sep0667
Land of the Whitetail
Anyone have much luck this year now that the seasons about over? I usually make it out 2-4 times each year. Between couple ditches, one public place, and permission on some private.
Christmas eve I went out to the ditch that usually has some birds I walk every year. Its about a 3 mile walk one way. The ditch is pretty wide, maybe 30-40 yards from the road to the private fenceline and usually nice tall grass and spots with cattails. Well this year I pull up to see that the ditch had been mowed. I drove the whole length of it and it had all been mowed. Hopefully thats something thats only done every several years or so to keep brush down.
From there I went to the public that I've hunted on/off for probably 15 years. Nothing there, of course this late in the season its probably been so over hunted.
That leaves the private I've hunted for maybe 4-5 years now. Good friend of my dads. Its actually in three separate parcels, each 160 acre chunks. Theres definitly pheasants there. A couple years ago one day was like someting out of Natinonal Geographic, never seen anythign like it in my life. One of the parcels has 80 acres of crp and I I'd bet money I flushed 100+ birds that day. I could walk through the crp and hear there running in the grass ahead of me. It was incredible. Other than that one time I can usually go and get a shot at bird or two. Not sure what the deal was that one time, mind blowing! That peice is super thick and very tail. Very difficult to walk through and probalby about need to wear safety glasses walking through that grass.
Anyhow I made it out twice this year, killed one the first time and then New Years day I got two. Should of had a limit, but missed another one. I've never got the 3 limit in a day. According to strava I walked just shy of 5 miles yesterday afternoon. Sure is a lot of fun though when you can get a shot!
I switched to #4 shot this year to help with long shots as the birds usually are getting up further out. Use to do #5 and #6 shot. No doubt the #4 is what got me 2 of the 3 birds I got this season.
Couple of questions, maybe it was the recent snow, but the crp doesnt seem as strong as it did a couple years ago, lot of it was laid down. What do you think about that? Also, with that much crp surrounded mostly by ag, how come there just doesnt seem to be more birds? I see skips post about just a 40 acre peice that is loaded. One of these peices is 160 full crp. Another 160 160 is mostly crp, with about 40 acres of timber. The last is maybe 80 acres picked corn with the rest in crp. With so much crp I just feel like I should see more birds. Its normal to flush maybe a half dozen or so birds, sometimes more sometimes less. Usually they are getting up to far ahead for a shot.
With the snow yesterday there was spots where I saw a good amount of fresh tracks, but didnt flush anything. I usually just walk by myself solo, occasionally my dad will go as well. I dont use a dog, so yesterday was just me walking solo. Maybe just one person walking solo just doesnt work very well? Does having a dog really help that much and maybe the birds are just staying hunkered down and I'm walking by them? Other people hunt it too, so maybe this late in the season the birds have moved off? Does having a couple actual bird dogs help that much? I see the iowa upland facebook page and sometimes on here people shoot a ton of birds, like everyone in the group gets a limit, 10 guys and theres 30 roosters. Not sure, it seems to me like great pheasant habitat and plenty of it, but the numbers for what it is seem low. Maybe I am to late in the season and the roosters have just largely been shot off, but shouldn't I still see lots of hens?
Couple pics from this season:
anyone know what this stuff is?
Landowner planted it for the birds.
Christmas eve I went out to the ditch that usually has some birds I walk every year. Its about a 3 mile walk one way. The ditch is pretty wide, maybe 30-40 yards from the road to the private fenceline and usually nice tall grass and spots with cattails. Well this year I pull up to see that the ditch had been mowed. I drove the whole length of it and it had all been mowed. Hopefully thats something thats only done every several years or so to keep brush down.
From there I went to the public that I've hunted on/off for probably 15 years. Nothing there, of course this late in the season its probably been so over hunted.
That leaves the private I've hunted for maybe 4-5 years now. Good friend of my dads. Its actually in three separate parcels, each 160 acre chunks. Theres definitly pheasants there. A couple years ago one day was like someting out of Natinonal Geographic, never seen anythign like it in my life. One of the parcels has 80 acres of crp and I I'd bet money I flushed 100+ birds that day. I could walk through the crp and hear there running in the grass ahead of me. It was incredible. Other than that one time I can usually go and get a shot at bird or two. Not sure what the deal was that one time, mind blowing! That peice is super thick and very tail. Very difficult to walk through and probalby about need to wear safety glasses walking through that grass.
Anyhow I made it out twice this year, killed one the first time and then New Years day I got two. Should of had a limit, but missed another one. I've never got the 3 limit in a day. According to strava I walked just shy of 5 miles yesterday afternoon. Sure is a lot of fun though when you can get a shot!
I switched to #4 shot this year to help with long shots as the birds usually are getting up further out. Use to do #5 and #6 shot. No doubt the #4 is what got me 2 of the 3 birds I got this season.
Couple of questions, maybe it was the recent snow, but the crp doesnt seem as strong as it did a couple years ago, lot of it was laid down. What do you think about that? Also, with that much crp surrounded mostly by ag, how come there just doesnt seem to be more birds? I see skips post about just a 40 acre peice that is loaded. One of these peices is 160 full crp. Another 160 160 is mostly crp, with about 40 acres of timber. The last is maybe 80 acres picked corn with the rest in crp. With so much crp I just feel like I should see more birds. Its normal to flush maybe a half dozen or so birds, sometimes more sometimes less. Usually they are getting up to far ahead for a shot.
With the snow yesterday there was spots where I saw a good amount of fresh tracks, but didnt flush anything. I usually just walk by myself solo, occasionally my dad will go as well. I dont use a dog, so yesterday was just me walking solo. Maybe just one person walking solo just doesnt work very well? Does having a dog really help that much and maybe the birds are just staying hunkered down and I'm walking by them? Other people hunt it too, so maybe this late in the season the birds have moved off? Does having a couple actual bird dogs help that much? I see the iowa upland facebook page and sometimes on here people shoot a ton of birds, like everyone in the group gets a limit, 10 guys and theres 30 roosters. Not sure, it seems to me like great pheasant habitat and plenty of it, but the numbers for what it is seem low. Maybe I am to late in the season and the roosters have just largely been shot off, but shouldn't I still see lots of hens?
Couple pics from this season:
anyone know what this stuff is? Landowner planted it for the birds.
