I heard the jokes about water swatting American coots long before I became a licensed hunter. But when I finally took up waterfowl hunting , I discovered that the humor surrounding coots was actually a well-placed sentry guarding a well-kept secret: American coot is delicious. Read more at projectupland.com .
Jan 14, 2025•8 min
You’ve done your research, picked the ideal dog breed , selected a reputable breeder , and now have a much-anticipated date circled on your calendar. Your new puppy will soon arrive in your home, full of unbridled potential and the uncanny ability to create chaos wherever it goes. The weeks before the new pup arrives are the best time to gather supplies, puppy-proof your home, make an early puppy training and socialization plan, and—perhaps most importantly—get the whole family on board with the...
Jan 12, 2025•9 min
My first experience with Arizona quail occurred as a covey of about 30 Gambel’s quail raced across the public two-track road before us, sprinting to a pond to get water. Not believing our luck, I pulled the truck over. My father, James, and buddy, Kyle Hedges , helped me boot up three dogs. While the process took about 20 minutes, we were confident that the birds would still be somewhere close. Based on our combined years of bobwhite quail hunting experience, we thought perhaps they’d be in the ...
Jan 07, 2025•12 min
If you were to ask a bird or rabbit hunter in nineteenth century England which dog he would prefer to accompany him, the answer was often a Curly-Coated Retriever. That may surprise you, given the rarity of the Curly today. Hunters in the 1800s knew the Curly-Coat as a persevering, talented, hardy hunting dog who could handle both fur and feather in upland and waterfowl work. The Curly was also useful in a secondary role as a guard dog. The Curly-Coated Retriever owes much of its early popularit...
Jan 04, 2025•25 min
Kansas’ reputation as a classic upland hunting state has long been known. Bobwhite quail hunting here is legendary during boom years and remains solid during average years. While pheasant hunting in Kansas has decreased over the last few years due to habitat loss, the state is still consistently among the top three to four states for roosters. Additionally, Kansas is the country's top greater prairie chicken state, providing great opportunities to harvest the charismatic grassland dweller. A cha...
Dec 31, 2024•11 min
One hundred and fifty years ago, the people of Germany struggled to create a united nation out of a patchwork of tiny kingdoms, city-states, and fiefdoms. Around the same time, german hunters also struggled to create a national breed of short-haired pointing dog . Eventually, both goals were realized. Today, Germany is a rich and united republic and the German Shorthaired Pointer sits in triumph as the most successful continental pointing breed in the world. Read more at projectupland.com ....
Dec 29, 2024•20 min
The Kansas Flint Hills prairie rose 100 feet above the low-lying soybean field I was hunting. Each day, two groups of greater prairie-chickens screamed down from the grasslands and into the field to feed at unbelievable speeds. I had these birds dialed in; I knew exactly which electric pole they flew past every morning. I was set up well before dawn, ready to pass-shoot them. The first group came in well in advance, but I was unprepared for how fast they were. I missed, wildly behind. I adjusted...
Dec 24, 2024•9 min
While people will always disagree about which breed is the “handsomest and perhaps the most generous,” everyone agrees that trying to follow all the twists and turns of the setter’s creation story is more or less impossible. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something more about them by taking a look at some of the more interesting, and even surprising, stops along the way. In 1872, Edward Lavarack, the father of the modern English setter answered the question by writing “… the setter is noth...
Dec 22, 2024•26 min
When I started hunting waterfowl, diver ducks seemed like the most expensive birds to target. YouTube videos worsened this impression. Everyone seemed to be hunting from extravagant blinds while utilizing an infinite number of bluebill and redhead decoys. It was baffling! How was a hunter on a limited budget supposed to compete with that? The truth is, small decoy spreads are very effective if you play your cards right and know your diver ducks. Let’s look at how we can decoy diver ducks on a bu...
Dec 17, 2024•8 min
On a sunny day on the fall of 1990, I was aboard a train traveling through the beautiful countryside of northern Italy. As I watched the rich, green valley of the Po River pass by my window, I was reminded of an area where I hunt ruffed grouse near my home in Manitoba. I couldn’t help wondering what kind of game could be hiding in the root crops and corn. During one of the many unscheduled train stops in the middle of nowhere, for unknown reasons, I noticed a man walking in the field about 200 m...
