PODCAST EP. 390: Upland Bird Hunting Field Reports and Why Membership Matters

Speaker 1 (00:50.59)

Welcome to On the Wing Podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. All right, we've got a combo platter for today's conversation. We're going to talk a little bit of field reports. I've got a few folks that are hardcore bird hunters, and they've got a variety pack of bird dog breeds, which we'll talk about. And we're also going to talk about membership.

It is Elite Membership Week at the organization. So it's important to recognize the intersection of what we do as an organization to create upland habitat and public access. And it all starts with members in every form: our affiliate, our associate, our life members, our patron members, and our volunteers, our chapter members.

Joining me, Emy Pangerl, membership and annual giving manager. Bird dog breed of choice is? ... you're conflicted.

Speaker 2 (01:58)

Team Black Dog. I'm united.

Speaker 1 (02:00)

Well you have a flat coated retriever and a black labrador.

Speaker 2 (02:06.924)

You got it. Black dog.

Speaker 1 (02:10)

And then we got Scotty Moehlmann, membership and annual giving coordinator. You're also conflicted.

Speaker 4 (02:17)

I am conflicted.

Speaker 1 (02:18)

You have a Weimariner and a poodle pointer. Poodle pointer. Okay. Yep. That's what I was gonna, but I was stopping myself because your poodle pointer looks significantly different than the guy down the hall. Right? Who I'm referring to is Chris Kalis. He's got poodle pointers that are um, I guess their color eyes look like a chocolate labrador. Yep. Yours looks more like I I look at your dog and I think that's Simonette's wire hair. But it's a poodle fur.

Speaker 4 (02:53)

Yeah, yeah, they have a a wide range of colors and furnishings. So Gizmo is Gizmo has more furnishings.

Speaker 1 (03:00)

What is a furnishing?

Speaker 4 (03:03)

Oh .. their beard, their coat that's you know, on their belly and yeah. So Gizmo's got more furnishings than some poodle pointers, and that's just how I like it.

Speaker 1 (03:11)

I have never heard of a dog having furnishings .. haha It's having a furnishing, yeah.

I have short hairs, they don't have any furnishings. They're female short hairs, they really don't have any furnishings. Am I gonna get in trouble for that?

Speaker 2 (03:28)

No furnishings on a GSP. That's a fact.

Speaker 1 (03:31)

All right. Before I dig the hole further, Will Clayton, senior regional rep. Will, does your dog have furnishes? No.

Speaker 4 (03:42)

Mojo, the little black lab, just sleeps on the furnishing at home.

Speaker 1 (03:46.894)

yes! Will for the win! All right. So we're gonna we're gonna talk field reports. Everybody's been out fields and forests for well, a couple months at this point. So we're gonna talk a little bit about what we're finding. Then we're also gonna talk about membership and what's going on in the organization to get folks to

either join, renew, or upgrade.

Before we get rolling, I do want to once again recognize Purina Pro Plan is the national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever's Wildlife Habitat Mission and the presenting sponsor of On the Wing Podcast. My pups, you know, the ones without furnishings, have always eaten Purina Pro Plan. You like that, Scott?

Not just because Purina Sports, the wildlife habitat conservation mission of our organization, which is important to me and it absolutely should be important to you, the listener. But what's most important to me is that Purina ProPlan is a team of the world's best scientists and nutritionists behind their dog food. Purina ProPlan was created for the working bird dog like yours and like mine. You can learn more at ProPlansport.com.

Speaker 3(05:16)

From Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever National Headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is not Casey Sill, just in case you can't tell. My name is Mikayla Peper, and for the next few weeks, Casey will be adapting to becoming a family of four with his new baby girl. So I'll be taking over the upland newsroom for now. With that, let's dive into stories from the Habitat Organization and across the American uplands. I'd like to start today's report by saying Happy Veterans Day.

Speaker 3 (05:40.76)

Today we honor the brave servicemen and women who have fought to protect our nation, both here and overseas. If you are a veteran, thank you for your service. Now let's chat about one of our favorite pollinators, the monarch butterfly. Reports came in last week that monarchs have officially started to arrive at their historic overwintering locations in Mexico. These observations come from Journey North, an organization dedicated to leveraging technology advancements to track wildlife migrations.

Journey North is stewarded by our friends at the Monarch Joint Venture. A November 1st Facebook post reports that Estela Romero, who writes for Journey North, spotted monarchs flying the previous Saturday. The first one appeared in the afternoon, cascading down from the northern Sierra Chincua peaks, and heading south, perhaps headed for the El Rosario mountain range. These two sites in central Mexico are sanctuaries open to the public and are how we regularly receive updates on monarchs throughout the winter.

The same locations are typically preferred by the monarchs as they take refuge in Oyamel fir trees on south southwest facing mountain slopes. These locations provide cool temperatures, water, and adequate shelter to protect them from predators and allow them to conserve enough energy to survive winter. Next, huge news from our team in Montana, the Montana Grasslands Initiative has accomplished one million acres of habitat work across the state.

