On The Wing Podcast

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Chief Conservation Officer Ron Leathers for a conversation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Sergio Pierluissi and AnnMarie Krmppotich about the Service’s announcement last week proposing the monarch butterfly be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The group talks about what this proposed listing mean...

This is the fifth and final episode of Pheasants Forever’s 15th annual Rooster Road Trip. Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by PF’s Vice President of Marketing Andrew Vavra, PF’s North Dakota State Coordinator Emily Spolyar, and PF’s Social Media Coordinator Nate Akey to put a bow on this year’s adventure across North Dakota. Episode Highlights: • For gear junkies, each member of the crew talks about...

Host Bob St. Pierre has a new 5-month old German shorthaired pointer puppy named “Winter” that has just completed a two-week training session introducing her to birds and gunfire at Dokken’s Oak Ridge Kennels. That training was completed by the kennel’s lead pro trainer, Mike Wieben, who talks about the process of first introducing a puppy to birds, which is followed by a slow and methodical intro...

This is the fourth episode of Pheasants Forever’s 15th annual Rooster Road Trip. Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by PF’s Vice President of Marketing Andrew Vavra and University of North Dakota’s Dr. Susan Felege. Dr. Felege is a professor of wildlife biology & management and is also a member of PF & QF’s National Board of Directors. Episode Highlights: • Dr. Felege recounts the history of prairie gr...

This is the second episode of Pheasants Forever’s 15th annual Rooster Road Trip. Host Bob St. Pierre is joined for the conversation by PF’s Vice President of Marketing Andrew Vavra, PF’s North Dakota State Coordinator Emily Spolyar, and North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Upland Game Supervisor Jesse Kolar. Episode Highlights: • Kolar provides status reports for North Dakota’s pheasant, sharp-...

This is the third episode of Pheasants Forever’s 15th annual Rooster Road Trip. Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by PF’s Vice President of Marketing Andrew Vavra, PF’s North Dakota Education and Outreach Coordinator Seth Owens, and PF’s Video Production Coordinator Aaron Black-Schmidt to recap the conclusion of the group’s hunt in the Bismarck area and the start of the hunt in the greater Grand Forks...

This is the first episode of Pheasants Forever’s 15th annual Rooster Road Trip. True to Rooster Road Trip’s foundation since its creation in 2010, this year’s hunting occurs exclusively on publicly accessible lands. In this first podcast installment, host Bob St. Pierre is joined by PF’s Vice President of Marketing Andrew Vavra, PF’s North Dakota State Coordinator Emily Spolyar, and PF’s Social Me...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Federal Ammunition’s Global Shotgun Shell Director Dan Compton and PF & QF’s Vice President of Corporate Partnership’s Chris Kalis for a conversation about shotshell ballistics, patterning a shotgun, and new ammunition innovations on the horizon. Episode Highlights: • Compton provides step-by-step guidance on how to pattern a shotgun with different distances, choke...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by “The Captain” Billy Hildebrand and his sons Erik and Chad Hildebrand for a discussion about the ingredients making opening day of a bird hunting season so special. The guys also recap the original PF & QF film, Opening Day, featuring the Hildebrand family’s Minnesota pheasant opener traditions. Episode Highlights: • “The Captain” Billy Hildebrand recounts the hilar...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by veterinarians Dr. RuthAnn Lobos and Dr. Seth Bynum for the second podcast installment of our “Ask a Vet” video series being presented by Purina Pro Plan to recap video episodes 7 through 12. Episode Highlights: Ask a Vet Episode 7 – How can I prevent bad breath? tinyurl.com/4uc5mpn4 Ask a Vet Episode 8 – How much should I feed my bird dog? tinyurl.com/56vv9dsf Ask...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Quail Forever Journal Editor Ryan Sparks, QF Program Manager Andy Edwards, and Gun Dog Editor and host of Wild Upland on Outdoor Channel Kali Parmley to preview the 2024 quail hunting season. Each participant also offers their top four quail hunting tips for hunting any of America’s six species of quail during the inaugural game of Quail Hunting Battleship. Episode...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever Journal Editor Tom Carpenter, PF & QF Director of Communications Jared Wiklund, and Quail Forever Journal Editor Ryan Sparks to preview the 2024 pheasant hunting season. Each individual also offers their top four pheasant hunting tips during the inaugural game of Pheasant Hunting Battleship. Episode Highlights: • Tom Carpenter kicks off the conver...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Quail Forever Journal Editor Ryan Sparks for a visit with Danielle Prewett about her brand new book, “MeatEater’s Wild + Whole, Seasonal Recipes for the Conscious Cook.” Prewett also discusses her love affair with North Dakota, grasslands, and sharp-tailed grouse. Episode Highlights: • One of Prewett’s signature philosophies is that every meal tells a story. She wr...

Host Bob St. Pierre visits with Matt Holland, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s vice president of grant development and a wildlife biologist, about the organization’s public land creation efforts in celebration of Build a Wildlife Area Week. The organization first created a public wildlife area in 1986. Since that time, PF & QF has worked on 1,810 different land acquisitions covering 229,846 a...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Quail Forever Editor Ryan Sparks for a discussion with professional upland photographers Brian Grossenbacher and Aaron Black-Schmidt. The conversation starts with Sparks sharing his vision for a photo essay to capture a quail hunt from the very beginning to the final meal. The final result of that concept appears in the current edition of the Quail Forever Journal...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Jon Steigerwaldt, the Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society’s forest conservation director for the upper Midwest, to preview the 2024 ruffed grouse hunting season. Jon describes the ideal habitat for ruffed grouse and woodcock, and offers plenty of tips to find more birds this season. The guys also discuss new projects in Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylv...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever Editor Tom Carpenter and Quail Forever Editor Ryan Sparks for a conversation with professional dog trainer Clyde Vetter, who also happens to be husband to PF & QF President and Chief Executive Officer Marilyn Vetter. Each member of this conversation also considers themselves prairie grouse hunting junkies, so they provide a forecast for the 2024 s...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s newly elected national board chair Jerrod Burke and vice chair Dan Forster. Burke hails from southwest Nebraska where he farms, works on habitat, and bird hunts. Forster is a biologist from Georgia where he chases bobwhite quail, ducks, and alligators. Episode Highlights: • Burke and Forster talk about their professional, conse...

Host Bob St. Pierre visits with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever National Board member Thomas Harris about quail, bird dogs, wildlife art, and his commitment to volunteering. A passionate Alabamian, Harris talks about a very personal connection to his quail hunting property, and how his conservation ethic resulted in being named the Alabama Conservationist of the Year for 2019 as recognized by...

We’ve assembled a special upland bird hunter’s super show episode with Travis Frank of The Flush and Nick Larson of Birdshot Podcast for a conversation focused on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ new Bird Hunter Diary app and ruffed grouse drumming counts. Joining the conversation from the Minnesota DNR are Assistant Area Wildlife Manager for northeast Minnesota Bailey Petersen and R...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Vice President of Government Affairs Ariel Wiegard for a conversation in Washington, D.C. with U.S. Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow focused on farm bill legislation. A democrat from Michigan, Chairwoman Stabenow talks about the bi-partisan nature of the farm bill’s conservation title II and the legislation’s intersection...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Vice President of Government Affairs Ariel Wiegard for a conversation in Washington, D.C. with U.S. House Agriculture Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson focused on farm bill legislation. A republican from rural Pennsylvania, Chairman Thompson talks about the bi-partisan nature of the farm bill’s conservation title II and the legislation’s...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever President & Chief Executive Officer Marilyn Vetter for a conversation in which she reflects on her first year in the organization’s top leadership role. The pair also detail the vision, mission, values, and four strategic priorities comprising the organization’s new strategic plan themed “Building Forever.” Episode Highlights: •...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever Journal Editor Tom Carpenter and Quail Forever Journal Editor Ryan Sparks for the first-ever meeting of the Upland Bird Hunters’ Book Club. The conversation starts with a discussion about Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It and how that book, and subsequent movie, changed the general public’s perception of fly fishing. St. Pierre poses the qu...

Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by Yia Vang, a Hmong American chef, restaurant owner, and host of Outdoor Channel’s television show “Feral.” Vang talks about growing up as a small game hunter, going on his first pheasant hunt in Wisconsin, and his perspective on the Hmong “balanced” approach to food. Episode Highlights: • Vang talks about his journey from college to chef and food truck operator to t...