Transcript for On The Wing Podcast Ep. 336: Inside PF & QF: How Membership Fuels Habitat, Access, and Bird Hunting
Speaker 2 (00:50.57)
Welcome to On the Wing podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. As we enter the heart of bird hunting season, many in our listening audience are in the fields chasing their bird dogs in search of quality habitat, public access, and wild birds. So as you jump in the truck, turn on this podcast and go from spot to spot, I want to ask you one simple question.
Are you a member of Pheasants Forever or Quail Forever? On today's episode, I'm going to spend a bit of time with our membership department, folks that spend their days talking to members, servicing our members, and living out the passion of our organization through the rank and file membership that belongs to this organization.
And part of this episode is underscoring the importance of every listener being a current member of Pheasants Forever and or Quail Forever. It's incredibly important. We get roughly 1.2 million pheasant hunters out there in the country, roughly 400,000 quail hunters out there in the country. We only have about give or take five to eight percent market penetration, not even 10 percent of the upland bird hunters are members of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. So today, without it making it sound like an infomercial, we are appealing to your desire for quality habitat, for public access, to get you involved in the organization, to have you...
Go onto the website or that next direct mail appeal, react to it, or simply going to a chapter banquet and becoming a member somewhere in this country. Joining me for this conversation, Brian Essling, the Vice President of Membership and Annual Giving for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, Emy Marier, Membership Manager, and Scotty Moehlmann, the Membership and Annual Giving Coordinator.
Speaker 2 (03:10.282)
Before we get into introductions, I want to once again recognize Purina Pro Plan as the national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and the presenting sponsor of On the Wing podcast. All of my pups eat Purina Pro Plan, not just because Purina supports the wildlife habitat conservation mission of our organization, which is incredibly important to me and should be important to each and every one of you, but the most important thing
of for our beloved bird dogs is that Purina has a team of the world's best scientists and nutritionists behind their dog food. Purina Pro Plan was created for the working dog like yours and like mine. Learn more at ProPlansport.com.
All right. Thank you for patiently waiting through. We'll start with Emy because you're kind of the catalyst for this conversation. Once you've been on the podcast, I think this is number three, number four. You've been on like roughly once a year. that was a, you and Casey were, we did one in the field maybe two summers ago. Tim Springer, talking about retrievers. but tell us a little bit about, what you do for the organization in the membership department. then tis the season for hunting reports. Bring some retriever spirit.
Speaker 2 (04:37.506)
We'll go around the horn and you can start by telling us what you've been out chasing so far.
Absolutely. So membership manager, and that means I'm dedicated to growing our upland conservation community. And a specific tool that I help put out there are those mailed appeals. And right now we've actively got our fall appeal and that would be a product of my output of, again, looking to grow the upland conservation community and hopefully get that 10 % number more like 15, 20. Right on. Because it does matter.
Yeah, it does,
And I know it matters because I did just recently get to enjoy prairie romping in North Dakota. I tacked on a little small Sharpie hunt to the non-resident duck opener that my fiancé's family is well established in their tradition. I just wanted to put a little upland twist. It was great. I've got two bird dogs. I mentioned retrievers. I've got the old dog and that was really the focus of my season this year. Locke says a flat coated retriever and he's 10 and a half. And the reality of, don't know how many seasons I get is strong. I like to look, I've got medium sized dogs. So 10 years is my goal for each dog and anything after that, I'm just calling the bonus years. So I'm a half a year into the bonus years. And that is what I'm trying to be hyper aware and make sure that I get dedicated just Lux and I. So our Prairie app. The tenth. Yup. Chasing Sharpies is great. got our.
This is 11th season?
Speaker 1 (06:12.044)
limit the day that we had some wind to help us figure out how to pin them down. the habitat looked great in the area that I was. I tried all new public spots trying to find them around the area we duck hunt. So hopefully I can continue replicating. I'm going to go two days early and chase those little fuzzy footed suckers.
Was this your first sharp tail hunt? No. Okay.
but it was important that it was just Lux and I. And then Lou, the three-year-old lab came up and he was the duck dog champion. then, yeah, it's Minnesota pheasant opener has happened and that is probably my favorite opener of them all. The pheasants is my jam and that's what I trained to hunt, loved to hunt and I will be hunting them into the cattails and the bitter cold.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:02.69)
Did you find him in the cattails on opening weekend? Thank goodness Noah's right. What did you find?
Thank goodness, no.
Speaker 1 (07:09.642)
Yes, crops are still in. So we found that that was really applicable to corn. They're starting to come out. We were getting rain on Sunday. So I think that kind of spurred up a boost. But soybeans weren't. So leveraging onX and crop layers, we started figuring out what was corn last year. It's safe assumption that that could be soybeans and that would be picked. And that kind of helped us target the high quality grass with a crop edge, but a picked crop.
