Trip to NW Iowa

K

kanstiss

New member
Hey all,

This is my 2nd year pheasant hunting. I'm in eastern Iowa and would like to take a trip to Dickinson county area in early/mid December. I have read other posts about staying at the Northland Inn and was looking for names of any public spots to try first once we get out there. I have a 10 month old lab that I am trying to give the best season possible to keep him interested and on birds. Thank you in advance,

Kris
 
Hi,
I just hunted Dickinson county on opening day with three other guys.
We saw birds every place that we went. There are plenty of birds there.
All the public areas are well marked and there are over 20k acres of public land around there. Just look for typical cover that you would hunt anywhere else.
The birds will be there.
If you stay at Northland Inn, there is public hunting right across the road to the north and pretty much, all the way to the state line. That's about five miles of public hunting areas. There is land to the east, west and south of there too.
I wouldn't say that any are better than others. The only thing that you need to be aware of is that Jemmerson Slough is a waterfowl refuge and is closed to all hunting until after the last day of the waterfowl season. Then the area is open to upland hunting.
 
Thank you for the advice. That's great to hear that you seen birds up there. Was that in fair weather or rain?
 
That was on Saturday when it was wet and drizzling. Sunday, it warmed up and was too nice. The birds just get up and head out to the open harvested corn fields for the day and you don't see them until it's time to roost in the evening.
If it's cold and windy, the birds will stay on roost a little longer in the mornings and that is your best chance. Once it snows, the hunting should only get better.
Your timing is probably just about right to be able to hunt all day if you want to. By December, the birds will be moving in and out of cover to find food, then back to safety. If the marshes are frozen over enough to support your weight, the cattails will be where you find a lot of the birds. It's tough hunting though.
I tend to stay away because the water in the cattails doesn't always freeze thick enough to support a man. It will hold your dog and of course it's no problem for the birds. But it's no fun to fall knee or waist deep into that black, stinky water and it can get dangerous when it's below zero.
You say that it's your second year hunting, so I assume that you are fairly young. Put on the miles and you will get birds.
 
Yup 24. At least I think that's young lol. I just want my dog to have the best experience possible. I ran him on public ground a week before the opener and he kicked 1 rooster up. I'm assuming that rooster was shot this last weekend. I'll be hunting public ground around us in Dubuque area this weekend and hitting a preserve next weekend. I'm trying to hit a preserve once a month to guarantee him some birds.
 
I live in Dickinson Co. and it gets hunted hard. That time of year be prepared to drive 30 mi or more from Spirit Lake to find less pressured areas if not finding any birds. Have a 12 ga with a quality non tox. 3" 2 or 3 shot. This year a lot of birds were shot this first week with all the corn being out. Try to avoid deer season. the plus side there are more hens so at least your dog will get some bird contact.
 
Thanks for the heads up! I'll look at the atlas and find ground out a little bit for other options.
 
Well, I booked my room at the Northland Inn. We will be ariving the 29th and staying through the 31st. I'm hoping we have good weather and we at least get a couple of birds for my pup.
 
The recent snows have driven most of our birds into the catails and sloughs. Six miles south of Terril on N-14 there is some good public ground.
 
We were back there this past weekend and saw lots of birds still, but they were spooky!
You will have to be stealthy to get close. Some bad weather/snow will help your odds. We had a couple of 10"-12" snow falls the past couple of weeks, but now it warmed back up to unseasonable temperatures and melted most of the snow away again. The minute we hit any type of cover, the birds flew out the opposite end. We tried posting, but they either see or hear you coming and they don't wait around to see what's going to happen. They have a pretty good education by now. Hope for nasty weather and you should do ok.
We got a few birds early, then they moved out into open fields after that. There was still snow on the ground, so they really stood out.
Just make sure that you use steel or non toxic shot and to wear at least a blaze orange hat. The DNR WILL be checking you.
Just as a side note, I have been keeping notes and we averaged about 1 1/2 miles walked per bird, per hunter. It's not "preserve" hunting by any means. These are wild birds and just because there are plenty around, doesn't mean it's easy. If anyone reads this and thinks that they can come here and expect a "South Dakota" style hunt, they are sorely mistaken.
Your dog should get a good workout, as will you.
 
Thank you Viking_hunter. All I'm really looking for is for my dog to get on bird scent and hopefully we get a shot at one or two. In my area, it's been tough lately even getting him on hens.
 
Has anyone been doing any hunting up in Spirit Lake area? We're still planning on going. Starting to look at some of my printouts right now of the public land. There's so much to pick from. Trying to at least have a little plan for next week. As long as the weather is ok, we still plan on going.
 
Planning on checking in to The Northland Inn on Tuesday 29th and leaving on Thursday31st.
 
kanstiss said:
Has anyone been doing any hunting up in Spirit Lake area? We're still planning on going. Starting to look at some of my printouts right now of the public land. There's so much to pick from. Trying to at least have a little plan for next week. As long as the weather is ok, we still plan on going.
Click to expand...

One of my brothers and a couple of his buddies were there this past weekend. Birds in the cattails and very skittish. They'd see 200 get up the minute the got out of the vehicle. Shot a few, too. They were fortunate to have enough ice to carry a man's weight and could get in the tails. Tough going, but by their pictures it looked worth it.
 
I would love to have wrote up a nice review of my trip except it didn't happen :/
We were back in Michigan visiting family for the holidays and planned on coming back to Dubuque on Monday morning. Well...I woke up at 4 AM with the stomach flu and was preoccupied for the next 5 hours. On top of that, we got a bad ice storm in Michigan that day, making travel conditions to Iowa terrible. So we stayed at the in-laws another night and shoved off for home on Tuesday. I called my hunting partner who was supposed to be going up with me and he slipped on the ice on Monday and threw out his back. Maybe we weren't supposed to go...Oh well, there's still the preserves for my year old chocolate. So I'll have to make due with taking him out there a few more times while I can.
 
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