We bird hunters, my friend, are all about imagination, aren’t we? Picture a stunning vista, good friends, a quivering dog on point, and a thundering ringneck, all vivid colors against a cerulean blue sky. Then, your accurate shot, flawless retrieve to hand, and congratulations all around with someone else buying the first round that night. That’s the dream, isn’t it? But how do we get there? Here’s how.

News flash: Off-season isn’t really an off-season. Flip the switch back to “on,” and get going now on stuff that will help you when Opening Day comes crashing down on your shoulders. Remember that feeling the night before the season started, when you were running around like your hair was on fire? That’s the 21st century definition of SNAFU: situation normal: all fouled up.

Visualize Success Next Season

This year, vow to get your act together sooner. Then you’ll eagerly anticipate the opener like those dreaming, slumbering kids in The Night before Christmas, and less like the one in Home Alone. Wouldn’t you rather have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head? Imagine (there’s that word again) having the time and energy to fine-tune your strategies and revise plans instead of racing from the veterinarian to a sporting-goods store to an auto repair shop like a brood of pheasant chicks kicked out of a cattail swamp.

After all, you hunt for fun, right? Jump on this stuff soon and put out the fire on your head. While you’re at it, have a sugar plum.

Get Your Dog Ready for Hunting Season

One opening weekend in South Dakota, the news was dismal. Even topping the evening news, sweltering temperatures sapped what little energy many out-of-shape dogs had, the result being numerous emergency visits to veterinarians across the state. Most of those disasters could have been avoided with a little forethought; maybe some of these tips will help.

Feed for performance all year. It takes months for a positive change in your dog’s metabolism if you feed cheaper, lower-protein food during the off-season. Feed less if he’s getting porky, but keep him on the same high-quality fuel to ensure he’s ready for the coming assault on his body and all its moving parts. Ideally, you’re training and conditioning all year, so he may not add weight anyhow.

Find training birds—not as easy as it sounds, but crucial if you want take your dog to the next level. Every breed, all styles of flushers and pointers, need exposure to real birds. With bird flu creating more demand and less supply, you’ll want to jump on this task even if you don’t need them for a while.

Train for, and begin, a new foot-care regimen. This routine has worked for my dog for five injury-free seasons: get nails short (gradually) with a Dremel-like tool. I like it more than a clipper—less chance of cutting the quick and making a bloody mess better found in a slasher movie. Mydecidedly-unmedical theory is, long nails leverage toes to hyperextension (and fracture) on uneven terrain, risking a broken bone. I learned this one the hard way.

Then, every couple days, moisturize your dog’s pads, including edges, between toes, and the juncture of nail and pad. I use Profoot Heel Rescue, a cream for human feet. I know, it’s counterintuitive (you want to “toughen” pads, right?) but wait. Hold a dry leaf in one palm, a green one in the other. Crush each in your fists and open your hands. Which survived? A better analogy might be calluses for those of us who’ve known manual labor, orplay guitar. They dry, eventually peel off, and expose sensitive raw skin. Ouch. Supple is my goal.

Drill any new commands all the way into second nature. Is this the season you go beyond steady to wing and shot, adding “fall?” A few hundred reps should do it, a couple per day all summer. Retrieve to hand? Ditto.

Explore your GPS or e-collar’s repertoire, train and overlay tone and vibrate as adjuncts to verbal or whistle commands. Do the same for some hand signals. Try a hunt test or trial—you’ll be motivated to train harder and avoid embarrassment (take my word for it). Re-stock your dog’s first-aid kit.

Condition for longer hunts. Any dog can hunt for a day, but if you’re planning a week-long trip-of-a-lifetime to Montana, your dog needs serious roadwork all summer. Don’t let an out-of-shape dog spoil your adventure, let alone put him at risk. While you’re at it, consider your own fitness level. You will not be happy if your dog puts you in his crate.

Prepare Your Upland Hunting Tools this Off-Season

A side-by-side’s forearm, lost in the grouse woods. An over/under that won’t close. Frantic small-town searches for 28-gauge steel shot. These and other horror stories populate my dreams if I’m not prepared. And did I mention all those missed shots?

