for the hunt check and banquet…we estimate using about 110 volunteers each year to help make the event a success,” she said.

Across the region, other representatives from rural chambers of commerce echoed similar sentiments. The Sheridan County Chamber in Montana put me in contact with several motel operators who confirmed that out-of-area dollars during the upland bird season have an outsized impact on their annual revenue stream. In neighboring Daniels County, motel owners reported being sold out of available rooms more than a year in advance, with the vast majority of reservations coming from outside Montana. In short, the annual influx of hunters and their wallets is a significant piece of the economy in rural bird-towns across America.

Supporting the local economies of bird-hunting townsAs a DIY public land hunter, I tend to take my self-sufficiency on the road with me, too. I like to load up on groceries at home, pack the truck to capacity, and survive off of granola bars and beef jerky. After all, any minute spent eating in a restaurant or restocking supplies is a minute not spent in the field with my dogs in pursuit of birds and adventure.

I am not alone in that trend, either, seeing as South Dakota small-town lodging can jump as much as 80 percent during the bird season, but grocery stores only see a small blip in their balance sheets. Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned in how we can give back to the communities who welcome us with open arms each fall.

Yes, we all need a place to stay and fuel for our vehicles while in town—and the local economies clearly see us coming. But what about the other businesses that these towns need to survive throughout the rest of the year? Can hunters have a significant influence in different categories besides lodging?

Before you load up at Costco with a week’s worth of supplies, consider what you can buy from the mom-and-pop grocer in rural South Dakota. If you’re camping, maybe spend a few extra dollars to stay at the municipal campground instead of claiming a free spot on public land. Throw some bills in the donation jar at the checkout line. Plan a dinner or two out on the town. It doesn’t have to become prohibitively expensive to hunt out-of-state, but perhaps it’s only fair to invest in the communities from which we take resources in the form of birds and other game.

Connecting with the local communities to ensure a welcoming futureI live in a large metropolitan area. Admittedly, I’m blind to many of the culture and considerations of small-town life. Our hunting partners, however, are far more in tune with the realities of rural living. Always on the lookout for local activities to support, they were the ones who discovered the Brew Fest and encouraged us all to attend after our day in the field.

While the bartender poured our beers, my friend asked him about the high school basketball team and their ongoing rivalry with the neighboring town. I just blinked. I’ve never followed any high school sports besides the ones I played, let alone those in a town 1,000 miles away from home. But the rapport was immediate and genuine. To my great surprise, I learned that our friends had attended Friday night games on past trips and even had team hats to show for it.

Later that week, when our friends took us to their favorite breakfast spot in town, I was caught off-guard when they started inquiring about the off-menu options. The waitress lit up and offered her personal recommendations for which items to get and which to avoid. I flipped my menu back and forth, attempting to follow along, but it was useless. They were speaking the local tongue, and I was not going to keep up on this first visit. I realized that my credibility had to be earned with time and effort.

As we left Montana in the rearview mirror and headed home, I thought about the resources that came together to offer us an unforgettable week of hunting: landowners who make their property available for public access programs, generous federal and state public land resources, regional biologists who work tirelessly to manage wild bird populations, and local communities who offer services and supplies to visitors. It takes a literal village (and then some) just to support my recreational hunting vacation. Was I repaying the debt fairly?

There are a lot of good resources out there with tips for hunting out-of-state on a small budget, but perhaps that’s not the only message we should be sharing with our fellow traveling hunters. Wherever possible and practical, we should invest in these public hunting destinations to ensure that the towns and resources remain healthy and thriving for generations to come.

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Prominent filoplumes and limited home ranges define this rare game bird with less than 5000 left in the country. Most easterners travel west in search of bugling elk, sneaky mule deer, and wandering herds of pronghorn. But these charismatic species aren’t the only wildlife that hunters regularly seek in the sagebrush. Any uplander would admit that they’ve daydreamed about flushing up western grouse, especially sage grouse.

Greater sage-grouse often come to mind when planning upland hunts in at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Their generally stable populations allow them to be hunted, even if bag limits are smaller than other upland bird species living elsewhere. Greater and lesser prairie-chickens are two other species familiar to the average bird hunter. Although greater prairie-chickens are an incredible species to pursue in places like Kansas, unfortunately, lesser prairie-chickens can no longer be hunted. This is due to their increasing conservation needs. In fact, the southern population segment of the lesser prairie-chicken was recently listed as federally endangered. However, there’s one sage grouse species with the greatest conservation needs of all: the Gunnison sage-grouse.

The Gunnison sage-grouse (GUSG) is a critically imperiled sage grouse species most folks aren’t familiar with. Historically, it was lumped in with greater sage-grouse until the 1990s, when biologists began questioning whether or not it should be its own species. It was designated as a new species in the year 2000 by Dr. Jessica Young and her colleagues. Differences in filoplume length, strut rates and vocalizations during lekking season, and genetics were enough to differentiate it from other sage grouse, making it the first new avian species to be described in the United States since the 1800s.

Unfortunately, the GUSG has lost over 90 percent of its habitat and is one of the most at-risk bird species in the United States. Less than 5,000 birds exist today, and that number could be as low as 1,800 individuals. Historically, at least thousands of them existed throughout the southwestern U.S. In Dr. Young’s report from 2000, the authors quoted an article from the Lake City Times from September 13, 1894, that read, “Billy Green, a genial fireman on the 64, bagged 863 grouse while out hunting on Sapinero last Sunday.” The research report contrasts this quote with their data from 2014, which recorded just 963 male GUSG globally.

Gunnison Sage-grouse Identification and Life HistoryThe Gunnison sage-grouse looks quite similar to the greater sage grouse; this shouldn’t come as a surprise since wildlife experts themselves didn’t officially tell these species apart until two decades ago. At about two-thirds the size of the greater sage-grouse, Gunnison’s species features long, barred white-and-dark-brown tail feathers that come to a sharp, black point. The males have large white neck ruffs with bright yellow air sacs. They have a matching yellow comb above both eyes and long, decorative filoplume feathers that cascade off the back of their head. Females look generally similar, but are less ornate than the males. The females don’t have air sacs, neck ruffs, elongated filoplumes, nor bright yellow eye combs. Their tail feathers are also shorter than the male’s. However, they have almost-black belly feathers that begin just below their breast. Both males and females are highly camouflaged when it comes to living in the sagebrush.

Their repetitive calls sound like raspy chicken clucks. Like other upland bird species, the females also make brood contact and assembly calls to their chicks while they raise their young. Both males and females will make a hissing sound at predators.

During the breeding season, grouse assemble at their historic lekking grounds. Leks are typically located on grassy swales, ridgetops, dry lakebeds, and even recently burned areas. Males perform elaborate courtship displays where they arrange themselves into a characteristic “starburst” shape. Their tails fan out, their wing tips drop down, and they flip their philoplumes out in front of their beaks. While doing so, the males fill their vocal sacs with air and drag them through their wings, producing a shushing sound. They also make several sequential coo and popping sounds that impersonate a bubbling creek. The timing of the sounds and dance moves are essential to getting picked by a female prior to mating.

Recent research from the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that ravens are disturbing lekking grouse, flushing them off of their lek sites. Ravens are known to experience population growth in areas where human development is increasing, like the Gunnison basin. Increased disturbances to breeding GUSG can hinder their reproductive success.

Gunnison Sage-grouse HabitatOnly seven populations of Gunnison sage-grouse exist today within southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah. Like their name implies, the GUSG is an obligate of high-elevation sagebrush-steppe ecosystems. It requires large expanses of intact sagebrush to survive. This plant is critical to the grouse’s year-round diet and habitat requirements.

Sagebrush species that are important to GUSG survival include big, black, and low sagebrush. Native forbs, grasses, and other vegetation including Gambel oak, serviceberry, snowberry, antelope bitterbrush, and rabbitbrush are also part of the grouse’s preferred habitat. When female sage grouse raise broods, their young rely on protein-rich food sources like insects to grow. Native wildflowers and other forbs that attract pollinators are incredibly important for growing chicks. Pinyon-juniper encroachment is common in areas where the sage grouse is found, however, the species still frequents areas that this tall, woody vegetation has displaced sage.

Sadly, these plants necessary to the grouse’s survival are being outcompeted by nonnative, invasive species like cheatgrass. Sagebrush ecosystems themselves are incredibly vulnerable to human development, too. Grazing has negatively impacted riparian areas over time, and restoring these water-holding areas has been a priority for Gunnison’s wildlife managers for years. In fact, the installation of one rock dams and other structures that replicate nature have effectively restored several wet meadows throughout the valley and beyond.

Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation EffortsStakeholders banded together to conserve the species after the grouse was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014. No one wanted to see the grouse earn the title of federally endangered. With private lands making up 43 percent of GUSG habitat and the Bureau of Land Management owning approximately 42 percent, federal, state, and private landowners have been working to conserve the species on their lands.

In 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service released a draft recovery plan for the grouse. The plan was finalized in 2020 after a public comment period. The overall goal of the recovery plan is to establish four resilient populations of Gunnison Sage-grouse. The USFWS will consider these populations to be resilient when “they are sufficiently large to endure stochastic environmental change.”

Wildlife managers plan to meet this goal by using twelve different “recovery actions.” These actionable measures include increasing habitat quality and quantity via weed removal and prevention, conserving existing suitable habitats, translocating and captive rearing GUSG, and more. The entire list of actions can be reviewed in the USFWS recovery plan. If all goes well, managers expect to delist the grouse in 30 years.

Although most folks have never heard of this elegant game bird, it deserves more attention from conservationists. Its dwindling habitat quality and tiny population will make ensuring its conservation success quite tricky, however, I am hopeful. Countless folks care deeply about the restoration of the Gunnison Sage-grouse and are dedicated to protecting the species for years to come.

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A closer look at the biology, history, and habitat of the snow goose. The snow goose (Anser caerulescens) is an interesting species of waterfowl that comes in two color phases: the white phase (typically referred to as a “snow goose”) and the dark phase (often called a “blue goose”). Several color variations occur between these two phases. Their name makes sense, considering their bright white feathers and their breeding areas that occur in the Arctic tundra. Conservation efforts were so successful for this bird that soaring populations are now causing problems for the environment and with people.

Description and Life History of the Snow GooseThere are two subspecies of snow goose: the lesser snow goose (A. c. caerulescens) and the greater snow goose (A. c. atlantica). The greater snow goose is slightly larger, nests further northeast than the lesser, has no color dimorphism, or color phases (Ducks Unlimited 2020). Therefore, if you see a “blue goose” it will almost certainly be a lesser subspecies or hybrid. Either way, snow geese are smaller than a Canada goose. The greater snow goose is typically 30 inches long and weighs six to eight pounds, while the lesser snow goose is slightly smaller at 28 to 29 inches long and five to six pounds (Ducks Unlimited 2020). Because they’re so similar, it’s usually impossible to tell them apart in the field.

The white phase/morph of both subspecies has a body of all white feathers, save for their black wing tips. They have pinkish-orange bills with black serrated edges (called a “grinning patch”) and pink legs (All About Birds 2020). A pure blue phase/morph has dark bluish-gray feathers over nearly its whole body except for sometimes a white head. Their bills and legs are the same as the white morph. There can also be intermediate phases where the ratio of gray to white feathers changes. The Ross’s goose can also breed with snow geese and produce even more diluted hybrids that are difficult to identify.

Snow geese often mate for life and nest in large colonies, which sometimes consist of 1,200 pairs per square mile (NatureServe 2020). The female typically picks a site on a slight hummock for good visibility but adjacent to water or some kind of low cover. She then lines a large, shallow depression with dead grasses, twigs, seaweed, and downy feathers (National Audubon Society 2020). Females usually lay two to six creamy white eggs and incubate them for 22 to 25 days (All About Birds 2020; National Audubon Society 2020). The male usually stays with the female and defends it against predators during the incubation period. After hatching, both parents and the goslings leave the nest site to feed; these family groups may stay together until the following nesting season (NatureServe 2020).

The snow goose uses its unique bill design to feed on different types of vegetation. Its serrated edge makes it easier for them to graze on grasses and aquatic plants, while its overall stout build can handle grain/seeds and uproot bulbs and rhizomes (NatureServe 2020). In general, marsh grasses, sedges, rushes, forbs, and shrubs are all included in their breeding season diet (All About Birds 2020). Goslings also eat berries, flowers, and insects where available. During the winter, they will frequently use crop fields to eat grain and grasses.

Snow geese are most susceptible to predation during the breeding season, which includes the eggs, goslings, and adults alike. Likely predators that are common in the arctic include gulls, ravens, jaeger birds, eagles, snowy owls, foxes, wolves, bears… plus nests are susceptible to trampling by caribou (All About Birds 2020).

Range and Habitat of the Snow GooseWhile both subspecies breed in the Arctic and Subarctic regions, there are some unique geographical tendencies for each. Lesser snow geese generally occur across the northern edge of Alaska, the Northwest Territories, around Hudson Bay, and on Baffin Island, while the greater snow goose prefers the northernmost island systems in Nunavut and Greenland (Ducks Unlimited 2020). Flocks usually arrive in breeding areas by early June at the latest and reverse course to wintering areas by August (NatureServe 2020). They usually spend their winter in coastal areas or along large river systems in the interior states, all the way down to the Gulf Coast and Mexico. Three mostly separate populations occur, including eastern, central, and western groups. Snow geese tend to use the same nesting and wintering areas each year, following specific migration paths according to their population group.

During the summer, snow geese nest in rolling tundra areas within five miles of waterbodies (e.g., coastlines, ponds, lakes, rivers) (National Audubon Society 2020). They utilize any kind of raised hummocks for visibility or willow cover to hide their nests (NatureServe 2020). During their migration, they often stop to use lakes, farm fields, marshes, and river systems. In the winter, they use salt marshes, estuaries, freshwater systems, grasslands/pastures, flooded farm fields, and croplands (National Audubon Society 2020; All About Birds 2020).

Conservation Issues for the Snow GooseThe snow goose population is estimated to have tripled since 1973 (NatureServe 2020). Not surprisingly, it is listed as globally secure and of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List (NatureServe 2020). It’s likely that warming conditions in the arctic have expanded the range of breeding grounds, causing the population boom. Because breeding areas are so remote and untouched by humans, the geese are the only ones responsible for habitat degradation. Large numbers of geese can quickly devastate the vegetation during the breeding season, which has long-term effects (All About Birds 2020). Due to concerns about these habitat impacts, the Light Goose Conservation Order was mandated in 1999 to reduce the snow goose population. This allows hunting light geese in the spring as flocks return to their northern breeding grounds. Since then, hunters in the U.S. and Canada annually harvest approximately 400,000 birds (All About Birds 2020).

Hunting Opportunities for the Snow GooseBoth phases of snow goose are often combined with the Ross’s goose and referred to as “light geese” in various hunting regulations. Under the Conservation Order for Light Geese (50 CFR §21.60), other federal restrictions are also eliminated, including no bag limits, extended shooting hours, no need to plug shotguns, and the ability to use electronic callers. Sounds great, right? Well, while staring at a flock of thousands of geese overhead with few restrictions might sound great, you know that’s only part of the story. Hunting snow geese can be a frustrating and humbling experience. It’s still magical to see and hear such large flocks, but it can also be an exercise in patience.

Equipment and Bag LimitsAs with almost any goose hunt, you will need a hunting license/federal waterfowl stamp, a 12-gauge shotgun, non-toxic shotgun shells (e.g., steel, tungsten, bismuth, etc.), and a good blind to hide from all those eyes. If hunting during a spring light goose season, you usually only need a hunting license, not a federal stamp. But one thing you will absolutely need for hunting snow geese is decoys – a lot of them. Since the issuance of the conservation order, flocks of light geese have been shot at for generations and have seen almost any kind of spread you can think of. As a result, it usually takes a huge decoy spread to convince them to come close enough for a shot. If you can’t afford or manage hundreds or thousands of decoys, then seeking a waterfowl outfitter for a snow goose hunt is probably the better bet.

The current daily bag limit varies among states during the usual hunting season, from only a few birds to 50 birds (in North Dakota). But while on a light goose conservation order hunt, there is no daily bag limit. Please check your specific state and location for the current limit.

Snow Goose Hunting TechniquesThe nice thing about snow geese is that you have an opportunity to hunt them in the late winter and spring, when waterfowl season is over. But a critical part of a spring snow goose hunt is to spend enough time scouting to know where the birds will be. Since the geese are trying to move north as soon as they can, you can usually find large flocks stalled wherever the snow starts. Spend some time looking at crop fields and pastures near this line where the geese can still feed on exposed ground. Once you find the geese, start knocking on doors to see if you can get access permission. Most farmers would like to reduce goose populations too, but some may have been burned before. Be respectful and grateful for any opportunity to use their land.

Getting back to the decoys, one of the best, not-so-secret weapons of snow goose hunting is to add some motion. Regardless of how large your spread is, keep some snow goose flags in your blind, some socks (or white garbage bags) scattered around, and even use battery-powered dekes for an extra edge. Keeping the motion close to you usually means you will have a better chance to get some shooting in. Also, keep the landing zone on the upwind side (near you), as snow geese like to land on the upwind side of a feeding flock.

Huge flocks of snow geese are very noisy, drowning out even your loudest goose calls. That’s one of the reasons you can use electronic calls and amplifiers during conservation order hunts. Don’t be afraid to really let it out to get their attention if the decoys aren’t enticing enough.

Last, having a good retrieving dog in your blind saves you a lot of legwork when you’re shooting at hundreds or thousands of geese at a time, in some cases with no bag limit. If your pup is up for it, you’re in for a memorable hunt.

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Setting the record on common myths and misunderstandings around purebred dogs, dog breeding, and populations

We have selected sighthounds that can bring down gazelles in the deserts of the Middle East at 35 miles per hour, retrievers that can battle the seas of Maine, and pointers that will slam to a halt to indicate where game can be found rather than taking it for themselves.

Anyone in the dog world has heard terminology thrown around about breeding, genetics, and the way breeding decisions affect breed populations as a whole. Coefficient of inbreeding (COI), line breeding, outcrossing, purebreds, mixed breeds, mutts, genetic diversity, health testing, color genetics, and heritable diseases are all hot topics, but what do these terms really mean? Do people in the dog world understand how to accurately use these terms? How has the dog world co-opted terms and misunderstood the scientific concepts behind genetics? Do we really understand how genes work within a population?

As a trained ecologist and breed history enthusiast, I often see the dog world misunderstanding how genetics work. My background in ecology has helped me to better understand genetics and population dynamics (the study of how genetics function within populations), while my fascination with breed history has led me to become increasingly interested in and puzzled by the misunderstandings that are pervasive among dog owners around genetics, breeding, and the way that artificial or natural selection affects the dogs we live with and love.

What is Selection?Charles Darwin is widely credited with the proposition of natural selection as the main mechanism driving the evolution of species. Darwin’s love of hunting dog breeds is less commonly known, but beginning with the acquisition of his first pointer while studying at Cambridge, his love of dogs heavily motivated his scientific pursuits. Observing the selected traits in hunting dogs and how they were passed along to successive generations was an important influence in his study of the heritability and evolution of not only physical traits, but instincts as well.

In wild animals, natural selection is the driving force behind evolution. The conditions of the environment—availability of food, prevalence of disease, and the preferences of mates—affects which individuals in a population reproduce successfully and pass on their genes. Ecologists call the process that determines which genes get passed on selection. When the environment drives selection, we call that natural selection. The result is that certain genes are passed on to the next generation more often than others, which eventually alters the overall population. In the hunting dog world, we all understand that selection is the baseline of all breeding practices. We have selected sighthounds that can bring down gazelles in the deserts of the Middle East at 35 miles per hour, retrievers that can battle the seas of Maine, and pointers that will slam to a halt to indicate where game can be found rather than taking it for themselves. All the traits we selectively breed for—color, size, speed, coat type, retrieving, pointing, and tracking—we are selecting for via artificial selection.

READ: Breaking Down 38 Pointing Dog Breeds

I rarely hear the dog world differentiate between artificial and natural selection, and I think that’s often where some of the misunderstandings about canine population genetics start to bleed into the way the general public talks about dogs. They’re talked about as if they’re two totally different things, as if breeding is at odds with natural selection. I know I’ve had a myriad of conversations with friends and family beginning with, “Well, it’s fine to want a purebred for a job, I guess, but I like mutts because natural selection makes them healthier.” But does it?

In his 1869 book On the Origin of Species, Darwin writes, “This preservation of favorable variations and the destruction of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest. Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be affected by natural selection and would be left a fluctuating element.”

What is often lost in the public’s understanding about population genetics is that last sentence. Darwin describes there what we now call no selection.

In order for natural selection to actually produce healthier dogs, two things need to be occurring:

1. Traits need to actually be either helpful enough to make an animal better at reproducing than others in the population, or they must be detrimental enough to make an animal worse at reproducing than others in the population.
2. Environmental constraints must be affecting the animals in question. This means they are not receiving medical care, supplemental feeding, protection from the elements, or other aspects of human intervention that would skew the traits that are “naturally” advantageous.

The important part is that it’s all about an animal’s reproductive success. For some groups of dogs, like landraces and village dogs, natural selection is certainly still affecting populations every day. Dogs are free-roaming or feral, forage for their own food, and find their own shelter. Many even form packs and hunt in groups. Those are the situations in which natural selection does have the chance to select for better health, though it may also select for traits that are less desirable in a pet dog such as independence from people, aloofness, or skittishness.

However, in the vast majority of North American mutts who receive enough medical care, food, and basic shelter to keep them healthy enough to reproduce, natural selection will not be at play. Whether or not a dog has hip dysplasia, an unstable temperament, or other undesirable heritable traits is irrelevant if there is no pressure selecting against them. These individuals can still reproduce. What is actually happening in most cases of the breeding of mixed breeds in North America is effectively no selection, meaning that neither natural or artificial selection is truly driving what genes pass on to the next generation. In most cases, it simply depends on whether or not owners decide to (or accidentally) allow a dog to reproduce.

What Does “Genetic Diversity” Mean?Contrary to popular belief, genetic diversity does not refer to the diversity in an animal’s pedigree, at least, not in the scientific sense. Genetic diversity refers to how much variation is present in the genetic material of a breeding population and does not refer to an individual at all. Any distinct population will have genetic diversity, and the genetic diversity of any population exists on a spectrum of low to high.

Populations with low genetic diversity will often have significant uniformity. Distinct breeds of dogs are examples of populations with lower genetic diversity because they have been selectively bred for specific traits over many generations, weeding out traits that were deemed undesirable. Populations with higher genetic diversity will show more significant variation, such as a free-roaming population of stray dogs in a large city.

Genetic diversity provides the building blocks for selection to act. For natural selection, it provides a number of traits that will perform differently in a given environment. A population of dogs consisting of 50% longhaired dogs and 50% shorthaired dogs dropped into a tropical climate may show an increase in the proportion of shorthaired dogs over time, as the shorthaired dogs stay healthier and reproduce more successfully, while the same population dropped into the arctic may see the opposite. In both cases, the presence of variation provided the building blocks for selection to push the population in one direction or another.

This is not to say that high genetic diversity is always good and lower genetic diversity is always bad. High genetic diversity, especially in cases where selection is not acting, will continue to produce highly variable, unpredictable traits. When we’re breeding livestock or companion animals for a specific purpose, whether that’s dairy or meat production, egg laying, herding, guarding, bird hunting, or companionship, a measure of predictability is desired and necessary. That’s where artificial selection begins with breeding, which is essentially systematically lowering the genetic diversity of a population until it consistently “breeds true,” or produces most of the desired traits and avoids most of the less desired ones.

Genetic diversity provides the building blocks for selection to act.

Coefficient of Inbreeding, Line Breeding, and Inbreeding Depression in DogsMy dad has a tongue in cheek saying about animal breeding: “Purebred is inbred.” To an extent, he isn’t wrong. You see a lot of breeding announcements with an advertised “coefficient of inbreeding” that’s sometimes devised mathematically by comparing the pedigrees of the dogs or sometimes determined genetically with tests like Embark. Coefficient of inbreeding (COI) is a measure of the likelihood that two inherited alleles at a locus are identical due to common descent, or in plain English, how likely it is that a dog will inherit a gene from mom that is identical to the inherited gene from dad because somewhere, way back in their pedigrees, that gene was passed down to mom and dad from the same place.

The average COI among all purebred dogs is approximately 20%, which happens to be my Brittany’s genetic COI according to her Embark DNA test, but it varies widely between breeds. As we discussed earlier, genetic diversity is a trait that populations have, whereas COI is a trait of an individual. When someone says that an individual dog is “genetically diverse,” what they often mean is that they have a low COI, indicating a varied genetic background.

I’m sure you hear phrases like “hybrid vigor” thrown around all the time. Family members tell you that purebred dogs are unhealthy because they’re all inbred, but mutts have “hybrid vigor.” This is not, scientifically speaking, true. Hybrid vigor is actually a scientific term that refers to the mixing of two different species and the fact that it often results in larger, stronger, or healthier individuals, such as the mule. True hybridization also often results in decreased fertility or sterility. As all dogs are the same species, true “hybrid vigor” doesn’t really apply. But even if hybrid vigor is not at play, isn’t inbreeding invariably bad?

Dog and livestock breeders have been “line breeding,” or breeding related individuals to each other to set type or strengthen traits, for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Breeders will say “if the dogs are closely related, it’s line breeding, but if they’re more closely related, it’s inbreeding,” but there’s really no scientific distinction between the two. So where is the line? What are the benefits and drawbacks? And how do they tie into genetic diversity and artificial selection?

To begin to delve into it, we have to remember the ultimate purpose of creating purebred dogs: to develop animals with specific, predictable, desirable traits. In hunting dogs that often means selecting specific drives, temperaments, sizes, and coat types. In order to do that, we select dogs that display the traits that we want and then we breed them to other dogs that also have those traits, hopefully producing puppies that carry the genes that produced those traits in the parents. When you artificially select for traits in this fashion for long enough, you begin to reduce the genetic diversity of the entire breeding population. This is not inherently a bad thing; that reduction in genetic diversity is what leads to predictability, after all. It’s the reason that retrievers almost always love to retrieve, that Irish Setters all have their beautiful mahogany coat, and that Greyhounds boast unique blood chemistry that enables their incredible bursts of speed. However, as much of a breed history and preservation enthusiast as I am, I would be remiss not to address the very real consequences that extensive inbreeding can have.

The average Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI) among purebred dogs is generally cited as 20-25%. This graph shows the COI among Brittanys (my breed of choice) compared to the average COI among all purebreds that have been DNA tested by Embark. You can see that for Brittanys––represented by the blue bars––the vast majority of tested dogs fall between 15-25% COI, whereas the curve that shows averages between all breeds is a bit more evenly distributed. When we reduce the genetic diversity of a breeding population, we not only weed out undesirable visible traits, we lose other, less visible genes as well. Sometimes genes we select for can be tied to less obvious traits without us knowing it. During the development of many of today’s breeds, humans had only a rudimentary understanding of genetics. We could figure out coat colors and textures, size, even how to select a dog that shows more aptitude to point or retrieve. We did not, however, understand the complex inheritance patterns of joint development, urinary tract function, epilepsy, or a myriad of other potential health concerns. As genetic diversity is reduced, both desirable and undesirable genes tend to express more frequently because their frequency within the population rises, leading to increased instances of heritable disease and reduced fertility. Eventually, it can spell the end of a closed population. This phenomenon is known in the study of population dynamics as inbreeding depression.

Dog Breeding Population Dynamics inn the Real WorldA particularly concrete example of a deleterious effect of inbreeding is the Dalmatian: until recently, all Dalmatians had two recessive copies of a mutated exon 5 of the SLC2A9 gene, which caused urinary tract issues, including kidney problems and bladder stones from abnormally high levels of uric acid. This gene was not selected for on purpose; it simply increased in frequency in the population as breeders selected for other traits, as it is located near the gene that produces the distinctive spotting of the breed. As breeders selected for rounder and more pronounced spotting, the frequency of the mutated gene increased. The mutated version of the gene is recessive, so carriers were non-symptomatic, and it was difficult to know which dogs were carriers without the genetic testing available now. Eventually the mutated gene was the only version left in the population and all dalmatians were “high uric acid” producers, also known as “HUA.”

Luckily, with proper diet and hydration, affected dogs are still able to live happy, healthy lives, and even more luckily, the simple recessive inheritance pattern made it possible to undertake an outcross project to reintroduce the unmutated version of the gene. As a simple recessive, a dog will be unaffected by the mutated gene if it carries one copy of the normal gene, which is dominant. Supported by the Dalmatian Club of America (though not without its opponents), a breeder backcrossed Dalmatians to approved Pointers, bred them back to Dalmatians, and eventually registered the resulting puppies as Dalmatians in order to reintroduce the “low uric acid” or normal “LUA” version of SLC2A9. For much of the project, which began in the 1970s, it was impossible to know if a LUA Dalmatian was a carrier of the gene mutation or had two normal copies of the gene. However, in 2006, researchers at UC Davis found the loci of the gene, allowing breeders to begin to DNA test. Today, LUA Dalmatians are able to be bred to HUA dalmatians to continue to increase the frequency of the normal gene within the breed, and LUA puppies can be genetically tested to determine if they are carriers.

Not all health concerns are possible to breed away from as easily as HUA. Epilepsy’s causes and presentations are so varied that it is nearly impossible to predict before it becomes symptomatic. Other health concerns such as degenerative myelopathy (DM), intervertebral disc disease (IVDD), elbow dysplasia, and of course, hip dysplasia, have genetic or medical screenings, but may not be totally avoidable because of their complex inheritance patterns that we cannot fully control or predict.

That being said, we now have the technology, and more importantly, the knowledge, to make more informed breeding decisions than any generation before us. Breeders who care about their breed and buyers who care about their new best friend should want to take full advantage of all the information we now have at our disposal about the health and genetics of our dogs. Our beloved breeds were developed with the best information that our forebears had at their disposal, but now we have more. A thorough understanding of canine genetics and health is the next step that the dog-loving community needs to take.

Dogs are our hunting companions, our playmates, our best friends. They run tirelessly over ridges and across valleys for us; they plunge into freezing water for us, and at the end of the day, they ask, “When are we going again?” As much as we owe it to the history of our sport and our ancestors to preserve the living history in our trust, we owe it to the living creatures that walk beside us now to move forward with a new, more thorough understanding of the genetic building blocks that we’re choosing. We have the power to screen for hip dysplasia or heart anomalies that take our partners out of the field too soon. We have DNA sequencing at our fingertips that can help us guide our breeds into a healthier, longer-lived future beside us. Most importantly, we have the responsibility to utilize this knowledge to better the lives of our best friends.

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The Barnegat Bay Sneakbox is a waterfowling boat legacy that has lasted generations and adpated with the timesGolden waters run in the twisting rivers that weave through West Creek, New Jersey. It trickles in from upland pine forests, where pine needles leach tannins and tint clear water with an amber hue. The water carves through cedar swamps and pours into the estuaries. Here, saltwater blends with fresh. The mix creates a brackish marsh that holds thousands of wintering waterfowl every year.

West Creek overlooks the marsh like a shepherd tending a grassy vista filled with sheep. It’s a town that takes pride in its waterfowl, and it’s a town anchored by tradition. Rotten plywood signs hang by single rusted nails above the shed doors that line West Creek’s streets. They’re labeled Decoy Shop and Boat Yard in blistered, dripping black paint. Stained tobacco pipes hang loosely from their owners’ cracked and dried lips as they whittle away at cedar mallards and black ducks, pintail and teal. They wear faded flat caps and stiff flannel jackets cloaked with sawdust. When they’re not at work, they’re on the marsh. Waterfowl hunting runs as thick in the veins of West Creek’s townsfolk as the water runs gold, and at the heart of it all lies the Barnegat Bay Sneakbox.

The legacy of the Barnegat Bay SneakboxThe Barnegat Bay Sneakbox chiseled its legacy back in 1836. Captain Hazleton Seaman of West Creek began a mission to create the ultimate duck hunting boat. Hazleton was a waterfowler and expert craftsman. He hunted the marshes surrounding Barnegat Bay, about ten miles from West Creek as the duck flies. Like all tidal creek duck hunters, he battled against shallow bays, icy winters, wary ducks, and unforgiving terrain. He needed a boat that he could both row and sail. It had to be sleek enough to conceal in salt marsh sedge yet durable enough to survive ice floes and rough surf. Above all else, it had to be a boat specifically designed for duck hunting.

Seaman’s creation was the Frankenstein of duck boats. It had the cover of a ground blind and the hull of a skiff. It had an elongated, convex frame like an eye contact lens. The hull acted like a sled on mudflats, ice, and snow. It could be rowed or sailed. Its ribs were water-resistant and crafted from lightweight Atlantic white cedar, giving it a local flare tailored for the marsh. From the side, the boat was barely a foot tall. It could hardly be seen as it skipped like a stone across the water. He built gunnels that served as decoy racks and a flat deck that could be manicured with cordgrass and salt hay for camouflage. He stretched canvas across an oak hoop and fastened it to the bow. The apron laid on the boat like a raised fingernail and shielded the rider from sea spray. In the middle of it all, Seaman built a cockpit where duck hunters could slip in and sink low as if they were in a layout blind. Seaman named his creation the Devil’s Coffin. The local baymen dubbed it the Barnegat Bay Sneakbox.

In Seaman’s sneakbox, hunters could row within shooting range of unsuspecting ducks or simply tuck up among some grass behind some decoys. In the grass, the boat disappeared, and duck hunters could fool birds all day long without getting busted. Its usefulness didn’t go unnoticed. Suddenly, sneakboxes hoarded winter marshes from the tip of Cape May to Long Island Sound.

The rise in popularity of the SneakboxAs the boat rose in popularity, backyard artisans began improving its initial design. They modified spray shields and custom-tailored the gunnels. Hazelton’s boat evolved and sprouted into dozens of varieties that differed in hull dimensions, lengths, and weights. Some of the best were created by Captain George Bogart of Manahawkin. Bogart built his sneakboxes in his yard, surrounded by thick swamps and dense cedars. One sunny morning in the fall of 1875, while Bogart labored on a new boat under the shade of a willow, a bright young adventurer from Medford, Massachusetts, came strolling down his driveway. His name was Nathaniel Bishop, and he requested a sneakbox of his own.

Bogart sold Nathaniel a custom-made twelve-foot, two-hundred-pound sneakbox for $25. Nathaniel bought oar locks, oars, a sail, an anchor, and other outfits for an additional $50. Nathaniel named the ship the Centennial Republic to commemorate the hundredth year of America’s existence. Bogart helped seal the Centennial in a protective layer of burlap before Nathaniel shipped it on a freight train from Tuckerton, New Jersey, to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Nathaniel detested leaving his brand-new boat, if even for a second. He called it “a necessary evil” for a voyage. Nathaniel eventually caught up with his sneakbox in Pittsburg and embarked on an epic four-month-long journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He rowed it the whole way, living and eating out of the boat’s cockpit, skirting through bluegrass fields, and paddling his way through a post-Civil War American south. Eventually, Nathaniel and the Centennial poured out into the Gulf of Mexico and landed on the mouth of the Suwannee River, where his adventure ended. In 1879, he published a book about his 2600-mile journey, aptly named Four Months in A Sneakbox.

By 1909, Ole Evinrude invented the outboard motor, and the sneakbox evolved a transom. A duck boat built on a tradition of rowing and sailing could now be outfitted with an oil and gas motor; this is the sneakbox we see today. There’s the fiberglass Higbee and the wooden Sammy Hunt, the low-profile Schellenger and the planing-hull Simonsen, each variation taking on the name of its builder, imbued with an individual touch of creativity and innovation. The trait that makes each of these boats a true Barnegat Bay Sneakbox is the crafted purpose, down to every rib and every nail, to hunt ducks.

The modified Sneakbox may be the best duck boat one could hope forToday, sneakboxes dip in and out of the water at boat ramps all along the mid-Atlantic shore, but nowhere more so than the marshes of southern New Jersey. When fellow sneakbox owners run into each other, it often results in an understanding nod and immediate kinship. It’s a club built on art and utility, the owners bearing on their backs a weighted tradition that has been reduced to obscurity and esoterism. It’s a responsibility expressed through pride. Those who hunt out of a sneakbox know just how deadly they can be, but others simply enjoy the craftsmanship. They enjoy a ride in a sneakbox for the art, for the history, and for a little taste of what Nathaniel Bishop experienced when he took the Centennial Republic all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Regardless of its design, or the intentions of its rider, sneakboxes have an uncanny ability to exude emotion from those who own them. The waterfowl writer Worth Mattewson sums up his feelings on the sneakbox in his book, Big December Canvasbacks.

“There is simply no one ‘best’ duck boat. But for a very wide range of hunting, the modified Barnegat Bay Sneakbox made in fiberglass comes about as close as could be hoped for…”, he continues, “Of course it looks best out in the marsh, but during the off-season, I’d bet I never walk past the two sneakboxes I own without subconsciously admiring them.”

Author with a modern SneakboxMathewson’s words rang true on a recent hunt out in the salt marsh fringing the shores of Cape May County, New Jersey. Boone, my golden retriever, and I overlooked a burning-red horizon with a stiff west wind to our backs, sunk down low and nestled into a sneakbox. It was a Higbee, one that my grandfather purchased out of a backyard in the 80s, crafted from fiberglass with decoy rack gunnels and a spoon-shaped hull. We tucked deep into a tidal ditch that drained straight to mud at low tide. Cordgrass bent and folded over our twelve-foot boat, and through their blades and the mud and the morning dew, Boone and I studied a small decoy spread. The cackles of clapper rails echoed through the briny morning air as the sun rose high above a cedar-flanked horizon.

It had been nearly two hundred years since Hazleton laid the foundations for a hunt like this. Just when the cold of the deck began to seep through my waders, the stillness of the marsh cracked to the sound of whistling wings. Boone snapped his head, and I followed. Two black ducks careened above, and they had no idea they were flying straight for a Barnegat Bay Sneakbox.

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Your dog’s lifestyle and your preventive actions play a role in whether or not your dog is at risk for heartwormsAs a veterinarian living and working in Montana, nearly half of my clientele are from a different state. Many of them are seasonal residents, too. Nowadays, it’s rare for a canine to leave the boundaries of its state. Many of my patients are even more traveled than their owners; it’s common for dogs to be purchased in different locations far away from Montana or arrive as shelter pets with unknown pasts.

“Does my dog need heartworm prevention here?” is one of the main questions I get from folks who move to Montana. With warming temperatures, people relocating for various reasons, and other folks traveling worldwide, we need to modernize the questions we ask about heartworm disease. The adventures your dog goes on and how they socialize is a much better way to look at heartworm prevention needs than by simply the dog’s home address.

What are heartworms?Heartworm disease is caused by a parasite called Dirofilaria immitis. They’re called heartworms because the worms are typically found in infected animals’ heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Commonly found in dogs and cats, our pets serve as hosts for the worms to mature, breed, and multiply. When mature, the worms look like long strands of spaghetti. Female worms can be 10 to 12 inches in length, and male worms are a little shorter, averaging four to six inches long. Heartworms can cause lung disease, heart failure, and organ damage in dogs.

