Hello, new to the forum. I have a lab who will be three years old in April. I would really like to plan a trip next season to go out for some wild upland birds. I live in upstate NY and mostly hunt him on pen raised pheasants on state land but do get out for a week or so in Maine or New Hampshire every year for grouse. I was looking for some reccomendations regarding what species of wild bird I should go after for my first big upland trip. Also any states or lodges you may have had good luck in? Thank you!

A classic hunt would be pheasants in western Kansas or South Dakota, though that's a long drive.

Can't beat Montana.

Apparently grouse are still widely hunted in upstate new York. Here's a couple other suggestions as well.

Maybe check out the Sportsman's Expo in new York? That should at least give you some ideas.
http://www.newyorksportsmansexpo.com/

Or here.
https://projectupland.com/rules-regu...ting-new-york/

Since your dog already has experience with grouse, I'd 2nd that suggestion. And maybe see if you can locate some quail to see how your dog works on them. If you've got the money, sure, go hunt pheasants in South Dakota. But you will likely be able to do more hunts within your state for whatever upland birds that are in season and get more time in the field with your dog.

Head to South Dakota! You can go pretty cheap if you choose to. Get a public hunting book, stay in a cheap hotel, make your own meals and explore their public ground and ditches. Even better would be if you could talk a buddy into going as well. I've been 9 or 10 times now and I've never come back wishing I wouldn't have gone. I live and hunt in Kansas and Western Kansas would be my second choice. Now with the being said, Kansas is in pretty rough shape right now for birds but we do have quail which SD does not (at least not many). However, you have a better chance at getting into birds in SD right now than Western Kansas. Iowa is also an option, never been there but I've heard really good things that past couple of years.

KSBuck, was there a lot of public land available with good pheasant #'s?

Yes, South Dakota has numerous public land programs up there and there's quite a bit of ground to hunt. We hunt the waterfowl production areas (must use steel shot) and usually get into quite a few birds. If you find good cover with grain next to it there will be birds. We (3 buddies and I) started going up there in the mid 2000's and I would tell everyone that public ground in SD was just as good as private ground in Western Kansas. Now, it's not as good as it was 15 years ago up there but it's still better than Western Kansas. If you are a pheasant hunter, you need to visit South Dakota!

I went on a DIY antelope hunt in Malta, MT and stayed in a cheap motel. Flew into Billings and rented a small SUV for the week. Shot my antelope on public land on Day 2 and wished I had a shotgun and a dog with me. The ditches and ponds would all have some ducks and there were pheasants and sharptail everywhere. You could hunt upland there for years and never run out of places to try - lots of public land and Block Management Areas (BMA).

I've never been to Malta. Really wanted to go there.