2023 Iowa bird hunt pics and/or stories

Bob Peters said:
I've got the Orvis jacket, I really like it, but I'm afraid to buy anything else from them because I don't want to look like a dandified William Q. Pressed Pants! 😅
Man when I first started bird hunting, having all the new clothes was the worst. New gun, the whole works. I'm so glad now that my brush pants are showing holes in places, my 3 pairs of boots are rubbed dry from walking grass and seams starting to go, my gun has some handling marks and just a touch of bluing wear. My vest always has old feathers falling out of it, and most importantly my orvis coat is covered in dirty dust and spattered with blood. Now I look like I've been there before, at least a little bit🙂.
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I have very nice gear as well, however it is all pretty worn from hunting non-stop from November-January.

Orvis Strap Vest, LL Bean Brush Pants (used to have Orvis but like LL Bean better and they are ~$100 cheaper), CRISPI boots (I'll never give those up).

Other than that, an old sweatshirt and PF hat that smells terrible even after a few washes.
 
Got permission on a new piece of private this morning, walked a creek and put up 9 hens and 1 rooster. Connected with the rooster so it was a success. They held extremely tight, the dog pushed them all up with his nose.

Went by a public area that had 6 trucks at 9am. Dont know what else they could have possibly been doing besides rabbit or pheasant hunting. No timber for deer and the ponds are frozen for waterfowl. You would think 4 degrees with a wind chill of -18 would not be ideal temps to hunt the most pressured public area in the county, but maybe I am missing something.
 
cyclonenation10 said:
I have very nice gear as well, however it is all pretty worn from hunting non-stop from November-January.

Orvis Strap Vest, LL Bean Brush Pants (used to have Orvis but like LL Bean better and they are ~$100 cheaper), CRISPI boots (I'll never give those up).

Other than that, an old sweatshirt and PF hat that smells terrible even after a few 1701226988675.jpeg
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My favorite hunting sweatshirt I only wear under my hunting vest. Can you tell?
 
Ww have hunted all over Ida,Cherokee and sac c counties this weekend put up fifty hens but few roosters. We have a few for the effort. Signs of lots of pressure recently and birds are scattered. Late season hunting might need some weather to make it viable. We have seen more hunters this week than usual for certain.
 
I have been dealing with my father and some recent health concerns for the past few weekends. My hunts have been more abbreviated than normal. I got shutout for the first time since the '21-'22 season a couple Saturdays ago in the rain, knocked one down but couldn't recover it. Missed one Sunday hunt due to a family Christmas in Des Moines, but getting some birds. I went out a bit after 10:30 this morning, it was a foggy early, not my normal timing, just by myself as my buddy has a back issue. The dog worked well, the birds seemed harder to identify with the sun higher in the sky. Saw plenty of hens that the dog had pointed as we started. Dropped the first rooster he pointed. I let a early flushing rooster have a pass, I normally would have gave him a try, it should have been in range, a harder shot, but I had in my mind after the first one, to try to go 3 for 3 today. The next action was in a corner, found myself on the edge of a 30ish bird flush. I was having trouble finding a rooster in range, but I did, dropped and recovered him. Later passed on another shot that I would usually tried, but figured I should have a better/easier one coming. The dog was trailing a group of birds, and he finally froze about the place they usually start flushing. It was a rooster, another easy shot, 3 for 3, second time this season, I am not sure I did that all of last season. On my last shot, I got to see a huge flush of birds, it was a fine late morning hunt.
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remy3424 said:
I have been dealing with my father and some recent health concerns for the past few weekends. My hunts have been more abbreviated than normal. I got shutout for the first time since the '21-'22 season a couple Saturdays ago in the rain, knocked one down but couldn't recover it. Missed one Sunday hunt due to a family Christmas in Des Moines, but getting some birds. I went out a bit after 10:30 this morning, it was a foggy early, not my normal timing, just by myself as my buddy has a back issue. The dog worked well, the birds seemed harder to identify with the sun higher in the sky. Saw plenty of hens that the dog had pointed as we started. Dropped the first rooster he pointed. I let a early flushing rooster have a pass, I normally would have gave him a try, it should have been in range, a harder shot, but I had in my mind after the first one, to try to go 3 for 3 today. The next action was in a corner, found myself on the edge of a 30ish bird flush. I was having trouble finding a rooster in range, but I did, dropped and recovered him. Later passed on another shot that I would usually tried, but figured I should have a better/easier one coming. The dog was trailing a group of birds, and he finally froze about the place they usually start flushing. It was a rooster, another easy shot, 3 for 3, second time this season, I am not sure I did that all of last season. On my last shot, I got to see a huge flush of birds, it was a fine late morning hunt.
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Solid outing and nice shooting!!! I should have followed suit. I worked this morning cleaning up the desk with the thought of hitting it tomorrow. With the forecasted rain tomorrow I think I will pass though. Congrats and Merry Christmas!!!
 
