Public Grouse (2020)

Earlier this year, Project Upland Magazine in collaboration with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, joined together to tell the story of our beloved #PublicGrouse. The idea was simple: capture the people, places, and birds that make the story of grouse and public lands in North America so important to us. We sought to celebrate the truth that without public lands we would not know any of the grouse species in the capacity we do. They are a part of our culture, the fabric of American grouse hunting. The plan was to cover seven locations, six species, and a wide spread of characters from our community, all in a one-hour feature film. Springtime brought us to the sage grouse lekking grounds of Montana and to the unusual pursuit of sooty grouse in Alaska. As September came into swing, we headed to the plains of North Dakota, hot on the heels of the sharp-tailed grouse before heading to the high country of Utah to chase the non-native Ptarmigan. As the leaves began to turn color and the season shifted into fall, we spent time hunting spruce grouse in Minnesota before applying our efforts to the iconic ruffed grouse in both northern and southern Appalachia.