On The Wing Podcast

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by PF’s Cristin Weber, a precision agriculture & conservation specialist and farmer from South Dakota and Jeff Lakner, a South Dakota farmer and rancher. The group talks about the current Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup going on right now and how CRP benefits a farm’s soil health and profitability, while also delivering wildlife habitat, water quality, and carbon benefits.

Episode Highlights:

• Cristin Weber explains how she puts CRP and other USDA conservation programs to work on her farm, while also assisting other South Dakota producers examine their operation’s input & yield data while exploring conservation options to make their farms more profitable.

• Jeff Lackner discusses how CRP is a piece of his farm’s larger puzzle and how important leaving a farming, ranching, and conservation legacy is to him as his son and daughter-in-law join the operation.

• Weber also talks about how quickly wildlife populations can respond to new CRP acres by retelling of an epic South Dakota pheasant flush on her property.

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever biologists are available to talk over conservation options with landowners. Find a biologist close to you by visiting www.PheasantsForever.org/CRP

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by PF & QF National Board Chair Matt Kucharski and Western Regional Director Al Eiden for a recap of the first day’s hunt in Mearns’ quail country. The hunting party broke into two different groups and found themselves following opposite hunting strategies in search of birds.

NOTE: This episode was recorded LIVE from quail camp around a campfire.

Episode Highlights:

• Eiden talks about the economic and cultural importance of quail hunting to the communities of Sonoita, Patagonia, and Nogales, Arizona.

• Kucharski leads the conversation of the day’s quail hunt and recaps his pup’s enthusiasm for hunting an unfamiliar landscape in search of a new species of upland bird.

Special thanks to Arizona Backcountry Llamas for making this hunt possible. And thanks to ALPS OutdoorZ and Thorogood Boots for sponsoring this content.

Be sure to listen to episode 1 of this two-part backcountry quail hunting and camping trip

After a 26-hour drive from Minnesota to southern Arizona, Host Bob St.Pierre and PF & QF Chairman of the National Board Matt Kucharski are joined around the campfire by veteran quail hunting buddy Wade Zarlingo for a Mearns’ quail hunt. As a means of getting deeper into the backcountry, Chris Dunn, the owner of Arizona Backcountry Llamas, has brought five llamas to the adventure to haul in camping gear, food, and water for the crew’s three-day hunt.

NOTE: This episode was recorded LIVE from quail camp around a campfire.

Episode Highlights:

• St.Pierre and Kucharski start the conversation talking about their previous Mearns’ hunt in Arizona, and why they felt compelled to drive (rather than fly) all the way from Minnesota. HINT: They wanted to hunt over their own bird dogs!

• Zarlingo and Dunn explain how they both got started raising llamas and explain the advantages of using llamas on hunting and camping trips. Special thanks to Arizona Backcountry Llamas for making this hunt possible.

Thanks to ALPS OutdoorZ and Thorogood Boots for sponsoring this content.

As part of our ongoing Path to the Uplands content series, host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Chad Love, Quail Forever Journal editor; Marissa Jensen, our organization’s Women on the Wing and Path to the Uplands leader; and Andy Edwards, Quail Forever’s Quail Program Manager to discuss and debate late season quail hunting tips.

Episode Highlights:

• Referencing his new Path to the Uplands article titled “The Path to Late Season Quail Hunting Success,” Chad Love leads the conversation by outlining the food and cover attributes he’s looking for when chasing a variety of late-season quail species.

• The group also banters about tactics for locating birds that have been pressured all season and the challenges in picking out a single bird on the covey rise.

Thanks to our Path to the Uplands sponsors SoundGear, Federal Ammunition, SportDOG BRAND, and ALPS OutdoorZ.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever biologists Kent Adams, Jim Inglis, Cody Grasser, and Ben Beaman for a conversation focused on the connection between the organization’s wildlife habitat mission and clean water.

Episode Highlights:

• Adams starts the episode explaining how the organization’s wildlife habitat efforts improve water quality in streams, rivers, lakes, and even oceans. Ultimately, Adams explains, it’s the organization’s ability to deliver water quality benefits that has made our wildlife habitat efforts relevant across the eastern United States.

• Inglis, a PF employee for more than two decades, explains how Pheasants Forever chapters in Ohio linked the organization’s wildlife habitat efforts to improved water quality in Lake Erie benefiting the walleye fishery during the late 1990s.

• Grasser talks about the brand new 415-acre Mallett project in Ohio that will now be providing critical habitat for wildlife, water quality benefits to the public, and access to hunters.

