No one from the greater-Midwest is going to claim this past upland season was the best in recent history (if you feel differently, please post the exact locations you were hunting in the comment section below. Seriously, we’re all friends here…right?). However, hunting is all about getting outside with your friends and family while experiencing the world for what it’s really worth. Not for what it looks like through the screen of a smart phone.

That said, try convincing this to someone who just walked for an entire day only to kick up one hen.  Or, someone who suddenly became dog-less. Sometimes the slow days make our minds wander and cause even the most dedicated upland addicts to question what exactly they’re doing. But for every moment we start to question, life seems to throw us unexpected reaffirmation. We love it. Both the good and the bad.

So as the rest of the hunting blogosphere starts reflecting about how this past year was ______ (insert: great/fun/hard/too short… etc.), I’ll leave you with a video that accurately sums up my 2011-2012 upland season. The good? I “found” some birds. The bad? My dog wasn’t always there to find them for me. The result? The realization that no matter what, if you’re lucky enough to be hunting, you’re simply lucky enough.

I’ve seen pointing labs and retrieving setters, but flushing deer? This is getting ridiculous.

The Over/Under blog is written by Andrew Vavra, Pheasants Forever’s Marketing Specialist.