Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever

How Accurate a Wingshooter are you, really? This week's episode of On the Wing Podcast features University of Georgia’s Dr. James Martin and Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy biologists Amanda Schmidt and Justin Rectenwald for a conversation recapping the group’s three-year study focused on assessing crippling loss from bobwhite quail hunters. Listen now at the link below or wherever you get your podcasts! https://lnkd.in/g7sTfiJy “On the Wing Podcast” is proudly fueled by Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets #quailforever #pheasantsforever #thehabitatorganization

Public Access to Habitat Program Surpasses 100,000 Acres Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are proud to announce the Public Access to Habitat (PATH) program has surpassed 100,000 enrolled acres in just two short years of operation. Piloted in South Dakota, PATH has now created 69,950 acres of public access on private lands in the Pheasant Capital. The program moved to Nebraska last year, where an additional 51,956 acres have been enrolled — bringing PATH’s overall total to 121,906 acres. “PATH has been such a tremendous success since its launch in 2023, and we’re so incredibly proud to have hit 100,000 acres,” said John Laux, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Permanent Habitat Protection Programs Manager. “We hope to carry that momentum into the next several years, where we’ll continue to expand both public access and quality habitat on private lands across America’s uplands.” In South Dakota and Nebraska, The PATH program provides a financial incentive for ranchers, farmers and landowners to voluntarily enroll high-quality CRP, rangeland, shelterbelts, wetlands and other habitat types into a multiyear (variable per state), walk-in hunting agreement. Landowners are compensated with a sign-up incentive directly from Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. At its core, the program supports a very simple equation: More Habitat & Access = More Hunters = More Dollars for Local Economies. The PATH program can also be tailored in various ways to address specific access barriers - willing landowners, funding, or staff capacity - in states throughout the pheasant and quail ranges. PATH will now expand to North Dakota, which has a goal of enrolling an additional 15,000 acres in the next three years. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/gDiK9nwr

PODCAST EP. 327: MeatEater's Tony Peterson on his Love for Dogs and Bird Hunting Host Bob St. Pierre is joined by PF & QF's Vice President of Marketing, Andrew Vavra, for a conversation with MeatEater's Tony Peterson, focused on his love of chasing birds with his Labrador retrievers. Peterson leads MeatEater's dog content as the host of Houndations Podcast and DOG EDU. Peterson is also the father of two twin teenage daughters who he is raising in the outdoors, and the group talk about parenting kids to love hunting and fishing. Listen at https://lnkd.in/g6gfjv9N

Sporting Dog Shorts - Tough Feet, Tough Dogs: A Veterinarian's Guide to Foot Care By Seth Bynum, DVM I've often said that healthy feet are earned, not gifted. Preventing paw injuries is not a passive process, and the hours you invest in strengthening your hunting dog's feet pay dividends later in the season. Just like the fingertip calluses you built learning to play the guitar, a hunting dog's tough feet are a direct result of hours of conditioning, repetition, and preparation. If you want your dog to thrive through the thick of hunting season, their feet need to be ready to handle every uphill mile, a variety of terrain, and diverse weather challenges. As a veterinarian who works closely with sporting dogs, I've seen firsthand how endurance and stamina often come down to the condition of a dog's feet. Whether you're pursuing pheasants through CRP or chasing quail along rocky ridges of the West, your dog's feet are the crucial connection between their powerful body and the challenging ground beneath them. And while canine feet are naturally rugged, they are also one of the most common sources of injury during the hunting season. Let's dive into what it takes to build, maintain, and protect your dog's feet from preseason to the final flush. Check out the full story at https://lnkd.in/gnXEpvGJ

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Welcome NAVHDA as a Supporter of Permanent Habitat and Access Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are proud to announce a formal partnership with the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) to promote habitat initiatives and hunting heritage over the next three years. The partnership is striving to activate more upland hunters through the gateway of field training, while actively supporting the upland landscapes where hunters and bird dogs love to roam. “As the largest collection of upland hunters and dog trainers in North America, creating synergies around bird dogs, hunting heritage, and permanent protection of grasslands is a natural connection for this trio,” said Luc Ramthun, senior corporate partnerships executive at PF & QF. “We’re proud to call NAVHDA a partner in conservation and look forward to identifying meaningful public land projects to conserve, forever.” Corporate backing from NAVHDA will be utilized to support public land projects through Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Build a Wildlife Area Program, the organization’s signature permanent protection strategy that has conserved 242,000 acres since 1982. For the current fiscal year, NAVHDA chose to support the Jim Wooley Family Tract in southern Iowa, a 422-acre upland utopia of grassland, woodland, and riparian habitat adjacent to the Heritage Hills Wildlife Management Area. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/g3QKxfyG w/ NORTH AMERICAN VERSATILE HUNTING DOG ASSOCIATION

Prairie Grouse Primer 2025 by PF Editor Tom Carpenter Just Go If you hunt prairie grouse, you know of what I speak. If you have never hunted prairie grouse, make this the year you go. It is not rocket science. Dog (any one will do) and water. Boots (light ones) and shotgun. Miles (many of them) and grass and sky. That's it. Just go. It is pure delight and simplicity and pleasantness in every sense. Shirtsleeves fluttering in the breeze. No sound but the wind rustling the grass. Every sense alive. Partnering with your dog. The satisfaction of sun-kiss and wind-burn on dry cheeks at the end of the day. God it all feels so good. But where? PF & QF's annual Prairie Grouse Primer will start you down the trail. You can't pick a wrong state. But you can make a wrong decision: To stay home. That's it. Just go. Check out our 2025 Prairie Grouse Primer at https://lnkd.in/ggG-z-XK presented by Sportsman's Guide

Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever (QF) are thrilled to introduce Megan Tenenbaum, MS, CFRE as the organization's new director of annual giving. She brings more than a decade of expertise in strategic fundraising, donor engagement, and multi-channel campaign leadership to The Habitat Organization. In her new role, Tenenbaum will provide leadership and development of comprehensive annual giving programs and expand donor engagement programs that strengthen the connection between donors and the organization's mission. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gGRsvUcC

ON THE WING PODCAST EP. 326: Will There be a New Farm Bill in 2025? Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by PF & QF's Vice President of Government Affairs Ariel Alberti Wiegard and Director of Government Affairs Andrew Schmidt to attempt answering the difficult question, "Will there be a new Farm Bill in 2025?" The trio also discuss the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and what the absence of a new Farm Bill means for the crown jewel of voluntary conservation programs. Listen at https://lnkd.in/gFizR_Ts

Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever (QF) are thrilled to announce the promotion of Brian Essling to vice president of membership and annual giving. With over a decade of experience, Essling is a seasoned nonprofit leader and an expert in driving membership growth and philanthropic engagement. He will oversee the organization's national membership programs, annual giving initiatives, and stewardship and engagement strategies to expand the upland conservation community. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gAmUQjj2

BACK TO EARTH: Chukar hunting Oregon's Owyhee Canyonlands By Noah Davis / Photos by James Wicks Tristan, James and I dropped off the flat into the Owyhee River Canyon. Immediately, it felt like a heroic descent. Even though we had just come down 10 feet of basalt, even though the blue of the sky was still wide above us, even though we were certainly not heroes, the gravity had already grown in strength as we entered the immense space carved by the river. I don't mean the term heroic in the way we in the 21st century use the term, but in the Grecian way: like Orpheus, like Heracles, who both descended into the Underworld. Heroes are flawed because who are our heroes other than people? They are humans who have a quality to admire, but are not infallible. This humanity, this fallibility, is what makes them reachable, keeps them tethered to our realm. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/g89D36dQ w/ Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership