KBell
New member
Had some farming operation business to take care of today in Bremer county. Any of you with some "experience" under your hat will remember that Bremer county used to be one of the premier pheasant areas in Iowa.
Sophie along for the ride and I decided it would be tough going as I planned to hit some public and the weather and all.
After the business was settled it was right around noon when we hit the first public parcel just north of Waverly. Wind chill at -15 at the time. The cover in this piece consisted of standing corn, big bluestem, cane sorghum and brome grass. It was surrounded on three sides by picked corn.
I notice very few tracks as we get nearer to the corn. In the corn I do not see any. Sophie's first point--a first--a barred owl--and he is a big boy.
We near the cane sorghum and I see tracks. Our next two points are hens. To work the strong wind I must walk into the sun. Next point--flush to the sun--hen I thought--closer look-nope--rooster one sails off into the picked field. Our next point is a hen. We work our way back to the truck and I wild flush the rooster below from the parking area beside the truck.
The next parcel we worked had zero tracks, we worked zero birds and no points were had.
The cover was good and the big blue stem and switch grass are standing well.
Driving home I realize I am in Eastern Iowa and I know the area is void of birds. I felt good about the few that we encountered and how well Sophie and I held up in the cold weather. Not a feeling of disappointment but more one of this was how it was going to be.
I reassured myself again that one can still go to great cover, in a former strong pheasant area, and see few if any birds. On the up side we have no snow as of today, the weather has been cooperative and the birds have ample food. I believe it will still take several very good years to get some birds back into these areas.
Sophie along for the ride and I decided it would be tough going as I planned to hit some public and the weather and all.
After the business was settled it was right around noon when we hit the first public parcel just north of Waverly. Wind chill at -15 at the time. The cover in this piece consisted of standing corn, big bluestem, cane sorghum and brome grass. It was surrounded on three sides by picked corn.
I notice very few tracks as we get nearer to the corn. In the corn I do not see any. Sophie's first point--a first--a barred owl--and he is a big boy.
We near the cane sorghum and I see tracks. Our next two points are hens. To work the strong wind I must walk into the sun. Next point--flush to the sun--hen I thought--closer look-nope--rooster one sails off into the picked field. Our next point is a hen. We work our way back to the truck and I wild flush the rooster below from the parking area beside the truck.
The next parcel we worked had zero tracks, we worked zero birds and no points were had.
The cover was good and the big blue stem and switch grass are standing well.Driving home I realize I am in Eastern Iowa and I know the area is void of birds. I felt good about the few that we encountered and how well Sophie and I held up in the cold weather. Not a feeling of disappointment but more one of this was how it was going to be.
I reassured myself again that one can still go to great cover, in a former strong pheasant area, and see few if any birds. On the up side we have no snow as of today, the weather has been cooperative and the birds have ample food. I believe it will still take several very good years to get some birds back into these areas.
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