Dec 15, 2024•19 min
In the southeast, by mid-December, most hunters turn their attention away from whitetail deer and solely focus on waterfowl hunting. Wood ducks and Canadian geese can be found anywhere there’s water. Many folks decoy puddle ducks and divers on the coastal plains, and lakes offer great opportunities for mallards and teal . But there is one migratory bird that most waterfowlers rarely glimpse: the American woodcock . Woodcock arrive in the South each fall under the cover of darkness. By sunrise, t...
Dec 10, 2024•10 min
Until the mid-1800s, no one set out to create a rough-haired breed from scratch by systematically crossing dogs with different coat types. But the idea of deliberate crosses had been around since at least 1825 when Freiherr (Baron) v. d. Borch wrote in Yearbook for Forest Men, Hunters and Friends of Hunting , “It is noteworthy that crossing the pudel and the pointing dog would unite and maintain the excellent drive by the virtues of both types.” In 1881, German hunters began systematically cross...
Dec 08, 2024•14 min
Nothing gets my blood flowing more than hunting upland birds in November and accidentally flushing a snowshoe hare. Each fall, early season snowshoe hare hunting catches me off guard. Seldom am I ready for those first wild flushes that mark the beginning of hare season. Snowshoes are commonly found in the same places as ruffed grouse and spruce grouse . To top it off, they will test your shooting capabilities to their fullest. You think shooting a ruffed grouse busting through the alders is toug...
Dec 03, 2024•8 min
Project Upland’s annual North American Upland Bird Hunting Survey ended earlier this year. What better way to share our data than by starting a brawl over the most popular bird dog breeds ? The hunting dog world is full of personal biases, and our survey results reflected our community’s diverse preferences. When asked, “What type of hunting dogs do you own?,” 53.69% of respondents said pointing, 32.84% said versatile, 19.37% said retriever, 11.11% said spaniel, and 1% said hound. Although point...
Dec 01, 2024•16 min
Late-season ringneck hunting isn’t as glorious as opening weekend. Gone are the early season’s young, short-tailed roosters that make up most hunters’ game bags. Long marches across tall grasses or freshly cut crop fields no longer result in dozens of flushes and easy shots for walkers and blockers alike. Rarely do birds hold for solid points, allowing that classic upland experience to unfold for solo hunters. Instead, birds have been pressured hard , and many of the naive young-of-the-year bird...
Nov 26, 2024•11 min
The Irish Setter, like many dog breeds, has a history filled with complex twists and turns that have shaped the dog we love today. Irish Setters descend from the same rootstock that gave rise to all the setter breeds , but there is good reason to believe they may be the oldest of them all. The spaniels that became setting dogs were in Ireland since at least the 16th century. During this time, the landscape of the island was quite different from what it is today. Read more at projectupland.com ....
Nov 24, 2024•21 min
When hunting in black duck country, a thermos full of coffee is mandatory—not for the caffeine or warmth but to keep your spirits up. On the marshes where black ducks live, they make up the bulk of every bird you see. The problem is, they want nothing to do with you. Of the over two dozen duck species that migrate along the Atlantic Flyway, the black duck is the only one rumored to be able to count. Too many decoys, and a black duck won’t commit. Too few decoys , and they’ll keep buzzing. The lu...
Nov 18, 2024•13 min
Our modern hunting dog breeds have been around for roughly 150 years and, in that time, people have created countless divisions based on politics, preferences, and differing opinions on the best way to create the perfect hunting dog . These divisions yielded a broad spectrum of options when it comes to choosing a hunting dog that works best for you. In some cases, the differences were based on style choices such as color or coat length. In others, such as the division between the Deutsch Drahtha...
Nov 17, 2024•13 min
Despite being exotic to North America, the ring-necked pheasant has supplanted our native gamebirds as the most popular species to hunt among the upland hunting populace. Pheasants are abundant, meaty , found over a large range, and just so darn charismatic. Even the most ardent quail or grouse lover must admit few birds can match the beauty and sheer excitement at the flush of a wild rooster. Add in their incredible craftiness and ability to outwit the most seasoned bird hunter time and again, ...
Nov 12, 2024•13 min
Depending on how you choose to look at it, my very first day in the Maine grouse woods with Lincoln was either an embarrassment of riches, or just an embarrassment. I had only bagged one ruffed grouse before that trip, the precious end result of miles and miles of hiking in the rough West Virginia mountains a few hours from our home. While I took great pride in the challenge, I decided that we needed to get ourselves to a place where the grouse contact was just a little less other-worldly and a ...
