Chukar hunt! C'mon along on a recent foray into the wild-bird country of the Great Basin.

Upland Nation

Need a chukar fix? How about a few valley quail too? I'll debrief a recent hunt of mine ... sort of a bookend thing, with stunning dog work at both ends. We pull a few thousand feet of elevation, miss a few birds and connect on others. I'll talk terrain, habitat, strategy and tactics plus some pure dumb luck too. A fascinating find or two, as well.

"Fix It" has a few theories on why birds scatter this time of year, and we'll take a sneak peek at the Upland Nation Index and your responses to the longest-running, largest private-sector survey of upland hunters. Favorite dog breed? What are the key issues you face? We'll take a look.

You get a final chance to enter to win the Sage & Braker shotgun cleaning mat in our furfeathersfriends.com sweepstakes, too, but only if you listen and know the Word of the Week.

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