Iowa Has CRP but No Birds....Why?

Reddog, I bet it is still there. You may want to check with agronomist and also see if there is not a pre-emerge that will hold back the brome and release the switch. I think a gly application on the brome just before switch emerges would be productive. I did it on a warm season stand I had a cheat problem with.


Also, on my design I would add a 30' firebreak seeded to alfalfa around every field I had in the 10/25/65 design mix.

I have 54 acres or 14 miles worth of firebreaks on my farm and they are super brood food plots for the summer months.

You will need to have the crp field part signed up as a prescribed fire mid contract management practice.
 
Posters have hit on some of the issues in IA much of which includes a lot less usable habitat (of all types) available to the birds outside of the federal subsidy programs.

Another issue is that so many of those 1.4 MIL IA acres are included in narrow stream buffers. There is some pretty great info out there that documents just exactly how ineffective narrow buffers are for producing pheasants.
 
Downtown Bang! said:
Posters have hit on some of the issues in IA much of which includes a lot less usable habitat (of all types) available to the birds outside of the federal subsidy programs.

Another issue is that so many of those 1.4 MIL IA acres are included in narrow stream buffers. There is some pretty great info out there that documents just exactly how ineffective narrow buffers are for producing pheasants.
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I thought you folks in Minnesota felt buffers were the be all and end all.

(Appropriate smiley here)
 
UGUIDE said:
RD, I will check with my DOW pasture/CRP rep and see if he has any suggestions as well.
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Here it is. Sounds like you are on it.

Hi Chris,

Sorry for the delay, I was at a national sales meeting all last week. Two suggestions; using a very light rate of glyphosate very early or using Chaparral at the boot stage can also be somewhat affective as well. I talked with a couple other pasture specialists and we weren?t able to come up with any other product (Dow or any competitor) that could go on pre and wouldn?t injury other desirable grasses.
 
Iowa's roadside surveys are out and numbers are up throughout the state.





 
Hold the Presses

I'm finally about to get out of Kansas for a bird hunting trip. Was thinking Iowa would be a good start for me. This thread is basically telling me to drive straight to the Dakotas, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Is that accurate?

Note: I had originally planned to hunt North Dakota, but cringed at the 13 hour drive.
 
-Wildcat- said:
I'm finally about to get out of Kansas for a bird hunting trip. Was thinking Iowa would be a good start for me. This thread is basically telling me to drive straight to the Dakotas, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Is that accurate?

Note: I had originally planned to hunt North Dakota, but cringed at the 13 hour drive.
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Iowa has birds. Not like they had before, but there's still birds. There's public land too. Sounds tempting doesn't it?:D

Nick
 
I believe they've still got birds, but how does Iowa compare to Kansas, and is it worth the licensing/travel etc to get started a week early, or should I just suck it up and go to South Dakota?

I was originally planning on hunting the Missouri Grasslands in NoDak in October, but a 13 hour drive... that's a long haul.
 
13 hrs is nothing, I drove to SD from CA last year.:cheers:
 
-Wildcat- said:
I believe they've still got birds, but how does Iowa compare to Kansas, and is it worth the licensing/travel etc to get started a week early, or should I just suck it up and go to South Dakota?

I was originally planning on hunting the Missouri Grasslands in NoDak in October, but a 13 hour drive... that's a long haul.
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What are you looking for? If you want large bird numbers than SD is the way to go. I guess it's going to come down to what you want to fulfill;).


Nick
 
quail hound said:
Iowa's roadside surveys are out and numbers are up throughout the state.


Probably the most encouraging report out of Iowa in a long time.

I learned from the SD survey that the % down or up does not tell the whole story. One example is the dew conditions from year to year at time of survey and another could be how much the habitat landscape changed along the survey routes. I would guess to say though that the weather was favorable for a better hatch and survey.
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Chris is right! This is "TREND" data and not an actual count. The higher the increase or decrease, the more dependable the "trend" is. Some routes will have new operators and that skews the data. More rain or less rain can make differences as birds are more or less visible. Crop rotation, weather, traffic, chemical applications........any number of variables can change the outcome. That being said, this is what we've got so make your decisions wisely and keep your expectations low. If you do that, you'll always be pleased with the outcome.
 
I always liked Iowa's Game Distribution Map and wish SD would do similar. Does not look much different than when I hunted there in the 90's. if that is the case base camp where I did out of Esterville and stay at the Super 8 and get a ribeye at Mother Natures after and long day of trying to put a limit in the truck on public. I did it for 20 years so don't whine to me about your tooties hurting at the end of the day.:cheers:

PS. The SD survey routes do not even come close to giving you ANY kind of intelligent info about western South Dakota. This is an example of where these surveys stop and providing any kind of direction to the DIY hunter. For me in Iowa it always came down to years of experience, tanks and tanks of gas, multiple atlas', miles and miles driven, and miles walked.
 
I'm just looking for lots of wild bird contact. I have a meat dog that we rescued seven months ago that is showing potential, and a 18 month old pup that I'm considering running in hunt tests. I'm going to use the trip for steady work more than anything. Will be bringing two buddies with me. Maybe we just hunt NW Iowa and if things aren't looking good, head North to SD :confused:
 
-Wildcat- said:
I'm just looking for lots of wild bird contact. I have a meat dog that we rescued seven months ago that is showing potential, and a 18 month old pup that I'm considering running in hunt tests. I'm going to use the trip for steady work more than anything. Will be bringing two buddies with me. Maybe we just hunt NW Iowa and if things aren't looking good, head North to SD :confused:
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don't waste precious time, drive straight to SD! :thumbsup:
 
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