If you need a reminder of why Montana’s upland season is one of the best-kept secrets in the West, this video from the crew at Wilber’s Wingshooting will do the job in a hurry. The channel recently dropped footage from their 2025 Montana season chasing two of the most underrated birds on the prairies — Hungarian Partridge and Sharp-tailed Grouse — and they’re doing it the right way: behind pointing dogs, on foot, in the kind of wide-open country that makes your legs ache just looking at it.
Huns and Sharpies don’t get the same magazine-cover treatment as pheasants or elk, but ask any serious Montana bird hunter and they’ll tell you these two species offer some of the most demanding and rewarding wingshooting in the state. Hungarian Partridge — transplanted from Europe over a century ago and now thriving across Montana’s mixed-grass prairies and agricultural edges — flush fast, fly in tight coveys, and have a way of disappearing into draws before you’ve even shouldered your gun. Sharp-tailed Grouse, a native species and one of Montana’s most widespread upland birds, haunt the coulees, sagebrush flats, and CRP fields of eastern and central Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks typically opens both species in mid-September, and the combined daily bag limit for grouse species makes it worth putting together a mixed-bag day if you’re hunting the right ground. With millions of acres of public land — BLM, state sections, and walk-in access properties — the opportunity is genuinely there for hunters willing to put in the miles.
What stands out in this video is the dog work. Watching a good pointing breed lock up on a covey of Huns in native grass is one of those moments that keeps upland hunters coming back year after year, and Wilber’s crew clearly has dogs that know their business. The chemistry between hunters and dogs is half the sport, and it translates well on camera here. If you’re still on the fence about adding an upland hunt to your fall schedule — or you’re already planning a trip east of the divide — this is worth 10 minutes of your time before the season kicks off.
Montana’s 2025 upland season is in the books, but the 2026 season will be here before you know it. Get the dog conditioned, check your FWP regulations for current bag limits and season dates, and start scouting your public land maps. Videos like this one are the next best thing to being out there yourself — and sometimes that’s all the motivation you need to make it happen for real.
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