KDSN RADIO News
Survey shows Iowa pheasant numbers up as 100th season approaches
This year marks the 100th Iowa pheasant hunting season, and it could turn out to be one of the best for hunters in decades.
DNR Wildlife Biologist Todd Bogenschutz says their annual roadside survey found pheasant numbers at a 20-year high, despite a drop in newly hatched chicks. “I mean, they weren’t big decreases around the ten percent mark But adult survival from this past winter must have been very good because we saw, you know, increases in the number of adults on the route, like 50% higher than a year ago,” he says.
Bogenschutz says the increase in adult birds led to more nesting birds, which offset the loss of new chicks. “We had a ton of hens out there nesting, and so a lot more nests. We counted like 300 more broods this year than we have in the last five, six years,” Bogenschutz says. “So yeah, just way more hands out there plopping nests on the ground.” Bogenschutz says a milder winter let more of the adult birds survive.
The number of birds taken this year could surpass 2023, which was one of the best seasons in 20 years. “We were just shy of 600,000 roosters that year. On our roadside counts that year were 22 birds a rout statewide, so this year we’re at 28. You know, if we can shoot 600,000 at 21-22 birds a rout, and this year at 28, we should be able to match that and surpass what we had in 2023,” Bogenschutz says. He says the harvest could hit 750,000.
Bogenschutz says the weather could be one factor that keeps hunters from reaching that mark. “You know what happens with the crop harvest? You know, if we get a bunch of rain here and they can’t get crops out. You know, we get a lot of standing crops on opener that might slow down our harvest,” he says. “I think the other thing would be just sheer number of hunters. You know 2023 we had over 80,000 hunters this past year with counts being a little lower, we dropped down to about 77,000. So, but you know I’m thinking our hunters numbers will go up.”
Bogenschutz says hunter numbers here can be influenced by the availability of birds in other states. I think it partly depends on what happens in the Dakotas and Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, the other big pheasant states. You know, if they show Good, good results like us, you know, that might dissipate some of the hunting pressure,” Bogenshutz says. He says he’d be surprised if pheasant numbers were down in those states, based on the mild winter across the Midwest.
The Iowa pheasant season opens October 25th.