And that helped. Numbers were up last year in Southwest Minnesota. It definitely got hit with rain in the springtime and it was noted it'd be patchy, but that was my first, like I really can tell. I hunt this area traditionally for opener year over year and it's down, but it's back, baby. So that was great. We got back to back opener or back to back limits, which does not happen. I took four days figuring that be the link to get our possession limit. And I was home Monday.
You need to bring it real with you so can eat some of those that keep up
It wasn't unexpected. Yeah, update.
Speaker 2 (08:17.294)
So that's great. So you saw really good VIRT numbers.
And we had great dog work. again, prioritizing. At that time with the old dog in Monday, he was the absolute rock star. He was trailing roosters. It was one thing they were running already. I don't know if they've just passed on the message, but that's a great tactic. Lux is a very methodical trailer and they were not going to lose him. And the fun of the Flusher is keeping up with the dog and your heart rate getting up when it's getting birdie and you'd
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:50.36)
just trucking and that panned out with rooster flushes. Luckily we had a good ratio of roosters to hens.
Yes. So you're very pleased with Luxe. I'm thrilled. Yeah, good. Good. Yeah, as a person who lost a pup, you know, after her 10th year, savor that, which clearly you are and you're thinking about it. that's, you just never know. And that's super special. So hopefully you have some photos of that successful opener with Luxe. Great. I don't recall seeing any gray in Lux's coat.
My three-year-old lab has more gray than looks.
Is that a flat coated retriever thing that they just don't gray out or is that a state?
Speaker 1 (09:35.086)
Peter Pan of the dog world forever young. I don't know if the lack of hair.
Is that right? don't- The three year old lab has more grays than the euro. Ten and a half euro lab.
He really wants to get a bumper or a duck or just go hunting. He's like, my god, let's go. Even though he hunts, I call him Lunato at this point because he will quarter across however many people there are at full speed, non-stop. Here's how many birds he just blows over because he's going mock ten. Whereas the veteran looks very methodical and he's...
Again, he'll get on that trail and it's, you're going to be able to follow along. Lou, when he gets birdie, if he gets really close to it, he'll just go dead sprint straight to it. So you're like hot birdie, is that all of sudden he just beeline? You need to get on the whistle or get up there. Yeah. Again, flushers. You're just running around a field having a blast.
Well, we'll make the transition from flushers, but with our veteran in the group to a pointing dog, Brian of the wire hair variety. Yeah. Welcome. Yeah. This is your first podcasting debut, isn't it? First on the wing podcast. Yeah. Have you done other podcasts? A couple. Oh yeah. Okay. Cool. Don't. Yeah. No. No slight. I feel good.
Speaker 2 (11:02.926)
Tell our listeners a little bit about who you are and what you do. Yeah. I'm our vice president of membership and annual giving. And I've been with the org for 15 years, working in a variety of roles. But now I have the privilege to work with an awesome group of individuals. And then me and Scotty are just a couple of them. Talented, passionate, hardworking team that's
entirely dedicated to growing and engaging the upland conservation community. And they work tirelessly behind the scenes to connect people's passion for wildlife and wild places with real measurable impact on the ground. And that's specialty a part of. So, yeah, a little bit about me. I grew up in the Northwoods of Minnesota in Duluth.
on the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. Side note, Gordon Lightfoot's totally underrated artist and little insider info could be debated, but Rustic Inn has the best pies along the North Shore. that's a little hot tip. I grew up grouse hunting, grew up canoe camping, had a cabin on the...
the Canadian border and Voyagers National Park. that's where I spent a lot of my summers growing up as a kid in the woods, nonstop, every day, you know, slingshots with grouse, grab iron ore, tack and eye pellets. My grandpa would bring me down to the road tracks and Forbes and we'd fill ice cream buckets and we'd bring those to the cabin and we'd, brothers and I would just walk through the woods and- Would have you ever been successful with this iron ore pellet and the slingshot? 100%. Really? yeah.
