Late Hatch Birds

J

John Singer

Well-known member
I am in NC Iowa for the dove opener tomorrow.

I ran my dog briefly as it cooled off in the evening.

She flushed two hens with very young broods. The first hen had 5 young with her. The young birds were smaller than my clenched fist.

The second hen had two birds about softball size.

It seems late to see such small birds.

Also saw a pair of roosters that were full size but just starting to show colors.
 
I'm not 100% on Pheasants but, many birds who lose their first nest to entirety will lay a whole new nest. If even one egg hatches, they won't lay again. So depending on when they lose a nest and if they're still fertilized I'd suppose they could hatch pretty late. I've shot a few in the past that cackled and that's the only way I knew that they were roosters. We see this quite often with turkeys. Some broods look dang near full grown and others are still 5" tall.
 
They certainly have some growing to do! I hear that chickens grow at an amazing rate, so maybe the same is true with pheasants, which I hope is the case. If not, those little guys might be in trouble this winter. I don't think the hatch would have been a problem here locally, but the lack of any moisture and the extreme heat at the time that the hatch should have been happening, would have thinned them out I am afraid. I really do think we will have birds, but the DNRs map below, has a white egg shaped area marking "poor" bird numbers in NW Iowa, right where I do 90% of my hunting! Hope they are wrong and I intend to prove it with some pics of harvested roosters in a few weeks!
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remy3424 said:
They certainly have some growing to do! I hear that chickens grow at an amazing rate, so maybe the same is true with pheasants, which I hope is the case. If not, those little guys might be in trouble this winter. I don't think the hatch would have been a problem here locally, but the lack of any moisture and the extreme heat at the time that the hatch should have been happening, would have thinned them out I am afraid. I really do think we will have birds, but the DNRs map below, has a white egg shaped area marking "poor" bird numbers in NW Iowa, right where I do 90% of my hunting! Hope they are wrong and I intend to prove it with some pics of harvested roosters in a few weeks!
View attachment 4047
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I think those little "blurbs" of poor hunting are more a product of the routes and other variables than the numbers themselves. For example, I can say with certainty that that area of the state is exponentially better in aggregate than the eastern 1/3 of the state. With that being said, if the routes happen to take them by the "primo" ground in eastern Iowa but avoids those areas in your part of the state, numbers will reflect that. Overall, I think the distribution map is very useful for trends (i.e. the further NW you get in the state, the better the hunting, on average).
 
cyclonenation10 said:
I think those little "blurbs" of poor hunting are more a product of the routes and other variables than the numbers themselves. For example, I can say with certainty that that area of the state is exponentially better in aggregate than the eastern 1/3 of the state. With that being said, if the routes happen to take them by the "primo" ground in eastern Iowa but avoids those areas in your part of the state, numbers will reflect that. Overall, I think the distribution map is very useful for trends (i.e. the further NW you get in the state, the better the hunting, on average).
Click to expand...
For example, there is about a 10 square mile area that I've killed more birds than anywhere else in the state, and that is entirely in the "white" on this map.
 
I did read something about the lack of "dew" in the mornings caused fewer birds to be out of the cover and on the roads in the mornings, which could very likely be the reason, as we had very few dewy mornings until the last few weeks.
 
remy3424 said:
I did read something about the lack of "dew" in the mornings caused fewer birds to be out of the cover and on the roads in the mornings, which could very likely be the reason, as we had very few dewy mornings until the last few weeks.
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Agreed. Lots of variables. Several friends I know in the DNR throughout the State said that what they were seeing in the fields day to day was quite different than what ultimately showed up in the data, for whatever that's worth. Looking forward to another good season!
 
Late hatch birds should be perfectly fine by the time winter gets here. Most of the Midwest is covered in corn or soybeans for them to eat. The bigger issue is hunting them at the beginning of the season and identifying them. That might be a problem.

Another issue I recently read in the Pheasants Forever forecast is the fact that many crops were planted late this past spring. Most of the crops I see in MN have barely even started to turn color. Beans get harvested before corn. Traditionally, beans were harvested in September and corn was harvested in October. That isn't going to happen, clearly. I would say its going to be beans in late October and corn in November this fall. If we get a string of wet weather, that will be delayed even more. Just something to think about unless you want to hunt habitat that is still surrounded by a sea of standing crops.
 
I have seen 3 hatches this year around where we hunt. Two weeks ago we saw a brood with chick's the size of a baseball. Should be a good year!
 
In our dry corner of the state, it will not be a late harvest. It is not October yet and maybe half the beans are gone already, after the weekend, most might be gone. Guessing they will have a good bite out of the corn by opener here. I will hunt more crp when the corn is in, after the fields are cleared, then hit some waterways in those fields and crp.
 
gimruis said:
Late hatch birds should be perfectly fine by the time winter gets here. Most of the Midwest is covered in corn or soybeans for them to eat. The bigger issue is hunting them at the beginning of the season and identifying them. That might be a problem.

Another issue I recently read in the Pheasants Forever forecast is the fact that many crops were planted late this past spring. Most of the crops I see in MN have barely even started to turn color. Beans get harvested before corn. Traditionally, beans were harvested in September and corn was harvested in October. That isn't going to happen, clearly. I would say its going to be beans in late October and corn in November this fall. If we get a string of wet weather, that will be delayed even more. Just something to think about unless you want to hunt habitat that is still surrounded by a sea of standing crops.
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Hmmmm, just stay in Minnesota....
 
The reports I've gotten from the area I hunt in is that due to the very dry weather the crops are coming off at a rapid rate. I think part of it is that some are ready but, I also think they worry about fires. This probably doesn't apply to all of Iowa, just going off of the area I go to.
 
My daughter played softball in Sioux Falls, SD this last weekend. Beans are gone and they are getting into the corn pretty heavily. I'd suspect by the end of next week most everything should be off. I agree Lefty, a lot more birds die opening weekend on public when the crops are off.
 
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