“If hunter numbers continue their upward trend, we could see the harvest be closer to 2008’s when we had about 86,000 pheasant hunters harvest 400,000 roosters,” he said. “In 2008, we had 17 birds per route, so we’re three birds higher average this year. If we could put the hunters in the field, we could see a bump in the harvest. The population is there to support that.”
One piece of advice he said, is that hunters in west central, central and parts of southwest Iowa impacted by the drought should 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 100% of fields.
Iowa Pheasant Season
Iowa’s pheasant season is Oct. 31 to Jan. 10, 2021, 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% 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.
