In the Swing

The Quartering Away Shot: A “Spearing”-Type Move

Think Like a Dog, and “Shhh!”

Meemo’s Farm, a prime bird hunting destination in north-central Michigan, was the setting for dog trainer Ronnie Smith’s “Foundation Seminar,” a two-day introduction to the “Silent Command System” of dog training. Participants ranged in experience from those working with their first dogs to professional handlers/guides to veteran trainers with more than 40 years of experience.

The Check Cord

Try a Different Approach

Flushes & Noteworthy Points

Quite a Story from One Little Bird

From Flying Feathers: A Yankee's Hunting Experiences in the South

If you have youngsters coming on, let them read these tales.

DOGS FIRST

Smarter persons would have stayed home in harsh conditions, but among the fanatic grousers I partnered with, no one had the temerity to stay indoors when Saturdays or Sundays were the only times many of us could head out to the woods after a week of work.

Classic Upland Guns

Baker Gun and Forging Company: Batavia Leader

Bird Dogs - Health Matters

Joint Relief Made Easy

ARTIST PROFILE: Bill Harrison

Every picture tells a story. Just as a writer reconstructs life through narrative, an artist tells his stories by interpreting life through lines, brushstrokes and textures.

A Season of Sharptails

The birds erupted from knee-high grass, a scant 40 feet from the dark, twitching nose of a black-and-white English setter, his flanks, ribs and legs invisible to the eyes of the hunter. I swung on the nearest bird, the barred primary feathers of its wings beating frantically for lift into full flight.

Minnesota Covers

It’s the peak of grouse and woodcock season; there are few better things.

In the Swing

Senior Eyes Get New Life

Classic Upland Guns

The Fowling Piece: Isaac Hollis & Sons London, Muzzle-Loading Sporting Percussion Shotgun

For the Birds

Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society

Old Timey Pheasant Facts

In one of his “Pages Past” columns, The Upland Almanac contributor Glen Blackwood suggested that we hunters spend some off-season time with biological books and bulletins to better know our favorite upland game birds. So I did.

REDEFINING LIMITS

The joys of winter hunting know no limits. Drifting leaves and slanting sunlight may be the abiding images of autumn, but winter’s austerity is an acquired taste, like rare woodcock or straight whiskey.

Hope Makes the Hunter

Day's End

Sleeping with the Princess

In 1968, it was still universally accepted that a hunting dog would become “soft” if you let it sleep in the house at night. I had just purchased my first dog, a male Brittany, so I built a kennel outside, provided a nice doghouse and diligently put him up each night, even when it was snowing and blowing and the trek to his kennel door and back made me miserable.

The Scout: 2020

It’s time for our annual preseason look at the habitat conditions, weather phenomena and bird populations across the Lower 48 states that will probably play a major role in the situations you face when you step into your favorite upland bird hunting spot this autumn.

Public Access, Personal Success: Tips and Stories

Use it or lose it.

From Recollections of My Fifty Years Hunting and Fishing

There are several reasons why I have written this book. I have hesitated to undertake it for a long time.

They Will Always Be Blues

Dr. Ron Salomone from Ohio and a pair of grouse dogs soak in the view along a Colorado ridge top. (Photo/Michael Salomone)

Social Distancing in Wolf Country

A wolf howl makes my hair stand on end, every time.

Tastes Good, Doesn't Kill Me

Want some big flavor? Try stirring in some guts.

The Plumed Speedsters — Pacific Coast Range Mountain Quail

It happens with a crack of a stick while walking in on a distant point; a covey explodes both left and right into the thicker stands of young Douglas firs.

Lake County

Good sage grouse country is vast by necessity. In Oregon, Highway 140 takes you there, where the soil sits on top of Miocene rocks, 17-million-year old basalts exposed by wind and water on the edges of sage plateaus. The dark igneous stones — earth’s prehistoric eyes — stare as you walk past.

Joseph Defourny

One of Belgium’s Finest Shotgun Makers: 20-gauge Bespoke Side-by-Side

A Different Kind of Quail

The fact I have never been on a “classic” quail hunt was rubbed in again last October by a gentleman with some obvious Southern roots. He had pulled up his pickup behind mine as I exited a tangle of wild blackberries that loosely followed a small creek into a steep, rocky canyon.

Still Smokin'?

On a chukar hunt 35 years ago, my wife issued a challenge: She could last longer without nicotine than I.

Shooting for “Successful Beginnings”

Listed among a handful of women as a National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) Level III Shooting Instructor, Elizabeth Fennell is an all-around lover of wing shooting, clay shooting and fostering other women into recreational shooting sports.