• St.Pierre and Beaman have fun reigniting their Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula jabs as fellow Michiganders.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Quail Forever’s Dr. Jess McGuire and Andy Edwards for a discussion with Dr. James Martin, a hardcore quail hunter, bird dog owner, and associate professor at University of Georgia. During the conversation, Dr. Martin breaks down four bobwhite quail research projects he’s currently working on, while dropping a few quail hunting gems he’s learned from his studies over the years.

Episode Highlights:

• Dr. Martin and his students are studying how many bobwhites can be shot in one area and still maintain a sustainable wild population. The group also chat about whether or not season length and bag limits influence the long-term health of a wild population.

• The group takes on the ultimate quail “moneyball” question: Is there a magic acre number or a key percentage of habitat for a wild, sustainable population of bobwhite quail?

• Dr. Martin also talks about studying the behavior of bobwhites in response to hunting. As part of this project, researchers are investigating what non-productive points mean relative to a bird’s location. Some fun bird dog breed jabs ensue among the crew.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Tom “Carp” Carpenter, Pheasants Forever Journal editor, and Marissa Jensen, our organization’s Women on the Wing and Path to the Uplands leader, to offer tips for FINDING and HUNTING late season roosters.

Episode Highlights:

• The crew’s conversation riffs off Carp’s recent blog, “The Path to Late Season Pheasant Hunting Success” starting with tips first focused on where to FIND late season birds that have survived the hunting pressure over the last few months.

• The discussion then transitions to both the mindset and mechanics for HUNTING late season roosters, including Carp and Marissa sharing stories about working cover and finding tight-holding birds on the second pass.

Thanks to our Path to the Uplands sponsors SoundGear, Federal Ammunition, SportDOG BRAND, and ALPS OutdoorZ.

While gamebird research isn’t a part of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s mission statement, the organization often collaborates with research scientists from the most acclaimed universities in the country to inform the organization’s habitat creation and restoration efforts. In this episode, Bob St.Pierre is joined by Mississippi State University’s Dr. Mark McConnell as well as Quail Forever’s Dr. Jess McGuire and Andy Edwards, for a discussion focused on five different research projects Dr. McConnell and his students are currently working on related to bobwhite quail, habitat management, and precision agriculture.

Episode Highlights:

• Dr. McConnell talks about his love of quail hunting and how that passion for hunting influences his research science. He also talks about hunting with his standard poodle and coins the phrase “it’s cool to like quail again.”

• Through Dr. McConnell’s “Scale of Effect” project, he explains that the research is attempting to understand how habitat management on public WMAs in Mississippi influences bobwhite populations on those public lands. As importantly, he’s also trying to gauge how that management influences bobwhite populations beyond the boundaries into the surrounding private property.

• Singing from the same scripture as every other quail biologist we’ve ever had on our podcast, Dr. McConnell speaks passionately about the critical importance of prescribed fire to bobwhite quail habitat management for population health and growth.

• The crew also talk about the theory that vocal bobwhites are the ones that get eaten by predators first in a population. Do silent bobwhites live longer or is that mythology?

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Pheasants Forever’s Michigan State Coordinator Ben Beaman for a conversation about hunting pheasants, ruffed grouse, and woodcock in the duo’s home state. The guys also discuss Michigan’s Adopt-a-Game-Area Program and the importance of intensive habitat management in preventing grasslands from becoming woodlands void of pheasants, especially in states east of the Mississippi River.

Episode Highlights:

• Beaman starts the conversation talking about his college years in Wyoming which leads to an interesting tangential discussion asserting that Wyoming may be one of the most underappreciated destinations for upland and waterfowl hunters.

• St.Pierre also explains why he is a “Yooper” and Beaman is a “troll” in Michigan parlance.

• The discussion also covers the “Michigan Pheasant Restoration Initiative” and how it produced the Adopt-a-Game-Area program. Likewise, Beaman explains the different types of habitat work occurring on these public areas, their importance for the state’s wild pheasant populations, and how people can help.

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Jonathon Tremblay from Walton’s Inc. to talk about caring for game bird meat from the moment it leaves your bird dog’s mouth to the time it hits your plate as a delicious meal. Tremblay also discusses Walton’s deep connections to hunting and conservation as a company, and how the pandemic changed the way Americans approach meat.

Episode Highlights:

• Jonathon talks about the two seasonings Walton’s developed specifically for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever: Roasted Ringneck Rub and Bold Barbecue Quail.

• Bob reminisces about the comical old days of freezing birds in a block of ice, which resulted in a full freezer early into the hunting season.

Check out Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s “A Bird in the Bag” video series with Walton’s Inc.

• Crispy Half-Roasted Pheasant

• Quail Meatballs