Brett Reece. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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. Roughly one-third of the pheasant harvest occurs within the first nine days of the season.

Despite warm weather persisting in much of the state, roughly 6,000 deer have been registered so far through the youth and disabled hunter seasons, and the opening of the archery and early muzzleloader seasons, which is slightly higher than both last year and the five-year average.

The crop harvest, cooling temperatures and approaching rut, should increase deer activity leading to greater harvest success.

The long-anticipated rut, which will be in full swing by November, is when mature bucks spend much of their time actively tending and searching for does during daylight hours, creating opportunity for thrilling action from the tree stand at any hour of the day.

A major factor leading to Iowa’s world-renowned buck quality is the simple fact that hunting during the rut – when bucks are most vulnerable – is restricted to compound and traditional bows. The archery season runs through Dec. 6, then closes for the two regular gun seasons before reopening Dec. 23 through Jan. 10, 2025. The early muzzleloader season closes Oct. 20.

Iowa’s deer population is in the midst of another outbreak of hemorrhagic (EHD) disease, which tends to affect Iowa deer from late summer to early fall. Though outbreak severity varies annually, it began increasing in September, with roughly 750 related deer mortalities reported throughout the state, which is considered a moderate outbreak compared to past years.

The DNR added new online tools to the Deer Hunting webpage that allow the public to report and monitor hemorrhagic disease activity. Hemorrhagic disease has been reported in at least 78 Iowa counties, though disease activity has generally been mild at the county scale at fewer than 50 mortalities per county.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to increase in geographic spread and prevalence, though most Iowa counties have yet to detect their first CWD-positive deer. Last year, eight new counties were added to the list: Des Moines, Guthrie, Howard, Jones, Marshall, Monroe, Muscatine, and Tama, bringing the total number of counties that have had a positive deer to 23.

Testing of hunter-harvested deer is available in each county by contacting the local DNR wildlife or law enforcement staff. Hunters can help limit the spread of chronic wasting disease by refraining from feeding/baiting deer and transporting deer carcasses across counties. The Iowa DNR primarily manages the disease in areas with moderate-to-high deer densities by adding antlerless tags within special Deer Management Zones.

Brett Reece is a conservation officer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.