The first pheasant seasons opens Saturday and the DNR’s Mick Klemesrud says the surveys show you should be able to find birds.
“We do have good bird numbers. second highest count we’ve had since 2015, which is great. Only beat by last year, which was the highest in 20 years,” Klemesrud says. He says opening day could get off to a slow start with rain in the forecast.
“It’s tough to hunt in the rain. You know, you don’t get the same type of reaction from the birds,” he says. “Sometimes they’ll just run underneath the grasses. They’ll sit tight and hold tight, but it’s, yeah, it’s just kind of doesn’t make it as fun as everybody is hoping for.”
Klemesrud says wet weather has caused the harvest to be slower than normal, which would give the birds more places to hide. “But on the flip side of that, it should extend our good hunting into November. So as the weather becomes more seasonal and the crops come out, we’re going to see more birds harvested,” Klemesrud says.
Klemesrud says the good bird numbers ensure there will be birds in some of the areas that had been down in numbers. “Our pheasant belt is traditionally our north-central, northwest, west-central areas. But we still have good numbers in the central part of the state and even in southeast Iowa,” he says. “So wherever you find really good pheasant habitat, you’re going to be able to find birds regardless of where you are. You may not have as many in southwest as you do in northwest, obviously, but there’s still going to be pockets of birds.”
Pheasant season opens at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and it runs through January 10th. Find out more about pheasant hunting regulations and licenses at IowaDNR.gov.
