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Pheasant hunting

JVAR

JVAR

Well-Known Member
Mar 27, 2006
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742
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Eagle Grove, IA
With pheasant season approaching, I had to start a thread. Who is going out this weekend? I am going to hunt in North Central Iowa. A lot of farmers I have talked to report they are scarce, with one saying he didn't even see a pheasant when harvesting corn this year. His place is usually good for 10 to 15 roosters a year. I have talked to a few that have seen a decent number. I am hoping there are some decent areas that have a few birds, but the DNR report of a 40% drop from last year has tempered my enthusiasm a little. I have a German Longhaired Pointer and I think they dryness will make scenting conditions difficult after the morning dew is gone. I still look forward to opening day, however. What do you guys think???
 
A good amount of corn should be out, but with low numbers it is going to be tough no matter what.
If you know of/find a place with birds, good luck (and don't tell anyone).
The way their habitat has dwindled, only way to have good hunts may be to go to the Dakotas. Sad.
 
south dakotas numbers are supposedly way down also. i'll be sitting in a tree rather than hunting for a mythical rooster this year.
 
Go to South Dakota or another state the cares about pheasants and hunting dollars associated.

Iowa has quit caring long ago and the numbers show it.
 
My pheasant hunting excitement has dwindled the last few years, and I hunt back home with my dad in a decent area of Iowa to hunt and still not excited. (because of the lack of birds)

Thank God for ducks and geese!
 
JVAR said:
With pheasant season approaching, I had to start a thread. Who is going out this weekend? I am going to hunt in North Central Iowa. A lot of farmers I have talked to report they are scarce, with one saying he didn't even see a pheasant when harvesting corn this year. His place is usually good for 10 to 15 roosters a year. I have talked to a few that have seen a decent number. I am hoping there are some decent areas that have a few birds, but the DNR report of a 40% drop from last year has tempered my enthusiasm a little. I have a German Longhaired Pointer and I think they dryness will make scenting conditions difficult after the morning dew is gone. I still look forward to opening day, however. What do you guys think???
Click to expand...

I drove backroads from Central Wisconsin, through Iowa to SW Iowa then into South West Minnesota. The only place I saw Ring-necks was around the Windom Minnesota area and south and west of there. Large areas of DNR land seems to be the reason.
 
There used to be some really great hunting around Coon Rapids. The Garst Seed Company family had a lot of land around there and tried to develop it for pheasant habitat. A buddy of mine was from CR and we had some great days around there. My retriever would be worn out by the end of the day. Any word of birds around there?
 
I had a peasant, sorry, I mean pheasant, almost hit my windshield near Hartley on Sunday.
 
dtISU said:
There used to be some really great hunting around Coon Rapids. The Garst Seed Company family had a lot of land around there and tried to develop it for pheasant habitat. A buddy of mine was from CR and we had some great days around there. My retriever would be worn out by the end of the day. Any word of birds around there?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the land you are thinking of has been put into a trust by the Garst's and is now the White Rock Conservancy.

They allow hunting, but you have to make reservations and use their guide service.

Whiterock Conservancy - Whiterock Conservancy Home
 
RayShimley said:
I'm pretty sure the land you are thinking of has been put into a trust by the Garst's and is now the White Rock Conservancy.

They allow hunting, but you have to make reservations and use their guide service.

Whiterock Conservancy - Whiterock Conservancy Home
Click to expand...

I guess that's the way a lot of the good ground is going these days. Back then we could just go up to the owner's house, knock on the door and ask if we could hunt their ground. Lots of times we would leave a couple of cleaned birds for the owner to say thanks if he let us.
 
So far this year I've been over 2000 acres and seen 3 birds. I've seen more bald eagles than roosters. Most want to blame it on farmers and habitat destruction which is mind blowing. Other years we say weather, can't do that this year. What's left? Predators in my opinion are the problem. I coyote hunt and there are more yotes than I've ever seen,but the real problem is hawks. At any given time, I can look out and see 15-20 hawks. I think about the time they banned hawk hunting is when our population began its decline. I also support a season ban for 3 years and see what happens. As hunters we should also be conservationists and I don't see how saying "whelp no birds this year but let's go shoot what's left" is going to help. We will be enforcing no hunting on all our land this year
 
I think its the "perfect storm of everything you just mentioned. 3 years of bad wether, loss of habitat, and increased predators.

Not sure if not hunting will make much difference as DNR claims you can harvest 70 % of roosters and have no effect on numbers. Last year I heard the South Dakota DNR (or whatever they are) was begging guys to shoot more roosters at the end of the season because they did not want them competeing with the hens for food and habitat.
 
intrepid27 said:
I think its the "perfect storm of everything you just mentioned. 3 years of bad wether, loss of habitat, and increased predators.

Not sure if not hunting will make much difference as DNR claims you can harvest 70 % of roosters and have no effect on numbers. Last year I heard the South Dakota DNR (or whatever they are) was begging guys to shoot more roosters at the end of the season because they did not want them competeing with the hens for food and habitat.
Click to expand...

Another big factor is the hatch each spring. Yep, you want to have as many previous year hens around as you can.
 
intrepid27 said:
I think its the "perfect storm of everything you just mentioned. 3 years of bad wether, loss of habitat, and increased predators.

Not sure if not hunting will make much difference as DNR claims you can harvest 70 % of roosters and have no effect on numbers. Last year I heard the South Dakota DNR (or whatever they are) was begging guys to shoot more roosters at the end of the season because they did not want them competeing with the hens for food and habitat.
Click to expand...

I never thought about the competition thing, but I really don't buy that there isn't habitat and food for all the birds. I just don't see it as a problem. I think birds are just stupid and don't know where they should live. I go to spots where birds surely should be and nothing. We need a habitat awareness program to let them know about available housing.
 
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