The team is now two thirds of the way to the five year goal of one point five million acres. This grand total is broken down into a few categories, including new public access at twelve thousand seven hundred and twelve acres, converted grasslands restored at sixty nine thousand thirty three acres, intact grasslands retained at five hundred eleven thousand five hundred and sixty acres, and vulnerable grasslands conserved at four hundred and thirty six thousand two hundred and fifty seven acres.

Here's what our Montana State Coordinator Hunter Van Donsel has to say about this accomplishment. Quote, it's impressive to see how our team in Montana has rallied together to reach this milestone. These million acres of habitat work happened very quickly compared to previous years, and that is a testament to how the Montana Grasslands Initiative has streamlined our team's efforts and aligned strategic goals with our partners. Despite this win, there's still a lot of work to be done to ensure we have grasslands forever for our favorite upland birds. End quote.

If you still have any leftover Halloween candy, please send me your Kit Kats. Reporting from PF and QF headquarters in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I'm Mikayla Peper.

Speaker 1 (08:20.504)

Field reports. Emy, where ya been? What you found so far?

Emy (08:29)

September was Sharpies, Huns and Ducks out in North Dakota. If anyone hunts ducks out of North Dakota, tack on a sharpie and hunts. I had a two days solo in front of our duck hunt, and that was actually one of my favorite hunts of the year. Shark Grass Prairies, totally different than Minnesota's long grass. You gotta get out and experience it. And in my case, I had a great day. I shot a limit of Sharpies over my flat coat and a limit of hunts over my lab. And it does not.

Get better than that. Wow. So that's a I encourage everyone to go and find their solo shortgrass prairie adventures in North Dakota.

Did you purposely separate the birds for each dog or did it was it just

One of those glorious days.

Speaker 1 (09:12.75)

And how did you it's been such a warm se well early part of the season, September, October, anywhere I've gone, it's been warm. Yes. Did you so it was warm, you just hunted early?

I've had warm and windy has been a lot of my combo, which helps and then find creeks with black dogs. It's know where the water is. Yep. Yes. And then know your dog. My flak hair is amazing. He paces himself. My lab will run himself into the ground. So it's know your dog, be smart. But you can definitely still get out.

Yeah. Get wet.

Speaker 4 (09:50.774)

Yeah.

as you look ahead, you know, we've got, you know, many quail seasons that are just getting rolling. and there's a lot of honey season lesson. What what where what else is on your calendar?

I've been chasing pheasants all of October. So despite the crazy hot opener that we had in Minnesota was a record setter. Again, found my creeks and got out with Dean Black Dog. And the following weekend as well. report basically was soybeans were out, but corn was in and being that hot and that windy, a lot of birds were definitely still in the corn. But numbers were

looking good and the hunters were out, so it's always exciting when people see that we're up. I think it was twenty percent in Minnesota.

Yeah statewide certain areas even.

Speaker 2 (10:40.774)

yeah. Opener was wild. Despite that heat, I haven't seen that many hunters. We actually had Audible in our starting field because it was booked. It was booked up. All the parking lots. And yeah, so it it hasn't been got your limit in the way that other years have been. But also I really do think with the wind, especially being in the corn. So this past weekend, more corn was out. We didn't have the heat as much and not as much wind.

And two of those days, you could find them in the grass on corn, crop edge, and that's my favorite. But in the middle of those two days was a wet, rainy, crappy day. And it was one of those. We hit mid season and it's they can be anywhere. You just can't. They weren't in the willows. They weren't on cattail edges. They were not in the grass. I think that's when they decide, I can be in the dead center of a cattail slough.

at this point to stay out of that rain and no one's gonna come find me here.

Tom Carpenter would call that a help.

It was Yup. So yeah, that was actually Halloween for us. So for trick or treat, we got absolute tricked. I haven't been skunked in a while, but it was a one of those days where you just have absolutely no luck. The one rooster that was the best opportunity, my dad's gun went

Speaker 4 (12:04.046)

Mm.

Hmm. it was a misfire shell.

Missfire. Yeah. The gun did not work. Bad luck. Just one of those days. Yeah. Yep. But despite that, the next day it was right back into where you can just pin down. The weather was actually the best day that we've had so far. And when we did get our limit that day. So pheasants. When it's early season pheasants, that's what I'm chasing. And honestly

Minnesota's looking good. My bank account's still recovering post a wedding. So I'm sticking where birds are in Minnesota and I've got a license.

You're a married homebody now. At least for the rest of this season.

Speaker 2 (12:44.018)

In terms of I'm not buying as money out of state licenses. Yes. So homebody to Minnesota fields. Yeah. mean you don't have to leave birds to find birds. Minnesota has birds this year. I happy to report.

