Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Andrew Vavra, PF’s director of marketing; Marissa Jensen, PF’s education & outreach manager; and Chad Love, editor of Quail Forever Journal on the eve of the organization’s 10th annual Rooster Road Trip. Although the hunters, bird dogs, and states hunted have changed over the years, the mission of this road trip remains the same. Our goal is to show the connection between Pheasants Forever membership, quality habitat and public land birds. This year’s trip wil...
Dec 02, 2019•50 min
There are 8.3 million acres of saline soils in South Dakota which aren’t productive for agriculture but provide a massive habitat opportunity for the Pheasant Capital. Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Matt Morlock, Pheasants Forever’s South Dakota State Coordinator, Ben Lardy, Pheasants Forever’s Soil Health Specialist, and Jim Ristau, South Dakota Corn’s Director of Sustainability for a conversation about how planting grass on these salty soils can create habitat for wildlife and improve a farme...
Nov 19, 2019•56 min
Host Bob St. Pierre is in St. Louis at Purina’s national headquarters to talk with Jack Scott, Purina's VP of Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing, and Karl Gunzer, Purina's Director of Sporting Dog Groups, about the company's $1 million-dollar contribution to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s conservation mission. While Purina has been the Official Dog Food partner of “The Habitat Organization” since the late 1980’s, this new commitment takes the relationship directly into the organizati...
Nov 09, 2019•59 min
Based on Editor Tom Carpenter’s excellent article in the Fall edition of the Pheasants Forever Journal, host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Carpenter and Jared Wiklund, Pheasants Forever’s PR manager, to count down the top eleven public land pheasant hunting tips. This fun episode also includes discussions about the effectiveness of pheasant calls for locating roosters, using waders in the uplands, and the magic of pheasant hunting on the season’s first snow day.
Oct 21, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Recording from The Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown, South Dakota, Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by the Redlin Art Center’s Executive Director Julie Ranum for a conversation about Redlin’s legacy as a wildlife artist and his substantial impact on wildlife habitat. They also discuss the unveiling of “Country Road,” a recently acquired Redlin original that will be the featured exhibit during the state’s 2019 pheasant hunting season. Pheasants Forever biologists Matt Morlock and Erica Yost also ...
Oct 17, 2019•1 hr 38 min
Ron Boehme, host of The Hunting Dog Podcast, stops by the Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever headquarters to chat with Bob St.Pierre, host of On the Wing, and Jared Wiklund, the organization’s manager of public relations, about bird dogs and getting more bird hunters involved in conservation organizations. In classic form, Ron cracks a beer within the first minute of the episode and the laughter is followed by terrific hunting and dog stories.
Oct 07, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Following a couple of days bird hunting the 116,000 acres of the Fort Pierre National Grasslands, host Bob St.Pierre is joined by three of his prairie grouse hunting partners for a conversation about the beauty of the public grasslands and being able to watch your bird dog work big ground. The group includes Matt Kucharski, vice chair of Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s National Board of Directors along with Marilyn Vetter, chair of the National Board’s Strategic Planning Committee and he...
Oct 01, 2019•58 min
Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Marissa Jensen, Julia Schrenkler, and Eric Sterner, who all fell in love with bird hunting as adults. The group talks about how dogs, wild food, and outdoor adventure pulled them into hunting. They also dive into how they overcame the struggles of taking an animal’s life for the first time, learning gun safety, and understanding hunting regulation laws as adult-onset hunters. The conversation runs a diverse gauntlet of topics from a hunter’s role in habitat fundi...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 35 min
Prior to a Pint Night collaboration in the heart of the Northwoods, our host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Nick Larson of Project Upland, Jason Meekhof of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and Jon Steigerwaldt of the Ruffed Grouse Society to forecast the Great Lakes ruffed grouse hunting season kicking off in mid-September. This group of avid bird hunters talk about young forest habitat, forested public lands, grouse recipes, and grouse hunting tips. The conversation also includes a fun discussio...
Sep 10, 2019•1 hr 27 min
Bob is joined by Pheasants Forever Journal Editor Tom Carpenter and wildlife biologist Sabin Adams to forecast the sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chicken, and sage grouse hunting seasons kicking off as early as September 1st in Montana and Nebraska. The trio of enthusiastic prairie rats talk about the habitat needs for America’s native prairie grouse and how hunting these birds differs from pheasants and quail. The conversation is filled with tips on where to find these birds in vast open grasslan...
