projectupland.com On The Go

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...

Is that a Doodle? …No, it is an Irish Water Spaniel. I thought water dogs were from Portugal? …It is a spaniel. Oh, a Portuguese Water Spaniel! …No, an Irish Water Spaniel. Are you sure it is not a Doodle? It looks like one. …I’m sure. This common conversation is one way that you can tell that your 65-pound, curly brown gundog is a rare breed. But the Irish Water Spaniel was once the third most po...

The earliest recorded reference of gunpowder was in the Taishang Shengzu Jindan Mijue during the Tang Dynasty in China; it was discovered during an alchemist's search to find an elixir of life. (Cambridge University Press 2008) It would still be hundreds of years until gunpowder would begin to be harnessed in way that resembles a more modern firearm. Craig Koshyk, Editor-in-Chief of Hunting D...

Congratulations! You just brought home a new bird dog puppy and among the many preparations you made in anticipation of this new family member was building a pigeon loft, stocking it with birds, and training the birds to rehome to their loft. Wait, you didn’t get around to that yet and you are just now searching the internet for training pigeons ? You've come to the right place: here is a cra...

The close relationship between dog and hunter is ancient. Even in what is now the United States, squirrel dogs have been helping us fill the game bag for hundreds of years. Having a good dog will assist in locating game when it’s difficult to pinpoint a food source, eliminate large patches of forest as not having game available for harvest, alert you of danger or an oncoming hunter, which improves...

Boreal forests of Europe are not very fertile places and, until recently, people who settled there found it hard to support themselves with either hunting-gathering or agriculture alone. They learned to combine the two, plowing in the summer and hunting in the winter. Hunting yielded not only meat but furs as well, which became more and more important as civilization progressed. Sable pelts fueled...

It’s never too early to start planning for the next hunting season. You’ve heard the old adage that people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan . So here are a few of the tricks I use to prepare for the next bird season in a strategic and organized manner. Read more at projectupland.com .

Whether you’re chasing birds through the woods, across the prairies and grasslands, up and down mountains, or sitting behind a blind, it’s important to have a gun that fits so that you can use it feeling comfortable and confident. Read more at projectupland.com .

Adhering to the etiquette of the turkey woods will give you an experience that is safer, more enriching, and still rewarding by behaving as a good neighbor. Considering the fact that turkey hunting carries more risk of hunter-to-hunter conflict, setting a good example and following good practices will help everyone to share the woods appropriately. You will most likely experience some people not f...

Squirrel hunting—real squirrel hunting where you pursue wary game in the wild—will make you a better hunter. Every year as squirrel seasons open across the country, you will see a flurry of articles about that fact, but they rarely delve deeper, usually because they’re not written by squirrel hunters. It's a myth that squirrel hunting is only good for practice for other kinds of hunting. Squi...

Sometimes the biologist and naturalist sides of my brain collide with the bird hunter side. That alphabet soup of brain waves used to annoy me until I decided to use it to my advantage. I’ve found that being able to think like a game bird enables me to enjoy a more fulfilling hunting experience. Perhaps some definitions are in order, from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary: Biologist : A person who stud...

It’s the middle of winter. Hunting seasons have come and gone, the holidays and election cycles are behind us, and we’re left looking forward to warmer days, longer light, and  turkeys . With ample time to organize vests,  decoys ,  calls , and your collection of the coolest retro camo that money can buy, there is one more chore that needs attention: patterning that new  shotgun  or  choke  that S...

Springtime sooty grouse hunting in southeast Alaska is nothing like traditional grouse hunting. It takes place in the spring months, there may be no deciduous trees for miles, and “fields” only occur below the tideline or above the timberline. Shotguns are usually left at home and the only thing at the ready is either bear spray or a .44 magnum. Both hands are needed for climbing or to gingerly ho...

One of the most important roles we take on as gun dog owners is that of field veterinarian. Sooner or later, your dog will get hurt and rely on you to stabilize them long enough to reach the vet clinic, which could be hours away. Ready-made canine first aid kits have come a long way in recent years. They are a great foundation for your own personal kit, but since they are a one-size-fits-all produ...

If you’ve never hunted chukar before, it’s hard to describe its habitat. Well, kind of. They like dry, tortuous, and rocky slopes, but there’s obviously more to it than that. Although they’re not a native game bird in North America, there is a certain loyalty and enthusiasm that many upland hunters show for it, perhaps because of how hard you need to work for them. Learning to identify chukar habi...

Grass awns are sharp, barbed seeds that are dropped by annual grasses like cheatgrass, Canada wild rye, and foxtail that work their way into animals’ skin and continue to move inward. They can also be inhaled. If not caught soon enough, a seed can dig through the skin into the subcutaneous layers and will eventually work its way into the chest cavity or other parts of an animal’s body and do serio...