# Iowa pheasant hunting!!!!



## Buster24 (Jan 9, 2020)

Wanted to post this earlier, but couldn’t find the time. Does anyone else travel to Iowa to hunt pheasant....it really isn’t that costly if you go in a small group and share the cost....we had another great time and saw numerous birds!!!


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## Redheads (Jun 9, 2008)

We try to go at least once a year sometimes twice. Some years better than others but always a great time.
Opening week is always fun and the weather usually fine. It's nice to hunt late-season after all the corn is down but the winds and cold can be brutal.
Losing my dog power and if I don't do something quick things will change in the next couple of years.
We are hunting central Iowa


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

My adult son & I went with a group in mid November to NW Iowa. Started out below zero with wind chills in the minus teens but by the last day it was sunny & 40. We took a larger group than normal, so we hunted more state land due to larger tracts & hunting was tough. Had a great time & saw quite a few birds but they were nervous & flushing early.
We'll be back next year and take our brittany & give him a crack at them. He finished the season strong back here, so hopeful for next year.


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## Buster24 (Jan 9, 2020)

T-180....we did most of our hunting in north central moving north....started around Grinnell!!!!


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

i did south dakota for quite a few years until the crew i went with kind of aged out of doing it... looking at getting it back since i was the coordinator. we had a private farm where we stayed and hunted wild birds.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

T-180 said:


> My adult son & I went with a group in mid November to NW Iowa. Started out below zero with wind chills in the minus teens but by the last day it was sunny & 40. We took a larger group than normal, so we hunted more state land due to larger tracts & hunting was tough. Had a great time & saw quite a few birds but they were nervous & flushing early.
> We'll be back next year and take our brittany & give him a crack at them. He finished the season strong back here, so hopeful for next year.


Near Spencer?


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

privateer said:


> i did south dakota for quite a few years until the crew i went with kind of aged out of doing it... looking at getting it back since i was the coordinator. we had a private farm where we stayed and hunted wild birds.


We do North Dakota. The guy who I own my camp with is from up there and his brothers still own the family farm. I haven't made it in quite a few years but need to get back into it myself.

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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Misdirection said:


> We do North Dakota. The guy who I own my camp with is from up there and his brothers still own the family farm. I haven't made it in quite a few years but need to get back into it myself.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk


lets put together a group for Fall 2020 to go somewhere...


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

privateer said:


> lets put together a group for Fall 2020 to go somewhere...


Need to check the calendar first. I bought a new inline to shoot a PA bear with in their early bear season. As long as they don't overlap, I'm in. My German Shorthair needs an out west hunt!

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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

i plan to put together a package south dakota trip like our group did in past. max would be 8-10 people. if i have open slots after accommodating my fishing charter clients and local friends - i will open to others on here too if there is interest.


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Misdirection said:


> Need to check the calendar first. I bought a new inline to shoot a PA bear with in their early bear season. As long as they don't overlap, I'm in. My German Shorthair needs an out west hunt!
> 
> Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk


i am assuming a pointer? these are BIG fields and very birdy. you can lose a pointer in one of these fields. typically folks have brought retrievers that take hand signals to find a downed bird. i did hunt out there once over two dogs with a couple of guys that showed up after my groups hunt days. the owner asked me and another of my group to go with them so that we could help out... the dog must wear locator beacons as there are many places where you can't see them if holding point. we hunted mostly small fields near the farm buildings as the half-mile long fields can't be hunted easily that way. in the big fields, the birds will just outrun the dog on the ground and will never hold up for a point. dog gets too close, they flush too far out front for a shot. you almost need to corner the birds out there. this is why the small scrub fields near the farm buildings worked out. they had patches of brush or weeds and equipment trails open between them. so the birds would hold in those patches for the flush.