Where can heartworms survive?Heartworm disease is happy anywhere. It only takes one mosquito bite to be infected. After being passed from an infected mosquito to a dog, the worm larvae transfer into the dog’s bloodstream and being to mature into adult worms. It can take about six to seven months for the worms to mature.

Once nestled into a dog’s heart, heartworms can live and thrive wherever that dog may go. From Antarctica to Brisbane, once a dog has heartworm disease, it doesn’t matter where the dog lives. Heartworms don’t care.

Although heartworm disease may struggle to thrive in the wild in Montana or other cold climates, it doesn’t mean it can’t find a good foothold at a local dog park or boarding facility if the temperature is right. Mosquitoes aren’t known for having extensive flight radiuses, and as the host and vector for heartworm disease, that’s an important detail. Mosquitos living in places frequented by dogs means those mosquitoes come in contact with potentially infected dogs regularly. The risk of heartworm infection and other disease transmission increases if your dog goes to training facilities, boarding facilities, participates in hunt trials, or any other activity where many other dogs are present.

There’s a widely held belief that the harshness of your winters decreases your risk of heartworm disease. And although this may be true for the winter months themselves, it does not mean that heartworms can’t thrive once the weather warms up. Heartworm disease has been recognized in every state, and some states known for brutal winters have exceptionally high heartworm rates during the warmer months.

Why should I test my dog for heartworms?Most dogs infected with heartworm disease will not show any symptoms for several months or even years. Heartworms also have similar lifespans to dogs themselves. This means that seemingly healthy dogs can be infected with heartworms and potentially sharing their disease with other dogs.

Heartworms silently cause marked changes to the heart and vasculature. Most people are under the impression their dog will show symptoms of heartworm disease. Eventually, they will, but by that point, the worms have caused permanent heart damage. This is why it is important to test dogs annually so that early-stage infections can be caught and treatment instituted before permanent heart damage is created.

Dogs that do show symtoms of heartworms may cough, be reluctant to exercise, be fatigued after moderate exercise, experience a decrease in appetite, and lose weight. As the disease worsens, dogs may develop heart failure or have a swollen belly. The swelling is a result of excess fluid in their abdomen.

Heartworm Symptoms List* Fatigue * Decreased Appetite * Lose of Weight * Swollen Belly

Most cases of heartworm disease are caught due to prophylactic screening, or preventative screening. Many veterinarians now utilize heartworm tests that also look for common tick diseases, such as Lyme disease, making the benefit of this test even greater. If your dog does test positive for heartworms, treatment is available.

How can I treat my dog for heartworms?Luckily, there are several heartworm prevention options that are also very good dewormers. Most preventatives are oral monthly prescriptions. Injectable, long-lasting prevention is also an option. The injectable version is performed by veterinarians and can last anywhere from six to 12 months. However, this option does not cover tapeworms, so that should be considered when deciding which preventative your dog needs.

Make sure your heartworm preventative matches your dog’s lifestyleIn Montana, the heartworm risk remains relatively low, though our level of infections increases with every passing year. Ensuring your pet is on preventatives that match its lifestyle and not just your address is critical. Next time you visit your veterinarian, don’t ask if your state has heartworm disease (it does). Instead, take the opportunity to discuss your pet’s lifestyle, travel history, and activity plans so your veterinarian can build a safe and robust heartworm preventative plan for your hunting companion.

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This delicious Thai recipe can be adapted for grouse, pheasant or quail meat. Pad Kee Mao, or drunken noodles, got its name because the dish is meant to serve as a welcomed nightcap after hours of carousing late into the evening. The combination of spices, herbs, savory noodles, and, in this case, delicious wild birds is the perfect medicine for when you’re feeling less than optimal thanks to tilting a few back.

You can use meat from any upland bird here. With these instructions, you can turn thigh meat into bacon-like bits in your drunken noodles, then serve sliced breast meat overtop. In regard to the noodle sauce, you can control the spice level based on whether or not you add in dry red Thai chili peppers. The Sambal chili paste adds to the heat, too. Not a spice fan? Forego both. Love spicy food? Double down.

Yes, suggest incorporating sake rice wine in the sauce and yes, I know sake is Japanese. But there are no laws against infusing one culture’s food and drinks into another. The alcohol in the sake burns off, so you can certainly serve this dish to anyone, including kids. In terms of the Thai peanut sauce, I don’t like mine overly sweet. However, if you prefer sweet sauces, you can add in brown sugar to sweeten it up.

I ordered my dry Thai basil from Amazon. Thai basil is a tad different from regular basil, but you can incorporate regular dry basil if you don’t want to place a special order. You can also use fresh basil.

PrintUpland Drunken Noodles with Thai Peanut SauceThis delicious Thai recipe can be adapted for grouse, pheasant or quail meat.Course Main CourseCuisine ThaiKeyword Grouse, Pheasant, QuailPrep Time 30 minutesCook Time 1 hourTotal Time 1 hour 30 minutesServings 4Ingredients 12 oz. worth of upland breast and thigh meat * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper * Peanut oil * 12 oz. wide rice noodles * 1 bunch green onions (scallions) cut into 1-inch strips * 1 cup dry red Thai chili peppers Optional for spicier noodles * Crushed peanuts for garnish (optional) Drunken noodle sauce ingredients 2 tsp freshly minced garlic * 1 tbsp freshly minced ginger * ¾ cup chicken stock minimum * ¼ cup soy sauce * ¼ cup sake rice wine * 6 tbsp oyster sauce * 2 tbsp dry Thai basil * 1 tbsp fish sauce * 1 tbsp Sambal chili paste * 4 tsp Mirin sweet rice wine * ½ cup water leftover from boiling rice noodles Peanut sauce ingredients 1 ½ cup coconut milk * ⅕ cup creamy peanut butter * 3 tbsp red curry paste * Juice from half a lime * ¼ cup brown sugar Optional for sweeter peanut sauce Instructions Lightly dust your thawed upland meat with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Leave in the fridge for couple hours uncovered to dry and absorb salt. * When you’re ready to cook, heat a thin layer of peanut oil with medium heat in a large (preferably cast-iron) skillet. Finely dice the thigh meat and add it to the skillet. Once the meat is seared, add the freshy minced garlic and ginger. Cook for one more minute, stirring often. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup sake wine. Stir. * In a mixing bowl, add the remaining drunken noodle sauce ingredients other than leftover rice-noodle water (chicken stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce, dry Thai basil, fish sauce, Sambal chili paste, and Mirin). Mix the ingredients together and add it to skillet. Turn heat to low and simmer the sauce and meat for 20 minutes. * At this point, you can make the Thai peanut sauce by combining all its ingredients in a medium saucepan and heating to low. Stir every so often, careful not to let it burn. If it’s not sweet enough for your taste, make sure to add the quarter cup of brown sugar. Leave it on low heat until you’re ready to serve. * After the bits of thigh meat and the sauce have simmered for 20 minutes, start the rice noodles. To make rice noodles, follow instructions on the packaging. Aim for an al dente texture. Once the noodles are done, take 1/2 cup of water from the pot used to cook the rice noodles and add it to the sauce. Drain the rest of the water. Add al dente noodles and cut green onions to skillet with sauce and thigh bits and turn noodles over until the noodles are coated with sauce. If you want a spicier dish, add Thai red chilis to the skillet. * To cook your upland bird breasts, heat a separate skillet or grill to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly coat breasts with peanut oil and sear both sides adequately and continue cooking them until their internal temperature is 150. If the noodles look like they’re drying out while you sear the breasts, add more chicken stock to the noodles. * To serve, plate drunken noodles and top with sliced breast meat and peanut sauce. Garnish with crushed peanuts. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Upland Drunken Noodles with Thai Peanut Sauce appeared first on Project Upland.

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Is the 28-gauge the best shotgun gauge for upland hunters?Uncertainty is one of the great allures of hunting. In my first book, I wrote that whitetail deer do exactly what they are supposed to except when they don’t. Since then, I have learned with conviction that ruffed grouse are even more mysterious than whitetail. That, along with my personal experiences, have made me quite partial to the 28, a wonderful sub-gauge with ever-growing popularity.

People smarter than me have pointed out that all shotgun ballistics apply except when talking the 28-gauge.

Grassroots conversations regarding the 28-gauge feel more like the passing on of old fantasy stories rather than true, hard facts of ballistics. People smarter than me have pointed out that all shotgun ballistics apply except when talking the 28-gauge. There are myths of its origins, a collective misunderstanding of the “square load,” and a devout following by some of the greatest shotgun experts and writers.

At 150 pounds soaking wet, I have found a love for the 28-gauge shotgun. On a recent hunting trip, three of us toted 28s of various makes and models. The previous days featured limits of ruffed grouse and woodcock under leaf-covered trees in cover I call “Mars.” We used a mix of shells by various makers ranging from #6 and #7 bismuth to #8 lead. All proved effective.

On many occasions, I have witnessed shooters of all experience levels shoot 28-gauges for the first time and push their limits on sharptails and huns. My first time taking a 28-gauge into the prairie resulted not just in limits of birds, but a double on Hungarian partridge. Simply put, others and I have found the 28-gauge to not just be a delightful gauge, but superior to other gauges in unexpected ways.

A lot of that technical shooting success is due to a properly fitting stock, the weight of the shotgun, and effectiveness of the load. Put simply, I’ve never shot another gauge better. I have come to find that it’s not just a pattern test that makes the greater case for the 28-gauge; it’s many smaller parts that make up this firearm.

Does the 28-gauge shotgun pattern better than any other gauge? Is it superior to its bigger cousins, the 20, 16, and 12-gauge? How far does it leave the .410 in its dust? Is it better at killing game? And how has it changed over the last 100+ years of shotgunning science? Here I shed light on these topics by diving into the work of shotgun experts.

The History of the 28-GaugeRewind your clocks to the late 19th century and dive into the shotgun era. There, we will find a much different spread of gauges than one would today. Both the
8-gauge and 10-gauge were common and popular. The 12-gauge already showed an edge in overall popularity as the “pigeon gun.” The 16-gauge overtook the 20 gauge in any serious circle. The 2-bore, 4-bore, 14-bore, 24-bore, and the .360 (smaller than the .410) also existed in the mix. Not all antiquated gauges were lost to history; finding something like a 32-gauge is not completely impossible. But good luck finding ammunition.

Many would like to crown Parker Bros, an American gunmaker, for the invention of the 28-gauge in 1903. However, that myth is busted. While that introduction was absolutely the catalyst for the popularization of the gauge stateside, it has a much older history. Ammunition companies in England were creating 28-gauge shotshells as far back as 1857 according to the writings of W.W. Greener. And as far as taking gauges seriously, the 28-gauge appeared in a lot of writing of the time. It was a common player in that regard.

But the true popularity of the 28-gauge came later. Once believed to be an inferior killer of wild game, advancements in gunpowder, the shotcup, and even the introduction of new metals would catapult this gauge forward in the modern era. The 28-gauge now represents an often-coveted selection in vintage-built shotguns that can drive prices to nauseating levels. The rarity, demand, and modern manufacturing of the 28-gauge is making this rising star even more accessible.

A 2022 survey revealed a lot of evidence about the 28-gauge’s popularity. The 28-gauge is favored by older demographics with good taste; baby boomers come in at 12.12 percent listing it as their preferred gauge. Almost 10 percent of upland hunters preferred the 28-gauge to other gauges, making it the fourth most popular gauge overall. The .410 lagged behind by a large gap at 0.37 percent and the 16-gauge just ahead at 14.57 percent. The 20-gauge comfortably continues to hold the number one spot.

When it comes to upland game species, the 28-gauge is most popular among bobwhite quail hunters, followed by ruffed grouse and woodcock hunters. Side-by-side shotgun shooters made up for 49.35 percent of the 28-gauge crowd, followed by 44.16 percent in over/under. Twenty-six percent of those respondents said they shoot a vintage shotgun that was not proofed for steel. This all builds a story that the 28-gauge is slowly, steadily gaining popularity as a gauge of choice for upland hunting.

The Myth of the 28-Gauge Square LoadA square load is defined by the bore diameter and shot column being a perfect 1 to 1 ratio. Historically, it has been found more than once that the closer a ratio is to square, the greater the effective pattern is. We will talk about string theory later. But the idea that a 28-gauge is “square” is nothing but a myth.

A 2014 study conducted by Moser and his team showed a direct correlation between the efficiency of a load and this “square load” ratio. The test was a measure of pattern efficiency at 40 yards in a 30” circle. Efficiency was calculated by the number of pellets on target divided by the total shell pellet count. In short, both the 20-gauge and 16-gauge outperformed the 28-gauge. The 12-gauge was not part of the study.

Although many people refer to a ¾ oz 28 ga load as ‘square,’ by definition it is not. At a bore diameter of 0.55”, a ¾ oz lead payload column height is about an inch (1”/.55” = 1.8); not very square.

Adam Moser, Director of Product Engineering at Federal Ammunition

“Although many people refer to a ¾ oz 28 ga load as ‘square,’ by definition it is not. At a bore diameter of 0.55”, a ¾ oz lead payload column height is about an inch (1”/.55” = 1.8); not very square,” said Adam Moser, Director of Product Engineering at Federal Ammunition. “A square load for 28-gauge would be around 7/16 oz for small lead shot like #7.5. Shot size and material will make a difference, as bigger shot and less dense material will affect the ‘packing’ density,” or how well the shot stacks in the wad. No such load is available on the market.

Does the 28-Gauge Pattern Better than Other Gauges?The short answer? It’s complicated. We have already shown that the theories of square loads become more effective for much larger gauges. But modern shotshell construction adds in the factor of shotcups. The idea behind the square load has to do with pellet deformity. Shotcups can create less deformity when coming out of the barrel. The more shot you shoot out of a smaller hole, the more deformed, and therefore erratic, shot pattern happens. Shotcups can eliminate some of that deformity, taking the edge off the standard theories of pellet deformity and square loads.

But perhaps where the 28-gauge performs best is shot string. Shot string is how many pellets arrive at a target simultaneously. It’s measured by shooting at a large, fast-moving paper target. Imagine someone driving a station wagon pulling a boat trailer rigged up with a 16’x4’ target for you to shoot at. This method is why no greater introduction could be made of the late Bob Brister, a man of many accomplishments.

Most of his writings, tests, and musings maintained a general rule: the 28-gauge always did better than it should have.

His book, Shotgunning: The Art and Science, stands as testament to pushing the understanding of shotgun ballistics to a new level. He was devoted when it came to the 28-gauge. Most of his writings, tests, and musings maintained a general rule: the 28-gauge always did better than it should have. It was shot string that was the final evidence Brister needed to make a case for the 28-gauge. “The 28-gauge hit the pattern board so hard it jarred out one of the thumbtacks holding the paper,” Brister noticed.

Brister points out that the first person to study shot string was H. A. Ivatt in 1890. He used a train traveling 11 mph. The speed proved to be too slow to show any real difference in pattern; upland birds can fly much faster. Brister tried the method at adequate speeds:

I fired several 35-yard 40-mile-an-hour tests with the tight left barrel of my Webley & Scott 28-gauge and carefully measured the spread. Maximum between flyer pellets was 54 inches, but almost all the pattern was concentrated within a basic spread of three feet. There was virtually no stringing of shot evident; the pattern was almost as perfectly round as if it had been fired with the target sitting still. In other words, that 28-gauge with that load had a shot string, with most of its pellets arriving at the target nearly the same time. Which perhaps helps explain why 28-gauges in general have developed such a reputation for hitting game harder and smoking targets better than they are supposed to.

“The most significant findings would seem to be the addition of a new dimension to consideration of the shot string and what it means to clean-killing effectiveness with modern loads,” Brister concluded.

Other Reasons the 28-Gauge is an Ideal GaugeWild bird hunting is a cornerstone of the Project Upland brand. The practicality of hunting gear in environments where wild birds live is another one. William Harnden Foster defined the grouse gun as “the one that a certain hunter will find most pleasant to carry to the spot where a grouse is to be shot at, and there prove most efficient when the shot is made.”

Weight is a key factor in that basic definition. According to the 1888 book Modern Shot Guns, “A 28-gauge double gun with 26-inch barrels should weigh under 4½ lbs.” That is much lighter than its more popular cousins. As Brister would say, it’s “the exception of the 28-gauge, which simply kills better than it’s supposed to.”

Before modern shotshells were invented, it was said that the 28-gauge’s effective killing range was 35 yards and under. The lion’s share of wild upland bird hunting happens at this distance. Tighter chokes account for birds beyond that range with ease. Brister, using data from the National Skeet Shooting Association, speculated “the 28-gauge shooter would be giving up only three to four percent between his little gun and the 12-gauge.”

A collection of factors make up the 28-gauge’s uniqueness and attractiveness. The advent of newer technology has only helped its case. While I will not say on paper that 28s are superior to all other gauges, pound-for-pound, it may be the most well-rounded hunting gauge. For two seasons now I’ve made it my primary gauge, leaving the 20-gauge behind after almost 30 years with no regrets. More game in the bag was just a bonus considering all the other factors that make this such a wonderful gauge.

“There are shooters who definitely can put more birds into the sack with a lightweight 20 or 28 gauge than they can with a heavier 12,” wrote Brister, “But this is not due to gauge but to balance, weight, gun fit, recoil, speed of swing—or maybe how well a man likes his gun.”

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A Vietnamese cooking technique uses fish sauce to deliver beautifully cooked quail meat that is never dry.Bon Appetit Magazine recently published a story about adding sugar to meat. The combination of sugar and salt enhances flavor, improves browning, and makes meat more tender. Well, Vietnamese people have been adding sugar to meat for ages, with the addition of fish sauce and herbs, such as garlic, shallots and lemongrass.

In Vietnamese cooking, fish sauce (used sparingly) often replaces salt, which adds an explosion of umami without tasting fishy. Sugar caramelizes the meat beautifully and imparts a balanced sweetness to the slightly charred meat. One well known sweet and salty Vietnamese dish is marinated pork shoulder chops served with white rice and salad. I ate it quite often while growing up. It was so easy to prepare, my mom had it on regular rotation. Never dry, Mom’s pork chops were always juicy and mouthwatering, and since leaving home, I’ve applied this technique to all sorts of meat, most notably wild game.

This combination of fish sauce and sugar acts as both a marinade and brine. It’s flavorful enough that 30 minutes will work its magic on quail, but I find four hours to be the sweet spot. However, you can marinate it longer for saltier meat. I separated the legs and cut open the back to flatten the breasts, because the more surface area you can expose to the marinade, the better. This dish is typically eaten with a fork and knife, so for a better experience at the table, I recommend deboning the breasts.

PrintLemongrass Grilled QuailA Vietnamese cooking technique uses fish sauce to deliver beautifully cooked quail meat that is never dry. Course Main CourseCuisine VietnameseKeyword QuailPrep Time 30 minutesCook Time 15 minutesTotal Time 45 minutesServings 4Ingredients 8 whole Quail * 4 servings Cooked Jasmine rice * Lettuce * Sliced tomato * Sliced cucumber Marinade 2 lemongrass stalks * ¼ cup vegetable oil plus extra * 3 cloves garlic minced * 2 tbsp fish sauce * 2 tbsp soy sauce * Juice from half a lime about 1 tbs. Sauce 1 clove of garlic minced * 2 tbsp sugar * 2½ tbsp fish sauce * ½ cup water * 1 tsp Sambal Oelek ground fresh chili paste or to taste * Juice from half a lime Instructions Separate the legs from each quail. Cut out their backs and flatten the breasts with the palm of your hand. To make quail easier to serve with rice, I recommend deboning the breasts. * Remove the tough outer layers of lemongrass and mince the tender lower third of the stalk. Your knife shouldn’t have to work too hard to cut into the tender part. Although the outer layers are edible, they’re too woody to eat. * Place minced lemongrass in a medium mixing bowl along with the remaining marinade ingredients. Add quail legs and breasts, cover, and marinate for at least 30 minutes, but no longer than eight hours. Stir it halfway through marinating. * In a bowl, combine sauce ingredients and set aside. When ready to cook the quail, prepare the grill for medium-high heat cooking. Remove the quail legs and breasts from the marinade and lightly coat them with oil. Grill skin-side down first until it’s golden brown, flip, and cook through on the other side, about 10-15 minutes total. * Serve quail with hot white rice, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Drizzle salad and rice with sauce to taste. The post Lemongrass Grilled Quail appeared first on Project Upland.

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How the Irish Setter Breed Came to Be on Both Sides of the Atlantic

With his good coat, keen nose, bravery, and endurance, he was well fitted to perform any of the ordinary tasks required of a dog; from work in the prairies, the tangled coverts of undomesticated growth, upland cover, the cold plunge in icy waters after ducks, or the wearing plodding in the slashes, he performed under all conditions well, and willingly.

J.B. Thompson

Irish Setters descend from the same rootstock that gave rise to all the setter breeds, but there is good reason to believe they may be the oldest of them all. The spaniels that became setting dogs were in Ireland since at least the 16th century. During this time, the landscape of the island was quite different from what it is today. In his book on Irish Setters, Gilbert Leighton-Boyce wrote:

Picture, if you will, Ireland without coniferous plantations, without mechanized peat extraction or artificial drainage, and you will see a land of wide horizons and great expanses of heather—a land of mountain and bog. The vast expanses of heather were the home of red grouse, snipe, and woodcock, while the better land supported decent stock of gray partridge and some introduced pheasants. With the advent of firearms, Ireland was a paradise for the hunter and, although game was never over-abundant, there was certainly sufficient to attract the attention of those who enjoyed the pleasures of hunting with dogs in a wild and beautiful countryside and where variety took the place of huge bags. The interaction of landscape, game, and breeders developed the two setter breeds that are native to Ireland.

Early Irish Setter Breed DevelopmentsDuring the earliest period of setter development, trade and communication links between Ireland and the European continent were stronger and more stable than they were between England and the continent. France and Ireland, in particular, were closely linked. People had been migrating between the two countries for centuries. Irish men served in some French armies and even accompanied French explorers to the new world.

Although the first written mentions of setting dogs crossing the English Channel are from English sources, similar transactions could very well have taken place in Ireland around the same time. Colonet J.K. Millner wrote in The Irish Setter – Its History & Training:

The Irish country gentlemen followed sport much the same as their fellows in England did and used spaniels in the days of hawking. These dogs must have come directly from Spain or France or even through England. The south and western coasts of Ireland had considerable commerce with Spain, and many English sportsmen who came over and settled in the Emerald Isle probably brought their dogs. Dogs have been used in Ireland for hunting from the most remote times, and the remains of two sorts of dogs are found among the prehistoric Irish deposits, one being large and the other small.

Gilbert Leighton Boyce also mentioned a possible French connection, writing that “both England and Wales have some ground for claiming the honor of starting what Ireland later made her own.” However, several paintings by Van Dyke concluded that “red setters with or without white markings could possibly be neither English nor Welsh in origin but have developed in Navarre,” a region which makes up parts of modern-day France and Spain.

Some of the dogs back then traced their origins to strains that had been developed by wealthy sportsmen before the uprising of 1798. Others were the descendants
of dogs owned by country gentlemen of more modest means who would occasionally breed a litter or two. None of the early breeders kept detailed pedigrees, so tracing the ancestry of any particular dog is difficult. However, there are records going back to the early 1800s of certain well-known strains. E. Irving Eldridge and Connie Vanacore wrote in The New Complete Irish Setter:

One of the first Irish sportsmen to rent shooting moors in Scotland (1779) was Maurice Nugent O’Connor, whose red setters had a trace of white on them, but no black. At his death in 1818, Robert LaTouche acquired the dogs, described as being large, dark red, light boned, well furnished, and producing white-marked progeny. The French Park strain was owned in succession by three generations of the Lord de Freyne family (1793-1879). Then there were the strains of the Marquis of Waterford, Mr. Mahon, Lord Clancarty, Lord Anglesey, Lord l ismore. Lord Dillon, Lord Rossmore, Lord Forbes, Lord Howth, Sir Frances H. Loftus, Sir George Gore, Earl of Enniskillen, Yelverton O’Keefe, the Misses Lid well and many others. John G. King was known as the “Father of the Breed” and Harry Blake Knox was the first to speak of the breed as the “Irish Red Setter.”

Back then, bird dogs were selected for their natural hunting abilities and style. Naturally, some breeders may have preferred a red and white coat and others a solid red coat. Yet none of them were obliged to follow a formal breed standard and there were no breed clubs or registries around to guide their breeding efforts. The “standards” they followed were determined by the game and terrain they hunted and modified to suit their personal taste. Nevertheless, by 1800, the overall look of the breed was well enough established that we can easily identify Irish Setters in paintings from that era.

Irish Setters in AmericaIrish Setters first began to appear in America in the mid-1860s. They soon developed a reputation for being an “all-round” breed better suited to harsh conditions than the English Setter or Pointer.

Until 1878, imported Irish Setters and Native Irish Setters were registered and shown separately. In early American dog shows, solid red Irish Setters and red and whites were shown in the same class. There were also classes for cross-bred dogs in which Irish-Gordons or Irish-English setters could be shown.

In the early days of American field trials, the Irish Setter figured very prominently in all the contests and won about as much as any of the other breeds. We have only to scan the records to ascertain that those dogs of the seventies and the eighties of the past century were the equal of any breed in the strongest of competition, and as a general-purpose field dog, he was more in use than either pointers or English Setters.

Despite the early successes, by the late 1800s, the numbers of Irish Setters appearing in field trials had plummeted, although many were still kept by hunters. Unfortunately, the admiration of practical sportsmen was not enough to stem the tide that had been rising against the working Irish Setter in America. In 1912, J.B. Thompson wrote:

The rage for the dark mahogany color on the bench sounded the death knell to his field greatness. Individuals, a trifle off-color, that would have materially assisted in perpetuating the hunting instincts through generations, were curtly put aside as breeders, and in their stead were substituted animals having the favored coloring of coat so appealing to the eye, but hunting ability unknown.

After the First World War, the popularity of the Irish Setter reached new heights, at least in the show ring. According to Irving Eldredge, the results “. . . led to wide variations in breed size and type—as far apart as Spaniels, Whippets, Pointers, and St. Bernards, except in color.”

Even as the breed’s popularity soared in the ring and pet market, there was a renewed effort, led by men like Dr. John DeRonde, the president of the Irish Setter Club of America, to increase the number of Irish Setters running in field trials. Unfortunately, despite the valiant efforts of a few remaining stalwarts, hopes of reviving the working Irish Setter in America were fading. While show dogs numbers grew exponentially, the number of dogs capable of competing at the highest levels of field trials was in a tailspin.

Not only did Pointer and setter breeders have a more progressive sporting orientation, they outnumbered Irish Setter breeders a hundred to one and had growing populations of outstanding field-bred dogs to choose from. And then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, disaster struck. Three of the most ardent supporters of the working Irish Setters in America were struck down by the Spanish flu: Dr. Davis, F. A. Johnson, and Otto Pohl.

Decline of the Irish Setter in AmericaBy the late 1940s, the Irish Setter as a working gundog in America was in rough shape. Sure, there were still a few red dogs running in field trials, and once in a blue moon, they would win an important stake. In some regions of the country, they were still bred by hunters, for hunters, and were used for upland and waterfowl hunting. But many of the breed’s most ardent supporters could see the writing on the wall. If they ever wanted to see the breed regain its position as a world-class bird dog, they knew they’d have to take drastic measures.

In January 1950, Horace Lytle wrote an article for Sports Afield in which he described the sorry state of the Irish Setter in America. Lytle ended it with a call to action. Lytle’s article is considered a major turning point in the history of the Irish Red Setter in America. But when it first appeared, it ignited a firestorm of protest. Within days of publication, the offices of Sports Afield were inundated with letters from irate readers so enraged by the suggestion of cross-breeding that they threatened to cancel their subscriptions and pull their advertisements from the magazine. The protests were so strong and sustained that Lytle ultimately lost his job.

Soon, The American Field published an article by Henry Betten supporting Lytle’s position. According to the NRSFTC website, the article was a “blistering dissertation” that called for a return to the glory days of Joe Jr. and the success of the native-bred setters. “Back to the beginning and a fresh start from scratch, minus the mistakes, and under the direct guidance of the sporting faithful!” Betten wrote.

On the 25th anniversary of the National Red Setter Field Trial Club, Ned LeGrande gave a speech in which he explained that even before the Lytle and Betten articles appeared, he and others were already dreaming of a revival of the working Irish Setter in America.

During the late forties and early fifties when I used to spend a lot of time, especially nights, hanging around Rusty Baynard’s gasoline station, the Red Setter was then a pretty common bird dog. Herm David, too, used to join us when he was in town, and the three of us used to talk, and dream, by the hour about Red Setters with high tails that would point early, break as derbies, and be able to run with and whip the Pointers in field trials. The Red Setter enthusiasts of today can’t realize how impossible those goals seemed in 1949.

LeGrande and the others weren’t just dreaming about the type of Red Setter they desired; they scoured the country looking for them. They wrote letters, visited breeders, and placed ads in the American Field newspaper seeking the best remaining working lines of Irish Setters in America. They even ran some of the dogs they managed to find in field trials. Yet they continued to come up short. They simply could not find the setters they were looking for.

Then, LeGrande heard about an outstanding female owned by a farmer in Enfield, North Carolina. But before he could buy her, he had to convince her owner to sell her. LeGrande would later recall that he didn’t want to let her go, but “we sat down over a jug of cider, and finally, he said, ‘Everything I raise is for sale.’” LeGrande ended up purchasing the dog, named Askew’s Carolina Lady, and after an exceptional field trial career, she became the first Irish setter to be inducted into the Field Trial Hall of Fame.

But even Askew’s Carolina Lady wasn’t enough, although she did produce a number of outstanding pups. So, they came to the conclusion that their only recourse was to follow Horace Lytle’s advice and undertake a program of cross-breeding to English Setters.

In interviews and articles in the sporting press, supporters of the program pointed out that even Laverack and Llewellin used Irish Setters to create their lines of English Setters, and cross-bred English-Irish dogs were common in America in the late 1800s. In fact, the winner of America’s very first formal field trial was an English-Irish Native Setter.

Revival of the Red Setter

Back in 1951, the small handful of us who were running our Irish Setters in breed-open-field trials rallied around Ned LeGrande . . . a new and somewhat fabulous energy on the scene. We had in common an illogical delight in the challenge to prove the Irish Setter as a bird-dog. Perhaps it was the crude jokes we heard when we would put one of our red ones on the starting lines that fixed our determination—or perhaps it was an unreasonable compulsion to champion a literal underdog.

Herm David

Before attempting the first crosses, LeGrande consulted with Dr. Leon Whitney, a Yale-educated authority on dog genetics. LeGrande later said, “Whitney advised us to get the best English setter possible and to make sure that we got one with red or orange spots, or otherwise we’d wind up with black dogs.”

As a result, LeGrande used dogs like Illsley Chip, an orange and white son of National Champion Mississippi Zev. Crossing Illsley Chip to a bitch named Willow Winds Smada produced a “. . . kind of a straw-colored litter and we bred them back to sons and daughters of Askew’s Carolina Lady. We kept the Field Dog Stud Book informed of every breeding. Nothing was kept secret. We also started the National Red Setter Field Trial Club because the Irish Setter Club in the AKC wanted none of this.” The cross-bred pups were then bred back to purebred Irish Setters. After the agreed upon number of generations, the descendants were registered as Irish Setters.

The Irish ConnectionWhen word of the American cross-breeding Purest Challenge program reached across the Atlantic to the ancestral home of the breed, reactions were mixed. Naturally, supporters of working Irish Setters applauded the effort to revive the breed as a gundog in America, but many considered cross-breeding to setters unnecessary, and risky. Legendary Irish breeder John Nash raised the two main objections against American-bred dogs: they have a rocky gallop and “may inherit a reluctance to go in and flush their game.”

But Ned LeGrande and his supporters were not interested in breeding Red Setters for Irish or English field trials, nor were they trying to produce gundogs suitable for the game and terrain of England or Ireland. LeGrande was laser focused on developing Irish Red Setters that could go toe to toe against Pointers and Setters in American field trials, and by the 1950s, that meant producing dogs with extraordinary speed, range, bird handling abilities, and a “high tail.”

LeGrande spent a great deal of time and effort looking for high-tailed Irish Setters; they were as rare as hen’s teeth. Meanwhile, every major English Setter kennel in the country was full of dogs with “12 o’clock” tails. He was left with a choice: selectively breed among Irish Setters for high tails, something that would surely take decades, or cross to an English Setter and start to get high tails in a single generation.

Nash’s concern for ending up with dogs having “a very great inherent reluctance to go in and flush their game” was a non-issue. After all, in American field trials, after a dog goes on point, it must remain absolutely motionless as the handler moves in front of it and flushes the bird. Most American hunters also expect to flush birds themselves and expect their dog to stay put on point. A sticky dog is not a problem. For many, it would be considered a good thing!

Crosses to English setters started in the 1950s and continued for years. Sadly, John Nash never made it to America to see and judge the dogs produced by the Purest
Challenge program. He was killed when a branch from a large old tree fell on him during a windstorm as he was handling dogs for a shooting party. Shortly after the tragic event, Bob Sprouse’s tribute to Nash was published in the Irish Setter club of Ireland’s annual newsletter. In it, Sprouse lamented the loss of his friend and the fact that American breeders missed a tremendous opportunity to use more of Nash’s dogs in their program.

It is sad that John Nash died at a time when his dogs were just beginning to be fully appreciated for the contribution they could make to our native lines. We are hoping that his work will be carried on by his friends all over the world. The members of the National Red Setter Club U.S.A. extend their utmost sympathy to the family of John Nash and the members of The Irish Red Setter Club. John Nash will be missed and remembered in America as well as in his homeland.

Only limited amounts of blood from Irish and English imports have made their way into American Red Setter lines. The few Irish imports that have come over were brought in by hunters for their own personal use as hunting dogs, not for any specific breeding program or to participate in field trials. Yet, despite the divergence in sporting cultures and different approaches to breeding, supporters of the Irish Setter on both sides of the Atlantic continue to enjoy a relationship of mutual respect and admiration.

The post Development and History of the Irish Red Setter appeared first on Project Upland.

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Save those upland bird thighs for a delicious, healthy stir fry mealWhether you’re looking to make good on a 2023 resolution to eat healthier, turn unruly thighs into something incredible, or simply cook delicious upland stir fry, this recipe works for all of the above. Thighs are typically chewy if not cooked low and slow for an extended period. For this recipe, I deboned them, cut them into smaller pieces, and cooked them hot and fast. This way, I can cook them just enough, keeping the collagen from tightening and producing those tougher bites. You can also debone the meat and tenderize it with a meat mallet. However, I didn’t do that for this recipe.

READ: How to Butcher an Upland Game Bird

In this version, I use pheasant thighs. A Kansas limit of four roosters produced over 16 ounces of thigh meat, but you can use whatever upland thigh meat you want. You can also use breast meat from any game bird if you don’t feel like deboning thighs. Pro tip: it’s easier to debone birds when they’re partially frozen, so perhaps attempt to debone before they’re fully thawed.

The sauce, in terms of the amount listed here, is very light. This is what keeps this recipe’s calories low. However, you can double it or even quadruple it. Just make sure you keep the ratios equal.

If you want more vegetables or prefer different ones, you’re welcome to swap those out, too. The most caloric component of this dish is the rice, so if you’re serious about that resolution, you may wish to abstain from this fluffy treat and go heavy on the veggies.

PrintSimple Upland Stir FrySave those upland bird thighs for a delicious, healthy mealCourse Main CoursePrep Time 30 minutesCook Time 30 minutesServings 4Ingredients 16-20 oz. upland bird thighs cut into bits * 6 oz. baby corn drained * 6 oz. fresh broccoli florets * ½ medium yellow onion cut julienne * 1 carrot shaved into thin strips * 2 tsp freshly minced garlic * Kosher and freshly cracked black pepper * Peanut oil Sauce ingredients ½ cup lite coconut milk * 1 tsp fish sauce * 1 tsp Mirin cooking rice wine * ⅛ tsp pure sesame oil The Rice 2 cups jasmine rice * 2 ¾ cups cold water * Freshly sliced scallions for garnish (optional) Instructions Cut fresh broccoli into florets, yellow onion julienne (into long strips), and shave off (using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife) your carrot strips. Debone your bird thighs when they are partially frozen and cut the thighs into approximately half-inch-by-half-inch bits. * Keep the cut vegetables and cut meat in separate bowls. Lightly salt and pepper both bowls. Finely mince your fresh garlic cloves. * Heat a large skillet or wok on high heat and add in a thin layer of peanut oil. * Add two cups of jasmine rice to a medium saucepan with 2 3/4 cups of cold water to make the rice. Cover the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat to low. Once the water is absorbed, turn the heat off. It likely will take a total of 10 to 15 minutes. * Add the cut vegetables and drained baby corn to a hot skillet or wok. Sear them adequately until they’re slightly soft. Add the finely minced garlic and cook it for 30 seconds. Remove skillet/wok contents and set aside. * Add a little bit more peanut oil and the bird thigh meat to the hot skillet or wok. Sear it hot and fast. When cooked, add your vegetables back to the skillet or wok along with the sauce ingredients. Thoroughly stir in sauce ingredients and turn the heat to low. * Once vegetables and meat are evenly coated, plate rice and top with vegetables and meat. Garnish with freshly sliced scallions. NotesEnjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.The post Simple Upland Stir Fry appeared first on Project Upland.

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Chase upland birds all season long while efficiently gliding over wild snow with the perfect ski setupThree years ago, I met a bird-crazy vanlifer named Scott Johnson. At the time, I was dipping my toe into the world of bird hunting, naively wandering through the woods, and plinking spruce grouse with a .22 rifle. Scott talked me into buying a shotgun. He showed me the beauty of hunting behind a well-trained bird dog. Conversely, I talked Scott into ditching his snowshoes and showed him the beauty of swiftly sliding over snow on backcountry skis. After that, both of our lives changed for the better.

When snowshoeing, you have to pick your feet up. High-stepping through snow is really tiring. Snow builds up on top of each snowshoe; that additional weight must be lifted up with every step. Skiing is similar to moving a very heavy object on a slippery floor. Don’t pick it up; slide it. In this way, a skier can cover more ground with less effort. Additionally, when skiing, you always have both feet on the ground which is great for hunters with limited balance or mobility.

Scott wrote about his introduction to hunting on skis after our first season learning from each other in 2019. Since then, he and I have tried many iterations of ski setups and we’ve learned a lot of lessons regarding building great ski kits for hunting on wild snow.

I have been backcountry skiing for 25 years and am familiar with every type of ski gear. The recipe presented in this article for a hunting ski setup is what I believe best serves backcountry hunters. Personally, I will never go back to snowshoes and now that he’s tried my prescribed ski setup, neither will Scott. I have helped several snowshoe hunters in my local NAVHDA chapter try skis for the first time, too, and they’ve all converted to the ease of skiing.

