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Most CA Upland Stamp $ Not Used for Upland

Most CA Upland Stamp $ Not Used for Upland

California recently announced that its art contest for the 2012-13 state upland game bird stamp will feature the band-tailed pigeon (Columba fasciata). Appropriate because looks like upland hunters who think their money is helping upland birds are the real pigeons here. Excerpts from this good article in the San Bernadino Sun: Where does our Upland […]

November 1, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Pheasant Bands: New Upland Trophy?

Pheasant Bands: New Upland Trophy?

Ever see those duck and goose leg bands on waterfowl hunters’ call lanyards? Maybe you’re a waterfowler yourself and have them. If so, cool – they’re legit trophies of the hunt, like shark-tooth or bear-claw necklaces and many other examples. Why are we bringing this up? Because Nebraska banded some wild pheasants this year. Details: […]

October 31, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Bobwhite Conservation Officially ‘Inadequate’

Bobwhite Conservation Officially ‘Inadequate’

USDA Not Helping Enough No surprise to anyone that bobwhites aren’t doing so hot overall. But an official declaration that “conservation efforts on behalf of bobwhite quail and other native grasslands birds are far inadequate to stop their decline in the U.S.” hasn’t happened (we don’t think) until recently. A coalition of 25 state wildlife […]

October 28, 2011 | By | Reply More
ME Roundup, How We Found ‘Em (2)

ME Roundup, How We Found ‘Em (2)

Day 8, the last day of our 2011 Rangeley, ME-area (plus a day in NH) grouse hunt, started with a bang. We hunted a new area, and ended up flushing 15 grouse and 2 woodcock with two grouse down. We were fired up and wondered if we’d exceed our record for the week of 26 […]

October 27, 2011 | By | 7 Replies More
ME Hunt Roundup, How We Found ‘Em

ME Hunt Roundup, How We Found ‘Em

Before our Maine hunt we wondered whether 8 days in a row of grousin’ was too much. Would we physically hold up? Would the weather (and whether we got into birds) make the time go fast or make it feel like a slog? Didn’t have a clue, but we were thinking about it so we […]

October 26, 2011 | By | 3 Replies More
Iowa Tackling Pheasant Decline

Iowa Tackling Pheasant Decline

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 […]

October 25, 2011 | By | Reply More
Days 6-7, ME: Decent Numbers, But…

Days 6-7, ME: Decent Numbers, But…

Where’s the next good cover? We don’t know, but we’re going to find it. Sometimes that’s our problem when we’re after birds. We’re always in search of the undiscovered honey hole or clue to finding more birds. It’s a problem and a benefit at times. Day 6 of our Maine grouse hunt was more on […]

October 24, 2011 | By | Reply More
Day 5, ME: Our Best Day Yet

Day 5, ME: Our Best Day Yet

After day 4 of our Maine Grousin’ Adventure we’d seen enough woodcock. They’re fun and all, and can save a slow day, but we didn’t come to Maine for woodies. We wanted to see some grouse. Preferably a lot of grouse. So that was the focus for day 5. Once again we headed up north, […]

October 21, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Day 4, ME: All Woodies, Shooting Blanks

Day 4, ME: All Woodies, Shooting Blanks

Preseason scouting with Google Earth is a lot of fun. But it also can be too much fun when you end up with lots of spots to check out, not all of which are as easy to get to as they appear on Google Earth, maps or even a GPS. That’s why after a couple […]

October 20, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
Day 3, ME: All Grouse, None Down

Day 3, ME: All Grouse, None Down

Monday meant we were back hunting in Maine, but this time in a totally different place. Our general m.o. is to check out a bunch of new territory, find productive areas, try to find other places like that on Google Earth and by driving around, etc. until we have spots we can milk-run at the […]

October 19, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Day 2, NH: All About the Habitat

Day 2, NH: All About the Habitat

Since Maine is one of those few, stubborn states that don’t allow hunting on Sundays – apparently the folks in Augusta still drive Model Ts – we headed to New Hampshire…on Sunday. The bad thing was we we’ve never hunted New Hampshire before – which was also the good thing. We’re always up for new […]

October 18, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Maine Day 1: Altitude Adjustment

Maine Day 1: Altitude Adjustment

How do you find a chicken (or two) in a million-plus acres of wilderness – without a dog?  A little Google Earth, a lot of walking and some grey matter. We’ve never been to the Rangeley, Maine area before, and were/are (we’re still here) psyched to go. Brendan did a ton of Google Earth, map […]

October 17, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
8 Days in Maine: Are We Insane?

8 Days in Maine: Are We Insane?

Today we’re finally off to chase some chickens, of the wood/furry variety: ruffed grousin’ in Maine. And yep, we’re going for 8 solid days. Eight! This is after we (Brendan and Jay) swore that we wouldn’t hunt more than 4 days at a stretch after last year’s week-long Maine marathon followed by a week-long Minnesota […]

October 14, 2011 | By | Reply More
Serious Phez/Quailer Goes Grousin’

Serious Phez/Quailer Goes Grousin’

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 […]

October 12, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Who Out There Uses a Call?

Who Out There Uses a Call?

We’re not diehard quail hunters (yet), so we found the following tidbit very interesting (from this Arizona paper): The best time to hunt is in the morning when the quail are calling and moving in the search for food. Some hunters prefer to use a call, and then wait for the coveys to answer. The […]

October 11, 2011 | By | Reply More
Grouse, Woodies Up in West Virginia

Grouse, Woodies Up in West Virginia

When a state issues a press release about ruffed grouse that’s combined with one about raccoon populations and then it puts the ‘coons first, that shows you where the crazy forest chickens rank in the pantheon of game…in that state, at least (lol). Anyhow, the good news is that West Virginia’s grouse populations are supposed […]

October 10, 2011 | By | 3 Replies More
Is This the Year For CA and NV?

Is This the Year For CA and NV?

As East-Coasters, we think about hunting out West – particularly for leg-shakingly tough chukar hunts – but are like, Why go all the way out there when we can beat ourselves up out here? Well, this may be the year to make the trip. As previously reported here, Califor-NI-A is supposed to have an off-the-charts […]

October 7, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
Re-Hatch: MT Pheasants Decent!

Re-Hatch: MT Pheasants Decent!

Doom and gloom. That’s all anyone heard about Montana’s birds earlier this year. But turns out now that hunting season is here (opens Saturday), things aren’t as bad as they once seemed. Dang forecasts! Here’s the skinny, excerpted from a great article in the Great Falls Tribune. It can be summed up in one word: […]

October 6, 2011 | By | Reply More
A Few Bird Recipes From the UK

A Few Bird Recipes From the UK

How do you cook your birds? We’ve found two ways: slow and fast. Sounds goofy, but we’re serious: Cook strong-tasting woodies fast and eat rare on a cracker with hot sauce or even horseradish, and cook mouth-watering grouse and pheasants slow so you don’t dry ’em out. Oddly, while we do branch out gastronomically with […]

October 5, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Bad Phez Forecasts Hurting Iowa

Bad Phez Forecasts Hurting Iowa

Just in case there was any doubt (other than common sense) that poor bird forecasts hurt tourism, a recent article on radioiowa.com had this to say: > A survey released last week showing Iowa’s pheasant population is at an all-time low is not only bad news for hunters, it’s a big blow for the Iowa […]

October 4, 2011 | By | Reply More