Upland hunting
Encyclopedia
Upland Hunting is an American term for a form of bird hunting in which the hunter pursues upland birds including quail
, pheasant
, grouse
, prairie chicken
, chukar
, grey partridge
, and others. Upland birds tend to be found on the ground in heavy cover, so hunters generally employ the use of gun dog
s to locate and retrieve game.
Depending upon their method of work, some dogs point game and some flush game. When flushed, either by the hunter or the dog, the hunter then attempts to shoot the birds on the wing. This is also known as wingshooting.
Upland hunting encompasses some of the activities that takes place in rough shooting in the UK.
s from break-breach guns to semi-automatics, and .410 bore
through 12 gauge
. The quintessential shotgun for upland hunting is a double barrel shotgun in a smaller gauge such as a 16, 20 or 28 gauge. Upland guns can be extremely valuable, often commanding many thousands of dollars.
In America (though not in the UK), some states require upland hunters to wear blaze orange clothing for safety. They often wear vests to carry game, though there is a recent trend toward more functional technical daypacks specifically designed for the demands of more rigorous upland hunting in remote areas.
many hunters employ specially designed hunting buggies to haul gear and kennels for fresh dogs.
Upland hunters work specially trained gun dog
s to find game. Spaniel
s and pointing breed
s are used most often, though retriever
s are worked with considerable success when hunting pheasant in many areas.
derive a significant portion of their revenue from upland hunters who travel into the state to take advantage of the ideal settings. Numerous pheasant hunting lodges are prevalent throughout South Dakota. Most of them are in the eastern half of the state.
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
, pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
, grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
, prairie chicken
Prairie Chicken
Prairie Chicken refers to several birds in the genus Tympanuchus:*Greater Prairie Chicken **Attwater's Prairie Chicken **Heath Hen **Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus...
, chukar
Chukar
The Chukar Partridge or Chukar is a Eurasian upland gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the Rock Partridge, Philby's Partridge and Przevalski's Partridge and treated in the past as conspecific particularly with the first...
, grey partridge
Grey Partridge
The Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix, also known as the English Partridge, Hungarian Partridge, or Hun, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds...
, and others. Upland birds tend to be found on the ground in heavy cover, so hunters generally employ the use of gun dog
Gun dog
thumb|right|A group of Gun dogs as printed in Dogs of All Nations by W.E. Mason in 1915Gun dogs, also gundogs or bird dogs, are types of dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game, usually birds. Gun dogs are divided into three primary types: Retrievers, flushing dogs, and...
s to locate and retrieve game.
Depending upon their method of work, some dogs point game and some flush game. When flushed, either by the hunter or the dog, the hunter then attempts to shoot the birds on the wing. This is also known as wingshooting.
Upland hunting encompasses some of the activities that takes place in rough shooting in the UK.
Equipment
Upland hunters use all types of shotgunShotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s from break-breach guns to semi-automatics, and .410 bore
.410 bore
.410 bore, commonly misnamed the .410 gauge, is the smallest gauge of shotgun shell commonly available. It has similar base dimensions to the .45 Colt revolver cartridge, though the .410 is significantly longer, up to , allowing many single-shot firearms and some revolvers chambered in that...
through 12 gauge
Gauge (bore diameter)
The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm, and is expressed as the multiplicative inverse of the sphere's weight as a fraction of a pound . Thus...
. The quintessential shotgun for upland hunting is a double barrel shotgun in a smaller gauge such as a 16, 20 or 28 gauge. Upland guns can be extremely valuable, often commanding many thousands of dollars.
In America (though not in the UK), some states require upland hunters to wear blaze orange clothing for safety. They often wear vests to carry game, though there is a recent trend toward more functional technical daypacks specifically designed for the demands of more rigorous upland hunting in remote areas.
Dogs
Upland hunters traditionally walk when finding game, though quail hunters in the Southern States often employ hunting buggies or vehicles due to the sparseness of game. Because of the large area that must be covered in order to find bobwhite quailBobwhite Quail
The Northern Bobwhite, Virginia Quail or Bobwhite Quail is a ground-dwelling bird native to the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean...
many hunters employ specially designed hunting buggies to haul gear and kennels for fresh dogs.
Upland hunters work specially trained gun dog
Gun dog
thumb|right|A group of Gun dogs as printed in Dogs of All Nations by W.E. Mason in 1915Gun dogs, also gundogs or bird dogs, are types of dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game, usually birds. Gun dogs are divided into three primary types: Retrievers, flushing dogs, and...
s to find game. Spaniel
Spaniel
A spaniel is a type of gun dog. It is assumed spaniels originated from Spain as the word spaniel may be derived from Hispania or possibly from the French phrase "Chiens de l’Espagnol" . Spaniels were especially bred to flush game out of dense brush. By the late 17th century spaniels had become...
s and pointing breed
Pointing breed
A pointing breed is a type of gundog typically used in finding game. Gundogs are traditionally divided into three classes: retrievers, flushing dogs, and pointing breeds. The name pointer comes from the dog's instinct to point, by stopping and aiming its muzzle towards game. This demonstrates to...
s are used most often, though retriever
Retriever
A retriever is a type of gun dog that retrieves game for a hunter. Generally gun-dogs are divided into three major classifications: retrievers, flushing spaniels, and pointing breeds. Retrievers were bred primarily to retrieve birds or other prey and return them to the hunter without damage...
s are worked with considerable success when hunting pheasant in many areas.
Location
Upland hunting takes place primarily in open fields which provide cover for birds. Some states such as South DakotaSouth Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
derive a significant portion of their revenue from upland hunters who travel into the state to take advantage of the ideal settings. Numerous pheasant hunting lodges are prevalent throughout South Dakota. Most of them are in the eastern half of the state.