remy3424 said:
I have been dealing with my father and some recent health concerns for the past few weekends. My hunts have been more abbreviated than normal. I got shutout for the first time since the '21-'22 season a couple Saturdays ago in the rain, knocked one down but couldn't recover it. Missed one Sunday hunt due to a family Christmas in Des Moines, but getting some birds. I went out a bit after 10:30 this morning, it was a foggy early, not my normal timing, just by myself as my buddy has a back issue. The dog worked well, the birds seemed harder to identify with the sun higher in the sky. Saw plenty of hens that the dog had pointed as we started. Dropped the first rooster he pointed. I let a early flushing rooster have a pass, I normally would have gave him a try, it should have been in range, a harder shot, but I had in my mind after the first one, to try to go 3 for 3 today. The next action was in a corner, found myself on the edge of a 30ish bird flush. I was having trouble finding a rooster in range, but I did, dropped and recovered him. Later passed on another shot that I would usually tried, but figured I should have a better/easier one coming. The dog was trailing a group of birds, and he finally froze about the place they usually start flushing. It was a rooster, another easy shot, 3 for 3, second time this season, I am not sure I did that all of last season. On my last shot, I got to see a huge flush of birds, it was a fine late morning hunt.
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Good stuff. Have to appreciate those solo hunts with the dogs, something special about days like that.

Had my dad and a buddy along this morning. Started at 8AM with a dense fog at what is usually a honey hole for us, first time we've ever hunted and not shot a bird, nonetheless not even fired a shot. Hunted a couple of new spots and ended up with 4 between the 3 of us and quit at noon due to other obligations. Birds here in central/eastern Iowa are extremely educated and wiley right now, with roosters very tough to come by. Hoping for some better weather here later next week!

Merry Christmas!
 
Hit a couple of private spots today and the birds actually cooperated and sat tight for the most part. I only took my springer as I felt she needed some 1:1 time. My lab wasn't too happy, but it ended up being a great decision as she did great on her own.
The 1st place we hit produced 9 hens and no roosters, but the hens sat tight and gave the dog some good flushes.
The 2nd farm we hit had 3 different waterways and we got 1 rooster in each spot. I was 50/50 on even hitting the 3rd waterway, but really wanted to try and finish out my limit. Luckily we only had to walk about 150 yards before Mina put up a rooster. Overall she had contact with about 15 birds which was more than I expected. Also, the 1st rooster ran out of the end of the waterway and into the cornfield and I was tempted to ground swat him, but exercised some restraint. He finally flew and I was able to bag him.20231228_131524.jpg20231228_131557.jpg
 
Jawilor said:
Hit a couple of private spots today and the birds actually cooperated and sat tight for the most part. I only took my springer as I felt she needed some 1:1 time. My lab wasn't too happy, but it ended up being a great decision as she did great on her own.
The 1st place we hit produced 9 hens and no roosters, but the hens sat tight and gave the dog some good flushes.
The 2nd farm we hit had 3 different waterways and we got 1 rooster in each spot. I was 50/50 on even hitting the 3rd waterway, but really wanted to try and finish out my limit. Luckily we only had to walk about 150 yards before Mina put up a rooster. Overall she had contact with about 15 birds which was more than I expected. Also, the 1st rooster ran out of the end of the waterway and into the cornfield and I was tempted to ground swat him, but exercised some restraint. He finally flew and I was able to bag him.View attachment 7058View attachment 7059
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What kind of a dog is she? I really love her fur colors.
 
I took a friend out to the waterfowl lease this morning to chase pheasants. We started out right at 8 am in one of the set aside fields. I had Kepa and my friend had his female black lab Charlie.
The dogs got birdy right away and put up a couple of hens in the first 30 or so yards. Then up came a rooster between my friend and me. I pulled up on him and squeezed one off. A low thunk followed my trigger squeeze and I knew right away i had a misfire and that the wad probably didn’t clear and was stuck in the barrel. Looking it over my shell hadn’t fully ejected either. Taking the empty out and remaining two shells out I took the barrel off and used a branch to check the barrel and see where the wad was. It only made it about 4 or 5 inches. I tapped out the wad double checked the barrel to be sure it was clear and put the gun back together.
This all took about 10 or 15 minutes and we continued on. About 50 yards later we put another rooster up and my friend and I shot at the same time, folding the rooster. Kepa made the retrieve and we continued on. Near the end of the strip another rooster got up for Kepa and I cycled the 1187 twice (fancy way of saying I missed the first shot) knocking the rooster down. Kepa made the retrieve. My friend missed a tough crossing shot another rooster but made a great shot on one a bit further into the walk.
My foot troubles continue and after one field i couldn’t do anymore so we packed it in and headed back for home.
 