If you’ve tried upland hunting on skis and had a bad time, I’m here to show you a better way. Or, if you’re an experienced snowshoe hunter and think there’s no way that skis can outperform snowshoes in gnarly terrain, maybe I can help make your winter hunting days go further and faster. Hopefully, your dog can keep up with you!

Bad Backcountry Ski Setups for HuntersLet’s go through some of the backcountry skis types commercially available and why they’re not ideal for hunting. First up are some skis that are actually marketed as hunting skis.

At first glance, the Altai Hok, the Kar 147 by Skinbased OAC, and the Black Diamond Glidelite seem great for hunting. Their short length makes them very maneuverable in tight brush. The integrated partial climbing skin is not intimidating to newbie backcountry users. Good marketing promises the partial skin to be both fast on the flats, yet grippy enough for uphills. The $400 to $500 price range is very tempting as well.

Scott spent his first season and a half on a pair of the Black Diamond Glidelites. I bought some, too, and tried them several times. I do not recommend any of these “skin ski” designs. The integrated, partial-length climbing skin is not grippy enough to get through the steep terrain that upland hunters regularly encounter. The lack of a steel edge, or in some cases, a partial steel edge is not enough to side hill on firmer snow or ice. Regarding floatation in soft snow, the length is too short to make up for the decreased width compared to a snowshoe. Lastly, the lightweight construction is too unstable to go over rugged terrain or to shoot from.

Scott and I still have our Glidelite skis. We loan them out to friends who want to try ski hunting for the first time before they commit to buying their own gear. They’re better than nothing, but it’s still a relatively weak setup.

If you walk into an REI, describe upland hunting to the salesperson, and ask for a ski setup, XCD cross country downhill skis are probably what they will sell you. Models include the Voile Objective BC, Fisher S-Bounds, Madshus Panorama and Annum, the Rossignol BC 120, Karhu Guide and 10th Mountain. They come in longer lengths, have stiffer construction, and full-length metal edges. Some have an integrated partial climbing skin like the trekking skis above, but many have a fishscale base, otherwise known as “waxless.”

While the skis themselves are fine, the fishscale base performs worse than the partial climbing skins on the skin-skis from Altai, Black Diamond, and OAC. These scales are slow on the flats, have almost no grip to climb in dry snow or on ice, and they are very loud on firm snow. If you own a pair of skis like this now, all is not lost. Cover those scales up with a set up full-length, full-width climbing skins and you have the start of a good hunting ski setup as long as the length is right.

Old School Skis Are Not Good for Hunting, EitherDid you live in Tahoe or Crested Butte in the 1960s through the 1980s? Then you might have an old school ski collection in your garage. If you’re one of these old school backcountry skiers with a lot of experience, you may have a different idea about what a backcountry ski looks like.

While skis like this got a generation of telemarkers deep into the backcountry, they are not good for hunting. I used a pair of army surplus skis of this design when I first started backcountry skiing. Kirk Douglas fought the Nazis on skis like this, but they don’t work for bushwhacking after grouse. All of these classic setups are too long, too skinny, and too cambered. High camber is especially to be avoided in a hunting ski.

My Ski Hunting SetupMy skis are marketed as resort downhill skis for girls. They’re the Goldilocks ski for hunting and I bought them new on closeout for $150. I’m 185 cm tall (6’1”) and these skis are 160 cm, right to my sternum. At 98mm wide in the middle, they are just wider than my foot. Beyond providing floatation, this width gives a stable shooting platform without my feet interfering with each other. I have full-length, full-width climbing skins on the bases. Full size skins are like 4WD with chains; enough grip to climb any terrain. You can’t hunt on skis without these full-size climbing skins.

Regarding camber, I made a hunting setup with skis I picked up used from an Alaskan heli ski company. They are marketed as extreme steep and deep skis for petite women or kids. They feature a reverse camber. If you look closely, you’ll notice this upside-down camber resembles tank tracks, and that’s no mistake. This ski can tackle rough terrain, clobber brush, and can turn in place.

Ski Boots and Bindings for Upland HuntingBindings and boots are important, too. The ideal boot and binding setup for backcountry hunting is a “tech toe” or “pin tech” binding paired to a lightweight ski mountaineering boot. These composite and plastic boots look like resort downhill boots, but the ankle is free to move fore and aft, allowing you to easily glide deep into the wilderness. Additionally, a boot that connects to a completely free toe is critical. This free-pivot “tech toe” binding is what gives a hunter a long smooth stride to float over the snow.

Scott still uses the universal strap binding from his Glidelite skin-skis. This allows him to use the insulated winter hiking boots he already owns instead of buying expensive alpine touring boots. He loses some striding ability and side hilling stability with this method, but he can still keep up with his GSP.

Other examples of bindings that could work for hunting but are less effective than tech toes include NNN-BC, 75mm 3-pin telemark, cable telemark, and freeride alpine touring. If this is what you have already and you want to try hunting with them, then go for it. But, consider upgrading in the future.

The Perfect Backcountry Ski Upland Hunt SetupTo sum up, after three years of trial and error, I think the perfect recipe for a hunting ski setup is:

• Ski length that reaches hunter’s sternum
• Ski width is wider than your ski boot
• Construction is stiff like a resort downhill ski
• Full length metal edges
• Full-length, full-width climbing skins
• Mounted with Dynafit-style free pivot bindings

Hunting skis following these guidelines occupy a special spot in my varied quiver of ski gear. Through our long eight month bird season in Alaska, my wife, hunting buddies, and I cover a lot of miles on our dialed custom ski gear.

The post The Perfect Backcountry Ski Setup for Upland Hunting appeared first on Project Upland.

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Use this quick and simple quail roast recipe for evenly cooked moist quail meat that will keep you coming back for more.The same way uplanders like the hunting action to be during a day afield, hot and fast is how quail meat should be roasted. Quail, depending on species, will vary in size, though the methods here should apply universally to whatever approximately 5-ounce bird you bag. Do yourself a favor and save both flavor and juiciness by plucking your birds and keeping the skin on.

Trussing is essential for any bird you’re roasting whole. I’ve yet to find what I consider a great truss method for wild birds. Until I do, a bit of Google research tells us that trussing birds means to draw both legs and wings close to the body so those cuts cook evenly. This is especially important for wild birds with tougher legs and wings compared to domestic chickens.

When roasting small wild birds, we are testing the upper limits of our ovens. Before you preheat your oven, make sure you have a skillet that has no issue reaching 550-600 degrees Fahrenheit. For my oven, roasting quail for 14 minutes at 525 degrees is the sweet spot. The skin gets crispy after 14 minutes and the meat is still juicy. Depending on your oven, if you can go higher than 525 degrees, consider roasting it for 12 to 13 minutes. If 500 is as high as you can go, roast for 15 to 16 minutes. Keep in mind that if you opt for crispier skin, you lose out on a little bit of juice. If you opt for a bit of blush in the breasts and an infernal breast temp of 150 degrees, you likely won’t get that crispy skin. It’s your call.

The gravy portion of this recipe is optional. Sometimes, I prefer my quail as-is. I let them rest for a few minutes after they’re done roasting, then take them in both hands and chow down.

PrintQuick Roasted QuailRoasting smaller game birds like quail, is fast, and results in moist, even cooked meat. Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Quail, RoastPrep Time 12 hoursCook Time 20 minutesServings 2Ingredients 4 Whole Quail preferably plucked * Kosher salt * Freshly cracked black pepper * ½-1 lemon depending on how much lemon zest you want in your gravy * ½ Bulb fresh garlic bottoms cut off but not peeled * Cooking spray Vegetables for roasting skillet Celery * Carrots Gravy ¼ cup white wine * 1 cup pheasant, quail, or chicken stock Roux 1 tbsp all-purpose flour * ½ tbsp sunflower (or similar) cooking oil * 1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet Browning & Seasoning Sauce Instructions* Fully thaw your quail and pat them dry. Dust them on all sides with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Allow them to sit in the fridge with ample airflow overnight so the meat can absorb the salt and the skin can dry. * Two hours prior to cooking, remove your quail from the fridge, truss the birds, and allow them to sit out at room temp. You can truss the birds prior to putting them in the fridge overnight too, if you want. * To cook, preheat your oven to 525. In a cast iron skillet, add the lemon flesh side down along with the garlic. Arrange the cut roasting vegetables in a way that your quail gets ample airflow all the way around when roasting. * After seven minutes of roasting, spray all sides of the quail with the cooking oil. Roast for another seven minutes or until slightly crispy. * When the quail are done roasting, make the gravy. Remove the skillet from the oven. Take the quail out of the skillet, making sure any juices from their cavities go back into the skillet. Lightly tent a piece of tin foil over the quail and let them rest while you make the gravy. Remove vegetables, lemon, and garlic from the skillet, too. * Place the skillet on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium-high. Deglaze the skillet with white wine, then add pheasant, quail, or chicken stock. Turn the heat to low. In a separate small saucepan, add one tablespoon all-purpose flour mixed with 1/2 tablespoon sunflower (or similar) cooking oil. Keep the heat on medium and stir the roux until it’s the color of wet sand. Add in the browning seasoning, mix it in, then add to the warm stock in the skillet. Stir to thicken the gravy. * Serve the quail with a little bit of gravy poured over top and enjoy. NotesReach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or commentsThe post How to Make the Best Roasted Quail appeared first on Project Upland.

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What factors determine the most challenging game bird to hunt in North America?There are a few ways to fuel a fury-filled debate in any subculture. For uplanders, simply state that your favorite game bird is King of the Uplands and watch the chaos ensue. But what does it take to claim the title of king? Is it the bird’s behavior or environment? Are external factors involved, or is it just in our heads? Perhaps it’s a combination of many things.

William Harnden Foster, the father of modern ruffed grouse hunting, wrote:

“There are champions eager to rise and contest this claim in behalf of Bob White, princely little bird of the rag-weed and sedge. None will discount the thrill of the covey rise, his speed of wing, nor yet his charm for the bird dog. There are those who say that the sweetest chords of music are but hollow sounds compared to the magical whistle of the woodcock, that round, long-billed, squat-bodied bird of mystery and the dark soil under the alders. Then, too, a newer generation of upland gunners has adopted with enthusiasm the Ring-necked Pheasant, the gaudy immigrant, leggy, raucous, a handy bird for field trials and excellent either roasted or fried. But after all has been said and done, when it comes to native wariness, individual daring and resourcefulness, power, cunning and all those things that place one creature above another, physically and mentally, then we must turn to our native pa’tridge, I should say our native grouse, is known to those who have seen him at his best. He is the king of American game birds and so those who have hunted them all will attest.”

In this article, I am not attempting to claim a crown for the ruffed grouse; after all, monarchs suck. This is a critical look at what makes one upland game bird more challenging to hunt than the next. I focus on the historical and biological reasons why the first modern upland hunters of this continent called the ruffed grouse king. Spoiler alert: it’s not your average “my bird is harder to hunt than yours” story. Personally, I caution such statements out of anyone’s mouth, myself included.

Trial by Market Hunting The earliest New England writers claimed the ruffed grouse’s royalty well before the turn of the century for a good reason. Rewind the clock to the colonization of New England and we find ourselves in a game-rich land. Game birds, like many species, found themselves pursued by snare, gun, and any other method that would put either dinner on the table or money in the bank. As a result, market hunting negatively impacted at least four native game birds for over two centuries.

In the 1600s, there was an absurd amount of heath hens. William Harnden Foster wrote, “According to Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts, who died in 1649, the heath hen was once so abundant in the open country around Boston that laborers and servants demanded in agreements with their masters that they should not be fed on heath hen ‘oftener than a few times a week.’ The old-timers must have done some serious execution for so toothsome a bird as the heath hen to go against the palates of laborers working from daylight till dark in the tang of the New England air.”

The passenger pigeon went extinct next. Sold in the markets of Boston, they were a common food source until unregulated hunting eliminated them entirely. The advancement of colonization caused wild turkeys to experience rapid population declines, too. Thankfully, the species was successfully reintroduced in the 20th century. The spruce grouse, or “fool’s hen,” never really wised up to hunting pressure. It’s still illegal to hunt them in New England today. The New England ruffed grouse was pursued alongside all of these game birds.

As the Civil War rolled around, these four species experienced such drastic population declines, they were no longer profitable to hunt (Foster 1948).

“By the time the pursuit of pa’tridges as a market bird was taken up as a serious enterprise the muzzle-loading shotgun of refined line and excellent efficiency was in the hands of the market hunter. Dogs, varying from general utility spaniels to well-bred bird dogs, were also in use, and there was some pa’tridge and woodcock shooting done both by the market hunter and by the few sportsmen who, by that time, were beginning to appear. However, for a decade or two after the attention of the market hunter was first turned to the harvesting of pa’tridges, the chief method of taking the bird in profitable numbers was by the use of the snare.”

Snaring was banned by the turn of the century. This eliminated what was considered by many market hunters as the only cost-effective way to hunt grouse. The ruffed grouse was too difficult to hunt to be profitable, to drive to the brink of extinction.

From that time on, ruffed grouse hunting in New England was ground zero for the modern North American upland hunter. Alongside the American woodcock, the most iconic early literary classics in upland hunting would be written in New England. Many of the practices we use today from the modern strap vest, dog bell, and even hunting from station wagons were founded by these early fathers of modern wingshooting.

Early Famous Uplanders that Crowned the Ruffed Grouse King While I am unsure if S.T. Hammond was the first famous writer to claim that the ruffed grouse was of royal stock, his book My Friend the Partridge: Memories of New England Grouse Shooting is one of the oldest odes to this difficult bird. Hammond was an editor of Forest and Stream, one of the oldest hunting publications in the United States. It is important to note that Hammond, among other historical upland hunting figures, hunted the entire country for various species of native game birds. He had, to his understanding, enough knowledge to compare the ruffed grouse to other game birds. “The ruffed grouse in New England, commonly called partridge, is the very best game bird that inhabits this continent. I say this advisedly, and without fear of contradiction from any sportsman who has hunted them enough to become fairly well acquainted with their habits and is at all expert in their capture,” he wrote.

William Harnden Foster, editor of National Sportsman Magazine, had little hesitation claiming that the New England ruffed grouse was the most challenging game bird. He even pointed out how other subspecies of the ruffed grouse were far easier quarry than the New England subspecies. Another New Englander, three-time Secretary of State Daniel Webster, is documented to have loved the ruffed grouse “not wisely, but too well” (Hammond 1908). Aldo Leopold famously wrote, “There are two kinds of hunting: ordinary hunting and ruffed grouse hunting,” although it’s worth noting he hunted upper midwestern subspecies of ruffed grouse.

Not all Subspecies of Ruffed Grouse are Created Equal The location of subspecies of ruffed grouse must be accounted for when claiming it as king. There remains a very distinct belief that ruffed grouse, as they vary across the North American landscape, are not the same bird. Simply hunt Bonasa umbellus sabini in the west and Bonasa umbellus umbellus in the northeast and attempt to reconcile the differences.

The biologically history on subspecies for ruffed grouse has changed multiple times. In 1931, six subspecies were recognized. This was a point of much discussion in biologist Frank Edminster’s book The Ruffed Grouse, its Life Story, Ecology, and Management that waspublished in 1947. Currently, the American Ornithologists’ Union recognizes 10 subspecies of ruffed grouse. Biologists are still debating if there’s more subspecies going unaccounted for. For example, the northern midwest is home to Bonasa umbellus umbelloides. Some argue that it should be separated from its Canadian counterpart, and biologists should update the subspecies’ taxonomical title to Bonasa umbellus medianus.

Foster distinguished a strong behavioral difference between Bonasa umbellus togata of Northern New England, sometimes referred to as the Canadian Ruffed Grouse, and the New England grouse of his hunting haunts, Bonasa umbellus umbellus. When I take a critical look, it’s tough to argue that Bonasa umbellus umbellus has some genetic predisposition to be more challenging than itscounterparts. Instead, their difficulty to hunt may be a product of exposure and their environment.

Hunting Pressure and Transgenerational Stress Inheritance of Game BirdsAlmost 20 years ago, I wrote on the concept of rapid evolution of whitetail deer behavior in urban and suburban environments. I theorized that stress was being genetically passed on rather than being purely a learned behavior and it ultimately compounded over time. At first, I was laughed at by the greater of the hunting community. But in 2012, the theory was scientifically proven and published and given the term “transgenerational stress inheritance.” To be clear, it had nothing to do with my writing, but yet it validated something I felt was a measurable evolution.

Recently, I came across this passage by S.T. Hammond: “I can readily understand why it is that a bird that is consistently hunted and shot at should in a short time become wary when it had reason to believe that deadly foes were seeking its destruction, but I cannot understand how it is that young and presumably unsophisticated birds, that have never been previously disturbed by the hunter, should vie with the ‘oldest’ patriarch in the knowledge of ways and means outwit even the most expert hunter.” Although he didn’t know it at the time, Hammond pointed out the effects of transgenerational stress inheritance on New England ruffed grouse. New England grouse specifically are the longest hunted upland game bird by modern methods in the United States. The only exception is the American woodcock and Wilson’s snipe, which experienced historical pressure alongside the grouse.

I think this provides evidence for two important things. One is that not all birds rapidly evolve under the rules of transgenerational stress inheritance. (Recall the spruce grouse.) Second is that native game birds throughout the rest of the country had yet to experience 100-plus years of consistent modern hunting pressure, creating the opportunity for more wary future generations. This could be part of why the other ruffed grouse subspecies did not evolve behaviorally at the same rate as New England ruffed grouse. The wild birds we hunt across North America today are not your granddaddy’s birds.

This may be the strongest point when it comes to debating which game bird species is king. Western wing shooting has become more accessible since the early 1800s and only grown in popularity over time. It will be interesting to watch the effects of this comparatively novel hunting pressure.

When Food Sources are Not SimpleRuffed grouse are interesting when it comes to diet. Their seemingly unrestricted diet adds to their level of difficulty. A study conducted in the 1940s identified 505 items that northeastern ruffed grouse ate. Additionally, 25 plant species are considered to make up 65 to 88 percent of northeastern grouse diets (Edminster 1947). Foster pointed out Bonasa umbellus togata’sdistinct preference for leaf-based food sources when compared to the native New England grouse. As someone who hunts both subspecies regularly, Bonasa umbellus togata is far easier quarry. Maybe this is a result of their penchant for leafy greens and the subsequent ability to locate them in areas where this food type is widely available.

Foster believed that ruffed grouse eating behaviors was one of the greatest factors when debating how challenging a bird is. Foster wrote, “The strange part of it is that the grouse is a decided gourmet. It will apparently pass by quantities of food that is known to be a part of its diet and go long distances for some other item. It is this search for food that keeps the grouse on the move and the novice gunner, while he cannot be blamed for looking for the grouse population of his hunting area in the cool bottoms or in the shady pines during the early part of the season, might be astonished to find the birds concentrated on a dry beech ridge, for instance, several miles away, or some other seemingly unlikely spot.”

Foster thought that this “decided gourmet” behavior is unique to the ruffed grouse when compared to other game birds. Finding feeding grounds seems simple, however, the vast palate of New England ruffed grouse makes merely finding birds very challenging.

Terrain-based and Environmental FactorsWhen considering terrain- and environmental-based factors when determining which bird is the upland king, these elements are not meant to be a measure of intelligence of a game bird or its difficulty for the dogs. Instead, they depict the difficulty of wingshooting itself.

Put a look of awe on any lifelong partridge hunter’s face by inviting them out to a prairie. The experience of hunting sharptails in open country puts the statement “ignore the trees” into perspective. Torturous Hell’s Canyon chukar country starkly contrasts against the midwest’s gentle landscapes. New England’s thorn-covered mountains may only be rivaled in the grouse realm by the mountain laurel thickets native to the southern Appalachians. Again, this is not about the intelligence of the birds; it’s just about how each species’ habitats impact their hunting difficulty.

If you trained your dog in thick northern forests, try dropping him in the dryness of the west. See how scenting conditions and understanding new game birds can really throw him off. The list of natural yet alien experiences can fill volumes as hunters and dogs cross landscapes to hunt birds. The intelligence of the game bird itself is not the only factor that makes a game bird challenging. Our own knowledge, or lack thereof, can turn any bird into a real challenge.

The Measure of Our Diverse Upland Species will Never be Equal The challenge of each game bird species changes every season. Annual environmental conditions affect behavior, bird populations, and even have cultural impacts in the upland community. You might think I made a convincing case to give the New England ruffed grouse the title King of the Game Birds despite these ever-changing factors. However, I would argue that although we may as whole identify the more challenging species, this title will never be designated for just one.

To truly know a game bird, one must live among their coverts, hunt them as if its their religion, and study them like a scientist. It can take decades to barely peel back the layers of complexity for a bird like the ruffed grouse. This holds true for all game birds. The expert necessary to hold enough knowledge to crown a king will simply never exist. Additionally, each upland hunter that creates a specific formula intended to identify a king only adds to the discrimination. The personal hurdles, skills, and excitement among each hunter makes each species nomination highly biased.

The measure of difficulty for each game bird is always a thought in the back of my mind. After hunting birds across three continents, I have found some species exciting and others disappointing. Admittedly, I also have yet to experience some of the bigger contenders for the title of king, including the chukar of the west. However, I have measured the difficulty of pursuing almost all the subspecies of ruffed grouse and have yet to find one as challenging as those in southern New England. Yet, just like other upland hunters, I am biased, too.

Right now, I believe I have hunted birds less challenging than the ruffed grouse. However, to truly rank the difficulty of the birds I’ve hunting, I must temper over 30 years of pursuing them. Comparatively, I only have weeks or months of experience hunting other species. The American woodcock is the only other bird I feel comfortable comparing to the grouse. While I love the queen of the forests, she can leave one wanting when it comes to difficult challenges. That being said, the woodcock’s role in training grouse dogs is something that cannot be overlooked. Woodcock make for beautiful dog work and not much messiness among expectations. Is that not the fabric of royal blood? Woodcock challenge the very concept of a single royal title.

Ruffed grouse do not practice social etiquette. They are mischievous, unpredictable, and independent thinkers. They shatter skilled bird dogs and humble the best wingshooters. Woodcock hunting is the embodiment of fine art; comparatively, ruffed grouse hunting feels like an act of violence. Maybe ruffed grouse are court jesters instead of true royalty. But in terms of challenging game birds, the New England ruffed grouse is certainly one for the books.

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Letting go of the dream to breed your bird dog Our dogs are with us for just a short period of time. During those years, we develop such strong bonds with our dogs that we can’t stand the thought of living without them. Knowing that we will inevitably part ways, many folks consider becoming a…

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This slow but simple wild game recipe will make the perfect moist pheasant roast with evenly cooked meat. Minimalist ingredients, simple techniques, and unforgettably delicious; this is how the perfect slow-roasted pheasant meat should always be described. The incredible gravy that comes along with it is just an added bonus. Pheasant is the largest upland…

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Explore the the three core habitat components of bobwhite quail habitat and how they apply to various regions Bobwhite quail can be found across nearly one-third of the United States. This area includes Florida up to Ohio, from Texas to Nebraska, and everywhere in between. They live in a myriad of habitat types that contain…

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A look at Dogtra’s latest GPS collar and its practical use for bird hunting “Where’s Piper?” We looked around the sea of sage, but didn’t see her tell-tale brown tail anywhere. She’s not a big-running dog; it was unlikely that she had run off. However, she was uncharacteristically out of view on the open landscape.…

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This tradition Japanese inspired pheasant soup recipe is not your college ramen. For many Americans, our love for ramen likely began in college. This pantry staple lined our shelves because they were affordable yet enjoyable and ready in minutes. Salty and savory, Maruchan’s Ramen Noodle Soup was something I craved the morning after a late…

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Watch the origin story of the Deutsch Langhaar in North America with the DL-GNA club This film is presented by: Eukanuba Sporting Dog The sun approached the western horizon of South Dakota against all of our wishes. That familiar ache of fading daylight was punctuated by the sad fact that we’d all be headed home…

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Parvo, a deadly and preventable virus, is every dog owner and veterinarian’s greatest nemesis This summer, reports of a strange virus sickening dogs in the upper peninsula of Michigan made national news. Further testing at the Michigan State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab revealed this was not some new disease or variant, but an old, well-known foe:…

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An October day story full of tricks and treats with a little help from the devil. Uncle Don passed a few weeks ago. He didn’t leave behind much besides dogs, guns, and stories. By the end of his time, he saw fit to make me the guardian of two beloved bird dogs, Alder and Cricket,…

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Bird hunting and dog training are full of terminology and words that new hunters need to learn. To walk the walk, bird hunters need to first learn to talk the talk. Deciphering the various terminology of the pointing dog world can be confusing. Dog training verbiage is not universal. It can vary regionally, and the…

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Warm up with those cool fall days with this dumpling soup recipe with a pheasant flare. South-central Kansas Summer can been a long one and a hot one. Needless to say, I welcome fall. As always, fall means cooler weather, and cooler weather calls for soup. Want to know a trade secret? Every great soup…

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Using non-lead ammunition can decrease the impacts of toxic lead levels on this beloved upland bird species Non-lead hunting ammunition has been mainstream, especially for waterfowl hunting, for over 20 years. Since the ban on lead ammunition for waterfowl hunting, many bird species have been conserved due to the decrease in lead on our landscapes…

The post American Woodcock Accumulate Lead According to Study appeared first on Project Upland.

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Reviewing northern bobwhite hunting dynamics with scientific research Similar to many upland game species, the northern bobwhite has experienced range-wide declines over the last century. These declines are primarily attributed to changes in land use and habitat loss. However, many unanswered questions remain regarding the sustainability of populations exposed to an annual harvest and associated…

The post How Research Informs Bobwhite Management and Hunting Recommendations appeared first on Project Upland.

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Manufacturers never saw a new side-by-side shotgun revival coming from a younger generation Whose idea was it to put two barrels on a single firearm? I’m not quite sure; however, I do know that the concept predates modern portable firearms. Although a stacked barrel design comes rather naturally when considering its purpose, it was the…

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A guide to de-skunking your dog and preventive practices to avoid those skunks in the first place. While staring out my kitchen window one morning, I watched Rudy, my resident yard rooster, come sailing through the sky to land in the orchard down below my house. I quickly finished my morning tea and grabbed my…

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This simple grilled chukar recipe will give you moist and flavorful partridge that you will keep coming back for more. Count yourself lucky if you still have wild birds in the freezer by the time grilling season rolls around. In fact, if you’ve still got chukar meat in the freezer, throw yourself a party! Fire…

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Get tips from a veteran bird hunter on how to better find bird hunting opportunities Out-of-state and increase your success. Every bird hunter reaches a point in their life when they desire to travel to a different state and hunt a new species. There are too many intriguing birds and landscapes to stay satisfied with…

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Habitat management, fire, and other factors can alter you access to your normal hunting spots and that’s a normal part of hunting The first day of bird season is always filled with nervous enthusiasm. Will it begin strong, promising a good start to a great year? Or will it ramp up slowly, requiring a prolonged…

The post What to Do When your Hunting Spot Is Gone appeared first on Project Upland.

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Should you shoot a limit of wild game birds this season? During my childhood in southern New Hampshire, kids competed to shoot a limit of “pa’tridge,” my brother and myself included. I admit, I lost just about every time to my older brother. However, we thought shooting the limit was a good idea. After all,…

The post Ethics of Bag Limits and Self-Imposed Limits appeared first on Project Upland.

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This roasted dove recipe is simple and rewarding for the best wild game dinner. Each September I’m reminded of how much I love the taste of dove. In fact, it’s a flavor I enjoy so much, I want a deeper sense of it. Dove poppers are an obvious favorite, especially on opening day. However, when…

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How to make mouth watering fried crispy pheasant tenders that will put chicken to shame. Frying double-breaded meat is standard practice in my household. Not only does it lock in moisture, double-dipping avoids losing all your coatings, resulting in a crispier crust. Pheasant tenderloins are quite small. Double-dipping them in breading adds volume and creates…

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The post Hunting Audio Books – Project Upland’s Classic Bird Hunting Books on Audible appeared first on Project Upland.

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The post Through the Trees appeared first on Project Upland.

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Dusky Grouse and Sooty Grouse Offer Unique High Elevation Hunting Opportunities in America’s Western Mountains The wind sighed through the spruces as I closed my tailgate and headed down the ridgeline. My dog, Bailey, and I walked along following a faint trail cleared by elk hooves. We dripped through small glades of evergreens illuminated by…

The post A Guide to Hunting Blue Grouse in North America appeared first on Project Upland.

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Upland bird hunting in this Rocky Mountain state features a variety of species, habitats, and season dates. It’s mid-September and you’re scouting for an early season mule deer hunt in western Colorado. While hiking along the edge of where the sagebrush meets a spruce-aspen forest in search of game trails, rubs, and fresh sign, you…

The post Bird Hunting in Colorado – Grouse, Quail, Chukar, Pheasant, and More appeared first on Project Upland.

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American Woodcocks are, surprisingly, a migratory bird species with a strong upland hunting culture and history. Natural selection has a funny way of influencing nature. American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) are a fantastic example of this. Often referred to as Timberdoodles, the woodcock is one of those strange creatures bopping around our world as a result…

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This classic dove appetizer recipe style is known as crowd pleaser from hunters and non-hunters alike. Dove hunting scratches that upland itch for many hunters eager to swing on some birds. Hunting doves is the perfect way to knock the rust off and get your shotgun tracking as it should. If it isn’t too hot…

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Learn about the various hunting dog testing systems from the puppy level to the finished level. “Would you be willing to run her in the spring puppy test?” The emailed question from the breeder seemed harmless enough. I didn’t really know what a spring puppy test was, but it didn’t sound unreasonable. She explained that…

The post Comparing NAVHDA, JGHV, and AKC Hunting Dog Tests appeared first on Project Upland.

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Chukar is native to India and a fitting choice for this classic Indian recipe. Alectoris Chukar are endemic to those big mountains that hem India’s northern border. Chukar have become a welcomed wild bird icon of the American west and it seems fitting to adapt this northern Indian classic for use with a bird I…

The post Chukar Murgh Makhani (Butter Chukar) appeared first on Project Upland.

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Massachusetts has a storied history in Ruffed Grouse and woodcock hunting. Today, upland hunting persists from pheasant to snipe. The Brittany tore straight through the thick thorn tangle as light rain soaked through my heavy clothes. A few moments passed. One woodcock contact turned to two, then three. Massachusetts exceeded my expectations. Western Massachusetts, specifically…

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Hunting upland game is full of a lifetime of variables and knowledge that we can only take one step at a time. Upland bird hunting is anything but easy. Numerous moving parts and thin margins for error make returning home with wild meat a challenge every time. As a new hunter, getting everything to align…

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Exploring the Ruffed Grouse behavior enigma of crazy flight through history and science It was late September, the Minnesotan air was cool, and Ruffed Grouse were on my mind. We had just thrown our hunting gear in the back of the pickup, ready to head out for a day of chasing dogs through grouse cover,…

The post The Ruffed Grouse’s Mysterious “Crazy Flight” appeared first on Project Upland.

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Grilling perfect quail is simple and straightforward. The process comes down to three factors: spatchcocking, spices, and searing. Spatchcocking birds is the process of cutting out the spine of a bird and opening it up like a book for a flatter presentation. It results in a more-even cook in some scenarios, including grilling. This effect…

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America’s massive grasslands shrunk at an alarming rate, but a ray of hope has emerged in the North American Grasslands Conservation Act to bring grasslands and the upland species that rely on them back from the brink. One billion acres. Those of us who hunt are known for throwing out the acreage for places we…

The post A Bid to Save America’s Grasslands in Congress – Endless has an End appeared first on Project Upland.

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The Supreme Court could destroy the Pittman-Robertson Act in an age of culture wars. Back in 1937, Senator Pittman (D-NV) and Congressman Robertson (D-VA) sponsored the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. Hunters and firearms manufacturers championed the publicization of the proposed legislation which resulted in President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing it into law. Secretary…

The post The Return Act Threatens Conservation via the Supreme Court appeared first on Project Upland.

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A guide to teaching a dog the heel command from training methods to correction. Hiking down to a tidal marsh hosting a flock of resting geese, my friend was “heeling” his extremely large and willful Pudelpointer down a wooded clammer’s trail. It was going pretty well until the dog heard a honk and noticed geese…

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This will be the best roast Chukar you’ve ever had. Hunters who chase them know that a brace of chukar is earned, not bought. The canyon country they inhabit does not reward laziness, and generally, neither does the kitchen. But that doesn’t mean every aspect of preparing the perfect roast chukar has to be as…

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Bringing home your first puppy should involve proper preparation and expectations to make a positive experience for both you and your dog. You’ve done your research, picked the ideal dog breed, selected a reputable breeder, and now have a much-anticipated date circled on your calendar. Your new puppy will soon arrive in your home, full…

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Weatherby brings back the 20 gauge offering to their over and under Orion shotgun. Although Weatherby is best known for their innovative hunting rifles, they’ve also been manufacturing shotguns since the late 1960s. The new Weatherby Orion 20 gauge represents the latest chapter in the history of Weatherby shotguns. Zach Hein, Weatherby’s Director of Marketing,…

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Despite continued efforts an endangered species listing is an increasing likelihood for this North American prairie grouse. Envision North America’s vast southern Great Plains in the early 1800s. What do you see? Perhaps blades of bluestem grass swaying in the sunlight, horseback Comanche loping over rolling hills, or bison grazing on a river’s edge. Historically,…

The post Will the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Be Listed Endangered? appeared first on Project Upland.

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Try this German classic recipe with any upland game bird twist this grilling season Bratwurst are a must-have for any worthwhile cookout. This year, why not try stuffing that upland game bird meat in your freezer into a sausage casing? It’s a fun time for all involved; kids love this hands-on project. And, when done…

The post Upland Bratwurst: Upland Sausages with Beer and Cheddar appeared first on Project Upland.

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Watch and read the upland hunting adventures of Tyler Webster of Birds, Booze, and Buds Podcast as pursues sharptails and huns in his native North Dakota. This is a story of a love letter to North Dakota, a letter not written by me, but one which I had the honor of witnessing. Maybe it’s more…

The post Love Letter to North Dakota – A Hungarian Partridge and Sharp-tailed Grouse Story appeared first on Project Upland.

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A remarkable cast of women paved the way through history pointing dog field trials and continue to lead the growth into the future. American Field-sanctioned trials, for dogs registered with the Field Dog Stud Book, date back to October 8, 1874, when the first field trial was held near Memphis, Tennessee. The sport’s origins were…

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The Story of an Italian Custom Gunmaker and the Rota-Fausti Manufacturing Legacy I stood at the entrance to the train station in Brescia. For the past day, I traveled by car, plane, and train to arrive in a region of Italy I have come to love. As I waited, I watched people bustle about their…

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A complete guide to turning pheasant, grouse, chukar, quail, and other birds into cooking stock and broth If you shoot birds, I can promise you one thing: you should be making more stock. You already make stock? Then the question is, could you make more? Whether butchering your birds, roasting them whole, or however you…

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Is there a difference between a Deutsch Drahthaar and a German Wirehaired Pointer? Explore breeds with a foot in both North American and European Breed Clubs We’ve been talking about the role of “place” in the history and culture of hunting dog breeds, but not every breed fits neatly within geographical boundaries. There are several…

The post Drahthaars, Langhaars, Bretons, and other International Breeds in America: HDC Episode #32 appeared first on Project Upland.

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In this rugged country made of sea, fjords, high mountains, and dark forests, there is a well-kept secret of the Norwegian Hound. The Norwegian Hound, also known as the Dunker, is one of the seven Norwegian native dog breed varieties—a scent hound with outstanding hunting qualities. The mottled color and glassy eyes make it quite…

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Hunting guides and dog trainers share their thoughts on how owners can prepare their bird dog for grouse hunting and how ruffed grouse teach and influence dogs. Depending on how you choose to look at it, my very first day in the Maine grouse woods with Lincoln was either an embarrassment of riches, or just…

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Break out some pheasant breasts and raid the spice rack for this play on Hattie B’s hot chicken sandwich Perhaps you’ve heard of Hattie B’s Hot Chicken. Try it once, and you’re addicted. I visited their main location in Nashville Midtown a couple of weeks ago during a work event, when friend and coworker James Lawson…

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Learn about the recall command and how to troubleshoot any issues that may arise with your bird dog The ghost of the woods appeared for but a moment as my friend’s gun mount found its place nearly simultaneously to the shot through the thick stand of firs. Moments later, the sound of drumming leaves let…

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Beat the material shortage at the fly shop and learn how to tie five of the author’s favorite fly patterns using feathers from your past upland hunts Over the past several years, the popularity of fly tying has grown rapidly and outpaced the ability of many suppliers to restock the shelves in fly shops. While…

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Learn about the types of traps a hunting dog can encounter, how to handle it, and sharing the outdoors with our fellow trappers Frost fell from the prairie grass as it moved around our legs. The sun had come up halfway through our walk, and water droplets began crawling up the denim of my jeans.…

The post How to Remove a Dog From Foothold Traps, Snares, and Conibear Traps appeared first on Project Upland.

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Combine your wild turkey tenderloins with freshly foraged morel mushrooms for a bright springtime pasta Spring is my second favorite season. It might have been my first if it included dog work, but what it does include makes it a close second: wild turkey and morels. Both are used here to create this very brightly-toned…

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We should be a culture creating a sustainable future for wild birds, not perpetuating the shortcut of pen-raised farms for public lands It’s May, time for gazing off into our hunting daydreams in anticipation of the oncoming fall. For many of us across the country, those dreams center on the sweeping landscapes and wild birds…

The post Montana to Spend $1 Million Per Year on Pheasant Farming Instead of Habitat appeared first on Project Upland.

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Has someone truly experienced the emotions of success in hunting if they have not also experienced failure?  We sprinted along the backside of the mountain trying to get to an area with a log cutting cresting the top. The bird had already gobbled multiple times at my first set of yelps. Outwardly, I was patient…

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Learn about the nifty over-under combination gun, the Savage 24, including its history, use in the US Army Air Corps, and its 70-year production I don’t always understand why I’m drawn to a specific gun. One that I see and say to myself, “Boy, I need one of those in my collection.” Today’s gun is different, though;…

The post The Savage 24 and the History of Combination Guns — #33 of the Gun Room Podcast appeared first on Project Upland.

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From the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West to the border of Mexico, there are plenty of opportunities to hunt Rio Grande wild turkeys In hunting circles, we are beholden to a certain sort of nostalgia. Perhaps it’s simply the nature of our mostly patrilineal tradition; maybe a function of shifting baselines and rose-colored retrospect. Regardless,…

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Stop throwing out those wild turkey wings! Tenderize the tough cuts with a low-and-slow method before finishing them on a smoker or grill In my talks with successful turkey hunters so far this spring, all have admitted they saved the breasts. A couple mentioned they kept the thighs and legs. Zero of those polled said…

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Through the tradition of gunning for Southern bobwhites, the host connects the line between curated shotgun collections and regional bird hunting opportunities Like so many, I enjoy traveling. New sights, regional foods, and meeting new folks are ample motivation, though, over time, one’s travels trend based on personal interests; sports, art, food, or perhaps the…

The post Southern Bobwhite and One of the Finest Side-by-Side Collections — #32 of the Gun Room Podcast appeared first on Project Upland.

