Labradinger
Active member
Everywhere we went had standing corn but we still found a lot of birds. Should be great the next few weeks as the corn comes out. It was beautiful out this morning, looked like Christmas out there.
Iowa Opener
- Thread starter Bbentley117
- Start date
MinnHunter
Active member
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
I will be there the week of Thanksgiving. And Christmas.
Got back from Iowa on monday evening. overall, it was a great area to explore. Not as much pressure but not as much public land either. Started off waiting for the opening bell on a Ihap piece, but got cutoff from guys coming in from a private piece, so we picked up and moved, found a fresh spot and there were random birds in there to keep busy. Pretty country with the hills and ravines. ended up with 4 on opener, should have had 6. Not many flushes overall.
Sunday we tried the same spot we did well on opener, but at 730 the group of birds got up and flew into the corn, not a straggler left and no flushes that morning of anything. drove to some other spots and flushed a couple birds here and there, had 1 by noon. all in all sunday we ended up with 4 after picking off singles in various pieces.
Ran into a CO on sunday who said the area we are in do not have as many birds as about 30-40 miles north but not as much pressure. He also gave us a hot tip in which he said alot of farmers are open to giving permission due to not as many public pieces around where more people drive by and knock doors in those type of areas. Found one piece of private that we walked and managed 1 bird out of there. As far as pressure to the north, man was he right, on Monday morning we figured we would hit some pieces to the north on the way back to MN and couldnt believe the pressure on a monday morning, let alone what it probably was on saturday/sunday morning. Never flushed anything monday morning.
We decided next time we would come later in the season for future hunts. more corn will be out, less pressure, and the roost hunt could come into play with the daylight savings time. all in all it was still a fun hunt, about equal amount of birds as west central MN as I experienced on opener this year, and nice people in IA.
Also, be sure to respect the 200 yards away from houses, had a lady come remind us after a walk, the closest we shot was probably at 200 yards, but in the complete opposite direction. She explained how they had bad experiences in the past with ditch walkers shooting towards and close to their house
Sunday we tried the same spot we did well on opener, but at 730 the group of birds got up and flew into the corn, not a straggler left and no flushes that morning of anything. drove to some other spots and flushed a couple birds here and there, had 1 by noon. all in all sunday we ended up with 4 after picking off singles in various pieces.
Ran into a CO on sunday who said the area we are in do not have as many birds as about 30-40 miles north but not as much pressure. He also gave us a hot tip in which he said alot of farmers are open to giving permission due to not as many public pieces around where more people drive by and knock doors in those type of areas. Found one piece of private that we walked and managed 1 bird out of there. As far as pressure to the north, man was he right, on Monday morning we figured we would hit some pieces to the north on the way back to MN and couldnt believe the pressure on a monday morning, let alone what it probably was on saturday/sunday morning. Never flushed anything monday morning.
We decided next time we would come later in the season for future hunts. more corn will be out, less pressure, and the roost hunt could come into play with the daylight savings time. all in all it was still a fun hunt, about equal amount of birds as west central MN as I experienced on opener this year, and nice people in IA.
Also, be sure to respect the 200 yards away from houses, had a lady come remind us after a walk, the closest we shot was probably at 200 yards, but in the complete opposite direction. She explained how they had bad experiences in the past with ditch walkers shooting towards and close to their house
Bob Peters
Well-known member
I've had same experience in Iowa with regard to spots. You drive a little away from the traditional pheasant area and there's not much public land. Then you head to where all the public land is and there's a lot of hunters.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
I called the wildlife manager northern Iowa. Just asked about general conditions. He said habitat on state land is good, bird numbers are good, similar to last year. Number of hunters is high, which is also normal first week of season. If I catch a wild hare I might go tomorrow. Wish I knew a good campground in the northern tier of counties.