Rooster Recap

Rooster Recap

By Troy Hoepker

How rare is it in your life when you wake up knowing that the day ahead of you is about to be so special that you will remember it for the rest of your life? And how rare is it that there will be someone else there that will share those same memories about to be made for the rest of theirs? Days like that are rare and sometimes few and far between. As I readied for the day, anticipation built as I thought about how it had all led up to this. All the work I had put into training a new pup over the spring and summer, the retrieval sessions, the basic obedience training and finding hidden wings. I’d had bird dogs before but never a German Shorthair previous to Ace and I had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Opening day of pheasant season!

This day was special for multiple reasons. Not only was it going to be my pup’s first day hunting, but I would be joined by my son Dylan for the first time ever! Not one, but two rookies would accompany me to the field this year and I felt truly lucky to be able to share my love of pheasant hunting with them. This season I had also decided to dedicate a Remington 870 Wingmaster that I had inherited from my Grandfather to my full-time pheasant hunting gun. I had owned the gun for several years and was reluctant to hunt with it since it was in such beautiful condition. I decided that Grandpa would have wanted me to hunt with it. We loaded up the truck and headed to a traditional opening day spot for me the last several years, a small piece that usually held a few birds. This year the ground had a lot less cover since a new pond had been built and after a quick half-hour walk, we came back to the truck empty handed having not seen a thing. It was time to get a little more serious.

I drove to a great bird spot loaded with a few hundred acres of fantastic CRP cover. As we drove up the long driveway to the farmstead of the landowner I saw him standing next to a pickup talking with a few others. I didn’t even have time to mutter a hello after opening the truck door before I heard him yell, “They’re out there! Go get ‘em!” A trip to his family’s farm always called for a good visit and so after a few laughs and a nice conversation we grabbed the dog and gear and hit the field.

Dylan had shot clay pigeons a couple weeks before but for his first trip out he’d just carry his Mossberg 20-gauge empty to practice good firearm safety in the field until he proved to me that he could walk and hunt safely. We walked 20 feet into the switchgrass when I almost stepped on a hen. As she burst into the air, the shock awoke Dylan to something he’d never seen before! He couldn’t believe how loud the bird was as it rose from the grass or that it let us get that close! His new view of this world of pheasant hunting renewed my spirit from the perception of his 12 year-old eyes. Opening day has a way of doing that too, when you once again get to do what you love for the first time of the young season. We walked a little farther seeing a few birds flush from a distance until Ace began to get very birdy. He nosed left and right as his tail flicked left to right at an even faster pace. Then he stopped and it took me a moment to realize that he was actually pointing for the first time ever! I walked to Ace’s nose as the ringneck erupted from his hide! A quick point and shoot that remained instinctive over the years luckily showed itself instead of rust from the the off-season and I downed the bird. As the rooster folded in the air I could hear Dylan yell an excited “Yay!” seeing the first bird of his life collapse in the air from a shot. At least the old man hadn’t missed the first bird his son got to see his Dad shoot at! The sound of the shot made 25 nervous pheasants flush from the bottom down below us as we watched and counted. Dylan couldn’t believe just how many birds hid in the grass. “Amazing isn’t it Dylan? You would have never believed there were that many birds hiding in here with us that close would you?” I asked while he nodded in amazement as we watched the last of the pheasants sail off. The dog came to the downed bird but wouldn’t pick it up and bring it, favoring to nose and bite at it instead. Nevertheless, I was ecstatic!

A little further down the hill I found Ace working scent again but this time the rooster flushed ahead before any point and as I swung the gun a second rooster exploded from the grass. I missed my target on the first shot but recovered on the second attempt and as the first bird collapsed in the air I swung on the second rooster! The shot was a little too close to Dylan’s position than I felt comfortable with and I gave the bird a pass. The first bird had fallen in a mowed strip and Ace was on him quickly! The rooster flapped his wings a few times and gave effort to run but Ace instinctively snatched him up and before my eyes began his first retrieve to me all while pheasant wings beat against each side of his face! I took the bird from Ace’s mouth and thought how it doesn’t get any better than this! A first point followed by the pup’s first retrieval.

Dylan and I continued to follow Ace’s lead as he led us up a steep hill. Moving slower and slower as he went Ace finally locked up again on a rock-solid, statuesque point. I handed my phone to Dylan and he videoed as I moved in front of Ace. The bird busted airborne to my left and in my anxiousness I fired too quickly not letting the bird get far enough away. Staying on target after the first shot while sliding the forearm backwards, the 870 loaded another shell that didn’t stay chambered long. As the trigger broke the rooster crumbled and bird number three disappeared into the grass! I added the bird to my pouch, unloaded my gun and turned to Dylan saying I was done! I’d thrown a couple 20 gauge shells into my pocket before the hunt and Dylan had demonstrated good gun handling and I asked him if the dog pointed again if he’d like to slide in a shell and take a shot. After a moment of thought he declined, asking if he could shoot some more clay pigeons first. Accepting that and not wanting to push, I appreciated his desire to improve. Walking back to the truck through that perfect bird habitat on that beautiful day with Dylan and Ace and a limit in my bag I thought of how there was no place I’d rather be and smiled at the thought of Grandpa smiling down upon us!

