“I have hunted grouse in all sorts of place and under all sorts of conditions, and I boldly assert that the greatest handicap a grouse hunter is ever called upon to face is a mental one.” Burton Spiller-“Red-Letter Day” For me, shooting is such a hit and miss proposition–no pun intended. I’ve written about days…
LIFE’S EXTRAS ON DAISY LANE
A friend on Facebook recently reached out to me and offered to trade a hunt in Idaho for a bamboo fly rod. Who in their right mind would turn that offer down? I probably would have taken Matt bird hunting without the bamboo rod, but my momma didn’t raise no dummy, so I gratefully accepted…
ETCHED IN THE LANDSCAPE
Yesterday, my friend, John Anderson, and I went out to a favorite covert, Grouse Springs, to run our dogs before the start of our hunting season, which is only a few weeks away. After years of tagging along with Rainey and I grouse hunting, John finally has own birddog, a German Shorthair named “Una.” Before…
A PERFECT HUNT IN A DIFFICULT YEAR: A Thanksgiving Story
COVID-19 was hard on everyone. When the lockdown came in Idaho in March of 2020, winter still maintained its chilling grip on the landscape, and even though the seasons all came that year, the isolation from other people and the fear you saw in their eyes made it seem like Ol’ Man Winter never really…
THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORING
“There is nothing good unless you do it.” -Eric Kastner By all accounts, the sport of hunting is dying. Every year, our nation is facing a decline in the numbers of hunters as gauged by the number of hunting licenses sold. Part of the problem is the absence of mentors for those interested in hunting. …
PREORDER SIGNED HARDBACK COPIES OF IDAHO UPLAND DAYS
A few days ago, I did a post about preordering paperback copies of my new book, Idaho Uplands Days: Reflections on Bird Dogs, Banner Days, and Other Roadside Revelations. I wrote the following for the back cover blurb: With nine species of upland game birds, Idaho is truly a cornucopia for the upland bird hunter…
PREORDER A SIGNED PAPERBACK COPY OF IDAHO UPLAND DAYS BY ANDREW MARSHALL WAYMENT
Last year I appeared on The Flush podcast with Travis Frank and he asked me when I was going to publish my next bird-hunting book and I joking said, “Probably in five years.” I am happy to report that my second bird hunting book, Idaho Upland Days: Reflections on Bird Dogs, Banner Days, and other…
BRET WANNACOTT’S A MILLIONAIRE’S DREAM
It has been a while since I did a book review on the blog. To be honest, I rarely get excited enough about a book to put the effort into writing a review. However, I just read my friend Bret Wannacott’s book, A Millionaire’s Dream, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve known Bret on social media…
DUCK CAMP: GREAT PRODUCTS FOR ANGLERS AND HUNTERS
NOTE FROM AUTHOR: This is not a paid endorsement or review and I am not an ambassador for Duck Camp. I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while, but life (and Covid-19) got in the way. I first heard of Duck Camp a few years back after I published an article in the…
Sportsman’s Palette: Collecting Sporting Art Tips
Below is a guest post from the very talented Katie Polhemus of Sportsman’s Palette…enjoy and please see her bio at the end of the blog post! Art for art’s sake is simply wonderful. Art in all its forms is beautiful, engaging, and culturally enriching. Plus, humans have quite literally been making art since the beginning…
THE LOST GUN
They say that time heals all wounds. It has been almost six years, but this is still a tough one to write down. Back in 2008, my brother Shawn gave me a 20 Gauge Ruger Red Label before the start of our annual week in Idaho’s uplands. At the time, the over and under was…
THE MAKINGS OF A GROUSE DOG
“Ruffed grouse dogs are bred, not born, and once born they are developed, not made.” –George Bird Evans, An Affair with Grouse Author’s Note: I wrote this story clear back in 2018, Rainey’s second season of hunting. It was accepted for publication in a prominent bird dog magazine and then the magazine editor retired and…
Upland Ways 