Hey from California Upland.
Clocks went back an hour overnight. Quail and chukar shooting runs from half an hour before sunrise to sunset, so from today both ends come an hour earlier on the clock: an earlier start, and an afternoon hunt that loses its light around 5. Pheasant, dove’s second season, and fall turkey all open in 13 days, on Saturday, Nov. 14. Pheasant shooting starts at 8 a.m., not before sunrise.
This week’s lead. Planning a First Trip to the Tehachapis: Hunting the Seam Between the Sierra and the Mojave — Peter on the low range where the southern Sierra bends into the Transverse Ranges and the Mojave pushes in from the east, which puts chukar, California quail and Gambel’s quail within a day’s walk of each other. He hasn’t hunted it yet, so this is the plan he’s drawn, west to east: why access is the first problem to solve, why he’d read the country for water before birds, how he’d split a day with Alan, his English cocker, and the honest ceiling — fewer birds than the Owens Valley or the Modoc, in country worth walking anyway. Read →
What we published this week:
→ California Dove Regulations 2026-27: HIP, Limits, Lead-Free Zones (updated) — now with California’s rules for getting birds home ahead of the Nov. 14 reopener: the fully feathered wing that has to stay on every dove, tags for birds someone else carries, and possession as one running count. Read →
Coming up in California:
→ Bird-dog trials and hunt tests, Nov. 6–11 — three pointing-dog field trials back to back at Jamestown, Nov. 6–11, run by German shorthair and wirehair clubs (entries for the first two close today at 4 p.m.), and the California Brittany Club’s hunt tests at California City, Nov. 7–8. You don’t need a dog entered to watch, and if you’re still choosing a breed, it’s the easiest way to see one work. Dates and venues →
→ CDFW planted-pheasant hunts by draw, Dec. 5 – Feb. 20 — applications close Sunday, Nov. 15. Junior, family and new-hunter hunts from Merced to San Jacinto and San Luis Obispo County, at $2.98 an application. CDFW counts you as a new hunter from your first California license through the four license years after it. How to apply →
New on the site.
Gear, rebuilt around what we carry. We’ve pared the gear section down to the gear Matt and Peter hunt with: the strap vests, the boots, the pants, the first aid on the belt. Each page now says who carries it and what they think of it, in their own words. Matt on Kuiu’s Tiburon pant, for the quail hills he hunts: “Great for the heat, but you’ll feel every thistle. Stick to the Attack pants for this area.” Prices and specs come from the maker, with the date we checked them. It’s all on one page now, gear articles included, and we don’t earn a commission on any of it.
Most of you come here to plan a hunt, not to shop. So from here, most of our gear writing starts from a California problem rather than a product: a boot that holds on a steep quail draw, pants that survive chaparral, what to carry where your phone has no signal. See what we carry →
And meet Quailbert. The orange bird at the top of every page on the site is new, and he has a name. Quailbert is a California quail, the state bird, topknot and all, standing beside the two words that have sat under our name since spring: Hunt & Conserve. He’s rounder, and a good deal more orange, than anything you’ll flush this month. We’re calling that artistic license.
If there’s a California problem you’d want a gear piece to start from, a hill that eats boots or cover that shreds pants, hit reply and tell us. If one of us carries something that solves it, we’ll tell you what; if neither of us does, we’ll say so. We read every one.
— Matt & Peter
californiaupland.com · @california_upland