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When one thinks of the state of Connecticut and bird hunting, it's tough to see through its reputation as a Mecca for suburban deer hunting . And for those that try to fill the high of pheasant hunting with stocked birds across the state, the program gives ample opportunities. But hidden past those stocked birds lies the spectacle of the great migrations of the upland hunting gem, the America...

With the need for brush pant innovation obvious, it may come as a surprise that First Lite, a company known for creating high quality gear for big game pursuits, were the ones to seize the opportunity to reinvent this upland classic. While there isn’t actually an ‘upland’ category on their online store (one can dream) they are clearly made for busting through thick brush in pursuit of game. I’ve h...

CZ has a long history of quality and reliability for the price, not to mention the original Bobwhite was produced prior and discontinued in 2015, yet reintroduced in 2019 as the G2 model based on the popularity of the original version. Designed with a trim English-style, Turkish walnut stock, these babies are crafted on gauge-specific frames, providing a sleek profile and cutting weight. At 7.3 po...

Dove season. You’re sitting there, twiddling your thumbs. The little grey rockets have not presented a shot since early that morning, but you’re determined to put a few more in the bag. Waiting. Sitting. I mean, is there a law saying you  have  to sit here? Look, I’m gonna run something by you. It’s a little weird, but hear me out. Let’s try something different. Let me ask you a question: rather t...

As we stare down the barrel of the  2019 upland bird season , thoughts of long days in the field following our favorite hunting partner come to mind. Right now my time is spent working dogs on wild birds and getting them acclimated to the ground and temperature as well as in the physical condition required to start an upland season. I like to wait until August to run dogs on wild birds, making sur...

The calendar might say that fall is still a month away,  but the cooler breezes and shorter days have a different story to tell. For some, the beginning of Fall is marked by an overabundance of pumpkin-spiced, well . . . everything, hitting the shelves, but for many more the start of fall is opening day of the season, whether that be dove , goose , or early teal .  Here at Project Upland , fall ki...

There are truly two versions of this question of wild turkeys, one in the cultural sense and the other in the legal sense. Legal sounds very uptight but meant in state law standards, as most states list wild turkeys as upland game. They are in fact part of  Phasianidae family , which is home to our beloved grouse species,  chukar  and even  pheasant . Many of us have seen the ruffed grouse behave...

For many of us, upland bird hunting often brings to mind vivid images of years past, of handsome  English setters  and  German shorthairs —paw up, tail straight—poised behind a pheasant or grouse holding tight, waiting for the flush. At least that’s what I always envisioned upland bird hunting to be. That is, until I brought home my first gundog, a field-bred golden retriever. Have you considered...

The pet food aisle is a daunting place. Carefully crafted marketing serves up equal doses of promise and guilt. Feed your dog like family! Unleash the inner wolf! Never feed an ingredient you can’t pronounce! It’s enough to make a conscientious dog owner throw up her hands in defeat. If you stick with the same dog food month after month, you’re relying on that one product to provide everything you...

Mention upland bird habitat and more than likely images of thick emerging stands of aspen, endless rows of CRP, or the pinewood flats of a Southern quail plantation come to mind. But wet soggy ground, mud, cow pastures, and river banks? Not if your pursuit is grouse or pheasant, but most certainly if you are looking for snipe. If you are new to snipe hunting or think it’s a childhood prank, the Wi...

Few things are more satisfying than a  perfect  shot. The skill required is a product of sound basic techniques, perfect practice and smoothly honed reactions, but these don’t come overnight. First, you must know what it is you need to practice; only then can you do something about it. In shooting, as in other endeavours, ignorance prevents progress. As a professional coach over the  last 30 plus...

After the recent film In Our Veins featuring the fourth generation of the AYA name Alex Aranzabal, there has been an increase in emails and questions regarding AYA shotguns and the revival of this Spanish gunmaker. There is some information floating around about the storied history of AYA shotguns but here we will give a more detailed and accurate account of the history, manufacturing process, and...

