The Flush Podcast - Stories from the field

Tyler Webster from the Birds, Booze & Buds Podcast joins the show to help Travis break down a week in Arizona’s quail country. Travis and Tyler chat from the tailgate in the mountains after a hunt for Mearns, Gambel’s & Scaled quail.  They discuss their hunt for Arizona’s Upland Slam, the appeal of Mearns quail, outsmarting running quail, big explosions of birds, dogs reaching their pinnac...

We take bird hunting stories from the field to a whole new level on this special episode of The Flush podcast.  Our podcast listeners from around the country join us to relive their greatest and worst hunting moments from this season.  Stories include saving a bird dog that got hit by a car, nearly drowning in a swamp trying to retrieve a pheasant, hunting chukar with a flushing Labrador, becoming...

Scott Fransen just returned from hosting a special “Hank Hunt” at Brown’s Hunting Lodge in central South Dakota. Scott explains why he chose to host this hunt and the idea to invite Flush followers. John Peasley was a guest on this hunt, and helps us relive the best moments from a world-class hunt chasing wild and wily late-season roosters in South Dakota. Will Scott host a second “Hank Hunt” in t...

Hunter Schwind joins the show along with Renee Tomala & Emily Spolyar from Pheasants Forever during a 3-day upland bird hunting road trip in western North Dakota.  We explain how and why Hunter bid on PF’s dream hunt two years in a row, hunting wild birds from South Dakota to North Dakota, meeting generous landowners with a passion for conservation, epic bird flushes, hits & misses, nickna...

Tony Jones “The Reverend Hunter” and Brandon Morton join the show to talk about bird hunts gone right & wrong.  We break down a failed pheasant hunt, hunting in water, running roosters on public lands, making adjustments in the field, helping others learn to hunt, accepting defeat, first-timers experience the rush of the flush, hunting behind flushers vs pointers, getting back to the basics, a...

Bob St. Pierre from Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever joins the show to discuss his mid-season review and look ahead to late-season hunting. Bob & Travis talk about lessons learned in the field, hunting public lands, finding new properties, hunting on weekends, how to outsmart wily roosters, where do ruffed grouse go when it snows, running roosters, falling through ice, drought updates, ha...

Tim Brown “The Bearded Uplander” lives in western Iowa. Tim joins Travis on the first two legs of a 3-state pheasant hunting road trip. Tim and Travis talk about Iowa’s rooster rebound, hunting public lands, missing roosters, late hatches, South Dakota pheasants vs Iowa pheasants, predator bounties, asking for permission, making the most of a season, blaming misses on bent sights, and so much more...

Scott Fransen joins the show to discuss back to back successful upland bird hunts in North Dakota.  Scott and Travis also talk about hunting with young bird dogs, watching the light switch turn on, celebrating special moments in the field, and making the most of seasons that never last long enough.   Presented by North Dakota Tourism ( https://www.legendarynd.com/ ,) Chief Upland ( https://chiefup...

Brian Kelvington works for Federal Ammunition.  Brian and Travis take a break from pheasant hunting to talk about America’s current ammunition supply, millions of new gun owners, Federal’s acquisition of Remington & Hevi-Shot, trying to keep up with ammunition demands, new upland bird hunting loads, Prairie Storm, Bismuth & TSS loads, plus Federal Ammunition celebrates 100 years in busines...

Bill Sherck joins the show to recap his recent ruffed grouse hunt on Minnesota’s North Shore.  Plus, Bill and Travis talk about life in outdoor television, wild adventures behind the camera lens, leaving news to produce outdoor television, missing birds on camera, favorite hunts, and least favorite hunts.  Bill shares about his personal hunting journey, being a color-blind bird hunter, living an o...

Matt Fruge & Aaron Martin join the show to help us break down our prairie chicken and sharptailed grouse hunt in the Sandhills of Nebraska.  We discuss the ups and downs of hunting on horseback, getting bucked from a horse, hunting rugged terrain, prairie chicken history & habits, gaining access to private ranch lands, an upland bird hunting outlook for the rest of this season, mixed bag h...

Tim Caughran & Andy Edwards from Quail Forever join the show to help us break down the 2021 quail hunting forecast across America. Drought, fires, & arctic winter blasts had an impact on bird numbers, but prospects for this season are still good across much of the country.  We break down each state and highlight hot spots to help you plan for your hunting season.   Presented by Grain Belt...

