On another board there's a discussion going on what bird is the king of the uplands; most are saying that illegal immigrant the pheasant is King, one poor soul is saying the grouse. I and others have educated those poor souls that the Bob White Quail is obviously the King of the uplands.
Opinions?

Bob's

It depends on the metric you measure by. In the the south it is Gentleman Bob. My personal pick is Pheasant. Better dog work the way they run and the flush is unmatched.

Old books call it the Ruffed Grouse, but most Texans have never seen one. To the hunter, the king of the upland birds would be regional depending on what is most sought after in the region you hunt. Texas for sure the Bobwhite. Louisiana would be the Woodcock, Kansas I assume the Pheasant and so on.

For me, its all about the dog work, followed by an explosive group flush and so that means bobs. My close second is huns, they aren't as gentlemanly as bobs as far as walking right into them (bobs in a good year give you some of that anyway), but then you have the scenery of northern Wyoming, Montana, or North Dakota. All of those locales are a tad prettier than Guthrie or Big Spring etc.

Chukars. You work your arse off for them.

i will put sage grouse in the mix. That flush is unmatched

Such a wonderful, and regular, off-season discussion. Which bird is the King? The question posed has caused me, in a good way, to examine my feelings about the upland species I've been blessed to hunt down through the years. Here's my take.



My primary measure of the perfect gamebird is behavior before the dog. I prefer a bird that will stand, most of the time, before the dog. Others prefer a bird that is more "sporty" before setting. Of the species I've hunted I'd rank, in pertinent part, the following in order of "gentlemanliness (is that even a word?)"; Mearn's quail, Hungarian partridge, Bobwhite quail and early-season Sharptail grouse. Of the "sportier" species my experiences would rank, in pertinent part, the following in order of challenging; Pheasant, Scaled quail and Ruffed grouse. Again, I prefer a standing bird.



In my opinion the next most important factor to determine the perfect gamebird is beauty in the hand. For me the general beauty of gamebirds is one of the most important reasons I hunt. Overall the aesthetics of the sport are a big draw for me. Of the species I've hunted I would subjectively rank the following, in pertinent part, for beauty in the hand; Pheasant, Scaled quail, Mearn's quail, Hungarian partridge, Bobwhite quail and Ruffed grouse.



A parallel factor to the above is the beauty of the habitat in which each species is found. This factor is supremely subjective. Of the species I've hunted ranked, in pertinent part, for habitat beauty as follows: Mearn's quail, Ruffed grouse, Bobwhite quail, Hungarian partridge and Pheasant.



Another factor that is so hard to quantify outside of each individual hunter's experience is that of tradition. Even defining what constitutes tradition in this context would make for a complete other string of posts. My experiences have exposed me to the traditions primarily surrounding Bobwhite quail and Pheasant. Most recently I've had significant exposure to the traditions surrounding Rufffed grouse, Woodcock, Sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridge. For me the Ruffed grouse has the most heritage with the Bobwhite quail a close second.



Another factor is the different flight/flush characteristics of each species. This is, again, subjectively hard to quantify. I prefer a covey bird to solo flushers. Of the covey birds I've hunted I'd rank the following as providing the sportiest flushes; Mearn's quail, Bobwhite quail and Hungarian partridge. Of the solo species I've hunted the I'd rank the following for sportiest flushes; Ruffed Grouse, Pheasant and Woodcock.



From the above list one would think that I view the Mearn's quail as the perfect gamebird. Perhaps it is. However, my favorite gamebird to hunt is the Scaled quail even though that's not the question OP posed.

depends on what area, state and ect

I told my wife I would rather hunt bobs than fish, and I do like to fish, well used to.

The king of all bird hunting is the Bob. Why is it even a question. I had to put down two great bird dogs this summer. If anyone has a 6 month old pup they don’t need I’d be interested. I just got off the phone with an old man I used to hunt with. He has some 6 MO pointer/shorthair drop pups he wants 1000K for. How crazy is that?

Acouple of years ago people were giving away dogs like this.

Chukar or Hungarian Partridge. Wild of course.

Bob's...but I'll hunt anything the dogs will point.

High plains blues.

Turkey?

(*runs and hides*)

Not an upland bird.

Lots of sources, including Tpwd and the national wild turkey federation, would disagree with you.

If it’s hunted with a pointing dog, I consider it an upland game bird. That’s also why it’s called wing shooting.
Shoot a flying Turkey lately?

I have had a dog with me on all private land Turkey hunts for several years now. It is not legal everywhere, but people have been using dogs for Turkey hunting in some eastern states for well over 100 years. Turkey are very much upland game, but I do understand the spirit of the question is in regard to more traditional flushing and pointing dog upland game. Yet if you live in say South Carolina and you called Wild Turkey the king of the uplands, I doubt anyone there would question you.
Blaze



Dash

Well what do know, learn something new everyday.

I've heard of people using dogs to turkey hunt back east, but I've never done it.

How do you use your dog on a turkey hunt?

Same "breaking" or flushing maneuver described in the video?