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Read the excerpt ‘Scent Cone Primer’ from The Unforgettables and Other True Fables, a collection of writings by renowned field trial reporter Bill Allen Bill Allen shot his first Bobwhite quail in 1937 over an English Setter named Kate and a Pointer named Monck in a locale which, today, is engulfed by metro Atlanta.  He…

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Learn the behaviors of the wild turkey that meanders across the West’s Big Sky Country and have a better shot at bagging one this season So you want to bag a Merriam’s wild turkey.  Let’s start with this question: What subspecies have you hunted thus far? Here’s why I ask. Any comparison needs a reference…

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Read about turning those tough turkey thighs into delicious sausage, plus sausage-making advice from expert and award-winning chef Cosmo Goss A common complaint regarding wild turkey thighs is their tough texture when cooked. There are several cooking methods to counter this and break down the tough muscle fibers and collagen, one method being sausage, which,…

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This is the story of a father and son duo, setting off in the Idaho wilderness in pursuit of the wild turkey of the West — the elusive and ever-wandering Merriam’s Presented by CZ-USA Off into the public lands of Idaho, a father and son come together in the wild for the pursuit of spring…

The post Stay With It — A Youth Turkey Hunting Film appeared first on Project Upland.

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Told from first-hand experience, the author shares the story of the loss of his puppy from a fungal infection It was Summer 2021 when our almost-13-month-old Springer Spaniel, Timber, started throwing up. She was a puppy and had a strong desire to see the world through her mouth so we assumed she had eaten something…

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The modern era of hunting dogs is characterized by technology and information, making new breeds and new ideas more accessible than ever LISTEN on Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher The end of World War II saw thousands of servicemen and servicewomen returning home to the United States and Canada, many of whom brought home new dogs they’d purchased while…

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Explore the ethics, laws, and dog training opportunities of the spring woodcock season The afternoon sun sat low through the thick cover. It glistened off the saturated ground, small patches of snow still pushing back against the oncoming spring. The sound of my Wirehaired Pointing Griffon’s bell came sharply through the undergrowth, occasionally muted by…

The post Spring Woodcock: The Quiet Period and Pointing Dog Training appeared first on Project Upland.

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A fresh, bright and light season-transitioning meal, grilled pheasant pairs perfectly with and polenta and gremolata sauce To put it simply, this recipe is the perfect transition-to-spring meal. It’s comprised of some very zesty, bright tones while also incorporating some warm comfort in the form of polenta with mixed-in goat cheese. The entire dish is…

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Hitting mailboxes in April, Project Upland Magazine Volume 4, Issue 1 highlights a season of change and standard of quality the upland community desires Spring is here! The season of rebirth and rejuvenation is upon us, and, despite the roving bands of snow pelting us in the north and the horrific storms in the south,…

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Dive into the history of the Scottish gunmaker John Dickson and his round-action shotgun, what some consider the finest side-by-side in the world Imagine you’re rich. Not comfortable, as in, “The house is almost paid for,” and not well off, as in, “The kids go to private school, and I drive a Platinum Ford F150.”…

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No matter the age, understanding the energy needs of your bird dog is crucial for a multitude of reasons The question pops up on bird dog forums and breed-specific forums on social media platforms all the time, “Can we handle the energy of a bird dog?”  The posters want to get a bird dog pup…

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The joy of turkey hunting doesn’t have to end once the season closes; consider using the feathers from your bird to tie your own fly patterns Once the spring turkey season ends, many of us pivot to our local rivers and lakes to cast flies at fish. However, the thrill of your hunt does not…

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Whether you’re stressing over the Big Dance or another big-stakes event, take the hassle out of feeding your guests with this Asian-fusion pheasant snack It’s the time of year when we sports fanatics gather for daylong festivities filled with a healthy amount of couch sitting, beer-drinking, and yelling at the television. Whether it’s the NCAA…

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A Georgia transplant recalls his opening day of the bobwhite quail season, including the magic of his dog’s first point and other lessons learned Some days do not start as you’d like them to. However, once in a while they do end the way you wanted them to.

Public land is just that; it’s for everyone. There’s a parcel of land out there to satisfy just about every outdoor enthusiast or newcomer, regardless of your interests. For me, I’m out on public land to chase wild bobwhite quail.

READ: How Public Land Bobwhite Quail Shift Patterns

Coming from New Jersey, bobwhite quail were something out of a fairytale for me; about as real as unicorns. Since arriving in Georgia, though, I’ve had the pleasure of linking up with some local folks who assured me that this was not the case. We started with some scouting in South Georgia ahead of the season opener. We weren’t able to put a point on any birds, but that didn’t stop them from taunting us with their timeless whistle. Those birds were there alright—suddenly an old wives’ tale became a newlywed’s first dance. The story of our opening day was written on the lure of an old tree that harbored whistles and some guys willing to make the drive to hear it again.

The opening day dance with bobwhite quail Sure enough, we returned on an early morning after a long ride through country back roads. For someone who’d like to keep their secret hunting spots a secret, I’m the perfect partner—just about any ride in the truck that lasts for more than an hour seems to be about as productive for me like a shot of NyQuil. You will never have to worry about me revealing directions to an undisclosed location. Instead, I always seem to wake up with just enough time to put a grin on my face that rivals a young’un on Christmas. No need for the blindfold, just make sure you’re driving.

Keeping your head up is the name of the game when hunting wild birds. Much like bird dog training, finding wild quail takes patience and consistency. We ran into a few different groups of other opening-day bird hunters that morning and shared some small talk. Let me assure you that bird hunters do not fit a predetermined mold. Not one of us shared the same look, only that we were all chasing birds with dogs in tow. I found that fact rather suiting for public land that is available for everyone.

As the day went on, it seemed we were the only ones without a little luck on our side. We ran three strings of gung-ho gun dogs waiting for their shot at a point. Cumulatively, those dogs probably covered 40 miles of plains and pines. I admire and strive for the same dedication that those dogs carry. They don’t have a lick of quit in them, but us handlers were growing hungry as the day went on. Without any birds in the bag, we retreated to some local street-side barbecue, followed by a nap. Getting back to the hunt took some encouragement, but once we turned the dogs loose, we found our groove right away. Stories were exchanged, advice was given, and we walked. And walked. Time passed slowly for the first portion of our afternoon hunt.

A bird dog’s first point Typically for me, running bird dogs has a blocking effect on whatever lies outside of that moment, just like blinders on a horse with one destination in mind. That day was different. The hunt offered a time of reflection and an opportunity to receive some much-needed advice from my closest friends.

READ: All the Bobwhite Quail In the South Aren’t Gone

What was about to happen was nothing shy of exactly what I needed that day. When you put in the effort, nature has a bag the size of Mary Poppins’s bottomless bag to pay it back to you.

“Point!”

There is a small detail I left out: my dog Colt had never been on wild birds.

“Point!”

The call started to echo until it made its way through our whole group. Colt was locked in, his head was high, and his eyes were intense. He was sure of himself. That trust between dog and handler was earned because of the work we had put in together. My partners and I walked around Colt waiting for the explosion. Bam.

Like someone had lit a fuse to one of Joe Dirt’s fireworks, the covey yielded 10 birds or more, all flying a beeline to anywhere but there. Our century-old guns all came up and released a spread, each meant for a bird. My excuse is that I was so excited for Colt’s first find that I had simply forgotten to hit one. As for my partners, well, maybe someone mixed up some blanks in that old box of RST low-pressure shells.

To speak more of the birds missed would miss the point. It didn’t matter to me; my hands were shaking as it was. Colt had put on a display of dog work that paid homage to my mentors; he confirmed our year-round training days. In short, it all came together for him—and me—on that opening day.

Give thanks for the land, the dogs, and the people We often speak of defining moments. This had been one of them, and it will never be forgotten.

The day began to retreat, providing a cool breeze and a quickly setting sun. While everyone was occupied with packing the truck, I took a moment to walk the fire road with Colt and picked a spot. We sat there and listened for a bit, taking a moment to appreciate what we had been given, both the resource as well as the people. There are people who I can no longer pick up a phone to thank, but days like this make it clear that they have not strayed far from me.

It can be difficult to express just how that feels, but, suffice it to say, say your thanks often—so long as they are genuine. Do not be afraid to be the person who tells their dog thank you, too, for they’ll be happy you did. Be fearless when you chase your passion because the right support will quickly stand beside you. And finally, do not get so focused on what is next that you forget to be grateful for what you have already had the opportunity to enjoy.

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St. Patricks day is quickly approaching; celebrate with this upland-inspired Irish dish Full transparency: despite how Irish I am, I generally don’t enjoy Irish cooking. Or the whisky, if I’m being honest.

Even the beer is subpar to several of my German and Mexican favorites. As I understand it, our Guinness in the United States is actually brewed in Canada. Or it was, at one point. Nevertheless, all these denunciations aside, this is one of my favorite recipes I have ever created. I’d put this gravy on cardboard and eat with a smile. The colcannon is savory enough to enjoy on its own, not to mention with pheasant, which is always great, though any white-flesh upland bird can be used here.

It’s also incredibly simple to make, versus last year’s St. Patrick’s Day Special: Shepherd’s Pie, which was very good, but also slightly involved.

A trick here that can be employed across all upland recipes is how I cooked the thighs—sous vide set to 150 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours, which tenderized them immensely. I then followed up with a hot-and-fast sear for texture. This same sous vide technique can be applied to legs and wings, as the lower temps for an extended period break down tough protein structures.

If you don’t have or want a sous vide cooker, you can always place the thighs in an oven-safe baking dish with chicken stock, cover with foil, set the temperature to around 150, and, again, cook for an extended period of time.

Print Grilled Pheasant with Colcannon and Guinness Onion Gravy St. Patricks day is quickly approaching; celebrate with this upland-inspired Irish dish. Course Main CourseCuisine IrishKeyword Pheasant Prep Time 8 hoursCook Time 1 hour Servings 2 people Calories 1427kcal Author Jack Hennessy Equipment* Sous vide cooker optional * Grill

IngredientsPheasants Breasts and thighs from two pheasant roosters * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper * Cooking oil spray Gravy 2 medium yellow onions thinly sliced into rings * 3 cups beef stock * 3/4 cup Guinness stout * 1 sprig fresh thyme * 1 sprig fresh sage * 2 tbsp cornstarch slurried * 1 tbsp brown sugar * 1 tbsp salted butter * 2 tsp freshly minced garlic * 1 tsp ground black pepper * 1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce * 1 tsp kosher salt * 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar * 1/2 tsp dijon mustard * Olive oil Colcannon* 2 lbs russet potatoes boiled and mashed * 1 lb fresh kale leaves only * 6 tbsp melted butter * 1 cup heavy whipping cream * 1/2 cup sliced green onions * Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Instructions* To prep thighs, lightly salt and pepper and sous vide for 8 hours at 150 degrees, or place in a baking dish and cover with foil, place in oven at 150 for 8 hours. * To make gravy, add a thin layer of olive oil to a large skillet. Add onions and lightly salt and pepper. Sear on medium heat. Once slightly seared, turn heat to medium-low to caramelize onions, which could take upwards of 45 minutes. * Once onions are caramelized or are close, add 1 tablespoon salted butter and garlic and stir in. Turn heat to medium. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then add Guinness to deglaze skillet. * After stirring in the Guinness, add balsamic vinegar. Stir for another minute then add beef stock, browning sauce, brown sugar, kosher salt, ground black pepper, and mustard, along with sprigs of thyme and sage. Reduce for 15 to 30 minutes, until beef stock is half the original amount. * Once the beef stock has reduced to half, remove thyme and sage sprigs and throw them away. Create a cornstarch slurry by adding 2 tablespoons cornstarch to a bowl and drip in cold water until it's the consistency of a paste. Add to gravy mix and stir in to thicken. Reduce to very low heat until ready to serve. * To make colcannon, wash and cut potatoes into chunks. Add to a large pot with water and bring the water to boil. Boil until the potatoes are fork-tender, around 7 to 10 minutes. * Drain the potatoes in a colander, and lightly salt and pepper. Add the pot back to the burner and reduce heat to medium-low. Add 6 tablespoons of salted butter to the pot along with kale leaves. Lightly salt and pepper once more and stir until leaves are wilted and cooked in butter. Once kale is cooked and wilted, add sliced green onions and cook for another minute. * Add potatoes back to the pot and mash in with kale. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and stir in. Add more cream if you want a creamier texture. Salt to taste. * To cook pheasant, heat a grill or skillet to 500 degrees. Spray both pheasant breasts and thighs with cooking oil and add to grill or skillet and sear both sides evenly. Remove once the breasts are 160 degrees internal and skin on both the thighs and breasts is crispy. * To serve, add pheasant to a plate along with colcannon and top with gravy. Garnish with sliced scallions.

NutritionCalories: 1427kcal | Carbohydrates: 140g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 87g | Saturated Fat: 39g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Monounsaturated Fat: 31g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 178mg | Sodium: 2502mg | Potassium: 4058mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 26370IU | Vitamin C: 314mg | Calcium: 587mg | Iron: 9mgThe post Grilled Pheasant with Colcannon and Guinness Onion Gravy appeared first on Project Upland.

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While the notion of stocking pen-raised birds to help dwindling sage grouse populations may seem like a good idea, the facts tell a completely different story On leks across the West, Greater Sage-Grouse will soon begin their famous, age-old dance. Males will strut through the sagebrush boasting about their strength and size, hoping to catch the eye of an onlooking female. Yet, whether a small, captive population near Powell, Wyo., will participate in the dance remains to be seen.

Authorization to license sage grouse game-bird farms was passed back in 2017 in Wyoming without the signoff of Wyoming’s then-Governor, Matt Mead (R), who wrote in a letter to the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, “The sage-grouse bill has become law without my signature, and I have considerable reservations with this new law.”

READ: Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) and Sage Grouse

After the passage of the bill, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission set out regulations around the venture. In the five years following the passage, only a single farm has managed to meet the benchmarks laid out. A sunset date of Dec. 31, 2022, was placed in the original legislation, but legislators and moneyed interests in the state are now seeking to remove the sunset date and allow the practice indefinitely with Senate File 61.

In theory, the practice sounds like it could be promising. We farm pheasants, chukar, and Hungarian partridge, so why not sage grouse? Unfortunately, the reality of the bill and the practice as a whole is not so simple.