Nov 11, 2024•14 min
Most people associate American woodcock with the Northwoods. However, they are common throughout the entire eastern half of the United States over the course of their fall and spring migrations. During the woodcock migration , these plump, bug-eyed brown birds utilize very similar habitat types across each state, albeit habitat that is comprised of very different species of trees and shrubs across their lengthy flight. Read more at projectupland.com ....
Nov 05, 2024•10 min
Brittanies are the fulfillment of a French dream to build a better bird dog. I am sure that if those old braconniers from La Bretagne could see the breed today, they would be thrilled to know that Brittanies have conquered the world. I’ve seen Brittanies in European trials. I’ve shot roosters and ruffed grouse over Sporty, Bandit, and Buster, three tremendous Brittanies owned by a good friend. I’ve spoken at length with Brittany owners and breeders and some of the best trainers in the world. The...
Nov 01, 2024•14 min
Field goldens typify these traits and more. For instance, field goldens have all the affection of a show golden, but with the sky-watching, duck-loving, cold-water-plunging nature of a lab. Field goldens don’t lumber. They glide like a German Shorthair . Their thick necks and brawny shoulders taper down into sleek frames like that of a cheetah. Unlike a show golden’s flat white coat, field goldens have much shorter, insulated, honey-colored fur, ideal for camouflage in winter sedge. Underneath a...
Oct 29, 2024•15 min
Have you ever returned to a quail hunting spot later in the season and failed to find the birds that provided such a great hunt just weeks before? Whether it’s a public wildlife area, a Walk-In Hunting Area (WIHA) in Kansas , or any other type of publicly accessible property in whatever state, there are definitely strategies that hunters should consider, especially when pursuing bobwhite quail . Fellow wildlife biologist Frank Loncarich and I spend many days afield together each year chasing qua...
Oct 26, 2024•13 min
Perhaps no upland game bird embodies the ruggedness of western hunting better than the chukar . They inhabit the wild, mountainous terrain that defines the vast wilderness of the Great Basin, the high desert, and the inland northwest—places where water is scarce and survival depends on adaptation to the harsh environment. Because of the physical challenges associated with reaching chukar habitat, a certain element of machismo and bro-culture has come to define the subculture of chukar hunting. I...
Oct 22, 2024•12 min
Thousands of hunters venture afield across the Midwest on the opening weekend of pheasant season. Opening weekend is a tradition, and regardless of the state agency’s pheasant population reports, hunters head out in pursuit of wily roosters. Although, in the case of opening weekend, plenty of roosters have yet to reach the status of “wily.” The fact that early season roosters have yet to be educated on our hunting techniques doesn’t mean opening weekend guarantees limits of the colorful imported...
Oct 20, 2024•10 min
We sat on the tailgate of my pickup overlooking a cover we had just hunted on a late October day as the sunset. The whistling sound of woodcock wings began while the sky still held mute signs of the sun hidden behind the mountains. We counted the birds with excitement. One after another, a tangle of “there is another” and “here comes two” was complemented by big smiles. It did not take long to debate whether they were moving to eat or to migrate. I relish this end-of-hunt tailgate tradition each...
Oct 14, 2024•26 min
One of the most important things I have found while navigating the wilderness with a toddler in tow is involving them in the activity. No, this doesn’t mean having your toddler go and retrieve birds for you. Instead, it means something as simple as listening to different songbirds while hunting and asking, “Did you hear that?” or identifying different trees, mushrooms , or animals. I often find myself narrating a large majority of a hunt when my daughter is on my back. How much of this she can a...
Oct 08, 2024•10 min
What makes an ideal grouse gun, or what Gene Hill would call “a gun of specialist function?” Does action type matter? What about gauge? How does the environment play into it? How has the modernization of gun-making changed grouse guns? How different is a grouse gun from a clays gun? How different is a gun built for ruffed grouse hunting versus shotguns used for other wild game? While I don’t have all the answers, I do have theories. Like any evolving tradition, they’re built on the backs of thos...
Oct 05, 2024•15 min
Birds primarily rely on sight and sound to evade predators. We know that ruffed grouse are far more jumpy in high winds because their hearing is impaired. Living in dense cover has heightened their dependence on sound. In my opinion, their sense of hearing is often greater than sight. When we factor in transgenerational stress inheritance , we gain insight into sound’s profound impact on ruffed grouse hunting. No matter how good the dog’s work may be, its bell’s jingle alerts grouse. The birds u...
Oct 01, 2024•16 min