• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Outdoors / Pheasant season opens Saturday with plenty of cover for birds

Pheasant season opens Saturday with plenty of cover for birds

October 30, 2009 By Matt Kelley

Pheasant rooster along a fence.

Pheasant rooster along a fence.

Iowa’s pheasant hunting season opens this weekend with predictions that hunters will have a hard time spotting birds. Todd Bogenschutz with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says preseason counts of pheasants are behind last year’s near record low figures.

Hunters could face additional difficulties this weekend because birds have so much cover.

“It’s going to be challenge this opener with the amount of crops we have standing,” Bogenschutz said. Monday’s crop report showed only 12% of the corn and 47% of the soybeans in the state had been harvested.

Steady rains have kept farmers from getting their combines into the field. The decline in Iowa’s pheasant population is blamed in part on two consecutive harsh winters and the record flooding of 2008.

Bogenschutz says there were still around 86,000 hunters combing Iowa farm fields last year. “We’ll probably see a similar number of hunters this year,” Bogenschutz said. Depending on the location of the field, some hunters will likely have better luck than others this weekend.

Young rooster pheasant.

Young rooster pheasant.

Bogenschutz say pheasant counts are down in the northern third of Iowa, but up a bit in the lower two-thirds of the state. Another factor in Iowa’s declining pheasant population is a loss of habitat. According to the D.N.R., in 1990, Iowa had 8,500 square miles of suitable pheasant habitat. That shrunk to 5,800 square miles within 15 years. Bogenschutz says a legislative task force is looking at various strategies to improve upland game numbers. The group’s recommendations will be delivered to lawmakers in January.

Photos by Lowell Washburn, D.N.R.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Outdoors, Recreation / Entertainment Tagged With: Department of Natural Resources, Hunting & Fishing

Featured Stories

ISU research finds health benefits for chickens watching virtual reality

Fish kill at Storm Lake linked to virus that impacts only carp

Final employee who was there at the launch of the Iowa Lottery to retire

No more USPS mail in Iowa prisons; inmates to get copies of mail

State officials warn of influx of fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Grinnell College football looks for more progress in rebuild

Iowa State’s Brock eyes expanded role

Iowa’s Jones adjusting to move to center

Iowa unranked to open the season

UNI’s Spencer Cuvelier bounces back from injury

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC