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The Jagdgebrauchshundverband ( JGHV) is the German versatile hunting dog association that conducts performance hunt tests for the purpose of evaluating several different gundog breeds, including versatile dogs in North America. It is up to the individual breed clubs to decide which of those tests will be considered requirements prior to breeding an eligible dog. For the Deutsch Langhaar, the paren...

It was Summer 2021 when our almost-13-month-old  Springer Spaniel , Timber, started throwing up. She was a puppy and had a strong desire to see the world through her mouth so we assumed she had eaten something strange and it would resolve itself. When that didn’t immediately happen we went to the veterinary clinic and started the diagnostic process.  What we were ignorant of then was the possibili...

Grouse hunters are oddballs. I know, because I am one. While a lot of people think it’s strange to spend your free time walking through the woods with a dog, a gun, and no place to go, there’s nothing I’d rather do in October and November. The Savage Fox A Grade is also an oddball. Even though it says “Fox” all over it, this side-by-side shotgun has little in common with the original A.H. Fox shot...

Pluck your game birds whenever possible. Not only does flavor reside in their skin, but keeping the skin on your birds helps retain moisture when cooking. Your birds will taste better and juicier if you make an effort to add this to your  bird butchering  routine. I covered how to pluck your birds in an earlier piece. This article will help you avoid and fix mistakes when plucking and cleaning. Mi...

Living in the center of a continuous forest, my nomadic bird dogs don’t spend much time walking on a leash around our home. As a result, they have terrible leash manners. Luckily for me, their tendency to pull works wonderfully with pulling sports like skijoring and kicksledding, as long as you can get them to stop. This is where “whoa” comes into play. This one word allowed me to dive into winter...

The three largest organizations that administer hunt tests for  pointing and versatile hunting dogs  are the  American Kennel Club (AKC) , the  North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) , and the  Jagdgebrauchshundverband  (JGHV , German for “Hunting Dog Association”). These organizations have slightly different test subjects and eligibility rules, but they are generally aimed in t...

As Americans, many of us have never heard of the name RFM (Rota Fausti Manufacturing), and with good reason. Despite manufacturing guns since 1957, they only just came to the United States with their North American distributor Upland Gun Company. In Europe, they have quite the famous reputation, and, although they will humbly not mention it, they build many custom shotgun stocks for famous world c...

Some may be offended when they hear the various names for the unusual species that is the American Woodcock . Author George Bird Evans was quick to condemn the act in a way that has been referenced many times since its mention in The Upland Shooting Life . But the very evolution of this bird, unlike any of its counterparts, lends itself to this creative naming.  The nicknaming of woodcock is far o...

Introduced last year, the new Orion 20 gauge shares the proven features of the 12 gauge version that Weatherby has been producing since 2016. The 20 gauge is currently manufactured in three versions: a 28 inch barrel field model with gloss finish (reviewed here), a 26 inch barrel field model with matte finish, and a glossy 30 inch barrel sporting model. Read more at projectupland.com .

Feathers tell us all sorts of things about birds. They are beautiful to look at, help us identify individual bird species, protect birds from the elements, and they’re the reason birds can take flight. Ornithologists can tell us even more about birds thanks to feather measurements and samples. Some research labs even can measure where the carbon in feathers comes from, which tells us a lot about a...

Hunters everywhere train and hunt over their  gundogs  in a manner that suits the game they pursue and the terrain in which the game is found. In North America, the way we train our dogs and hunt upland birds over them is mainly based on the behavior of native species like the  bobwhite quail ,  ruffed grouse , and North  American woodcock . Even when we hunt non-native species like  pheasants , ...

“We’re just really grateful that you’re here. Truly, thanks for coming.” The sincere words of appreciation caught me by surprise for two reasons. First, I was recognized as a visitor—I’m not used to small towns and just how much outsiders stand out—and second, my presence was genuinely welcomed.  We were at a craft beer festival in small-town  Montana  during the upland bird season. Having already...

