On The Wing Podcast

Continuing Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s special Women on the Wing podcast series, host Ashley Chance is joined by co-host Britta Petersen for a conversation with Dr. Jess McGuire who is the Senior Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) Bobwhite Program Manager. Jess shares stories about working on a variety of research projects, the ups and downs of conservation on private lands and why quail can save the uplands.

Episode Highlights:

• Why Jess has multiple unusual species in her freezer…. Cicadas anyone?

• Hear about Jess’s experience as a biologist climbing trees with a chainsaw to build red cockaded woodpecker habitat.

• How gopher tortoise conservation is quail conservation and why working with private landowners is extremely rewarding.

• The crew discusses how sharing their enthusiasm for the natural world with kids, neighbors, former teammates, and private landowners will save the world.

• Quail conservation at large and how creating and restoring habitat will produce more healthy and resilient quail populations.

To learn more about the Bobscapes app referenced in the podcast, visit: https://bobscapes.org/

Suddenly curious about gopher tortoises? Visit: https://gophergamesfilm.com/

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Nick Hoffman, a singer-songwriter, fiddle player, and host of “Nick’s Wild Ride” on Outdoor Channel and Bally’s Sports. At the age of 17, Hoffman ran away from his Minnesota home to chase musical dreams in Branson, Missouri, and then later to Nashville where he landed as the fiddle player in Kenny Chesney’s band. From there, Hoffman takes us on his “wild ride” in the music industry, and growing up in a non-hunting family to hosting an award-winning outdoor television show.

Episode Highlights:

• Hoffman discusses his growing interest in hunting while touring with Chesney for 12 years, then while as a co-founder of the trio The Farm. He then explains how he jumped from a successful musical career into outdoor television.

• The guys also talk about the importance of being a mentor beyond the initial introductory hunt, especially through failures.

• Hoffman also explains the role his grandfather, Harry Hoffman, played in the early days of Federal Ammunition and how it has all come full circle with Federal Ammunition as the longest tenured partner of “Nick’s Wild Ride.”

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Senior Regional Representative Will Clayton for a conversation with chapter volunteers Nina Hoekstra and Dave Scherf. All four participants in this episode recently contributed to projects as part of PF & QF’s Hands-On Habitat effort to improve upland acres across the country.

Episode Highlights:

• The crew talk about clearing barbed wire, old tires, and other trash during habitat workdays, then they go around-the-horn with tales of the weirdest garbage they have picked up on public lands.

• Nina Hoekstra, a volunteer with Minnesota’s McLeod County Chapter of Pheasants Forever, talks about the intimidation of first getting involved as a PF volunteer, then being so inspired to change careers focused on her passion for wildlife habitat and upland bird hunting. Follow Nina on Instagram @in.ninas.nature

• Dave Scherf, a long-time volunteer with Minnesota’s Metro Minneapolis Chapter of Pheasants Forever, talks about his love for public land and how Hands-On Habitat projects brings him so much personal joy.

Special “THANK YOU” to onX Hunt for supporting PF & QF’s Hands-On Habitat efforts across the country throughout the entire month of May. As part of their commitment, onX Hunt is funding three grants for PF & QF chapters participating in Hands-On Habitat projects.

Learn more and find an event near you at:

www.PheasantsForever.org/HandsOnHabitat or www.QuailForever.org/HandsOnHabitat

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Conservation Leadership Program Manager Levi Day for a discussion about the organization’s effort to foster more interest in conservation careers, ranging from biologists to marketing professionals and accountants to educators.

Episode Highlights:

• Day recounts becoming a hunter, pursuing a career as an education professional, then developing a hunting friendship via social media that resulted in his jump into a conservation career of his own with PF & QF.

• Day also explains PF & QF’s Journey to Conservation Careers program and recaps a successful career curriculum session that occurred on the morning of the podcast in Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Harrisburg High School.

Continuing Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s special Women on the Wing podcast series, host Ashley Chance is joined by co-host Britta Petersen for a conversation with North Dakota Senior Field Representative Renee Tomala. Renee talks to us about growing up in the outdoors, DIY dog training and how she works with Pheasants Forever Chapters to carry out our organization’s mission.

SPOILER ALERT: There are now 13 Women on the Wing Chapters across the country with more on the way!

Episode Highlights:

• Being in the path of totality – Britta's eclipse experience.

• The crew talks about getting comfortable eating unusual animal parts.

• Renee talks about what a privilege it is to work with chapters to carry out our mission and all the ways she goes about that, leaving us to wonder what doesn't a regional representative do?

