On The Wing Podcast

North Dakota has experienced massive habitat loss in the last decade largely due to CRP loss. In this episode, we catch up with the Pheasants Forever employee team in North Dakota to learn about the innovative ways their working to return some of those acres back to habitat for the birds. We also take advantage of the opportunity to talk with five avid female bird hunters about how they are helping introduce more women to the joys of following a bird dog into a pheasant field.

Hank Shaw, author of the new Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail cookbook (and Quail Forever Life Member), joins Bob St.Pierre at a ruffed grouse hunting camp in northern Wisconsin. The duo discuss the amazing diversity of upland game across the country’s different regions, while also chatting bird hunting, foraging and cooking quail, grouse, pheasants and woodcock during this episode.

Pheasants Forever editor Tom Carpenter talks about the six tricks roosters use, and how pheasant hunters can combat them. And can the discussion group come up with a better term than "hardcore"?

With the pheasant hunting on publicly-accessible habitat and land finishing on a strong note, the Rooster Road Trip crew looks back on a week in pheasant country’s epicenter. We also take listener questions on bird dog feeding and care, storing birds on the road and dealing with hunting buddies who burn the midnight oil.

Aberdeen area walk-in hunting areas that are part of the James River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program produce the type of South Dakota pheasant hunt you dream about. The corn just came out, there's a triple rooster flush and we close with advice for novice upland hunters to keep developing their upland skills.

It's a tale of two days as a tough day of hunting is followed by a bountiful day in the field. Pheasants Forever's Rooster Road Trip public habitat and public access ambassadors are dealing with a plethora of bird dog injuries. Despite the challenges, the trip's new addition, Emy Marier, and her bird dog combine for their first South Dakota rooster during a magical Golden Hour hunt.

When Plan A fails, Plan B turns into an upland dreamscape walk-in area in West River South Dakota. And the "Golden Hour" hunt on a Pierre Game Production Area turns into a track meet with racing roosters. Speaking of rooster, why aren't we yelling "Rooster!"?

Pheasants Forever's Rooster Road Trip, South Dakota's gigantic pheasant hunting season opener, 100 years of South Dakota pheasant hunting, how to plan a South Dakota bucket list bird hunt and unraveling the mystery meat that is chislic. Featuring South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks wildlife biologists Tom Kirschenmann and Mark Norton, and the department's communications specialist, Chris Hull.

We preview Pheasants Forever’s Rooster Road Trip and talk about the origins of “The Habitat Organization’s” signature digital event. The 2018 Rooster Road Trip is an all-South Dakota affair, as the undisputed Pheasant Capital celebrates a Pheasantennial, its 100th pheasant hunting season. And like all Rooster Road Trips prior, this year’s will highlight publicly-accessible lands and habitat projects which Pheasants Forever has played a significant role in creating through land purchases, local habitat projects or legislative action.

Opening with an impromptu visit to the Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown, we dive into a “State-of-the-State” discussion about pheasants in South Dakota with Pheasants Forever biologists Matt Morlock and Erica Yost. The wide-ranging conversation covers the current habitat conditions in the state and this year’s 47 percent jump in SoDak bird numbers. We also chat about some innovative new PF initiatives to add habitat to the South Dakota landscape before we close the show with a few insider tips for nonresident pheasant hunters to put more birds in their vest this season.

It’s opening weekend for sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge in Montana and we’re chasing these prairie birds from horseback behind big-running pointing dogs. This episode comes at you from a public hunting parcel in Montana at the back of a horse trailer. During the episode, we chat with John Zeman and Dan Voss, Pheasants Forever members, dog trainers and horseback hunters. During the conversation we talk about the process for bird hunting from horses and how horses present a different perspective to a bird hunt. Along for the hunt are a trio of veteran bird dogs closing in on their final hunts and we chat about our hopes for those final trips afield with these beloved bird dog. Episode Host: Bob St.Pierre

On this episode of On The Wing Podcast we breakdown the highly anticipated Pheasant Hunting Forecast state-by-state. Editor; Tom Carpenter, and Public Relations Manager; Jared Wiklund, dive into detail on locations and states that you should plan your next upland hunt!

The “Dokken” name has become synonymous with dog training. In this episode, we learn about Tom’s evolution as one of the most recognized dog trainers in the country. We also chat with Tina Dokken about the role bird dogs played while dating Tom. Tina also tells us about the challenges to becoming a female bird hunter as an adult and the clothing, gear and shotgun advances being made for women. We finish the conversation with a discussion about the use of drones in dog training and finally get to the bottom of whether or not your bird dog can tell the difference between a rooster and a hen by scent. Episode Host: Bob St.Pierre & Co-Host: Anthony Hauck

During our inaugural podcast, we chat with Eran Sandquist, Pheasants Forever’s Minnesota state coordinator and a wildlife biologist, about the organization’s efforts to create public hunting access through land acquisitions. We also discuss Minnesota’s ground-breaking Legacy Amendment passed by voters in 2008 and is now creating permanently protected habitat and public hunting access across the state. In fact, the Legacy Amendment has accelerated Pheasants Forever’s land acquisition efforts and helped the organization acquire 55,000 acres in the last ten years; all of those acres are open to public hunting. We close the show with Eran’s pheasant hunting forecast for Minnesota. Episode Host: Bob St.Pierre & Co-Host: Anthony Hauck