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As a bobwhite quail biologist, one of the first things I learned was that the peak of the bobwhite quail hatch occurs on June 15th each year.

This peak date has become so pervasive in the quail world that it is dogma. This date is accepted at face value, dictating timing of summertime habitat management and even state and Federal agency policy. But is this “fact” of quail biology true? And, if not, have quail managers been operating on a paradigm that might have been detrimental to bobwhite management for over three decades? 

Let’s look at where the June 15th peak originated and what new science is telling us about the bobwhite hatch. The lessons learned should have major implications to how we think about bobwhite breeding ecology and bobwhite management in the future.

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In 1910, a Scottish man named John Campbell Connell faced a similar dilemma. He was in the market for a pair of shotguns, and because he was from a family of wealthy shipbuilders, London’s most prestigious and expensive gunmakers would have been within his reach: James Woodward and Sons, Boss and Co., Holland and Holland, James Purdey and Sons. So why did he buy round-action shotguns from John Dickson and Son of Edinburgh?

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When people most people think of turkey, domestic or wild, they envision a whole bird. The skin is crispy, caramelized from a long oven roast, and stuffed to the brim as a dinner table centerpiece. This was the picture I had in my mind when I bagged my first wild turkey over 12 years ago. I treated it no differently than a Thanksgiving bird. Upon trying to carve and bite into the thighs, I immediately realized that one does not simply roast a wild turkey whole.

While I still know alleged wild game chefs that do this and proclaim it works based on XYZ, I think they’re spitting on my cupcake and telling me it’s frosting. The truth is that wild turkey meat can taste incredible if you know how to butcher and cook it correctly. 

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“The coveys are small and the birds are flushing like pen-raised birds,” the phone call said. “They only flew about 30 yards and I didn’t have the heart to chase them.”

What had started as another great chukar season for us turned quickly when our favorite spots got blanketed in an unusual amount of snow and, worse, a thick crust of ice. My friend had called to let us know that our plans to get together didn’t seem like such a great idea anymore.

Another friend and veteran bird hunter made similar comments.

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The Scent-Cone is the secret to understanding what dynamic makes hunting dogs classier and more accomplished in hunting and handling game. 

Most of the great bird dog trainers/handlers I knew grew up with a pack of hounds. I’ll name four: Clyde Morton, Paul Walker, Er Shelley, Bob Armstrong. They learned most about scent from running foxhounds. One of these, Er Shelley, even took a pack of hounds to track game when he traveled to Africa.

Imagine that the concentration of scent effluvium is weaker at the outside of the cone (which is in actuality three dimensional like a funnel). Of course, the cone or funnel is extremely unstable, subject to breezes, dust-infusions, temperatures, and barometric pressure. Thus, while essentially narrow where it is laid down, and broadening out, it floats, billows and shrinks and wafts around without any pattern but its very own.

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No one has to dig into the depths of social media to find that the topic of hunter recruitment descends into the darkest corners of keyboard dissertations. Some points against hunter recruitment have partial validity, others come from genuine concern, and some misguided thoughts need actual attention. But the people who rant about this issue are playing checkers when a chess game is afoot. Hunter recruitment is more complex than people believe. Frankly, some folks miss the point altogether. 

Negative opinions regarding hunter recruitment are a symptom of a larger issue: state wildlife agencies are underfunded. Nearly everything about how states fund wildlife management is complicated, including how states collect funds. One of these ways is through hunting license sales. This is why states care about increasing the number of licenses sold. In its simplest, most watered-down form, this is why states are investing time, energy, and money into hunter recruitment.

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Nearly fifty years after the birth of field trials, voting rights were granted to women in 1920. This milestone prompted a general shift in views around women’s liberties. Women began riding astride, wearing jodhpurs, adopting shorter hairstyles, and, by the 1930s, it was all the vogue for women to wear trousers. Until then, practically the only female names that made the pages of the American Field weekly magazine were those of winning Setters and Pointers like Sioux, La Besita, Mary Montrose and Becky Broom Hill. Just as in the written accounts, the paintings depicting upland shooting and field trials were all of men. Before long, however, women started to make their mark in American Field trials.

The influence and early involvement of women in the sport is indisputable. Wives of early professional trainers made the long, arduous journey to the Canadian prairies to spend their summers in makeshift training camps, feeding and caring for their husbands, families, and the help that accompanied them north. Wives and daughters of wealthy patrons and field trial club directors became enthusiastically involved as owners of dogs as well as in the administration and running of field trials.

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The Jagdgebrauchshundverband ( JGHV) is the German versatile hunting dog association that conducts performance hunt tests for the purpose of evaluating several different gundog breeds, including versatile dogs in North America. It is up to the individual breed clubs to decide which of those tests will be considered requirements prior to breeding an eligible dog. For the Deutsch Langhaar, the parent breed club in Germany requires passing scores on the first two levels of JGHV testing, in addition to a few other requirements, before a Deutsch Langhaar can be certified for breeding.

Now is the time to break in your boots for the season ahead. Learn more at IrishSetter.com, or try on a pair of Irish Setter's Wingshooters at your favorite retailer today.

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It was Summer 2021 when our almost-13-month-old Springer Spaniel, Timber, started throwing up. She was a puppy and had a strong desire to see the world through her mouth so we assumed she had eaten something strange and it would resolve itself. When that didn’t immediately happen we went to the veterinary clinic and started the diagnostic process. 

What we were ignorant of then was the possibility and danger of internal fungal infections.

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What makes an ideal grouse gun, or what Gene Hill would call “a gun of specialist function?” Does action type matter? What about gauge? How does the environment play into it? How has the modernization of gun-making changed grouse guns? How different is a grouse gun from a clays gun? How different is a gun built for ruffed grouse hunting versus shotguns used for other wild game? While I don’t have all the answers, I do have theories. Like any evolving tradition, they’re built on the backs of those who came before me.