Call to Action

``` To contact your Wyoming representative or state senator to express your opposition to Senate File 61, follow the link here for the general directory.

Latest news: The bill is heading to the Wyoming House where it will be heard by the Travel, Recreation, and Wildlife Committee. Committee members are: Jamie Flitner, Chad Banks, Jeremy Haroldson, Mark Jennings, Christopher Knapp, JD Williams, Sandy Newsome, Pat Sweeney, John Winter.

For more direct contact, the state legislators who are sponsoring SF 61 are:

State Senators Drew Perkins, Jim Anderson, Brian Boner, Ogden Driskill, Larry Hicks, Bill Landen, and Tara Nethercott.

House Members Donald Burkhart, Steve Harshman, Lloyd Larsen, Joe MacGuire, and Tom Walters. ```

Issues abound concerning pen-raised sage grouse As most upland hunters know, the survival rates of pen-raised birds are abysmal compared to their wild counterparts.

One study in Idaho showed that only 4 to 8 percent of pen-raised pheasants survive their first six months in the wild. In contrast, when wild birds were moved from one location to another to help struggling populations, over 40 percent survived their first six months in their new home. In Alberta, Canada, where the only other current captive sage grouse breeding program exists, only two out of 66 captive-reared grouse released in 2018 survived their first year, and only one hatched a brood. The Canadian project is funded with millions of dollars and operated by the Calgary Zoo, in cooperation with the Canadian government, to supplement a dwindling population that is listed as endangered in the country. This is wildly different from the situation in Wyoming where grouse are being removed from the wild by a private company and are privately owned, where the meager additions from captive breeding are unlikely to make a meaningful difference to populations.

In Wyoming, despite being plagued by setbacks and having little demonstration of success, the moneyed interests behind the venture are painting it as an altruistic conservation effort to “save the species,” despite its lack of promise.

The first snag was struck in 2020, the first year that the farm was licensed to collect wild eggs. Each licensee through the legislation is permitted to collect up to 250 wild eggs from nests annually. Collecting eggs has proved to be a time consuming and expensive endeavor, as the WGFD is required to put in staff hours to supervise all collections, and technologies employed to find nests include drones and GPS tracking devices placed on captured hens. Even with this time and money invested, the farm failed to find a single nest in 2020. In the spring of 2021, with refined methods, they collected 134 eggs and hatched 110 chicks. The farm currently holds 51 surviving grouse a little under a year later.

The next hurdle facing the farm will be proving that the grouse will display mating activity in captivity; then that the birds can successfully hatch eggs. Only then can they even begin to tackle the largest problem with the venture: the survival rates of pen-raised birds in the wild.

Experts across North America agree that the real challenge facing the Greater Sage-Grouse stems from the continued destruction and fragmentation of their habitat, the great sagebrush sea of the intermountain west. Putting more birds on a landscape that is already struggling to support current populations, especially birds with significantly lower survival skills, is unlikely to yield any conservation value for the species. This is why the venture has faced opposition from scientists and sportsmen in Wyoming from the start, including groups such as the Wyoming chapter of the Wildlife Society, the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, The Wyoming Sportsmen’s Alliance, and the Audubon Society.

The oil and gas undertones of Senate File 61 and pen-raised sage grouse The true intentions and goals of the current farm, Diamond Wing Upland Game Birds, remain muddy. The champions of the venture generally claim that it is a selfless endeavor meant to preserve sage grouse and contribute to research, but their data is held as proprietary and they are not under any legal obligation to share it. The sage grouse breeding program is funded by Diamond Sage Grouse Foundation Inc., also known as the Sage Grouse Recovery Foundation. The Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit founded and funded by men invested in the oil and gas industry. In testimony before the Senate Travel, Recreation, and Wildlife Committee, the president and director of the Foundation stated that in the future, they’d like to see pen-raised birds used as a mitigation measure for the impacts to grouse associated with oil and gas development. It is not too far of a stretch to infer that the nonprofit provides an avenue to financially support the farming venture and future cheaper and easier mitigation measures with tax-deductible donations that can then be funneled to the farm.

READ: The Sage Grouse Crisis Has Reached Critical Mass

The use of pen-raised birds would be a misguided attempt to offset impacts, since the problem with oil and gas development for sage grouse is generally not direct mortality, but habitat destruction and fragmentation. Releasing birds without survival skills on a landscape that can’t support them is not effective mitigation in the long-term. Sage grouse do not have a population problem in Wyoming, they have a habitat problem that cannot be solved with artificial supplementation.

Opposition to Senate File 61 and the stocking of pen-raised sage grouse In 2017, when advising on regulation after the bill was passed, the Wildlife Society wrote, “Scientific literature suggests that most artificially-reared grouse species die within a few weeks of release due primarily to behavioral deficiencies in released animals, including foraging, predator avoidance, and social deficiencies. Further, the scientific literature pertaining to the captive rearing of sage-grouse as well as other species is consistent in suggesting that the methods, handling protocols and facilities used to rear sage-grouse in captivity directly influence the survivability of individuals upon release…Therefore, the release of sage-grouse that are behaviorally adapted to survive to be recruited into a wild population, nest, and successfully raise chicks constitute unique success criteria for a bird farm.”

The farm in question has not even come close to meeting these criteria of “success,” but proponents continue to push forward by painting it as a research venture that must be seen through. However, they don’t need the sunset date removed in order to continue their experiment. They would be allowed to continue owning the birds that they already have in custody under a special permit and work cooperatively with the Game and Fish Department to establish breeding behavior and bird releases. What removing the sunset date with SF61 woulddo, is allow the licensing of more farms and the continued collection of wild eggs by every licensee.

Even if the current farm does have altruistic intentions, Wyoming cannot afford to allow the practice of privatizing wildlife to continue, especially with no guarantee that future license applicants would have such noble intentions. The risks are high, from disease outbreaks to nest disturbance to setting a precedent that the state rejected in 1975 when they outlawed farming deer and elk on the basis that native wildlife belongs in the public trust. Wyomingites, especially hunters, foot the bill and have a vested interest in sage grouse populations and conservation. They shouldn’t have birds taken from their hands and placed into private custody. Farming does not factor into Wyoming’s sage grouse conservation strategy, which is robust and focused on realistic and pragmatic solutions.

Further, the state’s governors have a long history in working cooperatively with conservation groups, industrial entities, the Wyoming Sage Grouse Implementation Team (SGIT), and other stakeholders to work toward solutions for sage-grouse conservation that have never factored farming in as a realistic or beneficial solution. Part of these efforts have been executive orders on the subject, which have been supported by three administrations in Wyoming. Current Governor, Mark Gordon (R), has continued this tradition of collaboration and in 2019 he passed the most recent executive order meant to improve on the protections passed down by his predecessors. Upon its signing, he remarked, “This executive order shows how this administration has embraced a proven strategy that is the framework for how Wyoming approaches conservation. It is impressive that such a wide array of interests understand the importance of this issue to Wyoming’s economy and our ecology and were willing to work together to build the strong foundation of this strategy.”

SF 61 passed through the Senate Travel, Recreation, and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 22, and it will continue to readings on the Senate and House floors in the coming days. If you’ve ever dreamt of upland hunting this icon of the West in one of its great strongholds, I would encourage you to stand with Wyoming’s conservation community in telling the Wyoming legislature that sage grouse belong in the public trust, on the landscape. I know that hunters will continue their long legacy of protecting and restoring the habitats that wildlife need, and that is what will safeguard the sage grouse into the future.

Studies and sources Copeland, H, and Hollorand, M. (2017, July 22). “RE: Chapter 60: Regulation Governing Greater Sage-grouse Raised on Private Game Bird Farms,” Public Comment on Chapter 60 (Draft 5-22-17.12).

Musil, D.D. and Connelly, J.W. (2009, March 1). “Survival and Reproduction of Pen-Reared vs Translocated Wild Pheasants Phasianus colchicus,” Wildlife Biology 15(1), 80-88.

Wyoming Legislature. (2022, February 22). Senate Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Meeting, February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://youtu.be/-jZPZEQPyFw.

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Meaningful conversations about ethics are a critical piece of hunter education and growth “The coveys are small and the birds are flushing like pen-raised birds,” the phone call said. “They only flew about 30 yards and I didn’t have the heart to chase them.”

What had started as another great chukar season for us turned quickly when our favorite spots got blanketed in an unusual amount of snow and, worse, a thick crust of ice. My friend had called to let us know that our plans to get together didn’t seem like such a great idea anymore.

Another friend and veteran bird hunter made similar comments.

“I think our season might be over; the birds are really stressed with the ice and they’re going to have a hard enough time surviving without the added stress of being hunted.”

READ: Etiquette in Public Land Chukar Hunting

It certainly wasn’t the news I wanted to hear. I haven’t hunted long enough to appreciate the weather cycles and how one season can be so out of the norm. Last year was our best season yet—we invested a ton of time in the field and started to enjoy some regular success—and I held a lot of hope that this season would be even better. I didn’t expect it to end with a resounding thud, six weeks early, with plenty of goals left unmet.

Taking responsibility for individual choices When we canceled our hunting trip, the season was very much open and it was entirely legal to go shoot birds. It may have been overkill to call it off with nothing more than a gut feel from a couple of veterans. But these are hunters who have seen decades’ worth of hunting seasons come and go, with a wide variance in winter survival and spring hatch rates over the years. I trusted their instinct completely.

The premature end of our upland bird season was yet another learning experience for me, especially around the question of ethics in upland bird hunting. The law may be black and white, but ethics live in the gray space found in between. Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should—and one person’s view won’t necessarily match another’s.

Sarah Garrison, a small game specialist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, offered some insight into making the call when the weather turns bad.

“That’s a situation where it is up to the hunter to determine what they individually consider ethical and fair chase,” Garrison said. “One of the tenets of the hunter’s code of conduct is to, ‘Learn more about the habits and habitats of game and non-game wildlife and their management needs.’ By better understanding the biology and ecology of a species, hunters can make more informed decisions to define ‘fair chase’ for themselves. Under catastrophic conditions where populations might be at risk, WDFW can issue an emergency rule change to close a season or area.”

The role state agencies play in hunting ethics Garrison went on to explain how regulations and ethics coexist within the WDFW’s approach to managing wildlife.

“Hunting regulations necessarily provide the sideboards for take and chase,” she said. “Within those sideboards, ethics also play a role in the rule-making process. For example, as technology advances, we are constantly re-assessing what constitutes fair chase. Public input during the rule-making process is critical for hunters and non-hunters to show where they draw the line so that regulation can be set appropriately. Ethics are constantly evolving at both the individual and societal level, so public input allows managers to keep a finger on the pulse when recommending regulations.”

Like many other state agencies, the WDFW offers public resources to address the topic of ethics in hunting and other outdoor recreation. The Hunter’s Code of Conduct is a good starting point for thinking about how safety and respect factor into hunting ethics. This code is taught in required hunter’s education courses for new hunters but is worth revisiting for experienced hunters, too. Additionally, the state’s game management plans factor in hunter ethics, behavior, and issues of fair chase when setting long-term strategies for wildlife.

Teaching and sharing ethics in upland hunting It doesn’t matter where you hunt or what species you target—there are solid ethical questions and debates in every area. These can range from self-imposed limits in sensitive areas to voluntary lead bans. Like Garrison pointed out, state and federal agencies set the laws and rules that govern our seasons, bag limits, and other regulations, but the ethical questions are ultimately up to individual hunters.

I’m grateful for the mentorship of others when it comes to the how and where of hunting, but I’m especially thankful for the meaningful conversations we’ve had around ethics. These conversations allow me to see myself as a part of the ecosystem, not an outside visitor. I urge anyone who is mentoring a newer hunter to engage in these conversations. You don’t need to have all the answers, but your willingness to discuss these gray areas will go a long way in the growth and maturity of a new hunter.

Yet, to get the hunting community to unanimously unite around certain viewpoints or to legislate ethics into existence, that’s neither realistic nor productive. I believe it’s the discussion that matters—the meaningful discourse whereby hunters consider the impacts of their actions on the larger environment and reflect on those impacts within the community. We may come to different conclusions after reviewing the same set of facts, and that’s OK. It’s the conscious acknowledgment of the issues that define an important step toward becoming a more responsible community.

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Although traditionally a shellfish recipe, this traditional Cajun dish can easily be served with upland bird meat Yes, étouffée is traditionally made with shellfish (often crawfish), but for us bird hunters wanting to create a special Cajun dish for Mardi Gras, there’s nothing wrong with employing quail or other upland meat.

As I understand it, traditional étouffée—the authentic Cajun version—does not contain tomatoes. Same goes for gumbo. If either contains tomatoes, it’s considered a creole variation. Serious Cajuns get insulted if you serve tomatoes in étouffée, and we don’t want that, so we kept this recipe simple but mostly authentic—at least, in regard to no tomatoes.

The Cajun “Holy Trinity” of bell peppers, onions, and celery is applied here. For the Cajun seasoning, I went with Bearded Butchers Blend Cajun Seasoning. You are welcome to use whatever Cajun seasoning blend you like. I also listed a couple additional, optional spices below, including red pepper chili flakes, which I did not use but can add an extra kick, if you wish.

I kept the quail whole for the photo, but shredded when serving, so feel welcome to serve however you think is best for your guests.

Print Quail Étouffée Although traditionally a shellfish recipe, this traditional Cajun dish can easily be served with upland bird meat. Course Main CourseCuisine CajunKeyword Quail Prep Time 2 hoursCook Time 45 minutes Servings 2 people Calories 2220kcal Author Jack Hennessy Equipment* 1 Dutch oven or * 1 large pot * 1 cast iron skillet

Ingredients 4 whole quail spatchcocked * 1 red bell pepper diced * 1 green bell pepper diced * 2 celery ribs diced * 1/2 yellow onion diced * 4 cups chicken stock * 2 cups clam juice * 1 tsp paprika * 1 1/2 cups long grain rice * 2 cups cold water * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper * Sunflower (or similar high-heat) oil Roux 1 cup flour * 1/2 cup sunflower (or similar) oil * 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning Optional spices and ingredients* 1 tsp freshly minced thyme * 1 tbsp red pepper chili flakes * Scallions for garnish

Instructions* Begin to prepare the quail. Fully thaw and spatchcock (removing spine and flattening) with kitchen shears. Pat dry and lightly salt and pepper and place in fridge until 1 hour prior to cooking. Remove to bring closer to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. * While quail is coming to room temperature, dice vegetables and heat a large pot or Dutch oven on medium heat. Add a thin layer of sunflower oil along with diced vegetables. Lightly salt and pepper and sear until slightly soft. * When vegetables are cooked, add clam juice and chicken stock, as well as paprika (and optional spices, if you like) to the pot or Dutch oven with vegetables. Turn heat to medium low. * Make the roux by adding flour and sunflower oil to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently so not to burn. The goal is a light-brown roux—a shade darker than dry sand. When this color is reached, turn off heat and add Cajun seasoning. Stir in seasoning. * Add hot roux to pot with liquids and vegetables. Stand back as it will react. Stir in roux to thicken liquids, then turn heat to low. * While vegetable mixture simmers, heat a large cast-iron skillet to 500 degrees and add a thin layer of sunflower oil. Cook quail breast-side down until seared, roughly 1-2 minutes. Flip and add to oven to cook for 10 minutes. Remove quail and allow to rest for 5 minutes before shredding. * While the quail are in the oven, cook your rice. Combine the rice and cold water to medium saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn heat to low once a boil starts. Rice is done once all the water is absorbed, roughly 10-15 minutes. * To serve, add ample helping of rice to bowl and smother with stew from pot. Add hand-shredded quail and garnish with sliced scallions

NutritionCalories: 2220kcal | Carbohydrates: 215g | Protein: 99g | Fat: 105g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Monounsaturated Fat: 63g | Cholesterol: 273mg | Sodium: 1820mg | Potassium: 2125mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 6330IU | Vitamin C: 164mg | Calcium: 176mg | Iron: 21mgThe post Quail Étouffée appeared first on Project Upland.

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As dog shows and field trials became popular, 19th-century Americans looked to standardize the breeding and use of hunting dogs, starting with Pointers and Setters. Up until the late nineteenth century, the use and breeding of hunting dogs in North America was rather chaotic. Dogs were used in a variety of different ways, whether it was market hunters using Setters to retrieve waterfowl or big game hunters using Pointers to track and hold wounded elk at bay. There was no consistency in the breeding, either, as different types of dogs were often mixed and matched at will.

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Before long, though, some of the same concepts from the industrial revolution found their way into the dog fancy. In order to achieve consistent results, fanciers knew they needed to apply a consistent technique along with a form of quality control. Registries were formed, pedigrees were issued, and dogs were judged according to newly established standards. The result was consistency in breeding and a standardized form and function for the dogs.

While hunting was still an everyman’s activity, dog enthusiasts knew that they needed “men of means” in order for dog breeding to really gain momentum. Before long, success in the show ring and in field trials was accompanied by increased social standing. This increased attention—and financial backing—was exactly what hunting dogs needed to reach their golden age.

Pointers and Setters were the first breeds to become established in North America, but imported dogs from Europe soon followed. The “Russian Setter” (likely a Wirehared Pointing Griffon) was an early arrival, followed soon after by the Brittany, German Shorthaired Pointer, and the Labrador. We discuss some theories on why—with the exception of the Griffon—those early imported breeds went on to become some of the most popular hunting dogs in North America today.

We end the episode right around the end of the second World War, when returning servicemen and women were bringing new German hunting dog breeds back home to North America. The economic boom and the growth of the middle class fueled an explosion in popularity for many of these dog breeds. For some dogs, popularity was both a blessing and a curse. Stay tuned for the next episode where we discuss some of these examples.

Enjoy the show and don’t forget to rate, review, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Share | Comment, review and discuss this episode of the podcast in our Project Upland Community Facebook group.

Hunting Dog Confidential is presented by Eukanuba Premium Performance Dog Foodand supported by Syren USA and Kent Cartridge.

The post The Golden Age of Hunting Dogs in North America: HDC Episode #30 appeared first on Project Upland.

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Despite the 2021 show being canceled due to COVID-19, this year’s installment of the largest upland show in the US is shaping up to be a great time With many hunting seasons behind us, another opening day is quickly approaching: the kick-off for Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic.

Held March 11-13 in Omaha, Neb., the 2022 installment of the event is shaping up to be an exciting one as well as a readjustment from the cancellation of the 2021 show due to COVID-19. So, after that short hiatus, what’s to expect at this year’s three-day event?

The show returns and what’s in store With the 2021 South Dakota show canceled, hosts Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are bringing plenty to this western gateway city. The show is housed at the CHI Medical Center and will run from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, with tickets starting at $7.50 for one day and capping at $185 for the full-weekend package that includes access to the entire event, including Friday’s Upland Rally and Saturday’s national banquet, as well as an annual membership to the organization.

According to PF/QF, the show is multipurpose and “will focus on wildlife conservation, upland game bird hunting (pheasant and quail), dog training, and wildlife habitat management and restoration.” Further, as noted by PF/QF President and CEO Howard Vincent, the “National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic is driven by the person-to-person interactions surrounding our partners, exhibitors, bird dogs, hunting heritage, youth, banquets, and so much more.“

Multiple seminars will be held with topics ranging from women in hunting, getting started in upland hunting, hunting behind well-trained bird dogs, falconry, mentoring, and more. Additionally, many big names in the hunting industry and conservation realm will be present, including Durrell Smith, Sam Soholt, Seth Bynum DVM, Tom and Tina Dokken, Ronnie and Rick Smith, Hank Shaw, Jack Hennessy, Bri Van Scotter, Ryan Callaghan, Christine Peterson, Land Tawney, Ben Jones, Whit Fosburgh, Doug Duren, and many more.

WATCH: Get the Art featuring Durrell Smith

Other events of interest include public land happy hour on Saturday at 5 p.m., multiple cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, youth events, and more.

Vendors at Pheasant Fest Plenty of recognizable brands and organizations will be at Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic this year, including multiple firearm manufacturers, member-supported non-profits, Project Upland, and others.

Some of the firearm and ammunition manufacturers slated to be at the show are Beretta, Benelli, BOSS Shotshells, Bio Ammo, Browning, CZ-USA, Federal Premium, Fiocchi, Hevi-Shot, Kent, Remington, and Weatherby. Joining them are organizations such as Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Ruffed Grouse Society, TRCP, North American Grouse Partnership, multiple breed clubs, as well as brands like MeatEater, Sage and Braker, Hunt Redi, PYKE Gear, Orvis, OnX Maps, Eukanuba, and others. A map of the show floor can be found here.

WATCH: How to Clean an Over and Under Shotgun featuring Fred Bohm of Sage and Braker

Further, Project Upland and Hunting Dog Confidential will be at booths 1714 and 1615, which are right next to each other. Our booths neighbor RGS and BHA and are close to the public lands pavilion, a new addition to the show in 2020. Stop by and say hello to our team, which will include Project Upland’s Founder and Creative Director A.J. DeRosa, our Director of Operations, Managing Editor of Hunting Dog Confidential Magazine, and Co-host of the Hunting Dog Confidential podcast Jennifer Wapenski, and Project Upland’s Managing Editor Andrew Spellman.

We will have great deals for magazine subscriptions and gear and would love to chat with you. Additionally, 10 percent of our sales will be dedicated to the Open Fields and Waters Program, a state-based conservation program created by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in 2009 to “increase public access opportunities to private lands.” According to Nebraska Game and Parks, over 850 landowners take part in OFW, a success for hunting access in a state that is overwhelmingly held by private landowners (97 percent).

All in all, this year’s Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic is shaping up to be a great event. Be sure to book your tickets as soon as possible and come enjoy the weekend with like-minded individuals who care about protecting, enhancing, and creating premier upland bird habitat for generations to come.

The post The 2022 Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic is Almost Here — This is What to Expect appeared first on Project Upland.

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The author explores the German Shorthaired Pointer’s multiple connections with hunting dogs around the world to give a comprehensive overview of the breed EDITOR’S NOTE: Most of the information provided in this article comes from Pointing Dogs Volume 1: The Continentals written by Craig Koshyk. To buy this book, click here.

​​Build a Better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

One hundred and fifty years ago, the people of Germany struggled to create a united nation out of a patchwork of tiny kingdoms, city-states, and fiefdoms. Around the same time, german hunters also struggled to create a national breed of short-haired pointing dog. Eventually, both goals were realized.

Today, Germany is a rich and united republic and the German Shorthaired Pointer sits in triumph as the most successful continental pointing breed in the world.

The history of the German Shorthaired Pointer Most histories of the German Shorthaired Pointer begin in the 1870s with a newly unified Germany and a growing middle class of hunters seeking an all-around hunting dog. But the seeds of breed’s creation were sown centuries earlier when pointing dogs from France, Italy, and Spain made their way into the Germanic states and developed into regional varieties of Hühner-Hunde—bird dogs.

Before the turn of the 19th century, pointing dogs were never really bred in large numbers in Germany, nor was there much effort put into improving them for fieldwork. German hunters back then—typically aristocrats with the wealth and authority to hunt—were more interested in hunting big game. They mainly bred tracking dogs and running hounds to pursue deer and boar, but in the mid-1800s the situation began to change. Lightweight, affordable shotguns had become more widely available and, in 1848, the common man had won the right to own them. He had also won the right to hunt. And what he wanted to hunt was everything: fur, feather, small and big game—on land and in the water. So, naturally, the idea of developing an all-around breed of dog that could point, retrieve, track, swim, and dispatch predators began to take hold. There was only one problem: there were no do-it-all dog breeds around back then, and no one knew how to go about creating one.

WATCH: A Deutsch Kurzhaar Story – Bird Dog Trainer for a Day

For one group of breeders, the solution lay in recreating a type of dog that they believed used to exist. It was their “father’s grandfather’s” dog—a solid, old-fashioned German hunting dog capable of all things. They even came up with what, to them, was a foolproof way of doing it. They would select and breed dogs that looked like the “Old Germanic” dogs, and the all-around abilities would automatically follow. Unfortunately, this approach was based on two fatally flawed ideas. First, there never were any ancient all-around German hunting dogs. They existed only in the overheated imaginations of the patriots who promoted them. Fervent nationalism blinded them to the fact that their fathers and grandfathers probably never had hunting dogs of any kind, let alone some kind of wonder-dog capable of all things.

Second, they had somehow managed to get the relationship between a dog’s function and its form completely backward. Selecting dogs with supposedly Germanic ears and Germanic heads did not automatically make them awesome all-around hunting dogs. In fact, in terms of performance, the more the group clung to their misguided beliefs, the worse it got. They ended up with, as one critic called them, “cold-blooded clods,” that lumbered about the field, their heavy bodies and short legs preventing them from moving at anything more than a slow, clumsy trot. Photographs from the period show just how poorly built these experimental beasts were. One, a dog named Feldman I, owned by Prince Albrecht of Solms-Braunfels, looked like he was assembled out of spare parts left over from the creation of the Basset Hound and the Bulldog.

But the breeders adhering to their “form first” idea were led by influential figures such as Karl Brandt. Their main goal was clear: to create a German-looking dog. But in the political context of the time, “German-looking” was code for “not English-looking”. So, if English Pointers had short triangular ears, German dogs must have long rounded ears. If the muzzle of the English dogs had a pronounced stop, then German dogs must have little to no stop, and so on.

Fortunately, more level-headed and pragmatic breeders believed that the best way to develop an all-around gundog was to focus on performance and let appearance take care of itself. Their motto was, “durch Leistung zum Typ,” or, “form follows function.” They believed that the form of a dog must follow its function and that “Germanic” appearance had nothing at all to do with how well a dog could hunt. They even dispensed with much of the nationalistic bombast of their counterparts and crossed their dogs with English Pointers and Setters to gain speed, range, and nose. Eventually, these breeders won the day. Their dogs proved to be superior in every way to the dogs bred by the “form first” group.

In 1879, a standard for the German Shorthaired Pointer was agreed upon and, in 1880, a breed club was formed. Originally called the Brauntigerklubs in reference to the breed’s brown and white roan “tiger” coat, the following year it was renamed Klub Kurzhaar. Shortly thereafter, in 1897, the club began holding hunt tests and established its first studbook. Growth for the GSP was steady throughout the early 1900s, and, by the 1930s, overall breed type had been firmly established and the long-sought-after all-around abilities finally secured.

German Shorthaired Pointers and the North American connection It was around this time, just before World War 2, that the GSP began to appear in North America. Dr. Charles K. Thornton of Montana is usually credited with establishing the breed in the United States in the 1920s and 30s. However, it is known that several GSPs had already made their way to the country, most likely with families emigrating from Germany.

With the onset of the Second World War, imports of German-bred dogs to the U.S. ceased. During the conflict, the GSP, like all the other breeds, suffered terribly. By 1945, it was in rough shape. Many breeders had been killed or displaced and their lines destroyed or reduced to very few individuals. During the first few years of Allied occupation, tests and trials were not permitted and hunting was strictly forbidden. Even meetings among breeders and breed supporters were difficult to arrange. Undaunted, breeders continued to pursue their efforts, and by 1949 were once again testing their dogs in the field.

READ: German Shorthaired Pointers for Waterfowl Hunting

The 1950s and 60s were years of rapid expansion for the breed in Germany and throughout much of the rest of the world. In the U.S., in particular, the breed’s popularity grew by leaps and bounds as more and more hunters and field trailers discovered its qualities. By the 1970s, the GSP had become one of the most popular hunting dogs in North America and much of Europe. It remains so to this day.

The Spanish Pointer connection to German Shorthaired Pointers No one knows the exact mixture of raw material that was used to create the GSP, but most authorities believe that the Spanish Pointer played an important role in the early days. Considering the geography and history of the region, this idea would seem to make sense. After all, Germanic and Hispanic cultures have had close contact for centuries, so there would have been ample opportunity for Spanish dogs to reach Germany. But the same thing could be said about Italian, French, and English dogs—they could have made their way to Germany just as easily. To prove a direct connection between German and Spanish dogs, we need more than just guesswork.

Searching the available literature, I found that most English sources naturally focus on the role Spanish dogs played in the development of the British pointing breeds. German sources were not much help either. They tend to be rather vague, often just referring to dogs “from the Mediterranean area.” French and Italian sources frequently mention the possible connections between their dogs and the GSP, but hardly ever mention Spanish or English Pointers. An excellent example is from the book

Il Cane by Angelo Vecchio, published in 1897. According to Vecchio, the GSP was simply:

“…another beautiful degenerate son of the great Italian Bracco! that our German friends don’t hear me, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble I would be in. But let’s just say that the general form of the German Pointer is an imperfect reproduction of our Bracco Lombardo” (Angelo Vecchio, Il Cane, quoted by Claudio De Giuliani, L’ Enciclopedia dei Bracchi, 23-24)

It wasn’t until I learned to read Spanish that I found clear indications that Spanish pointing dogs probably did make their way directly from Spain to Germany. Among the most detailed accounts are those found in an article written by José Manuel Sanz Timón, a veterinarian geneticist who has spent much of his life studying Spanish dog breeds and who was instrumental in the restoration of the Burgos Pointer. He wrote:

“...the oldest description of the that we know of is from a German officer of the Legion Guelfa, better known as “The King’s German Legion”…a body of mercenaries in the service of the British crown. … Captain Schwertfeger in Hanover, in his book Geschichte der Deutschen Legion Königlich 1907, also cites this breed of dogs as gifts and presents from the patriots in the lands of Burgos and provides this brief description: Strong of body and head, white and brown spots and freckles….These individuals were transferred to Germany and shortly thereafter gave rise to the breed known as the Württemberg Pointer, which was a major input for the genetic selection of the current German Shorthaired Pointer” (José Manuel Sanz Timón, El Perro Perdiguero Burgalés, quoted by Ángel Martíñez Ibáñez, El Perdiguero de Burgos, 34).

In 2008, I traveled to Spain to photograph Burgos Pointers. My first impression of the dogs was that they do resemble the photos I had seen of early GSPs. When I asked their breeders about the similarities, they mentioned that there have been crosses of GSPs into lines of Burgos Pointers in the last 20 years, so that might explain some of the similarities. But they also said that the Burgos Pointer was used to refresh GSP lines many years before that, around the time of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.

Searching for documentation to support these claims, I consulted an excellent book about the Burgos Pointer written by Ángel Martíñez Ibáñez. In it, I found the following eyewitness account presented by José Manuel Sanz Timón:

“The Civil War was a time when many individuals of the breed were taken, at ridiculous prices, to Germany. The Condor Legion took planes full of dogs to Central Europe. This event—obviously difficult for the Germans to admit—is true, and there is an exceptional witness. The current colonel, Don Raúl García Bengoechea, who was assigned to the capital of the national zone at that time, personally saw how this emigration was carried out. They bought adult females, pregnant females, and puppies, as well as males. One cannot say how many dogs the Germans took, but it is assumed that it was many—and the best” (José Manuel Sanz Timón, El Perro Perdiguero Burgalés, quoted in Ángel Martíñez Ibáñez, El Perdiguero de Burgos, 51).

So it seems there is very good evidence that at least one breed of Spanish pointing dog, the Burgos, did go to Germany in the 1930s. Others must have preceded it in the 18th and 19th centuries. But exactly how much of a role any breed of Spanish pointing dog played in the development of the GSP is, of course, open to speculation.

Arkwright Pointers and their connection to German Shorthaired Pointers Another breed often referred to in the history of the GSP is the so-called Arkwright Pointer. It is usually credited with bringing in a high nose, a solid point, and, most significantly, the black coat. Curiously, the term “Arkwright Pointer” only seems to appear in GSP histories. I have found no mention of it in histories of the English Pointer. William Arkwright never called his dogs “Arkwright Pointers”—to him, they were English Pointers with black coats. They had been around for a long time before he began to breed them, and he considered them to be among the purest strains.

So why did the Germans call them Arkwright Pointers? I suspect that it was a matter of political correctness. To avoid using the term English Pointer, they came up with something a little more palatable. A similar situation occurred around the time of the First World War when anti-German feelings were running high in the United States and United Kingdom—the name of the German Shepherd Dog was changed to “Alsatian.”

With the tremendous success the breed has had in field trials in the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, and elsewhere, accusations of more recent crossbreeding have been made for decades. The most common “culprit” of these allegations is the English Pointer. Some believe that many dogs registered as German Shorthaired Pointers are now about as German as an order of fish and chips. When I’ve discussed these accusations with breeders in Europe and North America, I’ve received answers ranging from vehement denials to sly nods and winks. So far no one has admitted anything publicly, nor has any GSP club officially sanctioned any sort of program to infuse outside blood. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that crossbreeding has occurred in some areas in the last half-century. But just as some of the changes seen in the breed are almost certainly due to the Pointer influence, many are due to highly focused selective breeding done by people trying to build a better mousetrap for different outdoor pursuits, terrains, and types of game.

Craig Koshyk’s take on German Shorthaired Pointers It is often said that the German Shorthaired Pointer is the most popular versatile breed in the world. My travels seem to confirm its No. 1 position. I’ve seen GSPs in Saskatchewan and Slovakia, Arizona and Austria, and a dozen other places in between. I’ve seen the wide variety of types within the breed, from traditional utility dogs in Germany, to “little white rockets” in Canada and the U.S., but when it came time to write my views on the breed, one very special dog—from right here in Manitoba—came to mind.

His name was Willy. He was prairie-bred and built like a pickup truck. In his prime, he was one of the best sharptail and pheasant dogs I’d ever seen. But as he got older, the many miles of northern prairie he’d covered began to catch up with him. At 14, he was nearly deaf and blind, but he was still able to hobble around his owner’s yard where members of our small pointing dog club would occasionally meet for informal training sessions.

One day, as we were working young dogs on planted pigeons, Willy lay on the grass snoring under the warm summer sun. Out in the field, about 50 yards away, a pup was on point. A handler walked up, flushed the planted bird, and fired a blank. At the sound of the gun, Willy woke with a start. He struggled to his shaky legs and made a wobbly beeline to the field. It took him a while to cover the 50 yards, but once he was there, he made a short cast to the left, another to the right, and found the scent cone. Then, like an ultra-slow motion scene right out of The Matrix, he eased into a picture-perfect point.

I have no idea how many hundreds, or even thousands, of points Willy had made during his lifetime, but standing there that day, I knew I was seeing his last. As his owner took him by the collar and gently led him away, a fist-sized lump formed in my throat. By summer’s end, Willy had passed away. A proper gravestone now marks his final resting place near the training field.

To me, and I suspect to many others who had the pleasure of hunting with him, Willy embodied the very essence of his breed: a handsome hunting dog, a brave, loyal companion as honest and strong as the day is long.

The post ‘The Most Popular Versatile Dog in the World’ — A Historical Breakdown of the German Shorthaired Pointer appeared first on Project Upland.

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Colorado SB22-031 is the most recent example that the intensity of anti-hunting and anti-sportsmen bills is reaching new peaks, and it’s time for statehouses to leave management decisions to the experts EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 1 of a two-part series that looks at how wildlife is managed on a state level, as well as the ramifications of management vis-à-vis law-making that isn’t based on science.

It seems as if 2021 and the first month of the new year have played host to an unprecedented number of attacks on hunting and traditions. Although some could argue this, the truth is, the number of anti-sportsmen bills—a term used by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF)—are within the average range.

The readiness of state legislatures to push forward anti-sportsmen bills, however, is anything but normal.

“CSF tracks legislation nationwide as it relates to hunting, fishing, trapping, recreational shooting, and science-based wildlife management, which usually equates to between 4,000 and 5,500 bills per year,” said Ellary TuckerWilliams, CSF’s Rocky Mountain States Senior Coordinator and Internal Marketing Communications Liaison. “Comparing the exact number of anti-sportsmen bills from one year to another is a bit misleading given that the total bill volume varies significantly between odd- and even-numbered years based on legislative cycles. We prefer to look at these figures through the lens of the relative percentages of the bills that fall into the anti-sportsmen category compared to pro or neutral.

“Looking back at our records to 2017, the percentage of those introduced bills that were unfriendly towards sportsmen and women typically varies between roughly 14 percent and 19 percent, with 2021 being a little over 15 percent. Although the relative percentage of bills in the anti-category has remained relatively stable, there has been a demonstrated increase in the earnestness with which the legislatures work to advance them, and the pro-sportsmen percentage has been dropping off. Collectively this has resulted in many conservation organizations having to devote increased time, energy, and resources to playing defense in state capitols across the nation.”

TuckerWilliams was at the forefront of the fight against Colorado SB22-031 for CSF, a bill that was defeated late Feb. 2. But SB22-031, introduced Jan. 12 by State Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis, would have prohibited hunting or trapping bobcat and mountain lion, and would preemptively prohibited hunting or trapping Canada Lynx—designated as endangered by the state in 1973 and as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2000. The move to add the lynx into the bill likely came from a 2018 recommendation by the USFWS to consider delisting the species due to recovered populations. Not only will the bill put the kibosh on a much-needed season, it will also put an end to a long-standing tradition of hounding.

Though the bill was killed, there still have been other pieces of anti-hunting and anti-sportsmen legislation introduced around the country such as the failed New Hampshire House Bill 1308 and two stalled bills in Vermont, H. 172 and 316, which warrant a discussion about state governments’ role in hunting seasons, bag limits, and more.

This hasn’t been a recent development When pressed further about what has emboldened state legislatures to press anti-sportsmen legislation, TuckerWilliams explained that, despite the stability of the percentage of bills, the intents are much more “insidious and aggressive.”

“Instead of trying to take one apple at a time they seem to be coming for the entire tree,” she said. “I also want to highlight that these attacks don’t just happen within state legislatures, they are also happening during the regulatory process with the state Game and Fish Commissions and through ballot initiatives. Last year we lost trapping on public land in New Mexico thanks to SB 32. Oregon Initiative Petition 13 would, if successful, ban all hunting and fishing in the state and the proponents are currently gathering signatures to drive it to the ballot. Washington State canceled their 2022 spring bear season through the rule-making process. We also are focused on California’s bear hunting ban petition, antis bombarding the Arizona Game and Fish commission calling for an end to predator hunting in the state, and Colorado’s Senate Bill 22-031. These are just a few of the issues we’re dealing with in the western region, and my colleagues across the nation are likewise focused on many more.

“The anti’s have been playing the long game on all these issues. They have been testing the waters, reaching out to friendly or potentially friendly legislators and commissioners, building relationships, presenting their case, spreading misinformation, pulling at people’s heartstrings, and waiting for the right time to push their agenda. With a growing population that is unaware to how wildlife conservation works, increasing urban representation in our state legislatures, a growing rural-urban divide with fewer people participating in outdoor sporting activities, the antis are trying to take more than ever before, because they think they can win. We can’t let them win.”

Charles Whitwam, founder of the pro-hunting organization Howl For Wildlife, noted the need to organize in the face of these attacks is imperative.

“If we don’t think it’s important, we’re going to lose, eventually, all hunting privileges in the United States,” Whitwam said. “I think we need to be activists. We can see how successful the activists against hunting have been, and there are so many more of us but we’re not organized. We haven’t been activists.”

Still, despite SB22-031 looking as if it’s been slowed, Whitwam stated hunters need to continue to push back against the bill until it’s killed.

“There’s still one sponsor,” he said. “There were four original sponsors and three pulled their names; there’s multiple reasons for that. Much of that certainly had to do with the grassroots effort, they just got inundated. So that’s a success. So why it’s still important—we don’t have an official ruling yet. It’s important to continue to make your voice heard and it’s important for them, whoever they are, to see what is happening; to see ranchers, hunters, fishermen, and people from all over to support a management system that’s backed by data and science.”

Science versus emotion The rule-making process aside, for now, it should be noted that state legislatures and the U.S. Congress have been highly effective when passing legislation aimed at funding conservation, killing Sunday laws, and more. And, while this should be supported and touted by hunters, that’s an entirely different side of the legislative coin. Conservation-funding bills are backed by science, whereas the concept of outright banning hunting is not. Not only have hunters have contributed billions of dollars to conservation for nearly a century, but they are also at the forefront of population control.

Consider the effects of banning black bear hunting in New Jersey. A decades-long rollercoaster, data supports that hunters have a positive effect on controlling bear populations and thus predator-human interactions. When hunting was lasts reinstated in 2010, there were a total of 3,035 activity reports; in 2017, a year before Gov. Phil Murphy banned hunting bears on public land, there were 971 total reports.

Predators, just like deer, mice, birds, and other animals, are incredibly adaptive. TuckerWilliams provided data to support that an outright ban on mountain lion hunting would negatively affect Colorado’s wildlife and growing human population. First is a 2019 study that showed cougars can adapt to urban areas well, and that “39 percent of mountain lions sampled during feeding site investigations of GPS collar data were found to consume domestic prey items.” Second, a study conducted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife published in January showed 43 percent (54 out of 125) of calf elk mortality was attributed to mountain lions. Finally, a study published in 2017 in the Journal of Wildlife Management reported that “mountain lions are currently considered to be the primary proximate cause of mortality for many bighorn sheep populations,” which is directly related to “the cessation of 70 years of intensive predator control.”

State legislatures should leave it to the experts What was an emotional appeal by Murphy to anti-hunters and those who may not be fully versed on the nuances of wildlife management was also a signal of the changing, figurative landscape.

An example of this is, as TuckerWilliams noted, the ever-growing urban-rural divide. According to Census data collected in 2020 and broken down by USA Today, “Overall, metropolitan areas grew by 9% compared with only 1% growth for smaller areas. Less than half of the nation’s 3,143 counties saw any population increases over the past decade while 81% of metropolitan areas grew.” This is important for redistricting purposes, and will ultimately affect state legislatures. If state representatives aren’t informed or simply refuse management-based science, this will impact the severity—and possibly the number of—anti-sportsmen bills.

TuckerWilliams asserted its best that wildlife management decisions be left to the state game agencies and experts, while monetary support comes from statehouses. Essentially, not only will legislative action on topics like season dates, bag limits, and huntable animals be a slippery slope, but it will also create barriers to alter future management decisions.

“Legislators are just like you and I; they are everyday people with a wide breadth of subject matter expertise,” TuckerWilliams said. “Unlike many of us, they made the honorable decision to serve the people of their state by running and being elected to office. Some are lawyers, some are dentists, some are teachers, and some are business owners. Now, who do you want making wildlife management decisions? The legislature that may have a few people who understand the complexity and nuance of wildlife management or the state fish and wildlife agency that consists of nothing but wildlife management experts who have access to the most recent and best available data to be able to make science-based decisions—like seasons and bag limits—to ensure the sustainability of species for future generations?

“The absolute best thing the legislature can do is make sure their state agency is provided with adequate funding to be able to effectively manage wildlife in their state and let the experts take it from there. Now, it is important to note that states may approach wildlife management issues differently depending on their state statute and the established process. However, without getting into the state-by-state specifics, in general, we support allowing the state wildlife agencies to make wildlife management decisions. Additionally, wildlife management needs to remain adaptive as more data come available. If wildlife management decisions are made by the legislature, managers lose much of that critical flexibility. Should such an occasion arise we would then need to work to pass a bill to change bag limits and season dates, which can be a time-consuming endeavor, particularly in states where the legislature doesn’t meet every year, or they are solely focused on the budget one year and on other matters the next.”

Colorado is the proving ground TuckerWilliams added that Colorado is essentially the proving grounds for anti-sportsmen legislation, stating that if SB22-031 is successful, other western states will enter the crosshairs. And, while the motivations behind SB22-031 are easy to see, what lies beneath the surface is part of a long battle with animal rights groups.

“SB22-031 is part of a larger effort by the animal rights establishment to build momentum and chip away at the outdoor sporting and conservation community nationwide,” TuckerWilliams said. “Today it’s big cats, tomorrow it could be duck hunting or rabbit hunting. Pressure from the anti-hunting and animal rights establishment is behind this effort. They have a long history in Colorado dating back to before 1996 when the citizens of the state voted in support of amending the state constitution to ban the use of leghold traps, instant-kill body-gripping design traps, poisons, or snares. SB22-031 is just the current battle in a long war over science-based wildlife management in the state.”

Whitwam concurred, further noting, “We all need to come together, and when you see it in a different state, you have to look at that as happening in your state. If it’s successful there, it will be successful wherever it is you are and whatever species it is you’re hunting.”

Whitwam was also highlighted that hunters need to be educated on the legislative process, something his organization provides.

Overall, the defense of hunting and traditions is not an easy fight, and the ramifications of the passage of SB22-031 or any other anti-hunting and anti-sportsmen bills are destructive.

“Through the purchase of a cougar and bobcat hunting and trapping license, sportspeople are paying the state to play a major role in managing the species and mitigating their respective impacts (livestock depredation, public safety, impact on prey species, etc.),” TuckerWilliams said. “If CPW were to be stripped of its management authority over mountain lions and bobcats, instead of taking advantage of a group of people who are willing to pay for the opportunity to harvest a mountain lion or bobcat, SB22-031 would force CPW and Wildlife Services to take personnel and funding away from other conservation priorities to replicate their impact. To add insult to injury, 75 percent of CPW’s wildlife budget comes from sportspeople dollars through the American System of Conservation Funding. So, sportspeople would continue to foot the bill for problem animal removal without the opportunity to do it themselves.

“Furthermore, by declassifying mountain lions as a big game species, CPW would no longer be able to compensate ranchers, farmers, and landowner’s for damages caused by mountain lions through the states Game Damage Program, potentially leading to a drop in social acceptance of the animal on the landscape.”

In the end, unless hunters band together to educate their government leaders, the attacks will continue to ramp up.

The post State Legislatures ‘Need to Leave Management Decisions to the Experts’ as Anti-Hunting Bills Intensify appeared first on Project Upland.

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Utilize any upland bird meat and enjoy the Chinese takeout staple Everywhere I have lived, I have always had my go-to Chinese takeout. Here in Kansas, it’s a place called Panda—a small operation on K-15 tucked into the side of a dilapidated gas station. One would never suspect culinary treasures exit that kitchen one oyster pail after another. Their General Tso’s Chicken is my favorite.

This recipe can utilize any upland bird. I actually put a couple of roosters from December 2019 to work here. The key is to properly brine the meat ahead of time. I did my best to recreate some of my favorite General Tso’s takeout sauces, but I suspect there are a few family secrets in each of those sauces. This one is still very good—just more homage versus replication.

And, yes, you can use your favorite store-bought sauce versus making with these ingredients. I do believe homemade sauce is always better, but the choice is yours. Do note you are coating your pheasant with corn starch—not flour like most frying recipes—because this is how most of these Chinese recipes are created.

Lastly, don’t read the package instructions for cooking Jasmine rice. It’s never correct and you’ll get mushy rice. Follow the ratios and steps in this recipe.

Print General Tso’s Pheasant Utilize any upland bird meat and enjoy the Chinese takeout staple loved by many Americans. Course Main CourseCuisine ChineseKeyword Pheasant Prep Time 8 hoursCook Time 30 minutes Servings 4 people Calories 4995kcal Author Jack Hennessy Ingredients 2 lbs meat from two pheasant roosters, deboned and cut to 1-inch cubes * 12-16 oz fresh broccoli, cut into florets * Corn starch for coating * Peanut oil for frying * Kosher salt and ground black pepper * Toasted sesame seeds for garnish * Scallions for garnish * Red chili flakes for garnish Brine 1 gallon cold water * 1/2 cup kosher salt * 1/2 cup sugar * 1/2 cup whole black peppercorns * 2 tbsp mustard seeds * 2 tbsp coriander seeds * 8 oz fresh ginger smashed * 1 bulb fresh garlic smashed Sauce 1/3 cup soy sauce * 1/2 cup Aji-Mirin (Japanese sweet cooking rice wine) * 1/4 cup chicken stock * 2 tbsp Sambal chili paste * 2 tbsp honey * 2 tbsp corn starch * 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar * 1 tbsp hoisin sauce * 1 tbsp brown sugar * 1/4 tsp sesame oil * 1 1/2 tbsp freshly minced garlic added to skillet, not sauce * 1 tbsp freshly minced ginger added to skillet, not sauce Rice 2 cups Jasmin rice * 2 2/3 cups cold water

Instructions* Debone the pheasant and brine for 6-8 hours. Tips on brine: In a large pot, add just enough water to hold salt and sugar and bring to a simmer along with other ingredients. Once salt and sugar is dissolved, add cold water and cool before adding pheasant. * Upon removing pheasant from brine, thoroughly rinse under cold water and cut into 1-inch chunks. Lightly pat dry then toss in cornstarch to coat all sides. * To make the sauce, in a medium saucepan add all liquids on medium-low and stir often and thoroughly until well mixed. Do not add ginger or garlic. Turn off heat when thick and all lumps from the cornstarch are gone. * In a fryer, Dutch oven, or other large pot, heat 2-3 inches of peanut oil to 375 degrees. Fry pheasant chunks, being careful not to crowd the pot for approximately 5 minutes until golden brown. Set aside on a grate or stainless steel mesh so grease can drip and drain. * In a large, preferably cast-iron skillet, add a thin layer of peanut oil followed by broccoli and turn heat to high. Lightly salt and pepper broccoli, give florets a good sear, and then set aside. * In that same skillet, after removing broccoli, turn heat to medium-low and add a thin layer of peanut oil followed by the freshly minced ginger and garlic. Stir for 2-3 minutes until garlic and ginger release aromas then add fried pheasant. Stir in sauce and turn heat to low. * To make rice, add Jasmine rice and cold water to medium saucepan, cover, and turn heat to high. Turn heat to low once water comes to a boil. Rice is done once all water is absorbed, around 10-15 minutes. * When almost ready to serve, add broccoli back to skillet with fried pheasant and sauce and stir in. To serve, add rice to plate, top with skillet contents then garnish with sliced scallions, toasted sesame seeds, and red chili flakes if you want extra heat. Enjoy!

NutritionCalories: 4995kcal | Carbohydrates: 682g | Protein: 240g | Fat: 158g | Saturated Fat: 43g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 35g | Monounsaturated Fat: 66g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 683mg | Sodium: 63216mg | Potassium: 6511mg | Fiber: 57g | Sugar: 196g | Vitamin A: 4110IU | Vitamin C: 340mg | Calcium: 1269mg | Iron: 34mgThe post General Tso’s Pheasant appeared first on Project Upland.

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From the peaks of Alaska to the bayous of Louisiana, dog trainers and experts discuss the necessity of keeping a hunting dog conditioned For many of us in the northern snow-covered hills of the United States, hunting season is shortly coming to an end—if not already. Green rolling pastures have now been replaced by a tundra; the woodcock have all traveled down to warmer, worm-filled bayous; and the grouse are retreating to the treetops.

Now entering your home, you will likely be met by familiar eyes: your hunting dog staring back at you for a sign that you are gearing up for a hunt. As your dog realizes that you are settling in for the evening, you can see its disappointment. Soon it slinks to its bed in protest, curling into a ball with a dejected sigh, resigning to the fact that there has been a change in the routine. A feeling of guilt fills your soul as your dog was at its happiest pursuing birds for you, so, of course, you head to the cookie jar to let Ol’ Red know just how sorry you are. Your once chiseled athlete has de-evolved into somewhat of a bratwurst shape.

Ol’ Red—now more affectionately known as “Mr. Weeble Wobble”—needs more than a little attention to get back down to his fighting weight.

Yet, winter in the north can be a very productive time for both you and your dog. The snow provides a multitude of training opportunities, helping to fill some of the holes found during hunting season. Working forest searches, obedience, various lining drills, and hand signals are just a few great training opportunities the snow can provide. It creates visual lines and boundaries that paint a very clear picture for your dog and helps work both the brain and body. The snow also provides a fantastic opportunity to hit the trails for various thrilling adventures full of excitement and laughter for you and your family, while conditioning you both.

The timing and types of conditioning vary greatly between regions, however. When the north is adjusting to the off-season, the south is firing up for the hunt. Where the north is using snowshoes and dogsleds, the south is using four-wheelers and horses. The cold, snow, and ice create a dangerous conditioning environment in the north worth considering, as do the heat, cactus, snakes, and gators in the south. Though conditions may vary, the importance of proper conditioning remains universal across the regions and around the world.

Off-season conditioning in Seward, Alaska Dori Hollingsworth, one of the lead trainers at the Alaska Northern Lights Chapter of NAVHDA and IFSS sleddog World Champion believes that a “well-bred, well-fed, and well-conditioned dog will be less prone to injury in the field,” but noted that there is such a thing as over-conditioning.

“Most won’t come near that,” she said. “An over-conditioned dog has to find a way out. It may show up as refusals or just sluggish work; over-conditioning can be physical or mental.”

So, what’s the best training for a hunting dog in the Last Frontier?

“Of course, the best conditioning for us in Alaska is to just go hunting, but sometimes conditions don’t allow it,” Hollingsworth said. “If you want your dog to be ready to go on that long hunt once the weather improves, you need to keep them conditioned in between. Since our hunting season is so long—Aug. 10 to March 31—we may take a break from hunting in the darkest, coldest months, and then pick it up again in the spring. We don’t take a break from the dogs working, though. Going from a cold to hot climate is another reason for conditioning; makes it easier for the dog to adapt.

“One thing I’ve found is great for keeping dogs in condition is pile work. While the ice may limit what we can do, we can almost always find a straight stretch for piles. I run them both directions. At the same time, you can practice heel and the finish to your retrieve. They challenge the dog mentally and physically. I often make trails with the snowmobile to work the dogs on.”

Hollingsworth further explained that dog sleds, dummy launchers, and snowmobiles are all great for conditioning in her area of the country.

“Unlike our sled dogs, when snowmobiling, we let them pick their speed,” she said. “If the dogs decide to jump off the trail and go hunting in the woods, we stop and wait for them; we don’t want them running fast through deep snow. We also have a trailer with a crate in it that we pull behind the snowmobile, in case we need it for any reason. We usually just use it getting from the parking lot to the trail. The dogs jump in and out of it like it’s their second home.”

Hollingsworth further noted the work among sled dogs helped her think like a dog which translated to the hunting scene, and, though not conditioning related, she followed up with an important principle.

“There’s always a reason why the dog does what it does,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to figure that out and work with the dog. A favorite quote from famous dog musher, George Attla, , ‘The dog never makes a mistake! He is just a dog and thinks like a dog. It is you that makes the mistake because you haven’t trained him to do what you want him to do when you want him to do it.'”

Off-season conditioning in Lillington, North Carolina As we drop in latitude, the open ground becomes free of snow and ice, making way for other conditioning opportunities. Cool temperatures force poisonous reptiles back to cover, water is open, and the grounds are conducive to roading with an ATV or bicycle.

Dogs condition quite quickly compared to us, but can become obese and out of shape even quicker. A healthy dog, at a healthy weight, takes about six to seven weeks to get ready for hunting season. During the off-season, we can widdle that back a bit to around three days a week supplemented with other types of training. But during the off-season, it’s still important to keep the brain working as much as the body.

Conditioning balances your dog and promotes a more settled and relaxed animal around the home. Working dogs left sedentary for too long tend to pick up unsavory jobs to keep themselves occupied—jobs that include home remodeling, shoe and sock deconstruction, or homeland security. Remember, a tired dog is a happy dog with an off switch.

Scott Caldwell, owner of Rusty Gun Kennels in Lillington, N.C., explains that there are ways around regional limitations as far as conditioning dogs. He likes to organize his training program around the heat; certain types of training happen in the cool hours and other types in the hotter hours of the day. He summarized this noting, “In the south, our off-season is generally associated with hot weather. We can work, test, and hunt dogs from September until the end of March which allows for some very extensive field and game contacts. We like to break the year down into cycles of training/conditioning associated with the weather.”

The breakdown is:

Spring (March-May): Trained retrieve and foundational obedience.

Summer (June-August): Waterwork and light field conditioning.

Fall (September-October): Foundational steadiness and bird contacts to prepare for the testing/hunting season.

“Focusing on our true off-season, the summer, we like to work our drive to pile drills in the water duck searches for our NAVHDA and DK dogs along with early morning field runs,” he said. “Despite the heat in the south, working early in the morning and slowly lengthening the training times allows us to condition dogs to deal with the heat as well as develop skills that others are not afforded in other parts of the country.”

Good rules to follow when working dogs in temperate or hot weather are:

1. Know your dog, as well as its normal behavior and actions. Any change of body language or temperament can be an initial sign that the dog is overheating.
2. Begin slowly in 15- to 20-minute increments and gradually build to a time that supports your overall training objectives.
3. Have drinking water available at all times. This does not necessarily mean a pond or lake. Carry a couple of water bottles that you can use to give your dog a drink or wet their underside, feet, and ears.
4. Keep to the basics: recall drills, obedience and heel, steadiness and impulse control, and water drills.

Caldwell shared sage advice, saying, ”Don’t be afraid of the summer heat, embrace it and use this time to refine all the little things we overlook during the rest of the year.”

Off-season conditioning in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana Frank Varret, the owner of Grand Bois Kennels and high schoolconditioning coach in Breaux Bridge, La., first explained how important it is to understand the role that nutrition plays in the proper conditioning and safety of our hunting dogs.

Frank first described a dog’s physiology and how exercise affects the way a dog utilizes its food.

”The rate of carbohydrate utilization during a dog’s hunt is closely geared to the energy needs of its working muscles,” he said. “In contrast, fat utilization during exercise is not tightly regulated, as there are no mechanisms for closely matching availability and metabolism of fatty acids to the rate of energy expenditure. As a result, the rate of fat oxidation during exercise is determined by the availability of fatty acids and the rate of carbohydrate utilization.

“Blood glucose and muscle glycogen are essential for a day in the field, and exhaustion can result either from development of hypoglycemia or depletion of muscle glycogen. The dog’s rate of work determines the total quantity of fuel that will be required, while relative exercise intensity plays a major role in determining the proportions of carbohydrate and fat oxidized by the working muscles. As the dog increases the intensity of its run, there is a decrease in the proportion of the energy requirement derived from fat oxidation and an increase in that provided by carbohydrate oxidation. During moderately strenuous exercise of intensity, there is a progressive decline in the proportion of energy derived from muscle glycogen and a progressive increase in plasma fatty acid oxidation. The adaptations induced by endurance exercise training result in a marked sparing of carbohydrates during exercise, with an increased proportion of the energy being provided by fat oxidation. A large increase in muscle glycogen concentration, far above the level found in the well-fed sedentary state, occurs in response to carbohydrate feeding following glycogen depleting exercise.”

Proper feeding of our four-legged athletes is essential to its hunting capabilities. Varret suggests feeding your dog as soon as possible after its workouts as it helps to not only refuel but aids in a faster recovery time. It’s also worth noting the importance of holding off feeding until the dog has returned itself to a resting rate of breathing. Putting a pile of food into a heavily breathing dog has health risks, such as Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus (GDV). However, preloading of quality fuel the night before endurance-type activities increases your time training or hunting in the field. There is a science to matching your dog’s caloric intake to meet its caloric cost. Often folks struggle to keep weight on during hunting season and off during the off-season, though, with the proper amounts of conditioning, you will easily be able to keep this balance in check.

Off-season conditioning allows for an easy transition into spring training Conditioning throughout the off-season makes for an easy transition into spring training. Many of the holes you found during hunting season have been addressed and your dog is kept in a learning mindset and mentally challenged until new types of training become available again in the spring.

Also, a well-conditioned dog kept at a healthy weight puts less wear and tear on its joints and is less prone to injuries. Treating it well with the proper care, food, and exercise will ensure a long happy life and an enjoyable animal to have around the home. Though there are always regional obstacles, a sound conditioning program helps manage most of them. Conditioning will allow you more opportunities to continue developing your dog. If there’s a will, there’s a way.

In the end, a hunting dog is a working dog that does best if kept working. So be smart, get out there, embrace the moment and enjoy your amazing hunting dogs.

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Getting your dog ready to run in the puppy natural ability test for the German versatile dog system As a new owner of a versatile hunting dog, you’ve probably been asked about running in a natural ability or puppy hunt test. Some breeders may request or require that puppy buyers run in a test, while other owners may stumble into the puppy test through local club chapters such as NAVHDA or AKC. For owners of the German-registered breeds—such as the Deutsch Drahthaar, Deutsch Kurzhaar, Deutsch Langhaar, Kleine Munsterlander, and others—the puppy test takes the form of the Verbands-Jugend-Prüfung, or the VJP.

Listen to: East of the Rhine – Pointing Dog Breed Origins

What is the VJP? Like the NAVHDA Natural Ability test or the AKC Junior Hunter test, the VJP is intended to assess the natural hunting abilities of your versatile hunting pup. It is a pass/fail test and not a competition, so all entered dogs have an equal chance to receive a great score and a “pass.”

Dogs must be registered with the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) to run in a VJP. Generally speaking, that means a dog that was bred within a breed club that operates under a foreign club’s jurisdiction such as the Verein Deutsch Drahthaar — Gruppe Nordamerika (VDD-GNA). It’s a bit complicated, but suffice it to say that if you’re eligible to run in a VJP, it’s likely that your breeder already mentioned it and encouraged you to do so.

Testing puppies is valuable to the breeds overall because it validates the breeding program and ensures that critical hunting skills are being maintained. It’s also a fun activity for handlers to participate in with their dogs.

What subjects does the VJP evaluate? The VJP consists of only three test events: a field search, an opportunity to point a bird, and a live rabbit or hare track.

In addition to the dog’s performance in these three subjects, judges will also be evaluating the dog’s use of nose, cooperation, gun sensitivity, obedience, loudness on furred game, and overall temperament, as well as physical characteristics.

It’s worth noting that the evaluation of each dog is conducted for the entire day, including when the dog is back at your truck in between test events, so any issues that may arise (such as temperament or lack of cooperation) will be noted and judged accordingly.

Scores are given for the dog’s ability to track, use of nose, searching ability, pointing ability, and cooperation. These five scores—on a scale of 1 to 10 with the possibility of “extra credit” up to 11 or 12 for exceptional work under extenuating circumstances—are tallied up for a final score. Obedience, gun sensitivity, temperament, loudness, and physical characteristics are noted on the score sheet but not given a numerical score.

How to register for the VJP It’s been said that the hardest part of a VJP is getting into one, and I cannot dispute this fact. Testing opportunities can be few and far between depending on your geographic region. Since the test must be conducted with live rabbits or hares, the tests must be located on grounds with a sufficient population to give every testing puppy a few attempts on fresh tracks.

The test may be hosted by a breed club or by a multibreed testing organization such as JGV-USA, NA-JGV, or JGV-Rocky Mountain. The entry form is the same, though the fees may vary slightly between organizations. Test announcements will list the name and contact information for the test director who must receive your registration form, pedigree copy, and entry fee to reserve your spot. Act quickly because VJPs tend to fill up very soon after the test is announced.

How to prepare your dog for the VJP The easiest way to prepare your pup for a VJP test is to hunt it in the season leading up to the test. This real-world exposure is invaluable for teaching your pup that there are birds out there for it to find. Once it has this confidence, you’ll notice a huge improvement in its enthusiasm and searching, tracking, and pointing abilities.

Besides hunting, you can work on some basic field training to better expose your puppy to the scenarios she’ll encounter on test day. Above all, you want to ensure that the puppy doesn’t have any brand-new experiences on the test day itself. She should have already smelled planted birds, been followed around a field by a gallery of strangers, and encountered a live rabbit or jackrabbit. You want the pup to approach the event with plenty of confidence from past experiences.

Field search preparation Depending on the age and personality of your pup, it may or may not have a lot of confidence in working a field away from your side. Give it plenty of opportunities to run off-leash in fields while you walk with a shotgun. Practice light handling by walking a zig-zag pattern across the field, blowing a whistle each time you make an exaggerated turn. Soon, the pup will learn to look to you at the sound of a whistle and adjust its path to stay in front of you.

Once your pup is searching with confidence, ask some friends to walk along behind you to mimic a gallery of three or four judges accompanying you. For some dogs, this addition can be fairly distracting, so it’s best to practice this ahead of the test.

Hopefully, this was already addressed before or during your hunting season, but if not, be sure to properly introduce your dog to gunfire well ahead of the test. They need to be able to continue hunting confidently after multiple shotgun blanks are fired.

Pointing preparation Be sure to plant some birds for your pup before test day, especially if it has only encountered wild birds while hunting. It will need to be comfortable pointing pen-raised birds that carry human scent.

Don’t overdo the pointing practice, however. While it’s really fun as handlers to watch our young dogs freeze into a staunch point, it can be frustrating for the dog to point over and over again in a training scenario. You don’t want them to get bored and lose enthusiasm for planted birds.

Tracking preparation The rabbit track is often the hardest part of the test because our North American dogs tend to spend more time hunting birds than tracking furred game. Again, this is simply a question of exposure and experience.

Depending on your state regulations (be sure to check them carefully), you may be able to release a trapped rabbit or run your dog on a wild rabbit. You can also check with local beagle clubs for resources on rabbit tracks. At first, it doesn’t matter if the dog sees the rabbit—a good chase will be plenty rewarding for the excited pup. But at some point, the dog will need to learn how to be shown the start of a track and given a command to start following the trail without seeing the rabbit.

If you don’t have access to many live rabbits, or if you just want to diversify your training a bit, drags are a helpful way to teach your dog to follow ground scent.

From a very young age, teach your puppy to trust its nose and follow a scent trail to a fabulous reward. We start our puppies with cheese tracks across the kitchen floor, dragging a small piece of cheese in a path of increasing difficulty and leaving the cheese at the end for them to find. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they pick up this skill—and a love for cheese—after just a few tries.

This activity will eventually graduate to dragging game animals (outdoors this time!) to create a scent trail for the pup to follow. You can leave the animal at the end of the trail, or else you can save the temptation to play with the game and replace it instead with a high-value treat such as canned food. You may want to use flags or tape (or a helper with a good visual memory) to mark the trail so that you can clearly identify it later. Once the drag is laid, bring your dog to the start, making sure they didn’t see you create the trail, and indicate the start of the scent trail. Try the first few with the dog on a lead, but, eventually, you’ll want to be able to release the dog and give them a command to “track.”

Physical exam preparation At some point during the test, the judges will perform a cursory evaluation of your dog’s physical characteristics. Prepare for this by getting your dog accustomed to being gently restrained while a stranger looks into its mouth to check bite and teeth.

Practice this with as diverse of a group of friends as possible: men, women, men with facial hair, women with glasses, smokers… try to help your dog generalize so that she isn’t scared, shy, or defensive when this happens at the test.

Obedience preparation The VJP is a test of natural abilities and not trained subjects, but the judges do want to see that your dog has some basic obedience skills. This may also factor into their cooperation score, depending on how egregious (or impressive) their behavior may be.

A solid recall will save you and your dog a lot of headache on test day. It’s OK if your dog is chasing the flushed bird and doesn’t come back to your whistle right away—in fact, obedience is specifically evaluated while not in the presence of game—but it’s a good look if you can get your dog back quickly and not spend half the day trying to capture a runaway dog. Basic manners and a good recall will be everything you need to impress the judges with your dog’s obedience level.

Remember, too, that everything is heightened on test day—your stress level, the dog’s stress level, and the overall energy. Try to find opportunities to practice basic obedience and manners in higher-stimulation environments such as training days.

What to expect on test day If you have an opportunity to attend a VJP as a spectator (without your dog) or as a volunteer, take advantage of it! Having a mental picture of how the day is run will go a long way towards easing your anxiety and transmitting calm confidence to your dog.

Test days will start with a handler’s meeting at an appointed time and location. These are often rural locations so it’s a good idea to scout out the meeting place the night before. Again, anything you can do to ease your nerves will go a long way toward your dog’s success in the test.

There will be up to five puppies in a group, though multiple groups may run on the same day and rotate between locations. The test events can be run in any order. The day’s running order will be announced at the handler’s meeting, so remember your number and which dog you follow. Everyone will appreciate handlers who pay attention and know when it’s their turn.

The field search will begin with some basic instructions about where the judges want you to walk. They’ll advise you to “just hunt your dog” as if you were out and about on any average hunting day. Ideally, your dog will effectively cover the field, checking likely cover and ranging out at an appropriate distance. At some point, you will be instructed to fire a blank round into the air. The dog’s reaction to the shot will be evaluated, then repeated after some time has passed. You may also be asked to lightly handle your dog with a few changes in direction. The judges are looking for a cooperative relationship and a dog that adjusts to hunt with you. There are no planted birds for this portion of the test, but should a wild bird be encountered, the dog will be evaluated on how it handles the find.

The pointing section of the test begins by planting a couple of birds in a field. Again, the judges will advise you on where to walk and in which direction the wind is blowing. Once your dog encounters the bird, she will be expected to establish a point. Listen to the judges, who will either instruct you to stay put for a few seconds or to walk toward your dog, depending on your distance and what they are evaluating at that moment. Once they are satisfied, you’ll be instructed to leash your dog, meaning the evaluation is over and you are free to leave the field. You may be asked to remain and work a second bird if the judges have additional questions or if the dog needs a second chance to succeed. If the bird should flush and your dog gives chase, don’t worry about it, just calmly recall your dog. This is not a test for steadiness, but rather a natural point that is appropriate for the pup’s age.

Depending on the local rabbit population, the tracking portion of the test may take the most time to complete. Ideally, each dog will be given two to three tracks to work, which means that the group will need to flush 10 to 15 rabbits. The judges will recruit volunteers (not handlers) to walk in a “beating line” across the field. Handlers will follow with their dogs on leash. Follow the instructions from the judges about remaining close enough to be called up for a track, but far enough away that the dogs can’t see the rabbits. When a judge or volunteer sees a rabbit, they will immediately call out for the judges to observe the track. Once the rabbit is out of sight, a dog will be called up and a judge will indicate the start of the track to the handler. It’s important to get to the starting point quickly, but then slow down and take a breath. Remember how you ran drags and tracks with your dog in training and try your best to replicate it at this moment—it should all feel very familiar to your dog.

Once the dog is released, the judges will be evaluating how well it works the track, whether it stays focused on the task, and how it handles itself when it loses the track. Different dogs will work tracks differently—some with their nose to the ground, others working the air downwind of the track—but they should show focus and persistence either way. Once the judges are satisfied, you’ll be instructed to recall your dog and return to the other handlers behind the line. This process will be repeated until each dog has had sufficient opportunities to demonstrate its natural tracking abilities.

At some point during the day, the dogs will be checked for basic physical attributes and have their identities verified via tattoo or microchip. Follow the instructions from the judges regarding how they want your dog to be positioned and held. This typically goes pretty quickly; it’s not a conformation evaluation, but rather a quick check for any faults to be noted on the dog’s record.

Once the test has concluded, the judges will meet to discuss their notes and agree upon final scores for each dog. These scores will be announced to the handlers along with any comments on what the judges noted about the dogs. Breathe a big sigh of relief, hug your dog, and be proud of what you’ve accomplished together regardless of the results.

…then sign up for the HZP, because you’ve only just begun this testing adventure.

The post How to Prepare a Dog for the VJP Test appeared first on Project Upland.

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From flash searing to low-and-slow jerky, learn three easy and simple ways to cook those delicious upland bird tenderloins Yes, birds have tenderloins. If you’ve been reading cooking articles on Project Upland, you likely by now fully understand this, but many other upland hunters don’t realize this or forget to pull tenderloins from their upland breasts.

Tenderloins are indeed a separate cut—a smaller strip of meat behind the breast, between the keel bone and ribs—and will cook differently than the whole breast. They are, as the name suggests, tender and worth preparing apart from the rest of the bird.

Make sure to look for tenderloins after breasting out a bird. You don’t need a knife; simply peel them off. But what to do next with tenderloins? Below are some tips and a recipe.

Hot and fast tenderloins Light season or just use salt and pepper, then hit the tenderloins with a quick sear on both sides in a hot skillet. Using a very thin layer of peanut or sunflower oil, sear no more than a minute per side at 500 degrees Fahrenheit. This is all you need for a great-tasting upland tenderloin, and it works for any size tenderloins from upland birds.

Tenderloins in a warm butter bath Butter burns at 302 degrees, but if you have a skillet at 275, melt butter, and throw in some rosemary and garlic cloves, you can cook a seasoned tenderloin for several minutes. This imbues it with that buttery, delicious flavor. Note: make sure to spoon warm butter over the top as you cook.

Tenderloin jerky One great thing about tenderloins: they come perfectly pre-shaped for jerky, or in the case of this recipe, kipper snacks.

I use sodium nitrite (found in Insta Cure No. 1) to properly cure most jerky. This ensures the jerky stays preserved for longer and reduces the risk of botulism. Also, a little Insta Cure No. 1 goes a long way, so pay attention to instructions on the package when applying. The instructions are also below, specifically for this recipe.

You can either smoke or dehydrate your jerky. I usually opt for dehydrating, as dehydrators allow for lower temps (versus my pellet grill which only gets down to 160). My MEAT! 6-Tray Dehydrator goes very low, but I run it at 140 for this recipe.

Enjoy, and as always reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.

Print Upland Bird ‘Kipper Snacks’ Although kipper snacks are traditionally herring fish smoked and canned, here we are using upland bird tenderloins. This one is incredibly simple and a fun snack to create after processing a mess of birds Course SnackCuisine AmericanKeyword upland game birds Prep Time 12 hoursResting time 30 minutes Servings 2 people Author Jack Hennessy Equipment* Dehydrator or * Smoker

Ingredients* Tenderloins from several upland birds (Ideally, 6 birds) * 4 cups cold water * 1/8 tsp Insta Cure No. 1 * 1/2 tsp liquid smoke (if dehydrating) * The Provider Covey Rub or your favorite spice rub

Instructions* Separate tenderloins from breasts. In a medium bowl, mix cold water and Insta Cure No. 1. Feel welcome to add liquid smoke for that smoke flavor if dehydrating. * Soak tenderloins in water mixture overnight for no less than 12 hours and no more than 16 hours. * When ready to dehydrate or smoke, remove tenderloins from water and rub liberally with The Provider Covey or other favorite rub. * Add to the dehydrator for 3 1/2 to 4 hours at 140 for pheasant-size tenderloins. For slightly smaller birds—like ruffed grouse or chukar—dehydrate for 3 hours. For quail-size bird tenderloins, dehydrate for 2 hours. If smoking, 2 hours at 160 should be sufficient for rooster tenderloins; while 1 1/2 hours to smaller tenderloins works. * Let tenderloins cool for half hour prior to serving or sealing.

NutritionSodium: 26mg | Calcium: 14mgThe post How to Cook Upland Bird Tenderloins appeared first on Project Upland.

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Follow along as New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich explains the Senate’s version of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act and why the bill is important for the future of conservation Smoke billowed from the cast iron as the fresh elk backstrap seared in the pan. The kitchen island was covered in a blend of processed and unprocessed elk meat from a bull shot on public lands a few days earlier.

My mouth watered as the piece was sliced on a cutting board ready for us to sample. For the better part of a week, I had wandered around New Mexico, tagging along on my first elk hunt, fly fishing the Rio, and hunting duskies in the mountains. I am not quick to give up part of my October to anything outside ruffed grouse hunting, but the company I had been keeping for those days had made me roam outside my normal routine.

“We know what we need to do to create healthy forests, we don’t have the funding source to do it.”

That statement sums up who knows how many decades of fighting to reverse the decline of ruffed grouse across the American landscape. Normally, it’s a call for fundraising or a local effort of valiant volunteers far too long trying to fight the impossible. No one will ever say grouse hunters went quietly into the night.

But that sentence was spoken in a simple kitchen, by a hunter butchering his kill, who also happens to be a U.S. Senator—one well-read in the crisis of game birds across the country. Just the day before, we had a casual conversation about the ruffed grouse crisis in states like Indiana and we discussed what other parts of the country could follow in coming years.

READ: The Sage Grouse Crisis has Reached Critical Mass

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is a sponsor of S. 2372, or the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), a piece of bipartisan legislation he put together from across the aisle with Missouri Senator Roy Blunt (R).

Call to Action The House of Representatives version of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (H.R. 2773) passed out of committee with a bipartisan vote on Jan. 19 and now heads to the House floor. That said, there is still a lot to do. To share your support of RAWA with your congressional representatives, please, at the minimum copy and paste the statement below (feel free to personalize where appropriate) and call them at the phone number provided:

Statement Dear (Congressional leader),

I am a user of our natural resources and a deep supporter of conservation measures in the country. I ask you to support the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act in your house of Congress as is and urge your colleagues to do the same. Having dedicated funding for wildlife, especially those in critical need, is vital at this time.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Congressional Switchboard (202) 224-3121

When calling this number, be sure to ask the operator for your applicable leaders and/or the ones listed above.

Specific leaders to contact Some specific legislators need to hear your support of RAWA. They are:

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.): (202) 224-2441

It is something Heinrich lives and breathes to see passed in the 117th Congress. And, I dare say, as far as direct conservation dollars going to game animals, this could be the greatest piece of conservation legislation since the Pittman-Robertson Act.

What will RAWA do? This is ultimately about solving the biggest issue of modern conservation: money at the right time.

“This is a powerful tool for being able to intervene when you can really stretch a conservation dollar the farthest,” Heinrich said. “You have a lot more power to bring a species back and grow its population if you are not starting on the brink.”

To put it simply: it’s better for all parties involved, the species, private business, government, and hunters to have a clear funding source to address problems before they get too out of hand. Our current system does not put a clear funding foothold in key places, like for species of concern. That money is more than likely either taking away from game species conservation efforts or just doesn’t exist at all. The ultimate goal is to prevent things from becoming endangered well before they become endangered, ultimately reverse trends to increase native populations, and “recover America’s wildlife.”

The money of RAWA “RAWA will create a sustainable funding source for state fish and game agencies, tribal wildlife agencies, partner conservation groups, and private landowners … $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion each year,” Heinrich explained.

These are some big figures, and of course one of my first questions was, “Where does the money come from?”

Heinrich has certainly thought this part of the bill out and was clear that raising taxes was not the answer.

“The money comes from court cases where there is a natural resource damage nexus,” he said.

In simple terms, when a natural resource is damaged, money in settlements will go to this fund. This makes this act a no-brainer and very bipartisan in nature as it will not strain the national debt or tax burden.

Why we need RAWA “There are certain species that if they get below a certain threshold will disappear no matter what we do. That is what we saw with the Passenger Pigeon, it got below a certain population and it was no longer sustainable,” Heinrich said.

He stated this grim fact amongst discussion of birds still with us today—like the lesser prairie-chicken—that lack funding to put simple projects in place to stabilize populations, never mind recover them.

“For species like woodcock and ruffed grouse, just having a funding source to be able to address those species before they are on the endangered species list,” the senator added.

This is of very practical concern as, according to state and federal data, 19 states currently have ruffed grouse listed as a “species of concern” and Indiana added them to the state’s endangered list in 2020.

RAWA in practical use One of the biggest issues facing the North American Model of Conservation, a socialized system, is that it is not inherently profitable. It is what makes our system so special, and albeit issues with decline, it is far superior to any other modern conservation effort in other countries.

When Heinrich first spoke on healthy forests and funding, he continued in explanation, “If there isn’t a direct profitable forest product for forestry activity but you are trying to maintain ruffed grouse habitat in the East you need funding. Oftentimes, the trees we are harvesting are not profitable trees. We do not have a way to turn them into sustainable income sources to do that management.”

Although the private sector of sustainable logging practices for wood and paper products has done good things for grouse management, that just isn’t enough in some places. This is a perfect example of when RAWA can help plug those gaps from public to private lands to maintain cohesive habitat. That is just for ruffed grouse.

READ: How Climate Change is Affecting Sharp-tailed Grouse

Species like the sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chicken, and even the spruce grouse could get help going forward. Shortgrass prairie, sage steppes, diverse forests; all habitat that stands to gain if this act passes.

What can we all do for RAWA? I think we would be hard-pressed to find a hunter that wouldn’t support the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act as it will work for not just upland birds, but big game and other species alike. But we must first spread the information of RAWA throughout our communities, part of why we are presenting this article to our readers.

Below is a simple breakdown of what RAWA is:

1. A direct and permanent funding source of $1.4 billion a year for habitat and conservation work.
2. It will provide a clear and sustainable funding source for species well before they become endangered.
3. The money is not the result of taxes but rather court damages around our natural resources.
4. This money will be available to state fish and game agencies, tribal wildlife agencies, non-profits, and private landowners to create habitat and conservation opportunities.
5. The goal is to plug the gap between species of least concern to endangered species by providing a clear funding source to prevent listings in the first place.

I asked the senator with a level of seriousness about whether reaching out to our congressional leaders and senators has any effect. And to be honest, if it were not for his answer, I would not even bother with our ultimate call to action.

“Having a constituent nexus, having people from your state or district, and it being clear that they care about this, that oftentimes is what motivates a senator or a congressman to join a bill or to make sure they at least support that bill when it comes up for vote,” he said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The above story reports on the Senate version of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. The House of Representatives version, re-introduced in the 117th Congress by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), is slated to see a full-committee markup on Jan. 19 in the House Natural Resources Committee. Watch the live session here at 10 a.m.. Follow along at projectupland.com for continuous updates. Though essentially the same bill, the Senate version includes the natural resources damage payment component as noted above.

The post Recovering America’s Wildlife Act: Breaking Down RAWA, and How to Support It appeared first on Project Upland.

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Though New Hampshire was home to another legislative push by anti-hunting advocates, HB 1308 has been killed in committee CONCORD, N.H. — Another long-standing hunting tradition is threatened in New England, this time centered in the woods of New Hampshire.

House Bill 1308, introduced Jan. 5 by representatives Edith Tucker (D) and Dennis Thompson (R), is a direct attack on responsible and ethical dog breeding practices, safe dog training environments, and would destroy an invested user base that utilizes the state’s natural resources.

Call to Action and Key Dates

**Tuesday, Jan. 25:** HB 1308 was effectively killed by an 18-1 bipartisan vote in the House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee.

