What an Opener!

[pheasantaddict]

In all my 38 years of Iowa pheasant hunting, I've never had an opener like today. I hunted from 8-11 and saw a total of 0 birds. These were/are spots I've hunted for the past 16 yrs. I'm usually done with my 2 bird limit in a time frame of 15 mins or 2 hrs. With the nice weather, maybe the birds went out early into the corn? I'll make up any lame excuse at this point to keep me going. I'll be hitting some other areas tomorrow where all the birds I didn't see today in a 3 sq mile area are now hopefully all piled up. I expect to see 150-200 roosters there. I plan to report back tomorrow with more encouraging news.

Just talked to a friend of mine and their group of 6 got 12 birds. He said they should have had their limit.

 

[Cackleburs]

I hunted public/private ground in western Kossuth. In an area we harvested 24 birds for 8 hunters by noon last year, we shot one this year. 3 words A Bys Mal. We saw two roosters and two hens. Very unscientific on my part, but I would say numbers are down 80+% in our area. I'd even say the hatch recruitment was 0%. The few birds I saw from other hunters and ours were all 2-3 year old roosters. Must have been almost no second or third hatch. There were swarms of hunters, more than I've ever seen in our area. What's up with people parking behind you and walking through you when they show up at 7:57?

 

[Point!]

What's up with people parking behind you and walking through you when they show up at 7:57?

Simply put, they've learned how to do this by hunting WIHA's in Kansas.

So sorry to hear about what's happened to Iowa's pheasants. Hard to imagine that what was once the best pheasant producing state is now gone the way of states like, MI, IL, IN, PA, etc. We can only hope that the weather over the next few years is conducive to producing pheasants. One thing is for sure, much the habitat is pretty much gone and it isn't coming back.

 

[pheasantaddict]

Cackleburs, I believe you hit the nail on the head. I did get 2 roosters today but they were at least three year old birds. They were on a property I hunt about once a year and no one else has probably hunted there for 4 years. I also walked a buffer strip where I thought the birds might be piled up and only saw one hen!!! The winter we had around here was not that bad and we also had a dry spring but it was cool. The area I was hunting today had enough cover...I'm baffled by these last two days of hunting. I saw a hunter at Casey's this morning and he asked how I did yesterday. He stated exactly what I had said to my wife, "I've never seen anything like this before." It's like there was no hatch and the pheasants that were left over from last year even disappeared. I may hunt one more weekend & then put up the gun...pheasant biologist may disagree about that and I would normally disagree too but it seems there is only a few old roosters left. Is this more than a lack of habitat, could it be chemicals too? We have always had bad weather, predators, ect...and there has still been some pheasants. I'm in a state of shock right now. Seems like the population around here is 95% down or greater.

 

[Roosterslayer]

With the lack of habitat in Iowa these days, it will take 3-4 years of excellent weather to bring back the population to reasonable numbers. Iowa has gotten hammered the last several years both in winter mortality and terrible nesting conditions. About as bad as you can expect.

 

[1pheas4]

Cackleburs, I believe you hit the nail on the head. I did get 2 roosters today but they were at least three year old birds. They were on a property I hunt about once a year and no one else has probably hunted there for 4 years. I also walked a buffer strip where I thought the birds might be piled up and only saw one hen!!! The winter we had around here was not that bad and we also had a dry spring but it was cool. The area I was hunting today had enough cover...I'm baffled by these last two days of hunting. I saw a hunter at Casey's this morning and he asked how I did yesterday. He stated exactly what I had said to my wife, "I've never seen anything like this before." It's like there was no hatch and the pheasants that were left over from last year even disappeared. I may hunt one more weekend & then put up the gun...pheasant biologist may disagree about that and I would normally disagree too but it seems there is only a few old roosters left. Is this more than a lack of habitat, could it be chemicals too? We have always had bad weather, predators, ect...and there has still been some pheasants. I'm in a state of shock right now. Seems like the population around here is 95% down or greater.

What you're saying sounds very familiar to our (Illinois) season in 1996. In 1995 we harvested around 500,000 birds. The following season they all but disappeared and haven't been back since.

Last year we harvested around 64,000 rooster here in Illinois. I really hope this isn't the future for Iowa too.

 

[blackcloud27]

I hunted public/private ground in western Kossuth. In an area we harvested 24 birds for 8 hunters by noon last year, we shot one this year. 3 words A Bys Mal. We saw two roosters and two hens. Very unscientific on my part, but I would say numbers are down 80+% in our area. I'd even say the hatch recruitment was 0%. The few birds I saw from other hunters and ours were all 2-3 year old roosters. Must have been almost no second or third hatch. There were swarms of hunters, more than I've ever seen in our area. What's up with people parking behind you and walking through you when they show up at 7:57?

that totally sucks i feel your pain a couple years ago we were pushing an area from east to west. blockers were on the west side. we even had permission from a homeowner next to wildlife area so we could shot within 200 yards of her house. ( the blockers were in ditch shooting away from her property) after push starts a group of yahoos sets up on north side of our push and has thier buddies set up on the south side. then they have thier buddies call for the dogs. the dogs run between our pushers and blockers and flush all the pheasants wild what total A$$'S.

