In Iowa, you only have to be a little over 40 to remember the Good Old Days of pheasant hunting. Me, I've only heard the stories second-hand about the late 1960s and early 70s: how the gunfire on Opening Day sounded like someone popping popcorn all day long, how a limit of birds in an hour and a half was no trouble, any time of the season. These tales may well be true, but I have trouble believing hunters of 25 years ago really enjoyed any better pheasant hunting than Iowans have right now.

On the last day of the 1994-95 season, for instance, while hunting near Iowa City, my cousin and I deliberately spooked a flock of pheasants out of a bare, snowy cornfield into a small field of heavy weeds. We then walked down a drainage ditch leading to the field, pushing another 20 or so birds out ahead of us, where they joined the others in the thick stuff. Once in the heavy cover, none of the birds wanted to leave. We made three trips through the weeds, shooting three birds apiece over some nice work by Shaun's old shorthair Alex. The hunt lasted only an hour and a half, in a snowy field that clearly showed the footprints of hunters from the previous day!

Will the 1995-96 season see another year as good as the last? Chances are good that the answer will be yes. The Iowa DNR roadside surveys show numbers down slightly from last year, but all in all prospects are excellent for another great season.

Prospects for 1995-96

Todd Bogenschutz is the DNR's new upland biologist. He's been on the job since February of 1995, following a stint as upland biologist with the Indiana DNR.

"First of all, we had good carryover and a mild winter," Bogenschutz reports. Even though 80 percent of the birds we hunt in the fall are young-of-the-year, winter carryover of last year's young hens is important to good production: studies have shown that juvenile hens, nesting for the first time, are far more productive than older birds. Fully 74 percent of juvenile birds nest successfully, compared to only 48 percent of adults.

The second requirement for a good hatch is good weather in June. "Weather in June is critical, especially around the third week. If it's too wet the chicks will be chilled and we'll lose them." Iowa did indeed have a cold, wet spring, but pheasants are resilient birds, and many hens pulled off successful nestings in July and August after losing their early broods.

Where Will the Birds Be

Harvest figures for 1994 showed matched 1993's surprisingly high count of 1.2 million roosters bagged--the highest harvest total in the nation.

It's impossible to exaggerate the benefits of the 2.2 million acres of Conservation Reserve Program grasses to Iowa pheasants. In northern Iowa, heavy stands of tall, cool-season grasses like switchgrass and big bluestem protect birds from winter winds. Iowa DNR studies have shown that even fairly mild winter weather can hurt populations if all the available cover has been flattened by snow.

Southern Iowa receives less snow cover, but it contains many small blocks of grass surrounded by trees, which leaves birds concentrated and vulnerable to predation from the air and the ground both. The big blocks of knee-high grass create enough area to disperse nesting birds and improve their nesting success.

Since CRP grasses are the key to high pheasant numbers, Jim Knizler, the DNR biologist who tabulates the harvest data, suggests that hunters concentrate on areas with high CRP signups. "To find good hunting in eastern Iowa, imagine a wedge running east, with its point in Story county," says Kinzler, "In the north-central part of the state, it's too flat for much CRP, but as you go east you see more hills. More hills means more grass, and more pheasants."

Hunters in western Iowa, and in Greene County particularly, reported excellent hunting in 1994. The less wooded portions of southwest Iowa produced plenty of pheasants as well. Parts of north-central, northwest, and the western portion of northeast Iowa all reported excellent hunting, especially in areas of high CRP signup and in and around the numerous wetland areas of northern Iowa. By and large, 1995 should show good numbers of birds in these same regions.

South-central Iowa remains the only area of the state not living up to its pheasant potential, despite an abundance of CRP grasses. Ten years ago, southern Iowa, especially around Lake Rathbun and further west, was the place to hunt. Since then, the area has suffered through 48 months of record wet weather during the late 1980s and into 1991, and the birds have not yet fully recovered. Even so, Terry Riley, Bogenschutz's predecessor as DNR upland wildlife biologist, says the situation is improving. "Last year was a little better in southern Iowa," he says, "it takes a while to build populations back up, but the signs are good." Bad hunting in Iowa, Riley reminds us, is a relative term compared to other parts of the country. "I'd hate to call the hunting around Rathbun bad," he says, "Last year I took birds off the area right through the end of the season."

Hunting Pressure

While hunting where the most birds are, remember that bird numbers alone don't make a good hunt. Especially if you're limited to weekend hunting, you may have trouble gaining access to good hunting ground in the more popular areas and the hotspots near population centers.

Tim Thompson is the biologist in the Coralville Unit, which reported some of the best hunting in the state last year, but also some of the greatest pressure. "Public areas get hit hard every year, especially Hawkeye Wildlife Area between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids." Hawkeye is huge, at 13,000 acres, and in a dry year can hold good numbers of birds, but Thompson also notes steady hunting pressure throughout the season on the area.

Hunter numbers were up on private land as well. "The main thing I heard last year," he said, "was more hunters and people finding footprints and empty hulls everywhere they hunted. One hunter I talked to told me he went out to go hunting west of Iowa City one Saturday and stopped at eight different places. He couldn't get on any one of them, so he turned around and went home."

While the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area is becoming a large metro area by Iowa standards, some hunters reported similar difficulties near smaller towns like Fairfield, according to Thompson. Access to prime private ground is still possible, he says, but your chances are better if you get farther away from population centers, or even head for an area not necessarily known for high pheasant numbers.

Public Hunting

Although Iowa offers only about 200,000 acres of public hunting land--a fairly small amount compared to other states--much of it is managed specifically for pheasants. Moreover, according to former DNR upland biologist Terry Riley, the hunting on Iowa public lands is quite good.