``` Tuesday, Jan. 25: HB 1308 will be voted on by the House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee

Email members of the committee to make your position known.

**1. Use the following email HouseFishandGameCommittee@leg.state.nh.us

1. Tell members of the committee that you OPPOSE HB1308

2. Any personalized message in the email helps!

3. At minimum cut and paste the following: Dear House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee, I am reaching out as a member of the public to OPPOSE HB1308 as it is a direct attack on responsible and ethical dog breeding practices, safe dog training environments, and would destroy an invested user base that utilizes the state's natural resources. There are already rules in place to ensure the health and treatment of the snowshoe hare in New Hampshire as it pertains to Beagle Clubs. This bill only seeks to destroy our state's rich heritage in hunting and to single out a vulnerable part of our hunting community. ```

**Friday, Jan. 14**: the bill heard testimony but the vote was postponed till January 25th.

**Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021**: New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission voted to oppose this bill 10 to 1.

Share this article on social media and with anyone you may know that lives in New Hamshire to give them the proper information to oppose this bill.

If passed, HB 1308 would prohibit the “capture, possession, and propagation of hares and rabbits for hunting dog training and field trials.” The introduction of the bill comes months after New Hampshire’s neighbor, Vermont, introduced legislation that would limit or ban hounding for bears, both purposeful attacks on hunting culture.

Yet, what exactly is at stake? According to the American Kennel Club, which is affiliated with a number of beagle clubs in the state, should the passage be successful, it would “effectively prohibit beagle clubs from continuing to host field trials and revoke the clubs’ New Hampshire Fish and Game permits allowing the capture of 20 wild hare annually for purposes of training their scent hounds.”

Conversely, a New Hampshire-based activist group, Voices of Wildlife in New Hampshire, supports the bill, claiming, “The capture and relocation of snowshoe hares causes many problems for these animals and can even be a death sentence. Snowshoe hares need particular habitat to survive. They need heavy thicket areas to hide from predators, as well as sufficient time to find the best places to hide. The clubs admit predation does occur by birds of prey and at least at one club by bobcats.”

The truth, however, may be much less doom-and-gloom, as practitioners of live-trapping hares for training purposes explain the process is not cruel, as the hares are not harmed during the trapping process or purposely during training and field trials and clubs are required to maintain strict health guidelines for the animals. In a testimony by the Northeast Beagle Gundog Federation—an organization comprised of 40 beagle clubs across multiple states—it notes, “Prohibiting New Hampshire’s five beagle clubs to maintain sufficient populations of hare on their training areas would essentially destroy these clubs, forcing them to close their doors to members and competitors. Closing these clubs would result in loss of tourism; loss of economic benefits to local, rural economies; loss of recreational opportunities and loss of important land conservation benefits.

“Proponents of House Bill 1308 cite cruelty and clubs’ inability to properly care for hare as reasons to ban trapping and possession of hare and rabbits. Consider that the object of beagle training and field trials is to develop and promote skill in trailing hare and rabbits, not to capture or kill them. Clubs are greatly invested in sustaining sufficient game populations on their grounds. Thousands of dollars are spent annually at these clubs to improve hare habitat. … New Hampshire currently has more restrictive regulations concerning trapping of hare and rabbits than any other state. No other state has limits on the number of hare trapped and relocated or a requirement for a veterinary inspection.”

But for someone right in the middle of the fight, David Price, President of the New Hampshire Beagle Club, believes that all of the opposition is due to misinformation and preconceived ideas.

“I think some the people think we’re taking the hares to the pen, dump them out of the box , and let the dogs run them down until they catch them and kill them,” said David Price, President of the New Hampshire Beagle Club. “They think that’s the way it is; they don’t realize our dogs are running on scent. Very rarely do they ever put eyes on it unless they’ve got a big, open area, but within seconds that hare is gone. I’ve watched my dogs every week; a hare will run up to me, scratch its ear, nibble on a bush, wait for the dogs to get close, and take off. He’s not stressed at all; he’s got the advantage on my dogs who run 8 to 9 mph.”

So then, for such a hot-button issue, what are the facts?

Background on live-trapping hares in New Hampshire According to New Hampshire Administrative Code Chapter Fis. 806.05, which deals with the propagation of wildlife, those wishing to live-trap snowshoe hares must follow a laundry list of regulations.

Of the rules, the most important is that it has to be done in the open, regulated season with no more than 20 hares trapped per season; done only with box traps with weatherproof tops and enough food to sustain the animal for at least 24 hours; and traps must be checked daily. Further, clubs that keep trapped hares or their offspring in a manner that meets the requirements of state code (Fis. 804), and relinquish one or more hares once a year for veterinary checks to make sure the animals are in good health. It is also important to note that hares are not killed at the beagle clubs.

How did this come to be, though? According to Price, before, clubs could get hares from Canada but when the border was closed for transporting animals club representatives went to the state’s Game and Fish leaders in 2007 to allow trapping. Thus, if the practice is taken away, they won’t have any way to get the animal for training and trials.

What’s at stake if the HB 1308 passes? There’s more in the way of consequence than just clubs losing the ability to trap snowshoe hares. Price explained that the ramifications would not only shut down the clubs in the state—two years was his prediction—but it would also impact local economies.

“We pay for a lease on our property—we have a 20-year lease—so those people would lose their money,” he said. “The insurance company that we pay would lose their money; the local grain store down the road where we get grain for the hares, they would lose their money; the pen place would lose money if we aren’t buying supplies for repairs; it would all trickle down.”

From the standpoint of tradition, many hunters, trainers, and devoted field trial participants would also suffer.

“I’m primarily a hunter, so I’ve been hunting around beagles since I was 13 years old,” Price said. “We have a lot of guys in the club that do the trials, but that was brought down from their fathers, too. It’s like an active sport; some of the guys … will travel all over the New England states to run their dogs in these trials. And the hounds have been run for hundreds of years.”

Further, the breed would suffer. To maintain skillsets, whether bred for trials or hunting, dogs must be trained and put to work continuously. Thus, without access to the training component, beagles would eventually lose their keen abilities. And it should be noted that beagle clubs and those who are part of them are the antitheses of what some colloquially call, “puppy mills.”

“These guys that have good dogs, if they don’t have a place to run they aren’t going to breed their dogs,” Price noted. “They’re not out to make a bunch of puppies. The only reason they’re breeding is to get a better pup out of the deal. They’ll keep one for themselves and the other ones they’ll sell. So if they don’t have a place to run they’ll get out of the game and quit breeding, then you’ll lose all the decent dogs that have been working.”

Do hares die? While Voices of Wildlife clings to the notion that hares die while at pens or during field trials, both are uncommon. Price admitted that some captured hares or progeny of captured hares are killed by predators—“We’re not eliminating the wildlife from getting at them, which is tough to fence a tall fence over 100 acres,” he said—but the facilities are much better than that of the wild. Plus, hares are heavily predated upon in the wild.

Voices of Wildlife also claims, “As is commonly known, the sustained flight response in a hare can result in death. When they are preyed upon or chased by groups of beagles before becoming familiar with the terrain, snowshoe hares can literally die of fright.”

But this is conflated. It is not the goal of field trials or training to kill or injure hares, as noted in the NBGF’s testimony.

“Killing or injuring hare through training or field trials is absolutely discouraged,” the testimony reads. “Clubs provide supplemental feed and habitat improvements to the benefit of their hare, with the object of promoting survivorship and reproduction. Our activities are not the blood sport portrayed by misinformed activists. Hare are allowed weeks to acclimate to their spacious habitat before dogs may be trained or field trials held on the grounds. Hare are far too difficult to acquire to accept any losses.”

And while hares can die during large-scale trials, Price notes it’s rare.

“I’m not going to tell you it doesn’t, it does, but it’s not at every trial you go to,” he said. “That could happen maybe, three times out of 20 every time you have a trial.”

To Price, a major problem and thus large motivation behind the bill is that younger people aren’t educated or have been separated from the culture.

“You’ve got less people hunting and less people bringing their kids up hunting, so the younger generation just doesn’t know anything about it,” he said. “There’s not enough insight on it. And you’re getting more and more houses developed and people from down south are moving here. With COVID … people down south wanted to get away from the big cities, and once they come they want to bring the city with them. They’ve never seen a dog chasing something.

“That’s the way I see it, they don’t know that you can let your dogs go and do what their purpose is. That art is getting lost, and that’s why they’re putting the pressure on us.”

What’s next? Currently, HB 1308 sits in the Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee. On Jan. 14, a hearing will be held concerning the bill, likely with multiple groups there in support or in opposition of the bill. It’s planned that representatives of the American Kennel Club and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation will provide testimony against altering the state code.

Suggesting it could be a lost art in as little as 100 years, Price noted he wants to see the tradition remain.

“We just need to be able to keep our 20 hares that we’re allowed to trap,” he added. “I’ve got young kids growing up and I’d like to see them involved in it.”

When given the chance to have the last word, Price reiterated that, by no means, are hares being compromised.

“Our hares aren’t getting run down,” he said. “We’re feeding them and watering them during the dry spell, we have all the cover that they have in the wild, and the only reason we need to re-trap is because we still have the hawks, owls, and occasional bobcat that will come up over the fence.”

The post New Hampshire Beagle Clubs in the Crosshairs as State House Pushes Bill to Ban Live Snowshoe Hare Trapping appeared first on Project Upland.

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From Pakistan to California, get a preview of Volume 3, Issue 4 of Project Upland Magazine, hitting mailboxes soon As we close out another year of Project Upland Magazine, I hope you will enjoy the variety of voices and stories the pages of this winter issue have in store.

Northern Pilgrimage Photographer Kevin Erdvig takes readers on his journey to the Northwoods of Maine chasing woodcock and ruffed grouse taking advantage of the early season.

The excitement of plentiful birds, cool weather, and endless cover was dwarfed by my anticipation of putting my 5-month-old Ryman Setter on his first wild birds. Seeing his progression from running wild and busting birds with undisciplined vigor, to presenting me with a perfect point on his first woodcock and cautiously creeping up to a grouse was enough to help me overlook my subpar shooting all week.

Pheasant Parmaigiana Sandwich Chef Rossano Russo’s photos once again will leave readers drooling over this issue’s recipe for a pheasant parmigiana sandwich. Myself, I can’t wait to pull some pheasant from the freezer and give this recipe a try in my own kitchen.

This sandwich includes pheasant breast pounded into thin, big cutlets, coated with breadcrumbs fried to perfection, smothered in marinara sauce, and topped with fresh melted mozzarella cheese. Comfort food at its finest.

Discovering a Different Kind of Uplands Author and entrepreneur Britt Hosmer Longoria takes us on a journey to Pakistan, a location few of us in North America will have the opportunity to travel to let alone experience hunting chukar, quail, See-see partridge, gray francolin and the black-bel- lied partridge. And while it may seem strange to some to travel so far to hunt chukar when the devil birds are available wild quarry in the States, for Britt, that was exactly the point—to hunt native species in their habitat with “all the traditional and culturally unique accouterments of central Asia.”

On this trip, I was reminded about the passionate love of bird hunting shared by so many cultures world- wide. Whether in northern New England or southern Pakistan, we bird hunters share a special bond tied by that feathered rush of a wild bird that erupts into flight, the smell of hot gunpowder, a shared meal, and the laughter around the fire after the day afield.

Fetch! Author, podcast co-host, and resident dog history expert Craig Koshyk takes a deep dive into all things fetch. Mainly, how attitudes toward retrieving in pointing breeds vary among breeders, owners, trainers, and field trailers. As you’ll learn in Koshyk’s article, the answer is … complicated—as are most things in the hunting dog world.

Why the difference? How did something once considered vital to a pointing dog’s performance get dropped like a hot potato in the United Kingdom and then, later on, in some parts of the United States? The answer, it turns out, is money.

Welcome to HerUpland Founder of HerUpland and the Education and Outreach Director at Northwoods Collective, Courtney Bastian discusses her journey into becoming an upland hunter.

Briar’s ears were flapping, and it seemed as though she had a big smile on her face, somewhere in that little mouth full of feathers. In the proud moment, Briar and I were having, I quickly realized I would need to touch that bird and take it from her. I think I held my breath, closed my eyes, and reached out in equal amounts of disgust at the bird, and pride in my dog. I managed to grab it by a leg between my thumb and index finger and toss it over to my husband.

Bartz and Bean Author and photographer Krissie Mason tells the story of Mike Bartz, a retired conservation officer and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Northern Region warden, and the incredible bond he and his 13-year-old English Setter Bean share.

Bean has a few issues. Probably won’t be long before . . . well, you know. The love between these boys is clear when you see how gently Mike lifts Bean from the truck and then back up again as he can’t make it on his own anymore. Just a quiet and gentle man lovingly caring for his companion in the twilight years.

Recovering America’s Wildlife Northwoods Collective co-founder and Creative Director A.J. DeRosa discusses the importance of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), a piece of bipartisan legislation put together from across the aisle by U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) with Missouri Senator Roy Blunt (R).

“There are certain species that if they get below a certain threshold will disappear no matter what we do. That is what we saw with the Passenger Pigeon, it got below a certain population and it was no longer sustainable.” Heinrich stated this grim fact amongst discussion of birds still with us today—like the lesser prairie-chicken—that lack funding to put simple projects in place to stabilize populations, never mind recover them. “For species like woodcock and ruffed grouse, just having a funding source to be able to address those species before they are on the endangered species list.” This is of very practical concern as, according to state and federal data, 19 states currently have ruffed grouse listed as a “species of concern” and Indiana added them to the state’s endangered list in 2020.

Complimentary California Quail Most might think the cover image featuring an up-close-and-personal portrait of a quail holding tight while a bird dog looms on point in the background was staged—or perhaps a taxidermied bird was used in place of a live quail. Nothing could be further from the truth. In his article, photographer Nate Akey relays his experiences hunting California quail and how the extraordinarily real photo came to be.

I recently attended a Charlie Parr concert in a desert area a little way outside of Santa Barbara. The music started before sundown, and early in his set, I noticed a familiar image tucked under a sage bush, just feet from the stage. It was a seemingly fearless covey of California quail that undoubtedly was enjoying the music with the rest of us. Being the upland hunter that I am, my first thought, when I saw them, was to wish my dog and shotgun were with me. I watched them feed around for a while, catching their location in between songs until I lost track of them as night fell. This recent encounter perfectly describes my relationship with the California or valley quail. They can always be found when I’m occupied by something else.

The post Exploring the Winter 2021 Issue of Project Upland Magazine appeared first on Project Upland.

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This is the story of Jennifer Wapenski, Managing Editor of Hunting Dog Confidential Magazine, and her path into the uplands behind a Deutsch Langhaar

The hunting partnership between man and dog developed thousands of years ago and it came from a deep bond of affection. I suspect it was the dog’s idea.

—Aaron Fraser Pass

Presented by Syren USA and Eukanuba Sporting Dog

A recent discussion in the Project Upland Community Facebook group revolved around the question of whether or not dogs actually lead more people to get into hunting. The overall consensus was that yes, dogs can indeed motivate folks to take up the sport. Even though I hunted many years dogless, my wife, Lisa Trottier, only got into hunting after we got our first hunting dog.

One of the things I’ve realized about our hunting dogs is that not only do they help us achieve a closer connection to the natural world, they also can act as a sort of conduit to help us make new friends and renew old acquaintances. Lisa and I started to realize this soon after we started going to Europe to photograph dogs for my first book. Months before, as we sought examples of particular breeds to use as subjects, we’d communicated with various people via email. Although that had been our only contact, no matter where we traveled, as soon as we got off the train or pulled into the driveway, it felt like we were meeting long-lost family members. Despite being from completely different parts of the world and speaking different languages, there was always an almost instant meeting of minds between people who shared the same burning passion for hunting dogs.

Since then, thanks to social media, we’ve continued to expand our list of friends connected by gun dogs. Some I consider close friends now, even though I’ve never, or only briefly, met them in person. Case in point: my friend, podcast partner and co-editor of Hunting Dog Confidential magazine, Jennifer Wapenski. Believe it or not, she and I have only met once in person, at Pheasant Fest 2020 in Minneapolis. But since then, we’ve spoken nearly every day and launched a podcast and magazine together. All thanks to the dogs.

And even though Jennifer is an adult-onset hunter, and I’ve been hunting since I learned to walk, one thing have in common is that we only got into hunting over gun dogs after we’d grown up and been on our own. Jennifer said,

``` I didn’t grow up with dogs; I considered it a great injustice leveled upon me, but in reality, it was probably the best decision for our family.

But the wrong was righted the moment I married my husband; our first dog was born on our wedding day and joined our family eight weeks later. Bailey was a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, so she wasn’t hunting by any stretch of the imagination, but she was a working dog through and through. She gave me a love for true working dogs who have a purpose to fulfill. She was our hiking companion and backpacking partner. Seeing her whole demeanor change when her pack came out showed me that dogs are at their best when they have a job and that I am at my best when I have a working dog in my life.

Fast forward ten years or so. We had started to dabble in duck hunting a bit, and Bailey was aging, so it was time to start thinking about our next dog. We knew that we wanted a dog that would be able to participate in our extracurricular activities, which were starting to evolve from backpacking to include fishing and now hunting.

I was listening to and reading everything I could get my hands on to learn more about the world of bird dogs. For my birthday that year, my husband, Joe, got me the finest book ever written on the subject: Pointing Dogs Volume One: The Continentals. I read that bible cover to cover and back again, imagining each of these amazing dog breeds and trying to decide which one would be the best fit for us.

What sealed the deal was an upland hunting workshop co-sponsored by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Pheasants Forever. After some classroom instruction and clay shooting, they turned us loose in the field with an army of volunteers and their bird dogs. Joe and I were paired up with a guy and his three GSPs. I was in absolute awe as I watched these dogs work the field and point roosters. He was breathing whispered commands at the dogs—“Anna, easy,” “Over here”—and the dogs worked like a symphony. I was smitten. I shot a rooster and learned how to clean and process the bird, but the indelible mark from that day was the memory of the working bird dogs.

Upon returning home, I started contacting various breeders, and within a few months, we were on a waitlist for a Deutsch Langhaar puppy. I never realized just how much my life would pivot at that moment, but the introduction of a bird dog into my life has sent me onto a strange and wonderful trajectory that I never could have imagined. ```

Listening to Jennifer’s story brought back memories of researching the Deutsch Langhaar and traveling to Germany and the US to photograph them and meet breed experts. And it turns out that one of the breeders I met and had the pleasure to hunt South Dakota roosters with was Cortney Schaefer, the breeder of Jennifer’s first pup. Cortney is now yet another friend I have thanks to the dogs. Jennifer described Cortney as “the quintessential breed enthusiast and ambassador” and then explained how, after narrowing the list of ideal breeds down to four or five, she started contacting breeders.

``` *Some I heard back from, some I didn’t, but none were nearly as engaging as Cortney. She and I immediately hit it off . . . she described her dogs, asked me lots of questions, and—to the great joy of my engineer’s heart—told me about all the facts and data that stretched back for generation after generation of DLs. She really sold me on the benefits of getting a dog from a system that was built around performance testing and standards. With us being brand new hunters, there were so many variables . . . . I didn’t want the dog’s natural ability (or lack thereof) to be one of them.

I also knew that a relationship with a breeder was going to be more than just a transaction of cash for a puppy. I’m sure I’ve overwhelmed Cortney with questions over the past four years, but she is truly a mentor in every sense of the word. When I decided to take the plunge and breed Piper, she was there every step of the way in helping me navigate the entire process.

