My Dog Hunts - Upland Birds

Send us a textChaos & Mayhem in South Dakota. Lots of grouse, huns, pheasants and hunters too! Several day hunts from five weeks spent in South Dakota last season. "One morning I left the truck at 11:00 with Mayhem and was back before noon with the three bird limit. A clean triple of sharptails. A couple hunters stopped to chat as I was stowing birds. They said their pointers had moved about 80 birds that morning and they got one. I didn't tell them that Mayhem flushed one covey of 7 and I shot three." A few days having fun with my buddy Russ. A 3 species day with Chaos and a combo limit of sharps and pheasants. More South Dakota hunts in the next episode.  

Send us a textSpent 8 days chasing chukar, huns and valley quail in Oregon and Nevada. Lots of birds but not so great dog work. Still had a good time and can't wait to return next year. The quail saved the trip. Lots and lots of quail. No dual limits in this episode, but still a lot of fun. 

Send us a textThis was in the "good ol' days" of ruffed grouse hunting in southeast Minnesota. Back when the daily bag limit for woodcock was 5 birds. Hunting with a buddy Russ and his lab Char, we shot 19 ruffs and 14 woodcock in two days of hunting.      I had tried for several years for this combination limit. It was tough because it was a lucky day for me to even see five woodcock in a long day of hunting. I've been told that was because the majority of migraters funneled down the Mississippi River bottomlands, rather than dispersed across the landscape as they are further north. Another case of me trying to shoot birds where they weren't.      I've had good luck, sometimes underserved, that's allowed me to take a few of my dual limits, but this was exceptional luck.  

Several 2023 pheasant hunts in Iowa. Chaos and Maybe both got limits. Lots of birds! We even shot a few sharptails in Montana. 

Seven days hunting pheasants and sharptails in South Dakota with Maybe and Chaos. The dogs were too clownish to compliment, but with my expectations, they did just fine. We even took a couple of combo limits of grouse and pheasants. I threw in a short story about a ruffed grouse hunting mishap that I hope won't cause you to question my sanity. 

Chaos & Maybe Exploring Idaho for next trip from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  Took a couple of newbies on sharp tail hunts (lots of birds!) and looked for better partridge hills than I've hunted in the past.Both dogs earned Story Bands for 1st Idaho Sharptail and 1st Daily Bag Limit of Idaho Sharptails. Spent most of this fall in South Dakota for pheasants and sharptails (Maybe earned 4 new Story Bands) and Iowa for pheasants (Maybe earned two more new Story Bands). South Dakota was very good and Iowa continues to be very good. I'm sure South Dakota will be very good again, if I can make it back. These stories will be in upcoming episodes.  

I can't say too much good about "Critter". She hunted the tail end of the southern Minnesota/Iowa ruffed grouse years, the best Kansas and Nebraska pheasant years, and a half dozen Dakota years. This hunt was a seat of my pants exploration into northern South Dakota. I was looking for a new area for pheasants and sharptails, and we found it. The strange thing is, in the following days, I found an even better area that I've spoken of in several other episodes. If you like pheasants and sharptails, you'll enjoy this talk. If you like springer spaniels, you'll love this hunt.   

Miss Bodet, took 3-roosters in Iowa & 2 in Minnesota in the same day on public land. Then on another trip I knocked on doors in South Dakota and shot limits of pheasants for 6 days, without paying a fee. Bo was only a couple years old on these hunts.  

Yeah, I was a whole lot younger back then, and those two pups were pretty special dogs. Critter & Woogs as pups, hunting ruffed grouse in southeast Minnesota and pheasants in southcentral Minnesota. This was the first time that I tried to take this combination limit, instead of just hoping it would happen.  There were several days over those years, that I took the 5-bird limit of ruffs, but only got one pheasant, while grouse hunting.  I finally accepted that if I was ever going to take this combination limit, I would have to drive to pheasants. Just a few days after this hunt, I tried to duplicate the same combination limit in Iowa, with the pups. We took the 3-bird limit of ruffed grouse in Iowa in less than an hour. Shot a Hun in the first pheasant field. Had two pheasants an hour later, then chased a partial albino pheasant the rest of the day. We flushed that albino three times within 40 yards, but I never could be certain it was a rooster.  I should have just shot one of the several normal roosters the pups flushed. But that's me,  always trying to make a normal hunting day into a special one and a special day into a never before heard of day. Well if that wasn't my nature, I wouldn't have had the special days that I talk about, and wouldn't feel like I had anything to offer on podcasts, that all the other guys aren't doing. 

