On The Wing Podcast

Earlier this month, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever began our 17th year partnering with Ron Schara Productions to bring our love for upland bird hunting and our habitat mission to television. In this episode, Host Bob St.Pierre swings over to the offices of Ron Schara Productions to visit with two of The Flush’s hosts, Travis Frank and Bill Schreck. This, however, isn’t your ordinary television series preview show. On the contrary, the fellas talk about some of their favorite bird hunting and bird dog stories . . . and laughter ensues.

Episode Highlights:

• In the spirit of the NFL Draft, the guys name the single best bird dogs they’ve ever hunted behind.

• Bob tells the story of how he taught his first shorthair, Trammell, to actually say, “I love you.”

• And the guys talk about being trolled in social media by commenters who say things like “those aren’t wild birds,” “you’re a terrible wingshooter,” and “your bird dog is awful.”

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by the trio of PF & QF Western biologists Al Eiden, Kellie Dobrescue, and Connor White to talk about the organization’s expanding habitat work focused on sage brush habitat in the Western United States.

Episode Highlights:

• Dobrescue talks about her role in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management to improve sage brush habitat through tree removal. Those efforts are creating better habitat for a wide array of wildlife from sage grouse to elk, as well as helping protect water quantity.

• White also discusses his job working as the project coordinator for Idaho’s Bruneau Owhyee Sage Grouse Habitat Project. That work is focused on removing invasive juniper trees across a wide landscape of Southwest Idaho for the benefit of sage grouse, mule deer, elk, pronghorn, and water resources.

• Eiden wraps up the conversation with a powerful statement about the 20 different upland bird species in the West and how PF & QF is improving upland habitat in a wide array of settings, including grasslands, deserts, sage steppe, alpine forests, and agricultural lands.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by PF & QF’s Emily Spolyar and Marissa Jensen for a conversation with Jamie Carmody who became both an artist and a hunter over the last two years. Carmody, who lives in Australia, explains how she grew up as a vegan and was motivated to become a hunter to source sustainable meats for her young family.

Episode Highlights:

• Carmody talks about feeling “caged up” as a youngster growing up indoors and how getting outdoors to experience nature has led her to a feeling of freedom as an adult. She also talks about finding “beauty in death” through her artwork as a way of better representing our true connection nature.

• Carmody explains her creative process for drawing bird dogs with a stunning description about envisioning landscapes and dog’s love for their owner through a reflection in the pup’s eyes.

Check out Jamie Carmody’s artwork at www.jamiewildart.com or by following her on Instagram @jamie_wildart

Once upon a time, Northwest Ohio’s Wood County produced the highest density of pheasants on record. That was 1940. There is a lot less wildlife habitat and a lot more people in Ohio today. Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Kent Adams, PF & QF’s director of conservation delivery in the Northeastern U.S., Cody Grasser, PF & QF’s state coordinator for Ohio, and James Harris, PF & QF’s regional representative in Ohio, for a discussion about the innovate private and public land programs producing new habitat success stories in Ohio. While those success stories may never darken the sky with pheasants and quail, the habitat efforts are producing more birds, cleaner water, and greater public access in the state.

Episode Highlights:

• Bob talks about the passion volunteers have for the organization with stories of people tattooing PF or QF logos on their bodies and requesting usage of the logos in conjunction with funerals.

• It may come as a surprise that there are 27 chapters of Pheasants Forever and 3 chapters of Quail Forever in Ohio. Combined, there are 5,000 members in the state putting Ohio ahead of bird-rich states like Kansas and North Dakota.

• The guys also talk about the collaborative efforts producing a new 415-acre expansion to the state’s Big Island Wildlife Area.

At Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, our mission is focused on creating high-quality habitat for upland gamebirds. As you undoubtedly know by now, that very same upland habitat needed for pheasant and quail chicks – a diverse mix of grasses and forbs - is also critical habitat for pollinators. In this week’s episode, we celebrate Pollinator Week 2022 with PF & QF’s Anna Swerczek and Jake Swafford, along with Public Land Tee’s Sam & Josh Soholt.

Episode Highlights:

• Swerzcek, PF & QF’s habitat education program manager and Pollinator Week quarterback, unveils the compelling PF & QF membership offer celebrating this year’s Pollinator Week that includes three pollinator plants, a special pollinator-themed t-shirt & sticker from Public Land Tees, a subscription to the PF or QF Journal, and a PF & QF pollinator habitat sign. Only 300 of these special packages are available at www.PheasantsForever.org/PollinatorWeek or www.QuailForever.org/PollinatorWeek

• Jake Swafford, a PF & QF coordinating wildlife biologist in Missouri, talks about each specific pollinator plant included in the membership kits and how they each plant provides unique habitat benefits for birds and the bees throughout the spring, summer, and autumn bloom periods.

