You can feel it in the air already (at least here in Montana)! It’s hunting season once again. Grouse and Sharptails open today in Montana - and between bird hunting and college football, I can’t even think straight I’m so excited. There’s always that side benefit of our Uplanders Warehouse business really ramping up too 
As you may know, we’re still new to Montana, and this is really our first hunting season here in Big Sky country. I just went out and bought a map book of the entire state and I’m sitting down with a few friends to have them mark it up for me and give up all their prime bird spots (I wish that were the case – most likely, they’ll send me to some parking lot in Billings). I guess we’ll see how good of friends they really are 
I also finally got my neglected dogs out to do some work the last few weeks of August (yes, I’m a procrastinator). Fortunately though, they still look pretty sharp. They sure were excited to be over birds again. I hooked up with the Missouri Headwaters Gun Dog Club here in the Bozeman area. Seems like a great bunch of guys, and I’ll definitely be doing more with them throughout the next year. Here’s their website if you’re interested: http://mhgdc.org/pointers.htm
Back to hunting and my first hunting trip of the season: My wife (Dixie) and I are flying down to Texas this week for a good old dove hunt AND we’re catching a football game (BYU v. OU) in the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. Let’s see… hunting + college football in the same weekend = too good to be true. The only thing that would make the weekend better is if my beloved Cougs could actually make a game of it against the Sooners - but that would really be too much to ask for. The Sooners are looking tough (as usual). For the dove hunt, we’ll be going out with a good friend of mine (more like a brother) – Eric Henline. Eric runs Big Sky Outfitters in Sanger, TX - and knows how to put on a great hunt (birds, big game, pigs… anything you can think of). His website is www.bso-texas.com if you’re ever in need of a great North Texas guide.
So my evil plan is to get my wife hooked on bird hunting this fall. She’s enjoyed running our Uplanders business - and talking with many of you - but she’s never been too keen on the actual hunting part. We’re starting out this weekend though - she’s committed to the dove hunt. On top of that, she’s also agreed to go pheasant hunting in South Dakota for our anniversary. You may have read last year’s post about the annual pain I suffer for getting married the first week of November. But alas, this year is shaping up to be pain free. We met Travis Akin - proprietor of Rooster Tail Inc (www.roostertailhunts.com) - a family run outfitter in Mellette, SD, and we’re trying to setup a hunt with them the week of our anniversary.
Free gear is always a good thing!
On a separate note, if you’re not entering our monthly product giveaways, you’re missing out (just enter from our home page at www.uplanders.com). Free gear is always a good thing! Our June winner, Mark from Platteville, WI, sent me this picture of his son posing in his new Boyt strap vest along side their new Wirehair pup “Magnum.” Thanks for sending the picture Mark!
I’ll post some pics from our Texas hunt as soon as we get back. I promise not to be as negligent as I’ve been in updating this blog. Hunting season should provide some good material to make it easier.
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Ok, we just got back from our Dallas trip today (Monday). The dove hunting was horrible. What made it even worse were seeing the hundreds of empty shells on the ground presumably from the opener. We had rain the night before we hunted, and could count the number of birds flying on 2 hands. Not the best start to the weekend. But then our luck changed (must be karma).
The football game was absolutely beautiful (sorry OU fans). My Cougs pulled out the victory with a clutch 4th quarter drive. My voice is still hoarse from yelling so much. I’m not sure if I’m willing to trade good hunting for a good football game though. I guess I’m still searching for the absolutely perfect weekend.
Since I don’t have any hunting pictures to share (zero birds = zero pictures taken), I will post a lovely shot of me at the game. Enjoy (I know I did!) PS – Kudos to Jerry Jones – he sure built an impressive stadium. What a facility!
JT at the BYU-OU game in Dallas, TX
