The Great Iowa Pheasant Hunt

This weekend will mark the 25th year that my friend Kent and I have gotten together to go pheasant hunting here in Iowa. Kent lives in Colorado Springs, but every fall he makes the trip back to Iowa to visit his parents and hunt with me for a few days.

It's always a lot of fun when we take to the field. For some reason, we both enjoy chasing pheasants around. In some ways we are still little kids at heart. We just like the comradeship of it all. There's just something about being in the field when you are hunting over a good dog, and birds start to flush. After all these years, it's still a thrill. I really can't explain it. We just like being outside in the fall, I guess.

It's all part of our hunting heritage. For years, we hunted right here in Northeast Iowa as Black Hawk, Butler and Grundy County provided us with enough birds and good shooting. Back in the mid-80s, there were plenty of pheasants around Cedar Falls. Just west of the UNI-Dome there use to be a couple of pretty good hot spots. All hunters have their favorite places to find birds. We are kind of like fishermen, in that respect. Fishermen like to call these fishing hot spots, honey holes, and we had a few hunting honey holes of our own.

Pheasant hunting around Cedar Falls has been on the decline for years, but we've been lucky to find other places where we can go. For the last eight or nine years, we've been hunting in Northwest Iowa, and we have had great success there, hunting with my cousins. Just a few years ago we had a record harvest. We've been blessed with good weather and good opportunities, year after year. The great Iowa pheasant hunt.

This year, the number of birds is predicted to be down 40 percent. That's not good news, but this weekend we will still be out there, hunting together. Sharing stories and memories of missed shots and made shots, great retrieves, and great friendship. The great Iowa pheasant hunt. That's our hunting heritage. What's yours?