Grand Island, Neb. – July 13, 2010 – A Pheasants Forever-sponsored wildlife habitat project in the Rainwater Basin region of south-central Nebraska has received $3.25 million in financial assistance through the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP). The multi-year, pilot program will allow center pivot irrigation systems to travel across wetlands and upland buffers restored and protected through the USDA’s Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) as a reserved right.

The project was one of five announced by the USDA to restore and enhance wetlands in five Midwestern states through WREP. A voluntary conservation program, WREP is carried out through partnership agreements with state and local governments, non-governmental organizations and Indian tribes. NRCS Chief Dave White announced the projects on behalf of Secretary Vilsack at an America’s Great Outdoors Initiative listening session in Nebraska. White and other Obama Administration officials toured the Rainwater Basin Water Complex.

This pilot WREP program provides a unique conservation tool that will increase program enrollment throughout the Rainwater Basin Region. Nearly 75% of the restorable wetlands are intersected by center pivot irrigation systems. In the past, multiple landowners have withdrawn Wetlands Reserve Program applications or not applied due to the uncertainty of being allowed to let their pivot cross a wetland enrolled in the program. “In the Rainwater Basin, the number of pivots is likely to increase in the future,” says Pete Berthelsen, Pheasants Forever Senior Field Coordinator, “The overall impact of center pivots on wetlands and wildlife is likely minimal when compared to the overall benefits that long-term protection of wetlands and associated upland buffers will have on wildlife populations.”

“This pilot WREP offers landowners a unique opportunity to enroll marginal flood prone cropland without adversely affecting their irrigation systems,” said Andy Bishop, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Coordinator “This is truly represents a win-win situation for producers and wildlife that use Rainwater Basin wetlands.”

“Wetlands preservation is a priority at USDA not only because of the role wetlands play in supporting diverse wildlife and plants, but also their importance in sustaining healthy ecosystems,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The wetland restoration and enhancements made possible through WREP will significantly increase wildlife habitat and improve water quality.”

WREP, a component of the Wetlands Reserve Program, leverages the resources of eligible partners to provide financial and technical assistance to eligible landowners to protect, restore and enhance wetlands and improve wildlife habitat through multi-year projects lasting up to five years. WREP links wetlands and non-wetlands by creating wildlife habitat and floodplain corridors.

Hunting-access program provides $50 million in federal funds to expand recreation opportunities on private lands

Saint Paul, Minn. – July 8, 2010 – Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever today praised a decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release $50 million in funding for the “Open Fields” Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, a new effort to encourage owners and operators of privately held farm, ranch and forest lands to provide public access to their lands for wildlife-dependent activities such as hunting and fishing.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement this afternoon at a national press conference, at which other speakers included Howard Vincent, Pheasants Forever National President and CEO, and representatives from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

Open Fields was authorized by Congress for the first time in the 2008 Farm Bill following support from a TRCP-sponsored coalition that included Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. Open Fields provides states $50 million in federal monies to create or enhance voluntary hunter-access programs on private lands and encourages landowners who enroll their properties to employ best-management practices for wildlife. Landowners can receive a financial incentive in exchange for opening lands to the public for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation. The Open Fields funding can now be used to enhance the 26 existing state public access programs, and establish programs in states where such programs are currently absent. There will be an application process for states to apply for funding.

“American sportsmen are deeply invested in the Open Fields program,” said Vincent, who praised the program on both its wildlife habitat and hunter access merits. “We appreciate the federal government’s willingness to expand public access to hunting and other recreational activities by assuring its implementation. Sportsmen now speak together in urging our nation’s decision makers to continue this record of support by retaining and funding Farm Bill conservation programs in 2012.”

“Open Fields is the first federal landowner incentive program of its kind to enhance access for hunting and fishing – and has been a flagship issue for the TRCP since our group’s inception,” said TRCP President and CEO Whit Fosburgh, who spoke at the event. “Today’s announcement by the federal government is an unqualified victory for fish and wildlife conservation and our hunting and fishing traditions.”

“This administration is committed to preserving and enhancing the great conservation legacy of our nation’s hunters and anglers to benefit current and future generations,” said Vilsack. ”This program will not only help achieve conservation goals, but also increase opportunities for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation by providing greater access to privately held lands for wildlife-dependent recreation.”

The conservation title of the Farm Bill is the nation’s single-largest source of federal funding for private-lands conservation programs, and previous iterations of the bill have allocated billions of dollars toward landowner activities that sustain critical habitat and bolster fish and wildlife populations important to sportsmen.

