Latest Pheasant Hunting Articles
Dog Power is Key to Opening Pheasant Hunt
(left to right) Bob St.Pierre, Steve Kuyper, Brian Zustiak, John Kuyper, Billy Hildebrand, Erik Hildebrand and Matt Kucharski (operating the camera) with 9 roosters before hunting the day's final walk. My Blackberry was hot to the touch on Saturday night as emails, texts, Facebook...
Getting to the Business of Pheasant Hunting
Many hunters will be hitting the fields during upcoming weekends and vacation time. While thoughts of employment and the city should rightfully be left behind, even with their upland leathers on, hunters can’t escape being key parts of an industry: Pheasant Hunting. South Dakota,...
Pheasant Hunters: Get What You Ask For
In the classic baseball movie The Sandlot, a young team of rag-tag ballplayers spend the majority of the film trying to retrieve a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth – one they mistakenly play with and hit over the fence into the jaws of an angry junkyard dog nicknamed “The...
Can You Name That Classic Shotgun?
An Illinois pheasant hunt, circa 1960. Ed Alepra of Kewanee, Illinois, shared this photo of a November 1960 pheasant hunt near Dwight, Illinois. From left are Ed’s cousin Dick, his younger brother Ken with a nice side-by-side blunderbuss, his late father, the old family setter (13)...
Top Ten Strategies for the 2011 Pheasant Opener
ROOSTER! It’s no secret pheasant numbers will be down this year. We’ve lost millions of acres of habitat and CRP contracts are expiring by the bushel. We’ve also suffered through a long, cold winter and had it all followed up by an unproductive nesting season filled with...
“Pheasant Capital’s” CRP Losses Hardest in Eastern SD
South Dakota will still provide the best pheasant hunting in the nation, but a disturbing trend in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) habitat loss has pheasant numbers pointing downward in the eastern part of the state. Overall, South Dakota has 400,000 fewer CRP acres than it did...
Don’t Forget to Pack your Dog De-Skunking Kit this Pheasant Opener
Photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK My bird dog’s encounters with skunks have been well documented in this blog. So as I prepare for this season’s pheasant opener, I’ve added the six items comprising a dog de-skunking kit to my grocery list. Sometimes, preparation is the best method...
Breaking in Upland Hunting Boots
Pheasant hunting opens in Minnesota and South Dakota on October 15th, and I can hardly wait! I’ve been going through my gear for weeks and everything is looking good. One of my key pieces of gear is boots. A long day in the field can be a long, miserable day in the field with the...
Training an English Setter Puppy
I have been having a great time these past few months working with a young english setter puppy. She is out of Hideaway Kennels in Colorado and from the same breeding that produced last years national champion (NFC Nauvoo Valley Cash Money). Jess has been a joy to work with and train...
Desperate Days for CRP
I hope you received our important Action Alert last week asking pheasant hunters and Pheasants Forever supporters to immediately contact your two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative about making CRP reauthorization a top Congressional priority. I can’t stress enough how...
Is your Bird Dog a Blood Donor?
Photo Courtesy of AKC Canine Health Foundation I took an interesting call from Charlie Payne, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s regional representative for Ohio, last week. Payne suggested I write about canine blood donation in my blog. You may have predicted my response;...
Ready to go hunting
Got to work with an english pointer that my friend had recently acquired this week. We wanted to see her style and training progress and generally determine her overall value as a hunting companion. We planted some valley quail for her and proceeded to hunt her as realistically as...
Oops Puppies, It Happens!
What happens when a well bred english pointer female gets together with your prize brittany stud dog? Oops puppies! This definitely was not a planned event but brought up some tough questions. What is the responsible thing to do? I asked around and got a variety of responses from...
Pheasant Pros and Cons
Gun dog training is impossible without the use of live birds. Many people use pigeons because they are cheap and readily available in the lower 48 states. The pheasant is probably the most popular game bird in the country. The striking colors, large size, noisy flush, and great tasting...
Annabella’s Sister Suzy
Getting into the second generation of my breeding program I am pleased with the female I kept out of the litter. She has solid bird drive and a great nose and seems to catch on fast when learning new things. Sis has been introduced to birds and is starting to stand her birds really...
Raising Puppies with Kids
Bird dogs can benefit from proper socialization when they are puppies. Kids are great for helping socialize and raise bird dog pups that are bold and well adjusted. Read More →
Pheasantisms
ROOSTER! photo by Mark Herwig We had a Pheasants Forever magazine meeting in the office this morning and one topic of conversation revolved around the key sayings and phrases unique to pheasant hunting. Here is the list we started: ROOSTER! Hen ...