I think you're right. I think the combination of, you know, the very warm couple of first weekends, the corn being still, especially as you know, we get into November and the you know, there's a lot of rain and what's not out yet is gonna be in for a little bit longer. We're gonna have pheasants in Minnesota for quite a while. This I mean it's we're gonna have a great mid to late season in Minnesota for pheasant.

Agree. Yeah. Can't wait to be a homebody in Minnesota Pheasant Fields. For the hellhole, 'cause I'll be marching through cattail sluice. I will be there.

Scotty, the furnished dogs. What i what have you found so far this the Wimariners on?

Yeah.

Speaker 4 (13:44.974)

She's slick. He's unfurnished. Yes. So I kicked my season off with early teal season in western Minnesota, my hunting season. And I would say a quick waterfowl update is blue wing teal were definitely up. We had a great first day. second day was a little slower, but green wing teal were down. We definitely saw a lot less green wings than we typically do. But we had a fantastic early teal. right after that, the next weekend, I headed west.

Speaker 4 (14:14.986)

Up out by where Emy was, western North Dakota, chasing sharp tails and Huns for a week. the sharp tail numbers are up from last year. People who were out that way definitely struggled last year. And this year they've improved. I would say they're not back to like the peak, crazy, you know, birds everywhere you go. But if you put in your miles, you could definitely find your birds. and the Hun numbers were definitely up. The Huns Huns made a really, really nice.

Nice rebound. So similar to Emy, I had one of those epic days where I went out in the morning with Gizmo and you know, walked the short grass prairie and got my limit of limit of Sharpies. And then in the afternoon I took Blitz, the Weimar runner out and just walked some some cut wheat and and found my huns. it's Wow Epic day.

We have a theme. Dog specialization. Yeah. For sure. That's fun.

Woo hoo.

Speaker 4 (15:08.972)

Yeah, I'm kind of I'm in a and Emy's in a similar spot too. She's we've got an old dog and a and a young dog. Blitz is my old dog, he's my Wamar honor. And so he's he works nice where I don't need to cover a ton of ground and then put the pup on the ground when I wanna put on the miles and gotta cast out to find birds. So that that worked. North Dakota treated us extremely well. so it was fantastic.

Following North Dakota came back and then it was October. And so for me, October means like I'm in the grasswoods. That's what I do with my Octobers. and it's been a pretty good year. I've done northern northern Wisconsin and the grouse numbers were better than expected for sure. we typically tend to move more birds in Minnesota and the places that I hunt in Minnesota compared to Wisconsin. And this year that's been the opposite. I would say that we definitely had better luck finding rough grouse.

in Wisconsin. following that, like early October, I shifted to Minnesota and like Carleton County mainly, but I did go way up up north past Ely as well. And the grouse have been solid, but I've had better years. Mm-hmm. the woodcock, on the other hand, have been phenomenal. It's been for me it's the most productive woodcock year in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. a lot of days where

as we were talking before before we record, you could just kinda let your dog work and your dog doesn't do it exactly as you as you like. You let that bird fly and you either go relocate or you can like be confident, knowing like, I I just gotta walk a little bit more and I'll find more birds. So yeah, October's been awesome. looking forward to shifting to pheasants. That's kind of like my cadence for the year is I do my early early season teal and sharpies and then October is for getting in the woods as much as I can and chasing

Rough grouse and woodcock. but I've done a little bit of pheasant as well, with late October. And now that it's November, it's kind of time to shift and a similar report to Emy. the pheasant numbers are are wild. Western Minnesota has been very, very good. I I've been fortunate to find spots where the corn's been out. so if you can kind of put in some windshield time and find where the where the where the crops are out, you can kind of do that all day walk. Otherwise, you know, if the crops are in, try to plan for a

Speaker 4 (17:25.698)

first thing or you know golden hour last couple last couple hours of the day and just kind of play it play your cards that way. So that's that's what my November is gonna shake out to be it's just western Minnesota predominantly chasing pheasants and then once we shift into the winter, yeah November and December, January I'll likely head south and do a do a Bob White trip.

Any idea what state?

yeah, it's one of two states. It'll either be Nebraska or Kansas. kind of two things in the hopper. I need to head to Nebraska to pick up a a gun that I want in a raffle. I've also got the second half of my

What did you win? Does your wife not know about it? You're looking at me weird.

My wife knows, my wife gives me a lot of grief. I don't gamble, but I do buy raffle tickets for guns to support teams and chapters. And I bought a couple of raffle tickets from Sparks to support his chapter. and and I was drawn.

Speaker 1 (18:25.464)

Hi!

And

Crossroads chapter, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Quail forever chapter. Correct. Yeah. South of Omaha. And you won.

