Scratching the California Quail Itch
This past winter I had the opportunity to travel to coastal Oregon where I stayed with a good friend and
Read moreThis past winter I had the opportunity to travel to coastal Oregon where I stayed with a good friend and
Read moreEveryone has their own reasons why they hunt. A person’s decision to go afield is a very personal one and if you surveyed 100 hunters on why they hunt, you’d get at least 120 answers. But we try to put ourselves into neat little boxes at the expense of others. Read any post about hunting in Africa and the “I’m a hunter but” comments won’t take long to find. Big game hunting with dogs is another huge divider amongst us and the anti-hunters know it. Just look at the most recent bills around the country trying to ban predator hunting and the use of dogs.
Read moreinaugural issue of our electronic and print-on-demand magazine! We want to celebrate spring with delicious wild recipes and awesome adventure stories. This issue covers bird hunting, fly fishing, American shad, pheasant pasta, Florida turkey hunting, spring bear basics, foraging tips, and so much more!
Read moreAfter a fairly productive morning of hunting northern bobwhites somewhere in central Kansas, the dogs and I returned to my pickup truck to rest for a while. It was still early in the day and I could already tell it was going to be an unseasonably warm day for November. I stripped off a few layers and put away my shotgun as the dogs enjoyed a well-deserved dip in a water trough. All three dogs, Ranger, Ruby, and Pearl had exceeded my expectations on their first hunt together. Each one did their fair share of pointing, backing, and retrieving. I wish I could say this quality had persisted for the duration of the season.
Read moreEvery year, I do my best to take an extended bird hunting road trip through a few western states. I enjoy exploring new places and hunting the birds that inhabit them. Besides, as the English poet William Cowper said, “(v)ariety’s the very spice of life”. And, in my opinion, being exposed to a broad array of conditions make the dogs and me better hunters. This December the first leg of the trip took us to the southwestern corner of Oregon in search of mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus), the largest species of quail in the United States and the only one I had not had the opportunity to hunt.
Read moreI knelt on the edge of the precipice with my knee dug into a sandy spot beneath a massive aromatic sagebrush while Finn ravenously lapped water from a small, green collapsible bowl. Behind and below us, the Columbia River wound lazily between lush, orderly, emerald orchards, rock faces, and scree slopes – a peaceful and extravagant scene. My friend Chas stood slightly downhill to my left with his upland vest in hand, packing away a massive wild chukar that he had come to harvest with a combination of Finn’s good work and a peck on the cheek from Lady Luck.
Read moreAt one point in my life, I can remember having a group of about ten guys that would get together every year to chase whitetails. Due to many reasons that group has dropped down to only about two original members. Most people don’t associate big game hunting with a social affair. They relate the social aspect more to small game pursuits.
Read moreCome help us eliminate some invasive species in Texas and take home some delicious wild meat. Learn to hunt, shoot, process, store, and cook your wild game. Book your spot now!
Read moreThen one day, my right ear felt full, and I realized I couldn’t hear out of it. After a few weeks of doctor’s visits, my ornithologist diagnosed it as a cholesteatoma, which is essentially an expansive and erosive cyst on the inside of one’s eardrum, growing towards and consuming the middle/inner ear. While the thought of the cyst was ever-present for the next few weeks, archery and physical conditioning were a welcome distraction.
Read moreIt was only two years ago in September that I went on my first hunt. I had never considered hunting until the year before, at 35 years of age. I didn’t know another hunter, other than the guy who took me on my first hunt; my wife’s cousin, Jeff. I will always have him to thank for something that became one of my biggest passions in life. I am an avid angler, but hunting was not something on my radar. It was not a tradition that got passed down in my family, as is so common in the hunting community.
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