Nice walk this morning. Didn’t get a bird. Didn’t fire a shot. The kids had… opportunities, but didn’t capitalize. Still a nice morning- and now I don’t have to clean pheasant 🤪
It is slow here as well. Last 2 weeks of October were pretty wet so there are still crops in the fields. I do a fair bit of driving around in the country and I haven't even seen a stitch of blaze orange. 25 years ago when I first came here you would actually see a pheasant here and there throughout the year. I can't remember the last time I saw one hanging out along the road with the exception of the sections around the big pheasant hunting preserve. When I first got here there were still shelterbelts and fencerows and they just don't exist anymore. There are waterways in some of the fields but a lot of the farmers burn them either in the fall after crops are harvested or in the spring before they plant to keep them from getting brushy. It just robs the nesting cover when the birds need it.
Iowa was supposed to have good birds this year, but they have always been scarce near the river- something about soil composition and nutrition.