On The Wing Podcast

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by frequent podcast contributor Marissa Jensen for a conversation with Emily Spolyar. While Emily is a precision agriculture & conservation specialist with Pheasants Forever, the focus of this episode is on her social media pledge to introduce ten people to hunting during 2020. Episode Highlights: • The conversation gets started with Emily’s story of how a substitute...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Kira Everhart-Valentin, the sustainability director for the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, for a conversation with Eric Johannsen and Garrett Love, two farmers and ranchers who also own upland bird hunting operations. The group discuss sorghum’s role at the center of a Venn diagram where wild pheasant and quail populations intersect with farm profitability and en...

Host Bob St. Pierre and Quail Forever Journal Editor Chad Love are joined by the organization’s Education & Outreach Program Manager Marissa Jensen for a conversation focused on the trio’s love of quail, upland hunting, covey rises, and the places quail live. Episode Highlights: • Marissa and Chad share their early season hunting adventures with young bird dogs in pursuit of prairie grouse in Nebr...

Host Bob St. Pierre and Pheasants Forever Journal Editor Tom (Carp) Carpenter explore common mistakes pheasant hunters make and the remedies that will put more “roostery sags in your gamebag with long tailfeathers streaming out the side” this season. Episode Highlights: • Drawing on Carp’s feature in the Fall Issue, Bob St. Pierre and the author explore 11 mistakes, missteps, and misconceptions th...

Host Bob St. Pierre and Rooster Road Trip co-host Andrew Vavra are joined by Pheasants Forever Graphic Design Manager Logan Hinners and Video Production Specialist Aaron Black-Schmidt to break down the final day of the 2020 event. The crew also deliver their own highlights and lowlights of the adventure while providing a behind-the-scenes view of the process leading to the creation of the daily wr...

Host Bob St. Pierre and Rooster Road Trip co-host Andrew Vavra are joined by Pheasants Forever Habitat Restoration Specialist Becca Kludt and lead singer of Trampled by Turtles, Dave Simonett, to recap a beautiful day in west central Minnesota. The wide-ranging conversation covers everything from the impact of changing climate on upland birds to exploring birdy cover before a concert. Episode High...

Host Bob St. Pierre and Rooster Road Trip co-host Andrew Vavra are joined by Pheasants Forever biologist Tanner Bruse and PF chapter volunteer Jeff Davis to recap a very windy day afield. The crew spent the day primarily on federal Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs) in southwest Minnesota’s “Buffalo Ridge” region where the wind on an average day is 17mph. Today’s sustained winds easily doubled that...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever’s Director of Marketing Andrew Vavra and Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist Megan Howell to recap Day 2 of the Rooster Road Trip featuring a golden hour filled with hits, misses, and . . . Bob’s water retrieve. Throughout the episode, Howell explains how her love of bird hunting lead her to become a biologist. Episode Highlights: • Howell talks about he...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever’s Director of Marketing Andrew Vavra and conservation legend Joe Duggan to recap the first day of this year’s Rooster Road Trip spent hunting the Minnesota public wildlife area named in honor of Duggan. Episode Highlights: • A Sunday night thunderstorm added much-needed moisture to Monday morning’s landscape, which helped the team’s dogs get this...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by fellow Pheasants Forever co-workers, Andrew Vavra and Logan Hinners, as the trio previews this year’s Rooster Road Trip. The year 2020 has brought change throughout our entire country, and the Rooster Road Trip is not immune to these adjustments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the crew discusses staying close to home and focusing on the state where the organization w...

Host Bob St. Pierre and Quail Forever Journal Editor Chad Love head west to chat with Ruben Mata, vice president of the Ventura California Chapter of Quail Forever. Mata and his son are featured in the new Project Upland film “This Exists” about valley quail hunting and passing on hunting traditions. Episode Highlights: • Ruben’s connection to Quail Forever began with a completely random 5a.m. mee...

In this episode, host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Logan Hinners, PF & QF’s graphic design manager, and professional photographer Erik Petersen. The trio begin the discussion focused on taking better bird hunting photos. The conversation transitions to Erik’s very personal journey of raising two boys – one biological son and one adopted son from Ethiopia – as bird hunters in Montana. Episode Highli...

