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Central Iowa here, Northern Polk County to be more specific. I'm not too worried about hot spotting as I rarely hunt the public ground close to me. I do have some local private ground, but if I'm hunting public I travel North and maybe West :)

We hunted private ground in Taylor county a week ago and never saw a single quail. It was prime habitat, but there just weren't any birds. The farmer said he hadn't seen many quail this Fall and he owns/farms over 1000 acres. We saw plenty of deer, and flushed 2 turkeys.

If she's solid with whistle commands, why not make her sit until you catch up? If you do this enough times she'll learn to stay close. A solid whistle sit is the first step to making her steady to wing and shot.

The dogs flushed one out of the cattails about 30 yards ahead of me that I didn't see right away due to the height of the cattails. The bird flew right towards me about 25' in the air and I never scratched a feather. It all happened in an instant and it was by far the toughest shot I've had in...

Mine is a 2008 I bought new and it currently has 251K miles and still going strong. Rust is my only issue. If I could get a new aluminum body F150 with the old 5.4 Triton v8 I’d be a happy man. We just got my wife a new car so I’ll be driving mine for another year or so.

That was out by Carroll. We didn’t have that much in northern Polk County.

My younger son and I made it out this morning for our final hunt of this season. We hit some private ground that we hunted a couple of weeks ago and had a pretty good day ending with 4 birds and a couple of misses. We had some birds flushing wild but the majority held super tight and the dogs...

Just talked to a buddy that hunted the Western part of the state for a week with a few of his friends. They limited on pheasants every day without ever firing a shot. He said there were cripples all over the place and the dogs found and retrieved them all. His only complaint was the amount of...

23 hunts, 140ish miles walked, and 19 birds of which 2 were lost. Four of the birds were shot on private ground and the rest were on public in Central/N. Central Iowa. I've had 2 private spots for a few years and recently gained a 3rd which is the 40 acres of CRP in Carroll County. Three of...

Agree, and I also keep the dog(s) at heel

I'm curious why you think bird hunting is less cruel than trapping. Have you ever shot and injured a bird that you didn't recover? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I'd just like to understand where you draw the line.

I am always really quiet when getting out of the truck, letting the dogs out, etc. On Sunday I parked, got ready, quietly closed the door, opened the tailgate, let the dog out, and quietly closed the tailgate. When I lowered the topper window it squeaked a little and a bird flushed from some...

Congrats on the great hunts! I went out this weekend on public and it was chilly for sure. On Saturday the roosters let us get close enough, but I wouldn't say they were sitting tight, but the hens were. I shot one rooster and missed one. Sunday I hunted a different public area for about 5...

My lab got got in a foothold trap a couple of years ago on private ground. The farmer told me the traps were out there and I told him I'd keep a lookout for the sets. Needless to say, I heard the dog yapping so I went over a released him. He was uninjured and didn't even have a limp. My...

I found this online, it's from Mn Hunter's Safety program. I realize it's aimed toward youth hunters, but it's still relevant. Minnesota Small Game Hunting License A small game hunting license is required for anyone 16 years of age or older who hunts small game in Minnesota. Youth 14 and 15...

I would include hunting pressure too. On the opener I usually hunt public later in the AM and have most luck in the cattails even though it’s usually warm. This is where they seek safety as most regular hunters don’t venture too deep into the cattails. Outside of that, warmer weather = short...

Iowa requires anyone 16 and older "participating" in the hunt to have a license. The current regs state "Participation in a hunt includes, but is not limited to: handling firearms or ammunition during the hunt; trying to attract game, driving, flushing, or locating game; and working dogs. If...

Nice hunt! I’m in Central Iowa and we’re supposed to get a couple of inches of snow tomorrow so I’m planning to head out. You must be in the NW part of the State since you’re not expecting any snow. I got out this afternoon on some public and got 1 “surprise” bird. My dog and I were walking a...

Here's a short video of the hunt showing the 1st 2 birds we got. This was my first attempt at this so be nice :) I used my old Contour Roam camera which doesn't have image stabilization. I just got a new GoPro 11 and will be using that for future hunts. I may use the Contour as a barrel cam...

Early 2000s as well. There was nothing like the sweet sound of the 56K dial-up modem!