Ace and I would continue to hunt most times opportunity would allow the rest of the season. By the time the season was over Ace had been on hundreds of birds and has became a very good bird dog for his first year. Watching him learn how to hunt for himself and learn from his mistakes has been fun and seeing his desire and love to hunt is all I need. Watching a good dog work is truly the most rewarding and enjoyable part of bird hunting. You’ll notice I said Ace had been on hundreds of birds and yes that’s right, most of those were right here in Iowa! I don’t consider the area I hunt to be among the best of pheasant populations in Iowa either, but with a good dog, a lot of leg work and working hard to put yourself in spots of good habitat, the pheasants were usually there. Sure, I hit some spots that disappointed and some that witnessed just a few birds, but in other places, I was amazed at all the pheasants I saw. I mixed in some public spots along with my private hunting places here in Southern Iowa and found mixed results with each.

Habitat is naturally key and no matter whether it was public or private, as long as I hunted good habitat with good shelter, seed mixes, and availability of food and water nearby, I usually found birds. Or should I say Ace did? By mid season his demeanor told you if there were birds there or if there had been birds there previously. You could tell easily when birds were running or when a public spot had been hunted already that day before our arrival. This season the memory of long walks without seeing a bird a few years back was a distant memory. Rarely, when I put myself in a good spot did we go without seeing birds on a hunt. They have steadily rebounded and even though it may not be quite like it was in the 1980’s or 1990’s, there are birds out there in good huntable numbers.

No upland hunter likes an unseasonably warm, dry fall day to hunt. The kind of day where the wind lays down and the grass cracks at every footstep. Every bird seems to be aware of your presence from a mile away and runs ahead of you and the dog until they flush at such distance that you can’t always tell ringneck from hen. What those days are good for however, is getting a good idea of just what the pheasant population is like in a certain area. Frustrating as it is, at least you get to see what the ground you’re hunting holds. I remember one such day this season in which I never even fired my gun but was awed by counting upwards of 100 pheasants. I lost count to tell the truth, but I was grateful to see every escaping set of wings in the distance!

Speaking to other dedicated pheasant hunters throughout the season they all seemed to be in consensus that bird hunting is back in Iowa! I don’t think a lot of people realize just how good it is. We’ve lost a lot of our out of state hunter numbers over the years and even opening weekend isn’t the holiday that it once was. Many people who used to hunt no longer do and less and less people now own a bird dog because of lost interest or lost hope in the sport. Lost CRP acres, and farming practice changes may mean we never get back to where we once were, but the drier nesting seasons and mild winters of a few years put together in succession has definitely made a big difference!

Iowa DNR wildlife biologist Todd Bogenschutz is curious as well to see the numbers for the season now that it is complete. “We don’t have any hard numbers yet but the reports I received from all over the state from hunters were that they were very happy with what they saw.” Bogenschutz stated. “Generally overall the counts and numbers were up during our August survey and it appears as if the counts were correct.”

Bogenschutz added that now the hunters just need to come back. “Last year we shot about 250,000 roosters statewide. If we didn’t have more hunters this year 250,000 will be where we are again even if bird numbers were indeed higher.” He said.

The end of January, 2019 brought terrible weather. Heavy snow in many parts of the state, then icing in some parts of the state combined with extreme cold, the like of which we haven’t seen in a couple of decades. During the end of that snow-covered cold snap I did find multiple places where pheasants were grouped up in large numbers scavenging for food and shelter. Winter’s grip may have been short lived enough that our birds snuck by for the most part? Time will tell if our birds survived or not? Let’s hope for a successful nesting season this spring to keep their numbers gaining. The advice from the DNR after the 2018 August Roadside Survey that hunters would see good pheasant hunting going into the 2018-19 season proved to be accurate in most parts. An unusually wet fall led to crops coming out late and may have helped pheasant survival rates as well. While Iowa has always trailed South Dakota and now maybe even Kansas as top bird hunting destinations, don’t be surprised if Iowa makes a rebound in the coming years!

For me, last season was one of the best pheasant hunting seasons I’ve ever had and there have been a lot of good ones over the years! Naturally a new hunting partner named Dylan and a new family member named Ace helped in that aspect! As I walked into a field of switchgrass the first week of January and the last week of the season feeling the 8 a.m sun hit me and gazing upon Ace happily beginning to work over the field like a pro, I felt like I didn’t want the hunt to end even though it hadn’t even begun yet. “Look at him and look at how far he has come in just a couple short months!” I thought to myself. I guess it was a feeling of sadness as my mind went back to all the memories of great pheasant season in the two months prior to that and not wanting it to come to an end. I knew that is indeed possible to determine your own fate and create those rare days when the memories made will last a lifetime!