Support your local businesses

Your support keeps truth alive in Decorah—donate to local news today! Iowa's 2024 estimated pheasant harvest was the second highest in nearly two decades, totaling more than 460,000 roosters last fall. Only the 2023 harvest was higher, at 590,000 birds. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, this marks the best back-to-back pheasant harvest years in the state since 2007. Nationwide, only South Dakota reported more pheasants harvested in 2023. However, Iowa's August 2024 roadside survey showed a 14% population decline from the previous year, likely due to spring flooding in northwestern Iowa that coincided with the nesting season. "The roadside counts were confirmed in the small game harvest hunter survey, but overall we had a really good fall and are looking forward to this year's August roadside survey to see where the bird numbers are ahead of the 2025 season," said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR. The DNR's statewide August roadside survey is conducted annually between Aug. 1 and 15. Biologists drive 225 gravel-road routes at dawn, when heavy dew prompts hen pheasants to move their broods to the roadside edges to dry off, making them easier to count. An estimated 77,400 hunters pursued pheasants in Iowa last fall, down from 83,600 in 2023. Quail hunters in Iowa harvested approximately 27,500 birds in 2024, about 2,700 fewer than the previous year. Meanwhile, rabbit and squirrel harvests increased. Rabbits were up 13%, with an estimated 77,000 harvested, and squirrels rose 32% to more than 124,300. Iowa's mourning dove harvest dropped to an estimated 143,000 birds, down from 195,000 in 2023. A century of pheasant huntingThe Iowa DNR and Pheasants Forever are celebrating 100 years of pheasant hunting in Iowa. The state's first pheasant season was held Oct. 20–22, 1925, and opened in 13 north-central counties. Hunters were allowed to harvest three roosters during a half-day hunt, and an estimated 75,000 hunters participated. To commemorate the 100th anniversary, hunters can purchase a commemorative hard card featuring the Iowa Pheasants Forever Print of the Year when buying their 2025 hunting and fishing licenses. Information on places to hunt, the August roadside survey results and more is available online by clicking the "100 Years of Pheasant Hunting" link at www.iowadnr.gov/pheasantsurvey. Never a dull moment! Subscribe to the free DecorahNews.com newsletter and stay one step ahead with local news and information you just can't get anywhere else.

Support your local businesses

Pheasant Hunters Bagged More Than 460,000 Iowa Roosters in 2024