Ep. 69: Questions from Quarantine with Howard Vincent & Dave Nomsen

From COVID-19 to digital tools for at-home upland scouting, this special episode of On The Wing podcast is our first listener-generated session that focuses questions collected from our online audience. Host Bob St.Pierre has grouped them into categories and poses them to Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s President & CEO Howard Vincent and V.P. of Government Affairs Dave Nomsen. Episode highlights include: · Biology: Nomsen, a wildlife biologist, talks about last winter’s impact on the birds and the early spring’s conditions for nesting pheasants and quail. Nomsen also discusses similarities and differences between pheasants and quail in nesting, re-nesting, and dietary needs. · The Organization: Vincent challenges upland bird hunters to take the hunter-mentor pledge to help introduce new people to the joys of upland bird hunting, while Nomsen asks conservationists to contact elected officials when the organization issues an action alert. And of course, the crew discuss the ramifications of COVID-19 on the organization. · Habitat: Mother Nature hasn’t stopped and neither has the organization’s drive to accomplish our wildlife habitat mission. From prescribed burning to land acquisitions, the trio talk about what the organization has been doing to create more habitat even during the pandemic. · Legislative Issues: Nomsen has been working conservation policy for the organization through every Farm Bill since 1992 and throughout this episode he talks about the importance of federal conservation programs to pheasants and quail, as well as public land hunters. · How You Can Help: Bob introduces the upcoming Give to the Uplands Day slated to happen on May 5th and the variety of ways supporters can help contribute to the organization’s wildlife habitat mission. · Hunting: The largest category of questions covers pheasants, quail, Huns, and prairie grouse tips and advice for where to find them and how to identify them in the air. The crew talk public land and private land, as well as how to use digital tools for pre-trip scouting. Howard also talks about the coming 2020 bird hunting season with a pandemic backdrop. · Dogs: In the most controversial segment of the episode, the guys debate flushers versus pointers, then talk about some of the great pups they’ve hunted behind over the years.