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Another solo Saturday. Shot OK. After my first bird, I missed a shot and folded him with the second. He fell over a terrace with the dog in pursuit. When I got to the terrace, the dog was right where I had him marked, we looked for him for 15 minutes, found a feather, but that was all. The next 2 birds went down with single shots and were found where they fell. I was a somewhat fast limit, maybe an hour. A nice morning. Gave them a break today and might try them again tomorrow. 2 birds had crops full of soybeans and the other was full of sorghum from the food plots. I hope they keep hitting the harvested crops fields until we get snow cover, then food plots will be a key source.
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Kevin W said:
I took a friend out to the waterfowl lease this morning to chase pheasants. We started out right at 8 am in one of the set aside fields. I had Kepa and my friend had his female black lab Charlie.
The dogs got birdy right away and put up a couple of hens in the first 30 or so yards. Then up came a rooster between my friend and me. I pulled up on him and squeezed one off. A low thunk followed my trigger squeeze and I knew right away i had a misfire and that the wad probably didn’t clear and was stuck in the barrel. Looking it over my shell hadn’t fully ejected either. Taking the empty out and remaining two shells out I took the barrel off and used a branch to check the barrel and see where the wad was. It only made it about 4 or 5 inches. I tapped out the wad double checked the barrel to be sure it was clear and put the gun back together.
This all took about 10 or 15 minutes and we continued on. About 50 yards later we put another rooster up and my friend and I shot at the same time, folding the rooster. Kepa made the retrieve and we continued on. Near the end of the strip another rooster got up for Kepa and I cycled the 1187 twice (fancy way of saying I missed the first shot) knocking the rooster down. Kepa made the retrieve. My friend missed a tough crossing shot another rooster but made a great shot on one a bit further into the walk.
My foot troubles continue and after one field i couldn’t do anymore so we packed it in and headed back for home.
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Kevin that looks like really nice habitat!
 
Bob Peters said:
Kevin that looks like really nice habitat!
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Your right about that Bob. I posted on here at the start of the season I joined for the waterfowl but as a bonus was told I could pheasant hunt as well. I just wasn't sure how good the pheasant hunting would be or how much I could even walk to take advantage of it but having the option to pheasant hunt is nice. The foot issues that I have really limited me from hunting much the past 2 seasons. I'm not much of a waterfowler but to have a fairly short walk to a heated pit blind and being able to hunt without hurting at the end of the day sounded like something worth trying and as it turns out I'm glad I joined.
The guy that runs the club is mainly a waterfowler, the property is a solid block about 600 acres total, 100 acres for the waterfowl pond and about 500 acres are in crp. Early in the waterfowl season it was apparent there were alot of pheasants in and using the crp. I'm not a grass expert but the cover is a tall type of switch grass with mower paths cut through out leaving strips about 80 yards wide. The mower paths are nice for me walking while Kepa works in and out of the cover. The crp is all bordered by grain fields, so the birds have plenty of feed. The waterfowl pond he pumps and aerates is about an acre in size so there's always water available. It's a nice set up and the pheasants have everything they need right there, cover, feed and water.
 
Well, I headed out after sitting with my father for a couple hours this morning. Sub 20* temps, but no wind to speak of and full sun. Pretty nice conditions....if I am out pheasant hunting I will say "pretty nice conditions", unless the wind is 20+ mph! It was a day for the old boys to go down. All 3 birds have longer spurs and one has tail feathers that look like they might go 25" which is very long for around here. I again went 3 for 3, found where they fell again, no cripples or runners. I really do shoot better when I am alone! I started after 9:00 and was back to the truck heading home before 10:00, which worked-out perfect with my wife's New Year's Day lunch. I left my phone in the garage, so no lame field photos, just lame in the garage pics. Hope others had great New Year Day hunts also. I have been "aging" these old birds for a few hours now, I will be grinding them (and Saturday's birds) and vac/packing as breakfast sausage....my buddy purchased Leggs seasoning, that stuff is dirt cheap and tastes similar to Jimmy Dean....cheaper that buying 10 different spices as I had done earlier. Next weekend (the final weekend here in Iowa), those will be bacon/pheasant/ranch burger birds. Only 2 hunts left for me in this season.
 
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