Our Story

Project Upland is dedicated to those that love wild birds, public lands, shotguns, and hunting dogs.

We understand the niche diversities of the upland hunting culture: grouse hunters are different than chukar hunters, pointing dog folk are different than spaniel folk, and those double gun people are committed—but so are those vintage pump collectors, too. What we all share in this love is the stories that move our culture toward the future while celebrating the past. We strive to tell those stories to inspire everything from the next hunt to the first hunt.

To share a little bit about myself as the founder—I grew up hunting grouse and woodcock on the weekends with my father over a Brittany named MacGyver. I would smuggle hunting magazines into my bedroom and read them with a flashlight under my covers while dreaming about my first pointing dog. My uncle would drop me off on random logging roads and point in a direction and say, “Eventually you will end up at camp if you walk long enough.” All are adventures I still crave today: the wildness of grouse, the romance of logging country, and the hum of gas lanterns at night with friends and family.

Deer hunting took up a lot of time through my high school and college years, but I always found my way back to the grouse woods each season. When I finally worked that bug out of my system, I did get that pointing dog I’d always dreamt about. He’s a Griffon named Grim and, well, if you found your way to Project Upland then you know how the story goes from there. Now I spend each fall season at my family’s camp, hunting behind my dog in the north country of New England. I occasionally wander out to experience new places like the prairies of the West. I developed an unhealthy financial relationship with side-by-side shotguns, yet I never seem to find the perfect one…

In 2014, I founded Project Upland while chasing bird hunters and dogs through the Northwoods with a camera. I set simple goals of sharing other people’s love for the uplands and creating art from it, not to mention having a convenient excuse to hunt more often. In 2018, the simple goal somehow evolved all the way to a print magazine and, in 2020, it escalated to the print volumes of Hunting Dog Confidential.

Our promise to our subscribers, readers, listeners, and viewers is to deliver high-quality storytelling from all over our community that is a realistic reflection of the upland- obsessed. We strive to give ample effort, time, and resources to the cause of upland conservation to help ensure that future generations can enjoy better habitat and greater bird numbers. We are far from perfect, but we seek to evolve ourselves and learn along the way in order to serve the community as a true representation of what we all love.

If we tell one story, produce one film, or take one photo that inspires someone to either rekindle or discover their love for the uplands, then it was all worth it.

The family at Project Upland hopes you find yourself following dogs across the unique habitats of the North American landscape in pursuit of wild birds as often as you can. And who knows, maybe we will bump into you along the way.

Here is to your journey in the uplands and each season to come.

-A.J. DeRosa | Founder

All inquiries info@projectupland.com

Our Motto

To expose the uplands to the world, to capture defining moments, to push our passion and culture forward, to bring our community closer, to make us feel. These are your stories.

Our Vision

Project Upland exists to unite the bird hunting community around the shared goals of celebrating our tradition while advocating for sustainable habitat and bird populations. Using the power of visual arts, digital communications, and written content, Project Upland strives to capture the essence of upland bird hunting and the diverse community of passionate hunters.

PRINT PUBLICATIONS + BOOKS
PODCAST SERIES
FILMS
AUDIO BOOKS
SOCIAL MEDIA
ASSOCIATED WORK
Public Grouse Streaming Ad