Read frequently asked questions about Open Fields.

Pheasants Forever is dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.

During the late season, the weather can be down right nasty as I found out last week on a hunt we filmed near Watertown, S.D.

Over the last several years, a group of us back home in Watertown, S.D.  try to get together to do a pheasant hunt and this year; we just happened to pick a day where the weatherman predicted a temperature of -12 with a wind chill, a brisk  –21 degrees.

Well needless to say, because of the many things going on during this time of the year and the colder weather, we ended up with just 3 hunters on the first day of the hunt and four on the second.

Chuck Stone & John Wilson joined us on the first day with Chuck Stone, my cousin Joe Jipp and Larry Munger joining us on the second day.

With the cold temperatures, we didn’t get too excited about going out, hoping that it would warm up a bit, waiting until one o’clock before hunting our first field.

With the smaller group we were hunting with, we’d have to change our hunting tactics, hunting smaller patches then we had the year before when we hunted with a larger group.

We’d be hunting smaller grass strips, sloughs along with a few rows of unpicked corn.

On the first drive, since Chuck and I had dogs, we’d push through a slough towards a stock dam where John would be strategically waiting for those birds that ran ahead of us or flushed out the end.

As it often happens this time of the year, several birds blew out of the cover well out of range as we worked our way through the slough.

Fortunately for us, they only flew a short distance, dropping back into the four rows of snow packed unpicked corn we’d be hunting next.

The unpicked corn was a perfect place for the birds as they could burrow under the snow getting out of the weather and not far from their food source.

Shortly after we started our walk, one shot from John’s shotgun rang out, which is a good sign because when you hear one shot you can bet that the bird was down, as John doesn’t let many birds get by.

The birds that flew up in front of Chuck and I either flushed well out of range or were buried deep under the snow, until our dogs dug them out.

We ended up with four birds on our first walk and another out of a smaller slough on the east end of the field.  Not bad for three hunters out during the late season!

With the sun quickly disappearing in the west we hit a larger slough, hoping to pick up the last few birds of the day.

We followed the dogs as they worked through the slough, flushing several birds before the dog could get near them.

When my dog finally managed to corral a rooster, I was looking off to the north where I’d heard several shots in the direction that Chuck and John were hunting.

I franticly swung around, trying to catch up with the bird that was now airborne, as he desperately tried to put as much distance between himself and the dog.

My Escort 12 gauge barked twice as the bird careened through the trees and off into the next field.

The laughter from my cameraman and the goofy look from my dog told the whole story as I hadn’t touch a feather on the bird, but I did do an excellent job on a small tree and a bunch of reeds the rooster had came from.

The shooting I’d heard earlier was Chuck and John as the dog had flushed the first of four roosters as they approached the end of the slough.

The birds flushed in pairs with each hunter bagging two birds apiece, ending the first day of our hunt.

Our hunt on day two was very similar to our previous day as we hunted some several of the same areas, all of which were still holding birds.

If you’re still looking to do some pheasant hunting, there’s still some of the late season left, as the South Dakota pheasant season will run through January 3rd with the Nebraska season closing January 31st.

Late season hunting can be very productive, as you won’t have all the competition for hunting spots that you’d have during the early season.

The birds will be more concentrated, giving both the hunters and their dogs opportunities to hunt before the end of the season.

In the few hours that we hunted our group bagged seventeen birds, a bonus when hunting late season, as I feel the real benefit is the opportunity I had to spend time back home with friends and family.

It was a stargazers dream, one that’s quite common in Nebraska and one that few people living in the large cities on either coast had ever had the opportunity to gaze upon.

As daybreak finally arrived and the sun popped up over the horizon, we were greeted by 50-degree temperatures with an afternoon forecast predicted to reach up into the 70’s.

And what’s so great about that? Well, we were about to head into the field to hunt pheasants at the Nebraska Governor’s Hunt in November, the time of the year when folks up north are usually wearing stocking caps, gloves and long johns were in order, not the short sleeve shirts and tee shirts that we were wearing.

It was a beautiful day to be outdoors, and the hunting only made it better. It was one of those perfect days in the outdoors, one of those days you’ve always dreamed about.

The Governor’s Pheasant Hunt is a team event with five members on a team.  It’s a one-box hunt, which means that each team receives 25 shells in order to bag their 15-bird limit.

Shells can be divided up amongst the team members any way that they wish and the team that checks in with the most birds shot using the least shells is declared the winner.

