Coming from Canada

C

Canadianvizsla

New member
Hello

Myself and a buddy and my viszla are headed to Webster Fort Dodge area the weekend before Christmas. We came on opening weekend and stayed in Newton and hunted Neil Smith and Skunk River. Great places but hard to cover with one dog. Any advice on where to go would be appreciated.
Good hunting!
 
That is a bit out of my territory, but the thicker the cover the more birds it typically holds, is my experience....but what do I know, I am from Iowa, no birds here.
Must have family there or SD and all their public ground, would seem more appealing.
 
Iowa is a good place to hunt. Trying to find a good piece of huntable cover is good advice. The perfect recipe for me is a thick patch of cover that is still manageable. I massive cattail area or giant dense thicket usually have lots of birds in them but may be too big to flush one in view, knock it down, and find it. Now if you have a really thick cattail patch or willow thicket, that the dog can hunt in while you can stay on the edge with range, that's a good piece of cover. I have never hunted around fort Dodge.
 
Good info thank you guys. It looks like we will try to find private permission and look for cattails and such. I have also heard about b road ditch hunting a few times. Does anyone have advice on that. What time of day do they like to be out by the roads?
 
Canadianvizsla said:
Good info thank you guys. It looks like we will try to find private permission and look for cattails and such. I have also heard about b road ditch hunting a few times. Does anyone have advice on that. What time of day do they like to be out by the roads?
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Honestly, I am not sure you want to do that, it might be legal in Iowa, but not looked at favorably...with Canda plates, I might avoid that. Keep coming west 100 miles and I will put you on birds.
 
remy3424 said:
Honestly, I am not sure you want to do that, it might be legal in Iowa, but not looked at favorably...with Canda plates, I might avoid that. Keep coming west 100 miles and I will put you on birds.
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Can you expand on that? I have hunted in Iowa before, but not roads/ditches. How is it viewed differently there than SD?
 
remy3424 said:
Honestly, I am not sure you want to do that, it might be legal in Iowa, but not looked at favorably...with Canda plates, I might avoid that. Keep coming west 100 miles and I will put you on birds.
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Hunting ditches in Iowa is legal.

Why would it not be looked on favorably?

Also, what do Canadian plates have to do with it?
 
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Everyone (any of the locals) knows it is "city guys" or "out-of-towners" without any permission to hunt, driving around. Anyone one that lives in rural Iowa, likely knows what I mean. In SD hunting is commercialized, road/ditch hunting might be encouraged even. In Iowa, hunting isn't commercialized/promoted and most don't want it to be. Like I said, it is legal. Grew-up here.
 
remy3424 said:
Everyone (any of the locals) knows it is "city guys" or "out-of-towners" without any permission to hunt, driving around. Anyone one that lives in rural Iowa, likely knows what I mean. In SD hunting is commercialized, road/ditch hunting might be encouraged even. In Iowa, hunting isn't commercialized/promoted and most don't want it to be. Like I said, it is legal. Grew-up here.
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Road hunting is one thing, hunting ditches is another. When either is done legally I see no harm. Yayhoos driving around shooting at birds over the fence or perhaps worse is a bad deal and a bad look for pheasant hunting. But guys from out of town, with no contacts, hunting a public ditch I see no problem with. Some guys struggle to just get an opportunity at a legal rooster. I often find myself an "out-of-towner" in pheasant country. I put in due diligence with regards to legality. I've walked a few ditches in my day. The sword cuts both ways. I've seen landowners post ditches "no trespassing" well over the line of public easement. I've had people on this forum tell me it's illegal to go and chase a wounded rooster on posted private land in Iowa, when in fact it is completely legal to do so without landowner permission. At the end of the day I'm not trying to rock the boat. Quite the contrary I do everything in my power to stay within all legal boundaries when it comes to hunting and fishing. I'm a stickler on property lines. I would never wander off into private property while hunting. But I'm also not going to be intimidated away from hunting a public right of way. If the number of hunters is fading away, why would we want to intimidate those who are simply trying to hunt and bag a legal pheasant on the limited ground available to them?
 
I know it is legal, I know you can retrieve injured game (without a firearm), that have ended-up on private, even posted ground. I know you can hunt the ground the landowner owns (and pays tax on) but has the roadway easement (the ditches). I am just telling you what the attitude is here. Heck yes, it is legal, but folks don't always like it be done on their property. You know you can't discharge a firearm within 200 yards of buildings inhabited by people or livestock. Just jump in the the ditch, start hunting 225 yards away from someone home and start shooting... and then enjoy a pissing match using your "rights and legalities" with the occupants. Hunting is just not commercialized in Iowa as it is in South Dakota and it is viewed differently here. You are more than welcome by me to buy a small game license & habitat stamp and enjoy hunting our public ground, road ditches and private ground with owners permission. You know the rules, I know you know the rules, not all (most, I am guessing) of the residents here would not know hunting regulations....be prepared to educate them when ditch hunting.
 
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Pretty high and mighty there, Remy. Are you giving all non-residents permission to buy a license and hunt birds in Iowa? Or just Bob?