I was fortunate to have hunted Kansas and Nebraska when both states had a lot of pheasants. At that time, and for decades to come, I believed this hunt was the epitome of pheasant hunting. I only surpassed this day one time, on a hunt most of you have listened to in an earlier episode. Back in 1981, with two young dogs, Critter, a female, liver & white springer, and Woogie a female yellow lab, we took the four rooster limit in Kansas and the three rooster limit in Nebraska, seven roosters, in the same day! The three of us were fortunate to be together at a time when all species of birds in the mid-west, and private access, were plentiful. Back then, a guy could hunt anywhere from Iowa to Minnesota, and North Dakota to Kansas and find a lot, of any of the upland birds, those states allowed. You still can in certain years, and for short periods of time, find hunting like I experienced. If you're smart, you'll make the sacrifices I made to enjoy it to the fullest. As many of you already realize, the very best, goes away, very fast. 

Follow along on a dogless prairie chicken hunt in Nebraska. This was early in a 5 day prairie chicken hunt in Nebraska and South Dakota. It was my first attempt at a combo of 3 chickens and a fall turkey.  The previous "Double Limit of Prairie Chickens" episode, was two days after this hunt. If these two episodes don't convince you to get after prairie chickens, I feel bad for your dogs.    

Had a solid few days hunting quail in Idaho with Chaos and Maybe.I tell you about my 2021 season and maybe you'll understand why I didn't have much to talk about.  

Mostly chukar hunting with Chaos and my new pup Mayhem.

This episode has the best coyote calling advice anyone could give. The two most important factors for setting up you best opportunity for a successful shot. Stopping a coyote exactly where you want him and how to select the best stand location. These two practices will greatly increase your odds of killing the coyotes that respond to your calls. And of course lots of personal anecdotes that illustrate how I learned this advice.    

More calling how-to and gear suggestions.  There's some important information here mixed in with hunt stories. I could have saved a lot of money and shot a lot more coyotes if I knew this stuff 30 years ago! I have two more coyote calling episodes in the works. I'll discuss stand locations, how to read coyote behavior,  when to stop calling, how to know where the coyote wants to stop before he knows, how to setup for the shot, and much more!     

I've been calling coyotes for more than 30 years from Arizona to Montana and love coyote calling only second to upland bird hunting. If you've ever thought about calling coyotes or are looking for new information, you'll want to give this a listen!   This is the first of a series of coyote calling talks  to fill in the dead space before upland bird seasons open.  

Unexpected late season pheasant and sharptail "fun" hunt in South Dakota. Me and Chaos hoping to average 2 birds a day on a 4 day mid-December public land hunt. We just hunted a few hours each day and still averaged 3 birds. 10 roosters and 2 grouse.

Hunting pheasants and sharptails in the tall grass of western South Dakota. Chaos and I take the combo limit of Sharps & Phez on two of five days and still have a day for North Dakota.

A buddy and I hunt opening day in Iowa, I finish the day hunting Nebraska. Then we head to South Dakota for 5 days of pheasants and sharptails. Lots of birds!

Chaos and I just returned from a four day pheasant and grouse hunt in South Dakota and we took the 6 bird combo the first two days of our hunt! Give this episode a listen to get your dander up for a hunt of your own.

A little talk about last week's sharptail hunt in the Dakotas and a re-live of a sharptail & Hun combination limit I took over two pups.

Follow along with me and Critter, as we take a triple limit of 3-pheasants, 3-sharptails and a fall turkey in South Dakota.

Bobwhite quail from Oklahoma to Nebraska, Blue quail in New Mexico, and Valley Quail in Idaho, Oregon & Nevada. And a short story about Gambel's and Mearn's in Arizona. Mostly limits over Labs with a little Springer work as well.

