Pheasant season- week 2

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.

Iowa was supposed to have good birds this year, but they have always been scarce near the river- something about soil composition and nutrition.

Friend posted on facebook pictures of his F150 that took out 2 or 3 pheasants the other day

He did keep the birds 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Iowa was supposed to have good birds this year, but they have always been scarce near the river- something about soil composition and nutrition.

Friend posted on facebook pictures of his F150 that took out 2 or 3 pheasants the other day

He did keep the birds 🤣🤣🤣🤣

…so THAT’S where they all are!   🦆🛻

Iowa was supposed to have good birds this year, but they have always been scarce near the river- something about soil composition and nutrition.

Friend posted on facebook pictures of his F150 that took out 2 or 3 pheasants the other day

He did keep the birds 🤣🤣🤣🤣

That was how it was in Montana in the river bottoms. They didn't have a lot of trees, just lots of brush and grass along the creeks. It was nothing to have birds flush in front of you all the time from the side of the road and pheasants aren't exactly fast until they get going. Busted grills and windshields were way too common. A lot of trucks looked like they had been storm chasing with Reed Timmer and got caught in a hail storm with pheasant sized hailstones. There were a lot of trucks with brush guards retrofitted with chain link fencing to protect the grill from pheasants.

We also had the little Hungarian partridges but they weren't big enough to bust a windshield or grill. In the winter they would come down to the road and get gravel off the shoulder to grind their food and they usually flushed as a covey and always seemed to fly right down the road. I got more than a few limits of them with the truck.