2023 Iowa bird hunt pics and/or stories

remy3424

remy3424

Well-known member
The Iowa opener finally got here! Post pics and stories!

We finished about 10:30, 4 of us. Our blocker, was put in a corner and 3 of us pushed the birds around and he must have shot almost a box of shells, He got his 3! He had a new shotgun, a SBE 3, he said he dropped one on his first shot, but they got a bit harder it seemed after that. My buddy figured out he lost one from his game vest when we unloaded at the trucks, so only 11 for the poor pic I took. I will work on better pics. It was mid 20s for temp, but my fingers thought it felt like mid teens. Once I got my fingers to where I could feel my safety, I got my birds. We shot "OK" as a group. There were a bunch of birds out there. Had a group of hunters who came in beside ours, they only shot a couple times. I did hear more shooting today than I can remember hearing in recent years, so that is a good thing. Oct 28th birds.jpg
 
Wow limit by 10:30 that sounds like quite a hunt , glad to here the birds numbers are good up your way . Look forward to seeing your success this season .
 
Last edited:
Day 2 in the books. A few inches of snow to hold the birds, mid 20s for temp and clouds, it was awesome conditions this morning! Went to a different CRP field than yesterday, the dog got birdy almost immediately. In about 5 minutes, I was in a flush of birds and had 2 roosters down. After gathering those, Gus got a nice single for me to fill my limit 15 minutes into the morning. My buddy took just a bit longer and he had his 3 at about 9:15. Season is starting pretty strong here, now 5 days to recover. Still working on the pics.

I could hear more shooting again this morning, so I know we have a few bird hunters in the area.

Day 2, ready to go!
Day 2.jpg
2 quick limits
10-29 birds.jpg
 
Second weekend, we hunted a couple of waterways with filter strips today. Got my father out for this one, he will be 87 in 2 weeks. Sunrise today was after legal shooting hours, so it was tough for the first 15-20 minutes to discern the hens from roosters. The first parcel yield 11 roosters and we picked-up the last 4 at the next piece, in the trucks by 10:30. Yet another beautiful day. Tomorrow it will get warm, the time will be changing, so the sun will be up. The birds could be out for breakfast at the "new" 8:00AM starting time. Shot a group selfie and my buddy from IL took the pic of my father and me...and Gus.
11.4 Dean, me and Gus.jpg11-4 hunt selfie.jpeg
 
Hello All, glad to read most everybody is getting into roosters this season. My foot problems are lingering so I haven’t been out for true pheasant hunt yet. With my foot issues in mind when I was offered a chance to join a waterfowl lease this season I took it. The less walking the better for my feet I think.
There is some cover on the property that holds pheasants from time to time I was told so this afternoon I took Kepa out to the blind for a solo hunt and on the walk to the blind we took the long way to the blind walking the field edge around the pond to the blind. Kepa got birdy after a couple hundred yards and up came a single rooster. Thankfully I was able to connect and Kepa made a nice retrieve. That was the only pheasant on the walk to the blind but it was a nice surprise for both Kepa and I. Attached pics are Kepa with todays rooster and a water retrieve Kepa made on a duck last week.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2545.jpeg
    IMG_2545.jpeg
    2.6 MB · Views: 17
  • IMG_2484.jpeg
    IMG_2484.jpeg
    2 MB · Views: 17
Good to see you back on the forum Kevin, I got out again today with friends, the change of time put us in the field a hour after the sun-rise. We didn't see the number of birds we had prior, not sure if it was all due to the time change or the really warm temps or maybe the way we walked the parcel...pretty much let the dog lead us today. It was warm and a bit windy. Most of the corn is gone, by next weekend, it should be hard to find standing corn. I managed to miss a couple easy ones to start the morning and then I seemed to bear-down on the birds as we were getting fewer opportunities than usual. I got my 3 and everyone else got one bird, so that was good, we finished the abbreviated hunt at just after 9:30. Yesterday the birds' crops were empty, today they had sorghum from our food plots or corn in them. I had a buddy take the pics for me today. Got a few pre-winter things done this weekend also and got to see the Vikings (on TV) pull out a win. Another great weekend. I paid a bit of homage to my northern brethren with my cap today...a cap from the 2019 MN Governors Pheasant Hunt. Got it from a buddy that was invited that year, he claims Walz was a classmate of his in Butte NE.
11.5 crew and birds.jpeg11.5 me and Gus.jpg
 
