Category: Pheasants Forever
by Jay We’ve been getting a bunch of “where are you guys?” emails the last few weeks – must be getting closer to bird season! Definitely getting there, thank goodness. The waiting…the anticipating…. In response to all the inquiries, wanted to bring you all up to speed about the hiatus here at SBH, in no […]
by Jay Well, if you weren’t there, you missed it. Seriously. Pheasant/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic in Kansas City, MO was what you, a Serious bird hunter, wish every hunting and outdoor show would be. Namely bird-focused, full of like-minded and nice folk talking about dogs, guns and that kind of stuff, and […]
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
I (Jay) had never seen nor head of a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever until the 2011 Pheasant Fest last winter. In fact, when the guy I was talking to about the dog told me, I thought he was yanking my chain. Who in their right mind would give anything that long a name? And […]
As the title says, here’s the second and final part of our Q&A with the guys who went on Pheasants Forever’s (PF) recent and 2nd annual Rooster Road Trip. Quick review: 5 states in 5 days, all public land, they find birds. Serious. Here we go, some good info. SBH: Which one place you hunted […]
Hopefully you followed Pheasants Forever’s (PF) recent and 2nd annual Rooster Road Trip. It’s a cool idea, where several of the walk-it-like-they-talk-it PF guys hit the road to hunt pheasants on public land in five different states – in five days. Since the states are pretty dang big west of Ol’ Miss, that’s no small […]
Seems like these bird forecasts are like media coverage of the economy: self-fulfilling, and rarely good. A recent article in MN’s Star Tribune newspaper noted that: “The predicted decline in Minnesota’s pheasant population this season has caused some hunters to skip ringneck hunting. The Department of Natural Resources sold 66,747 pheasant stamps through [Oct. 17], […]
Word is the pheasant situation in Iowa is so bad that Iowa hunters are heading to South Dakota to hunt birds. But the silver lining may be not taking the birds and their habitat for granted. More below, from a couple Iowa papers. The Issue From the Knoxville, IA Journal Express: > With pheasant hunting […]
What if you were a Serious grouse hunter and had the opportunity to take a serious pheasant- and quail-chaser into the grouse woods for a virgin trip. Would you be licking your chops? Issuing warnings? Secretly laughing inside? Well, that’s what Bob St. Pierre recently did, and we got the scoop on it. Bob is […]
We’d bet that in terms of numbers of hunters and dollars raked in, South Dakota is the numero uno destination in the world for bird hunters (including waterfowl). Has to be true for North America, anyway. One reason for that is the sheer number of pheasants in South Dakota, which means lots of good habitat, […]
Last week we published the first part of a point by point rationale for why bird forecasts are more bad than good, and should potentially be banned…or changed, per the below. Here’s the second and final part. If we’re missing something here or got our logic wires crossed, make sure you let us know. Also […]
Part 1 We get it. We get why everyone likes to read bird forecasts: We all want to know how good the hunting is going to be. Yep good, not bad. We want to be psyched. So there we are, stoked about the season, sitting in our rich Corinthian leather chairs (anyone remember that commercial?!), […]
…How Does It Look To You? Pheasants Forever (PF) just published its pheasant hunting forecast for the season, and it looks…well, that’s the first question – how do you think it looks? Here are PF’s few-word summaries for each state: California – Average Year by Modern Standards (3) Colorado – Northeast Up While Southeast Prospects […]
We’d like to see Pheasants Forever (PF) take over the world – the upland bird world. Much as we like the Ruffed Grouse Society, no one’s got it going on as well as PF…which we say as folks who have talked to PF and seen their folks operate up close and personal. In light of […]
Take 5 Seconds to Send an Email Pheasants Forever is asking hunters to send a quick email to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help conserve pheasant and duck habitat – and today is the last day you can do it. Brief FWS overview: The Service is proposing to establish the Dakota Grassland Conservation […]
The answer for growing more ruffed grouse is the same for all gamebirds: more habitat. No secret there. And in the case of grouse, that means cut trees. Cut ’em! They’ll grow back! And in the meantime, grouse and basically everything that lives in a forest will benefit. But that’s not as easy nor logical […]
“Conservation easement.” Not the world’s sexiest term. For example this scenario: “Tim Lincecum, you just won the World Series, what are you going to do with your bonus?” “I’m gonna buy a conservation easement!” [Sound of a balloon deflating.] Yep, don’t think that’s making SportsCenter, which is one reason
A recent post on the Pheasants Forever website quotes Steve Smith, head editor of Pointing Dog Journal and Retriever Journal, as saying the following to the question of “if you could have only one” dog: “If your idea of a good time is a German shorthair pointing, relocating, pointing, relocating all the way down a […]
Bob St. Pierre at Pheasants Forever is one of the best writers in the bird world, and recently put up another interesting post, this one about the two things that have given him shooting confidence: > A good dog. > A skeet choke. Let’s talk about the latter. We’ll start with a couple Hosannahs. Next, […]
What Dog(s) Am I Getting? One thing I didn’t expect to learn so much about Pheasant Fest was dogs.
