Waterfowl

Logo

Decoying Iowa Waterfowl: What You Need, and What You Need to Know

Decoying Iowa Waterfowl: What You Need, and What You Need to Know By Nick Johnson One of the most exciting aspects of waterfowl hunting is undoubtedly the use of decoys in fooling your quarry. Some make it simple and hike in or use a canoe or sneak boat to deploy a dozen or so decoys. […]

READ MORE

Logo

Prep For This Season: First Aid Overview For Sporting Dogs

Prep For This Season: First Aid Overview For Sporting Dogs By Ryan Eder As I sit down to collect my notes for this article, I must reflect and share with you my experience this past week on a hunt I went on. It is nuisance goose season, an early time period prior to waterfowl season […]

READ MORE

Logo

Cold Weather Care

Cold Weather Care By Ryan Eder Hunting season is finally here! The past offseason has been geared towards training dogs and hopefully keeping them in shape to prepare for the upcoming seasons. However a major difference is the fact that spring and summer temperatures are much warmer than what the late fall and winter bring…the […]

READ MORE

Logo

Patterning Your Shotgun

Patterning Your Shotgun By Ryan Eder I love to joke with everyone and blame the choke in my gun for a poor shooting performance. “Man, I should have used a mod and not my full” is my signature tag line. The truth is, understanding your gun’s performance with different chokes is obviously important when we […]

READ MORE

Logo

Thinking Small

Thinking Small Hunting in Iowa has changed significantly during my lifetime. Four decades ago wild turkey and deer were scarce or non-existent in much of the state. Most hunters started out shooting squirrels and rabbits before moving on to pheasants and/or waterfowl. Only then did they graduate to larger game, if they had access to […]

READ MORE

Logo

Early Season Duck Strategies

Early Season Duck Strategies By Nick Johnson The onset of duck season stirs many emotions in a waterfowl hunter. It often starts with super early mornings and mild weather and the hopes that any prior scouting missions will prove successful. This is a chance for hunters to knock the dust off their gear, which if […]

READ MORE

Logo

How to Win on Opening Day Waterfowl

How to Win on Opening Day Waterfowl By Ryan Eder There is something about opening day that gets us all excited. Whether it is the first day of school, a new job or the first home game of your favorite sports team, we find ourselves getting anxious in anticipation of “the day”. I cannot wait […]

READ MORE

Logo

Commands in the Field

Commands in the Field By: Ryan Eder – President, Upland Gundog Association LLC, Goldeneyes Retrievers If someone were to ask you “what commands do you use most in the field” what would your answer be? Are we even aware half of the time of what we are saying to our dogs while hunting? Is our […]

READ MORE

Logo

Bismuth Shot Fundamentals

Bismuth Shot Fundamentals Around the time I was born, lead shot used in waterfowl hunting began to be phased out. I vaguely recall my dad and grandpas grumbling about the lesser performance of steel shot for a few years preceding when I was old enough to know what duck hunting was. Nonetheless, this was the […]

READ MORE

How to Hunt Iowa Wildlife

How to Hunt Iowa’s Wildlife

How to Hunt Iowa’s Wildlife I am a chronically late person. Church services, family gatherings, meeting up with hunting buddies, even this article is coming down to the wire on the due date. Besides the self-loathing for my poor time management, I worry that others who may notice my frequent tardiness will assess that it […]

READ MORE