Dylan Waller joins Travis Frank to break down their ptarmigan and dusky grouse hunt in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Blizzard conditions in the high mountain terrain had a major impact on this hunt.  Dylan and Travis explain their journey, the hunt through brutal conditions, disappearing birds, alpine tundra habitat, a bird most hunters avoid, preparing your body for high altitude hunting, fir...

Tom Carpenter from Pheasants Forever joins the show to help us break down a state-by-state outlook for the 2021 pheasant hunting season.  How bad did the drought hurt pheasant numbers?  Which areas saw an increase in bird numbers?  Are there locations to avoid this year?  We’ll answer those questions, and share a few sleeper pheasant hunting spots. https://www.pheasantsforever.org/ Presented by Gr...

Mike Jensen works for the state of North Dakota.  Mike joins the show to break down North Dakota’s updated 2021 bird counts and their upland bird hunting outlook for this season.  We dig into the roadside counts for pheasants, as well as sharptailed grouse, and Hungarian partridge.  We also talk about the waterfowl numbers across the state and the effects of the drought on the landscape.  Mike exp...

Scott Fransen joins this week’s show to invite listeners on a wild bird pheasant hunt this fall at Browns Hunting Ranch in South Dakota.  Scott will host a group of hunters at camp while filming the hunt for a future episode of The Flush television show.  Scott explains why losing his dog to cancer inspired him to host this hunt, plus we talk about the excitement around opening days and a new seas...

We’re back in the field, celebrating Montana’s upland opener.  George Lyall joins the show to help us relive our opening week successes and failures.  We’ll talk bird numbers, drought conditions, dog’s point, porcupines, public lands, big sky country, losing a dog in the field, blue-green algae, first aid in the field, cowboy hats train bird dogs, and are bird dogs selfish, or do they have the big...

Ben Brettingen from OnX Hunt joins the show to help us count down the last remaining hours before America’s first upland openers kick-off.  We’ll discuss new features just released on the OnX Hunt app that will help you become better hunters in the field this fall, plus we’ll talk about hunting with young bird dogs, do-it-yourself bird hunts, and so much more.   Presented by North Dakota Tourism (...

Brittany French works for Pass it On – Outdoor Mentors.  Brittany explains how the organization began, their mission, and how they successfully take hundreds of new hunters into the field each year.  She relives important hunting memories, shares how she’s working on more than 300 upcoming hunts this season, roll call for mentors, plus we discuss how each hunter can make an impact in simple yet me...

Fred Bohm is a diehard upland bird hunter that owns the company Sage & Braker.  Fred joins the show to talk about the importance of gun cleaning and maintenance, then we discuss his passion for hunting upland birds in the mountains.  Fred explains how and where to find Dusky grouse and Ptarmigan in Colorado, along with a simple approach to exploring new public lands.  Fred also explains the up...

Tyler Webster joins the show to give us his up-to-date view from the prairie in North Dakota.  We talk about current pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, & hungarian partridge populations in his home state and in Montana.  Plus we discuss how upland birds can survive a drought, adjusting hunting plans to find pockets of habitat with ample moisture, early-season bird dog training, personal training,...

Andrew Wayment is the author of the book Idaho Ruffed Grouse Hunting: The heartbeat of the Woods.  We talk about grouse hunting in Idaho, chasing 9 different species of Idaho’s upland birds, why grouse in the mountains don’t see hunters, and reasons that Idaho is one of the best upland bird hunting destinations in America.  We also discuss the current drought conditions and the impact it will have...

Scott Fransen joins the show to help us say goodbye to Hank, his beloved Labrador retriever.  Hank unexpectedly died from cancer at the age of 5 years old.  Scott shares the impact of losing Hank too soon, and we relive special moments in the field.  We also discuss the launch of a weekly bird dog tribute segment on this podcast, inviting listeners to share their favorite memories with bird dogs t...

Andy Houser is a Senior Wildlife Biologist at Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever.  Andy gives us his view of Nebraska’s upland bird populations and habitat conditions going into this season and he shares his opinion of the best places to chase the state's mixed bag of upland birds. Andy also gives an update on the state's growing list of publicly accessible acres to hunt, and habitat projects t...

Erik Vrbas operates a year-round outfitting business called Outdoor Obsessions based out of Downs, Kansas.  We dig into Erik’s life as a full-time hunting and fishing guide, and get a pheasant, quail & prairie chicken report from Kansas, a potential bird hunting hot spot for this coming season.  Plus, Eric shares a few regions in Kansas to look at this season for DIY public land upland bird hu...