The Upland Almanac Summer 2021

With all the pain, suffering, inconvenience, uncertainty and fear that COVID-19 has generated among Americans, one positive note can be sounded: The virus has encouraged people to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. ...Read More >

Like Tom Carney (“Tailfeathers,” Spring 2021), I also had a Barbour waxed cotton jacket that I stopped wearing for several reasons. I found it to not be completely waterproof, and in fact it made me feel cold and clammy in cold, dry weather. I also did not want to look like the yuppie that decided to look the part of an outdoorsman by buying the latest outdoor fashion statement. ...Read More >

Dog: Tara, Irish red and white setter ...Read More >

Regular readers of The Upland Almanac know we like to use this department to alert them to items they might find interesting about some of our regular contributors. ...Read More >

Right out of the box, the Upland Ultralight model in CZ’s All-Terrain series makes an immediate impact with a couple of its features. ...Read More >

Whether for bobwhite quail or people, we live in a world of constant change. Weather, seasons, vegetation, challenges and opportunities, among endless others, exist in an ever changing movement of what we can simply label “life.” ...Read More >

Lucy’s screams shattered the October stillness, causing Mike’s terrified puppy to run out of the woods and hide behind our legs. The yelping continued as I called out to Lucy, reassuring her I was coming. I wondered how she had injured herself this time: Had she tangled with a porcupine, a wolf or a bear or had she fallen between rocks on the ridge we were hunting and broken a leg? ...Read More >

I’ve always believed that when a dog was in a high drive/arousal situation such as chasing a deer, bird or other extremely enticing distraction and wasn’t complying with a command, it was simply not complying because of its excitement. Most people have probably thought the same thing in similar situations with their dogs. And then I learned about “Auditory Exclusion.” ...Read More >

We learned from the Batavia Leader gun column (Spring 2021) that the Ithaca Gun Company was also founded by gun-maker William H. Baker around 1883 along with his wife, John Van Natta, and Dwight McIntyre. These people built the new gun works at Falls Creek near Ithaca, New York. The Batavia gun article also mentioned that when W. H. Baker sold his shares of the Baker Gun Company to Lyman C. Smith, Lyman promptly established the L. C. Smith Gun Co. According to Walter C. Snyder, author of The Ithaca Gun Company from the Beginning, Lyman’s brother Leroy Smith was a major backer of the new Ithaca gun company. Van Natta, Leroy Smith, McIntyre and Livermore bought out the Bakers in 1887, and by 1894 Leroy Smith and Livermore had bought out the remaining shares. Livermore and Smith were brothers-in-law as well as friends and partners, and their families managed the company successfully for nearly 75 years. ...Read More >

Seriously, how many times per season do you get a really high incoming shot? A shot being a game bird or clay target that is 40 to 50 yards overhead and flying from in front of you and proceeding with speed behind you. It’s an extremely rare shot for the U.S. bird hunter pursuing our favorite game birds. ...Read More >

Many years ago, after a large banquet-style party at the restaurant my wife Fiona and I owned in Boston, from the kitchen came a loud shout and the sickening sound of glass shattering on the hard tile floor. Guests looked around wondering what had happened, but everybody who was working that night knew. A waiter had lost control of a large tray of wineglasses on his way to the dish room, and every one had hit the floor. ...Read More >

Living, as I have, a varied career, I have at times tackled things that were well nigh impossible of accomplishment, and curiously enough I have gained but little knowledge thereby. Like Don Quixote, I’m still ready to joust with a windmill, and if I’m not mistaken, Outdoors’ request for an account of my best-remembered day with a ruffed grouse falls into that category. ...Read More >

In Wilmington, New York, just 12 miles east of Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics, Hungry Trout Resort is nestled along the west bank of the famous Ausable River. Hungry Trout obviously caters to trout fishermen but also to skiers and, come October, upland bird hunters. ...Read More >

Plano Rustrictor All Weather 2 Shotgun/Rifle Case, Alpha 200i Handheld, TT15 Mini Collar and the Upland Briar Hunting Shirt ...Read More >

In theory, an accomplished clay target shooter should be lethal on live birds, but oddly enough, that’s not always the case. In fact, the guy sporting a tapestry of “50-Straight” patches across the back of his shooting vest often struggles in the field. ...Read More >

New Releases • Reprints • Birds • Dogs • Guns • DVDs ...Read More >

It was one of those days. Like September 11. The day the space shuttle Challenger exploded. Or, if you’re old enough, November 22, 1963. January 6, 2021. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard about the insurrection at the United States Capitol? Did you feel the same pain, numbness and disbelief as you did on those other occasions? Did you fear you were bearing witness to the death throes of the American ideal? Did a palpable knot form in your stomach? ...Read More >

The cough and sore throat came two days after a flight home from Florida with the coronavirus raging across America. The good news — my doctor could slip me in for the test in an hour if I could make it to the clinic on time. No problem. ...Read More >

It’s early summer. The prairie chickens and sharptails are done displaying. Rooster pheasants no longer crow from the ditches. Bobolinks don’t circle overhead, and meadowlarks don’t sing. It’s quiet as it should be in this season when hens sit silently and cryptically on nests. ...Read More >

I have held on to and I have let go of places, people, dogs, guns and game birds all in pursuit of six hours of life without a care in the world.” ...Read More >

According to the annual hunt journals I have kept compulsively since 1969-1970, for the next 30 plus years, I hunted the upland woods, fields and marshes of southeastern Ohio at least 60 days every year. Several like-minded friends have also been avid outdoorsmen, and our shared enthusiasm and passion for ethical upland hunting and fair chase kept each of us motivated to go afield as often as possible. Now, I get out 30 days a year with my Ryman-style English setters mostly in pursuit of wild birds, especially woodcock and grouse in Wisconsin or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for a week in autumn, followed by daily runs at woodcock in my Ohio backyard; once the woodcock have flown the coop, a short wild quail trip to Florida and occasional outings for planted pheasants and chukars at a friend’s hunt club in West Virginia or a local game preserve. Overall, a month’s worth of athletic hunting days seems to be enough in my geezer years and probably for Maddie, my older setter, as well. At 11, she still hunts impressively, but like me, shows wear and a reduced portfolio of enthusiasms. Fortunately for both of us, she has a younger partner, Katie, ready and willing to take up the slack. They make a companionable pair in the field. ...Read More >

I am not good at finding things. Possibly, this is because I am not good at putting things away. My late wife Marie, in fact, once told me I never put anything away. This was a gross exaggeration because just a week earlier I had taken a stack of very important tax documents and put them away with my own two hands. It’s just that I couldn’t remember where. They should have been in the “Very Important Tax Document File,” but they weren’t. Eventually, Marie would find them, and when she did, she told me again that I never put anything away. ...Read More >