This is the week 6 recap of the 2025 pheasant hunting season. This week we did a 2 day trip to Iowa. On the first day we tried two new fields with some success. On our second day, we went to an old favorite and did okay.
November 19th - Iowa
This season, we have been trying out new locations. Specifically, we try to find a field on the drive down to hunt, then drive to a second location to finish the day.
Field 1 - New WPA
Our first stop was at a “new to us” WPA that we had scouted on a previous trip. It was a mix of short and tall prairie grass with patches of canary grass and a few cattails.
We started our loop along the border roads and Stella found a couple hens. When we turned North, Stella started tracking. She tracked the bird as it made its way to a patch of canary grass. In the thicker grass it held until we got close then flushed. Kevin fired once, hit the bird but it continued so he fired again and it dropped. Stella quickly found it. He put it into his vest and we continued on.
From there we continued North and Stella tracked a couple hens. After a hen flush, Kevin said the bird in his vest was still alive so he reached in to wring its neck. When he pulled it out he had it by a wing and it was flapping. He ended up dropping it and it disappeared. Stella came over and retrieved it, again.
Continuing on, we got into an area where we flushed several hens in quick succession. After that we walked a long ways with just a couple more hens.
Field 2 - New IHAP
Our second stop was a “new to us” IHAP. When we initially saw the field it looked promising. However, when we walked it we realized that there was minimal plant diversity, as in no flowers, so there really wasn’t much food. Stella did get birdy a couple times and we did see a couple hens but over all it was a bust.
We ran into a problem with the Garmin GPS collar. At one point Stella was in really tall, thick prairie grass. I was using the handheld to try to find her but never could even though see was within a yard. Turns out that the GPS antenna on her collar was not getting an accurate GPS fix due to the tall grass. When see finally got out in the open she was 80 yards away from where I thought she was.
November 20th - Iowa
The next day started out foggy with minimal wind. We arrived at the field early and watched a lot of birds flying into the field and then moving around the field.
Loop 1
We started the first loop heading for an area where we had seen a rooster drop into the field. Stella got birdy and we followed her out away from the road. We saw a bird wild flush ahead of her. When se lost the trail, we headed back towards the road. She got birdy again and we followed her. This repeated a couple of times until she finally stopped on point. Kevin walked up and a rooster flushed. We dropped it.
After I fired I was trying to put my safety back on but it wouldn’t go. I unloaded and we ended up going back to the truck. I took the gun apart, found some seeds and added a little oil and the safety worked again. We headed back out and started following Stella again.
Stella would get birdy, we would folllow. She would either lose the trail or we would flush a hen. In one instance, she was behind us and then ended up doing a big loop around us. When she finally came back, she had a rooster in her mouth. We assume it was an injured bird, although we did not find any obvious injuries.
Shortly after that Stella was running along when she stopped on a dime in a sold point. I approached, she moved a couple feet and a rooster flushed just ahead of us. I dropped it and Stella retrieved it.
After that we spent another 90 minutes following Stella as she tracked bird after bird, either hens or wild flushes.
Loop 2
After we took a lunch break, we moved to a different parking area in the same field. From the truck we immediately got into birds. Stella tracked several hens. A rooster flushed behind me and I did not shoot as I wasn’t sure about the distance.
That pretty much finished the day. Overall, we saw a ton of birds, shot two and Stella retrieved a third.
Video
This week I was finally able to capture some good dog action as well as a couple birds being harvested.
Lessons Learned
- When pulling a bird out of a vest to wring it’s neck, put gun down and use both hands.
- WPAs may not have good signage along borders. Use ONX when in doubt.
- When there are no flowers in a field there is no food and likely few birds.
- The Garmin Alpha 200i with a TT15X collar can get confused in really tall grass.
Summary
This has been the week 6 recap. Overall, we had a good week. We saw a lot of birds, harvested a few and had a good time.
