Is a pheasant trip to Iowa worth the drive?

T

thanasi

New member
I would like to go for the opener or the 2nd week. I have been told there are no birds. Any thoughts? As long as I put up a few birds I will be happy, I just don't want to drive out there and get skunked. Thanks
 
thanasi said:
I would like to go for the opener or the 2nd week. I have been told there are no birds. Any thoughts? As long as I put up a few birds I will be happy, I just don't want to drive out there and get skunked. Thanks
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How far are you driving and what part of the state are you looking at going to?
 
Your trip

I believe your trip depends on what you hope to get out of it.

If you wish some fine local food, friendly people, fresh air, camaraderie, dog work and exercise--them by all means come and enjoy our state!:)

If you want quick, easy and endless limits of birds during your trip--you may wish to focus your efforts on a game farm or another state.:(

Wish I could be more positive and guarantee you to see birds and have a chance at them--just not realistic.

There are parts of the state that have some birds. You have many areas that have zero to very few birds--we talked about this on the forum last year. It is easier than you might think to go out and not flush a single bird depending on the area your in.
 
well everyone is telling me to go to SD but have never been there, where do I start? where do I go? All my spots were in Iowa, however, have not been there for a long time, a few years now.
 
I hunt around Poweshiek and Page county. We did really good in Page and only saw 4 birds in Poweshiek. This year I'm heading to the NW part of the state to see what that has to offer as well.

I'm not sure about Madison, I have seen birds in Clarke county but I don't think they are everywhere.
 
hunter94 said:
I would guess the NW would be the only area worth 2 cents...if that.
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They are here, finding them has taken me years. Your baiscly hunting smaller groups. I find that starting on rivers and working your way to private ground is about the only way it works. Finding cover the birds can travel in and find mates is where they will be. It helps to scout out areas in the spring when the cocks are calling to the hens.
 
I have so many good memories of hunting Iowa thru the years. So sad that it has come to this. The problem is so huge (no habitat) that the fix is also going to have to be huge ($$$$ not to farm everything):(
 
I know some Pa. boys that continue to travel out there and enjoy themselves. They manage to harvest a respectable amount of birds, granted nothing like the old days, but they go back every year. They hunt public land in the NW part of the state.
 
ahh , killed my first ringneck ever in poweshiek county , near malcom. Used to be an awesome area. I myself saw the habitat dwindle into one big bean field. Really nice people out there.
 
im 25 miles s.e. of des moines and around my area there is still very good habitat with lots of shelter belts so i have seen at leat 3 different broods earlier this summer, but i still like to travel to jefferson on opening day and eat breakfast at their little cafe with my 20 year old step daughter who loves chasing birds as much as i do, im not giving up, if the weather patterns would straiten out, we can bounce back to aroung six hundred thousand birds, but with all the lost habitat we will not see a million again. north west iowa should have some pockets of good bird numbers, ya just gotta be willing to go out and hunt.
 
This summer I rode my motorcycle to the Loess Hill and then went acroos Iowa over to the Miss River and rode the river rode.

Biggest mistake was crossing Iowa. I thought Western Ks was boring. Beans a mostly corn for as far as the eye could see. No habitat whatsoever. It's no wonder populations are dwindling. I know this is just a small part of the state I was in but I couldn't imagine it being too much different elsewhere.
 
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