Aug 30, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Bob visits with Ryan Bronson and Jon Zinnel, members of Federal Ammunition’s conservation team, to talk about the company’s distinction as Pheasants Forever’s longest-tenured corporate partner. The trio reminisces about the history of the relationship, the origin story of the on-the-box royalty program benefiting Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s habitat mission, and the product names that finished as runners-up to the winning Prairie Storm load. To round out the episode, the group breaks ...
Aug 25, 2019•1 hr 36 min
Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever have always worked to be collaborative with farmers to find the sweet spot for habitat as farmers try to make a living in harmony with the land. Through this unique episode, Bob hosts a conversation with Zach Johnson, a guy known as MN Millennial Farmer on YouTube with 300,000 followers and the host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Field Work Podcast; Jan “The Embodiment” Payne, who is a farmer, longtime Pheasants Forever chapter volunteer and avid traveling bird...
Aug 13, 2019•1 hr 21 min
If you’ve always dreamed of hunting upland birds in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, then this episode is your ticket to valhalla. Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Al Eiden, Matt Hardinge and Chad Harvey, a trio of “The Habitat Organization’s” leaders in the western United States, for a conversation about epic western mixed bags, DIY public land bird hunts, and the nine different upland birds within a five-hour drive of Nevada’s neon lights. The group also talks about some impressive Pheasants ...
Aug 06, 2019•51 min
In this episode, our host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer for a quick conversation about his 160-acre farm in Kentucky and how his habitat work on the farm earned him the distinction as Kentucky’s 2017 Landowner Conservationist of the Year. A Quail Forever member, Coach Zimmer also talked about growing up as a pheasant hunter in Illinois and getting hooked on quail hunting during his time in Texas where he quail hunted the King Ranch with Dallas Cowboys’ owner...
Jul 29, 2019•13 min
Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s Chris McLeland, the organization’s southern US regional director, a wildlife biologist, a cattle rancher and reigning “Most Valuable Employee” with “The Habitat Organization.” Frequent podcast contributors Tom Carpenter and Tim Caughran also participate in a conversation focused on the benefits of cattle to creating early successional grassland habitat for quail, prairie grouse, pheasants, and bird hunters. The group also ex...
Jul 23, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Consider this your guide for planning a DIY public lands bird hunt with some thoughtful tips, tricks and hacks from a pair of budget-conscious bird hunting biologists Sabin Adams and Will Clayton. Bob St.Pierre drives the conversation with Jared Wiklund, Pheasants Forever’s PR Manager riding shotgun, for a conversation that covers gas, lodging, licenses and beer money. The group also talks about reading the hunting prospects of public wildlife areas from the road and answers the odd trivia quest...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 6 min
Ep. 36 Upland Bird Hunting SUPER Issue Previewed by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever
Jul 08, 2019•1 hr 1 min
On this episode, Bob St. Pierre leads a fascinating conversation about the USDA’s Working Lands for Wildlife program and how sage habitat conservation is improving ranchers’ lives and bird populations. In fact, the 7 million acres of sage grouse habitat improved through the group’s efforts over the last decade can now be seen from space. The roundtable includes NRCS’s Western Regional Coordinator Tim Griffiths, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s Director of Finance and biologist Ron Leather...
Jun 25, 2019•1 hr 37 min
On this episode Bob St. Pierre is joined by Quail Forever Director of Field Ops. Tim Caughran, and biologists Jessica McGuire and Ryan Diener for a discussion about the organization’s habitat work in the southeast’s pine savannas and grasslands. McGuire leads a fun conversation about the connection between gopher tortoises and bobwhite quail. Then Diener explains the explosion of interest around quail in Arkansas. The group finishes with a discussion about the massive habitat and public hunting ...
Jun 14, 2019•47 min
Bob is joined by Matt Hardinge, The Habitat Organization’s western U.S. regional rep for a conversation with Jeff Knetter and Sal Palazzolo, biologists with the Idaho Department of Game & Fish. The group discusses the habitat needs and hunting opportunities for nine upland birds in the state of Idaho – pheasants, California quail, ruffed grouse, blue grouse, spruce grouse, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, sage grouse, Hungarian partridge, and chukars add up to a jaw-dropping upland opportunity...
Jun 04, 2019•1 hr 26 min
On this episode, we continue our spring pollinator habitat discussion with biologist Drew Larsen who leads the organization’s pollinator habitat programs for chapters and schools. Along with Drew, Bob is joined by Tom Carpenter, Editor of the Pheasants Forever Journal, and Anthony Hauck for a discussion about the short-game and long-game for working with schools on pollinator habitat projects, the fact one-in-three bites of food require pollination, and Pearl Jam - yes, THAT Pearl Jam.
