On The Wing Podcast

In this episode Bob St. Pierre and Jared Wiklund talk with biologist Matt O’Connor about how to design food plots for bringing birds through a tough winter. O’Connor, who has been a biologist with Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever for almost 30 years, explains how to pick the best location for a food plot on your property, how to prepare your site, what equipment to use, and what to plant in your...

Have you ever dreamed of taking a spring break hunting trip to quail country? Dr. Bill Palmer of Tall Timbers Research Station gives a few pointers on DIY public land quail hunts and describes the magic of a covey rise. The guys also discuss the creation of Quail Forever, the Mr. Mom bobwhite quail advantage, and the critical importance of prescribed fire to bobwhite quail habitat management.

If the Labrador retriever is the quintessential duck dog and the English setter is the ideal grouse dog, then what’s America’s pheasant dog? Recorded in August, Bob St. Pierre and Anthony Hauck talked with Karl Gunzer, Purina’s Sporting Dog Group Director, to answer this bird dog riddle. The trio also chats about Karl’s conservation career working with most of the conservation groups, his dog trai...

Bob St. Pierre and PF/QF’s public relations manager, Jared Wiklund, catch up with Johnathan O’Dell, gamebird biologist for the Arizona Game & Fish Department, to talk about Arizona’s three species of quail (Gambel’s, scaled, and Mearns’). The trio discuss the habitat needs and optimum weather conditions for each species, along with tips for targeting them for the first-time desert quail hunter. Th...

After a successful morning pheasant hunt on lands enrolled in Iowa’s Habitat & Access Program (IHAP), Bob and Jared talk with Terry Haindfield and Tom Fuller about Iowa’s habitat conditions, bird populations, and hunting prospects. Haindfield provides a unique perspective as a biologist with the Iowa DNR as well as a longtime Pheasants Forever chapter volunteer. Fuller adds additional perspective...

This week’s episode of On The Wing features Bob St. Pierre and Pheasants Forever’s Editor, Tom “Carp” Carpenter catching up with the host of The Flush, Travis Frank. Presented by Pheasants Forever and Federal Ammunition, The Flush seeks out North America's top upland bird hunting destinations and brings the wild action to viewers across the country. Topics include musky fishing vs. pheasant huntin...

On this episode of On the Wing, Bob catches up with Patrick Flanagan of Border to Border Outfitters during Flanagan’s last few days guiding ruffed grouse hunters in northern Minnesota. From Minnesota, Flanagan moves to Kansas to chase roosters before heading to Arizona in December for quail. The guys chat about the differences in hunting ruffed grouse versus pheasants versus quail. Also, if you’re...

Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever government affairs duo Jim Inglis and Bethany Erb join us and recap our journey to create upland habitat in the 2018 Farm Bill. The group also debates the prevalence of acronyms in the conservation world, the symptoms of Potomac Fever, and how our policy work in D.C. is also creating public access for bird hunters.

North Dakota has experienced massive habitat loss in the last decade largely due to CRP loss. In this episode, we catch up with the Pheasants Forever employee team in North Dakota to learn about the innovative ways their working to return some of those acres back to habitat for the birds. We also take advantage of the opportunity to talk with five avid female bird hunters about how they are helpin...

Hank Shaw, author of the new Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail cookbook (and Quail Forever Life Member), joins Bob St. Pierre at a ruffed grouse hunting camp in northern Wisconsin. The duo discuss the amazing diversity of upland game across the country’s different regions, while also chatting bird hunting, foraging and cooking quail, grouse, pheasants and woodcock during this episode.

Pheasants Forever editor Tom Carpenter talks about the six tricks roosters use, and how pheasant hunters can combat them. And can the discussion group come up with a better term than "hardcore"?

With the pheasant hunting on publicly-accessible habitat and land finishing on a strong note, the Rooster Road Trip crew looks back on a week in pheasant country’s epicenter. We also take listener questions on bird dog feeding and care, storing birds on the road and dealing with hunting buddies who burn the midnight oil.

Aberdeen area walk-in hunting areas that are part of the James River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program produce the type of South Dakota pheasant hunt you dream about. The corn just came out, there's a triple rooster flush and we close with advice for novice upland hunters to keep developing their upland skills.

It's a tale of two days as a tough day of hunting is followed by a bountiful day in the field. Pheasants Forever's Rooster Road Trip public habitat and public access ambassadors are dealing with a plethora of bird dog injuries. Despite the challenges, the trip's new addition, Emy Marier, and her bird dog combine for their first South Dakota rooster during a magical Golden Hour hunt.

When Plan A fails, Plan B turns into an upland dreamscape walk-in area in West River South Dakota. And the "Golden Hour" hunt on a Pierre Game Production Area turns into a track meet with racing roosters. Speaking of rooster, why aren't we yelling "Rooster!"?

Pheasants Forever's Rooster Road Trip, South Dakota's gigantic pheasant hunting season opener, 100 years of South Dakota pheasant hunting, how to plan a South Dakota bucket list bird hunt and unraveling the mystery meat that is chislic. Featuring South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks wildlife biologists Tom Kirschenmann and Mark Norton, and the department's communications specialist, Chris Hull.

We preview Pheasants Forever’s Rooster Road Trip and talk about the origins of “The Habitat Organization’s” signature digital event. The 2018 Rooster Road Trip is an all-South Dakota affair, as the undisputed Pheasant Capital celebrates a Pheasantennial, its 100th pheasant hunting season. And like all Rooster Road Trips prior, this year’s will highlight publicly-accessible lands and habitat projec...

Opening with an impromptu visit to the Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown, we dive into a “State-of-the-State” discussion about pheasants in South Dakota with Pheasants Forever biologists Matt Morlock and Erica Yost. The wide-ranging conversation covers the current habitat conditions in the state and this year’s 47 percent jump in SoDak bird numbers. We also chat about some innovative new PF ini...

It’s opening weekend for sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge in Montana and we’re chasing these prairie birds from horseback behind big-running pointing dogs. This episode comes at you from a public hunting parcel in Montana at the back of a horse trailer. During the episode, we chat with John Zeman and Dan Voss, Pheasants Forever members, dog trainers and horseback hunters. During the con...

On this episode of On The Wing Podcast we breakdown the highly anticipated Pheasant Hunting Forecast state-by-state. Editor; Tom Carpenter, and Public Relations Manager; Jared Wiklund, dive into detail on locations and states that you should plan your next upland hunt!

The “Dokken” name has become synonymous with dog training. In this episode, we learn about Tom’s evolution as one of the most recognized dog trainers in the country. We also chat with Tina Dokken about the role bird dogs played while dating Tom. Tina also tells us about the challenges to becoming a female bird hunter as an adult and the clothing, gear and shotgun advances being made for women. We...

During our inaugural podcast, we chat with Eran Sandquist, Pheasants Forever’s Minnesota state coordinator and a wildlife biologist, about the organization’s efforts to create public hunting access through land acquisitions. We also discuss Minnesota’s ground-breaking Legacy Amendment passed by voters in 2008 and is now creating permanently protected habitat and public hunting access across the st...