Host Bob St. Pierre takes the co-pilot seat as the organization’s Education & Outreach Program Manager Marissa Jensen takes the lead on a conversation with Carla Gibson and Jenny O’Brien on fly fishing, bird dogs, and chukar hunting in the West. Episode Highlights: • Jenny and Carla share their personal stories about how fly fishing and bird hunting strengthened their friendship. • Marissa and Car...

In conjunction with Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s celebration of National Hunting & Fishing week, host Bob St. Pierre and the organization’s Hunting Heritage Program Manger Colby Kerber take a deep dive into the hunting community’s R3 initiative with Matt Dunfee. Dunfee is the Wildlife Management Institute’s Director of Special Programs and one of the principle architects behind the R3 movem...

Host Bob St. Pierre heads across the airways to Iowa to hear all about the first ever drive-thru banquet hosted by the DubuqueLand chapter of Pheasants Forever. He’s joined by Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever Field Services Director Tom Fuller and DubuqueLand chapter President Tim Fiedler. Listen and learn about the innovative solution these chapter volunteers put together to make sure they conti...

Quail Forever Journal Editor Chad Love joins host Bob St. Pierre for a quail-centric conversation with Oklahoma State University Professor Dwayne Elmore. The trio talk about quail from coast-to-coast with Oklahoma serving as the geographic center of the conversation. Listen to learn about the importance of shrubby cover in the quail habitat mix, and how Elmore’s quail research influences how he hu...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Marissa Jensen, Tom Carpenter and Chad Love, authors of Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s annual Prairie Grouse Primer, for a state-by-state forecast of the 2020 prairie grouse hunting season. The group breaks down prospects and hunting tips for Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Idaho. Episode highlights: • The crew sha...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Matt Kucharski, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s newly elected Chairman of the National Board of Directors for a conversation that starts with bird dogs and closes with Kucharski’s vision for the organization’s future. In between the duo talk about Kucharski’s role in Quail Forever’s formation, his personal habitat projects, and the bird hunt he is most excited...

Marilyn Vetter and Nancy Anisfield, members of Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s National Board of Directors and longtime hunters, talk about their first-hand experiences during the growth of women in bird hunting over the last thirty years. Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Marissa Jensen, the organization’s leader of the Women on the Wing initiative, as the group explore a wide-range of topics...

In this episode, host Bob St. Pierre takes a back seat as co-host Marissa Jensen drives the conversation with Danielle Prewett. The podcast centers around the upcoming Women on the Wing virtual event coming up on August 20th. You’ll want to listen to hear Danielle’s tips for easily preparing pheasant meat, but you’ll also want to listen to the stories of her first hunts, first birds, beloved bird...

Our host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever Education & Outreach Program Manager Marissa Jensen for a conversation with Jorge Ramirez about quail hunting in California and Arizona. Jorge is a passionate quail hunter who operates the website www. UplandJitsu.com which is focused on hunting Western quail on public land without a bird dog. Episode Highlights Include: • Jorg...

In this episode host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever public relations manager Jared Wiklund to chat with Travis Frank, host of The Flush on Outdoor Channel. The trio discuss highlights from past seasons of The Flush, the anticipation of the 2020 season, and the adventures afield telling stories about the people who cherish the uplands. Episode Highlights Include: • Tr...

In this episode, host Bob St. Pierre sits down with Dave Nomsen, retiring vice president of government affairs for Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever. The pair goes over a lifetime of conservation work, from growing up the son of the Iowa state pheasant biologist to watching the sunrise over the National Mall in Washington D.C. with the organization’s National Youth Leadership Council. Dave’s caree...

In this special Pollinator Week edition, host Bob St. Pierre and Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s Director of Habitat Education Programs, Drew Larson, chat with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s AnnMarie Krmpotich and Sergio Pierluissi. The group discusses the state of pollinators and monarchs in the U.S. and the many opportunities on both public lands and private lands to improve the habitat fo...

Dr. Bill Clark, a renowned predator researcher, biologist, and retired professor from Iowa State University, joins host Bob St. Pierre and PF’s Jared Wiklund to talk about predators. The guys have a wide-ranging discussion about all the animals that eat pheasants, from coyotes to feral cats and humans to raptors, with the goal of determining what predator is “Public Enemy #1” to pheasants. The ans...