'14-'15 Season Ending Statistics

nstric

nstric

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This year's statistics . . .

103 roosters bagged on 26 trips, averaging just shy of 4 birds per trip, a significant improvement over last year. We shot our two man limit of 6 birds on 11 of the 26 trips, or nearly 43% of the time! We came home with 5 in the bag once (lost one that day too), and 4 in the bag twice. We only got skunked one time, on 11/22/14, during a short one field hunt.

We shot 3 quail and I finally decided to shoot a rabbit this year. My longest tail feather was 25 1/4 inches.

4,039.6 total miles traveled. $661 total fuel costs, at an average of $2.41 per gallon. $2.99 was the high per gallon at the start of the season, and I closed season on 1/10/15 paying only $1.85 per gallon.

Roosters Shot Comparison
14/15 Season: 103
13/14 Season: 58
12/13 Season: 56
11/12 Season: 59
10/11 Season: 89
09/10 Season: 75
08/09 Season: 122
07/08 Season: 120
06/07 Season: 137
05/06 Season: 77

I don't recall having as successful of a season as we had this year in a long time. Not only did we break the 100 bird barrier, but I'd offer we saw more birds this season than we did for many prior. With good weather, based upon the number of hens we saw across most of my fields, we should be in for a really fun '15-'16 season! How many days until Opener?!?
 
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Good stuff as always Nate. I too heard from many people that this was as good a year as they can recall for quite some time.

I have but one regret this season. Not getting out enough and specifically not getting out for field or two with you. Next year for certain. I most certainly will have more time, be more settled and have a few more fields to hunt by then.

As I think I said sometime earlier this year....I cant believe the irony, I move to Iowa this past fall and I can honestly say I think I hunted birds fewer times this year in Iowa than in probably any time in the last 10 years, all of which I lived out of state. What is the saying......"who would've thunk"

Congrats on a nice season. What is Gunner going to think when he is not getting out 2 or 3 times a week. You think he has the season length figured out by now?
 
nstric said:
I don?t recall having as successful of a season as we had this year in a long time. Not only did we break the 100 bird barrier, but I?d offer we saw more birds this season than we did for many prior. With good weather, based upon the number of hens we saw across most of my fields, we should be in for a really fun ?15-?16 season! How many days until Opener?!?
Click to expand...

Wow. What a season nstric.:)

I agree with you. With the amount of habitat loss that's hit most of the mid-west these past few years, our only hope of another season similar to the 14-15 season is a very good hatch and good brood rearing conditions.

I'm still amazed at how many young, first year wild birds that were out there (much of the mid-west) this past season. Out of the 20-25 wild birds I killed only 3-4 were 2 year old birds or older. I can't recall ever seeing something like that before--at least in recent memory.

Nick
 
I should keep better stats - mostly because I read Nick's comment about younger birds and while I did see a lot of youngun's - I think I killed more older birds this year than I can ever remember. I'm hunting different areas, which may be a factor, but I have several sets of legs I threw in the freezer with impressive spurs. Either way, we saw a lot of birds as well and had a lot of fun this year! Counting the days until October...
 
Very interesting report - thanks.

Hunted Iowa exclusively for years, but have not been back since the early 90's.
Stayed in Atlantic and hunted south, east and a bit north.

Had a slight problem at the Wise Owl Motel - too many peanut shells on the floor so they banned us from the premises. Moved into town to the "cockroach arms"...
 
Congrats on the season... these kind of pics will never get old. :) Rest up... next season will be here before we know it (but not soon enough)!
 
PrairieBelle said:
I should keep better stats - mostly because I read Nick's comment about younger birds and while I did see a lot of youngun's - I think I killed more older birds this year than I can ever remember. I'm hunting different areas, which may be a factor, but I have several sets of legs I threw in the freezer with impressive spurs. Either way, we saw a lot of birds as well and had a lot of fun this year! Counting the days until October...
Click to expand...

Of the roosters we killed, I'm assuming 50% had spurs that made them "not this year's bird" and 25% had spurs that looked to be "not this decade's bird". Some could have fought a gobbler off....
 
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nstric said:
This year's statistics . . .

103 roosters bagged on 26 trips, averaging just shy of 4 birds per trip, a significant improvement over last year. We shot our two man limit of 6 birds on 11 of the 26 trips, or nearly 43% of the time! We came home with 5 in the bag once (lost one that day too), and 4 in the bag twice. We only got skunked one time, on 11/22/14, during a short one field hunt.

We shot 3 quail and I finally decided to shoot a rabbit this year. My longest tail feather was 25 1/4 inches.

4,039.6 total miles traveled. $661 total fuel costs, at an average of $2.41 per gallon. $2.99 was the high per gallon at the start of the season, and I closed season on 1/10/15 paying only $1.85 per gallon.

Roosters Shot Comparison
14/15 Season: 103
13/14 Season: 58
12/13 Season: 56
11/12 Season: 59
10/11 Season: 89
09/10 Season: 75
08/09 Season: 122
07/08 Season: 120
06/07 Season: 137
05/06 Season: 77

I don't recall having as successful of a season as we had this year in a long time. Not only did we break the 100 bird barrier, but I'd offer we saw more birds this season than we did for many prior. With good weather, based upon the number of hens we saw across most of my fields, we should be in for a really fun '15-'16 season! How many days until Opener?!?
Click to expand...

Wow..Totally Impressive. I think I need to change jobs so I can get out more in the field. Are you guys hiring :) Are these all Iowa bird? I haven't hunted Iowa for more than 15 years.. maybe its time for a change. Well done
 
Impressive to say the least. Let's say the Iowa season is roughly 10 weeks long, that equates to 2.6 trips per week. Damn.... You guys are hard core. :thumbsup:
 
Yes 2014 was good for Pheasants. I was frozen out Duck Hunting so I put some time in Pheasant hunting. Me my Father who is 79 years old & Brother did some Pheasant hunting this year & it was worth it.
I ended up with a total of 30 Pheasants from Iowa, & managed a triple again this year three shots three birds. This was my favorite memory of the year. Bad news was I no longer have my GSP so I know we walked by some birds.
I did notice very few people were hunting Pheasants this year & I think this helped our success.
For the first time in my life I had the chance to hunt South Dakota for a work event for me. I ended up shooting 29 Pheasants there. So for a Season total of 59 Wild Birds for me.
I will most likely add to this total because I received a invite to go to a Preserve to hunt pen raised birds not Wild Pheasants, & to tell truth the only reason I accepted was because My Friend has a new GSP and I miss watching a good pointer. God Bless the Pointers
If you did not get out this year you should next year, if we get a good spring in Iowa I think we could see even greater numbers next year. Good Hunting.
 
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2014-2015 Pheasant Season

I hunt primarily in a group of three other people in NC Iowa. We hunt a combination of public and private ground . This was a good season for us as well. We bagged 106 birds total and were able to limit several times. This was the first year we kept detailed records concerning the number of birds shot, where, and date. I am glad we kept records because there were some surprises in the data. Some of our most productive spots was a public hunting areas . One in particular was great early season and late season so we plan to hunt it the same way next year. I was out training dogs yesterday and saw over 50 birds there and I just went around the outside. Can't wait until next season.
 
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