By Steve Weisman

(photo by Hunter Wheatley) Wes Walz was definitely happy about bagging his first rooster!

What incredible weather for the pheasant opener! As a matter of fact, by mid-day on Sunday, it was almost too hot…more like short sleeve and shorts weather! From reports from my hunting buddies, they saw lots of birds. Some were able to get a quick limit on Saturday morning, while others worked several hours to get their birds.

In visiting with Greg Harson, Conservation Officer District 1 Supervisor here in northwest Iowa, he and his officers across the district noted that some groups limited out, but hunters they checked averaged 1 to 2 birds per hunter. “Hunters saw a lot of birds, and there are still a lot of birds out there. The cover was pretty dry, which made it tougher for the dogs.”

It really came down to this: where there was good upland habitat, plenty of birds were around.

Harson added that by Sunday, the weather was so nice that the birds, for the most part, were not in the cover. Instead, they were lounging along fence rows along the edges of harvested cornfields, on the edge of shelterbelts and even out in the middle of the harvested cornfields. There was simply no reason for the birds to be in the cover. As weather changes and the birds need the cover, Harson believes “the season will get nothing but better!”

A personal perspective

I visited with several of my hunting buddies, and it was a “mixed bag” of results. One group of two hunted a state parcel of land. They got there by 6:30 a.m., just to make sure they had their portion to hunt. By 7:30, birds were hopping around, running up on the gravel roads and then back into the cover. By 8:45, they had their two-man limit and could have shot several more.

A larger group, one of eight hunters, worked some private ground. They ended up with 24 roosters, an eight-man limit. Most hunters reported that it had been a long time since they had seen this many birds.

The good, the bad, the ugly

Yes, our group could be called the good, the bad and the ugly. We got down to our hunting area early Saturday morning, and there were birds hopping all over the place, flying in and out of the cover and up on the gravel roads. There was even a tree with 7-8 pheasants sitting in it to get out of the dew! Of course, they got nervous and flew into a private tract of CRP land.

So, we start our hunt and it went from good to bad. I mean we went 0 for 5. Five definitely shootable roosters flew off, along with others bursting out during the noise of shots.

At my age, I did more posting and blocking and got one 50-yard swing shot that I would call a true Hail Mary attempt!

Later, the boys did drop three and had several others get out wild. The good news was my daughter’s fiancé’s 15-year old son (Wes Walz) shot his first rooster! Definitely a big smile on his face. So, that made it worth it for this old guy!

Unfortunately, the yellow Lab began experiencing seizures, so that definitely ended our hunt abruptly. She was able to walk out on her own and was better by the time we headed home. Thankfully, she is fine, but with a history of seizures, she’ll probably be watched very carefully.

On Sunday, my son, Curt and his black Lab Avery took Wes and me out to try it again, but we decided to wait until mid-afternoon. Had to watch the first half of the Vikings, you know! Not a wise decision. Talk about hot!

The coolest part was when we just got to the area; a covey of partridge flew up from the gravel road and landed abut 100 yards away on a sidehill of Big Bluestem. Knowing they would stay put, we got out and walked toward the spot. Unfortunately, they got up about 60 yards away, and we never got a good shot.

An hour and a half later, the day was done, and so were the boys and Avery. Talk about hot.

The bad news? Only one rooster. The good news? Avery pointed it, and Wes dropped it! Another good thing: Avery and the boys got up 25 hens! Always love to see those hens!

The reason we struggled? It was waaaaay too nice out for the pheasants to be in the cover! We should have known better! An 8 a.m. start when the birds were coming off their roost would have been much better.

Oh well, it was still a great weekend watching a youngster get his first birds, and for me it doesn’t get any better than that!