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

privateer said:


> i am assuming a pointer? these are BIG fields and very birdy. you can lose a pointer in one of these fields. typically folks have brought retrievers that take hand signals to find a downed bird. i did hunt out there once over two dogs with a couple of guys that showed up after my groups hunt days. the owner asked me and another of my group to go with them so that we could help out... the dog must wear locator beacons as there are many places where you can't see them if holding point. we hunted mostly small fields near the farm buildings as the half-mile long fields can't be hunted easily that way. in the big fields, the birds will just outrun the dog on the ground and will never hold up for a point. dog gets too close, they flush too far out front for a shot. you almost need to corner the birds out there. this is why the small scrub fields near the farm buildings worked out. they had patches of brush or weeds and equipment trails open between them. so the birds would hold in those patches for the flush.


Yes, German Shorthair pointer. I've hunted fields in ND where we had 9 guys across and let the dog work sideways across us. That was with my old shorthair that took signals by me waving my hat! New dog is has some range to him, but is pretty quick. If a bird moves from point, he grabs them. Brought me two pheasant and a grouse so far. Might need to invest in a GPS collar locator if we head out, but I've been able to get him to break point by using the vibrate on his collar when I couldn't locate him.

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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

privateer said:


> i am assuming a pointer? these are BIG fields and very birdy. you can lose a pointer in one of these fields. typically folks have brought retrievers that take hand signals to find a downed bird. i did hunt out there once over two dogs with a couple of guys that showed up after my groups hunt days. the owner asked me and another of my group to go with them so that we could help out... the dog must wear locator beacons as there are many places where you can't see them if holding point. we hunted mostly small fields near the farm buildings as the half-mile long fields can't be hunted easily that way. in the big fields, the birds will just outrun the dog on the ground and will never hold up for a point. dog gets too close, they flush too far out front for a shot. you almost need to corner the birds out there. this is why the small scrub fields near the farm buildings worked out. they had patches of brush or weeds and equipment trails open between them. so the birds would hold in those patches for the flush.





Misdirection said:


> Yes, German Shorthair pointer. I've hunted fields in ND where we had 9 guys across and let the dog work sideways across us. That was with my old shorthair that took signals by me waving my hat! New dog is has some range to him, but is pretty quick. If a bird moves from point, he grabs them. Brought me two pheasant and a grouse so far. Might need to invest in a GPS collar locator if we head out, but I've been able to get him to break point by using the vibrate on his collar when I couldn't locate him.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk


Yeah, hunting that big country is a lot different than hunting around here! And truly wild birds behave a lot differently than do stockers. Well, unless the stockers can survive long enough to figure out what their legs are for! 

I've read any number of articles about bird hunting that have claimed that pheasant will "ruin" a pointing dog, since they simply will not hold for a point. I don't know that absolutely, since if a dog and bird are "eye to eye" neither will move! But, what if they're not?


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

We were up in ND coming up on a slew. About half the guys were locals, with what I would call a goose gun (long barrel). It was the first day and none had hunted over a pointer before. In any event, my GSP goes on point at the edge of the cattails. They swore up and down there wasn't a bird there. I told one of them to walk up to my dog and say "ok". He did, she did, and I watched about 5 guys all miss that bird. Laughed my butt off at them.

That and they kept getting mad at me for shooting "too quick". Said you need to "let em get out (with that northern accent) there a little bit".

Fun times...

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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Misdirection said:


> That and they kept getting mad at me for shooting "too quick". Said you need to "let em get out (with that northern accent) there a little bit".


first time i hunted over a dog, after the first bird - up and down... guide suggested that i may want to let them fly out a little if i planned on having anything to eat...

i do like to let then "fly a little" but when hunting in a large group in the big fields, if you watch, you will watch all day - as the other guys blast them in front of you. shoot fast and shoot often there!


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

privateer said:


> first time i hunted over a dog, after the first bird - up and down... guide suggested that i may want to let them fly out a little if i planned on having anything to eat...
> 
> i do like to let then "fly a little" but when hunting in a large group in the big fields, if you watch, you will watch all day - as the other guys blast them in front of you. shoot fast and shoot often there!


My friends dad from ND would always tell us, shoot the head, not the pheasant, to keep us from blowing them up.