Teams are assigned a guide, scorer and are allowed to have two dogs on the ground at one time.

The hunt headquarters was Beatrice, NE. with the 12 teams scattered throughout a 2-County area.  In this competition, there are two divisions; one for wild birds and another for preserve birds.

Our five-man Media team consisted of myself, P.J. Perea, Sr. Editor Turkey Country Magazine, Edgefield, S.C., outdoor writer Dave Zumbaugh, Mission, KS as well as Sam Sidner, & Kirk Nelson Assistant Directors of the Nebraska Game & Parks.

Nebraska Tourism was hosting our team Tourism’s Tom Tabor being our host. He along with Scott Bonertz, Nebraska Game & Parks who would act as my cameraman would accompany us on the hunt.

Our guide and score keeper would be Greg Thomas and his son Covey Rise Outfitters (www.coveyriseoutfitters.net) and we’d be hunting several excellent CRP fields near Liberty, NE.

Like much of Nebraska this year, there was an abundance of crops still in the field, so the birds had numerous places to hide which meant we’d have put on a few miles if we were to have a chance at winning this competition.

We were hunting large thick heavy CRP, ideal habitat for all types of wildlife as it gave them not only roosting cover, it gave them nesting and loafing cover as well as a close by food source.

Our first push through the filed yielded several hens, but none of the gaudy colored roosters we were searching for.  About halfway back, a rooster blew out of the cover off to my right; I managed to rock him, not hitting him hard enough to put him down for good.  Fortunately, Greg marked where it dropped and we were able to go through the area later to retrieve the bird.

A short while later, another bird rumbled skyward into the sun and once again, I rocked him, but was unable to put him in the bag.

At that point, it wasn’t looking good and I was wishing that I’d saved some of my better shooting I’d displayed the day before when we shot trap at the Beatrice Gun Club.

Several other birds got up well out of range before Kirk finally added the first bird to our bag.

Well, as I always say, the first bird is the toughest to bag and now we were well on our way to our limits.

We managed to bag five birds with 15 shells before running out of time in order to make it back to Beatrice in order to make the final weigh in.

While hunting pheasants, we busted several large coveys of quail and after talking with other groups of hunters; it looks like the quail population in the area is on the rise as all teams put birds in the air.

At the banquet in Beatrice that evening, top honors were given out; unfortunately our team didn’t pick up any prizes. Being the eternal optimist, I figure we’ll get them next year.

If you’re looking for a great area to hunt and some good old fashion competition, give the Nebraska’s Governor’s hunt a try as it’s one of those events that anyone whose an outdoorsmen or women would truly enjoy.

For more information on the Nebraska Governor’s hunt contact Main Street Beatrice at 402-223-3244.

Well there’s one “Triangle” that all outdoorsmen and women would love to be and that’s the Pheasant Triangle in South Dakota.

Located in South Central South Dakota, this area has the habitat and crops that make it a Mecca for not only pheasants, but also for deer, grouse and turkey.

Hamill, South Dakota is located right in the middle of the triangle where Steve and Donna Kubik own and operate Antler Ridge Lodge.

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of hunting pheasants with the Kubik’s during the South Dakota Governor’s hunt and was really impressed by not only the pheasant hunting, but also the facilities and the area itself.

Last Spring, Team Outdoorsmen Adventures member Tom Mitchell and I had the privilege of hunting and filming a spring turkey hunt at Antler Ridge.

When we drove into the place, there were antelope along the road, pheasants everywhere as well as deer and turkeys, I just knew that this was a place that I wanted to be.

There were Lots of birds as both Tom and I filled our tags our birds during some of the strangest spring weather I’ve ever come across.

Sixty degree one day, five inches of snow the next morning and back to fifty degrees that afternoon.

The accommodations were fantastic as was Donna’s down home cooking, with all of us getting more than enough to eat.

Since we had such a great hunt there last spring, we decided to do a pheasant hunt this fall with a few of our sponsors.

Once again, we weren’t disappointed as the pheasant population of the Triangle was amazing.

No matter what type of habitat we hunted, there were huge numbers of birds as this area has the habitat that not only allow the birds to survive, but also to prosper and prosper they have!

We came in one afternoon and after a tremendous lunch, went out for a couple of hours, got our limit of birds and then back to the lodge for cocktails and another hug dinner.

The following day was the same, a tremendous breakfast, we walked or should I say waddled out to our vehicles and headed for the field.

Once again we had hundreds of wild birds flushing out of every field, slough, shelterbelt and draw we walked.