May 14, 2019•56 min
In this very special episode, Bob and Andrew Vavra, PF’s Director of Marketing, are joined by Dave Simonett, lead singer of the band Trampled by Turtles and “The Captain” Billy Hildebrand, host of KFAN Outdoors radio. During this fun conversation, the group relives Simonett’s first pheasant hunting adventure as an adult-onset hunter. The guys also talk about bird hunting as the bond cementing friendships, the importance of public lands, and hunting’s PR problems.
Apr 29, 2019•1 hr 24 min
On this episode, Bob St. Pierre and Pheasants Forever’s Director of Marketing, Andrew Vavra, visit with veterinarian and owner of White Bear Animal Hospital, Dr. Stuart Dalton. Located down the street from the Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever headquarters, Dr. Dalton has become the primary vet for many of the organization’s bird dog owners, so this isn’t a stuffy antiseptic doctor visit. On the contrary, the trio starts with a funny story about Rainy, a young food-motivated German wirehaire...
Apr 22, 2019•1 hr 36 min
In March of 1982, Dennis Anderson, then the outdoors editor for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch, wrote an article that served as the catalyst launching Pheasants Forever. On April 15, 1983, the very first banquet in Pheasants Forever’s history took place in Saint Paul, Minnesota. To celebrate that anniversary, Dennis was joined by Bob St. Pierre and Pheasants Forever’s PR Manager, Jared Wiklund, and Director of PR, Anthony Hauck as he reminisces about the circumstances leading to the...
Apr 15, 2019•1 hr 23 min
Just in time for your spring habitat planning, Bob is joined by Jared Wiklund and Matt O’Connor, a long-time PF biologist, to talk about the importance of pollinator habitat for pheasants and quail. O’Connor also provides step-by-step guidance for preparing, planting, and maintaining your own pollinator habitat project with the payoff coming in the form of lots more birds . . . and a beautiful place for wedding and homecoming photos. Jared even makes a play to invite himself to your pollinator p...
Apr 09, 2019•1 hr 17 min
In this episode, Bob visits with Keith Crowley, author of the new book Pheasant Dogs. The duo is joined by Pheasants Forever’s Rachel Hoveland and Jared Wiklund, whose dogs are both featured in the book, for a conversation that covers the laughter and tears of loving a bird dog. There is also a fun conversation about owners looking like their bird dogs, improving your own bird dog photography skills, and finally the organization’s 2019 Bird Dogs for Habitat campaign is unveiled.
Apr 02, 2019•1 hr 15 min
Bob is joined by Logan Hinners, Pheasants Forever’s Graphic Design Manager and resident shed hunting fanatic, for a fun conversation with Tom Dokken, expert dog trainer and President of the North American Shed Hunting Dog Association. During this episode, Dokken breaks down the steps for training your bird dog pup to find antler sheds with both their nose and their eyes. He also tackles common concerns about training a bird dog to hunt sheds, like inadvertently teaching your pup to chase deer. T...
Mar 22, 2019•1 hr 9 min
While attending the Southeastern Wildlife Expo in Charleston, South Carolina, Bob chats with Tim Caughran, Quail Forever’s Director of Field Operations, and Kenny Barker, QF’s Southeastern Regional Rep, about the organization’s rapid growth across the quail range. The trio also discuss bobwhite quail as the indicator species of healthy ecosystems, DIY public lands quail hunting, and Charleston’s incredible food scene; including an oyster eating throw-down at a Ducks Unlimited banquet.
Mar 14, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Bob talks with Browning’s Brian Hobert and Russ Jones to unveil the new line of upland bird hunting clothing for men AND women. The trio breaks down the three-year journey gathering input from members and crafting the new innovative and more technical clothing items for the hardcore upland bird hunter. There’s also a fun story comparing Brian’s first bobwhite quail with the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team’s “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Russians in 1980. You’ll have to listen to laugh.
Mar 01, 2019•51 min
From pheasants and quail to pollinators and Pudelpointers, our signature national event has a wide array of attractions to encourage everyone to take a trip to Schaumburg this February 22nd through 24th. During this episode, Bob is joined by the PR duo of Anthony Hauck and Jared Wiklund for a preview of the organization’s signature event with Chris Kalis, the man behind the event’s curtain. We also hear from Anna Van Nostrand, the keynote speaker of our first-ever Women on the Wing Luncheon. Whe...
Feb 19, 2019•1 hr 8 min