I've tried at least a dozen girls with a slingshot. I've got some wrist rocket and attacking them. No kidding. yeah. Cause I grew up in the UP also iron or pellets, slingshot. I am all for all. Like I've never hit one. They're just, I don't know if they're just dumber up there or what. You're just a slingshot. I mean, who knows? I haven't put a wrist rocket on my wrist in 20 years, but yeah, it was a, that's kind of where my
Speaker 2 (13:21.39)
appreciation for hunting wild places started. I've got a six, almost seven year old, we're here pointer named Rainy and this will be his, is his seventh season. So is it Rainy Lake? that it's after Rainy Lake, Rainy Lake. Yep. Yep. And so I'm getting to that point where I'm like starting to check things off that I've been thinking about for a while. Like he's hitting seven, certainly like in his prime, like, got to start knocking some things off the list. that's kind of, my, what I'm trying to weed in a little bit here this year, this season rather. so got out to Montana and North Dakota, early season for, for sharp tails and huns and,
Had some success. Birds were a little bit down. Not gonna lie. I think we've, we all saw that Scotty, you did. others that we've talked about this, that's not, that's not news. but you know, got, got birds put miles on and at the end of the day, it's bird camp. I know sleeping in a tent, getting up and hunting with your dog all day and, or until the heat pushes you out of the field in that case. But,
You know, that's, that's what it's all about spending a week on the road. yeah. He's, talked about checking things off of Rainey's. What's number one on the, on your list for Rainey? Chucker. Okay. Yeah. You and Andrew. I know. I know. Are you going with him when he goes to pick up, yeah, we're going to Idaho and Oregon and November. Idaho and Oregon. Yeah. I did not know this. Yeah. Well, he hasn't submitted time off yet. I have, I'm a step ahead because I'm going regardless of if he ends up being, having that PT from a brute or not. but yeah. So, fortunately, I was fortunate to get down to, Arizona last December and chase some desert quail. I did not have Rainey. I wanted to bring him, but there were some logistical challenges, some things that I had in my mind of, you know, cover and his, you know, not being conditioned to, you know, the, topography and snakes. hate them. So they had me a little freaked out. But once you see it in the first guy, I was like, my gosh, he should be here. So it's only a matter of time. don't think, I'm prioritizing something else this year, but I definitely plan to, get back to the Southwest next season. It's a special place. Yeah, Montezuma's are pretty cool and Moving to our third featured guest Scott, but we're gonna call you Scotty much like my mom calls me Bobby as opposed to Bob you are You are the second Scott and your family your dad's name is That's correct. Yep. So I go by Scotty. All right, tell us a little bit about what you do for the membership department.
Yeah, I'm membership and annual giving coordinator. Kind of a two-fold part to my responsibility. One is just ensuring incoming donations and payments are allocated correctly, right? Like people, donors, dollars go where they want them to go. And then the other sort of developing component to my role is helping Emi execute to her strategies with membership growth and acquisition and retention. They've been with the org for just over two years.
Speaker 2 (17:14.313)
Okay, and how long have you been hunting? I am an adult onset bird hunter. How do you feel about that term, by the way? I like it. It's an age representative. Yeah, it's representative of me. Yeah. You know, I had like an outdoorsy background. My family was into power sports. We did a lot of four wheeling in the Northwoods out towards where Brian's at. So I was always kind of doing outdoorsy stuff, fishing and four wheeling. But we also always had like a connection with dogs. We rescued dogs my entire life. And so I'd always had a really close relationship with just tons of dogs. And so that had always appealed to me.
And I had always felt as though like that barrier to entry was really challenging and just wasn't in the right stage of life. Had nobody to show me. So it was always kind of on the back burner of like, I'm going to get a hunting dog someday. seven years ago, I got my first one. I'm on team pointer. Blitz is my veteran. He's seven years old. He's a rescue runner from a puppy mill that got shut down.
Speaker 3 (18:16.524)
Like a backyard breeder and they, they auctioned off all the puppies and all the dogs and nobody auctioned him.
Really? Yeah. Do you know how many dogs were part of the puppy mill?
I don't. I was told that it was large, but...
Good for you for saving that pup.
it's yeah, he's, he's a phenomenal pet. and just an amazing dog. He's really changed my life. you've forced me to start chasing upland birds, and, and duck hunting. So yeah, he's, I got him seven years ago and, just kind of started trying to figure it out and, it took a while, but, him and I are enjoying a lot of success these last handful of seasons. so I've got that the veteran, but then.
Speaker 3 (18:58.958)
opposite of Emy's theme this year where she's getting her, her old vet in the field. I've also, recently got, my first, like, official, like well-bred bird dog. I've got a five month old poodle pointer from, from, Eric Borkowski in Minnesota. His name is Gizmo.
meaning to ask you about the word or the name gizmo. Is that like a grem... was it a gremlins reference? It is. What a weird name to pick there buddy.
Speaker 3 (19:33.134)
But he looks the part though with that scruffy beard and brown little guy. I y'all... Yes, he does look like a Muppet. But yeah, as a kid we had, you know, VHS. What you watched was what the tapes you had and we had gremlins. So I watched gremlins a lot, Gizmo. Yeah. That's that name.
was like a month.
