Success during the 2023 pheasant season has Iowa hunters eagerly awaiting this year’s opening day and with bird population estimates similar to two years ago, hunters are expecting another great fall afield.
Pheasant hunting has been an Iowa tradition spanning generations. This year, it starts with the resident youth-only pheasant season Oct. 19-20 that is only open to Iowa youths aged 15 and younger. Iowa’s regular pheasant season is Oct. 26-Jan. 10, 2025.
Friends and family would gather late each fall to reminisce about hunts from years gone by, while planning the next outing. For decades, Iowa was a pheasant hunting destination and the 2024 season marks the end of the first century of pheasant hunting in the Hawkeye State.
The Iowa DNR and Pheasants Forever are partnering to celebrate Iowa’s 100-year tradition of pheasant hunting beginning this fall, and running through October 2025.
History, news stories, population surveys, places to hunt, classes and events, links to other resources and more is all available on a new webpage at https://info.gooutdoorsiowa.com/100-year-pheasant-anniversary/ marking the 100-year anniversary. The page will be updated throughout the year.
2024 pheasant season expected to be similar to 2022
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ annual August roadside survey found the statewide pheasant population to be 19 birds per 30-mile route, down from 23 birds per route last year. The decline was likely due to a wetter than normal spring that coincided with the nesting season. Based on the results, hunters can expect a harvest between 350,000 and 400,000 roosters.
This year’s excitement comes on the heels of a successful 2023 season that had a jump in harvest to 590,000 roosters, the most since 2007, thanks to roughly 20,000 additional pheasant hunters returning to the field.
“We’ve had a population that could support this level of harvest, but until last year we didn’t have the hunter numbers,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
An estimated 83,600 pheasant hunters participated in 2023, and many of those came from out of state. Iowa has been attracting pheasant hunters from Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska and from as far away as Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama.
These hunters can expect to find higher populations in west central and northwest regions, followed by central and north central Iowa, Bogenschutz said. “Look for cover, cover will hold birds, regardless of location,” he said.
The return of drought conditions across much of the state since August has allowed the corn and soybean harvest to occur without pause. As of Oct. 6, the corn harvest is about 22 percent complete which is about average and the soybean harvest is 58 percent complete, which is ahead of schedule.
As the harvest progresses and the birds become more visible, Bogenschutz begins to get more phone calls from hunters looking for insights.
“What I’ve been telling them is, that we could see most of the crops out of the fields by opening day, and if that’s the case, we could see another really good opening weekend, similar to last year. If hunters want less competition, they should consider going during the week, but the first few weekends it will be pretty busy out there,” he said.
Roughly one-third of the pheasant harvest occurs within the first nine days of the season. Iowa’s pheasant hunters season opens statewide on Oct. 26.
Places to go hunting
Iowa hunters have been using the interactive Iowa hunting atlas to find new places to go hunting. The hunting atlas features more than 680,000 acres of public hunting land that is owned by the state, county or federal governments. It’s available online at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting.
This tool allows hunters to see which zone the public area is in, type of shot allowed, wildlife likely to be found and get an overhead look at the terrain. The mobile version of the atlas will show hunter location on the area if granted permission.
The atlas view from above allows hunters to zoom in on an area, see how to get there, the lay of the land and where one parcel of public hunting land is in relation to others and print off maps.
Information is updated as public hunting lands are acquired.
The hunting atlas also includes 33,000 acres of private land enrolled in the Iowa Habitat and Access Program (IHAP) where private landowners receive assistance to improve habitat on their land in exchange for opening the property for hunter access.
Site maps are available at www.iowadnr.gov/ihap showing boundaries and which species would be most likely attracted to the habitat. Walk-in public hunting through IHAP is available between September 1 and May 31.