Kunch family donation becomes popular public hunting spot in Iowa

Toledo, Iowa — George and Virginia Kunch left a legacy when they donated their 162-acre family farm in Tama County to the people of Iowa, in 2005.

Gone are the buildings, cottonwood trees and ag fields. In their place is a diverse reconstructed prairie with wild bergamot, prairie blazing star, cup plant, gray headed coneflower, ironweed, sunflowers and more. The steep and rolling hills of the Kunch Wildlife Area shares the landscape with four ponds and small stands of cedars and shrubs for winter wildlife cover.

As the prairie returned, grassland birds, like dickcissels, Henslow’s sparrows, sedge wrens, goldfinches, and common yellowthroats, moved in. Northern harriers and smooth green snakes, both species in greatest conservation need (along with Henslow’s sparrows), have been documented here.

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Rodney Ellingson, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ nearby Otter Creek office, said the area management plan includes using prescribed fire on different parcels to help keep the woody vegetation out of the prairie and rejuvenate the prairie plants.

“We need to vary the timing of our regular maintenance here to try to keep brome, Kentucky bluegrass and other invasives from expanding their presence onto the prairie,” Ellingson said.

Mixed in to the prairie is about 12 acres of food plots – sunflowers for doves, sorghum for pheasants. The food plots are flip flopped every two years.

“Pheasant hunting is the biggest draw here. Dove season also packs them in. The parking lot can get filled pretty quickly on opening morning,” he said.

The four ponds – each about an acre in size – were initially stocked with largemouth bass, bluegills and channel catfish, but with only one access point to the wildlife area – on the southwest corner – an angler will need to hike some distance to wet a line. Ponds also support broods of young Canada geese and mallards.

“This is a unique island of grassland in an ag dominated landscape that offers a little bit of everything,” he said.

Kunch Wildlife Area is a few miles north of Otter Creek Lake, and 10 miles east of Union County Park.