Yep, Southeast Nebraska. I won, yeah. Yep. So I won rifle, the guy who maybe deer hunts one and a half one and a half days a year, but I want a weather B Mark V, 6'5 Creedmore. So gonna coordinate to go pick that up and use the second half of my license from last year, perhaps. and I also have a buddy who's thinking about a Kansas trip. So I'll likely have to decide between the two. so we'll see. I I'm leaning Kansas just because it's been it's been probably

five years since I've been to Kansas and chased birds. So I kinda would like to go back. I had a good time in South in southeast Nebraska last year. It was it was feaster famine. If you found quail, they were loaded up with quail. And if you walked a property that didn't have quail, you went on a very, very long walk. You know, it was just where you found them, you found them or you didn't. There was kind of

Speaker 3 (19:25.324)

Nice. Yeah.

Will the Thrill. So round us out here, what w y you know, i you have a a relatively newborn at

Yes.

Speaker 4 (19:38.804)

I do. Yeah. Yeah. This field report will be a little bit different than the previous two, as my family continues to grow. Thank you, thank you. but I I do make it out, you know. I'm not strictly at home. and I do enjoy my children, so it's okay that I've only taken two trips this year. so we started we always start in South Dakota for grouse opener on the prairies. I'm not much of a rough grouse hunter. so we did that. We

We basically go to the same spot. it's kind of become like a hunt camp thing. and numbers were really good. We got in that weekend and it was just like rainy and foggy and roads were muddy, but we've got our spots pretty good. We always try to venture out from there. But bird numbers are good, dogs worked really well, and it's just a great place to kind of open the season up. So had a little fun with some buddies that you really only get to see once a year for that trip and made it back home.

And then I use the other half of my South Dakota license, which I'm very happy about. and we just got back from there again last week. Not the same spot, went to a different location, obviously. But we know when we go and I I say we, I travel with Saban Adams, who's the state coordinator in Minnesota. He's been my hunt and buddy for ten years now. He's been we've been on the podcast. Yeah that's right. And

Smoke him if you

Longtime listeners will be happy to know that we're still buying sandwich meat from Dollar General. I think we paid three hundred and twenty dollars for five nights at a hotel and and we're bringing smoked meats on our trips still. So I don't know if our financial situation has improved at all or if we're just stuck in that model.

Speaker 1 (21:16.376)

Which is fitting because you are the best supporting actor on Birds on a Budget. Correct. it the film that was released couple early September.

Yeah, a couple of weeks. I think it was just a couple of weeks ago, maybe. but yeah, go watch that. If you hadn't, you'll get to meet baby bojo in there, the dog. but yeah, it's real life. I do that. Half forever. but one of the themes we always try to do is, with our limited time, we both have two kids, is like let's get to a place where we can find roosters, sharpies, huns, that sort of thing. So if you find roosters in the morning, then you've got something else to do. I mean I

I like to drink beer as much as anybody, but if you get your birds early, that's too early to start, you know. so we did. bird numbers in South Dakota where we were, pheasants were were really great, able to find sharp tails, even lucked into a couple of huns, which is something we always enjoy. and had a great trip. We got into town, it was eighty degrees, and we left town in a snowstorm. Really? Absolutely. Yeah, we were there for I think we hunted three days, and then a travel day on each side.

And that was a a for real situation. Yeah, yeah. Which is unique to hunting too, because you're the front is coming in. Yeah. Right. So you're just finding different spots that kind of play to the weather, just like Emy was talking about. But we were able to figure them out and did pretty well. I I will say this for our listeners. if you haven't been on your trip yet, emergency hanging grazing is a thing. And there was a drought this year, right?

And so if if you're going to your spot and you just assume that, well, we go every year, we know our places, things look good. I would do a little Googling, figure out kind of where that is. Because we found and we assumed later on that this is what was going on is a lot of the walk-in areas, you know, you don't know if they're in CRP, but you can assume they're in CRP. And they were hayed and grazed. And so that kind of well, it did two things. It limited your ability to go in a place that you're confident in.

Speaker 4 (23:20.578)

But it also kind of congregated the birds where if you did find them, they were there. And so I I think, you know, you're you're still gonna be able to go wherever you want, but it's worth a a quick search just to see if the counties you were in, you know, even some in western Minnesota were in that designation as well. And so there may be a few spots less that you're kind of anticipating there to be. And that's okay. You know, CRP is an ag program. And if you hit that great that

That drought threshold, absolutely, we gotta feed our our cows and our families. That's fine. But just know that that's out there. And I I never had really thought about it before. And that is absolutely if we have a drier summer moving into the fall, I will be paying more attention to that.