• The Soholt brothers explain their rationale for donating the t-shirts to PF & QF’s Pollinator Week efforts and how they conceptualized the shirt’s fun design.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Ted Koch, the executive director of the North American Grouse Partnership and a former U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service endangered species biologist, along with Ron Leathers, PF & QF’s chief conservation officer, for a discussion about lesser prairie chickens and their likely listing as an endangered species. As a former endangered species biologist, Koch brings a depth of knowledge about the mechanics of an endangered species listing, as well as the conservation initiatives already underway to work with landowners around voluntary habitat programs for the birds.

Episode Highlights:

• Koch explains what ideal grassland habitat looks like for the lesser prairie chicken using a volleyball that’s 80% covered in grass visualization, while Leathers talks about how using cattle on a grasslands landscape can help keep that volleyball 20% exposed and free from being overgrown by grass that’s too tall or encroached upon by trees.

• Koch also addresses the “shoot, shovel, and shut up” mentality often associated with an endangered species listing and how voluntary conservation programs, especially CRP, can be a major opportunity for landowners in the lesser prairie chicken’s footprint.

• Leathers also delivers a powerful message about how we often hear that quail are an “edge” species, but the fact they’re considered an edge species is because the edge is all we leave them. Wide open grassland habitat created for lessers will also be terrific habitat for bobwhite quail.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by PF & QF biologists Al Eiden, Haley Lockard, and Andy Edwards for a conversation focused on the $1.4 billion federal legislation known as Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA). If passed, RAWA would create dedicated state-based funding for wildlife habitat projects across the country targeting more than 12,000 “at risk” species, including bobwhite quail, sage grouse, lesser prairie chickens, bumble bees, and monarch butterflies. And for only the second time in our podcast’s history, watch the conversation on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/YX3DUwiiwJc

Episode Highlights:

• Quail Forever Program Manager Andy Edwards kicks off the conversation focusing on how the legislation would empower state agencies across the Southeastern United States to better manage early successional habitat for bobwhite quail.

• PF & QF Senior Farm Bill Biologist Haley Lockard adds her perspective to RAWA’s ability to fund grassland habitat management for quail and lesser prairie chickens in the Great Plains.

• PF & QF’s Western Regional Director Al Eiden also explains how Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would kickstart a 25,000-acre scaled quail project in Arizona, while also helping fund sage grouse habitat work across the West and mountain quail habitat efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

Fresh off his keynote address to PF & QF’s 208 new employees at the organization’s in-person new employee orientation, Sam Lawry joins Host Bob St.Pierre to talk about his “conservation warrior” message and to recap his 40-year career in wildlife conservation, which included a six year stint as PF & QF’s western regional director. The guys are joined by Sam’s two closest PF & QF friends in Tom Fuller, director of field services, and Chris McLeland, vice president of conservation delivery, for this episode filled with a little hyperbole and a lot of laughter.

Episode Highlights:

• Sam also talks about his debut book, Stories of the Past, An Arizona Game Ranger Remembering the Outlaws, and how its publication resulted in Sam’s appearance on a MeatEater podcast with Steven Rinella.

• The guys also call BS on Sam’s claim to have written the book during the evenings of the organization’s out-of-town meetings when the rest of the crew was “at the watering hole.”

Learn more about Sam Lawry and his book by following him on Instagram @Sam.Lawry

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Mike Neiduski, who reached his dream job at the beginning of 2022 when he was hired to be a PF & QF development officer. Neiduski’s journey to that position started more than a decade ago with his first bird dog and an introduction to conservation through the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA).

Episode Highlights:

• The guys talk about Neiduski’s career stops at Maryville University in Missouri, Concordia University in Wisconsin, and Elon University in North Carolina before making a career shift to the Ruffed Grouse Society.

• Neiduski talks about his recently passed German wirehaired pointer, Plexi, and how her memory will live on through a Quail Forever Dog Life Membership as part of the Bird Dogs for Habitat campaign.

Special thanks to NAVHDA for sponsoring PF & QF’s annual Bird Dogs for Habitat campaign. This campaign is a friendly competition that challenges you to cast a vote and donate or become a member on behalf of your favorite bird dog breed. Every dollar donated equals a vote, and every week during the month of May our generous sponsors will be giving away fantastic prizes to those who participate. Vote today at www.BirdDogsforHabitat.org – THANKS!

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Jonathon Tremblay from Walton’s Inc. to talk about smoking pheasants, quail, and grouse. Tremblay discusses the advantages of charcoal, wood, and pellet grills, and the benefits of prepping game bird meat with brines, marinades, and flavor injectors. He also answers the question, “skin on or skin off for the smoker?”

Episode Highlights:

• The guys talk about using an expensive whiskey or bourbon during the brining process.

• Tremblay talks about a variety of wood options for smoking birds before explaining why pecan is the sweet spot of flavor and affordability.

Thanks to Walton’s Inc. for sponsoring this episode of On the Wing podcast and for being a national sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.

Photo by Lukas Leaf