For the last year, I have been bugging my brother Shawn Wayment to truly join forces with me on just one blog.  I have been running Upland Equations primarily by myself for over four years now and Shawn has been solely running Setter Feathers & Groused Tales.  As you may guess, it takes a lot of work to run a blog, especially by yourself.  For me, Upland Equations has been a labor of love and I hope that this has shown through the posts. 

I am happy to announce that Shawn and I have started a new blog, UPLAND WAYS, and, although we will continue to post occasionally on Upland Equations and Setter Feathers, our primary blogging focus will be on Upland Ways.

I want to thank all of the followers of Upland Equations and let you know that your comments and support have kept me going.  Much of what I have written on this blog will soon be featured in my book, Roadside Revelations: Tales of Bird Dogs, Family & Other Upland Equations.  This book is done and is currently in the editing stage.  I am excited to share it with the world. 

I do not want to give the impression that this is the end.  Rather, this is just the beginning!  You can expect excellence from Upland Ways in content, photography, and writing.  We will continue to share photography, field and fishing reports, book reviews, original stories, etc.  Shawn and I feel that we are better together than on our own.  The things that you have enjoyed on Upland Equations and Setter Feathers will continue on, but even better at our new site. 

To kick things off, I wanted to share the link to my first post on Upland Ways.  The story is entitled, The Cowboy and The Hippie Go Hunting.  Below is the intro to the story as a little teaser:

I have a good friend and hunting buddy named Scott Johnson. Two people could not come from more different backgrounds: Me, a long-haired, skateboarding, punk-rocking, hippie, as a teenager; he, a skinny, Wrangler and crap-kicker wearing, rodeo cowboy. Our wives became friends through church and, as a result, we began to hang out and realized that, despite our diverse life experiences, we really get along well.

Scott recently fell subject to the addiction of fly-fishing and, to top it off, he picked up a bird dog this summer, a chocolate Lab, named Gunner, so his outdoor affliction is complete. We have already spent quite a few days on the water and afield this year.



Gunner retrieves a beautiful ruffed grouse for the Cowboy

We like to give each other a hard time about the other’s past. He liked Country Music and Heavy Metal, the latter which I despise and call “Butt Rock,” because it stinks, oh, so bad. He, on the other hand, hates the new wave and punk I listened to as a kid and thinks Depeche Mode is the lamest band ever. To each his own! We probably would have fought each other back in high school.
This past weekend, I invited Scott to go hunt one of my favorite hunting spots, a covert I call Grouse Springs. I picked up Scott at his house at 6:45 a.m. and after getting some fuel and food, we headed east into the boonies. . . .

The emblem of the Hippie.

For those interested in reading the rest of this fun story, here is the LINK.  Be sure and check it out!

Thanks again for your support and expect great things from Upland Ways!

Andy