Imagine this: Fall Journal is themed The Pheasant Hunting Issue!
By Tom Carpenter
They’re lined up like little prizes on the calendar: Opening Days across pheasant country.
And then, it’s going to be a long and fun hunting season for those who love the uplands and roosters and good dog work and sharing the field with friends and family.
Are you ready? I am! Prairie grouse sojourns are (more or less) in the rear-view mirror. Lark and I are chasing a few forest-style birds (read: ruffs and timberdoodles) a few times in the interim. Then it starts: What you live for, what I live for, what we live for: Pheasant Season!
We feed you a steady diet of mission-related content all year long, with hunting intertwined. In Fall, we celebrate THE HUNT with mission intertwined.
Here’s just a smack of what you will find in this issue, which we are really excited about:
SECRETS OF THE PHEASANT MASTERS
4 hardworking, blue-collar hunters (members all, of course) reveal their pheasant hunting secrets and insights
LONG WAY HOME
A beloved haunt, and old bird dog, and seeking the substantial
WITH THE WIND
11 ideas – and not your usual fare – for using airflow to your advantage to bag more birds
AN IOWA ADVENTURE
Hunting Hawkeye birds and exploring Iowans’ commitment to the land
SPRIG'S PLACE
A little bird dog tale (and some wonderful artwork) of hunting a special place we all own: public lands
Here’s what I had to say about our thrilling cover, and it about sums thing up:
Because ring-necked pheasants are the only upland gamebird that one can reliably identify as male or female in the air, we can only shoot cockbirds. That’s what makes the cry of Rooster! so thrilling on a chill autumn day as a bird claws skyward and jets off. Maybe he cackled. Or maybe not. If it’s sunny out, perhaps glorious colors gave him away. Could have been a long, long and streaming tail. That namesake white neck ring is a dead (well, if you shoot straight) giveaway. Lane Warner captured our cover image of a wild-as-wild-can-be rooster making its getaway. Rooster! Are you ready for pheasant season? We thought so.
If you are a current member, look for the issue in your mailbox soon. If you have yet to join and want to get this issue, or you have lapsed and want to renew, you can still get it. Here’s how. Join or renew here (you will get a $25 Bass Pro Cabela's Gift Crad when you do!) then drop me an email at tcarpenter@pheasantsforever.org that you have done so, include your address, and I’ll get you a copy of this special issue.