We’re back in the field, celebrating Montana’s upland opener. George Lyall joins the show to help us relive our opening week successes and failures. We’ll talk bird numbers, drought conditions, dog’s point, porcupines, public lands, big sky country, losing a dog in the field, blue-green algae, first aid in the field, cowboy hats train bird dogs, and are bird dogs selfish, or do they have the biggest hearts?

Ben Brettingen from OnX Hunt joins the show to help us count down the last remaining hours before America’s first upland openers kick-off. We’ll discuss new features just released on the OnX Hunt app that will help you become better hunters in the field this fall, plus we’ll talk about hunting with young bird dogs, do-it-yourself bird hunts, and so much more.

Brittany French works for Pass it On – Outdoor Mentors. Brittany explains how the organization began, their mission, and how they successfully take hundreds of new hunters into the field each year. She relives important hunting memories, shares how she’s working on more than 300 upcoming hunts this season, roll call for mentors, plus we discuss how each hunter can make an impact in simple yet meaningful ways this hunting season to help Pass it On!

Fred Bohm is a diehard upland bird hunter that owns the company Sage & Braker. Fred joins the show to talk about the importance of gun cleaning and maintenance, then we discuss his passion for hunting upland birds in the mountains, and so much more!

Tyler Webster joins the show to give us his up-to-date view from the prairie in North Dakota. We talk about current pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, & hungarian partridge populations in his home state and in Montana. Plus we discuss how upland birds can survive a drought, adjusting hunting plans to find pockets of habitat with ample moisture, early-season bird dog training, personal training, new North Dakota trespass laws, hunting boots, and planning a dream upland bird hunting season.

Andrew Wayment is the author of the book Idaho Ruffed Grouse Hunting: The heartbeat of the Woods. We talk about grouse hunting in Idaho, chasing 9 different species of Idaho’s upland birds, why grouse in the mountains don’t see hunters, and reasons that Idaho is one of the best upland bird hunting destinations in America.

Scott Fransen joins the show to help us say goodbye to Hank, his beloved Labrador retriever. Hank unexpectedly died from cancer at the age of 5 years old. Scott shares the impact of losing Hank too soon, and we relive special moments in the field.

Andy Houser is a Senior Wildlife Biologist at Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever. Andy gives us his view of Nebraska’s upland bird populations and habitat conditions going into this season and he shares his opinion of the best places to chase the state's mixed bag of upland birds. Andy also gives an update on the state's growing list of publicly accessible acres to hunt, and habitat projects that will benefit wildlife and hunters.

Erik Vrbas operates a year-round outfitting business called Outdoor Obsessions based out of Downs, Kansas. We dig into Erik’s life as a full-time hunting and fishing guide, and get a pheasant, quail & prairie chicken report from Kansas, a potential bird hunting hot spot for this coming season.

Terry Ides operates Ides Guides in the Ruffed Grouse Capital of the World - Park Falls, Wisconsin. Terry shares a wealth of grouse hunting knowledge from his 40+ years of guiding in the grouse woods, public lands worth hunting, his habitat management recipe for continuous grouse hunting success, grouse dogs, grouse that make humans their friend, when is the best time to hunt grouse each day, plus Terry gives us a ruffed grouse report from his neck of the woods.