Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Pheasant hunters in Iowa shot around 20-thousand fewer birds last hunting season compared to the year before.
Iowa D-N-R wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz says the drop follows lower counts in the roadside surveys.
He says the drought meant there was less dew when the roadside counts were done and that led to less birds out in the morning — which impacted the overall count. Bogenschutz says the numbers have held pretty steady in recent years.
The next pheasant number survey takes place in August and Bogenschutz says all the weather issues this year didn’t help pheasants nesting numbers.
There were 55-thousand hunters out this past season, which is down around four percent. He says the survey numbers likely impact the hunting plans of some.
While Bogenschutz expects the weather to impact the number of pheasants this season — he says southern Iowa had been much drier and that could make for better nesting and numbers there.
