Iowa pheasant opener

[SHANTY]

Crappiebuster- Me and my buddies have no probelm getting are limit, if we don't its are fault because we missed. I usually don't get down there until after thanksgiving. I have no probelm paying for the license and drive 1.5 hours down there.

Stay in your one state or go to SD. Don't waist your time here

[SHANTY]

2010 pheasanr count not good!

RING-NECKED PHEASANT

Statewide. This year the statewide index is 11.1 birds/route and sets a new all time low count for

Iowa, besting the previous low (13.9 birds/route) set following the severe winter of 2000 (Tables 2 & 3).

Counts declined significantly in 6 of the 9 survey regions, only the NE region reported a slight increase

in bird numbers (Table 2, Fig 6). This year’s index is 56% below Iowa’s 10-year average and 74% below

the historic average (Table 3). This decline was expected given the severity of Iowa’s past winter “1 Dec

09 through 28 Feb10 was the snowiest in state history dating back to the first year of accurate statewide

snowfall record keeping in 1887” .

This says it all. RIP IOWA pheasants. Thanks you state, government, and greety farmers

[JIvers]

I drive from Iowa City north to Minnesota a fair bit; the good news is that I can count on seeing a few pheasants north of Highway 20 and Jessup.

Last weekend, I saw about fifteen, in two groups of roosters and two groups of hens, between Fairbank and the Minnnesota border. All the pheasants I see, not coincidentally, are near decent-sized sloughs.

South of Highway 20 and Jessup, forget about it. I don't know the last time I saw a pheasant near Iowa City or Cedar Rapids.

[delmuts]

Eye Hunter! If you have a little extra time when passing thru fairbank, give me a call! I live in Sumner! 319-269-9943

[SHANTY]

How are the counts this year? More like a lack of a count.... To bad the land is ruined. RIP Iowa ringnecks

[SHANTY]

How many birds do you have now Pumpintheline? I bet everyone for 10 miles around your land is getting their limit

Speak for yourself CrappieBuster. I own 240 acres and lease another 90 with it In IOWA. When I bought the farm 8 years ago there were a few Ditch Chickens on the property along with some deer and turkeys. It had 140 acres tillable and the rest was timber. Today there is no tillable!! Only food plots, CRP, Pilot Wetlands, Filter strips, forest preserve and last but not least A lot of Pheasants, deer and turkeys. Some years they are down and some years they are up. But as I walked around the property a couple of weeks ago I have to say that I heard no more than a dozen differant roosters crowing. Last year when I had to do a burn on a 20 acre section of the farm no less than 70 pheasants flew out of the CRP. As the corn and beans come out and the weather gets colder they will bunch up and I will have a blast. Anybody want to join me?

[Esox_Magnum]

Nubers state wide are estimated at around 100,000 birds....so down 90% from a few years ago...

[Walleye Guy]

This is straight out of the Iowa DNR roadside count reports:

"Based on this year’s statewide index of 6.8 birds/route, Iowa pheasant hunters should harvest approximately 150,000-200,000 roosters this fall."

[JIvers]

I actually saw two roosters and four or five hens eating in a picked soybean field this morning next to some CRP--these are the first pheasants I have seen in Johnson County in years.

[blindluck]

I have seen 2 wild ring necks this year, one on a protected trail where I exercise the dogs and the other a few miles from a preserve I go to to actually see some pheasants and do some hunting. Probably was one I missed the week before. I saw one in Nebraska too. Pretty scarce out there.

[JIvers]

I thought there was a more recent pheasant thread here somewhere...

Anyhow, I've seen more pheasants around Iowa City this year than I've seen in the previous ten years combined. Just this last week I saw three young roosters in a combined bean field, and I saw several hens with clutches in the area this summer.

The long drought conditions going back to last winter have been bad for farmers, but they have helped the pheasants. Just imagine if they had a little more suitable habitat to go with favorable weather conditions.

[delmuts]

The report on the dnr HSOforum says the pop is above last year! Welll! I guess something is better than nothing!

[Mr.Seaguar]

I hope the birds continue making a resounding comeback. Back to the point its almost too easy to get a limit. Almost.