Bird Hunting with Alligators
During a meeting with Gander Mountain’s Joe Woodward and Pheasants Forever’s Anthony Hauck last week, the conversation took a lighthearted turn to the television show Swamp People on History Channel. To their surprise, I admitted to never catching a single episode...
The Uncertainty of Using Bark Collars
Two people and a 14-month old yellow lab living in a 1,000 square foot apartment isn’t necessarily ideal, but that’s exactly the situation my pup, Beau, and I will find ourselves in at the end of the month when we move into a new apartment. But this certainly isn’t a “woe...
A 10-minute history lesson
One of the most influential people in the conservation movement was Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac. He is known by many titles including forester, educator, writer, hunter and philosopher. Pheasants Forever has sponsored the Leopold Education Project for more than...
Turkey time
The author, left, and friend Jerry (that's a 27-pound Merriam's!) with his first bird. We need to introduce new adults to hunting and conservation to keep the heritage going. Many Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters do habitat work to benefit wild turkey. In fact,...
Can You Name That Classic Shotgun?
Clue: Check out the underside. Dave Birchard of Cambridge, Pennsylvania, still has this gun his late father Claire used here in 1968 in Pennsylvania. Dave wrote that his father sure would have enjoyed PF and our magazine – you can too by joining PF! Dave said he was never able to...
Grouse Hunting Secret Tidbits that Make for Success
By Naomi K. Shapiro I know. We're ALL expert ruffed grouse hunters. Right? Well, after many fruitless hunts, I can tell you that I've long since been humbled, and instead of the "I can't miss this season" arrogance, I started listening to the little tidbits that far more experienced...
October 2011
Are you counting the days till October too? As the snow falls out the window behind me again today, I can’t help but think about pheasant hunting season. Apparently, I’m not alone. According to our website’s analytics, the most commonly searched term driving...
The Lifelong Pursuit of Pheasant Hunting
Were you hunting pheasants when this book was printed in 1966? “If there is one bird that fires up the imagination of the American upland gamebird hunter, it is the rooster pheasant…This bird is the wizard of the weedpatch, the Plato of the plowed field, the gaudy genius...
Do you like to cook wild game?
Pheasant pizza with sugar snap peas, onions and feta cheese I am a member of a women’s Pheasants Forever chapter called the Lady Slippers. This past Saturday night we held our annual banquet and as part of the evening’s entertainment, we had a demonstration on cooking with wild...
Pheasants Forever Journal, Summer 2011 Issue Preview
The Pheasant Forever Journal, Summer 2011 issue cover. While spring is seemingly having a hard time “springing” in most parts of pheasant country, summer can’t be far off. In fact, the Summer 2011 issue of the Pheasants Forever Journal of Upland Conservation mails...
Lending a Paw- Some Well Trained Dogs
A few short video clips from a friend of the site that I though you might all enjoy: Lending A Paw- Video of a dog that opens doors for his master: Go On Release- These dogs are trained to go on the release words "Play" or "OK". Watch as their trainer tests their...
Crate Training A Puppy
As many of us have probably learned, house training a new puppy can be a challenging and stressful time. What you have to realize is that learning these new lessons is sometimes hard for them as well. They instinctively want to learn and please their owner. I would like to share some...
Steady to Flush
Have You Ever Watched a Pheasant Freeze?
…We tolerate winters such as these, when hens and roosters freeze to death, their faces mere clumps of ice after they turn windward to a final, desperate attempt to survive. Have you ever watched a pheasant freeze? Those words by Dennis Anderson, then Outdoor Editor for the...
Meet a National Board Member: Diane Lueck
If you know Diane, then you know she always smiles this much! As a non-profit, Pheasants Forever operates under the guidance of a volunteer board of directors. That guidance takes many forms, but boiled down, the board is responsible for ensuring Pheasants Forever operates in the...
Winter Hammering Pheasant Country…Again
Record snowfalls and extreme cold have been the dominant winter theme in the Dakotas, Minnesota and eastern Montana. Today’s broken record alert: Another rough winter is taking its toll in the Upper Midwestern reaches of pheasant country. Here are compiled reports from the hardest...
An Open Apology to Chipmunks
As a young child engulfed by suburbia, I was forced to watch my dad head for the secluded woods and waters every weekend during the fall. Left to tend to the homestead (i.e. watch cartoons at barely audible levels as to not wake mother), I considered myself lucky enough to inspect...
I’m a BYOB Dog Hunter
I've pretty much given up deer hunting, so I can keep bird hunting with my pup in the fall. A good friend recently invited me to join him for a bird hunting trip to Argentina at a pretty reasonable price. Ducks, doves, perdiz and even a little fly fishing for Dorado. It...