So a little bit of additional clarity. If you're hunting or you're used to hunting waterfall production areas or game production areas or wild wildlife management areas, you're gonna be fine. Absolutely. those while they might be grazed, it's not what Will's talking about. What Will's talking about is walk-in programs are largely built on top of private land that's enrolled in the conservation reserve program. Absolutely. And in times of drought,

Even those lands that are enrolled in walk-in programs in South Dakota, it's the walk-in access program. It can be opened up for emergency hang and grazing for that private landowner to pull off hay for their livestock. And when you roll up to the parking area, it'll look different than it did the year before when there was an emergency hang and grazing. But as you also mentioned, what that does

is force the birds to find the grass and when you find the grass that the birds have found, Katie Bar to the door.

Speaker 4 (25:08.844)

It gets pretty fun. yeah. So it's it's it's as you know, both the guests earlier mentioned, it's great out there. but you know, there's just something to consider, which is which is totally fine. and I haven't been out in Minnesota yet this year, but I the end of this week I think we'll finally make our our return to the Minnesota Pheasant Fields. been itching to do so. But yeah, ninety degrees for me on opener. I'm you know, not only do I have a black lab, but I don't like moving around.

When it's ninety. So I'm you know, we've been kinda hanging out. But there's plenty of season left and plenty of birds. So that's the plan for now. Yeah.

Yeah, there are plenty of birds. you know, folks have heard me talk. Well, last episode, we were live from South Dakota on opening morning. And you'll have to watch the film opening day next year to see the full what fully what transpired, but I'll just say that South Dakota is filthy with birds, particularly Darwin wheel dryer's land. It's private land.

Managed for habitat and it was filthy with pheasants. I'm I don't know if I've ever seen more pheasants in my entire life. But even rolling around taking video on public lands for B-roll, there were birds moving all over, like path properties in South Dakota, GPAs. if you've dreamed of taking a trip, whether it be North Dakota like Emy did, South Dakota.

Like I was at the Dakotas are chock full of birds this year. And it's been so darn warm that I think they're gonna have birds for quite a while. So make plans. Get out there. All right. I wanna thank Onyx. None of us, whether it's Emy, Will, or Scotty, we don't hunt for that picture to post on social media with Onyx as our guide. What we do hunt for.

Speaker 1 (27:13.632)

Is that perfect walk behind our bird dogs, with our best friends, with our family? The spots mean more every time we return. Some of those spots were passed down, and some we found ourselves. And the traditions we carry forward are the ones we hope somebody carries on after us. Time out here has a way of putting everything else in perspective. The best days rarely involve what ends up

In the back of your hunting vest, what we do cherish are the stories we tell for years and the people who are there to sh to share those moments with us. Long after the season ends, those are the things that stay with us. Onyx hunt. Here's to the hunt. and for folks, if you don't have Onyx, I apparently you're living under a rock. a lot of folks.

listening do have onyx look on your app now and you can see pheasants forever and quail forever path properties and build a wildlife area properties are all marked on onyx now and i will use that as a guilt trip to ask you to join renew or upgrade your membership just open up the onyx app and look at all the properties that members

And volunteers and donors and sponsors of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are putting out there on the landscape to make public access and quality habitat for all of us to hunt. You've in undoubtedly experienced the fruits of our habitat mission. You've undoubtedly seen the public lands with our logos on them on signage all across the Pheasant Range, Quail Range, and on the Onyx app today.

Very rare for me, but I am asking you, I'm imploring you. It is the season of giving. Give yourself the gift. Give somebody else the gift of membership in Defeasants Forever or Quail Forever or both. And we're going to talk a little bit about some ways to do that. We're going to start with the biggest ask. And I'm going to go to Will and talk about volunteering because the gift.

Speaker 1 (29:42.976)

Of somebody's time, I think is larger than even the dollars. And you know, to the 3,000 plus chapter volunteers out there on the landscape that work in, you know, putting on banquets, hands-on habitat days, chapters from all of us within Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever's employee ranks. Thank you. but we'll let's talk about volunteering. What's a chapter do? So

Th I there's undoubtedly listeners that are like, what's that chapter that I've heard I've heard the term what's volunteering mean in Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever? Paint us a picture.

Yeah. Well, and I do I do want to reiterate that. I I mean I was gonna share it if you didn't, but you know, my job is to serve our chapter network, right? And so part of that is fundraising, but the majority of it is time. And then no undoubtedly in my world, their gift of time is the most valuable thing I could ever ask of them. And so for the chat volunteers listening, I want thank you for that. to me, chapters are like well, they're they're again a up

perfect intersection of community and mission, right? so they're usually a a group of individuals that have like-minded interests, hunting, conservation, introducing people to the outdoors. Yes. Yeah. And you know, they get together, they're meeting once a month, and serving their community through the mission of Pheasants Forever. So whatever that means to them.

