Brood sightings?

cyclonenation10 said:
I don't think it's necessarily ideal from a hunting perspective, but we will run our dogs on our property 2-3x prior to the season (usually not until September/October. By that time the birds are old enough to not have to worry about them getting caught by the dogs or anything.

We are out there quite a bit and I always have the dogs with me whenever I am out there working on projects, and so sometimes I can't fight the itch to go run them and see what we can kick up. I'm sure we would probably shoot a few more birds each year if we waited until the opener to stir them up at all, but I don't necessarily think it hurts the population running them around a month or so prior the the season - just educates them and makes them harder to kill hunting (I could be wrong on this, just my hunch).

To be honest, I get just as much enjoyment running the dogs and flushing birds at our place as I do shooting a limit, so the potential pleasure of doing so a few times in the early fall outweighs the potential downsides of educating birds for me.
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That's what pigeons are for. I will work my dogs before the season but I take them to an area where we are not going to find wild birds and I plant pigeons to shoot. Prior to season I am working on obedience, quartering in range, steady to flush, delivery to hand, etc. Everything should be in a controlled setting that way when you go to the field in the fall the dog is under control. I don't care how much training a dog has had, a good 1 month dose of obedience before season benefits every dog. Mine live for birds, so getting them into wild birds a month or 2 before season is of no benefit to me, the dogs, or the wild birds. That's just how I do it.
 
So a few years back almost all federal crp new enrollment money went to Iowa to address some serious erosion issues caused by farming poor ground. Are you guys seeing any benefits?
 
Weimdogman said:
So a few years back almost all federal crp new enrollment money went to Iowa to address some serious erosion issues caused by farming poor ground. Are you guys seeing any benefits?
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That would have been before my time here. I travel Highway 20 from the Nebraska border to Cedar Falls 6-8 times a year. That's roughly 3/4 of the way across the state. There is very little CRP ground to be seen from the highway. Most of my hunting in Iowa is done on public land on the river bottom. I don't think many guys would be willing to put that type of ground into the program.

I had a coworker come into work this morning and said he saw three different groups of hens with broods and a half dozen roosters over a 15 mile stretch of road. He was pretty excited. I do a lot of fishing and a little hunting with this guy, and I trust him. If we could just get some rain it should make for another good year. My little part of Northwest Iowa is very, very dry. I'm hoping for a heavy dew tomorrow morning so I can take the scenic route home and look for birds.
 
A few days ago I drove a two mile stretch of road adjacent to some CRP. I was three different roosters and a fourth that I couldn't positively identify. Yesterday I had a brood run across the highway in front of me. I didn't get an exact count but I'm guessing there were 9-10 birds. They were bigger than I thought they'd be at this time. They were roughly the size of a quail. We could sure use a rain here, but right now I have high hopes for the coming season. I was in far western Iowa.
 
I haven't seen many chicks this year, but with our cover, I am lucky to ever see one! One thing I have come across this year, more than ever, is seeing the hatched eggs. I bet I have seen 40-50 this year while out spraying thistle patches! We had big numbers last year and I am guessing it will be another bumper crop of birds this fall. We have had a few rains this past week, it missed us today though.
 
It looks like today's rain is going to sneak south of us. I just am hoping we keep getting a bit to keep us out of the emergancy haying/grazing of the CRP. I have access to 2 parcels that I can hunt that will get hayed/grazed if allowed.
 
remy3424 said:
It looks like today's rain is going to sneak south of us. I just am hoping we keep getting a bit to keep us out of the emergancy haying/grazing of the CRP. I have access to 2 parcels that I can hunt that will get hayed/grazed if allowed.
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I'd be shocked if they didn't open it up here.

On a brighter note, I talked to Dad this morning. He tried to do a little spot mowing a couple days ago. He gave up after jumping hens with broods in the first two spots he tried.
 
Lefty76 said:
I'd be shocked if they didn't open it up here.

On a brighter note, I talked to Dad this morning. He tried to do a little spot mowing a couple days ago. He gave up after jumping hens with broods in the first two spots he tried.
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What area of the state was this in (roughly)? Great to hear.

Interestingly, i stumbled upon a big brood of partridge in eastern Iowa this weekend. Couldn't have been more than a few days old, I could have caught them each by hand. Pretty cool to see.
 
Woodbury/Monona County area. I took a drive last week on a foggy morning. I saw a few birds. One brood was big enough to fly 40-50 yards.
 
Sounds like a great start to a good season. We are already planning this year's trip after having one of our best years ever in Central Iowa. We had a hunt where we limited five guys and must have flushed 3-4 times more in hens . Dog were going wild and having a great time. Looking forward to more this year
 
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