Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

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.”… Continue reading

Late season pheasant hunting is a great sport; sometimes, one requiring a real love for the sport.

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.… Continue reading

As I sat on the porch at Big Blue Lodge, a full moon appeared on the horizon adding it’s  illumination to the light being dispersed by the millions of stars in the sky that night.

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.… Continue reading

No doubt, you’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle, strange things happen there and it’s one of those places you really don’t want to be.

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.… Continue reading