We need this September weather to get a bit more seasonal. Saturday was warm and windy, nothing was sitting, We got 2 in the morning and after that I took a friend and his grandson out, there wasn't a ton of shooting, but they saw lots of birds. Hope they want to try it again, it was the first time for both of them.!
This morning was warmer yet but less wind, again birds were not holding, we each managed just one. Part of this reason for seeing few birds might be that the season now opens an hour after sunrise (daylight saving times ending) and the birds are up and out feeding already....I never really noticed that being an issue in past years, so maybe it is just these unseasonable temps.
11-11 hunt.jpg
One of our birds today only had a single spur, maybe transitioning to a hen....not sure, but put an end to that. Those legs on that birds look unusually "white". Also when cleaning the birds, I found what I thought was a BB sized shot in the breast. Upon closer inspection, it was a #5 that was "wrapped" around another #5 shot. I load my own shells, so I maybe had some softer lead shot that was mixed with some harder shot when I switched bags? It was a bit strange and hadn't seen this before.
a single spur.jpgshot in a shot 2.jpgshot in a shot.jpg
 
Last edited:
I took Kepa for an afternoon hunt on the waterfowl lease today. But our hunt was cut way short after a 15 minute walk.
We started out on a nice strip of CRP that ran towards a disc’d corn field. Half way through a rooster got up just out of range and the closer to the end hens and roosters were breaking out. It was just Kepa and I and she was staying close but getting a bunch of fresh bird scent. When we got to the end of the crp the disc’d corn field edge had light brown grass cover maybe 12 inches high and 10 yards wide. Kepa was super birdy and staying close, she flushed 3 hens in a row then a rooster. I dropped the rooster with the first shot and Kepa made the retrieve.
When I took the bird to hand I noticed Kepa had a mouth full of blood. I initially thought the blood was from the rooster but it was really dripping off of her tongue as I was putting the rooster into my vest. I got out a bottle of water to give her a drink and see if I could wash the blood out of her mouth. But the blood kept coming. I couldn’t find the source of the cut but figured it was either her tongue or lip.
I decided to end the hunt and started the walk back to the Bronco. We continued to flush birds on the way back to the truck as I kept Kepa at heal. Even with a mouth full of blood she wanted to keep hunting of course!!!
Back at the Bronco I couldn’t find the source so we headed back to Sioux City. By the time we got back to Sioux city the bleeding had stopped. Thankfully no stitches needed.
Attached are a coupleIMG_2571.jpeg pics of the short hunt. IMG_2574.jpeg
 
Kevin W said:
I took Kepa for an afternoon hunt on the waterfowl lease today. But our hunt was cut way short after a 15 minute walk.
We started out on a nice strip of CRP that ran towards a disc’d corn field. Half way through a rooster got up just out of range and the closer to the end hens and roosters were breaking out. It was just Kepa and I and she was staying close but getting a bunch of fresh bird scent. When we got to the end of the crp the disc’d corn field edge had light brown grass cover maybe 12 inches high and 10 yards wide. Kepa was super birdy and staying close, she flushed 3 hens in a row then a rooster. I dropped the rooster with the first shot and Kepa made the retrieve.
When I took the bird to hand I noticed Kepa had a mouth full of blood. I initially thought the blood was from the rooster but it was really dripping off of her tongue as I was putting the rooster into my vest. I got out a bottle of water to give her a drink and see if I could wash the blood out of her mouth. But the blood kept coming. I couldn’t find the source of the cut but figured it was either her tongue or lip.
I decided to end the hunt and started the walk back to the Bronco. We continued to flush birds on the way back to the truck as I kept Kepa at heal. Even with a mouth full of blood she wanted to keep hunting of course!!!
Back at the Bronco I couldn’t find the source so we headed back to Sioux City. By the time we got back to Sioux city the bleeding had stopped. Thankfully no stitches needed.
Attached are a coupleView attachment 6527 pics of the short hunt. View attachment 6526
Click to expand...

Probably nicked her tongue, those suckers bleed like crazy. My last lab had an extremely long tongue and actually bit completely through it. By the time I got him the vet it had stopped and he suggested no stitches. He lived his life with a notched tongue. Glad yours wasn’t too bad
 
This year the dog hit a barb wire fence and had a bloody mouth. Another day I don't know what caused it a bad bloody nose. Both times I went back to the truck and was ready to end the hunt. Both times it cleared up, all bleeding stopped, and we hunted the rest of the day. They sure are resilient.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top