Conservation group Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever has launched a free online video series and how-to course aimed at encouraging first-time hunters to try upland bird hunting.
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Produced by the module has something for both novice and experienced hunters.
The mission of Modern Carnivore, according to its website, “is to awaken the hunter that lives inside you” while introducing people to “hunting, fishing and foraging to promote a deeper understanding of wild places and our connection to them.”
The “Hunter Stories” portion of the course features a series of hunting story videos: “Family Traditions,” about a ruffed grouse and woodcock hunt in Maine; “Minnesota Nice,” with Keng Yang, a Minnesota pheasant hunter, member of the Twin Cities Hmong community and founder of the minnesota-hunter.com website; “Reviving and Reshaping Traditions,” about a Georgia northern bobwhite quail hunt; “Women Who Hunt,” featuring hunting Hungarian partridge and pheasant; and “Hunters in Unlikely Places,” about a valley quail hunt in California.
The Hunting Lessons portion of the course focuses on “Bird Basics,” “Hunting Equipment,” “Pre-hunt Preparation,” “Post-hunt Responsibilities” and “Hunting Culture.” Upland species featured in the hunting lessons are ring-necked pheasants, ruffed grouse, woodcock, quail, and Hungarian (gray) partridge.
The video series is meant to be “educational but also very entertaining in the process,” says Bendel, an avid outdoorswoman and R3 coordinator for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. R3 stands for “recruitment, retention and reactivation” of hunters, anglers and shooting sports participants.
The course can be viewed in segments or all at once and will take at least two hours to complete.
“There’s a lot of great educational content” in the series, Bendel said in an interview. “It was intentionally designed to cover diverse landscapes and quarry, but also just different people that come to the sport and why. The hope is that someone interested in upland hunting sees a piece of themselves in one of the stories, at least. And I think it's cool that it’s educational, but done so in a pretty entertaining way.”
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In the North Dakota video, Mark Norquist, the publisher and founder of Modern Carnivore, visits the state on one of the coldest, windiest, most miserable weeks of last year’s upland game season. He manages to bag a Hungarian partridge during a blustery day afield, but the pheasants were elusive.
The North Dakota video also highlights the the only all-female PF chapter in the state and one of only a handful nationwide. Bendel, who was working for Pheasants Forever in 2018 when the chapter was founded, said the chapter has more than 100 members from as far away as Jamestown.
“We operate just like a regular chapter but just really focus on getting women interested in hunting and shooting,” Bendel said. “It’s been a cool journey.
“I feel like one big challenge we’re learning with these women’s chapters is a lot of us are young working moms and maybe a little busier or have a lot more going on than the retired guys that make up a lot of our traditional chapters, but we’ve found a way.”
Especially popular, Bendel says, is the women’s wingshooting clinics the chapter offers at the Capital City Sporting Clays range in Bismarck. Open to 12 women, the three-part clinic includes both classroom and private shooting instruction and is in its fifth summer, Bendel says.
The chapter, it could be said, is a perfect example of how to successfully connect women with the shooting sports and hunting.
“It’s awesome the heavy women’s presence we’ve had out there at the sporting clays range this summer,” Bendel said. “I feel like it’s turned some heads – ‘why are all these women here?’ – and it’s been really cool.”
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The Hunting Stories videos are beautifully filmed, but realistic at the same time in telling the story that hunters sometimes come home empty-handed. No ruffed grouse were shot during the Maine hunt, for example, and harsh weather conditions likely played into the lack of pheasant success during Norquist’s visit to North Dakota and his day afield with Bendel.
“That’s hunting, so I’m glad some of that really came across,” Bendel said. “I wish just in general across the board we’d gotten a few more birds.
“I don’t want to set unrealistic expectations for new hunters, either. Obviously, sometimes, that’s how it goes.”
To sign up and register for the course, go to .
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