Speaker 2 (19:50.186)
I love it. Love it.
Yeah. So, so my, my season has been, been awesome. Like I said, my theme has been getting Gizmo on birds while also getting Blitz in. He's in his prime, similar to Rainey. so I took Gizmo on the Minnesota teal opener and, we did very well in Western Minnesota. He got a lot of retrieves and we shot, unusually well. Usually there's a lot of missing with, those blue wings and green coming in, but we, my buddy and I shot well and Gizmo, did great, did fantastic.
I also went to Northwestern North Dakota, similar to where Brian was at a little west of where Emy was. just after the sharp tail opener got, both Blitz and Gizmo into, a fair number of sharp tails. The numbers were down a
Speaker 3 (20:38.656)
Okay. You were on a pod. It was. Yep. Yes. Yep. so give his, Western wing shooter podcast a listen, if you want an update of how things are going up that direction. Cool. bird numbers are down a little bit for sharp tails. Huns were quite down to the point where I made a conscious decision to not target huns. just, we had a hard time finding coveys that were large enough where you felt okay, taking some birds out of them. but we did get, Gizmo's first upland bird was a hun.
and he, we got them on some sharp tails as well. the sharp tail numbers I felt were, were pretty good. They weren't bad. we had a comfortable year to last year. in Northwestern North Dakota. following that I went out very briefly for the Minnesota pheasant opener on a little piece of, a private CRP that's just right by my parents place in, it's near La Center, Minnesota. and, the CRP had been mowed except for, maybe like a five acre strip and it was just. Really? Yes. So it was great learning experience for Gizmo. He went in and forgot that he was a pointer for a little bit and I didn't shoot.
Speaker 1 (21:50.591)
So just let him kind of get in there and learn. so we didn't seal the deal on a, on any pheasants. He was pointing by the end of the strip. got into, I don't know, probably 20 pheasants in our, you know, half hour walk. Cause they were just all right there. They were everywhere else to be. Um, yeah. And then from there, uh, go to Northern Minnesota and chase, chase rough grouse and Woodcock and, uh, the Woodcock are in. It's been, um, phenomenal, uh, west of Duluth area. It's been, uh, it was just there on.
this past week and I'll be going again this weekend bringing up a buddy for his first official rough grouse hunt and it's... yeah tis the season.
Yeah, they're coming in hot. You know, you started your intro by saying you were an adult onset hunter. You've really embraced upland bird hunting.
Speaker 3 (22:41.302)
Yeah, I'm an addict.
For somebody that's listening that is relatively new, you have a bit of advice that you'd give them for, yeah, I know you talked about the limitation, at least in your mind around the dog. anything else that comes to mind that you would offer for advice for somebody that wants from adult onset to addict? Or somewhere in between. Yeah, or somewhere in between. I'm loving the addict life right now. But I would say the most critical piece of advice that I would give anybody who's new, just getting into it, try to find a mentor. I'm extremely fortunate to have found the mentor that I did. Around the same time that I joined Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, this is prior to me working for the organization, I was a teacher. I joined a bunch of conservation organizations and consumed, just read their stuff. But I also joined NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association went to my chapter's training day, just drop in had no idea what to do. And, somebody came up and his name's Bob, came up and introduced himself, asked if I needed a hand and he said he needed a hand. And, from there we started training the rest of the summer. And then, he just kind of took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and, and helped me find success at a reasonable rate. And now I'm hooked.
Awesome. Well, and that is kind of one overarching thing that we want to leave listeners with today is all sorts of benefits of becoming a member. Cause that same story that you talk about with Navda, you know, there's many people that get involved with a local Pheasants Forever Quail Forever chapter and find that buddy, that mentor that becomes a best friend, hunting partner.
Speaker 2 (24:34.168)
dog training partner and that can lead to kind of a lifetime of joy. And that's some of what we want to talk about today. We're going to get into that. But I want to, it was real important for me to talk with each of you, not only about the jobs you do, but also how enthusiastic and, you know, how much time you spend in the fields, in the forests, public lands.
but also private lands in search of a variety of different birds because I think, you know, it's really, I think validating when our members hear the reflection of our membership department employees, that is the exact profile of the people that send in their dollars to become rooster boosters or life members and know that those dollars are going towards people that are working every single day because they have the same.
interest in achieving results at top to bottom, whether you're, you know, Ron Leathers, the chief conservation officer or a biologist in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, or Scotty Moeman, you know, processing membership check. Everybody is invested in this organization with their full mind, as well as their heart and soul in achieving success. So that's one thing that I definitely want to come through.
as we talk a little bit about membership here. Before we do, I want to take a pause and share a Grain Belt Premium Moment from the field. Grain Belt Premium and Premium Lite. The Pheasant Fredly Beers on Liquor Store shelves right now with the Orange Camo Pheasants Forever or Blue Camo Pheasants Forever Camo Cases.
and they're on store shelves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Today's Grain Belt premium moment comes from my home state. Jacob Northus from Michigan writes in. And I picked this one. It's not one singular moment, but it was really sentimental. And here's Jacob's words. It's not, not too often that.
Speaker 2 (26:55.778)
You get to repay the person that put you in place to have so many firsts. My dad was there for dang near my first everything. First grouse, first turkey, first pheasant, first deer, you name it. He's the one who taught me to shoot, to fish, to hunt, and to understand the landscape and appreciate it. I have been fortunate to be there and give my dad
four of his firsts in his life. My dad's first sharp tail, first sage grouse, first hun, and first dusky grouse. I have been blessed to have an amazing career, live in some amazing places, and hunt some things people only dream about. But the moments that always get me misty eyed and make me the most proud are those moments when he
My dad would just look at me slightly bewildered with a wry grin and a slight tear in his eyes and say, thank you. He was always there to give me my first growing up and I hope I can give him just as many more firsts as we wander the fields and forests together. Jacob, thank you so much for writing that in on our Facebook page.
I just love the sentiment there. think we can all take a lot there, whether it's mom, dad, brother, buddy Bob, an uncle, you name it, that can generate Greenbelt premium moments in the field. We've got a Greenbelt premium prize back headed your way, All right. So that, think story, and Scott, your story epitomizes kind of the
what members want to see their dollars go to, helping create opportunity in the form of Habitat, opportunity in the form of public access. So as you think about, and we'll start with you, Scuddy, you think about your interactions with members, whether that's on the phone, via email, at Game Fair, at Pheasant Fest, you know what?
Speaker 2 (29:13.23)
Maybe it's questions you get or something top of mind since you've worked here. How long have you worked here now? over two Something that you want to highlight for our listeners that you think is important for them to recognize about their membership.
years.
Speaker 3 (29:29.198)
Yeah, I mean, their, their membership kind of makes all of that possible, right? Like, it's the lifeblood of the organization is that that revenue that comes in from those memberships. Um, and that's, I don't know that my membership in Pheasants Forever was a big part in helping me. There was lots of other components too. So I don't want to just say like it was just Pheasants Forever, but my membership in Pheasants Forever was a big part of helping me shorten that learning curve and just kind of learn what I got to do to get out there and have that success. So just.
Being a member, getting engaged, consuming the content, right? Like I still keep every issue and I have some archived issues from before I was a member too of the Upland Super issue. Just to read those stories and those strategies, those how-to, that was extremely helpful. The content that the organization puts out, thinking about like a rooster road trip and the other videos. And I still save just about every recipe that I find in the journal, tear out the page and keep it for cooking.
You had a recipe in the journal here, not too long ago. I do, yeah, and the most recent one for a pheasant popper bisque.
Pheasant popper bisque. Yes. There you go. You have truly come full circle. You're endorsing it?
Speaker 3 (30:40.076)
Yeah, highly recommended if you love making soup and you love that jalapeno popper classic wild game. can do that with just about anything, not just a pheasant, but it's.
You're a good, good chef. will say that. You talk about the importance of content, know, whether it be the Pheasants Forever Journal, Rooster Road Trip, YouTube pages. It sounds like you're kind of a learner from a variety of different platforms. Is that accurate? Yeah. Anything that sticks out to you most as being beneficial to, you know,
That is, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:17.856)
learning from, cause I'm not a person that learns super well from, like I need hands on experience to learn something. As opposed to reading it. love reading, I love stories. That's more of an inspiration piece to me rather than a learning of how to, how do you function?
Uh, I, little bit of both. do, I do enjoy just like absorbing information. Uh, as I'd mentioned, I used to be a teacher. I had taught for seven years in high school. So, uh, I do have a love for learning. Absolutely. Um, and yeah, I think it really depends on your learning style, right? I, I, I gained a lot from the, uh, the journal, the stories with where, um, and especially like the super hunt issue, just looking at.
Not necessarily like it was it wasn't written as a how-to but I'd try I would try to like take a moment and just Read about the successes and the failures like okay What did this individual whoever the author was or you know, whoever was engaged or were they doing? Where were they going? Why were they doing that and try to get the why behind those sorts of what they're doing and say see if I can translate that into something that I'm doing Especially when you come to you know, I sharp tails an excellent example. I just recently started
started hunting sharp tails. I kind of had to restart that process of just like, figure it out. You know, it helps to, you know, be boots on the ground, but boy, is it tough burning up two days to try to figure it out. It's good to, good to kind of come in ahead and prepared for a little bit.