 

[nstric]

Congrats to those of you that got into the birds! And for those that didn't, keep at it, particularly if you hunted an area that still had standing corn nearby.

As for me, my buddy and I scratched out our limit of 6, but we worked hard to do so. Numbers are definitely down in most areas, and I hunt all over this state.

The third of three fields saved us, as we only had one in the bag up until then. Probably saw about 25 roosters and 15 hens. "Gunner" was pointing roosters as we were walking out of that last field with limits in hand. I LOVE that.

Here's a pic of the dogs with 4 of the 6 we killed.

 

[southernblues]

Congrats to those of you that got into the birds! And for those that didn't, keep at it, particularly if you hunted an area that still had standing corn nearby.

As for me, my buddy and I scratched out our limit of 6, but we worked hard to do so. Numbers are definitely down in most areas, and I hunt all over this state.

The third of three fields saved us, as we only had one in the bag up until then. Probably saw about 25 roosters and 15 hens. "Gunner" was pointing roosters as we were walking out of that last field with limits in hand. I LOVE that.

Here's a pic of the dogs with 4 of the 6 we killed.

gorgeous pic. nice to know you don't give up when hard work looks you in the face. birds are still there, maybe not as easy. but it sure does make knocking down the limit more fun, IMO.

 

[pheasantaddict]

You can work hard and walk all day but if the birds are not there it does not matter. It definately matters what part of the state you are hunting.

 

[wrehairptr]

two buddies and I hunted and bagged 6. I was pleasantly surprised. I also noticed that all the birds were 2-3 year old. Have to admit I kinda felt guilty about taking 6 with the numbers that are out there. I plan on hunting 1-2 more times, mainly to get my dog some work in and put up the gun. Really think the DNR needs to do something about this.. I believe weather has been a factor, but not the only factor.

 

[hunter94]

two buddies and I hunted and bagged 6. I was pleasantly surprised. I also noticed that all the birds were 2-3 year old. Have to admit I kinda felt guilty about taking 6 with the numbers that are out there. I plan on hunting 1-2 more times, mainly to get my dog some work in and put up the gun. Really think the DNR needs to do something about this.. I believe weather has been a factor, but not the only factor.

DNR is worthless, they watched the habitat disappear and took no action nor offered up any program to preserve habitat......they only care about deer hunting, my days as a NR bird hunter hunting Iowa are over.

 

[iowa labs]

the group i was with had plenty of chances at birds and and plenty of excuses for missing them myself included. my personal score was 3/0/2 on our 3 day hunt. the birds are in pockets we drove 20 miles from the good spots found great cover food plots but no birds.

 

[slodes]

My father and I spent a couple days last year in north east and north central IA last year on public land, we saw some birds, shot some birds, but the one take away from the trip was the public land that was availible to us was great land-perfect habitat, problem was no birds. Not to harp on whats already been said but the DNR in Iowa is a joke, maybe I will give NE another try. There was a good read in the Sunday Omaha World Harold about how the state is taking action on rebuilding numbers in the central part of the state.

 

[Cackleburs]

Slightly better report. Went back to same areas in western Kossuth today. Saw 15 birds (cocks+hens) Two of us harvested 3. For maybe the 2nd time of 40yrs of hunting with my buddy I out gunned him. Two birds=two shells. He missed a couple of gimmies that made him say some unchristian things. It was quite a good day afield. Never saw/encountered another hunter. My Brit Maggie has some pretty sore nose, lips and eyes because it is so brutally dry. Carried a half gallon of h2o and came back twice empty. Most birds were near willow thickets and within a 1/4 mi. of standing water which is a rare commodity in Kossuth this year.

 

[onpoint]

The DNR isn't popular in Minnesota either. Their answer to most down turns in game and fish population is, lower the limits, shorten the season, increasingly limiting slot sizes, blah, blah, blah. Never stocking fish and game, never habitat before profit. Minnesota's DNR is increasingly becoming nothing more then another law enforcement agency. Using the intimidation tactics with a show of enforcement presence. They want you to buy a license(revenue), just don't want you to keep/kill any fish or game.

Don't even get me started on Wisconsin's DNR. I'll drive around the entire state before I even think about crossing the boarder. I had my fill of them to last me a life time.

 

[pheasantaddict]

I don't have a problem with the Iowa DNR. They seem to do a pretty good job with our game and fish. They don't contol private ground which amounts to about 99% of Iowa, very little public land here.