By Chad Love

The building behind this bronze pointer is not a palatial home. It is, in fact, a palatial dog kennel—home to some 40 English pointers, labs, and even a few Boykin spaniels that belong to T. Boone Pickens, a legendary businessman and utterly obsessed quail hunter.

Last week I got the rare opportunity to spend some time with Pickens at his incredible 68,000-acre (Yes, that's over 100 square miles...) Texas panhandle ranch, Mesa Vista. If you're a quail hunter, you've probably heard of Mesa Vista. Starting with an initial purchase of 2,900 acres of overgrazed, worn-out Roberts County, Texas rangeland, Pickens has since tirelessly built Mesa Vista into perhaps the finest wild bobwhite quail hunting spot on earth. It is a truly remarkable place, and as a lover of all things quail, it was a high honor just to visit the place, much less talk quail hunting and dogs with the man himself. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before: a fading, self-important rock star/celebrity pitches a fit, makes unreasonable demands, then cancels a scheduled performance in support of his pet political cause. Former Smiths frontman and dour vegan pedant Morrissey, the man who soothed my angst-ridden teenage years with such uplifting songs like "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "Girlfriend in a Coma" recently cancelled a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live because, and I'm not making this up, the "Duck Dynasty" guys were also scheduled to be on the show that night. And they're like, you know, "animal serial killers." [ Read Full Post ]

By Bob Marshall

Ducks Unlimited is orchestrating a “social media blitz” today to let Congress understand how much sportsmen want a new Farm Bill passed--because the conservation measures in that bill are the platform that have supported some of the most effective waterfowl and wildlife conservation programs ever. The last Congress dropped the ball in the contentious last-minute negotiations over appropriations, and the new bill that been hammered out for more than a year was never passed.
 
DU is asking its members and all sportsmen to Tweet about the bill as often as possible Wednesday, always adding #2013FarmBill, and share its Farm Bill story on its Facebook page.
 
[ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

There are weird, spooky and unusual things out in the field. And it makes sense that hunters, especially upland hunters who tend to cover large amounts of ground while following their dogs, would find these unexplained things.

The dogs and I once stumbled across what appeared to be the contents of a lady’s purse in the middle of a huge swath of prairie, miles from the nearest town, road or footpath. How did it get here, in this utterly lonely and isolated spot that was rarely, if ever visited by anyone other than the occasional quail or deer hunter? Who knows?

But as I looked down at the weathered, dirt-covered items, I recalled an infamous local case about a young boy who simply vanished one day, never to be seen again. The boy’s mother was the prime suspect, and was later convicted of his murder, but a body was never found. I was a newspaper reporter back in those days, and covered the case from the time the boy went missing all the way through his mother's trial and conviction.

[ Read Full Post ]

by Phil Bourjaily

Today I ordered a new Bucklick Creek Turkey Lounger from Bass Pro Shops. It is the only turkey vest I will consider wearing to the woods. I have had mine since 2004 or so. Before that, turkey hunting was a seat-numbing experience, a literal pain in the butt. The Turkey Lounger changed that forever for me. It was invented by a hunter in Missouri who sewed one of those self-supporting folding camping chairs into a vest. Other vests have more thickly padded seats, but this one allows you to lean back and take some of the weight off your seat, and that makes all the difference. You can also set up without a tree if need be. I have shot a bunch of Iowa turkeys since I got this vest, and it definitely gets a share of the credit for the birds that have demanded patience.

[ Read Full Post ]

By Phil Bourjaily

Today I ordered a new Bucklick Creek Turkey Lounger from Bass Pro Shops. It is the only turkey vest I will consider wearing to the woods. I have had mine since 2004 or so. Before that, turkey hunting was a seat-numbing experience, a literal pain in the butt. The Turkey Lounger changed that forever for me. It was invented by a hunter in Missouri who sewed one of those self-supporting folding camping chairs into a vest. Other vests have more thickly padded seats, but this one allows you to lean back and take some of the weight off your seat, and that makes all the difference. You can also set up without a tree if need be. I have shot a bunch of Iowa turkeys since I got this vest, and it definitely gets a share of the credit for the birds that have demanded patience.

[ Read Full Post ]