I think it serves as both learning and inspiration. Yeah. Which is what I love about it. Yeah. And I think, as I think about the Pheasants Forever Journal, Carp does a really nice job of sprinkling the inspiration, but he goes very heavy into practical how-to. Whether that's the pheasant hunting minute that you can watch on video on our social channels during hunting season, or he does a nice job of...
Speaker 2 (33:14.988)
most recent issue is mix it up. Throw away the pheasant hunting plan and mix it up with these five different recipes to change it up. Whereas I think about sparks on the quail forever side, heavier on the inspiration side, digging into the culture and the history of quail hunting and the different species with a little how-to mixed in there. I really appreciate they're both...
have a little bit distinctly different approaches to how they produce those publications. Back when we started Quail Forever in 2005, that was one of the things that there was an awful lot of the exact same content in both publications. And as we diverged those two brands and created two publications and they've got their own unique voices, I think they've both become better in their own ways.
Speaker 2 (34:16.314)
All right, transition to Emy as you think about membership and what you do for the organization and things that, you know, is there something that pops into your mind that you want listeners to know or you want to underscore? Maybe they know, but you just want to underscore the importance of.
I would say, again, tapping back into that growing the upland conservation community. We are hunters and that identity is very strong, but being a part of a collective that's focused on habitat, focused on a collective voice at critical programs that make sure some of that private land that we're accessing is high quality habitat. Again, referencing back to really experiencing my first pheasant opener last year of weather.
decimated that population. There was a late hatch, but that was my first time of, this stuff matters and you can't control the weather. And I've worked for PF for 11 years now. So I've always do know what you can control as habitat. But I really saw that last year because of the best chance of surviving the
crap weather that they can get dealt is that there's high quality habitat and you need that on public, you need that on private and that like habitat mosaic that we talk about. And then again, it all comes down to people though, is really still the core of it. And when I go to different events and stuff, I love tapping into and seeing how large and engaged our members, donors, like again, tapping into that public conservation community. for me, the importance of membership is the importance of being part of them.
of paying your dues and doing what's necessary to keep this resource that I'm just like my 10 and a half year old dog. Like it's not guaranteed. You don't guaranteed get this every year. I'm riding the high. This is going to be a great year, but I don't know what's going to happen next year. I might not have my dog. I might find that I got the crap weather situation and habitat loss is always a potential and stuff changes. So.
Speaker 1 (36:23.958)
Again, I can't control a lot of that, but I can control being a member, paying my dues, and having confidence that there's an org that's focused on the heart and soul of an upland bird hunter and the love of bird dogs and making sure that they'll be somewhere to go. I'm willing to travel if I have to. And that, again, helps me tap into just outside of my immediate state. I can read the forecast. can tap into a larger community of people who don't just hunt.
in the Midwest and find adventure and fulfillment and have that hope that there's people like me willing to fight tooth and nail to make sure that this doesn't go away.
Well-stated, very representative of it's not just a job, it's a lifestyle. It's a part of who you are. Yes.
I live for fall.
as we all do. Yeah, I just saw Travis Frank posted something on Instagram like a week ago. He's like, I wish October came around twice a year and lasted six months each time. Well said, Travis. I agree with that. Yeah. If you could just hit the pause button. Yeah. Just sit in it. Yeah. October 3rd, well, let's say October 5th.
Speaker 2 (37:44.286)
Everything's open, like live up October 15th every day of the year. Some states aren't open October 15th, so forgive me Nebraska and Kansas. It's the thought that I'm after. Yeah, I was. And there's a lot of states that are. Well, just say December 1st then. Almost everybody's open by December. For the Northern states, October's where it's at. What about you, Brian? What do you want members to leave with?
Something that we've all kind of talked about. and you just alluded to it. we've got it in, in our name, we're the habitat organization, you know, every time we talk about chasing roosters or quail, heading out across the prairie with a bird dog. And even if you don't water quality, soil health, rural economies here are hunting heritage. are traditions of wild places and, and open spaces, public access.
And what that provides us all, is something pretty incredible. and you know, quality habitat is, at the heart of that. without it, there's no birds, no flushes, no memories, no future hunts, no future puppies, bird dog puppies. and that's, that's why membership matters. You know, it's, it makes everything we do possible.
You know, restoring grasslands and wetlands, expanding access, working with farmers and ranchers on conservation practices. It's unrestricted funding that fuels our mission. and when you support organi organization, this organization, as a member, you can be confident that that over 90 cents of every dollar we raise is going directly back to mission delivery. That's something I personally, yeah. Say that again. Cause that.