Anyone in the dog world has heard terminology thrown around about breeding, genetics, and the way breeding decisions affect breed populations as a whole. Coefficient of inbreeding (COI), line breeding, outcrossing, purebreds, mixed breeds, mutts, genetic diversity, health testing, color genetics, and heritable diseases are all hot topics, but what do these terms really mean? Do people in the dog w...

Upland bird hunting is anything but easy. Numerous moving parts and thin margins for error make returning home with  wild meat  a challenge every time. As a new hunter, getting everything to align can feel frustratingly unreachable at times. Appreciating the complexity of hunting and identifying your own strengths and weaknesses are the foundation for setting goals that are attainable. It took me...

Bobwhite quail can be found across nearly one-third of the United States. This area includes Florida up to Ohio, from  Texas  to Nebraska, and everywhere in between. They live in a myriad of habitat types that contain a wide variety of plants across this large range. However, in its simplest form, their habitat across all the different states is fairly basic.  Bobwhite quail  require three core ha...

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on November 17th, 2022. Although being listed comes with additional management and financial support, “The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service cannot recover lesser prairie-chickens with regulations” according to the  North American Grouse Partnership . “It is the voluntary parti...

Grassroots conversations regarding the 28-gauge feel more like the passing on of old fantasy stories rather than true, hard facts of ballistics. People smarter than me have pointed out that all shotgun ballistics apply except when talking the 28-gauge. There are myths of its origins, a collective misunderstanding of the “square load,” and a devout following by some of the greatest shotgun experts...

Heartworm disease is caused by a parasite called  Dirofilaria immitis . They’re called heartworms because the worms are typically found in infected animals’ heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Commonly found in dogs and cats, our pets serve as hosts for the worms to mature, breed, and multiply. When mature, the worms look like long strands of spaghetti. Female worms can be 10 to 12 inches in length,...

The Gunnison sage-grouse (GUSG) is a critically imperiled sage grouse species most folks aren’t familiar with. Historically, it was lumped in with greater sage-grouse until the 1990s, when biologists began questioning whether or not it should be its own species. It was designated as a new species in the year 2000 by Dr. Jessica Young and her colleagues. Differences in filoplume length, strut rates...

This summer, reports of a  strange virus sickening dogs in the upper peninsula of Michigan  made national news. Further testing at the Michigan State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab revealed this was not some new disease or variant, but an old, well-known foe: parvovirus.  Parvo is widespread throughout the world and most dogs will be exposed to it at some point (if not several times) in their life. I’m...

Natural selection has a funny way of influencing nature.  American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor)  are a fantastic example of this. Often  referred to as Timberdoodles , the woodcock is one of those strange creatures bopping around our world as a result of evolution. I can recall my first experience observing American Woodcocks. I was an undergrad studying wildlife ecology at the University of Wiscons...

There are a few ways to fuel a fury-filled debate in any subculture. For uplanders, simply state that your favorite game bird is King of the Uplands and watch the chaos ensue. But what does it take to claim the title of king? Is it the bird’s behavior or environment? Are external factors involved, or is it just in our heads? Perhaps it’s a combination of many things.  William Harnden Foster , the...

That year was a particularly challenging one. A record-breaking wet spring during nesting season hit the pheasant hatch hard. The roads into a bunch of properties didn’t fare well, either. Forest fires had been brutal in the Pacific Northwest, burning hundreds of thousands of acres of grouse and quail habitat. The heat dome really did a number on  chukar  and  Hungarian partridge  numbers, too. Th...

To walk the walk, bird hunters need to first learn to talk the talk. Deciphering the various terminology of the pointing dog world can be confusing.  Dog training  verbiage is not universal. It can vary regionally, and the dogs you are running or the program you are following may have their own verbiage, too.  When I picked up my first  Deutsch Kurzhaar  (DK) pup, I was greeted with a long list of...

Non-lead hunting ammunition has been mainstream, especially for  waterfowl hunting , for over 20 years. Since the ban on lead ammunition for waterfowl hunting, many bird species have been conserved due to the decrease in lead on our landscapes like raptors, waterfowl, and scavenging birds; today, these critters are ambassadors for using non-lead ammunition when hunting. But lead ammunition is stil...