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However, their reputation is only partially deserved. These birds become far more wary with dogs on the ground. Clearly, they evolved to avoid canids and big cats, not humans. If you want a sporting hunt for dusky grouse, a dog is all you need to make it interesting. In 2006, taxonomists recognized distinct genetic and morphological variability in two major groups of blue grouse.  They renamed the...

While staring out my kitchen window one morning, I watched Rudy, my resident yard  rooster , come sailing through the sky to land in the orchard down below my house. I quickly finished my morning tea and grabbed my two setters to see if we could rouse Rudy from his hiding place.  As expected, my two girls slammed beautiful points in the morning light. Of course, the place Rudy settled in was a nat...

Every bird hunter reaches a point in their life when they desire to travel to a  different state  and hunt a new species. There are too many intriguing birds and landscapes to stay satisfied with hunting near home. Alternatively, in some states, one must travel to find success. While the culmination of a good bird hunt is ultimately the point, flush, and successful taking of the target species, ge...

Similar to many upland game species, the  northern bobwhite  has experienced range-wide declines over the last century. These declines are primarily attributed to changes in land use and habitat loss. However, many unanswered questions remain regarding the sustainability of populations exposed to an annual harvest and associated hunting pressure. Read more at projectupland.com .

Something about side-by-sides speaks to the grouse hunter in me. My personal journey into side-by-sides is likely similar to others’ amongst the under-45 crowd finding their way into them today: nostalgia seeped into my veins. Although I wanted one, I hesitated to buy a vintage gun because I lacked confidence and the knowledge of how to select one that functioned properly and was fairly priced. I...

Learn to avoid these simple mistakes before you step foot in the uplands again.  Read more at projectupland.com .

There is a decent amount of talk about training once hunting seasons end. Oftentimes, that talk turns to dogs—honing skills or learning new ones. There are also discussions about their human counterparts staying sharp, specifically with our shooting.  Read more at projectupland.com .

Firsts can come at any time. For long-time waterfowl hunter Steph Lane, her first snow goose hunts were that of disappointment and heart-beating, exciting redemption, respectively.  Read more at projectupland.com .

A West Virginia University wildlife and fisheries student joins experts from the U.S. Forest Service, Ruffed Grouse Society, and West Virginia Division of Natural Resources on an interagency project outside of Elkins, West Virginia. Through this visit to the worksite, it's clear that multispecies management via interagency collaboration is a successful model to bolster successful conservation...

The "glamorous" life of a chukar hunter is like no other. You will spend nights away from your family, sleeping in your trailer, tent, or in the bed of your truck. You will experience incredible vistas that stretch on for miles in all directions. The rugged mountains, steep hills, and grassy flats that make up chukar country are a monochromatic feast for the eyes. At different times of t...

If you have been searching for that "one," that Holy Grail gun, don’t overlook the Fabarm Autumn; it will likely surprise you. Although my experience with an injured arm is on the extreme side of the spectrum, it illustrates perfectly what a properly-balanced, lightweight side-by-side can do for you. After a long day of pushing brush and following dog bells you may only get one opportuni...

I've learned why West Virginia isn’t a bucket list state for waterfowlers. Still, I learned a few things from those mistakes and few successes that have translated into tactics necessary for hunting ducks in the best places the Mountain State provides for waterfowl hunting: small bodies of water.  Read more at projectupland.com .

Wearing an oversized camo jacket, a generic blaze orange hat, and awkwardly carrying a borrowed youth 20 gauge, I walked into the lobby of the local trap club where the participants of the Eastern Oregon Women’s Pheasant Hunt were gathering. It was clear almost immediately that I was not the only newbie; if not from the other neophyte’s nervous shuffling, then from their attire. Only the women who...

It's one of the most dreaded announcements a North American government agency can make: a species has been proposed to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The announcement that the lesser prairie-chicken had been suggested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be re-listed was painful but not unexpected. According to the USFWS, it's estimated that the species’ range has been r...

Hunting gloves are, perhaps, one of the less considered items in our kits. I’ve personally been on a quest to find a solid, all-around glove and have been met with mixed results. They all work for some applications, but I have struggled to find a general-purpose glove that checks all of the boxes. The “boxes” I look to check are fit (including any break-in period), which is affected by material, i...

In many ways, that day set me on a course for what has become the obsession of my middle years. The Tensaw jacket lodged itself in my mind as a symbol of the old school appeal of all things upland, mingled with vague memories of my grandfathers’ hunting attire, and was a reminder of the joy of that first day at the quail hunt—trying things on for size, both figuratively and literally. Read more at...

A staple of American conversation is likely to see a resurgence in the early years of Joe Biden’s Administration, as U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on April 21 changes to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Read more at projectupland.com .

There are a few pieces of legislation making a comeback in the early months of the 117th Congress, but one particularly holds a significant amount of weight to advance outdoor recreation and conservation in the first quarter of the 21st Century: the MAPLand Act. Read more at projectupland.com .

With spring in full swing and summer just around the corner, many hunters are planning their fall and winter hunting trips . While most excursions will take place in their home state or surrounding states, some will come to a crossroads: do I fly or drive for that hunting trip several states away? There are certainly benefits to both, but flying always raises some concerns for our beloved firearms...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a  new proposal to expand hunting and sport fishing  opportunities on 90 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and one National Fish Hatchery, encompassing 2.1 million acres. It is the largest proposed expansion in United States history and adds to a list of expansions beginning in the George W. Bush Administration.  Read more at projectupland.com .

If you own a bird dog, you’ve heard the adage that “it takes birds to make a bird dog.” Regardless of advances in technology and training devices, you can’t avoid the fact that it takes real birds to teach a dog about the expected behaviors while on a bird hunt. Finding suitable birds can be a challenge, which often leads to side projects such as housing your own pigeon flock or building quail rec...

There are a lot of dogs out there. It doesn’t take a master internet user to find someone, somewhere that has a litter from which they’d love to sell you a pup at almost any price you could imagine from innumerable (and potentially questionable) lines. A brief foray into breed-specific or hunting Facebook groups will quickly dissolve any illusion that there are universally-practiced ethics and pro...

Throughout the rural sprawl of the American West, the sagebrush ecosystem has slowly been disappearing, replaced by invasive annual grasses and conifers. With it, sage grouse are disappearing, too. According to new data from the U.S. Geological Survey first reported by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership , there are 80 percent fewer male sage grouse at leks compared to 1965, an annual...

Training and conditioning are top priorities for the off-season, but it can be fun to mix up the routine a bit to avoid boredom and to continue developing the working partnership between you and your dog. If you’re fortunate to live in an area where truffles grow wild or are cultivated, learning to truffle hunt with your bird dog can be a fun and rewarding activity. Read more at projectupland.com...

Hunting dogs are as old as the hills and guns have been around since the 1300s, but the idea of hunting with dogs and guns together didn’t really catch on until nearly two centuries after firearms first appeared on the battlefield. And even though the words dog and gun both trace back to the 14th century 1 , they weren’t combined to form the term "gundog" until the mid-1700s and didn&apo...