CATEGORIES

Private Lands, Public Access

“Just what lies behind that fence?”

Early Season - GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN HUNTING

Greater prairie chickens are tailor-made for early fall gunning. Young birds hatch early enough to be nearly full-grown by September, offering lots of potential targets in good habitat

QUAIL Struggle to Survive a Multitude of KILLERS

By some estimates, the wild bobwhite population in the U.S. has declined 70 to 80% since the 1960s

Journeys Shared: A Worcester Letter

Hi Bob, Just finished the sensational roller coaster “memoir-style” essays of man and bird dog(s) that you and Dave Smith assembled and put into print

Hunting, Fishing and Camping Maine

From LLBean.com: In 1942, with a parade of customers seeking his advice on pursuing big game, waterfowl and fish, L.L. wrote a book to share his nearly 50 years of experience

Upland Chef

CULINARY CREATIONS FROM GORDON HAMERSLEY

SEASON'S END: A RETROSPECT AND BENEDICTION

The close of bird season – no matter where it occurs or what species you consider your favorite game or primary wing shooting obsession – always brings a corresponding period of emotional downturn.

Sixty-some Years Later

I began hunting birds as a sophomore in high school in 1961. I’m still at it, concentrating mostly now on pheasants and quail. A couple years back, I attempted another chukar hunt in the Snake River canyons of Washington State, “for old time’s sake,” but sadly noted afterwards that while stepping on my tongue as I plodded uphill with an arthritic, reconstructed hip was painful, the agony in my knees on the downhill run to my vehicle was worse. The greatest pain came from having to admit that hunting wild chukars was something I would never do again.

A Good Dog Is Necessary to Hunt Maine Pheasants

Some Are Tame and Some Are Wild

Along the Trail of the Swamp Fox: Hunting Woodcock in South Carolina

In the movie The Patriot starring Mel Gibson, the lead character retreats to the swamps of South Carolina to avoid the pursuing redcoats. These swamps are a veritable no man’s land full of palmetto, cane and greenbrier that will test any man’s mettle. If someone wanted to elude his adversaries, there’s no better place.

Birds from a Blind: Another Way to "Hunt"

As a wildlife photographer, I can often get some frame-filling images simply by slowly walking in a wildlife area or even slowly driving the back roads and taking images out of my vehicle, but many times it is better to be in a photo blind in areas I expect the birds to be. Sometimes I will set up my own blind, but in certain areas, you can reserve one from a wildlife organization or state/federal agencies that have set them up on leks.

Bird Dogs Health Matters

Dr. SHAWN WAYMENT

Flushes & Noteworthy Points

Pending Legislation Threatens "World-leading and Highly Successful Wildlife Conservation Model"

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT: LAST OHIO GROUSE

Sometimes what flies around the bend comes back again. In this magazine's Autumn 2022 issue, my subject was keeping a hunting journal, which I had done religiously for the previous 50 years.

Tailfeathers

Circling

Day's End

Bewitched by Woodcock

A Lone Way For CHICKENS

It happened again last September what my father used to call Getting a hair.” And while Dad and I had never really discussed the phrase’s origin or implications, its definition lay somewhere between profane and esoteric, an action without much input from the mind the way he said I had always performed as a child.

Chasing Sasquatch

I m pretty sure Sasquatch is a mythical creature, but I aim to find him anyway. Thanks to a hunting buddy, one opening weekend I learned that on a certain mobile mapping app, the mythical beast is an icon to mark places you drive past but want to get to someday.

San Andres Meditations

Scaled quail live a hardscrabble existence.

A Love Affair in Plain Sight

We'd walked about 200 yards, intensely scanning the dense cover She’s on point!”

— Gunning for Ruffed Grouse in October Is Real Sport —

Nora Knows Her Thunder-wings

— Gunning for Ruffed Grouse in October Is Real Sport —

Nora Knows Her Thunder-wings

Just Dovey

The birds came in a rush, like a scatterbrained phalanx of fighter jets on low-elevation maneuvers.

Make Your Adventure – and Your Dog's – Easier, Interesting and Fun

The devil is in the details” is an axiom for a reason: It’s easy to say. It’s infinitely harder to actually do.

In the Swing

The Quartering Away Shot: A “Spearing”-Type Move

Think Like a Dog, and “Shhh!”

Meemo’s Farm, a prime bird hunting destination in north-central Michigan, was the setting for dog trainer Ronnie Smith’s “Foundation Seminar,” a two-day introduction to the “Silent Command System” of dog training. Participants ranged in experience from those working with their first dogs to professional handlers/guides to veteran trainers with more than 40 years of experience.

The Check Cord

Try a Different Approach

Flushes & Noteworthy Points

Quite a Story from One Little Bird

From Flying Feathers: A Yankee's Hunting Experiences in the South

If you have youngsters coming on, let them read these tales.

DOGS FIRST

Smarter persons would have stayed home in harsh conditions, but among the fanatic grousers I partnered with, no one had the temerity to stay indoors when Saturdays or Sundays were the only times many of us could head out to the woods after a week of work.