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The Remington Model 10 shotgun represents a time when shotgun advancement for repeating firearms was happening at lighting speed. First developed in 1908, it was used by the United States in World War 1 as a “trench gun” with shortened barrels. It became the first pump shotgun to use a bottom-ejecting style action. A model 17 in 20-gauge was introduced soon after. The shotgun’s legacy would go on...

The last of the St. John’s Water Dogs were living in Newfoundland in the late 1970s. They were smooth-coated and mostly black, and it was easy to see how such dogs could have been selected into the modern Labrador Retriever in Britain. All retrievers derive from this working fisherman’s dog. Much of the speculation in discussions of  retriever origin  is really about how this working dog developed...

Understanding your  dog’s body language  is crucial. Appraising the direction and quality of the wind and assessing the moisture in the air and on the ground are clues to triangulate where bird smells might be coming from. Identifying surrounding cover and how that particular bird species retreats away from pressure aids in pinpointing a potential flushing location. When you can understand these p...

Each September, bobwhite hunters across the country wait impatiently for state wildlife agencies to publish their outlooks for the upcoming  bobwhite quail  season. A portion of these outlooks is determined by how many adult birds survived the previous winter. However, summertime bobwhite nest success and chick survival carry much more weight when deciding whether or not things look good for bobwh...

“Chukar dog” is a title held by many breeds whose owners love the thrill of chasing one of the hardiest upland game birds in the world. These dogs brave the dangers and extremes of  chukar country  while traveling on average three times as far as their owners walk in a day.  Here are some of the basics to ensure these elite athletes have a good hunt and many seasons to come.  Read more at projectu...

As you may have guessed, the steps to a better-tasting bird begin moments after you lace up your boots. As little shot as possible to get the job done is the goal, so this means understanding what shotgun choke you are running. A tighter choke, like a modified, may require you to wait until birds reach 20 yards before taking the shot as a tighter pattern at a closer range means far more pellets in...

Rosie, my German Shepherd mix, loves any outdoor adventure I can throw at her. Although she’s not necessarily a hunting dog per se, I take her small game hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and camping with me all the time.  My dog gets extra exercise and high-quality life experiences when she tags along on my outdoor adventures. Bringing Rosie camping with me also adds peace of mind. Her shepherd...

Saying I’m into dogs is like saying Manitoba winters are “a tad chilly.” I spend most of my waking hours hanging out with, thinking about, reading about, and writing about dogs. One of my favorite reads as of late is a blog connected to the Institute for Canine Biology website run by Carol Beuchat, Ph. D.  Dr. Beuchat’s post, “ Celebrating the Preservation Breeders! ” was a sort of good-news progr...

The name of the breed in Hungarian is Magyar Vizsla. The official FCI translation is Hungarian Short-haired Pointing Dog, but in English the breed is most commonly called Vizsla or Hungarian Vizsla. “Magyar” means Hungarian. There are several theories regarding the origin of the word “Vizsla”. Some authorities claim the word is of Turkish origin meant “to seek”. Others suggest that it was the name...

When it comes to selecting a bird dog breed, there’s a common piece of advice handed out: “Choose a dog that hunts the way you hunt.” This is all well and good if you are a seasoned hunter—or if, in fact, you’ve ever hunted at all—but if you are coming into hunting completely green, it’s tough to imagine what your hunting style will be. And before you dive into the minutiae of the various breeds,...

Many countries are home to iconic and world-renowned firearms manufacturers. Inventors and engineers like Bartolomeo Beretta of Italy, Samuel Colt of the US, and  William Anson and John Deeley  of Great Britain are just a few examples. These are names that are synonymous with innovation, craftsmanship, and quality. Despite Canada’s notoriety as a country with restrictive firearm laws, Canada is no...

For those of us whose hearts have been enthralled by bird dogs and bird dog training, it’s easy to imagine as beginners that everything we do is tied by a silver cord to an ancient past and that there’s one tried-and-true process for training a bird dog, passed down in an unbroken generational succession from master to disciple.  There’s some truth to all that, but just a little. Our dogs’ genes a...

