“Where do you hunt upland birds (pheasants ..read more

“Where do you hunt upland birds (pheasants ..read more

Cost Saving or Stuffing Hulls With Cash ..read more

Photo by: Kat Hutson of RubyMtnPhoto&Design Body & Gun Placement with a Bit of Multitasking! By necessity, professional athletes have access to the best equipment and facilities along with the time required to improve specific areas of their sport. The rest of us are left with squeezing in training sessions between family, employment, and the rest of life’s responsibilities. Like a lot of sporting activities, wingshooting requires the coordination (hand/eye) and muscle-memory that are developed by repetition. To a limited extent, clay shooting sports or practice should accomplish much ..read more

Amateur Videos - Are They Worth Watching? I have read and written all the articles I can and have watched all the professionally-produced upland programing a dozen times over. What now? Well, desperate times and all, there are dozens of free, online, video channels and productions to sift through! These can range from pretty entertaining to having more holes in its production than a decade-old archery target. Here are some things to look for in free outdoor (amateur) video production as well as my top-five cinematic masters of free upland entertainment. Now, some of the amateurly produced out ..read more

“Chaz” with his Fur-Friend, “Voltaire” (Volt) Hipster, a term sometimes intended euphemistically, are trend-bucking folks with a quirky sense for hair styles, clothes, and music. Oddly contradictive, this subculture purposefully identifies as an attempt to be different from mainstream by emulating one another. The entire phenomenon is certainly not new but it is very trendy. Beatniks of the ‘50’s, hippies of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s – no one can explain the ‘80’s and ‘90’s – now have their revival as Hipster Outdoorsmen. Aside: Before anyone attempts to read into it, I do not use the term “Ou ..read more

Amateur Videos Can Educate As Well As Entertain! So, what if it’s too hot to (fly) fish or train dogs? I have reloaded enough ammunition for the next millennia, cleaned the shotguns so that the glare inside the barrels hurts my eyes; have read and written all the articles I can and have watched all the professionally-produced upland programing a dozen times over?! What now? Well, the next-best-thing can have more holes in its production than a decade-old archery target but, desperate times and all…there are free, online, video platforms to sift through! Here are some things to look for in fre ..read more

What They Can Do Might Surprise You. “Shiloh”, a setter-mix, gets her first intro to birds - and likes it! Early in my upland experience a high school buddy of mine and I set out from their farmhouse to hunt pheasants one Opening morning. My ideal hunt would have included a fine bird dog; a slender, athletically built, canine with its nose lifted into the breeze in strikingly dramatic pose. Alas, it would be another season in dogless pursuit of feathered game. Well, that was my anticipation, anyway. “Why don’t you take Cobaka,” asked my friend’s father as we headed out the door. Likely believ ..read more

Forthright Moves Everything Forward - Faster. “We reserve the right to refuse services - without explanation,” is stated on my website in a couple places and, yet, no one has ever called me out on this two-part proclaimation. Given the number of (formally) benign phrases and practices that some people now find offensive, I am a bit surprised. Does this exclusionary proviso seem blunt? Since I began training professionally, I have turned away very few potential clients. The exclusion most often involves training issues with non-hunting breeds. An exception that involves gun dogs may be an issue ..read more

An Old Bird Hunter’s Two-Cents. Toting a “stacked-barreled” 20 ga., this young lad practices for the up-coming turkey season. “Who’s up first?” requested the young game officer. The state game department was orchestrating a youth upland put-and-take hunting experience on facilities graciously donated by a private hunting preserve. An excited youngster stepped forward with his gun before him, barrel rightfully pointing straight up. The gun was a rustic, bolt-action, beast in the diminuative .410 caliber. Perhaps, noticing my stare before I redirected my gaze toward the top of my boots - “It wa ..read more