Reports

MGD39

New member
Hows everyone done so far this season? I'll be hunting private land west about 45 minutes west of Des Moines this weekend. I'm hoping at least see a couple of birds...
 
West of DesMoines...

Greetings,

Reviewed your posting and thought I would comment.

Years ago we hunted south of Atlantic and usually limited. Have not hunted that area since 1992, but nephew and brother quit 2-3 years ago - no birds and now exclusively go to SD.

Understand Iowa was hit hard by foul weather the past several years and lots of rain. Lots of CRP is gone...Good Luck.

jon
 
any reports from the Poweshiek county area? my buddy has access to some private ground, but i am guessing he will be wasting his time....told him he would be better off in Kansas.
 
been hunting all week but today..just been walking some decent ditches that look like might hold some birds but got nothing i was doing everything you guys told me in my first post... wont be able to get back out till monday know..when i get out on monday im gonna hit some CRP fields and see if any in there....i dont give up too easy i keep on trying till time runs out and seaons over
 
we hunt on public land in north central ia. lots of small areas that hold birds. find most of the birds near water. it hasnt rained here for almost a month. in our area the only cover is on public ground. we shot 28 roosters opening day with 12 hunters. good luck guys!
 
Was up around Lake Part this morning, lots of public land, and lots of people. Did see seven birds, five roosters and two ladies, none of them sat very hard, image with all the pressure what's up there, is pretty gun shy already. It was nice to see some birds, could do without the four hour ride to get there-and the $150 speeding ticket I got for doing 62 in a 55-statey was a prick to boot.
 
Was in the NC part of the state opening weekend. Between 2 of us got 12 birds in 3 days. Not bad. Seen lots of birds and talked to locals that said they had enough birds around.
 
I was just up in NC Iowa this weekend and saw a lot of birds. Of course they were skirting between a refuge and public and private grounds, but they are there. Talking to a gentleman from WI and watched 2 decent sized roosters land about 20 yards in front of us. We let him have them since we hunt that area many times anyways.
 
i may have to go north someplace i dont think theres any around fort dodge..went a walked 2 crp fields for 3 hrs today nothing..also talked to someone who hunted for 5 hrs saturday at brushy creek and got nothing
 
Hows everyone done so far this season? I'll be hunting private land west about 45 minutes west of Des Moines this weekend. I'm hoping at least see a couple of birds...

So MGD39, give us the Iowa report from last weekend!

I've got South Dakota lined up for us again this year. Will be round 2 like last year.... :thumbsup:

3plains-group-npo.jpg
 
that looks like some good eating there webguy

Heck yeah. We had a great hunt. We hunted pretty hard for a big group, it was late in the year and you really needed to surround the birds and the dogs were really moving the birds.

MGD39 is my buddy Mike who played for Iowa football for you Hawkeye fans out there: http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/dolezal_mike00.html

Unfortunately I'm not a Hawkeye fan nor do I really know if Mike's a good player... well in his defense I hear he was.
 
Sorta of a late report, but here goes...

Hunted the Sunday after the opener (nearly 2 weeks ago) on some awesome public land in Jones county; in 3 hours, we kicked up only 3 rooster, one of which was likely a reflush of the 2nd rooster. :eek:

I shot that last bird, and thought I had him, only to arrive at the drop site to no feathers or blood. Dog and I worked for an hour trying to find him to no avail. I was pretty hot about that-hate leaving game in the field, especially when they are so scarce this year. :mad:

What was really sad was the lack of hens. My setter usually points a pile of hens, since they seem to sit tighter. That afternoon we found zero. :(

The roosters were clearly birds a year or more old, as they had very long tails and were fully colored.

Let's hope for a mild winter and no flooding this spring...

Regards,

Joe
 
We had better luck than we expected. My uncles who live down there talked to guys who went out opener and only saw one bird...so we had low expectations. The land we hunted was private and still has a lot of CRP on it. We saw a dozen roosters and knocked down 6 of them. Only saw 2 hens though....which isn't a good thing in my opinion.

Iowa needs to do something about their habitat down there. It's sad to see the fields that are tilled to the ditch and the ditch is mowed down to 2" as far as the eye can see. They also need to consider changing their seasons length or their limit. I love hunting down there, but I'd have no problem taking a year off to let the population rebound. It's sad to see the bird harvests from the 60's-80's and compare it to the last 5 years.....
 
Taking a year off will not rebound the population. The only way to increase the pheasant population is habitat, habitat, and more habitat!
 
Just got back from NW Iowa, we weren't blown away by the amount of birds, but everywhere we went we at least saw a couple, except for the best looking place! Dogs worked great and we got a few but you are dead on, habitat is key.
 
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