I can't believe I'm doing this. I got no sense! Now I'm going to find out of state plates at every one of my rooster hidey holes. Bo's turning over in her grave and Chaos is whining, "Don't do it dummy!". How I shot more than 50 roosters off the same public area in Nebraska in one season, with no competition from another hunter! Then I'll tell you my secret for limiting out on public marsh roosters before freeze up. Be ready to get your knickers wet! (I wish I knew someone who'd tell me all this good stuff.)

I talk three different combination limits on this podcast, all including Wilson's Snipe. I know you're thinking "who cares about snipe!". All I can say is if you think dove shooting is fun you need to head to a marsh in October and hustle after some snipe. They'll teach you what shooting is all about! And they eat pretty good too.

The real intent of states establishing daily bag and possession limits. Why you should explore outside the "best" areas as defined by game commissions. And if you're a non-resident pheasant hunter traveling to the Dakotas, Kansas or Nebraska, why you should be early season prairie grouse hunting.

I recount pheasant hunts from Kansas to North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. I've hunted pheasants from 1970 thru today, taking dual limits of pheasants all the way through the 2019 season. All self-made, self-planned hunts on public (and a little bit a private) land.Every dual limit hunt that I talk, is or was available to any of you without owning land, paying a fee, a guide or engaging in a swap hunt. My message is just go!

If you're not knocking on doors, you're missing out on most of the best upland bird hunting opportunities in the country. As good as public lands are, they don't compare to the acreage and underhunted habitat that you can gain access to for FREE, with just a short conversation!I'll share everything that I've learned in more than 50 years of knocking on doors from Wisconsin to Oregon and North Dakota to New Mexico. And you won't hear the same tired advice that most writers recommend. I'll tell you how to approach the landowner and initiate the conversations that have allowed me to hunt hundreds of thousands of private acres without ever paying a fee or offering to do chores. Many times I've cold called on a farmer or rancher and in just a few minutes gained access to land that no one but family members hunt for free, and in some cases, land that had never been hunted during their ownership.

In addition to recounting the day I took a double limit of prairie chickens while hunting dogless in Nebraska and South Dakota, I'll share "how to" advice on hunting these birds with and without a bird dog. If I can shoot six prairie chickens in one day, while hunting virgin private and public land, without a dog, just think what my experience will do for you and your dog!

Ride along with me and 8 mo. old Bo, on her first pheasant hunt. Nebraska public land treated us well as always! I don't know what a guy can say about taking a combination limit of 3-pheasants and 3-prairie chickens over an 8 mo. old Lab pup on her first pheasant hunt. Of course, she benefited from my 25 years experience hunting public land in the Nebraska Sandhills, but still, this was her second dual limit in just three days of hunting!

With my current lab Bo at 7 months old, we take a double limit of pheasants in North Dakota & Minnesota. The next day we take a triple limit of pheasants in North Dakota, South Dakota & Minnesota and finish with a double limit of pheasants in North Dakota and South Dakota on day three! Spur of the moment, seat of my pants scouting trip, turns into the best bird hunt of my life!

This was my first of many combination limits of sharptails & pheasants. I sprinkled in some opinion on guns and chokes. Why I attempt dual limits and hopefully a little inspiration for you to attempt a few of your own.

Hunting sharptail grouse in the sandhills of Nebraska and southern South Dakota.

Set aside a few minutes to listen to a couple of stories on hunting ruffed grouse and fall turkey in Iowa. One hunt I call my gunny sack day with my first dog, Pitch and another hunting dogless. You'll find a few opinions sprinkled in on the relationship of turkey and ruffed grouse and northwoods grouse hunting compared to grouse hunting south of I90. Watch for upcoming episodes on sharptail grouse hunting in Nebraska and South Dakota, then sharptails & pheasants in South Dakota and ruffed grouse & woodcock in Minnesota.

Learn how to hunt hill country ruffed grouse across northeast Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. I'll recount double limits of 5-ruffed grouse in Minnesota and 3-ruffs in Iowa in the same day. Once while hunting with a Lab and another hunt while dogless.