Nutrition is an area that seems to either be overlooked or over-analyzed by most bird dog owners. Since  hunting dogs are canine athletes in the truest sense of the word, though, nutrition should be an area of top concern for all dog owners — and even more so for those running these high-class athletes. You can find a pup out of the best bloodlines in the country and send him to one of the top tra...

The memories have a little less intensity to them from the days I was living them, but I can still recall feeling a level of defeat and impossibility when training my bird dog. I could probably list volumes on the mistakes I made, the lack of hope I had, and the just plain feeling of being  lost . I dug through books, videos, and articles to ask simple questions, ranging from “Were do I even begin...

While most of Kentucky is privately owned, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife owns or operates over 85 wildlife management areas available to the public. In addition to these WMAs, the state of Kentucky has opened up private properties to the public known as  Hunting Access Areas  in partnership with land owners. Read more at projectupland.com .

Let me be up front. Grasping the idea of shotgun chokes eluded me for many years. All that was ever explained to me was that the more open the choke, the faster the spread. Simple and accurate — but not helpful when it came to practical application. What I  wish  had happened was that someone would have said to me, “The choke you should use depends on the  distance  you are shooting at your game.”...

Hunting sage grouse without a dog -- is there such a thing? The fact is that many people hunt birds without a dog . Lots of times a big game hunt will need to add some diversity to the hunt, resulting in a walk with a shotgun. Other times people just want to get out in the uplands but don’t have the connivance of a bird dog or maybe just do not want one along. Sage grouse tend to live in big open...

If I were to make a top-five list of important gear when I go bird hunting, the Dogtra 2700T&B would be on that list right after my bird dog. That is a bold statement and maybe more of a confession of how much I've come to rely on this collar. In fact, this e-collar has become a part of my daily life, not just for hunting upland birds and training. Read more at projectupland.com .

We have all heard the legends of William Harden Foster sitting around upland campfires and no doubt at some point you may have heard him called the “Father of Skeet.” Through the years, that has been interpreted as the founder of skeet. But it turns out that even though he had a hand in  popularizing  skeet shooting, the famous ruffed grouse hunter, artist, and writer from Andover, Mass., did not ...

As you might guess from the name, the Eurasian collared-dove ( Streptopelia decaocto ) is not a native bird. In fact, its original range is in the Middle East and Asia, but they spread throughout Europe and were introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s. From that short flight to Florida, it has had no problem colonizing much of North America in a very short timeframe. Like other dove and pigeon spec...

Earlier this year we put together a survey to explore the Project Upland audience to help get a better read on our community. We thank all of you who took the time to answer our barrage of questions ranging from bird dogs, shopping habits, culture, and of course your favorite game birds. As you may have caught our recent look into the  Top Three Bird Dog Breeds of 2019,  this is a less controversi...

My first look at the Stevens 555 over/under shotgun was at a media event in northern  Minnesota . There were a lot of guns available to tinker with, including several semi-auto  shotguns . Being a  double-barrel  fanatic, I immediately gravitated towards the new over/under from Stevens. It was the basic grade 12-gauge 555. I shot some clays with it, and it handled nicely. I wasn’t blown away by th...

I’m a card-carrying introvert. I tend to gravitate toward solitary activities and generally find social settings to be stressful. Perhaps the reason I love dogs so much is that I find it so much easier to interact with them! So it came as a huge surprise to me that one of the greatest things about getting into bird dogs was the new community that suddenly surrounded me. Read more at projectupland....

With its gigantic, fuzzy feet and snow-white coat, it didn’t take much creativity to name the snowshoe hare ( Lepus americanus ). This interesting little mammal is a dweller of northern boreal forests and high-elevation mountain ranges. Being at the bottom of the food chain, they can be very crafty and are extremely agile. If you’ve never encountered them before or just want to learn more, this is...

There’s no better way to incite a riot in the bird dog world than to talk about  breed  favorites. That’s why we do our best to cover  all  breeds and keep our personal preferences and opinions to ourselves. This article, however, is based on our community survey to see what the most popular bird dogs are amongst our upland world. There certainly remains a level of bias as Project Upland is a very...