Because of the excellent shooting by our guys, were limited out before noon, had another unbelievable lunch and were on the road headed for home with an our eleven man two day limit of pheasants.

It’s an amazing place, excellent hunting, tremendous facilities and Donna’s unbelievable cooking.

If you’re looking for a truly great outdoor experience, I’d recommend Antler Ridge Lodge, check out their web site at www.antlerridgelodge.com

But try to tell that to the thousands of ring-necked pheasants that call this mixture of native grasslands and farm crops home.

Several were taking to the air right now and, with camera in one hand and gun in the other, I was at a loss for what to do.

As usual, I didn’t get the best effort from either.

“Who cares,” I thought. I’m just going to soak up the beauty of this land on an October afternoon on the Diamond A Ranch 14 miles north of Gregory.

A 2,000-acre hunting preserve owned by Jim and Andrea Olson, the Diamond A is not a diamond in the rough. It is a splendid, well-appointed preserve awash in wild pheasants, turkeys and deer.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., and I met Gary Kubicek and Bill McPherson, both with Country Vet pet foods out of Sioux City, Gary’s brother-in-law Tom Jansen and his friend Kenneth Bird, both of Omaha, for a couple days of bird shooting.

We never did get more than a half mile from the lodge. We walked milo strips mostly and the birds were there.

It was the second visit to the Diamond A by Howey and me. We had hunted here last year, the first year of operation for Jim and Andrea, who farm near Homer, Neb.

The lodge sits at the edge of a small lake stocked with bass and bluegills right at the foot of one of the big buttes which line the north side of the property.

A small creek spills from the dam and runs along the base of the bluffs.

Tall piles of rocks at the top of the butte, placed there by Indians or early white explorers, was a signal to prairie travelers that there is good water below, Jim told me last year.

The rocks serve no purpose now, only an historical anecdote. However, an occasional coyote howl or sounds of turkeys gobbling in the timber, is a reminder that not all of the wild is gone from this historic area

Another color that can be seen everywhere this time of the year can be found on caps, shirts, dog collars, vests and even sport jackets. Its hunter’s orange, no matter where you’re at, you’re going to see it on just about everyone, everywhere, in convenience stores, restaurants, motels and of course in the fields.

Making our way north towards Pierre, hunter’s orange became much more “visible”, becoming the prominent color as we headed into some of the finest habitat to be found in the nation.

As we came closer to Pierre, the plantings for pheasants became more evident as numerous food plots, CRP plantings and tree plantings dotted the landscape.

The South Dakota Governor’s Invitational Pheasant Hunt is an annual event drawing people from throughout the U.S as well as over seas to the state.

This event brings business leaders, entrepreneurs, and state officials together to not only highlight the great pheasant hunting in the state but also to feature the many advantages of developing, moving or expanding a business in South Dakota.

My partner Larry Myhre of Sioux City, IA and I have been attending this event since the 80’s and have enjoyed not only the hunting, but also the many people we’ve met and we now consider good friends.

This year, I hunted with Team 29 on land owned by the Lyle & Mary Stewart family, located, just a short drive northeast of the state capital.  Our group would be hunting tree plantings, CRP and milo fields giving us ample opportunities to bag our limit.

Like much of the northern Great Plains states, most of the crops in South Dakota were still in the field, giving the birds thousands of acres of corn, beans and milo in which to hide.

On our first drive, we’d push through a CRP field bordered by tree plantings west towards our blockers, south and then east through milo fields.

Since we were hunting a pretty big field, we put plenty of dogs on the ground helping to push the birds up out of the grass as well as helping us to locate our downed birds.

A short distance into the trees, two birds made the fatal mistake, bursting from the heavier cover, both made it but not very far before plummeting to the ground.

One was retrieved quickly, while the other eluded the hunters and dogs in the tree line.

My lab, Mo, made a beeline in the direction where the bird had dropped to help look for it. Since there were several dogs already in that area I called him off.

As he came from the trees into the CRP field, he became “birdie”, hung a hard right, locking up on the wounded bird that had run out of the trees and buried itself in the grass waiting for our hunters to walk by, so it could make it’s escape.

As far as I’m concerned, hunting with a dog is a big part of the hunt as it’s a pleasure to watch them work and at times, they’ll retrieve others birds to you and by the time you get to the end of the field you could end up with a vest full of birds without firing a shot.

We divided the walking and blocking up evenly, taking turns at both giving everyone the opportunity to get into the birds. After one drive, several others and I loaded into a pickup along with our dogs as we headed to block the end of a Milo field.