A workman takes good care of his tools. If itdoesn’t go “boom” when you pull the trigger, it’s just a hike, isn’t it? I’ll use malfunctioning firearms as my shooting excuse regularly, but even my best friends call me on it after a few fruitless “clicks.” If you haven’t yet, take it apart and clean your shotgun, lube everything with the right stuff, and store in a safe, dry location. If something needs a gunsmith’s attention, book now so you won’t be begging him to squeeze you into his overloaded September schedule.

Now, pull it out again and take a couple shooting lessons. Unless you’re making a living on the sporting clays tournament circuit, you could use anindependent, professional appraisal of everything from foot position to gun mount. That guy at the trap range who yells “over it” with each miss isn’t doing you any favors. See a pro.

Start your search for obscure shot sizes and non-toxic ammo. Order before everyone else does. Same for a new shotgun.

Add a bird to your bag once in a while by replacing the choke tubes that came in your gun with aftermarket versions. Tighter tolerances, superior materials, and better engineering mean no bird-sized holes in your pattern. Your dog will thank you.

Plan Your Upland Hunts

Congratulations. You’re already on that fitness thing, and have a shooting lesson scheduled. But don’t rest on your laurels just yet. There’s plenty more to add to your off-season curriculum.

Hearing better stories than mine around the campfire, being crowded out of a favorite covert, these are some worst-case scenarios for me—how about you? Maybe it’s a flooded or burned-out field you were counting on for bobwhites. Or having to camp hours from your hunting spot. A little time invested now might save you some aggravation. Here are some starters:

Make a list of places you want to go but haven’t, yet. Put one on the calendar now, so nothing gets in the way. Do the same with hunting buddies—new and old, near and far. Study a new bird species and schedule a hunt for it.

Break out a map (paper or electronic) and probe the nooks and crannies of favorite destinations. Last season, I made an exercise of hunting intriguing places between camp and my old reliable spots. Wow. Learn to e-scout. Even basic information culled from satellite photos can save you time and aggravation. Over the years, you’ll build up a library ofdata that might turn a long dull walk into an epic hunt. Like a musical instrument, we get better with regular practice, so I’m using my online app during training and hiking seasons.

I hunted the entire bird season except a single day, on dry ground. How? I laid my basic travel plans for specific spots or general destinations taking into account weather forecasts as well as habitat, crowds, and time. On departure day, I pointed my rig toward blue skies. Re-examine last year’s trips and revise as needed, because as Winston Churchill said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

Order hunting plot maps and other reference materials from states you’re planning to hunt. Make reservations for walk-in areas that require them, and at campgrounds, RV parks, motels, and lodges. Disappointment tastes a lot like a “no vacancy” sign.

Just for fun, schedule a “shot & caught” potluck. Invite friends who hunt or fish (okay, mushroom foragers, too). Purge the freezers, share secret recipes, and enjoy the fellowship of the campfire well after the season is over.

Refresh Your Hunting Kit

“I know it’s in here somewhere,” is not what you want to be saying when your dog slams a point. Grumbling under your breath all day for want of a spare bootlace makes for a poor hunting companion, and don’t even think of taking it out on the dog.

Reconfigure your vest, duffels, and other stuff you wear or frantically search through for that missing snap cap. There really is a place for everything and everything should be in that place come opening day. The only thing worse than finding your shooting glove in a vest pocket in July is finding last-season’s bobwhite in the other pocket.

Think back on your last hunt: Was the e-collar control easily accessible? Shells easy to grab during a popcorn flush? How hard was it to water your dog? Maybe it’s time to move things around. Add a D-ring for a lanyard, snap on a pocket, or move straps. Maybe it’s time for a new vest—lead times can be long on gear made in the U.S, so get on that now.

Break in new boots. Get your new shotgun fitted and learn your way around it, especially if you’re moving from pump to semi-auto or O/U to SxS. Order supplements if your dog requires them, consider a rattlesnake vaccine (two initial doses weeks apart), or a snake-breaking clinic—which will often fill up quickly.

On your rig, follow up on any mechanical issues and schedule maintenance or repair. Time to add a second spare tire, move dog boxes, and add storage bins. Canopies, roof racks, and electronics often take a while to order or schedule, so jump on them. Recall the nightmares from last season and prepare for them now with a tire plug kit, air compressor, better lug wrench, hi-lift jack, or insulated cover for your dog crate.

Follow this advice, and you can spend that precious hour you earned on a deep breath, peaceful reflection, and a smile. They’re the payoffs to a well-lived off-season.