It feels like what you are saying is - if you have Iowa plates, you can hunt the road ditches with no issues. If you have out-of-state plates, you are not welcome. I hunt the road ditches at times, but it's certainly not my first choice. Anyone jumping in and shooting just outside of 200 yards from a structure is welcoming trouble. Not trying to fight your opinion here, but I've never had anyone ask me what I'm doing if I'm staying well clear of any structures, and focusing on a more remote stretch of a road way. I've many slow down and ask - any luck? I think it's all about being respectful, and not just assuming that anyone with plates that are not Iowa, is a Cidiot and going to blast away at everything.

For what it's worth, the owner of the bar/restaurant that I frequent when in Iowa asked me why I was in town. So I tell him and he says, "Oh, If I were you...I would go to this area and work the road ditches in the morning. Lots of birds there, that's what I do with my dog."
So...
 
Lots to dissect here on the road/ditch hunting thing. I'll refrain from commenting on the legality and ethics of that since I rarely do it.

If I was driving from Canada, I'd skip the road/ditch hunting thing. Not that I don't think its legal, but driving from so far away to walk on a road and hunt a ditch? Doesn't seem worth it no matter how you slice it. That would be like me driving to Texas to fish for a bluegill in a creek.

Put some time in knocking on doors and look for good habitat. Iowa is a good hunting state, even on public land in December. Be quiet, approach your spots with a strategy, and make good shots. You should see results.

Remy probably has more experience hunting in Iowa than anyone on this forum and his posts/opinions here are respected by me.
 
For the sake of my dogs, I rarely hunt ditches. Now, if I saw a good ditch on a Level B / minimum maintenance/ mud road, with good cover I might consider it.
I rarely see road hunters in the areas I hunt, and I drive quite a bit on gravel roads. When I do, I don't think twice about it regardless of their license plates.
In the Ft. Dodge area there is plenty of good DNR and IHAP land within a reasonable driving distance, it just takes a little research on the Iowa DNR's website to find them. While you're there you can also find the regulations on road hunting.
 
Hunting near any road must be considered dangerous for the dog, unless on a leash. Dogs just do what dogs do. I have personally seen trucks flying by on those Class B roads. It is reward vs. risk. My son witnessed a tragedy like that in western MN. He just met the guy in the parking lot of some public. Young man lost track of his dog. Sad preventable story.
 
BDoggin, I don't think even with Iowa plates, people will get the warmest reception road hunting around here. Oh, Bob already has a license, I was giving all other non residents permission, sorry to be so vague about that....I am glad that got cleared-up. I have spent all 60 years of my life in this state and most of 50 years hunting pheasants here, I am just relaying what I see and hear about this subject, sorry it got your feelings stirred-up.

I now assume road/ditch hunting is a product from our lack of public access and lack of a persons connections to access private ground, so it is an avenue those folks can have the opportunity to bird hunt, as limited as it might be. Growing up, it was the town kids doing it. Then it just seemed like they were lazy. In hind-sight, maybe they just had nowhere else to hunt. Maybe it shouldn't be looked at negatively, but it is.
 
I would just say don't judge everyone the same who walks ditches. I don't do a ton of it, but if it looks right I'll do it. As far as what wind river said, yes I believe a dog being hit by a car is everyone's worst fear, and probably the biggest danger there is. But even in his story the dog didn't die because the owner was hunting a ditch, it got hit while hunting public ground. Always know where your dog is. Hunting a ditch is not inherently dangerous, every situation is different.
 
Bob Peters said:
I would just say don't judge everyone the same who walks ditches. I don't do a ton of it, but if it looks right I'll do it. As far as what wind river said, yes I believe a dog being hit by a car is everyone's worst fear, and probably the biggest danger there is. But even in his story the dog didn't die because the owner was hunting a ditch, it got hit while hunting public ground. Always know where your dog is. Hunting a ditch is not inherently dangerous, every situation is different.
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The reason it is looked upon unfavorably is many violate the rules either due to ignorance or a lack of integrity. It is tolerated more in South Dakota because it is much more prevalent. There are many that do nothing else. I won’t say I haven’t done it and always error on the side of legal. Growing up hunting in Kansas where no forms of it are legal, it has always seemed like I was doing something wrong. I would imagine any out of staters would get extra attention regardless of state. Growing up in eastern Kansas and hunting in western Kansas will get you some side eye for sure. They don’t like us easterners much out there. 😂
 
"But even in his story the dog didn't die because the owner was hunting a ditch, it got hit while hunting public ground. Always know where your dog is. Hunting a ditch is not inherently dangerous, every situation is different."
I am nervous anytime I am up against a roadway, starting and ending a hunt usually puts you very near the roadway and I am guess that is what happened to the dog. Ditch hunting puts you on the very edge of disaster with vehicles. It will only take a couple feet of your dog not being where you want, to have such a disaster...if that isn't inherently dangerous, I need to review the definition of it. Many of our graveled roads don't have a ton of traffic and SD would likely have roads that get a couple vehicles a day...but roadways and dogs are a terrible combination. When I was young we had a dog hit and killed in a roadway when ending a hunt.
 
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