The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hoping the remaining pheasant season is as safe as the first two weekends. D-N-R safety officer Rod Slings says the large number of pheasant hunters in the early weeks of the season make early hunting the most dangerous — but there haven’t been any wayward shots this year. He says this has been an “amazing” season opener. He says there’s a lot of standing corn in the fields which may be impacting hunting, but he says the new law requiring hunters to wear blaze orange colored clothing is having an impact. Slings says they haven’t even had any problems with hunters adjusting to the new orange rule. He says so far the compliance with the law has been very good and they’ve had no reports of problems. Slings says cool, windy weather may’ve kept down the number of hunters in the fields the first weekend, but that wasn’t the case on the second weekend. He says this past Saturday was an ideal pheasant hunting day. Slings says hunters shouldn’t relax just because things have been safe in the first few weeks. He says hunters who haven’t bagged a bird have plenty of time and shouldn’t feel rushed and get careless.He says they look at the things that lead to accidents and he says it sometimes has to do with peer pressure. Slings says you should remember that you’re hunting with your family and friends. Last year there were fifteen accidents involving pheasant hunters throughout the entire season.
