Recent content by cyclonenation10

For a spring burn, I have been mowing in the Fall, to give a chance for the clippings to decompose, etc. I worry that if I mow close to burning (since some of the clover is pretty tall), that I may end up with dead debris on the firebreaks that could potentially provide enough fuel to carry the...

I would think that strategy is probably just as good or better. It seems like disked ground that grows to weeds is about as good of brooding cover as anything you could possibly plant - and its all there in the seed bed for free!

Was just using that as an example. So think One square field totalling 75 acres. That 75 acre field is dividend (by firebreaks) into three smaller 25 acre fields. Each year, we burn one of the 25 acre fields. Does that make sense?

Curious to get others thoughts on firebreaks. On one hand, we all know that prescribed fire is critical to maintaining high quality pheasant habitat (primarily for nesting/brood rearing), so fire is almost a given in any well thought out management plan. We have our CRP acres on a 3 year burn...

If you send me the coordinates I can go check it out for you ;)

The real question is, how many birds did you see ???

Iowa 8AM start.

Having just a handful of spots like that is priceless. I've got dozens of different farms I can hunt, however only a fraction of those am I the only one with permission. Most often they have a few other groups or guys that hunt as well. Still beats the heck out of public land usually, but not...

Another big variable here is what and where you are hunting. If you've got private land that you are certain nobody else will hunt, you have the luxury to hunt whenever. However, there are many places that I hunt where I'm sure others may have permission as well, so I will try and be at those...

If the crops are out of the fields, I seem to have really good luck middle of the day as well. If crops are still standing, the last hour of the day has always been the best for me, seems you can catch them moving back in to roost. Middle of the day near standing corn is near useless in my...

I've actually noticed better success with the opposite approach.. If my dog sees a bird down or has a general mark, I'm usually better off just holding tight and letting him have at it. It seems that the times I've run up to the mark it almost interferes with the scent. If a the bird is dead...

Not sure the answer to your question.. seems that most of the birds with much fat on them in Iowa that I clean have the yellow fat.

Let's set a date next Fall and I plan on it! I don't even care if I have a gun - just seeing the birds like you've got is enough for me!!!

100%. This will only continue to get worse. The other thing I've struggled with is deer hunting leases. Some of the best pheasant habitat in Eastern Iowa is also prime deer country, and many of those properties are being leased for deer hunting. There are a lot of birds out there that never...

Didn't have the chance to post on here as much as I'd have liked throughout the season, but needless to say it was another good one. The Highlights Flushed ~2,600 birds Harvested 345 Iowa roosters - a new best for me - yes this includes ALL roosters harvested on hunts I was on. Harvested...