We’ve been involved with the DL-GNA (Deutsch Langhaar—Gruppe Nordamerika) club, which is the North American chapter of the German breed club. The club has an annual get-together in South Dakota. It is pretty remarkable to see fifty or so rare German dogs hunting the cornfields of rural South Dakota. Joe tested Piper through the VJP, HZP, and VGP tests (breed tests established by the German Versatile Hunting Dog Association). I’m training our puppy, Abby, and ran her through the VJP and HZP last spring and fall. We will also set our sights on the VGP someday, which is an incredibly difficult test but also really rewarding in that a dog trained to that level is a true joy to hunt with. The VGP is a two-day test covering subjects from field search, pointing, and steadiness to water work and duck search to a fox retrieve and even blood tracking. It’s a very comprehensive test that covers all the things we expect a truly versatile dog to be able to do. For us, the testing is a means to an end—to demonstrate that a dog is suitable for breeding and to create a hunting partner that will be safe and effective in the field.* ```

Once again, Jennifer’s story made me realize that over the many years I’ve spent studying the various pointing breeds, I’ve seen a gradual increase in the number of women breeding them and hunting over them. Lisa (see her story, “Love Conquers All,” in Project Upland issue 1.3, Fall 2019) met a surprising number of women hunters and breeders in our travels, and they really inspired her to take up the sport. When I asked Jennifer if she has also been inspired by dedicated, passionate hunters and breeders like Cortney she said that for her, it wasn’t really about inspiration, but more about the value of representation.

``` *I work in two male-dominated industries: aerospace engineering and outdoor writing. I’m not used to being surrounded by women or having many female role models. But there’s a lot to be said for normalizing the true variety of faces, voices, backgrounds, and so on, because we’re out there, even if it’s not always well-represented. Even if you’re used to being in the minority in whatever situation you find yourself in, there’s huge value in seeing people that look like you doing the things that you want to be doing. Whether you realize it or not, it can help make those goals seem more attainable and realistic.

Nobody wants to feel like they are a spectacle or a novelty act; we just want to do what we love and share it with others, and I believe representation is a key piece of that puzzle.* ```

Another piece of the puzzle, at least from what I’ve observed over the years, is that the outdoor industry is finally responding to the increasing numbers of women in the sport. My wife had a heck of a time finding decent hunting clothes for women when she started, but now most companies have a line of women’s hunting clothes, and Jennifer agreed. But she also has a bit of a bone to pick with some of the companies.

*A huge pet peeve of mine is when a manufacturer makes something with a pink logo and calls it the women’s line. Or when you walk into a store and they have waterfowl camo, turkey camo, deer camo, winter camo, oak camo, maple camo, conifer camo, and women’s jackets. Like, hey, we are out doing all of those things, too! So I’ve been really encouraged to see high-quality gear coming out that is designed specifically for women, not just marketed at women. Syren shotguns are a great example. A friend of mine recently shouldered my gun, made a face, turned to me, and asked, “Does this fit you?” I assured him that it, in fact, fit me perfectly. “It feels horrible to me,” he replied. I think that was a lightbulb moment in realizing that a lot of us are adapting to gear and equipment that really wasn’t designed for us.”*

And as encouraging as it may be to see the industry adapt, we still need to find ways to attract even more folks to the upland hunting world, men and women, boys and girls. It seems that a lot of people who have been upland hunting for years can’t quite figure out why others are not joining them. But maybe they are not the ones to ask. Maybe we need to ask people who are new to the sport about what drew them in, what helped them get started and what challenges they faced. I remember when I was taking my teaching degree. We had all kinds of great teachers and speakers come in to give us lessons, but the one that probably gave us the most useful, concrete information was a guy that had been teaching for only two years. He told us about all the stuff we would soon be facing as newbies, and how to prepare for it. None of the other teachers even mentioned any of it, because they forgot it long ago.

Jennifer expounds on this phenomenon:

``` Someone once described this to me as a ladder. People up at the top of the ladder can look down at those at the bottom and say, “Climb up! It’s great up here!” But the people who might be most effective in helping are the ones that are just a rung or two from the bottom because they are so much closer to the person who hasn’t taken that first step yet. If you grew up hunting, you’re inherently familiar and comfortable with guns, you know what kinds of places to find birds. Most of it is just second nature. You probably don’t know how intimidating a gun can be to someone who has never handled one before. You don’t know how daunting the map is without any kind of experience in where birds live. Maybe you don’t even know why you hunt in the areas where you do; you just sense that it’s a good spot because that’s what your experience has taught you. Without that experience, it’s really hard to understand why you’ve taken all the steps to get there—bought a gun, passed hunters ed, gotten a license, read the regulations, trained a dog—yet you still aren’t finding success. It’s hard to stay motivated if you don’t see birds out there. For example, we do a lot of fishing and have come to understand the expression, “Find the spot within the spot.” Sure, it’s good to know that the salmon are in XYZ Bay. But in reality, they group up at the reef that is hidden just over the edge of the dropoff. You can fish the bay all you want, but until you hit that magic spot, you just won’t hook any fish. It’s the same with birds. In our first season, I called and talked to a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist to ask for advice on where to go with a young puppy and new hunters. She gave the name of a wildlife area, so we set off with all our gear and the highest of hopes. We wandered around the barren sagebrush for an entire day and found no signs of birds. It was incredibly discouraging. It really takes experience to be able to survey a property and pick out areas where the birds are likely to be. So my first piece of advice is to encourage the recent newbies, like myself, to have the confidence to mentor someone else who is just thinking about getting started. No, you don’t know everything. Far from it! But our value is that we know exactly what the newbies are thinking and what they don’t know. It’s a much smaller step from the ground to that first or second rung of the ladder and much of that experience is fresh in our minds. For the lifelong hunters, my advice is to talk through everything you’re thinking, even if it seems really basic. One of my mentors is incredibly effective because he shares all of his thoughts before we start hunting. Something like, “I’ve never hunted this property before, but I can see that draw over there, and I’m thinking that it would be a nice, sheltered place for birds to get out of this wind. It snowed last night, so the south-facing slopes are likely to warm up and melt off first. So I’m thinking we should climb up that way in order to sneak around and surprise any birds that might be warming up in that morning sun.” What might seem obvious to you is probably not at all obvious to a brand-new hunter. That kind of teaching has been really helpful for us.

As for inspiring people to get out into the field in the first place, I think we should consider our friends and acquaintances who are already outdoorsy as likely candidates to try hunting. Your friend who loves to hike and only shops at farmer’s markets may be quite open to the idea of local, sustainable protein. Already having a love for the outdoors and a willingness to suffer a bit in the name of fun are two really important steps on the way to becoming an upland hunter. ```

Jennifer’s story is unique, and universal. It describes one woman’s journey of discovery, and the quest to forge a deeper connection with the natural world shared by hunters everywhere. And while it is true that a passion for the great outdoors inspired her, and that the folks she met along the way broadened her horizons, it was a four-legged hunting partner that sparked the flame. Today if you asked Jennifer to explain why she started hunting, in ten words or less, I am pretty sure she would just quote Aaron Fraser Pass and say, “It was the dog’s idea”.

The post Let the Dogs Lead the Way – A Project Upland Original Film appeared first on Project Upland.

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Heather and Sarah discuss how ruffed grouse have adapted to extreme climates and challenges that winter hunting can bring Everything in the woods is trying to kill a ruffed grouse, including us. We discuss whether or not to pursue them when conditions become challenging, adaptations that they have developed to survive the extreme climates found within their range, and a neat way to dig your way out when you drive down a road to that coveted winter cover that you shouldn’t have!

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The post Winter Ruffed Grouse Hunting and Gettin’ Stuck – Her Upland – Episode #19 appeared first on Project Upland.

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Inspired by and better than the ultra-busy, fast-food chain’s chicken sandwich, this recipe can utilize any upland species Every Chick-fil-A I drive by—no matter the hour—has cars waiting at the drive-thru stretched around the parking lot.

I have grabbed a biscuit, and perhaps a sandwich, at the Wichita airport, as it’s the only fast-food restaurant available in that terminal. If I’m being honest, I have to agree with my wife when she said, “I don’t understand all the hubbub.”

Maybe it’s because the employees are always so polite?

That said, many folks love Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches, and “Chukar-fil-A” just flows off the tongue. Plus, I had several chukars collecting frost in the freezer. So I went after work the other evening to collect samples to copycat their recipe, but for wild birds. Overall, I may have failed, because this recipe tastes better than the stale, cold, bland sandwiches the company slinging.

There isn’t much a of a secret to the recipe. It’s pickle juice and buttermilk for a marinade. Because Chick-fil-A sandwiches, as I understand, don’t come with sauce unless you ask, the drippings from freshly fried breasts provide the necessary moisture and flavor. You want a thin layer of oil in the skillet so you can lightly salt and pepper the top side of chukar breast when frying. Also, be careful not to the crowd pan—no more than three breasts in a large skillet when frying—as doing so will create too much moisture and soften exterior of fried breasts.

Note: before frying your breasts, coat all in flour (after marinating for a minimum 2 hours), shaking off any heavy excess clumps, and set on a plate, ready to go in the skillet, rather than doing each breast by hand then putting into the oil. I rinse and dry my hands after each breast, as the moisture from my hands would create lumps in flour and we don’t want that.

Finally, you can indeed make this recipe with any upland bird breast. The number of breasts will vary based on size. You ideally want 5-6 ounces of meat per sandwich. For your larger birds like pheasant, you may wish to pound out the breast to flatten it. You could even use quail, but you’d need several per sandwich. And, yes, you can use your red-flesh birds like your prairie grouse and sharptails.

Enjoy the recipe? All I have to say: “My pleasure.” Reach out with any comments on Instagram @wildgamejack

Print Chukar-fil-A Sandwich Inspired by and better than the ultra-busy fast food chain's chicken sandwich, this recipe can utilize any upland species. Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Chukar Prep Time 2 hours 15 minutesCook Time 10 minutes Servings 2 people Calories 9156kcal Author Jack Hennessy Ingredients* 6 skinless chukar breasts, approximately 1 1/2 to 2 ounces each * 3/4 cup buttermilk * 1/2 cup pickle juice from Vlasic Sandwich Dill Chips * 1 cup all-purpose flour * Peanut oil * Vlasic Sandwich Dill Chips * Kosher salt * Freshly ground black pepper * 2 pairs hamburger buns

Instructions* Mix buttermilk and pickle juice in a medium mixing bowl and add skinless chukar breasts. Allow to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours but, ideally, no more than 24 hours. * When ready to cook, heat 1/2 inch of peanut oil in a large skillet to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. * Toss each breast through flour and add to oil. Lightly salt and pepper. Do not crowd pan. Make sure oil stays around 400 degrees. * Flip once underside is golden brown. Pull once both sides are golden brown. * Add fried breasts immediately to bottom bun to soak up drippings. You’ll likely need three breasts per sandwich. Top with three thick pickles. Add top bun. Serve immediately.

NutritionCalories: 9156kcal | Carbohydrates: 99g | Protein: 763g | Fat: 610g | Saturated Fat: 175g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 131g | Monounsaturated Fat: 252g | Trans Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 3016mg | Sodium: 4219mg | Potassium: 7873mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 5761IU | Vitamin C: 65mg | Calcium: 703mg | Iron: 42mgThe post Chukar-fil-A Sandwich appeared first on Project Upland.

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The arrival of European hunting dogs and the culture of recreational hunting in North America in the 17th through 19th centuries We continue the history of hunting dogs as a function of place and time, resuming our discussion about dogs in North America in the colonial era.

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When Europeans arrived on North American shores—whether it was the Spanish, the French, or the English—we know that they brought dogs with them. Early writings and paintings from this era depict a variety of dogs that accompanied the colonists for purposes of protection and hunting. Some of these dogs bear a strong resemblance to old varieties of pointers and hounds.

In order to better understand the development and use of hunting dogs during this time, it’s important to understand the culture around hunting at the time. Back home in Europe, hunting was reserved by law for the elite landowners as a leisure activity. Even though North America offered the legal and geographic freedom for everyone to hunt the abundant game, it was still frowned upon, especially as a form of recreation or sport. This mindset was largely due to religion, which tended to view any sort of idle, leisure activity as a sin. It was also believed that consuming wild meat could lead to wild behavior. So while people did hunt in colonial North America, it was only done out of necessity and rarely as recreation.

Attitudes began to change in the mid-1800s as the population boomed and the cities became increasingly polluted and crowded. Americans started to look toward the wilderness not as a place to fear, but as a place of solitude and rejuvenation. Writers around this time are credited with changing the very definition of a “sportsman” from a gambling, drinking man to a self-sufficient hunter or angler. Men who worked and lived in the dirty cities began to yearn for the clean air and freedom to roam in pursuit of game and fish.

This transformation was swift and effective. Hunting as a form of recreation was soon widely enjoyed and even prescribed by doctors for better health. While they didn’t have the language of mental health at the time, evidence points towards a culture that recognized outdoor activities as a healthy pursuit for both the body and spirit.

Before long, the newly rebranded sportsmen looked at their hunting dogs as an essential part of the hunting experience. Suddenly there was interest in breeding and training better dogs, along with the realization that such activities would take an investment of serious time and money. Early enthusiasts looked to England as an example of how competitions, trials, and shows could lead toward the development of superior dogs. This cultural transformation reflects the beginning of the golden age of hunting dog breeds in North America, which we will explore in the next episode.

Offering the same disclaimer as we do in the last podcast episode, we acknowledge that North American history is fraught with bias, racism, and erasure. While our research is conducted with that in mind, we also realize that the facts we report are not free from bias. Please don’t hesitate to reach out via email if you have any corrections or alternate perspectives to share.

As always, we thank you for listening and invite you to submit feedback or questions to us at HDC@northwoodscollective.com.

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Hunting Dog Confidential is presented by Eukanuba Premium Performance Dog Foodand supported by Dakota 283, Syren USA, SportDOG Brand and Kent Cartridge.

The post Early American Hunting Dogs, Part 2: HDC Episode #29 appeared first on Project Upland.

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Regardless of hunting experience, mistakes will be made; read about some of the most common errors the author has seen over the last 30 years Each fall I get to hunt with people from around the country of varying degrees of experience. Frequently, they ask me after a few days of hunting, “Why are you always on the side the bird gets up on?” or, “How do you always get easier shots than I do?”

That said, here are some common errors I see other hunters make.

Mistake No. 1: Incorrectly approaching dogs on point There are many common errors I see folks make when walking up to a dog on point, so this one is going to be a long one.

Let’s say you and your buddy are out chasing birds. His German Shorthair goes on point, the moment that every hunter is dreaming about. In this scenario alone, I see multiple mistakes made by new as well as more experienced hunters.

The most common one I see is what I refer to as “people backing.” That is where as soon as the person sees the dog on point, they stop and stand behind the dog. This is wrong. The dog has done its job, now it’s time for you to do yours; now is the time to get in front of the dog and get that bird in the air.

That said, there is a correct way to approach a dog on a point. I see many new hunters walking up directly behind the dog and staring at it; my suggestion is to first look at the cover and try to figure out where you expect the bird to be. Remember birds aren’t going to want to fly back over the dog, so approach the dog from the side directly towards where you think the bird is going to be. This will set you up for a shot without the risk of the dog getting between you and the bird. If you are hunting with a friend, this is the time to work together to cover escape routes for the bird and to work as a team—both the person and furry friend—so everyone can get some shooting and hopefully give your dog a retrieve.

Mistake No. 2: Not working cover as a team Using that as a segue, I see people work cover the wrong way while hunting many upland species. Truthfully, it’s very simple if you take some time to think about the nature of game birds.

As I mentioned, birds don’t like to flush over a do—with a few exceptions. For example, when hunting sharptails in plum bushes or willow patches, if a dog goes on point on the downwind side of the cover we need to be walking around to the upwind side to cut off the escape route as well as to not get blocked from seeing the birds when they flush.

Also, don’t stand close to the bush the birds are in. Give yourself 10 yards or so from the cover so you can see the birds go out either side.

Another pro tip: if I’m in position and the birds haven’t flushed yet, I carry a few golf ball-sized rocks in my vest and I’ll pull one out, toss it in the bush, and get ready for things to happen!

Mistake No. 3: Not reloading after a flush Many types of game birds often do a staggered flush: quail, sharptails, huns, and pheasants to name a few. After the birds have flushed and shots have been fired, get your gun reloaded as quickly as possible and be ready to take a shot on a late flusher.

Sometimes there are a lot of miles between groups of birds, and I have seen this mistake made hundreds of times by hunters of all experience levels.

Mistake No. 4: Shooting too fast Understand, there are times to shoot fast and times to take your time.

When hunting ruffed grouse, shoot as fast as possible as the gaps are hard to find and the birds are fast as hell. Yet, with most other species, hunters have way more time. If you are hunting in the West in the wide-open spaces, here is a good rule of thumb: give the birds a two- or three-second count, then fire. Make the first shot count and don’t rely on the second barrel. This is how to shoot doubles on a rise of birds.

Overall, there are many other tips for shooting at covey birds such as huns and quail that I will address in the next section, but this is a good place to start.

Mistake No. 5: Not practicing during the off-season There is a slew of benefits to spending some time at your local gun club during the off-season, so many that it’s hard to know where to start.

First, it will help you become comfortable with your shotgun. It may seem obvious, but I see many hunters that put their shotguns away at the end of the season and don’t pull them back out of the safe until opening day. If you are one of these folks, don’t be surprised if you get some funny looks from your bird dog or hunting partners as you miss the first few birds of the year.

There are also many different games you can play at most gun clubs, and they all have their purposes. For western hunters, trap has many benefits, as, with most western species of birds, the game will replicate the flush of them accurately, as well as the range of the shots.

Personally, I am a fan of playing all of the games and trying to be as good of a shot as possible so when the moment comes and birds are flushing under your feet, you can make the most of your opportunity.

Lastly, it shocks me how few hunters pattern their new shotguns. Each shotgun can have a wide variance in point of aim and can shoot certain shells and chokes better than others. It’s as simple as getting a large piece of cardboard, drawing a dot in the middle, holding on the dot, and firing. I start with the choke that I will be hunting with the most and see where the majority of the pattern hits. It’s good to try this with the hunting rounds you are mostly shooting, too. It will surprise you how different it is from gun to gun and shell to shell.

These are a few of the little things that I have learned over my 30 years chasing birds around the country. Hopefully, these little tips and tricks will help you bring home a few more birds the next time that you are lucky enough to spend a day in the field watching the dogs work.

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Take your time with this delicious Mexican dish inspired by a Spokane, Washington, restaurant and choose between enchiladas or tostadas One of my favorite restaurants while living in Spokane, Wash., was Rancho Chico on the north side of town. It had amazing margaritas and a fantastic enchilada sauce that contained peanut butter as one of the ingredients.

While I have experimented with enchilada sauces over the years, this is the first time I attempted incorporating peanut sauce. Long story short: it was a hit at home, and I highly recommend giving this one a try. If it’s too thick for your liking, you can add chicken stock until the desired consistency is met.

The other great thing about this recipe is the ability to cook your upland bird meat at your own pace. After an initial sear, adding chicken stock and a little bit of enchilada sauce will help braise and tenderize tougher cuts, like legs and thighs from older roosters.

Lastly, on the topic of enchiladas versus tostadas, enchiladas are accomplished by rolling into the shape of mini burritos while tostadas utilize flat, baked tortillas. Admittedly, the easiest, fasted route is opting for tostadas, but the decision is yours, ultimately.

Enjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.

Print Upland Enchiladas or Tostadas Take your time with this delicious Mexican dish inspired by a Spokane, Washington, restaurant and choose between enchiladas or tostadas. Course Main CourseCuisine MexicanKeyword upland game birds Servings 4 people Calories 859kcal Author Jack Hennessy Ingredients 1 lb upland game meat * 2 tbsp Montana Mex Mild Chile Seasoning Blend (or other favorite Mexican seasoning) * 1/2 medium onion finely minced * 1/2 cup chicken stock * 1/4-1/2 cup enchilada sauce * 8 6-inch yellow corn tortillas * Sunflower or peanut oil * Cooking spray * Kosher salt * Ground black pepper * Sour cream and minced cilantro for garnish Enchilada Sauce 1 lb gaujillo chilis rehydrated and turned into paste * 1 lb ancho chilis rehydrated and turned into paste * 1/2 yellow onion finely minced * 2 tsp fresh garlic minced * 30 oz crushed tomatoes * 1 cup chicken stock * 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter * 1 tbsp chili pepper * 1 tbsp brown sugar * 1/2 tbsp paprika * 1/2 tsp kosher salt * 1/2 tsp ground black pepper * 1/2 tsp ground coriander * 1/4 tsp cumin

Instructions* To make the chili paste, add all the dried peppers to large pot and cover with water. Bring to a low boil for 15 minutes to rehydrate, then strain. Once strained, scoop a large portion and put it into steel China cap strainer. Use a durable steel spoon to mash peppers so pulp comes through sieve. Have a bowl below to catch paste. Get as much as you can with each scoop of rehydrated peppers then discard, adding more scoops until you’ve mashed all peppers through sieve. Use a plastic scraper/rubber spatula to scrape off pulp from outer edges of sieve into bowl. * To make the sauce, in a medium saucepan heated on medium-low, add a thin layer of cooking oil and half an onion, finely diced. Lightly salt and pepper. Brown onion then add 2 teaspoons of finely minced garlic. Heat for 1-2 minutes more, stirring often. * Add paste to the same medium saucepan with creamy peanut butter and mix in thoroughly. Add remaining ingredients from enchilada sauce mix and stir thoroughly. Heat on medium-low at barely a simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often and careful not to burn, then reduce heat to low. * To cook your choice of upland meat, heat a large (preferably cast-iron) skillet on medium with a thin layer of cooking oil. Add half of a medium onion, finely minced. Lightly salt and pepper. Stir onions until brown. * Add skinless, deboned meat to skillet along with 2 teaspoons of spice mix and a 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. Sear meat on all sides. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce to skillet. Stir in. Meat is done with you can use two sets of tongs to pull apart in skillet. Shred in skillet. * Once the meat is fully cooked and shredded, heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spay both sides of all tortillas. If rolling into enchiladas, you will need to heat tortillas in a oven for few minutes before rolling or the tortilla will break. In a large baking dish or two, either place flat tortillas down and top with meat from skillet and cheese, or place meat into tortilla and roll. (You may wish to spray baking dish(es) with cooking oil). * If making tostadas, add another tortilla atop meat and cheese (which is atop flat tortilla). Top either tostadas or rolled enchiladas with enchilada sauce and more cheese and place in oven for 6-7 minutes, until tortillas are adequately baked. * To serve, top with sour cream and freshly minced cilantro.

NutritionCalories: 859kcal | Carbohydrates: 133g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 1096mg | Potassium: 3251mg | Fiber: 42g | Sugar: 65g | Vitamin A: 30750IU | Vitamin C: 66mg | Calcium: 200mg | Iron: 12mgThe post Upland Enchiladas or Tostadas appeared first on Project Upland.

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The word ‘setter’ has quite the history behind it; one you may not have expected

The Setter is the handsomest and perhaps the most generous of the canine race; but by what peculiar cross he originated, is not well known; and all conjectures on this head, though very interesting to the sportsman, are too much involved in uncertainty, to be much depended on.

— T.B. Johnson

While people will always disagree about which breed is the “handsomestand perhaps the most generous,”everyone agrees that trying to follow all the twists and turns of the setter’s creation story is more or less impossible. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something more about them by taking a look at some of the more interesting, and even surprising, stops along the way.

In 1872, Edward Lavarack, the father of the modern English setter answered the question by writing “… the setter is nothing more than the setting spaniel improved.” Ok, so setters are spaniels that, at some point were “improved” to become setters. But what exactly is a setting spaniel, and what exactly were the “improvements” that turned them into setters?

Historical accounts of setting spaniels One way to get to the bottom of it is to look at the words Lavarack used: spaniel, setting, and setter.

Let’s start with “spaniel.” The most common view is that it means “from Spain.” Gaston Febus himself wrote that: “There is another type of dog that we call chiens d’oysel and espaignolz (spaniels), because this type comes from Spain, even though there are some in other countries.”

But did spaniels really come from Spain? Jean Castaing didn’t think so. He believed that épagneul-type dogs probably developed somewhere further north where a colder, wetter climate would have favored long-haired dogs and presented a fairly good argument that spaniel came from an old French word ‘espanir’ which means to “spread out.”

And Febus may have said they came from Spainas a kind of insult. He wrote that espaignolz (spaniels) were good for certain kinds of hunting but they were loud and bothersome, just like his wife’s Spanish family. So, calling them spaniels may have been his way of dissing the in-laws. In any case, everyone agrees that spaniels were fast, busy, medium-sized dogs that excelled at flushing game. From wherever they were first developed, they eventually spread across much of Europe and, at some point, crossed the English Channel.

Springer, engraving by John Scott, after a painting by Philip Reinagle, from the Sportsman’s Repository, 1845 The first use of the word spaniel in English is probably in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath story that features a licentious woman who “…hankers for every man that she may see; For like a spaynell will she leap on him”. The Duke of York also mentions spaniels around the same time in The Master of Game, a translation and adaptation of Le Livre de la Chasse. In Chapter 17, the Duke translates, almost word for word, Gaston Febus’s description of spaniels: “…commonly they go before their master, running and wagging their tail, and raise or start fowl and wild beasts. But their right craft is of the partridge and of the quail. It is a good thing to a man that has a noble goshawk or a tiercel or a sparrow hawk for partridge, to have such hounds.”

As to their appearance, the Duke provided another word-for-word translation of Febus, with one glaring error. He wrote: “a fair hound for the hawk” should have a great head, a great body, and be of fair hue, white or tawny.”

The error is the word “tawny,” which means a yellowish-brown or orange-brown coat. In the French original, Febus did not use the word tawny (fauve in French) he wrote that the coat was tavelé, which means “spotted” or “ticked,” just like the coats of modern flushing spaniels and setters.

The most important line in the Duke’s description is the following: “And also when they be taught to be couchers they be good to take partridges and quail with a net.”

There are two very important things in it that we must keep in mind as we dig deeper into the setter’s origin story. The first is the word “coucher.” It comes from the Middle English word “couch” which means to lie down. The other is that, at the time, spaniels had to be trained to couch.

The next time we come across the word Spaniel in a major work is in 1570, in the book De Canibus Britannicis written by Johannes Caius (Dr. John Kays). It is unclear how much personal experience Caius had with dogs or even if he had any particular interest in them, but he must have known the right people in the right places because his work is remarkably accurate and provides an in-depth look at the many kinds of dogs in Britain at the time. The only problem for modern readers is that it is written almost entirely in Latin. Fortunately, six years after its release, Abraham Fleming published Of Englishe Dogges, not a word-for-word translation of Caius’s book but more of an interpretation.From Fleming, we learn what spaniels looked like, and where some of them came from (spelling modernized): “The most part of their skins are white, and if they are marked with any spots, they are commonly red, and somewhat great therewithal, the hairs not growing in such thickness but that the mixture of them may easily be perceived. Others of them be reddish and blackish, but of that sort there be but a very few. There is also at this day among us a new kind of dog brought out of France (for we Englishmen are marvelous greedy gaping gluttons after novelties, and courteous cormorants of things that be seldom, rare, straunge, and hard to get.) And they be speckled all over with white and black, which mingled colours incline to a marble blue, which befits their skins and affords a seemly show of comlynesse. These are called French dogs as is above declared already.”

We also learn that there were two major types of spaniels—”The first findeth game on the land. The other findeth game on the water”—and that the ones that worked on land were further divided into two sorts, one for hawking, and one for netting. The main difference between the land spaniels was their hunting style. Spaniels used for hawking searched for and flushed game, or in Fleming’s words they “… play their parts, either by swiftness of foot, or by often questing, to search out and to spring the bird for further hope of advantage.” He also says that they were “denominated (named) after the bird which by natural appointment he is allotted to take.” So, there were pheasant spaniels, partridge spaniels, and spaniels for the falcon. Today, we still name one spaniel, the Cocker, after the bird it hunts, the woodcock.

The other sort of spaniel did not flush birds, but showed the hunter where the birds were hiding, or in Fleming’s words, “by some secret sign and privy token betray the place where they fall.” And unlike hawking spaniels which had a reputation of being noisy and hard to handle, spaniels used for netting were considered easier to train, and they world in silence, making “… no noise either with foot or with tongue while they follow(ed) the game. These attend diligently upon their Master and frame their conditions to such beckes, motions, and gestures, as it shall please him to exhibit and make, either going forward, drawing backward, inclining to the right hand, or yielding toward the left…”

This part of Fleming’s work, inspired by the Caius book, was an updated and expanded description of the dogs the Duke of York called couchers. But neither Caius nor Fleming adopted the word coucher from the Duke’s book. If they had done so, today we’d have English, Irish, and Gordon Couchers. Instead, Caius chose a different name for those dogs. In a schematic he drew up to categorize the various types of dogs in Britain at the time, he listed them as Setters.

Fleming then explained that “…this kind of dog is called Index, Setter, being indeed a name most consonant and agreeable to his quality.”

So according to both Caius and Fleming a “setter” was a dog that “betrays the place of the bird’s last abode.” And since setter sounds like sitter, and setting sounds like sitting, it has long been assumed that, like the name coucher, the name refers to dogs that lay down. But it is a mistake. For Caius and Fleming, the word “setter” had nothing to do with laying down, and to understand what they truly meant we have to go back to the original Latin text and then take a close look at Fleming’s English translation.

Understanding historical translations of ‘Setter’ Caius wrote his book in Latin because that was the language 16th-century scholars used to communicate with each other, no matter where they were or what their mother-tongue may have been. But he did include a few English words in the text, specifically the names people gave to the types of dogs in their Britain. That is why words like Tumber, Dancer, Turn-spit, Spaniel, and Setter appear in the schematic he provided.

And since Caius knew that many of his readers didn’t read or speak English, he also included a sort of glossary at the end of his book with definitions of the English words he used. Here is what he wrote about the word setter: “… Setter nominare solent, a verbo sette, quod locum designare nostris Britannis significat.”

Not particularly helpful if you don’t read Latin. Fortunately, Fleming gave us a translation, sort of.

“Setter (comes from the) word Set which signifies in English that which speakers of Latin mean by the words ‘Locum designare.'”

So Fleming translates most of the definition, except the most important part—he didn’t explain what Locum designare means. And by doing so, he created a sort of linguistic trap that we’ve been falling into for nearly 500 years. If he had actually translated the entire sentence and written that ‘Locum designare’ means, “to designate a location,” generations of authors and experts would have known that the word setter had nothing to do with sitting, couching, or lying down. It referred to the dog showing the hunter where the game is. The fact they were trained to lay down while performing the act is irrelevant—a dog can designate a location while standing up, sitting down, or lying flat on its belly. Setter refers to a dog that designates or indicates the location of game, or in Caius’ words, one that “betray(s) the place of the bird’s last abode.”

But the other name Fleming mentions—“…this kind of dog is called Index.”—what did he and Caius mean by that? In the 16th century, the index was the name of a part of a sundial that casts a shadow to indicate the hour. Nowadays, we don’t use sundials much, but they still exist, and they still have a part that casts a shadow to indicate the time of day. The only difference is that we don’t call that part an index anymore; we call it a pointer.

For Caius and Fleming, the words index and setter were synonymous. They both meant “to point at something.” Yet to this day, many people believe that the word “Setter” refers to a dog that “sets” or “sits” down. But it is a mistake. Setter actually means pointer with a lowercase “p and it is a name “most consonant and agreeable to his quality.”

So, if there was already a difference between flushing spaniels and setting spaniels when Caius wrote his book, how much of it was due to training and how much was natural? The most likely answer is a bit of both.

Unraveling the Setter’s origin Obviously, the amount of instructionrequired to teach a busy spaniel to be a coucher varied among individuals. But throughout the early literature, there are references to natural inherited qualities possessed by the various sorts of hunting dogs.

Fleming wrote that spaniels “naturally love to hunt the wing of any bird whatsoever” and Nicolas Cox said they were “naturally addicted to the hunting of feathers.” Clearly, the men who were breeding and training dogs at the time understood the difference between natural and trained behaviors. And since all dogs, indeed all canines, have at least some tendency to pause before they pounce, if you wanted to train dogs to couch you would favor dogs with pronounced pause-before-the-pounce behaviors. Indeed, some dogs probably needed no training at all. Even Caius mentions dogs that would “…stayeth (their) steps and…proceed no further..” and the 17th-century painting by Oudry and Desportes, commissioned by the King of France, clearly depict long-haired dogs in natural pointing postures. So it is reasonable to assume that “improved” spaniels—fast, wide-ranging dogs with a strong natural point—were already in use on the continent in the 1500s or even earlier. As for their arrival in England, we have at least one record of importation that gives us a very specific date. In the Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series of the Reign of James I, we find the following entry for Jan. 17, 1624.

“A French Baron, a good falconer, has brought him 16 cast of hawks from the French King, with horses and setting dogs; he made a splendid entry with his train by torch – light, and will stay till he has instructed some of our people in his kind of falconry, though he costs His Majesty 25£ or 30£ a day.”

The French King at the time was Louis XIII, a man obsessed with hunting in all its forms. The kind of hawking the French Baron was sent to teach in England was probably a new variation of the “waiting on” flight. In medieval times, it consisted of trained birds of prey flying above a hunting party as it galloped across fields with dogs running ahead of them flushing ducks, hare, partridges, or any other sort of game fit for a falcon. The new development was adding setting dogs to the mix which gave breeders one more reason to favor dogs with strong natural tendencies to point.

“Game hawking with pointing dogs and falcons trained to ‘wait on’ crystalizes the epitome of falconry, now game birds can be found, pointed, the falcon released to fly high above the point, and then, when the stage is set, the game can be sprung. The result is the total distillation of the flight, once so unpredictable, now so singularly stage-managed with that dowards stoop by the falcon onto its prey taking place directly in front of the spectators!”— Derry Argue p. 32.

In addition to trying to unravel the mystery of the Setter’s origins, much has been written about how it was “improved” or what Laverack referred to as attaining its “sufficiency of point.” Some have suggested that the pointing instinct in setters came from the Pointer. Laverack disagreed.

“How the setter attained his sufficiency of point is difficult to account for, and which I leave to wiser heads than mine to determine. The setter is said, and acknowledged by authorities of long-standing, to be of greater antiquity than the pointer; if this is the case, and which I believe it to be, the setter cannot at first have been crossed with the pointer to render him what he is.” — Laverack, The Setter

Laverack is correct, sort of; the Setter is of “greater antiquity” than the Pointer in England. But on the continent, setters and pointers evolved more or less contemporaneously, and there was surely at least some cross-breeding between long-haired and short-haired pointing dogs in various parts of Europe. Laverack also overlooks the fact that, until the mid-1700s, the amount of natural pointing instinct among setters varied considerably. Indeed, even well into the 20th century, some lines of setters—especially Irish Setters—were sometimes criticized for lacking sufficient amounts of point. Yet, when Laverack started breeding setters in the mid-1800s the vast majority of setters were strong, natural pointers. In any case, it isreasonable to assume that when short-haired pointing dogs from Spain and France arrived in England, about a century after setters first appeared, breeders probably did crossbreed on occasion and ended up strengthening any pointing instincts that were already in their lines of setters. Rawdon Lee offered his thoughts on the issue, quoting Mr. William Lort, a renowned setter expert of the time:

“…I am quite sure that years ago, say from forty to fifty (early 1800s), it was not an uncommon thing to get a dip of Pointer blood into the best kennels of Setters. W. Talpin wrote in the Sportsman’s Cabinet that the setter was ‘…a species of Pointer originally produced by a commixture between the Spanish Pointer and the larger breed of English Spaniel.'”

But Lee also made sure to take these assertions with a grain of salt “(it) will always be a matter of discussion between persons interested in the breed, as many are to be found who deny the existence of the Pointer cross.”

Another piece of evidence of cross-breeding may be the fact that within a decade or two after the first imports of short-haired pointing dogs, setters started to point standing up, like a pointer, instead of crouching as they had always had before. Vero Shaw suggests that the change came about after hunters switched from netting birds to shooting them on the wing.

“It is, of course, perfectly well known that the modern Setter usually points his game standing up, as a Pointer does, and the abandonment of netting is unquestionably responsible for this alteration in the method of a Setter carrying out his work. Before, when the sportsman was anxious to net as many birds as he could, it was most essential that they should be as undisturbed as possible, and the presence of a dog would, of course, increase the chances of their being frightened away before the net was fixed for their capture. The chances of the dog being seen by the game were naturally lessened when he lay down, and this, no doubt, was the reason for his being broken to do so.

“Now things are much altered, and the sportsman only wants the whereabouts of the game to be indicated, so that he may walk them up. There is, however, a perfectly palpable tendency to crouch still observable in many of the best and highest bred Setters of the present day, which is unquestionably accounted for by the former habits of the breed, and the uses to which it was put.” — Vero Shaw, Illustrated Book of the Dog.

But seeing such a widespread change in such a short period also suggests that a drop or two of pointer blood crept into setter lines. Indeed, the “alteration in the method of a Setter carrying out his work” continued throughout the 18th century, and by the late 1800s setters could even be penalized for laying down on point in field trials.

“… In the present day, as a rule, the standing position is preferred, though some well-known breakers, and notably George Thomas, Mr. Statter’s keeper, have preferred the ‘drop,’ which certainly enables a fast dog to stop himself more quickly than he could do by standing up. It is, however, attended with the disadvantage that in heather or clover a ‘dropped’ dog cannot be seen nearly so far as if he was standing, and on one occasion, at the Bala Trials of 1873, the celebrated Ranger was lost for many minutes, having ‘dropped’ on game in a slight hollow, surrounded by heather.

“As a rule, therefore, the standing position is the better one, but in such fast dogs as Ranger and Drake, ‘dropping’ may be excused. At the above meeting, however, after a long and evenly balanced trial between Mr. Macdona’s Ranger and Mr. R. J. LI. Price’s Belle, the latter only won by her superior attitude on the point, and Ranger again suffered the penalty for dropping at Ipswich in 1873.”

Idestone thought that “falling to game” was an artificial behavior, but he did not object to it.

“There are also fashions as to the Setter’s work. Originally, he was taught to fall to his game, as he was used either for hawking birds, or to cover them (dog and all) with a net. He was induced from imitation—being broken with the old Spanish Pointer, which never fell to game—to stand like his fellow pupil, for falling is an artificial attitude. Terriers, Spaniels, Retrievers, even cats, stand before they pounce; so do lions, tigers, or leopards, especially the cheetah. Standing is bracing the nerves and balancing the body for a spring.

“Latterly the old Setter instinct of dropping has shown itself in a marked manner, and many of the very best Setters fall as if struck by lightning. I never object to it in the Setter. To my mind it is a sign of breeding; but it is disadvantageous on heath, moorland, or amongst high scrub or deep cover of any kind, especially if the dog is of a dark colour, as he is completely hidden, not only from his owner but from the other dog, who may blunder up the game, or be led from getting once or twice close to the point when he ought to back, to neglect this essential part of his training.”

Today, in North America, any tendency to crouch or lay down on point is severely penalized in most field trial formats and anything but an upright, lofty point is generally frowned upon by the majority of American hunters. In Italy, on the other hand, breeders specifically select for the crouching posture because field trial judges and hunters prefer dogs that demonstrate an extreme panther-stalking-its-prey crouching style. It may seem like a small difference, but it is indicative of one of the challenges faced by all the setter breeds today.

Officially, there are only four, the English, Gordon, Irish Red, and Irish Red and White. But since they’ve all been “distributed beyond the limits of their respective districts” and bred around the world for different game, terrain, and purposes there are now different types, subtypes, and strains within each breed, not to mention the irreparable split between field-bred and show-bred lines. So even if a hunter seeking a pup narrows his or her choice down to one of the four recognized breeds, they still have a lot of homework to do if they want to find the perfect fit.

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There are many reasons to train a dog to remain steady from flush to fall, whether for safety or personal enjoyment When it comes to selecting a bird dog breed, there’s a common piece of advice handed out: “Choose a dog that hunts the way you hunt.” This is all well and good if you are a seasoned hunter—or if, in fact, you’ve ever hunted at all—but if you are coming into hunting completely green, it’s tough to imagine what your hunting style will be. And before you dive into the minutiae of the various breeds, you have to answer a fundamental question: flushing or pointing dog?

