Search results

I just bought a case of 200 in 12 gauge 5 shot bismuth for $250 plus tax with free shipping. With my stockpile off boss, plus this, I should be good for 5+ years. I thought I'd spread the word since the only guy I hunt with uses steel when non-tox is required. Unfortunately though, 12ga 5...

I've been eyeballing the 20 gauge tristar viper/mossberg gas semi-auto for a few years now and my dad unknowingly pushed me over the edge. With pheasant season coming up, he told me his old 1100 12ga might finally be too heavy to lug around. He bought it at age 18 in '74 and has been...

My Wyoming trip got cut short due to the severe snowstorm in the mountains, so I head East in the morning to Valentine. If anybody has any tips on which od the three national forest/refuges to go to I'd appreciate it.

I'll be going solo with the dog in SE WY October 11th-18th chasing sharptail and blue grouse. Coming from Eastern Iowa (and never having been west of Iowa), the wide open spaces and seemingly unlimited public land is very daunting. The regional upland biologist gave me enough info on the...

In eastern iowa the fields are burried in deep snow and ice, most cover is drifted over and the pheasants are struggling. We are in a deep cold weather pattern and pheasants can only take so much, they carry little body fat in a good year. I've been putting out corn where i know birds are. I...

Here in the east-central part of the state we got 10 inches of snow followed up by 8 hours of light rain. The ice crust is up to 2 inches thick, with most places around an inch and I've seen very few birds digging in the fields. We've finally got the bird numbers back up to where I actually...

I shot a rooster today that wasn't flying great, still accelerating and climbing, but he looked a bit off. This happens a few times a year with birds that are recovering from being shot, but this one was a first. Upon skinning I noticed several scarred areas with a tough white surface and no...

I've been wanting to do this for the last few years but I'm too cheap to buy a grinder. Luckily my parents just moved back and their grinder happened to bump into my freezer full of pheasant. 8lbs of mostly thigh meat(a couple breasts leftover from last year), 2lbs of smoked bacon, fresh...

On a whim I grabbed my grandpa's old winchester model 25 12ga from my brother's house last week thinking I might take it on an afternoon squirrel hunt and give the dog a break. I've been off work since Thanksgiving due to getting covid and he's pretty worn out, as are the pheasants. While I...

Nearing the end of the second public area of the day on Sunday I had seen 7 hens in about 4 hours of walking. The dog and I were both ready to call it a day but I know that a small draw I could swing by in the way out often holds birds on windy days. Sure enough, Rusty starts tracking a...

Having Mondays off, with pheasant opener fast approaching here in Iowa, I figured it was time to knock the rust off of Rusty. I went to a local marsh hoping to work some pheasants and maybe jump a few ducks. Seven roosters and five hens in two hours was more than I could of hoped for, most...

Hunting a favorite public marsh and the dog was working a scent back towards me so I stopped and he locked up about 15ft in front of me. When I looked down, a scraggly rooster burst from my feet and flew a very tight loop around me. I waited as long as I could so my modified choke would have...

As a 30 year old guy who has hunted pheasants since I could follow my father's boot tracks in the snow I am amazed at the resurgence of quail. I grew up in NW Scott county and hunted primarily private ground in the surrounding counties. I never encountered wild quail on any private or public...

Last night I picked up a pair of muck wetland boots because I was tired of wet feet. Both my danners and redwings are no longer water proof and I thought a pair of rubber boots would fill a need for me in the wetter areas I pheasant hunt. I was wrong, within the first hour both boots were full...

This past Saturday was shotgun opener for deer here in Iowa, so public ground can turn into a bit of mess as I'm sure most of you know. I decided to check a large public area (Lost Grove Lake) near Davenport to see if any of the areas were free of deer hunters and I was lucky to get a large...

I've noticed my vizsla locks up tight on roosters but he seems a bit playful when tracking and pointing hens with a little extra wiggle In his tail. I think it is because he was raised around laying hens that he would pin down and lick into submission to the point that they would just crouch...

Yesterday was the final hunt of the season for me and there was a unique finish to say the least. I was hunting a roadside ditch/creek that always has birds but they are very skittish and I basically have to start the hunt exactly where they are roosting or they flush whenever I get within...