Columbia,Jackets ,Shirts,Bargain Hunters,Hunting & Heritage  |  08/06/2019

And So It Begins


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2019 Quail Forever Upland Bird Hunting Super Issue Officially Kicks Off 2019 Season

By Tom Carpenter

When July is on the wane, the sun’s not quite there yet. But then it happens. One day you wake up in August and the rays just rake in a little different: sidling in, more orange … the look of Fall if not yet the feel. 

Not to wish summer away, but let’s wish summer away … or at least allow ourselves a little look-ahead to the bird hunting to come. Dreaming. Are you working the dog some? Shooting more? Seeing what pants or vests or boots or gear need patching or fixing: Ya, I can get one more season out of those …

But dreaming isn’t quite enough. Planning has to happen too. Doing. Sure there are the old standby hunts – the traditions we do every year. But you’re not getting any younger. Neither is your dog or dogs. Years pass. Fast. Are you going to look back and say: I just wish we had (insert adventure here …). 

Dream. Do. Those are the themes behind 2019’s Edition of the Upland Bird Hunting Super Issue, a special combined edition of the Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Journals. From bogs to deserts and mountains to prairies, and from roosters to bobwhites, Huns to chukars, sharptails to prairie chickens, ruffs to doves and woodcock to snowcock, here’s upland inspiration like no other. Dream. Do.

Here’s the issue by the numbers:

*3rd annual edition – and yours truly’s 2nd as editor
*192 pages – PF/QF’s biggest issue ever, and the outdoor world’s largest upland-only magazine
*17 feature stories and essays – bird-hunting where-to, how-to and why-we-do-it
*20 upland shotguns reviewed – our annual Shotgun Showcase
*8 columns – from hunting flushers and pointers together to leading birds and more
*Too-many-to-count photos – spectacular imagery of the gamebirds and bird dogs and wild upland places we love

And let’s judge the book by its cover – brushstrokes from sporting artist Bob White. The oil on board painting evokes the magic of Hun hunting on Montana’s front range with one of the deans of North American upland hunting and bird dogs, Ben O. Williams (who also happened to write the magazine’s lead story on his life with Huns, A Fine Covey Bird). A full panorama of the art leads that story, inside the issue.

Plus, more of White’s artwork – 3 sketches on archival paper – appear inside the issue. They are of frameable quality and we have presented them as such.

Being an editor is a good job. Being editor at the world’s best upland conservation organization is even better. As we sent this masterpiece from the PF/QF team off to the printer I thought, I hope everybody loves this issue as much as I loved helping create it.

If you’re a PF / QF member, look for The Upland Bird Hunting Super Issue in your mailbox in early August. If you’re not yet a PF/QF member and want to get it, here’s your reward for reading this far: Join PF or join QF now, then message me on the <PF Facebook Page or QF Facebook Page> to let me know, and I’ll send a copy to you when it’s ready. And you'll get a FREE Hunt-to-Eat T-Shirt to boot!

Dream. Do. It’s time.

And: You can listent to the Upland Bird Hunting Super Issue Podcast here.