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The Acreage Trap
Bird Hunters May Find Far Less Huntable Ground This Fall On paper, it can look like a great year to hunt birds in the West. The maps are full of public access. Walk-in programs advertise hundreds of thousands — in some states, millions — of acres of private land open to hunters. CRP still covers…
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Life Lists
Jon and I have been here before—heavy legs and burning lungs. We’ve circled this peak, crossing boulder field after boulder field. It’s taken nearly four hours to complete the circuit around this 12,000-foot Uinta peak. I’m drained. Ida’s standard Lab trot has surrendered to a nearby amble. But then I see it—for most, it would…
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Rio Flufferbunny
It was fall when she came to us on a plane from New Mexico, all legs and ears and sharp puppy teeth. She pointed from the womb — butterflies, song birds, turtles, tufts of grass stirred by a breeze — nothing was safe from…
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The Streak
Rio the setter is holding just below a lip of pitted volcanic stone a few paces up this 60 degree slope. We’ve climbed for over two hours to get to this point. The entire trek from the bottom the dogs have been trailing and repositioning. I can tell by Rio’s stature that she has trapped…
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Getting to Know the Rubys a Foot at a Time
Going from barely above sea level to over 8,000 feet in the span of a few days is challenging. So I’ve elected to start this hunt just focusing on the next step. Sure I’m here to bird hunt. But right now we just have to get legs and lungs acclimated to this new environment. I…
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The Dreaded Shooting Bag
I think the level of exertion at sporting clays courses should extend beyond the trigger finger. The name “sporting clays” implies a certain level of physical activity. But, a number of courses have paths for vehicles and even golf carts for transporting shooters and their gear from one station to the next. Distances between each…
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Way Upland Season II Episode 2
We pack up camp and head back on the trail, but water is starting to become an issue. Even though we are running dehydrated we manage to close in on some birds and Alex from APT Outdoors gets his first look at Hungarian Partridge. The Maah Daah Hey is kicking our butts — all our…
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Way Upland Season II Episode 1
Starting at the southern trailhead, we begin an overland journey across 160 miles of the the Little Missouri National Grasslands of North Dakota. The Maah Daah Hey starts at Burning Coal Vein Campground. The lab Ida, the setter Rio and I push our gear and bodies to the limit on this thru-bike route. Alex from…