Mo wasn’t about to quit hunting and as we headed down the road to block the end of the field, bailed out of the truck, heading back into the field to hunt with the hunters rather than ride.  Once he starts to hunt, he doesn’t want to quit and after the “spill” continued to hunt all day, showing no worse for wear.

Like much of the habitat found in South Dakota, the Stewart family farm contained excellent cover holding large numbers of birds, indicating that Lyle and his family had done an excellent job of providing habitat for wildlife.  In the short period of time that we hunted our team was able to bag 35 of the 1,000 plus birds that were bagged on this years hunt.

This is just one of the many events held in the state, highlighting all that South Dakota has to offer not only for vacationers, but for hunters and businessmen alike.

Once you’ve spent time in the state, it won’t take you long to realize why South Dakota is the state of Great Faces, Great Places!”

Pheasants were boiling out of the milo field in unbelievable numbers.

Hunters cut loose, and the sound of 12-gauge shotguns reverberated across the landscape.

My shotgun hung over my shoulder on a sling, and I was performing rapid fire maneuvers with my Nikon in motor drive.

I had photographs of birds falling, birds getting up, dogs running across the field, hunters in the foreground, hunters in the background.

You don’t run into many moments such as this so a photographer has to “make hay when the sun shines” to quote an old farmer’s saying.

But enough is enough.

A big rooster was flying hard and fast right in my direction.

The camera dropped on its lanyard to my chest, and I unhinged the shotgun swinging it to my shoulder and passing the muzzle through the bird’s flight. I fired, and he folded.

I pumped another load into the Benneli and swung on another rooster and repeated.

Two down.

A third was coming my way and he, too, slammed into the wheat stubble behind me.

I was done. It was back to the camera.

We were Team 13 of Governor Mike Rounds’ Invitational Pheasant Hunt.

We were hunting land owned by Darrel and son Brad Reinke. The Pierre businessmen farm the nearly 600 acres for pheasants, and it was obvious their efforts were paying off.

We were one of about 35 hunt teams scattered across the prime pheasant habitat of central South Dakota that day.

The governor’s hunt has a long and valued tradition, and a track record of economic marketing that can’t be equaled by similar efforts in any other state.

The hunt showcases the favorable outdoor (and tax and business) climate of the state.

The event begins with a noon lunch and trapshooting opportunity for participants at Pierre’s Izaak Walton Clubhouse.

A first lady’s Prairie Art Showcase is held Friday afternoon in the lobby of the Ramkota River Centre and is open throughout the weekend.

Attendants meet their team members at an evening social and banquet, meet again the next morning for breakfast and then board an assortment of vehicles to hunt on land provided by participating landowners. Another banquet after the hunt concludes the event.

Non hunters can take a train ride along the shores of Lake Sharp, then take a turn north across the prairie to the town of Blunt and back again.

Pheasant numbers in South Dakota are near all-time highs right now.

The governor noted teams harvested 1,107 roosters during the hunt.

Now that’s pheasant hunting, South Dakota style.

For those of us that have been waiting all year for pheasant season, well, it’s here!

Reports indicate that the pheasant outlook is good with those states that have a lot of habitat really crowing about their pheasant numbers.

Over the years, I’ve hunted with hundreds of hunter and was surprised how some of them hunted and amazed by others at how well they would look over the situation, hash things over, approaching each field differently.

Here are a few tips that I’ve learned that have helped me to become a more consistent early season pheasant hunter.

• Once you arrive at the field that you plan on hunting, keep the noise down to a minimum as all wild game has a very acute sense of hearing.  This means, don’t slam your car door, keep the noise to a minimum.

• If you use a whistle to control your dog, don’t keep blowing the whistle, as this will surely put the birds on alert, the last of a loud whistle is a foreign sound. If you use a whistle, try using a hawk call as this is a familiar sound and many times when the birds hear it will cause them hunker down, allowing you to get closer before the bust from the cover.

• Let your dog do the hunting and follow him wherever he leads you, as his sense of smell is the key to locating the birds.

• In the early season you’ll run into a lot of young birds, which hold fairly tight, allowing you to get close, so a heavy load generally isn’t needed, as it would be during the late season. Six shot is a good load to use at this time of the year and as the season progresses you can go with heavier loads.

• Even though it’s early season, take your time hunting, as there’s no need to rush.

• Work your way from side to side when hunting a field or slough as pheasants will run off to the side of a hunter and sit tight until the hunter passes. By working back and forth, you and the other hunters with you will eventually force those running birds into the air.

