Imagine you're in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the fall. The peaks and valleys are away with color, rolling toward the horizon like brilliant swells in an unsettled sea. As you walk through a field on a ridge summit, a breathtaking vista comes into view. But there's no time to stop and gaze, as up ahead is an even prettier sight: a pointer frozen statue-like, with a second pointer stock still behind it. You stride forward through the tall grass, and just as you pass the lead dog, a pheasant bursts cackling into the air. You raise your gun and swing, chasing a brilliantly colored bird across a stunning backdrop; and when you catch up and pull the trigger, the pheasant tumbles to the ground, leaving a trail of floating feathers like so many autumn leaves.
When most wingshooters think of pheasant hunting, the Blue Ridge Mountains don't typically come to mind. What they don't realize, however, is that Primland Resort, in south-central Virginia, is a premier destination for chasing not only roosters, but also bobwhite quail and chukar.
Admittedly, Primland, with its scenic, hilly topography, may be better known for offering one of the few true driven shoots in the US as well as world-class sporting clays and 5 Stand shooting, but the luxury destination's upland opportunities are an overlooked treasure.
With almost 3,000 of the resort's 12,000 acres dedicated to upland hunting, Primland offers wingshooters plenty of room to roam. The habitat consists of milo, sorghum and millet as well as warm-season grasses, briars and broomsedge. As one would expect, the terrain tends toward up-and-down, although the hunting courses can accommodate sportsmen of all physical abilities—from those looking for an easy walk to those in search of a good workout.
And talk about birds! Not only does Primland have an early-release program for pheasants, but there are also regular influxes of birds that make it past the Guns on high-volume driven days as well as European-style shoots.
Primland employs eight full-time guides and four or five others who work on a part-time basis. All of the guides run pointing dogs— the resort's or their own—in pairs, so that hunters can get the full show of pointing, backing and retrieving. Most of the dogs are Elhew-bred pointers, with the other being Llewellyn setters, German shorthaired pointers and German wirehaired pointers. Guests are welcome to bring their own dogs, as well, and many of the resort's “mountain homes” are pet friendly.
Timing-wise, Primland's upland season runs from September through April, according to Carl McDaniel, Primland's Sporting Division Manager, with the best conditions for cover quality and bird numbers being from late October to mid-March. Of course, hunts coinciding with fall foliage are especially attractive. “Many of our courses are scenic,” McDaniel said, “as a lot of the fields are on ridge summits that provide great views. That makes autumn a very popular time to hunt, with peak foliage at the end of October, early November. Guests often upland hunt in the morning, when it's cooler, and then balance it out in the afternoon with an activity like sporting clays, fly-fishing, golf or myriad other things.”
Hunts are offered as half-day—three-hour—affairs, and bag limits are either eight pheasants per hunter, six pheasants and four quail per hunter, or six pheasants and three chukar per hunter. There are also two-hour hunts on which four pheasants can be taken, and parent-child hunts allow a combined limit of eight pheasants.
For those who would rather not travel with firearms, Primland has a nice selection of “house guns”—mostly over/under 12- and 20-gauges but also some autoloaders—from Beretta, Caesar Guerini and Fausti. And the on-site Orvis pro shop can outfit guests with an array of gear, clothing and accessories.
With everything a sportsman could desire—from great hunting and shooting to luxury accommodations and world-class dining—Primland has become the destination of choice for wingshooters who want the best of all worlds. In fact, the biggest “problem” there is not getting distracted by the scenery. . . .
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