Pheasants!

[Kyle]

We go pheasant hunting to Iowa the weekend after Thanksgiving every year and some are good and some not so good, but this year was both all in one. We leave late Wednesday night and begin our hunt thursday morning. We walk a couple draws throught the day and wind up with 2 birds, could have had a couple of more, but you know how that goes. Friday has to be the best day I personally have ever had pheasant hunting. I killed 5 roosters (as far as I have read out of the Iowa DNR handbook party hunting is allowed). Had some really great dog work and good points as well as some good shooting. It is truly a day I will never forget. We hunted one spot that is an old pond that now has grown up trees and grasses and must have flushed 75-100 birds out and probably 30-40 of those were roosters. I have never seen so many birds in one place in my life. Saturday got very cold and windy so we did not hunt that hard. We did manage to get 3, one of which had a 23 inch tail feather. The longest I have ever seen. Over all it was a great trip and I am already looking forward to next year.

K

[brittsnbirds]

Kyle-

Great story, it brings one I had once to mind. Will PM you with the details.

Pat

[Quillback]

Just curious, were you on public land? I don't expect you to tell me exactly where, but just curious if the public land in Iowa is worth hunting.

[Kyle]

No Quillback, not on public land. In the past we have hit a few public spots especially when there is a lot of snow on the ground because they usually contain thicker cover than many surrounding areas. Be sure to check though because many of the public ground up there is steel only. Birds can also be found in many road ditches, as they are open to public hunting in Iowa and with a gravel road every mile it make for a lot of ditches.

Pat, great story. That many birds will put anyone in awe.

Kyle

[brittsnbirds]

Not near as much public land as there is in Kansas. But in Iowa you can road hunt. Some of the best ditches that I have hunted have been from the road. I have hunted public up around Spirit Lake, they do require steel or non-toxic. That was the only time I have been checked by DNR. If you do have to use steel be sure to go down in shot size by 2 at least. If you are shooting number 6 lead use number 4 steel. Steel just doesn't have the knockdown as lead plus I can't use my "special" loads.

Pat

[brittsnbirds]

Not near as much public land as there is in Kansas. But in Iowa you can road hunt. Some of the best ditches that I have hunted have been from the road. I have hunted public up around Spirit Lake, they do require steel or non-toxic. That was the only time I have been checked by DNR. If you do have to use steel be sure to go down in shot size by 2 at least. If you are shooting number 6 lead use number 4 steel. Steel just doesn't have the knockdown as lead plus I can't use my "special" loads.

Pat

[Quillback]

I have been doing a little on line research and I noticed Kansas and Nebraska both seem to have quite a bit of public land available. Once I get back into bird hunting I'll check them out.

[brittsnbirds]

Quillback-

I don't know about Nebraska but Kansas actually publishes a booklet with all of their county's listing the walk in property's. It is in a map format. They also offer GPS coordinates of all the property's. You can also go on line and get them in a .pdf file.

Sorry for the double post.

Pat