• Stop occasionally so your dog can work the area, if you aren’t hunting with a dog, it’s still a good idea to stop as this makes those birds that have hunkered down nervous, thinking that they’ve been spotted forcing them into the air.

• Use wingmen and blockers, as even early season birds will run ahead of the hunters.  Wingmen should be 15 to 20 yards ahead of the walkers and blockers will need to spread out at the end of the field that you’re hunting.

• Make every effort to find downed birds. Other hunters in the group should spot for the hunter and dog that are searching for the bird guiding them into the general area the bird went down as this narrows the area, making it easier to locate downed birds.

• Think safety first! Be sure you know where the other hunters are.

• Everyone in your hunting party needs to wear hunters orange as it makes it much easier for others to see you and it’s the law.

• Use the Blue Sky method and don’t shoot at anything that’s not high enough for you to see Blue Sky below the bird.

• Never shoot at a bird on the ground, as many times a hunting dog will be right behind the bird.

• Call the bird so other hunters will know if it’s a hen or rooster.

Much of the success in early season hunting depend on how much of the crops are left in the field.  If there’s a lot of corn in the fields, you can bet that that’s the first place the birds will go once the first shot goes off.

It used to be an easy task to walk the corn as the rows were wide, weedy and the corn was short. Now days, rows are super narrow, clean and over 6 foot tall.  If you hunt corn during the early season and you want to get a shot, you best be either a wingman or blocker.

Those hunters pushing through the corn are just going to be drivers, driving the birds in front of them to the wingmen and blockers.

Hopefully we’ll all have a successful and safe pheasant hunting season, see you in the filed!

Last weekend, which was uncomfortably warm, we were out on the Grasslands south of Pierre hunting grouse.

It was down right hot as we covered a lot of ground trying to film a show and get a shot at a grouse or prairie chicken.

Half way through the walk, I had warmed up way beyond being comfortable and my dog Mo Jo had to be a whole lot warmer as he covered twice the ground that I had and did it while wearing a fur coat.

This time of the year, when hunters really need to be aware of how quickly a hunting dog can overheat.

Since dogs don’t sweat, the only way they can cool off is by panting, which isn’t a real effective way to disperse excess body heat.

Most hunting dogs love to hunt and will run until their wheels fall off, literally running until they drop from heat exhaustion.

A few years ago near Winner, S.D. hunters lost over dozen dogs from heat exhaustion.

I know what you’re thinking, how can anyone run a dog that hard, well it’s really not that simple as hunting dogs are trained to hunt and they’ll do it until the bitter end.

You can put water in front of one and if there’s something to hunt, he’ll hunt instead of drinking water.

This is why it’s vitally important to make sure your dog is hydrated, getting plenty of water and resting on a regular basis.

When I’m hunting during periods of hot weather, I always carry a squirt bottle of water in my hunting vest.

As we hunt, I’ll stop pretty regularly and give my dog a shot of water, which helps to keep him hydrated.

To help the dog cool off more quickly, I add Country Vet High Octane Dog Fuel to the water as it contains protein, carbohydrates and electrolytes that also help to reduce muscle fatigue.

I also like to sprinkle it over his dry dog food when I feed him before and after a hunt to help him recuperate more quickly after I’ve run him hard. This helps when we head back out the next day, as he’s not quite a stiff and a lot less tired.

Since dogs lap their water, it’s not the best way to get water to the dog, but it’s a whole lot better than no water at all.

Recently, I started carry a collapsible water dish in my hunting vest, which is made from Cordura with a flexible plastic line allowing my dog to drink as much as he needs when ever we stop to take a break.

In many of the areas we hunt there are stock dams or water tanks, when we’re near them, we always give our dogs a chance to slosh around in the water and drink their fill.

It’s a good idea to take your dog to the vet and have him checked over, checking for any problems the dog might have and making sure that your dogs vaccinations are all up to date.

Just to be on the safe side, I’ll take Mo Jo into the Cedar County Vet Clinic and have Erin or Ben check him over before pheasant season, that way, I won’t need to worry about him once we hit the field.

There are many states that you might be hunting in that require that hunting dog’s vaccinations, rabies etc. be up to date before you bring them into the state.

If your hunting dog is like mine, he’s more of a friend than a pet, so I don’t want to take any chances when it comes to hunting when it’s unseasonably warm out, so I’m going to take every precaution to make sure that we both have a safe and enjoyable hunting season.