I arrived at this important decision with no practical experience, armed only with preconceived notions and some cursory internet research. Common wisdom said that pointing dogs gave plenty of advance warning before the bird appeared, giving the hunter time to compose herself, establish footing, shoulder the gun, and click off the safety. I imagined that hunting behind a buzzing little spaniel was nothing but chaos, with birds launching out of bushes like popcorn, dog hot on their tails, and taking the hunter completely by surprise. Feeling a little overwhelmed about the whole process already, a pointing dog seemed to be the less chaotic way to go.

The farther I dive into the hunting dog world, though, the more I realize that the finer points of a dog’s work have everything to do with the relationship, bilateral communication, and training that have been established between the dog and the handler. Pointing dogs are rarely steady without some training, and flushing dogs rarely bust birds out of cover without signaling what’s about to happen. The opportunity to read your dog and the obligation to work together to establish expected behaviors are universal, regardless of breed or type.

Co-hosting the Hunting Dog Confidential podcast has given me the opportunity to talk to hunters outside of my typical versatile hunting dog circles. Sure, there are some fundamental differences in the way that we run our various types of dogs, but when all is said and done, it seems like we have more in common than not.

One topic that has been of particular interest to me is the idea of steadiness. Those of us in the pointing dog world are familiar with the concept of training a dog to be steady to wing, shot, and fall. In other words, it must remain motionless as the bird takes wing, the shot is fired, and the dead bird drops back to the earth. While some dogs display a natural steadiness to some degree, it is absolutely a trained behavior that goes against their natural inclination to chase and catch the prey. Steadiness is a key component of more advanced hunt tests such as the NAVHDA Utility Test, the JGHV VGP Utility Test, and AKC senior- and master-level hunt tests. It is a hallmark of the “finished” dog.

I was surprised, however, to learn that steadiness is not unique to the pointing breeds. Craig Koshyk (my podcast co-host) and I discussed the concept as it applies to flushing spaniels in an interview with Russell Dodd, an AKC spaniel hunt test judge and Irish Water Spaniel enthusiast.

“We use ‘hup,’ a command which means, ‘Put your butt on the ground, and stay put,'” Dodd explained. “At the advanced levels of hunt tests or in hunting, you want that dog to be steady to flush, steady to the shot, and then not go retrieve that downed bird until released. It’s invaluable from a safety standpoint, especially if you are hunting with a brace of dogs.”

Just as with the pointing breeds, spaniels are expected to be steady through the flush, shot, and fall at the higher levels of hunt testing, such as the AKC master hunt test for spaniels.

Why should a hunter train for steadiness? Even if you aren’t planning to test your hunting dog at the advanced levels, the question of steadiness is an important consideration in your training plan. The primary driving force behind a steady dog is ensuring their safety. This applies to both gun safety as well as situational safety.

You’ve seen the classic photo of a flushing dog snapping at the long tail feathers of a rooster as it flushes from its cover. It makes for a great photo but an unsafe shot in that moment. As long as that dog hups and stays put while the rooster flies off, the hunter will be granted an opportunity to take a safe shot at the bird as soon as it clears the cover. However, if the dog gives chase, the hunter must have one eye on the dog and another on the bird before safely pulling the trigger.

Dodd described having been in that situation and why a steady dog makes it safer and more enjoyable.

“The flushing spaniel, in their perfect world, would love to bust into the cover and grab the bird before it even leaves the ground,” he said. “If the bird takes off in a vertical flush, the dog is going to go airborne, pulling the bird out of the air. If you are a snap shot, the dog’s head might be awfully close to the bird. Plus, many upland birds tend to get up just four feet off the ground and fly right above the cover without really getting airborne. If the dog is on their tail, when you look down the barrel of your shotgun, you’re going to see the dog and then the bird. However, if the dog is steady, and the bird goes up, then you’ve got a safe line of sight. Even if you miss the first one, you can take a breath and get a second shot off, knowing that the dog is out of the picture.”

There are critical safety considerations beyond just firing a shot, too. A flushing bird—shot or unharmed—may sail across a road, across railroad tracks, or even off of a cliff. A dog that is fired up about the chase isn’t going to stop and apply common sense to the situation before proceeding.

Training a dog to be steady means that she can be sent for the retrieve in a controlled manner once the situation has been assessed and determined to be safe. For example, you may need to approach the road carefully to ensure that there is no traffic before crossing or ensure that railroad tracks are clear before sending the dog across. There is no need to put the dog’s life at risk for a retrieve or a secondary flush.

Safety aside, a steady dog can also create additional opportunities for a successful hunt. Dodd has seen plenty of these scenarios in his days afield.

“If the dog is steady to flush and shot, it makes marking easier and increases the probability of locating a downed bird,” he said. “Additionally, if there is a flyaway due to a shooter’s miss, the rest of the covey could be holding, and the dog will get a better chance of scoring on those instead of chasing a ‘no bird’ and unintentionally flushing adjacent birds.”

In all, a steady dog is a safer, more efficient dog that can allow the hunter to focus on a safe shot or a more predictable bird encounter without having to worry about what the dog is doing. A steady dog finds the bird, does her job, and parks herself there until given further direction.

Training for steadiness As with anything else, there are countless opinions on the best level of steadiness for a given situation. Some hunters want their dogs to be completely steady through shot and fall, while others don’t train for any level of steadiness. Many hunters fall somewhere in the middle, wanting their dogs to be steady through the flush but to take off upon hearing the shot, thus increasing the chances of finding a wounded bird that may hit the ground running at top speed. There’s no right answer unless you are training for a test or trial that has specific requirements for steadiness.

One thing is for certain, though: training steadiness requires access to birds. There’s really no way around it. In fact, when I was reaching out to others to get their input for this article, the lack of training birds was a common, lamenting response.

“I’d really like to train for it, but it just takes so many birds to get there.”

Whether you are training a pointing dog to whoa or a flushing dog to hup, the only way to proof the training is to use birds in a realistic field scenario. All the yard work on complying to verbal commands will fly out the window when a dog’s brain is captivated by a bird unless that training is expanded to include steadiness in the presence of game.

Dodd encourages someone who wants to have a steady dog to start at an early age.

“Folks who are training their dogs for Master Hunter–level skills or similar qualities in their hunting spaniel generally start steadiness training from the very beginning. To chase a flyaway bird is very self-rewarding; retraining that behavior is much harder than doing it from the beginning,” he said.

Personal perspective on steadiness In our household, we have a finished dog and a…well…a dog. One is training for the NAVHDA invitational and the other, I hope, will head into her second season with a healthy dose of cooperation and budding maturity. They’re simply at different stages of their training and hunting experience.

But nothing makes the value of steadiness more apparent than hunting with one steady dog and one unsteady dog. My pup and I have been kicked out of our hunting party, with my husband (and his rock-steady dog) suggesting half-jokingly, “We could meet back at the truck; we’ll go this way, you go around that way…way over there.”

I get it. Chukar hills are way too much work to throw it all away when the pup busts a covey or chases them too closely to get a safe shot. We’ll take the long way back and continue to work on keeping her steady all the way through shot and fall. Perhaps then we’ll even get ourselves invited back to hunt with others.

Regardless of your preferred flavor of bird dog—flushing or pointing—there’s tremendous value to be found in training to higher levels of performance. Whether for safety, efficiency, or just reducing the level of chaos on a hunt, a steady dog is well worth the investment of time, birds, and effort.

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Inspired by a family tradition and classic Christmas movie, this egg drop soup is great for the holidays My wife’s family dinner tradition on Christmas Eve is soup. It may sound odd to those who serve up a feast, but once you start pouring the egg nog and sneaking a couple of grandma’s freshly baked cookies, it starts to make a lot of sense.

And anyone who has watched A Christmas Story likely remembers the scene at the end where the family heads out for Chinese on Christmas day. Perhaps you have even worked something similar into your holiday traditions. So for this recipe, I combined that popular Christmas-movie meal with my wife’s family tradition of soup for an incredibly tasty egg drop soup that includes shredded upland bird meat. When creating this, I used pheasant breasts in this instance but you can use any white-fleshed meat.

The only remotely difficult part of this recipe is making sure your heat is low and the soup is not simmering when adding eggs, as you don’t want them to curdle—you want those pretty egg drop flowers instead. This recipe is, in my opinion, as good or better than some takeout offerings and incredibly easy to make. Hopefully, this soup finds a place in your recipe Rolodex; perhaps it might even become your holiday family tradition. On that note, the Hennessy family wishes you and yours happy hunting and holidays.

Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.

Print Upland Bird Egg Drop Soup Inspired by a family tradition and classic Christmas movie, this egg drop soup is great for the holidays. Course Main CourseCuisine ChineseKeyword Soup, upland game birds Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes Servings 4 people Calories 515kcal Author Jack Hennessy Ingredients* 1 pound white-flesh upland bird meat * 1/4 cup black peppercorns * 4 large cloves fresh garlic * 48 oz chicken stock portioned * 5 eggs lightly beaten * 1 tsp kosher salt * 1/4 tsp sesame oil * 1/2 tsp white sugar * 1/2 tsp white pepper * 1/2 tsp turmeric * 3 tbsp cornstarch * 1/4 cup cold water * Fresh scallions sliced for garnish * Olive oil

Instructions* In a large pot, poach upland meat (I used pheasant breasts) in 24 ounces chicken stock with black peppercorns and smashed garlic cloves for 1 hour. The chicken stock should be just below simmering (you don’t want it simmering as that is too high of heat). * Once the meat can be shredded by hand (could be less than 1 hour), remove it from the chicken stock and place it on a cutting board. Let it cool for 5 minutes before shredding. Once shredded, set the meat aside. * Strain liquids through a sieve and paper napkin or coffee filter to remove peppercorns, garlic, and any other bits. Add liquids back to the large pot, along with 24 ounces more chicken stock, hand-shredded meat, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric. * For 20 minutes, allow a very low simmer. While soup simmers, make a corn-starch slurry by combining 3 tablespoons of corn starch with 1/4 cup cold water in a bowl and mix. Add slurry to the pot and stir in to thicken the soup. * Crack 5 eggs into a medium bowl and barely whisk. I stab the egg mix with fork tines, with the occasional wrist flick. * Turn heat down (likely to medium-low) so soup is barely below a simmer (but not simmering at all). When at this temperature, very slowly drizzle in the egg and stir into soup with a ladle to produce egg flowers (but not curdle eggs). * Turn heat to low while you cut fresh scallions for garnish. * Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with sliced scallions.

NutritionCalories: 515kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 300mg | Sodium: 1229mg | Potassium: 863mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 547IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 126mg | Iron: 4mgThe post Upland Bird Egg Drop Soup appeared first on Project Upland.

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Among pointing dogs, a number of breeds have already disappeared; others may follow them unless drastic action is taken Saying I’m into dogs is like saying Manitoba winters are “a tad chilly.” I spend most of my waking hours hanging out with, thinking about, reading about, and writing about dogs. One of my favorite reads as of late is a blog connected to the Institute for Canine Biology website run by Carol Beuchat, Ph.D.

Dr. Beuchat’s post, “Celebrating the Preservation Breeders!” was a sort of good-news progress report on several breeding projects designed to save vulnerable breeds of dogs. Along with the report, the Institute for Canine Biology offers articles and even online courses to help breeders and breed clubs improve the odds of their breeds’ survival.

Reading those articles got me thinking about all the breeds of hunting dogs that are no longer with us today, and the reasons why they went the way of the Dodo bird.

Among pointing dogs, several breeds have already disappeared, and others may follow them unless drastic action is taken. France, for example, has already lost two breeds of griffon (the Boulet and the Guerlain), two breeds of braque (the Dupuy and the Mirrepoix), and one breed of épagneul (the Larzac). Germany lost the Württemberger and the United Kingdom lost the Llanidloes setter. Several spaniel, water dog, and retrieving breeds are no longer with us and entire types of hunting dogs like Alaunts are now gone.

So, what happened? Why did they disappear? Breeds can die and have died for a variety of reasons.

The founder(s) abandon it Emmanuel Boulet spent massive piles of his own money and decades of his life developing his very own breed of griffon. For a while, he and his dogs were superstars in the show ring and in the field. The sporting press from the 1880s and ’90s is filled with articles on the Boulet Griffon, lauding the master breeder’s genius and casting him as the savior of the continental pointing breeds. The publicity soon attracted the attention of some of the most powerful people in the world, including Nicholas, the Tsarevich (Grand Duke) of Russia, who traveled to Elbeuf while on a state visit to France just to meet Mr. Boulet and see his griffons. Even the president of France paid homage to the great breeder, presenting him with a national medal of honor for his work. Legend has it that in return, Boulet offered the president a sweater knit from the wool of his griffons.

Yet despite the popularity of the Boulet Griffon and the fame and fortune of its founder, the breed faded into oblivion only a few short decades after Emmanuel Boulet’s death. It is tempting to conclude that it was the founder’s death that led to the breed’s demise, but the truth of the matter is that Boulet himself abandoned it in 1890. In a letter published in the sporting press, Prince Albrecht of Solms-Braunfels tells us why.

It was also Mr. Boulet, who ranked as the top griffon breeder in France, who recently picked out three young dogs…in the Ipenwoud (Korthals’) Kennels. This gentleman stated to me that he now wanted to breed this line pure and not cross it with his line…because his dogs are too long- and soft-haired as a result of crossbreeding and he wants only prickly-haired dogs.

After Boulet’s death in 1897, a few breeders attempted to continue his work but were unable to prevent the Boulet Griffon from eventually disappearing just after the Second World War. For many years, the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) continued to publish its standard, but in 1984 the breed was finally removed from the list of recognized breeds and its standard dropped. Several years later, a Frenchman by the name of Philippe Seguela began a breeding program aimed at recreating the Boulet Griffon. He managed to produce dogs that were apparently quite close to the original in terms of looks and performance, but unfortunately, he abandoned the project in the early 1990s.

The founder(s) die and no one picks up where they left off Aimé Guerlain was a rich man from the perfumer House of Guerlain. He invented the perfume Jicky, which is now the oldest perfume still available today. Aimé also invented his own breed of griffon and enjoyed some success in field trials and dog shows. Unfortunately, he was unable to gain many converts to the breed beyond the circle of his close friends. After Aimé’s death in 1910, it seems that no one stepped up to continue the project, leaving the breed to fade into the history books.

It fails to create a distinct identity Throughout much of the 1800s, the Braque Dupuy was a relatively popular French pointing breed, but shortly after field trials and dog shows were established, it went into a steep decline. Eventually, the breed died out. It is hard to say exactly why it disappeared, but one major contributing factor was very likely what today we would call “poor branding.”

An artist’s rendering of the Braque Dupuy. Unlike many other gundog breeds that were growing by leaps and bounds in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Braque Dupuy never managed to develop a distinct, recognizable identity. Some of its supporters thought it should be a should be fast, wide-ranging dog—basically the French version of England’s Pointer. Others thought it should be a slow, close-working trotter—a taller, thinner version of the old French Braque. Press reports from the late 1800s and early 1900s indicate that both types were around back then and each was promoted as the “true” Braque Dupuy.

Meanwhile, other breeds were growing quickly, thanks in part to clever, easy-to-remember slogans that their supporters used to market them. Brittanys, for example, were touted as dogs having “maximum qualities in a minimum of size” and Griffons were labeled “all-game, all-terrain” dogs. Dupuys, on the other hand, must have been a bit of a mystery to the average hunter looking for a four-legged companion.

It remains strictly confined to its native region Breeds can sometimes thrive—at least for a while—in a particular region or country, but if they fail to generate any interest beyond their native soil, they can eventually die out.

In France, two breeds of pointing dogs—the Larzac Spaniel and the Braque Mirapoix—never made it out of southern France. Similarly, the Hertha Pointer remained confined to Denmark for nearly a century until it finally died out.

It falls victim to changes in hunting styles In Wales, there used to be a breed of setters known as the Llanidloes setter, sometimes referred to as the Old Welsh Setter. Vero Shaw wrote that it was practically extinct by the late 1800s and that its “… loss is so greatly to be deplored that supreme efforts should be made to restore it, before all hopes of doing so are vain.”

Shaw also described the breed based on information he gathered from a Mr. William Lort, of Fron Goch Hall, Montgomeryshire.

“The colour is usually white, with occasionally a lemon-coloured’ patch or two about the head and ears. Many, however, are pure white, and it is unusual not to find several whelps in every litter possessed of one or two pearl eyes. Their heads are longer in proportion to their size, and not so refined-looking as those of the English Setter. Sterns are curly and clubbed, with no fringe on them, and the tail swells out in shape something like an otter’s.”

In a book entitled The Gun At Home And Abroad, published in 1912, an explanation for the disappearance of the Llanidloes is offered by Walter Baxendale, who also mentions two other strains of setters that died off for the same reasons.

were active little dogs, and well suited to the deep dingles and steep hillsides of their native Montgomeryshire. The late Mr W. Lort, a well-known shooting man, and born judge of every kind of animal, had a great opinion of their suitability for their work, and used to say, “‘You may beat us with your dogs on the flats and the tops, but we will beat you in the dingles and on the bottoms,” referring to his Welsh dogs and ground. This old breed is now practically extinct. The inroad of “driving,” and the introduction of more fashionable breeds, combined with want of care for them on the part of their owners, having brought about their downfall.

At Beaufort Castle, Inverness, there was at one time an old breed of setter kept up for many years in the family of Lord Lovat, and the pedigrees were jealously guarded. …Since the shooting on this estate has been let to American sportsmen, and “driving” has superseded the old method of shooting the moors over the setters, the kennel has gone down, and has by this time probably become extinct. A somewhat similar kennel of setters was kept at Cawdor Castle, Nairn. … The blight of “driving,” that has given the death-blow to so many fine old breeds, has, without doubt, extinguished this one also, as for many years no specimen of them has been heard of.”

It becomes genetically unsustainable It is impossible to say just how many breeds and strains of hunting dogs have gone the way of the Dodo due to small populations and extremely high levels of inbreeding.

Once the dogs are painted into a genetic corner, they soon die out. Today, several breeds are facing this very problem. The Pont Audemer Spaniel, the Braque de l’Ariège, and the Stichelhaar are dangerously close to the point of no return.

It fails to gain official recognition from the canine establishment The Württemberger, known in Germany as the Dreifarbige Württemberger or Dreifarbige Württembergische Vorstehhund, was a short-haired, tricolored pointing dog that disappeared just after World War I. Exactly where, when, and how it came to be is the subject of speculation. The most common assumption is that the breed was developed by hunters in the Württemberg region of southwest Germany in the 1870s. Some sources claim that Gypsies traveling from Russia brought the breed to the Württemberg region in the early 1800s, but others insist that it was an ancient breed, known in southern Germany for centuries.

Whatever their origin, heavy, tricolored pointing dogs were present in large enough numbers in the 1880s and ’90s to catch the attention of Germany’s Delegate Commission which, for a time, recognized them as a breed. But a separate stud book was never created for Württembergers and they, along with Weimaraners, were registered in the German Shorthaired Pointer’s stud book.

Apparently, a Dreifarbige Kurzhaar Klub (Tricolored Shorthair Club) was formed, but its efforts to gain official recognition for the breed failed. It is not clear exactly why, but it may have been because leading dog experts of the time believed that any tricolored coat had to be the result of crossbreeding to either Gordon Setters or some kind of hound, such as the Large Blue Gascony.

Physically, Württemburgers were fairly large dogs, up to 70 centimeters at the shoulder with a large head, heavy flews, and loose skin. They probably looked like a tricolored Bracco Italiano or Burgos Pointer. A fairly detailed description of the breed was written by J.B. Samat and appears in the book Les Chiens de Chasse, published by the Manufrance Company in the 1930s.

The Württemberger has not yet undergone the same transformation as the real German Shorthaired Pointer which, nowadays, looks nothing like its ancestors. The Württemberger is a fairly tall dog with a heavy appearance, but it is rare to see a well-built and absolutely correct example, for the hunters in Württemberg are not very fussy and have no particular interest in a carefully thought-out breeding system. However, there are two or three large kennels where the breed is carefully raised and where they have probably been improved in the same way as the other German breeds. The coat is tricolor marked with brown and tan spots and streaks on a blueish background, white with brown ticking with yellow markings above the eyes, on the cheeks, the edges of the ears, the lips, the chest, the inside of the legs and the underside of the tail.

In the book Deutschen Vorstehhunde, author Manfred Hözel states that the last litter of Württemberger pups was whelped near the city of Nanz, Germany, in 1910 and that two pups were exported to America. Other authors, however, have written that the breed managed to survive until just before the Second World War.

It never really existed Russian Setters, rough-coated pointing dogs frequently mentioned in the sporting press of the 19th century, are no longer with us. But then again, they never were.

Reading through the old literature, it is clear that the terms “Russian Setter” and “Russian Pointer” were used to describe any rough-coated pointing dog in Britain at that time. Similar, if not identical, dogs were called Smousbaarden in the Netherlands, Griffons in France, and Polish or Hungarian Water Dogs in Germany. Before the late 1800s, none of them were “pure” or independent breeds. They just represented a type of dog that was found just about everywhere that sportsmen took to the field. A rough coat was their most distinctive feature and it was probably the reason that men in Britain called the dogs “Russian,” for it was commonly believed that people from the frozen eastern regions (and their dogs) were rather hairy and unkempt. In an article from The Farmer’s Magazine in 1836, we can see just how politically incorrect many of the writers were at the time.

“We may perhaps have seen a dozen of these brutes, which, like the people whence they derived their grossly misapplied appellation, are very uncouth, very rough, imperturbably stupid, and, by way of continuing the similarity to the greatest possible extent, will generally be found infected with loathsome vermin.”

An artist’s rendering of the Russian Setter. Thomas Burgeland Johnson’s description of what he called the “Russian Pointer” in the 1819 issue of The Shooter’s Companion was equally negative.

Whether he be originally Russian is very doubtful; but he is evidently the ugliest strain of the water-spaniel species; and, like all dogs of this kind, is remarkable for penetrating thickets and bramble bushes, runs very awkwardly, his nose close to the ground (if not muzzle-pegged), and frequently springs his game. He may be taught to set, and so may a terrier, or any dog that will run and hunt, and even pigs, if we are to believe the story of Sir Henry Mildmay’s black sow; but to compare him with the animals which have formed the subjects of the two preceding chapters (setters and pointers), would be outrageous; nevertheless, I am not prepared to say, that out of a hundred of these animals, one tolerable could not be found; but I should think it madness to recommend the Russian Pointer to sportsmen, unless for the purpose of pursuing the coot or the water-hen.

References to Russian Setters in America are scarce, but there are a few; one, in particular, is quite well-known: the first Korthals Griffon to be registered with the AKC, a bitch imported from France, was listed as a “Russian Setter (Griffon).”

In The Complete Manual For Young Sportsmen, Henry William Herber (aka Frank Forester) wrote that Russian Setters were:

… rarely or never met with in this country. Could they be procured, I think of all sporting dogs they are the most adapted for ordinary American shooting, and the best of all for beginners. They have less style, and do not range so high as the English or Irish dogs, but that is no disadvantage for America, where there is so much covert shooting.

Rawdon Lee thought they never existed and suggested that Purcell Llewellin shared his opinion.

“As a fact, I do not believe the Russians ever had a setter of their own. For years Mr. Purcell Llewellin offered a prize for him at the Birmingham show, but in no instance was there an entry forth-coming. Possibly, in promising such a thing the Welsh squire was poking fun at the breed, and, in a way of his own, endeavouring to prove to the public what he thought himself, that such a thing as a “Russian setter” had only existence in fancy.” —History And Description Of The Modern Dogs (Sporting Division) Of Great Britain And Ireland, By Rawdon B. Lee

I believe that Idestone was correct. He believed that while some sportsmen may have shot over what they call Russian Setters, none were bred in Russia or by Russians.

“I have heard of Russian Setters, but I have never seen one worthy of the name, nor do I think that such an animal is bred or cultivated by the Muscovites.” —Idestone, The Dog

But if they were not from Russia, where did they come from? The most likely source was continental Europe. Rough-coated pointing dogs were quite common there and, in 1825, Barnabas Simonds even wrote about dogs he called “rough-Pointers” that were “…introduced to Suffolk by the late Earl of Powis, from Lorraine.” He goes on to say that the only reason they were imported was “…for the little Satisfaction of deceiving and surprising Strangers,” but then explains why they disappeared: “Sullenness and a violent attachment to mutton brought them into disgrace, and they have been discontinued for many Years” (A Treatise on Field Diversions by Barnabas Simonds, 1825).

Could Simonds be correct in stating who brought them into Britain and where they came from, but wrong when he says they’d been “discontinued?” Maybe some of them did manage to hang on, and perhaps some were bred in Britain and re-branded as “Russian Setters.”

Another possibility is that “Russian Setters” were created in Britain. It is almost certain that at some point in the past, either by accident or design, Pointers were crossed with curly-coated breeds like the Irish Water Spaniel. The results would have been, at least in part, pups with “rough” coats. Like the Pudelpointer, which was created by crossing Pointers to Pudels (not the “poodle” we know today, but an older type of waterdog known as Pudels in Germany), a Russian Setter could be created with little difficulty.

Another “unicorn” breed was the Braque du (or de) Bengale. In the late 1800s, dog shows in France and elsewhere accepted entries for what many assumed was a short-haired pointing dog from Bengal (modern-day Bangladesh and parts of eastern India).

The Braque du Bengale or Bengalese Pointer was said to have a coat like that of a spotted lynx. Others claimed that it was striped like a zebra or tiger. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Italian authors Ulisse Aldrovandi and Vita Bonfadini wrote about spotted or striped braques, and the French naturalist Alcide Orbigny even coined a Latin name for the breed, Canis avicularis bengalensis. He described it as slightly thinner than other braques, with a white coat covered with large brown spots, grey-brown ticking, and tan points on the eyes and legs. There are many more references and even several illustrations published in the sporting press that seem to prove that there were pointing dogs from the Indian subcontinent.

An artist’s rendering of the Braque du Bengale. But Jean Castaing and other experts dismissed the idea. They point out that there has never been a tradition of hunting with pointing dogs in India and that there is no reason to believe that hunters there would have ever developed their breed of braque, let alone export it to Europe. The most logical explanation is that the name Braque du Bengale was given to any short-haired pointing dog with a strongly ticked or brindle coat. In the same way, people thought that anything with a rough coat was Russian or Polish, they assumed that any dog that looked like a lynx or a tiger must be from an exotic land in the East.

A curious footnote to the story of the Braque du Bengale involves the Dalmatian. Many histories of the Dalmatian claim that the Bengalese Pointer contributed to its makeup, a claim probably based on a passage found in Le Cabinet du Jeune Naturaliste, a book published in Paris in 1810. On page 122 of Volume Two, a new section opens with the title, “Le Braque du Bengale.” The text goes on to say: “This animal, sometimes erroneously called Danish, is very common in England…”

What is overlooked by many is that Le Cabinet du Jeune Naturaliste was a translation of The Naturalist’s Cabinet, published in England four years earlier. In the original, the title of the section is “The Dalmatian or Coach-Dog”. Nowhere in the text are Bengalese dogs ever mentioned. Clearly, whoever did the translation took a bit of literary license when he rendered “Dalmatian or Coach-Dog” as “Braque du Bengale.”

The Polish Waterdog is another breed that never really existed.

In a book called Die Kleine Jagd published in 1884, Friedrich Ernst Jester wrote about what he called the Polish or Hungarian Waterdog. He said that they were rare, but still found in “eastern regions.” He described them as having a coarse, brown and white coat, heavy eyebrows, and a moustache. He claimed they were “very similar to the French Griffon and the nose is often split… called Doppelnase (doublenose).” Jester’s account was not alone. Sprinkled throughout much of the old sporting literature, especially from Germany and eastern Europe, are other references to a Polish Waterdog. In a hunting encyclopedia published in the 1820s, Johann Matthäus Bechstein mentions a dog that comes from Poland and that by nature, willingly goes into the water. It is described as having long, curly hair with brown patches.

It is tempting to conclude from these and other sources that a breed of rough-haired waterdog existed in Poland until the late 1800s. But we must remember that from 1772 until the First World War, Poland was partitioned into areas controlled by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

There were no kennel clubs there or any organized breeding systems and, at the time, hunters across Europe tended to call any rough-haired dog from the east a “Polish” or “Hungarian” or “Russian” Waterdog.

In Poland itself, the opinion of several authors was that so-called Polish Water Dogs came from elsewhere. In Nasze Psy – Vademecum Miłośnika Psa, a book published in Poland in 1933, author Stephen Błocki mentions Polskim Wodołazie (Polish Waterdogs), writing that they came to Poland via France or Hungary. Another author, Lubomir Smyczyński wrote in 1948 about a Wyżła Polski (Polish Pointer).

He indicates that it was not a breed but a type of dog found in Poland, Lithuania, and the other Baltic countries, and says that foreign authors, trying to figure out where they came from, just called them Polish Pointers. Other authors mention Polish Wirehaired Pointers and there was even an effort made in the 1960s to create a Polish Shorthaired Pointer. A group of enthusiasts led by the geneticist Janusza Mościckiego and breeder Kazimierz Tarnowski tried to develop what was essentially a Polish version of the German Shorthaired Pointer, but smaller and more resistant to the harsh weather conditions of Poland. Many dogs were bred in the 1970s and 1980s, but the program eventually ran out of steam and was abandoned.

For all the dogs lost to history—or perhaps lost to the lore of exotic breeds with no discernible proof of their existence in the first place—there remain some breeds that have fought the battle with extinction and survived. In the next issue, we will take a look at several breeds that, for all intents and purposes, went extinct, but were successfully revived or re-created through the tireless efforts of breeders and clubs.

The post Extinction: The History of Lost Dog Breeds appeared first on Project Upland.

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Two hunters’ quest to leave as small of a footprint as possible leads them to new, biodegradable shotshells with impressive results

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. — Aldo Leopold

For the last couple of years, I’ve been leading a lead-free hunting life. I feed a steady diet of bismuth shells to my Darne side-by-sides, steel shot to my duck guns, and copper bullets to my deer rifle. But there is one more thing I would like to eliminate from my ammo: plastic.

You see, no matter what type of shot I choose, every time I pull the trigger, I invariably send a plastic wad downrange and into the environment where it can remain for centuries. To be honest, until recently, I never gave it much thought. My main concern was trying to figure out how to stop adding lead to the environment and to the game I eat. Then, last fall near a well-known hotspot in Manitoba’s Delta Marsh, my nephew and I were suddenly made aware of just how big the plastic problem really is.

We set up well before dawn on a narrow point of land jutting into a large bay where diver ducks are known to congregate. Well-worn quad tracks and hundreds of footprints indicated that guides had been bringing clients there just about every day throughout the season. But it was early November, and the only hunters left were locals like us.

At dawn, the birds began to move. Over the next hour or so, we bagged four bluebills, a couple of teal, and a pair of canvasbacks. But when the wind died down the action ground to a halt, we called it a day. As we were retrieving our decoys, we saw that what had looked like beach foam at the water’s edge in the pre-dawn light wasn’t that at all — it was a massive collection of plastic wads. Wind and waves had pushed hundreds of them up against the windward side of the point. We tried to pick them up, but after filling a couple of bags, we eventually gave up. There were just too many of them; it would take hours to get them all. As we made our way back to the truck, I couldn’t help thinking about those wads along the shoreline and how many more were out there floating on the waves or sitting at the bottom of the lake.

Back home, as we cleaned our birds, my nephew and I went over the highlights of the day: his left-right double on bluebills and my quick shot of a speedy green wing teal. But we also discussed the pile of wads along the shore, and as we did, we came to the depressing conclusion that for over 50 years, every single time a trigger was ever pulled in that marsh, a piece of plastic was sent sailing into the environment. The hundreds of wads we saw that morning were just a tiny fraction of the millions of wads shot in the Delta Marsh over the years. And if you multiply that by all the other spots hunters visit each year across North America, the number of bits of plastic we’ve left in our cherished fields, forests, and wetlands must be in the billions.

So right then and there, we decided that the next step in our clean-up-our-ammo act would be switching to shells with non-plastic wads. But was that even possible? Were shells with biodegradable wads even available locally? And if so, could we even afford them?

After an extensive Google search, several phone calls, and a bunch of emails, I came to the conclusion that the answer—at least at that point—was no. A number of North American companies had announced plans to introduce eco-friendly ammo, but none of them had anything on the market yet. Our only option was to wait and hope that something new would come along before the next season.

About nine months later, still thinking about my quest to find eco-friendly ammo, I typed “non-plastic shotgun wads” into Google and pressed enter. Among the top search results was a company in Spain that makes shotshells with biodegradable wads and hulls. I remembered reading about the company, BioAmmo, the year before. At the time their products were not available in North America, but it looked like things had changed—BioAmmo shells were now being sold in the United States and Canada. Even better, the exclusive Canadian distributor was located here in Manitoba, and their website listed BioAmmo shells as in stock and available for online orders. Needless to say, within minutes, I pressed the buy button on my first order of BioAmmo. The shells arrived a couple of days later, just in time for a duck hunt with my nephew.

The next morning, just before shooting light, we loaded our guns with BioAmmo steel Nos. 3 and 4. I typically shoot a side-by-side shotgun with extractors to avoid spitting shells into the marsh, but on this occasion, I decided to shoot my autoloader and use a Mojo pick-up stick to gather the empties, knowing that even if I didn’t get them all, any hull left behind would decompose over time.

WATCH | Hunting with BioAmmo

A video I captured of the hunt shows the very first four shots I ever took with BioAmmo’s 2 ¾-inch shells loaded with No. 3 shot. The ducks (mallards, pintails, and teal) were 25 to 40 yards away. Keep in mind that I am not a particularly good wingshooter, so the success that you are seeing is rather unusual for me. But my nephew and I both filled our limits that day, and the vast majority of ducks we shot dropped stone dead. We didn’t even pattern different loads from different guns and chokes, or measure their velocity with a fancy chronometer, or shoot them into blocks of ballistic jelly. We will leave that to the real experts. All we did was throw some shells in our pockets and go duck hunting. And as happy duck hunters heading home with a limit of mallard, pintails, teal, and gadwall, we decided that BioAmmo will be our “go-to’” shells from now on. It hits hard, cycled perfectly in our autoloaders, and, best of all, gives us peace of mind knowing that we are no longer adding to the pile of plastic already in the marsh every time we pull the trigger.

After the hunt, I decided to dig deeper into this new product in order to help spread the word to other hunters who are looking for ways to be more eco-friendly. I picked up the phone and called Tyson Lobreau at Wolverine Supplies in Virden, Manitoba, to ask him more about BioAmmo and their shotshells. Below is the short Q&A:

Q: Tyson, what exactly is BioAmmo?

“BioAmmo is the name of a company based in Segovia, Spain. Its mission is to develop, manufacture, and distribute 100 percent biodegradable and compostable ammunition for hunting and sport shooting. Their shotshells are made from a plant-based polymer that they invented and patented; the metal base is a non-toxic alloy of copper and zinc designed to oxidize and disappear.”

Q: When you say “disappear,” what exactly does that mean?

“Once fired, the wad and hull can be treated like any other kind of organic waste. You can toss the empty hulls you bring home in a compost heap while the wads you leave behind— which are colored brown to better blend in with the environment—are broken down by microorganisms in the soil within a year or two. Even the iron-alloy base biodegrades in a few years. The process takes longer in the wetlands, of course, because the polymer is unaffected by water. But that means you can use them in a wet duck blind or on a rainy day without fear of swelling or dissolving. And the wads don’t even float. They sink to the bottom, out of sight, and slowly biodegrade over time.”

Q: Are they suitable for all kinds of guns?

“Yes. We shot them through every kind of gun we could get our hands with zero issues. They cycled perfectly with every gas and inertia type gun we tried.”

Q: What has the response been so far?

“The response has been really good. More dealers are starting to stock them and people are starting to realize that “bio” doesn’t necessarily mean expensive. In fact, they are usually quite surprised when they see that the price of BioAmmo shells is in the same ballpark as other hunting loads.”

Q: What’s the future hold for BioAmmo and more eco-friendly ammo in general?

“Currently, we only have 12 gauge 2¾-inch steel or lead loads, but 3-inch shells and 20 gauge loads will soon be available. And for shooters with older guns that can’t shoot steel—and don’t want to shoot lead—there is a new non-toxic load coming out. It is made from a blend of aluminum, tin, bismuth, and zinc. Its density is similar to steel, but it is much softer, almost like lead in that respect.”

The move towards more environmentally friendly ammunition has been going on in Europe for a while now, and it is good to see it gaining momentum in North America as well. If you can go green, why not? Green initiatives are good for everyone.

Notes on buying BioAmmo * The ammunition’s packaging uses the metric system. 70mm is equal to 2¾ inches; 32 grams is equal to 1-1/8 ounces. * BioAmmo’s compostable cartridges are safe to store at normal temperatures for at least five years. * BioAmmo does not advise reloading their compostable hull. * On a recent trip to my local Cabela’s, I was thrilled to see BioAmmo on the shelves.

The post Discovering BioAmmo: Investing in Biodegradable Shotshells for a Cleaner Environment appeared first on Project Upland.

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The origins of hunting dogs in North America from indigenous peoples through the end of the pre-colonial era This season of Hunting Dog Confidential will explore the history of hunting dogs as a function of place and time. We begin in North America, starting with the earliest evidence of domesticated dogs from about 10,000 years ago. This episode brings us right up to the end of the pre-colonial era in the fifteenth century. We’ll continue our exploration of North American hunting dog history in the next episode.

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Fossil and DNA evidence suggests that dogs arrived in North America about 5,000 years after the first humans arrived. These dogs were descended from wolves but were partially domesticated. It’s believed that these dogs aided in hunts and likely provided guardian assistance around camp, too.

Tales abound of tribes using dogs to pursue everything from polar bear in the far north to otters and fish in the most southern reaches of South America. Many of the stories share similar characteristics, such as small dogs being used to distract the quarry from the approaching hunter. This is reminiscent of the way in which terriers are still used today in Germany once larger dogs have a boar at bay.

Early North American dogs were not selectively bred in the same way that we produce “breeds” today, but circumstances certainly led to the selection of dogs with certain characteristics and abilities. Those that were useful were kept around and allowed to reproduce, while those that weren’t useful were likely culled.

Offering the same disclaimer as we do in the podcast episode, we acknowledge that North American history is fraught with bias, racism, and erasure. While our research is conducted with that in mind, we also realize that the facts we report are not free from bias. Please don’t hesitate to reach out via email if you have any corrections or perspectives to share.

We read a few passages from the book A Dog’s History of America by Mark Derr https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Dog_s_History_of_America.html?id=9Xa6q-mT5xwC

As always, we thank you for listening and invite you to submit feedback or questions to us at HDC@northwoodscollective.com.

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Hunting Dog Confidential is presented by Eukanuba Premium Performance Dog Foodand supported by Dakota 283, Syren USA, SportDOG Brand and Kent Cartridge.

The post Early American Hunting Dogs, Part 1: HDC Episode #28 appeared first on Project Upland.