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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Misdirection said:


> My friends dad from ND would always tell us, shoot the head, not the pheasant, to keep us from blowing them up.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk


was actually a quail. not too much to begin with... if i were to hunt quail over a dog again, i would go with 410 or at most the 28ga. anything above is just too much when over a dog for that small bird.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Snakecharmer ; In that general area. We stay at a Lutheran camp near Milford & hunt that area to north & west of there. When I went in 2015, we hit a few places near Spencer & hit plenty of birds. Love the hunting & the people out there !!


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

T-180 said:


> Snakecharmer ; In that general area. We stay at a Lutheran camp near Milford & hunt that area to north & west of there. When I went in 2015, we hit a few places near Spencer & hit plenty of birds. Love the hunting & the people out there !!


If you go back, check out the muscle car museum at Arnold's Park by Lake Okoboji.

Excellent Musky fishing too.
I lived in Spencer while working at the old Eaton Plant. ( It was new then)


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## $diesel$ (Aug 3, 2018)

This sounds so great, i wish my busted body could carry me, cuz i'd go in a heart beat. I really miss walking up pheasants and rabbits. I remember when i could do these things just walking out back. We didn't even use dogs back then, cuz no one could afford one.


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

$diesel$ said:


> This sounds so great, i wish my busted body could carry me, cuz i'd go in a heart beat. I really miss walking up pheasants and rabbits. I remember when i could do these things just walking out back. We didn't even use dogs back then, cuz no one could afford one.


if you do a big field hunt like in SD, there are blockers required on each drive. the blockers ride in a truck to location and can even sit on a chair or bucket until drivers get close. this type of hunt works for a wide range of folks mobility...


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

We wanted to go to the museum but just ran out of time. Maybe next time, but my son was ready to hunt all day.
My wife & I are discussing heading out there in the summer to do some fishing ....... and scouting for pheasant season !!


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

$diesel$ said:


> This sounds so great, i wish my busted body could carry me, cuz i'd go in a heart beat. I really miss walking up pheasants and rabbits. I remember when i could do these things just walking out back. We didn't even use dogs back then, cuz no one could afford one.


Privateer hit it on the head, go & block for the group. We hunt several places that we use blockers due to the field size. We hunted with two guys over 70, one 69, & one 63 that wasn't exactly the picture of fitness. It's a standing offer to sit out on a field & rest while the others run it.


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## $diesel$ (Aug 3, 2018)

privateer said:


> if you do a big field hunt like in SD, there are blockers required on each drive. the blockers ride in a truck to location and can even sit on a chair or bucket until drivers get close. this type of hunt works for a wide range of folks mobility...


I don't know that i could do that, privateer. I'm an old fashion type that will feel quilty as hell for not doing my part. Not trying to sound saintly, just being 100% honest.
We did a lot of driving, both pheasants and deer back in the day, and we ALL took turns blocking.
I guess if i could go with my son and his buddy's, all in their early 40's, i wouldn't feel nearly as bad cuz, i broke most of those boys in and they would be happy to let me sit on my butt.


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## Redheads (Jun 9, 2008)

$diesel$ said:


> I don't know that i could do that, privateer. I'm an old fashion type that will feel quilty as hell for not doing my part. Not trying to sound saintly, just being 100% honest.
> We did a lot of driving, both pheasants and deer back in the day, and we ALL took turns blocking.
> I guess if i could go with my son and his buddy's, all in their early 40's, i wouldn't feel nearly as bad cuz, i broke most of those boys in and they would be happy to let me sit on my butt.


Done properly the blockers are as important as the guys/doges working the field....Everyone benefits from a properly blocked field.............except the pheasants


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

The guy out in Iowa that "guides" us when we're out there sent a couple videos of him driving down a tiny road with a property we hunt. There were at least 50 birds in the field, ditch, & road ; even he was really excited about the prospects. Bird numbers are up & a dry early fall has the crops off. Should be a great year for those that can get out there.


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