Once the spring turkey season ends, many of us pivot to our local rivers and lakes to cast flies at fish. However, the thrill of your hunt does not have to end once the fly rod is strung. Many of the fly patterns attached to our leaders are tied with turkey  feathers , and what could be a more rewarding full-circle experience than catching fish with flies made from the turkey you harvested?  Turke...

Raspy trumpets descending from the heavens broke the crisp silence and broke me out of my ice fishing trance. It’s easy to lose yourself while staring into the flashing circles and lines of a Vexilar screen, but the first sandhill crane calls of the year would snap anyone back into reality. I looked up through my copper-tinted glasses and counted nearly 200 cranes flying west over Blue Mesa Reserv...

Frost fell from the prairie grass as it moved around our legs. The sun had come up halfway through our walk, and water droplets began crawling up the denim of my jeans. Jack and Gunner, young labs and littermates, worked the cover intensely. Their backs, covered in white ice particles, began to steam off from the heat and excitement of the opening weekend.  We had bagged a few birds and were almos...

The question pops up on bird dog forums and breed-specific forums on social media platforms all the time, “Can we handle the energy of a bird dog?”  The posters want to get a  bird dog pup  but they’ve heard they can be a handful; they wonder if they’ll be able to manage the infamous exercise needs of a working dog. Or questions come from new bird dog puppy owners at their wits’ end, frustrated th...

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is a common phrase most folks are familiar with. From a sustainability standpoint, it’s easy to understand that leaving more birds on the landscape than you take is something worth valuing. However, when we are lucky enough to have a bird in the hand, how do we begin to identify what that bird is? Hopefully, if you’re an upland hunter, you already know...

Sweat beaded on the handler’s forehead as I gave my instructions on the water. A cloud of nervous energy consumed him in anticipation of the day’s last event. After all, a prize one score was on the line. His young  Brittany  gave a stellar performance in both the field work and tracking portions of its test. Now, the pup excitedly pulled at the end of the lead, giving the handler a glimmer of hop...

As a  bobwhite quail  biologist, one of the first things I learned was that the peak of the bobwhite quail hatch occurs on June 15 th  each year. This peak date has become so pervasive in the quail world that it is dogma. This date is accepted at face value, dictating timing of summertime habitat management and even state and Federal agency policy. But is this “fact” of quail biology true? And, if...

In 1910, a Scottish man named John Campbell Connell faced a similar dilemma. He was in the market for a pair of shotguns, and because he was from a family of wealthy shipbuilders, London’s most prestigious and expensive gunmakers would have been within his reach: James Woodward and Sons, Boss and Co., Holland and Holland, James Purdey and Sons. So why did he buy round-action shotguns from John Dic...

When people most people think of turkey, domestic or wild, they envision a whole bird. The skin is crispy, caramelized from a long oven roast, and stuffed to the brim as a dinner table centerpiece. This was the picture I had in my mind when I bagged my first wild turkey over 12 years ago. I treated it no differently than a Thanksgiving bird. Upon trying to carve and bite into the thighs, I immedia...

“The coveys are small and the birds are flushing like  pen-raised birds ,” the phone call said. “They only flew about 30 yards and I didn’t have the heart to chase them.” What had started as another great  chukar  season for us turned quickly when our favorite spots got blanketed in an unusual amount of snow and, worse, a thick crust of ice. My friend had called to let us know that our plans to ge...

The Scent-Cone is the secret to understanding what dynamic makes hunting dogs classier and more accomplished in hunting and handling game.  Most of the great bird dog trainers/handlers I knew grew up with a  pack of hounds . I’ll name four: Clyde Morton, Paul Walker, Er Shelley, Bob Armstrong. They learned most about scent from running foxhounds. One of these, Er Shelley, even took a pack of hound...

No one has to dig into the depths of social media to find that the topic of hunter recruitment descends into the darkest corners of keyboard dissertations. Some points against hunter recruitment have partial validity, others come from genuine concern, and some misguided thoughts need actual attention. But the people who rant about this issue are playing checkers when a chess game is afoot. Hunter...

Nearly fifty years after the birth of field trials, voting rights were granted to women in 1920. This milestone prompted a general shift in views around women’s liberties. Women began riding astride, wearing jodhpurs, adopting shorter hairstyles, and, by the 1930s, it was all the vogue for women to wear trousers. Until then, practically the only female names that made the pages of the American Fie...