Just read this article on hunting ruffies in MN this year. So much of it, while well-intentioned, is wrong. Here goes: > The good news is, counts were up 34 percent this spring in parts of northern Minnesota. Counts remained stable in southern Minnesota. This COULD mean that there’s more easy birds (young ones) early […]
Lessons from 2012 Maine-NH Hunt
Don’t know if we’ve fully recovered yet from our not-quite-a-week of hunting Maine and New Hampshire for ruffies and woodies. We all actually bailed 2 days early, having put in 5 consecutive days instead of our usual 7. Felt like wimps about it, but hey, we were BEAT…from 5 days of the most brutal hunting […]
No Grouse Comeback in SW Penn?
Sounds like ruffed grouse will never be as much a part of the landscape of southern Pennsylvania as they once will. “Never” sounds ominous. Permanent. But that’s the conclusion of an article by Bob Frye in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Why should you care if you don’t live or hunt in PA? Reasons: > Pennsylvania is […]
Hey: All Ruffies Drum Differently!
Did you know that? Not until now…. This info won’t help us hunting, but it’s interesting – and makes sense. Here’s more, from newscientist.com: Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds. Humans and many other animals, particularly birds, can be identified by their voices. But no one had looked […]
Ran across this quote from an article about Iowa’s pheasant count: > “I haven’t even gone pheasant hunting the last couple of years because the birds just weren’t there,†said Tim Wolf, a 61-year-old bank president who lives in Waukee. YES THEY WERE! They most definitely were there. Maybe not like this… > “But I’ve […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Across the Pond Bird Follies, Vids
Ah the UK, the land that gave the world 17 pieces of silverware on the table, animal rights and other questionable stuff. Okay, it wasn’t all bad – that’s where our bird hunting came from too. But it’s different here…or there, depending on your perspective. Here’s some recent bird news plus some interesting vids. Katie […]
Do Congress, Tea Party Hate Pheasants?
We make it a point to try not to get suckered by political hoo-ha, so that’s not what this is about. We ran across a blog post on the Discovery-owned treehugger.com titled “Why Does Congress Hate Pheasants?” and a related one, “Do Tea Party, Heritage Foundation Oppose Hunting?” Interesting stuff, written by the same gent, […]
Quail, the most beleaguered of our beloved gamebirds, is getting a helping hand in Kansas. Or rather, a bigger helping hand. The state just announced that it’s “launching a new quail restoration initiative aimed at making a difference in declining bobwhite quail populations at a landscape level.” Here’s more: > Includes the designation of two […]
Worms and Birds: What Else Don’t We Know?
Believe we’ve talked about this at least once, but a recent Wall Street Journal article on the plight of Texas quail got us thinking about it again. Here’s the applicable stuff: …Rolling Hills Quail Research Ranch, a 4,700-acre spread an hour west of Abilene. Last month, researchers there found that the levels of parasitic worms […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Lone Star Outdoor news recently carried an article on a speech given by Dr. Dale Rollins of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Rotan, Texas. Seems that a major threat to quail, at least in the Lone Star state, may be an eyeball worm. News to us! Highlights: > Especially mysterious were the continued […]