"In Iowa," he says, "you have birds all over the state, and the hunting pressure is spread out. When I worked for the DNR I did all my hunting on public areas just to be able to say truthfully to people that you can find birds on public ground through the end of the season."

Areas away from major population centers especially offer good hunting throughout the year, although virtually every public area will be crowded on Opening Day. As the season wears on and crops come out and snows flatten lighter cover on adjacent private ground, public areas attract more and more birds, especially wetland areas like the ones common to intensively farmed north-central and northwest Iowa.

Hunting with a good dog is just about essential for public areas, which often contain large stands of dense cover. Another tip is to concentrate either on the very edges of public lands, where birds go back and forth from there to private areas. Do that, or look for the most remote, nastiest cover you can find, or hunt ankle-deep marshes and ragweed, anywhere where other pheasant hunters don't go. What follows is a region-by-region listing of public areas that may hold birds this fall.

Northeast

The hilly, timbered northeast corner of Iowa is more renowned for its deer, turkey, and grouse hunting than for pheasants. On the western edge of the northeast region, however, pheasant numbers are up from last year. Howard, Bremer, and Chickasaw counties look especially good. Hunters in northeast Iowa can find birds around the edges of lake and marsh areas, and in the marshes themselves after freeze-up.

Sweet Marsh in Bremer County covers 2,242 acres of mixed wetland and upland cover. Three lake areas in Hancock County merit some attention: 283-acre Crystal Lake at the edge of Crystal Lake, 919-acre Eagle Lake near Britt, and East Twin Lake, 493 acres of mixed lake/marsh, open timber, and prairie east of Kanawha.

Matsell Bridge sits astride the Jones and Linn county line, and offers 1,500 acres of upland cover mixed with timber. Also in Jones County is 366-acre Muskrat Slough, a part wetland, part prairie area near Olin.

North-Central

North-central Iowa contains some of the most intensively farmed land in the state and contains fewer CRP acres than southern Iowa. As with northeast Iowa, hunters will do well to hunt marshy areas, especially late in the season. Butler, Worth, Hancock, and Franklin counties all show good numbers of pheasants this year.

In Winnebago County, 1,831-acre Rice Lake, 483-acre Harmon Lake and Myre Slough, 430 acres near Thompson, all offer good pheasant habitat. In Worth County, 2,000-acre Elk Creek Marsh near Joice offers plenty of upland cover, as do smaller areas like Silver Lake Marsh (338 acres) and Bright's Lake (180 acres).

Kossuth County has several smaller lake/marsh areas, including 147-acre State Line Marsh and 265-acre Schwob Marsh near Bancroft. In Humboldt County, the Otteson Potholes area covers 106 acres of marsh and grass near Bradgate.

Central

Central Iowa shows a slight increase in birds from 1994, with northern Poweshiek County showing the highest pheasant numbers in the state. Boone and Marshall counties also look good.

Tama County's Otter Creek Marsh is a huge 3,285 marsh complex near Chelsea. Although the timber and upland around Saylorville Reservoir sees plenty of hunters from nearby Des Moines, it sprawls over 10,000 acres, so there's room to get away from the crowds. Hendrickson Marsh in nearby Story County is a good-sized area at 601 acres.

Northwest

Pheasant numbers are down overall in northwest Iowa, although hunters should still find good birds in Dickinson, Emmet, Clay, and Palo Alto counties as well as some of the state's best hunting for a mixed bag of pheasants and Hungarian partridges.

Southwest

Southwestern Iowa offers excellent pheasant numbers and fine mixed bag hunting for pheasants and quail and hunters should concentrate on less wooded public areas. In Fremont County, McPaul (166 acres), Scott (80 acres), and Percival (80 acres) Wildlife Areas, all right alongside I-29 should have good numbers of birds. In Adair County, check 320-acre Meadow Lake and 350-acre Adair County Wildlife Area. Adams County boasts 2,000-acre Lake Icaria north of Corning, a mixture of lake and upland cover.

West
Western Iowa looks very good again this year. Audobon, Greene, Guthrie, and Shelby Counties should offer excellent hunting. In Greene County, try 456-acre Goose Lake and 240-acre Snake Creek Marsh. Lakin Slough and McCord Pond are good areas in Guthrie County.

South-Central

Wet weather hurt pheasant populations in this hilly region of mixed bag pheasant and quail cover in the late 1980s and early '90s. Even so, Lake Rathbun, whose 15,000+ acres sprawl over parts of Wayne, Lucas, Appanoose, and Monroe counties is always worth hunting. Lake Red Rock in Marion County near Knoxville offers even more elbow room at 25,000 acres. Other areas in south-central Iowa include the 1,040-acre Ringgold Wildlife Area and the 1,158-acre Mt. Ayr Wildlife Area, both near Mt. Ayr in Ringgold County. Decatur County boasts three large wildlife areas: 1060-acre Dekalb Area near Van Wert, 1,835-acre Sand Creek Wildlife Area near Grand River, and 1,800-acre Little River just outside Leon. Mahaska County, home of some of the state's best pheasant hunting, offers 1,682 acres of public hunting at the Hawthorne Wildlife Area by Barnes City.

Southeast

The extreme southeast corner of Iowa is too wooded to sustain truly good pheasant populations, but Iowa, Johnson, Louisa, Washington, and Keokuk counties all have excellent pheasant hunting. Cone Marsh in Louisa County is a 701-acre marsh/upland area south of Lone Tree. In Iowa County, the Big Bend Area near Marengo covers some 300 acres of mixed riverbottom timber, marsh grasses, and manmade potholes.

The region's largest public hunting area, 13,000-acre Hawkeye Wildlife Area between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, contains pockets of excellent pheasant cover, although it receives plenty of pressure throughout the season.