You know, there we don't put a ton of rules on each one of these groups. It's just understand the mission of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and go execute it in your community. and so that can manifest in a lot of ways. You know, Bob you already mentioned hands-on habitat days. so there's chapters actively improving public habitat in their community. there's chapters that host adult learn to hunt events, youth learn to hunt events. So educating their community on

Speaker 4 (31:48.846)

How to enjoy the, you know, the first half of this podcast, how to create your own memories, right? And that starts with someone taking the initiative to go do that. they fundraise, of course, because in the end, you know, we're we're a nonprofit. We create wildlife habitat and that takes money. so they put on banquets and host bingos and pint nights and and and try to source that dollar, sometimes $10 and $20 at a time from that community to help deliver our mission.

And so I I just think it's a yeah, it's just a perfect representation of what we can do in this country. just like minded individuals getting together to support a thing. And it can be really fun as well. I mean, this is usually I've I've been to hundreds of chapter meetings. They're full of some of the best of the best that we've got here. And I'd encourage anybody to listen to go check out or reach out to myself or the rep team and we'll get you connected with a chapter. So

And people are saying, you know, I don't I'm busy. I don't know. So a couple of things to underscore. Are you too busy to have friends? You know, some of the the best friends, best relationships that I've witnessed have started by people joining together at a banquet to do something that they love together. Sometimes people get married.

As a result of volunteering at banquets, right? Absolutely. also the dollar means more. And what I just to explain that, a chapter dollar raised locally from an individual we can use as match. And for folks that maybe don't know what that means, is individual dollars. We can go to state and federal entities to go get grants, and those dollars leverage tons more.

buy land to do habitat work. So so your dollar in Westington Springs, South Dakota or Wilmer, Minnesota can leverage dollars in in Pier or in St. Paul that can help us do even more. That's a big deal.

Speaker 4 (34:02.636)

Well, it is. It you know, and there's kind of two parts of that statement is the time it takes to volunteer. And then not to reiterate this point, but you know, I have two little kids. I've got an hour of a month to go hang out with people I like, right? And I would imagine it's just how you wanna apply your time. and then two, you know, the leverage aspect of all this is you you talked about the path program, you talked about the Build Wildlife program. I'm I it's

nearly impossible to buy a chunk of ground with a twenty dollar raffle ticket and a prime rib sandwich. Right. That just isn't gonna happen. Our prime rib's good. It's really good. But right. But and so you it's a team, you know, not only are is this a community organization, but you've got the backing of an organization and people that can go get those dollars if that chapter chooses to put them into a program that allows them to do that. And that's really powerful. You know, we we can't open up access

I'm ready.

Speaker 4 (35:01.11)

It's really hard to open up access at at that level, at that the raffle ticket level, the prime rib level. But the having the backing of this organization and people dedicated to the same mission, you know, you're able to get so much done. So much done. So it's really special.

So roughly right now, how many chapters do we have around the country?

Seven hundred. Yeah. You know, seven hundred, seven hundred and fifty. Yeah. Somewhere in there.

so we've got lots of chapters pretty much wherever you're listening. You can find them pheasantsforever.org, quailforever.org. Type in find a chapter, and you can type your zip code in and it'll help you locate them. However, there are are holes in the the map of the United States where we don't have chapters. Any top of the mind where you know maybe there's a listener that you're like, we really could use a chapter here or here.

Well, that would be you know, I I guess I would flip that the other way around, right? So if you're listening and you've either actively tried to find a chapter, or you there just isn't one, you're like, why not? You know. part of my role and the role of the team that I'm a part of is to help you start like build chapters, strengthen them, grow them, start them from ground zero. We do this for a living all of the time. So

Speaker 4 (36:26.878)

If there is a hole in the map or if there's one that might be an hour away, but you're like, man, you know, we could get we could do this closer. Mm-hmm. We will absolutely help you. And you're not in this alone. And so, you know, we can get that chapter off the ground. We've got tools and resources to do that. We just want more community organizations dedicated to making birds and introducing people to the outdoors. And we'd love to love to help help you do that. So I mean, the main point there is

If you wanna take this leap into that and you're like, I just don't know how to start a chapter, well well, that's what I'm for, you know. We will help you do that and you should feel confident in that our ability to do so.

so two emails I'll throw out if you're looking for a point in the right direction. W Clayton C-L-A-Y-T-O-N at Pheasantsforever.org. Or if you got any question related to chapters, members on the wing podcast at pheasantsforever.org, that'll hit my inbox and I will distribute it like a good Milwaukee Brewer's catcher. I'll get it to where it needs to go.

Congratulations on the World Series. all right, Emy. I mentioned Elite Member Week. What is that?

That's this wink. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:46.222)

So what's going on?

Yeah. So Elite Member Week highlights a really critical membership level that we have. It's the one that moves you out of annual dues and into a life membership. And that's critical for a multitude of reasons. We talked about time, the gift of time, dollars and the fundraising side of chapters help with match people who are willing to be a life member and the numbers that we increase in that rank also matter. It really does symbolize just a

passion that annual dues is important and I never want to discount that, but taking your dues to lifetime is a statement and we do definitely report to different grant based groups. One of our critical numbers is the number of lifetime members that we have. And that's people that just know that I'm forever a part of this. I forever want to get that PF journal, QF journal content, whether I'm hunting this year, birds are up, down.

