Welcome to pheasant hunting Guide
Safety Hunter Hunting Quail Pheasant Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
You may also listen to this article by using the following controls.
The Iowa Pheasant Hunting Experience
from:The ring-necked pheasant, native to Asia, was introduced to Iowa about 1900 after being successfully introduced to the North American continent in 1881. Their introduction to Iowa was the result of a storm that destroyed the pens of breeder William Benton of Cedar Falls, freeing about 2,000 pheasants into the wild. In 1910 the Department of Natural Resources began stocking the birds and today the ring-neck pheasant has become the premier game bird of Iowa. The combination of Iowa’s grasslands and croplands makes the state one of the top pheasant harvesting areas in the country. Many retailers refer to Iowa as the pheasant hunting capitol of the nation, making Iowa pheasant hunting an important part of the state’s economy
For any hunter wanting an Iowa pheasant hunting experience, the state offers classic pheasant habitat featuring cornfields with wide, grassy draws, large tracts of Conservation Reserve Program grassland, and thorny brush--excellent for shielding the birds from predators. The future success of Iowa pheasant hunting depends on maintaining the pheasant habitat, which currently varies from generally improved on public lands to frequently ideal on CRP acres. A lack of uniformity characterizes conditions on private land, where farmers remove habitat and acres to enlarge fields thereby diminishing its value as habitat for pheasants and decreasing their numbers.
The north-central area of the state has, over the years, offered the best Iowa pheasant hunting opportunities, thanks in part to the actions of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources both on public and private land. However, efforts on public lands, including planting of native grasses, wildflowers and grain crops, have been offset by farming practices on private land. New farming techniques as well as structural development, residential and commercial, have eliminated more acres than have been replaced by the IDNR--thereby affecting future Iowa pheasant hunting prospects.
Information important to the hunter interested in Iowa pheasant hunting can be found from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which undertakes a yearly, roadside survey the first two weeks of August, when an attempt is made to assess the pheasant population. On cool, sunny mornings with heavy dew, hen pheasants bring their chicks to the roadside to dry off before they begin feeding. While the pheasants are on the roads conservation officers and biologists have an opportunity to count the number of broods and their size as they travel 6,300 miles of gravel roads. Other species of wildlife are counted as well as pheasants and the information is used to produce Iowa’s small game distribution map. Although helpful in estimating pheasant numbers, the August survey numbers don’t always reflect the number of pheasants hunters report finding. Discrepancies could be due to the timing of the survey and the timing of the spring hatch, and lower populations reported in August don’t always translate into lower harvests during hunting season.
Safety Hunter Hunting Quail Pheasant Specific links
Safety Hunter Hunting Quail Pheasant News
Time to get new hunting and fishing licenses (Dayton News)
Well it’s that time of the year again when your current hunting and fishing license have only a few weeks before they expire, August 31, to be exact. The new hunting and fishing license will go on sale on August 15th. Now remember that just because you go out and buy a new license, that license will not be good until Sept 1st. Of course now, when you purchase a fishing license, that license is ...
Read more...Outdoors calendar -- Published Aug. 27, 2008 (The Record)
Dove season - Opening day of dove hunting season. Part 1 of the season extends through Sept. 15; Part 2 runs Nov. 8 to Dec. 22. Shooting hours: One-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Limit: 10 per day. Information: (209) 957-4867.
Read more...LMNRA preparing for hunter’s open house (Borger News-Herald)
By Brooke Huff Reporter Lake Meredith National Recreation Area and the National Park Service is gearing up for hunting season. On Thursday, August 21, LMNRA will hold a hunter’s open house to allow area hunters the chance to ask questions in preparation for the upcoming hunting season.
Read more...Outdoors calendar -- Published Aug. 13, 2008 (The Record)
Fly fishing for browns - Herman Spalinger presents a program on fly fishing the Owyhee River in southeast Oregon for big brown trout at 7 p.m. at the Oak Grove Regional Park Nature Center, corner of Interstate 5 and Eight Mile Road. Free admission.
Read more...ODFW Commission meets Aug. 8 in Salem (Lebanon Express)
The Fish and Wildlife Commission will meet Aug. 8 in Salem to set regulations for the 2008-09 game bird hunting seasons, preview the 2009-12 sport fishing regulations and adopt Oregon's first Black-tailed Deer Management Plan.
Read more...