With the annual fall crop harvest running ahead of schedule, Iowa’s 2021 pheasant season is expected to be another good one when 55,000-plus blaze orange clad hunters take to the fields on Oct. 30.
And based on the results of the August pheasant survey, hunters can afford to be optimistic.
The annual August roadside survey found Iowa’s statewide pheasant population to be essentially unchanged from 2020 at 20 birds per 30-mile route. Within the survey, three of the nine regions — northwest, north-central, west central — averaged 30 birds or more per route, which is the first time that has occurred since 2007, and the central region saw a 25 percent increase. The northeast and east central regions were about at their 10-year survey averages.
“Our pheasant population is about the same as last year, which was another good year — we’ve had four or five good years in a row now — and based on our bird counts I expect our pheasant harvest to be around 300,000, but our population would easily support a harvest of half a million. Our final harvest will hinge upon hunter turnout,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The advanced crop harvest and continued good news on the bird numbers has the attention from pheasant hunters beyond the state’s border. Bogenschutz, along with other Iowa DNR wildlife staff, has been getting calls from nonresident hunters interested in hunting Iowa.
One piece of advice, he said, is that hunters in western and northern Iowa impacted by the drought should pre-scout the CRP fields they plan to hunt because the habitat could be gone. An emergency declaration from the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened CRP fields in the drought-stricken area to haying up to 100 percent of the fields.
Iowa pheasant season
Iowa’s pheasant season is Oct. 30 to Jan. 10, 2022, shooting hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The daily bag limit is three rooster pheasants with a possession limit of 12. Hunters must have a valid hunting license and habitat fee.
Hunters are required to wear at least one article of external clothing with at least 50 percent of its surface area solid blaze orange: hat, cap, vest, coat, jacket, sweatshirt, shirt or coveralls. The same blaze orange rule applies while hunting quail, gray partridge and ruffed grouse.
If hunting on public land that requires nontoxic shot, hunters are encouraged to plan ahead to pick up shells. While the supply isn’t as tight as it was for dove loads, it still isn’t great.
Iowa youth special
pheasant season Oct. 23-24
Iowa’s young hunters will get to experience the first cackle and flush of the year during the youth only pheasant season Oct. 23-24, and the 2021 season should be good.
The residents-only youth season gives Iowans age 15 and younger the opportunity to hunt for rooster pheasants without purchasing a license, habitat fee or taking hunter education. Youths must hunt under direct supervision of an adult age 18 or older that has a valid hunting license and habitat fee.
Special youth only seasons allows young hunters an opportunity for success without pressure or competition from other hunters. Only the youth are allowed shoot pheasants and they may bag one rooster per day.