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Backyard Bobwhite: Part 2
Can a pen-raised quail make it in the wild? If you’ve had the privilege to hunt Bobwhite over a few seasons in areas where they still reside, you likely know that year over year you will find birds in the exact same locations. Read old stories from some of the great quail hunting authors and…
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Challenges
Every time one of these birds comes to hand, it’s an affirmation of the core elements that can make life grand — hope, effort, skill, experience, cooperation and even a little luck. It feels easy for me to bring those pieces together into something that makes perfect sense in the uplands. The real challenge is…
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Rio Flufferbunny
It was fall when she came to us on a plane from New Mexico, all legs and ears and sharp puppy teeth. She pointed from the womb — butterflies, song birds, turtles, tufts of grass stirred by a breeze — nothing was safe from…
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Making Kansas Memories
Opening day in Kansas occupies a sacred place for me since this is the territory where my upland obsession really took hold years ago. The bulk of the state has a dismal bird forecast like much of the rest of the Midwest this year. There are some bright spots which have been deemed the north…
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Picking Up Right Where We Fell Apart
Bird seasons come and go. Most of the time I try to not think about the start and end dates because there’s always a half-year where we won’t be chasing birds. To focus on the beginning and end always seems like so much longing, instead of just embracing the moments afield that we actually get….
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The Cure for the Ailing Birdhunt
It took a decade of brush busting, sprinting after wingless phantom pheasants, whiffing on bunny shots, losing keys and warping dogs — but a buddy and I finally discovered the remedy for the bird hunt that has jumped the tracks. Spiced ham. That gelatinous, pulverized, sodium infused and form fitted rectagonal mass packaged in the convenient…
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The Best Way to Turn Your Shotgun Into a Paperweight
Last fall my dogs and I traveled to Idaho to try our hand at chasing chukar. We joined a few friends early one morning along a river on public lands, set up our camp, and made ready for our first ascent. A friend and I trailed my two shorthairs up an extreme vertical chute. We…
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What do goats think about hills?
I don’t know much about Mountain Goats. I’m sure there is plenty of published information that could get me past the learning curve. But, I think I prefer the mystery. I’ve shared mountains with goats on lots of occasions. When you decide to chase birds in high places, summits with goats happen. Once in Nevada…
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Preparing Birds for the Cooler
Most folks who watch hunting shows on TV or who are new to the sport may never see what happens to birds after they are brought to hand. Because we camp and travel most of the season, often in places where access to fresh water is limited, we like to clean birds in a way…
