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Hunt Report: Eastern PA, Day 1

Hunt Report: Eastern PA, Day 1

Brendan flew into Newark from North Carolina last Monday morning with a stomach bug and three hours of sleep, but he was up for hunting – of course. He swung by Jay’s house in Jersey, and we high-tailed it out of town to our old stomping grounds in eastern Pennsylvania. Yeah! Though our hunting area […]

January 25, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Groups Trying to Open Sunday Hunting

Groups Trying to Open Sunday Hunting

[Our PA hunt reports will be up next week – can’t find the camera cable….] Every year we have to plan our Maine hunts around Sundays because, as many of you know, hunting is prohibited on Sundays there – and in five other East Coast states, with five more states having some other Sunday hunting […]

January 21, 2011 | By | 6 Replies More
Longest Feather Contest

Longest Feather Contest

We read recently about two Minnesota Pheasants Forever chapters having a Long Pheasant Feather contest. Entry fee was $40 per two-person team, and prizes were awarded for first, second and third place – of course for the longest tail feather. Love it.

January 18, 2011 | By | Reply More
Hunting PA Next Week!

Hunting PA Next Week!

Next week we’ll be hitting a patch of eastern PA forest we haven’t hunted for a couple years. In many ways it’s where we (or at least Jay, since he started late) cut our grouse-hunting teeth. Lots of grouse, even though we were assured by many knowledgeable folks (including DNR folks) that almost no grouse […]

January 13, 2011 | By | 9 Replies More
Ruffed Grouse in South Carolina?!

Ruffed Grouse in South Carolina?!

We all know ruffies are in many states, but even the most diehard, knowledgeable grouse hunters probably would doubt South Carolina had any. Turns out it does. Of course the big question is how many

January 11, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
…And Then There’s the Time Factor

…And Then There’s the Time Factor

To continue on the theme of why ruffie hunters (and all upland hunter numbers) are declining, check out this quote from a recent column in the Bowling Green (KY) Daily News:

January 6, 2011 | By | 3 Replies More
Why Are Ruffie Hunter Numbers Down?

Why Are Ruffie Hunter Numbers Down?

A while back, before the start of grouse season, we and many others read a column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that asked why the number of ruffed grouse hunters is down. At the time we were too busy running around trying to find birds to address it. But now, even though we should be […]

January 5, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Pesticide Kills 4 Dogs, Sickens 13 Hunters

Pesticide Kills 4 Dogs, Sickens 13 Hunters

Holy cow! Next time you hunt farmland make sure a pesticide wasn’t recently applied (maybe some of you check every time? let us know). Unfortunately, some South Carolina hunters weren’t aware of a recent pesticide application, and four dogs – no breed mentioned – paid the ultimate price. Highlights from this article: > A group […]

January 4, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Check Out This Pic: Now That’s Cold!

Check Out This Pic: Now That’s Cold!

One reason we like the Pheasants Forever guys so much is because they are Serious bird hunters. And in a recent PF column about hunting in snow shoes – we love it! – was the above photo with this caption:

December 30, 2010 | By | 1 Reply More
Do You Value Hunting By Your Kills?

Do You Value Hunting By Your Kills?

We don’t – probably because we’re mostly grouse hunters…. But seriously – do you keep score? We’re talking dead birds here, not flushes, and then using that bird count as the ultimate value of your experience and your (alleged!) proficiency. We’re asking because of two things. One is that we got a note from a […]

December 28, 2010 | By | 2 Replies More
Would You Eat a Woodie Cooked Like This?

Would You Eat a Woodie Cooked Like This?

In a column about grouse hunting in Maine that ran in The Boston Globe earlier this month was this description of cooking and eating woodcock: Woodcock is classically served whole, feathers on the head, body plucked, roasted hot and fast in bacon fat with the insides intact. The old wives’ tale goes that woodcock empty […]

December 22, 2010 | By | 1 Reply More
Tip: Map Books to Find Public Land Pheasants

Tip: Map Books to Find Public Land Pheasants

Even if you followed Pheasants Forever’s recent Rooster Road Trip – in which PF staffers hunted only public land – you may have missed this great follow-up video. In it, PF’s Andrew Vavra talks about the reference books/atlases he and his pheasant-busting compadres used for finding the spots they hunted, and where to obtain said […]

December 21, 2010 | By | Reply More
Scots Have Priorities Straight: Giant Grouse Art

Scots Have Priorities Straight: Giant Grouse Art

Recently Perth, Scotland acquired a new grouse – it’s 49 feet tall and weighs 1.5 tonnes (“es” = metric tons). How cool is that? The sculpture was commissioned to celebrate Perth 800, a year-long celebration marking the 800th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Burgh Charter to Perth by King William the Lion in […]

December 16, 2010 | By | Reply More
Interview With the PF Road-Trippers, 2

Interview With the PF Road-Trippers, 2

Here’s the final part of the interview with Pheasants Forever’s Bob St.Pierre, Anthony Hauck and Andrew Vavra re: their rooster odyssey: driving 2,200 to hunt five states in 6 days (that’s Serious!) – aka the 2010 Rooster Road Trip.

December 15, 2010 | By | Reply More
Interview With the 3 PF Road-Trippers

Interview With the 3 PF Road-Trippers

Part 1 Who says you can’t find pheasants on public land? After Pheasants Forever’s recent Rooster Road Trip (RRT), the answer should be “nobody.” In case you missed it, the RRT was PF staffers Bob St.Pierre, Anthony Hauck and Andrew Vavra driving 2,200 miles in 6 days to hunt five states: North and South Dakota, […]

December 14, 2010 | By | Reply More
‘Going to Ruffled Grouse Camp’ – Funny!

‘Going to Ruffled Grouse Camp’ – Funny!

We don’t know how this was made or who the heck made it, but sounds like a hunter – note the Fox reference – except for the “ruffled,” which might have been on purpose to make it funnier. Why hunt every weekend for grouse? And we quote: “Because the ruffled grouse is the king, regardless […]

December 9, 2010 | By | Reply More
One of the Best Dog Eulogies Ever

One of the Best Dog Eulogies Ever

Ran across a dog eulogy recently written by Eric Sharp of the Detroit Free Press that’s one of the best pieces of dog/bird writing we’ve ever read. Titled “Goodbye to Ghost, the bird dog with the finest nose I’ve ever encountered,” it’s about a friend’s “phenomenal” English setter, named Ghost, who after 12 years had […]

December 8, 2010 | By | Reply More
Personal Account of Vanishing Bobwhites

Personal Account of Vanishing Bobwhites

Shannon Tompkins of the Houston Chronicle recently wrote a poignant, personal account of the decline of bobwhite quail in his home state of Texas. We’d love to run the piece in full but that’s a no-no, so here’s a link to the full piece – below are some excerpts:

December 7, 2010 | By | Reply More
Hilarious UK Pheasant-Cleaning Vid!

Hilarious UK Pheasant-Cleaning Vid!

It’s the apocalypse. That’s the premise behind this “survival” vid published by the UK’s The Guardian newspaper. To quote, “Govt is gone, the water is off, electricity is gone, everyone is dead – well, nearly everyone.”

December 2, 2010 | By | Reply More
Winter Ruffie Hunting Tips

Winter Ruffie Hunting Tips

Winter can be a great time to hunt ruffed grouse. Okay, anytime is a good time to hunt grouse (maybe – maybe – no so much in the early season) but winter can be particularly good. If, as always, you find where the birds are.

December 1, 2010 | By | 4 Replies More