• Renee gives us a brief history of Women on the Wing and Women on the Wing Chapters, which originated with an all-women staff years ago in North Dakota.

• Today there are Women on the Wing Chapters in ND, TX, MN, MI, NC, WA, GA, WI, AZ, SD and OH doing all kinds of neat things including hosting events like “Unstuck your truck.”

• Renee chronicles the (mis)adventures of Quill, her German Wirehaired Pointer aka ‘Porcupine Lover.’

Find a Women on the Wing Chapter near you on our website, and if you’d like to start a Women on the Wing Chapter where you live, reach out to Renee at [email protected]!

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Tony Jones, an adult-onset hunter, theologian, author, professor, podcaster, and former pastor. Jones has just released a new book, The God of Wild Places with the subtitle “Rediscovering the Divine in the Untamed Outdoors.” In the book, Jones writes about the role pheasant hunting, bird dogs, and wild meat have played in shaping his new perspective on life following a tumultuous divorce.

Episode Highlights:

• The guys start off the episode with a spirited flusher vs. pointer debate.

• Jones tells the funny story of trading preaching services for pheasant hunting expertise and land access.

• The discussion ends with a preview of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers annual Rendezvous taking place at the Minneapolis Convention Center on April 19 & 20 where Tony will be selling his books and where PF & QF will have a membership booth.

Learn more about Tony Jones, his new book, and the Reverend Hunter podcast at www.ReverendHunter.com.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Clay Thompson, a SportDOG Brand pro staff dog trainer, for a conversation about his Oklahoma quail roots and his current South Dakota waterfowl and pheasant passions. The guys also discuss the new SportDOG Brand FieldSentinel, which Thompson equates to a dog’s “check engine light,” as it monitors a pup’s heart rate and the intensity & duration of exertion.

Episode Highlights:

• Thompson explains how skipping a day of college to go on a duck hunt with a well-trained bird dog changed his life for the better.

• Thompson tells the story of how an impromptu South Dakota sharp-tailed grouse hunt on a hot day put his Labrador retriever into a scary situation, which was the genesis story for the new SportDOG Brand FieldSentinel.

Check out the new SportDOG Brand FieldSentinel.

Continuing Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s special Women on the Wing podcast series, host Ashley Chance is joined by co-host Britta Petersen for a conversation with Iowa Senior Farm Bill Biologist Allie Barth. Barth is one of the longest tenured biologists in the organization and brings a wealth of knowledge to the discussion focused on prescribed fire and the ins and outs of the Conservation Reserve Program. The trio also discuss how our organizations’ biologists use their skills and passion to create wildlife habitat, and Barth also shares some of the important things she’s learned from working with landowners.

Episode Highlights:

• Barth shows off her biologist chops throughout the conversation, while also talking about how lighting a prescribed fire can be thrilling, scary, and extremely beneficial.

• The crew discuss why Labs should be everyone’s next dog.

• Upcoming adventures: exploring the outdoors with Labs and kids, more fire, and turkey hunting!

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined Ben Wheeler, a Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever wildlife biologist and prescribed fire expert from Nebraska, for a conversation with author Maura O’Connor. The discussion focuses on O’Connor’s new book, Ignition, which is subtitled “Lighting Fires in a Burning World.” The trio talk about the importance of prescribed fire for wildlife habitat, as well as the importance of regular burning of prairies and forests to prevent massive wildfires.

Episode Highlights:

• Wheeler recounts famed biologist Herbert Stoddard’s advocacy for fire as a critically important wildlife habitat management tool, as well as Stoddard’s dubbing of the bobwhite quail as “the fire bird.”

• O’Connor explains the role prescribed fire plays in protecting grasslands from woody encroachment, mitigating climate change, and protecting water resources.

Check out O’Connor’s book, Ignition, on Amazon.

Host Ashley Chance is joined by co-host Britta Petersen to introduce a special Women on the Wing series of the podcast focused on highlighting the women that make up the Habitat Organization. Learn about who Britta and Ashley are as hunters and conservation professionals as well as what inspired them to tell the stories of other women in this series.

SPOILER ALERT: 36% of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever staff are women and sharing their professional conservation journeys through this series is going to be amazing!

Episode Highlights:

Exploring the myth of man the hunter and woman the gatherer.

What it means to have other women to go hunting with and learn from.

Hear about the third consecutive year of an all-women buckthorn and honeysuckle murder squad.

Upcoming adventures: prescribed fire, shed hunting and being pregnant during turkey season!