Category: LL Bean
Field & Stream recently had a rundown of “New Gear for Waterfowl, Turkey and Upland Bird Hunting in 2012,” aka new gear from the SHOT Show in annoying slideshow form. Once again, we save you the trouble by running down our favorites of theirs. We do wonder how much cool stuff was missed or didn’t […]
The 100th Anniversary of L.L. Bean is next year, and you better believe this iconic American outdoor company is going to do a bunch to celebrate. (Unfortunately, our idea of free Setters for everyone wasn’t embraced by Mr. Bean….) One thing they’re doing is producing a variety of 100th Anniversary heritage products, including a canoe, […]
Just like the title says, here’s some stuff we want for Christmas – “we” being Jay and Sean, Brendan’s brother. Apparently Brendan has all he wants…not really but he didn’t type something up in time for this post. So here goes – with two disclaimers: 1. Thanks to the exploits of our Pheasants Forever brothers […]
Along with the Irish Setter Wingshooters, another piece of gear Sean tested on the Maine trip was the L.L. Bean Technical Upland Soft-Shell Jacket. No secret Jay and Brendan are big fans of L.L. Bean’s upland gear – because Bean continues to push the envelope in upland gear, one of only a few companies that […]
Well…sorta! Check out the cover of its latest fall 2011 hunting catalog. Not sure if everyone got this cover or just the bird-heads or what, but it’s cool. No secret that we’re huge fans of Bean upland gear, and gotta say that we found a few must-haves/wanna-tries in this catalog. We’ll be testing out the […]
In a future post we’ll talk about gear we’re still looking for, things we need as Serious birders but are as yet unavailable on the market. Thankfully, one item we crossed off the list this year is rain jackets. We make no bones about the fact that we absolutely believe LL Bean makes many of […]
If you tried buying these pants this season based on our recommendation in Serious Grouse Hunting, Book 1, you were SOL because LL Bean was sold out of them. Jay learned that before the season even started, after sacrificing his pair of these pants for tests by WL Gore related to the book. He figured […]
LL Bean makes some of the best upland gear ever (wearables, if that’s a word), in our opinion, and lucky for all of us they keep developing more. Following are the upland products that caught our eye at the recent SHOT shooting industry trade show – meaning they’re not available yet, but will be this […]
Day 3 dawned gray and cold. No big deal, about the same as day 2. Our clothes were surprisingly dry (not an ounce of moisture in that hotel room), and as we left it started to snow. We were happy about that because a fresh snow meant the ability to track grouse.
Off to MN! Here’s a partial list of what we learned hunting the opening week of the Maine grouse season – partial because we’re sure we’re forgetting something.
We knew rain was in the forecast for day 4. Rain and wind. We were going hunting anyway, but figured it was a good day to jump in the truck and look at new areas – in this case meaning entirely new.
Day 2 was hot. We’re talking temperature, not birds. In the middle of the day it felt like temps were in the 80s, but were in the low 60s. Hardly any wind, strong sun all day. We spent this day prospecting around Jackman, looking for new covers. We succeeded, in a way. After some unproductive […]
Just read this article on hunting ruffies in MN this year. So much of it, while well-intentioned, is wrong. Here goes: > The good news is, counts were up 34 percent this spring in parts of northern Minnesota. Counts remained stable in southern Minnesota. This COULD mean that there’s more easy birds (young ones) early […]
Lessons from 2012 Maine-NH Hunt
Don’t know if we’ve fully recovered yet from our not-quite-a-week of hunting Maine and New Hampshire for ruffies and woodies. We all actually bailed 2 days early, having put in 5 consecutive days instead of our usual 7. Felt like wimps about it, but hey, we were BEAT…from 5 days of the most brutal hunting […]
No Grouse Comeback in SW Penn?
Sounds like ruffed grouse will never be as much a part of the landscape of southern Pennsylvania as they once will. “Never” sounds ominous. Permanent. But that’s the conclusion of an article by Bob Frye in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Why should you care if you don’t live or hunt in PA? Reasons: > Pennsylvania is […]
Hey: All Ruffies Drum Differently!
Did you know that? Not until now…. This info won’t help us hunting, but it’s interesting – and makes sense. Here’s more, from newscientist.com: Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds. Humans and many other animals, particularly birds, can be identified by their voices. But no one had looked […]
Ran across this quote from an article about Iowa’s pheasant count: > “I haven’t even gone pheasant hunting the last couple of years because the birds just weren’t there,†said Tim Wolf, a 61-year-old bank president who lives in Waukee. YES THEY WERE! They most definitely were there. Maybe not like this… > “But I’ve […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Across the Pond Bird Follies, Vids
Ah the UK, the land that gave the world 17 pieces of silverware on the table, animal rights and other questionable stuff. Okay, it wasn’t all bad – that’s where our bird hunting came from too. But it’s different here…or there, depending on your perspective. Here’s some recent bird news plus some interesting vids. Katie […]
Do Congress, Tea Party Hate Pheasants?
We make it a point to try not to get suckered by political hoo-ha, so that’s not what this is about. We ran across a blog post on the Discovery-owned treehugger.com titled “Why Does Congress Hate Pheasants?” and a related one, “Do Tea Party, Heritage Foundation Oppose Hunting?” Interesting stuff, written by the same gent, […]
Quail, the most beleaguered of our beloved gamebirds, is getting a helping hand in Kansas. Or rather, a bigger helping hand. The state just announced that it’s “launching a new quail restoration initiative aimed at making a difference in declining bobwhite quail populations at a landscape level.” Here’s more: > Includes the designation of two […]
Worms and Birds: What Else Don’t We Know?
Believe we’ve talked about this at least once, but a recent Wall Street Journal article on the plight of Texas quail got us thinking about it again. Here’s the applicable stuff: …Rolling Hills Quail Research Ranch, a 4,700-acre spread an hour west of Abilene. Last month, researchers there found that the levels of parasitic worms […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Lone Star Outdoor news recently carried an article on a speech given by Dr. Dale Rollins of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Rotan, Texas. Seems that a major threat to quail, at least in the Lone Star state, may be an eyeball worm. News to us! Highlights: > Especially mysterious were the continued […]