That's a stat that I think we're all super proud. Yeah. Over 90 cents of every dollar that we bring in through this organization, we put directly back into the ground since 1982. That isn't a one-off stat. Nope. That's a four plus decades that. Yep. Incredible. Um, and so that's the case in point, you know, when it comes to doing the work, more birds, better habitat, more places to hunt the best way.
Speaker 2 (40:16.45)
that you can make that happen is by becoming a member of As Is Forever, Quill Forever. Because every membership, yours, mine, everyone listening, thank you. All of those who aren't yet member, thank you. Builds the foundation for that next project, that next public access, land acquisition, that next coffee rise. yeah. I want to thank OnX.
a proud corporate member and supporter of our organization. I think you brought up OnX Scotty and part of your learning to become a bird hunter, right? I mean, it's a critically important tool. It's absolutely been a game changer for folks, whether they're longtime bird hunters or adult onset bird hunters. Thanks to OnX for supporting Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever as a national partner.
and as a presenting or a partner of on the wing podcast, OnX, is also a proud partner of our path program, public access to habitat program, which has already opened up more than 100,000 acres of private lands to public hunting opportunities in South Dakota and Nebraska. And new this year, we've got path programs going on in North Dakota, Oklahoma and in Michigan. So thanks to OnX for making a real impact and helping us put boots on the ground through the PATH program. If you want the best tool in your hunting vest to support our shared mission, go to the link in our show notes. You'll see onXhunt.com and use the code PFQF for 20 % off your OnX subscription.
I'm using that code PFQF and ONNX will make a donation back to our Wildlife Habitat mission. All right. As we round third and head towards home to close out this episode, there are lots of different ways that folks can get engaged. again, we don't want this to sound like an infomercial, but we sure want you to take this as a call to action.
Speaker 2 (42:39.022)
As I mentioned in the opening, roughly 10%, the best statistic we've ever reached is 10 % of the upland bird community being members of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. One in 10 of you listening, the highest point of our membership ever. That's not a real good market penetration, one in 10. So what we're asking folks to do today in the heart of hunting season, is heed the call to action, get involved with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. Scotty, what's the one way you want to tell folks how to get engaged?
Yeah. I mean, from my angle, the adult onset hunter is just be a member, get involved and consume that content. There's so much to be learned. and not just from our organization, PFQF and the journal. got to give a plug to, on X with on spot earlier. one of the most informational pieces of media that I've consumed are their master classes. so I got to add, I had to give them a plug before I jumped into the PFQF stuff. So if you have a species, you want to hunt, check out the on X master class on it. They likely already have one made in it. You'll learn a ton. Phenomenal company and supporter, but yeah, be a member, consume that content, follow us on social, check out the website. There's just tons and tons and tons of stuff to learn. when it's not October, you've got the rest of that year from, you know, February to September, February, you know, up to September where you can consume that information, stay engaged. And, and yeah, just, just keep on learning and getting involved. you also, I think it's super important for me. I wouldn't be where I'm at if somebody didn't make that opportunity to share that passion with me and help me kind of take me into their wing. I think that's really important for people to hear like those opportunities need to be made. Like you need to go out of your way to make them that they may come to you, but it's not really going to come together unless you go out of your way to, to, help somebody get engaged in the passion that you love. Right. So
Speaker 2 (44:40.558)
And that's richly rewarding. You obviously help pass on something that's important to you, but most of the time you create a lifelong friend in the process of that. Amy, what do you want to call to action to be? Understanding membership trends and where we're at is a lot of times people will take action, though one year. it usually is when they had a great year. Like I feel super engaged. I just had an awesome season. I'm riding a high and I'm willing to get engaged. But the low years is when that's needed the most. So just that concept of the renewing aspect of membership, it is not a one-time act. It's a true stewardship. ongoing way to give back. And so to really take the time to think of how much is that giving back component to something you love so much critical to you and how can you make it really easy. being in so much of right now as the season just started, we're so focused on openers. So whatever opener feels like fault to you, especially if it's related to an upland bird species, we're way more than just pheasants and quail. And we all understand that.
the upland birds, that is our jam. And any of those openers that you feel the most passionately tied to, consider making it a habit to just, that's when you go on and you renew your membership. But find that intentional piece that makes it really easy to not forget. Life gets busy, we all know that. But that's that intentional pause and realizing that there is something larger than you and the
Speaker 1 (46:29.866)
ethos of this org again is to provide that upland conservation community and allow you to tap into something that's larger than you, no matter how your season's going, where you're at with your bird dogs. And yeah.