I'm in. And that group of people matters. They're what we call an elite group of hunter conservationists and elite member week is the chance to really showcase that significant level within our ranks and invite more people to join.

And for clarity, we do operate two organizations, two separate membership databases, two separate journals, two separate groups of chapters, Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever. So maybe you're listening, you're like, Well, I'm a I'm already a life member of Pheasants Forever. You have options. You could become a life member of Quail Forever, or you could go to the next level of Pheasants Forever, which is Patriot.

Speaker 2 (39:30.158)

Thank you. you just threw me a curveball and I'm Patron member. I was thinking like, ooh, I can highlight Leap Member Slam actually. So you could be like you could be like me where I am a Pheasant's Forever Life Member, a quail forever life member, and Lux, my flat coat is a dog life member. And it's those two life memberships of each org and bringing in our beloved bird dogs, like we started at the beginning. They are just as much

invested in this mission and putting more birds, more habitat, more access. So Lux got roped in there too and we'll get his chance. He's just still the young dog.

We'll we'll take dog life memberships with or without furnishings. You knew I was gonna go there, didn't you, Scotty? How did I s how did I start this?

Precisely.

Speaker 4 (40:25.333)

Orbits around the furnishing.

Yep. Which is how the dogs can get in on Elite Member Week. Because yes, it is one of those fun things to round out your full blown upland hunter conservationist support of the Habitat Organization, both Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. And yeah, again, Elite Member Week is highlighting that this group of individuals, when you choose to be a life member, you are entering into a really important group.

That really means something to us. And people who are willing to be life members, they kind of kick ass, actually. Like that's it's not everyone who's saying, like, yeah, I'm gonna join out of the ranks of annual dues. We're built off chapters. That's how we started. Then we needed to add in ways to grow people that don't have a community connection. And there's always been across those two groups people that forever want the journal, forever wanna be involved.

keep me in the loop and continue investing sometimes at chapter banquets, even as life members, and also a nonprofit choosing to give at year end and other pieces where they don't have to renew their membership. So this is a very special group and for Elite Member Week, we just really want to highlight and welcome people that would like to join that rank and say thank you to those who are there.

So I I have a and you probably saw me smiling like what is Bob I have really odd grin on my face. I'm thinking about. So I'll tell a story. In 2005, I was part of the group that created the Dog Life membership level, right? So it in that I guess it would have been in the 2006 member calendar. we it was a picture of me and Meredith.

Speaker 1 (42:18.4)

In trammel, my first adult bird dog. In it back in the day in the calendar, we had ads on the sides of the calendars rather than just the back page, right? So I let's pick say it was October. Dog Life membership ad was on the right hand side of the October calendar. Me, Meredith, and our and our first bird dog. so any member that had that calendar.

Had me and Meredith on in October. Meredith's dad, Otis Tracy, Tracy Godfrey, at the end of his career was a temporary employee. He would Robert Hath or something, you know, he would go work at places for when somebody was on maternity leave or whatever. So he got a job at Wells Fargo in mid downtown Minneapolis.

And sat down, and it was in October, sat down at the cubicle for the person he was temping for and started his work one Monday morning for this job and looked up and pinned on the cube. He looks and sees a photo of his daughter and his son-in-law with a duck lip, right? This is the October photo of me and his daughter.

And he looks at it, but he didn't see that. He's like, why is this person have a photo of my daughter? So I always think about that when we think when we talk dog life membership, the story of Meredith and her dad being very perplexed by why this temp job person had a photo of his daughter pinned to a cube.

Small world.

Speaker 1 (44:12.766)

Yeah, very small world. All my dogs have always been and like you, I have the the the life member elite membership. My dogs have always been life members. and I really am proud of that because of the you know, like most folks listening, yeah, I don't own a piece of my own property to go hunting. I'm I own public land like so many of our listeners and

There is a great sense of pride when I roll up to a build a wildlife area project or a path property and I see the logo of the organization I work for in a place that I can go have some of the best moments of my life with my dog and my wife and my family and my friends. Like I I get to hunt some private land here and there, but boy, 95% of it occurs on property that I helped.

Contribute and every member has helped contribute. I think that's awesome. Every bird dog too. So consider elite membership or dog life membership. there will be links in the show notes for all of this. Scotty, let's let's jump to some of the current membership offers that are in play. Cause some of them are hell day dare say they're pretty sexy right now, right?

Speaker 1 (45:37.142)

Yeah. There's some pretty good stuff to lure people to make a much needed contribution to the organization. Yeah.

