Huns and quail in northern Iowa

Caleb Frank

Caleb Frank

New member
Hi, how are the huns numbers in northern Iowa? The road side surveys say they are good but is it worth going a little out of my way to target them while pheasant hunting? Also I know the road side surveys say all the quail are in the southern part of the state. But has anyone seen and with in a hour or two of the mn boarder that is huntable? Thanks!
 
I haven't seen more that 5 quail north of Hwy 20 in the past 10 years. I haven't seen partridge for a couple seasons now. I wouldn't come to my area in NW IA looking for them. If you see partridge, they are likely flying from the gravel road you are on...now they are in private ground...good luck figuring-out who to get permission from. Those I would say are bonus birds you may stubble across while pheasant hunting here.
 
I've never seen a partridge in IA. I believe someone on here saw one north of Sioux City a year or two ago, but like Remy said, I wouldn't come to this part of the world hoping to shoot one. Hunting the same longitude 30 miles into NE, I haven't seen one since the late 80's. I saw one covey of quail, just south of highway 20 last year. They seem to be pretty rare in these parts, so I did not shoot.
 
Late last season, we bumped a small flock (5) Hungarian partridge in NC Iowa. They were feeding in a harvested cornfield and flushed out of range.

Hunting in NC and NW Iowa, I see probably 0.8 Hungarian partridge per season. I see about the same number in SE Minnesota.

I have never shot one.
 
There was one covey that I have seen in North Central Iowa. I actually got lucky and shot a double with 1 shot. 1 Male and 1 Female. I have not seen them in the field ever besides that one time. Other than that I have only seen them in snow storms. DE5FC43E-FE16-431A-8AC2-02E9A0A9EDDA_1_105_c.jpeg
 
Id say IA is the furthest south and east you could possibly find one. Has anybody ever heard of them further east? Ive shot two ever. One in Wyoming and one in North Dakota. Id consider an IA hun a trophy!!
 
Ohio and Michigan both used to have open seasons for gray partridge (huns), but this was 70 to 100 years ago. We have none now. We have very few wild gamebirds at all.
 
Ohio and Michigan both used to have open seasons for Hungarian partridge, but this was 70 to 100 years ago. We have none now. Ohio has very few wild upland birds at all. Quail season lasts about a week and is only in about 3 weeks in about 10 counties, private land mainly. Pheasant season is open statewide but is mainly for released birds. Ruffed grouse used to be very plentiful, but hard to hunt, mainly in the very hilly S & eastern parts of the state. Maybe 1/3 of the state. Grouse season used to start the 2nd week of Oct & last thru the end of Feb & you could usually see at least 25 a day. Now the season is only a month in Oct & Nov & the limit went from 3 to 1.
 
No quail here in MN but the bag limit on Hungarian Partridge is 5 daily. Its a real head scratcher. I've never seen ANY in 25 years of pheasant hunting here.
 
I used to see lots of huns in the late 70’s & early 80’s when I hunted around Mason City Iowa. You just could not get near them. They would flush 100 yds ahead of the dogs & fly out into the middle of a bean stubble field with snow on it. I dont know how they did not freeze to death!
 
I've shot about half a dozen huns in central/eastern iowa each of the last few years. I would say I probably push a covey of them on 10% of my hunts - generally out of corn stubble. They are around, but certainly not something worth targeting. Very hard to pinpoint where they may be, and purely a bonus bird in Iowa.
 
I heard a report today of a guy with 4 coveys he's been watching in far western MN. A hunting buddy said about 10 years ago they were pheasant hunting nw iowa and kept seeing some strange birds flying around the public field they were on. Eventually he shot one, and it was a hun. I think it's the only one he's ever got.
 
Used to be a fair number in central MN 40 years ago, shot a few every year pheasant hunting. Haven't seen a hun here since at least the early 1990's. Too damn bad...fun birds.
 
I am west of Cedar Rapids and see quite a few hun through the summer, and especially right now in Aug. Last week my wife and I were in the ranger and saw around 20 hun flush off the road and fly into the bean field 100 yards from our house. I see them on the roads more than I see pheasants near roadsides. Several different coveys based on distance. Come October, they start to disappear. I have shot 3 hun, one in IA on opening day of pheasant season (trophy), and two in Hell's Canyon ID. Dad is going to mow some of the creek buffer soon (damn drought) so I'm focusing on the positive of that... more potential for the hun to come and hang in that stubble.

Farthest north I've taken a bob is 2 miles south of highway 30.
 
Bumped a small covey of partridge off a gravel road this morning, guessing it was 8 birds strong. Not where I had seen any in past years. Nice to see them! First group I have seen for a while.
 
I run into partridge a couple times each season, it's almost always in a wide open field when I am crossing a field from one piece of cover to another. It's rare that I ever see them in cover or in a ditch.
 
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