That's a really great point and something that I've talked about over the years But I haven't talked about it recently and it you bring up at the start of your point there That people rally around pheasants forever and quail forever Generally speaking when bird numbers are great Which is counterintuitive to how the rest of the nonprofit world Sort of functions, know folks, you know when they have a scare related to cancer
They rally towards the American Cancer Society, or they have a loss in their life. They connect with their church. Sort of the opposite is true. When bird numbers suck, hunters sort of become apathetic and disengaged. When we need people the most, bird numbers are great. People are super jazzed. It's their jam, and they're engaged.
The reality is we have this constant churn of members. Roughly, 70 % would be wonderful if we had 70 % retention of our members in only 30 % churn. But the reality is it's most often in the 40 to 50 % range of people that churn each year, rough numbers. So if we could just...
change those percentages to be 80 % of folks just like you said, that call to action when you're connected to the Nebraska Quail Opener, like remember, get online, become a Quail Forever member and make it a habit or just become an auto pay, right? Renew and become a life member. That will make a difference in good times and in bad so we can kind of smooth out that curve.
Speaker 2 (48:40.622)
bit. it's a boxes of shells, half a tank of gas. Yeah, a few cases of grain belt premium. Yeah.
I do want to add again, just doubling down of the importance of the people component. I am actually very similar to Scotty. That doesn't really come out. I got involved with the Retriever Club with a flak. I'm like, I know I want to do this. I have no idea what I'm doing. So someone help me. The same thing got tied into a group connected to the dog training side. If you're looking for that group, that's where a chapter you've already mentioned can be an amazing resource.
a learn to hunt program, a hands on habitat program. Just getting involved and going to a banquet planning program and connecting, doesn't mean you're instantly got to walk a field and carry a shotgun. can be way more approachable.
Absolutely. And you have a community around you as well to kind of tap in. And there is a reality of people start tying the org to people that are meaningful in their life. And if you listening are that very proud, strong member and are known for that conservation component to your hunting ethos as well, encouraged to be more open and willing to spread that and welcome more people in. Scotty tapped on it as a mentor.
I bring it up of, it's just a casual point of it, matters. And when you can say that with passion and pass that off, it just leaves little thoughts of again, of someone else, of, there is a way to give back. There is a way to make a difference, no matter the season. But so often you're connecting with a person who's passionate about the aura.
Speaker 2 (50:23.083)
can change someone's life.
Speaker 1 (50:30.732)
And so if you happen to one of those, just recognize that there's power in that passion and it is also something that you can pass on in multiple forms. But it means something continuing to pass on the passion in any shape.
people can change, as you said, can change somebody's Yeah. And human ethos, you know, which is something that, you know, as a bird hunter, as a conservationist, you know, is super important to me. It's important to all of us here sitting at this table and, you know, all of our members, supporters and partners, they wouldn't support our organization if they didn't believe in what we did. Yeah.
but there's enough people that believe in what we do that still can show up, you know? and so if you're listening to this podcast and you hunt pheasants or you hunt quail or you hunt prairie grouse, even if you hunt deer and turkeys, or you just appreciate, yeah, pollinators, grasslands, grasslands.
You need to be a member because if we want more birds, if we want better habitat, if you want more places to hunt and recreate, you got to be a member of the habitat organization. And that's it right there. Membership to the habitat organization is conservation. It delivers conservation. So, um, here's the shameless plug. Yeah. Sign up online or attend your local pheasants forever. Quilford forever chapter event. Either this fall, this spring, we got.
Speaker 2 (52:14.316)
Hundreds of events taking place over the next six to eight months. And you can learn more at pheasantsforever.org and quailforever.org.
There you go. As folks are listening, we do, you know, heading into, let's see, November. There's a lot of banquets in states like Kansas, Oklahoma coming up in the fall, kind of destination states. South Dakota. We're getting a little late. were a lot of them at the end of October here. But then as we move into February, March, April.
tons of chapter banquets across the country. You can find those banquets at pheasantsforever.org, quailforever.org. You can find our, as you talked about, Emy, our annual appeal offer that's online. You can find that at the website, Life Member Appeal. Got a sweet Yeti premium coming up in the near future that you can check out. When's that go live? Do remember?
It might be live. It's live. Is it live now? Yeah, it's live now. So really sweet Yeti premium on the website. So check that out. And the point is, you know, if you're driving from spot to spot or heading somewhere where you're to chase your bird dog around, please, you know, we don't ask you on this podcast over and over, but we're asking you today, please become a member of Pheasants Forever.
or of quail forever, it makes a difference for things you care about. Wild places to hunt and wild birds to find when you and your pup get there. For Scotty Moehlmann, for Emy Marrier, for Brian Essling representing the membership department, I'm Bob St. Pierre, thanking you for listening and reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise. Thanks for listening, folks.