Scott (45:45)

Yeah, this is kind of a perfect storm of a whole bunch of stuff happening all at once with with, like you said, new sexy stuff to kind of hopefully encourage people to further their support and and join or upgrade their membership with the organization. So this is the first time in a handful of years that we've been able to have the the the the benefits updated for all of our upgraded membership levels. So just gonna kind of do a rundown on

What we've got, it's all new. It's all new for the first time since since I've been with the organization. I'm in my third year. So some of them have been updated, but this is the first time that we're we've got a clean slate. So at our upgraded level of 75 for Rooster Booster or Cubby Club, depending on your division, we've got a duck camp hat, new hat with you know, our flagship birds on them. That's super, super sweet looking hat. we've also just with with

This really this week right now, updated the the benefits for our other upgraded membership levels. Magnum and Quail Cooperator. we've got a Yeti Rambler 20 ounce with our new logo on it. That's also super sweet. so that'll be available by the time listeners hear this podcast. And then at our sponsor level, we've also got a new Boyd Clay Target bag again, branded with our new logo for each division. So PF sponsor, QF sponsor.

All new, all fresh. And then the biggest update is the Life Member Premium. When you guys hear this, we'll have a brand new Life Member Premium, and this is the biggest and birdiest one yet. Yeti Tundra 65 is the is the is the gift this this year for for life members. so like I said, bigger than bigger than we've done in a six

Speaker 1 (47:20.994)

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:31.906)

Sixty five. Sixty five, yeah. So you gotta have a truck big enough to carry this sucker. Yeah, I've got a forty five.

five that I fit in the back of my outback. I wonder if the if the sixty five I'll have to have to do some reconfiguration to make that fit. But it's super, super slick. Looks awesome. it's got on the top, it's got you know, five different upland birds. It's

It's the Yeti Upland Bird series. Yeah.

So obviously branded with the organization's logo, Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, but yeah, bigger and

Speaker 4 (48:02.326)

It's here. and then in addition to that, we've got our annual appeal membership drive going on right now. So whether you are joining at, you know, our regular affiliate or associate level, we've got at our our our end of the year push to sort of increase membership numbers that you could join or renew with this special offer. And that is that's available at e either organization, so pheasantsforever.org or quailforever.org slash go.

AA two six as an annual appeal twenty-six. And the special offer with that is a rowning blackwood field knife. It's a fixed blade knife, four and a quarter inch blade with a with a sheath.

Really really sharp looking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Super, super nice looking knife and yeah. So kind of like I said at the at the start, just a perfect storm of all sorts of new special offers. so the timing timing's great. Yeah you're interested.

So for listeners, if we consider all the licenses, hunting licenses for the uplands sold in the given year, pheasant licenses, quail licenses, and try to extrapolate who's hunting upland birds. You know, best case scenario of total number of members, we have a market penetration of seven to ten percent of you listening that are upland bird hunters that are actually.

Speaker 1 (49:27.426)

Dues paying members of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. I'll say that again. All the licenses sold in a given year by state, add that up, and we only have 7% of you that are actually contributing to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever as members.

Please consider this your Jerry Lewis telethon ask to get in the game, help us create better habitat, help us create more access. If you cherish the moments in the field with your bird dog and your family as much as we all do, it can be as little as $45 a year and it can go off from there, but every dollar helps us. And now is the time. We got some killer.

Offers from brand new knife to duck camp hat to a Yeti tumbler to the boit bag to an absolutely kick ass Yeti upland birds that when they're gone, they're gone. There's no reorders of those. That's a Yeti sixty five if you want to jump into a life membership. so please go to the website pheasantsforever.org, quail forever dot org. what's the dog life membership premium right now? Do you know off the top of your head? I do.

Yeah, yep. It's a Yeti boomer eight bowl, dog bowl. Okay. So for Pheasants Forever, it's in black quail forever. We've got we've got camo in stock yet.

We got a lot of Yeti stuff right now. An excellent partner. Yeah, there we go. People love Yeti. Yeah. I love Yeti. all right. Thank you very much for talking about the field reports, membership offers. Anything we missed that you want to call out before we sign off?

Speaker 4 (51:16.014)

I just want to put a plug in for that cooler. Let me tell you. We've never done the 65. That thing's got space in it. Yeah. for those of you listening that need space in your cooler like me, and the way they did it, they did a job on that upland editions, it it's something you're gonna wanna have.

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:32.908)

Yeah, folks have seen it. Yeah. Yeah. It's the orange cover with all the really cool artwork across the top. And when they're gone, they're gone. And they're they're gonna go fast. So consider this the announcement and jump in there. because yeah, like you said, we've never done a sixty five, done some Yeti forty fives, but we never had custom like this. And I think I

They're hard to find the upland bird stuff anywhere in the market. Now we've been sitting on these for this launch. So they're gonna roll. It's the holidays. Spend the money. Do the right thing. All right, folks. For Emy Pangerl, for Scotty Moehlmann, and for Will Clayton, I'm Bob St.Pierre reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise. Thanks for listening.