‘A great opener’
Iowa’s pheasant opener was busy, with lots of hunter success.
Work continues at Tomahawk Marsh Wildlife Area to return the area to a mix of prairie and wetlands.
As the season looms, Iowa hunters can likely expect to harvest 300,000 to 400,000 roosters this year, which is similar to last year, when the harvest was the highest in more than a decade.
Results of Iowa’s 2022 pheasant population survey are in and the results were nearly identical to that of 2021, when hunters harvested the highest number of roosters in more than a decade.
Pheasant hunters in Iowa bagged 375,000 roosters in 2021, and the nesting outlook predicts another good hunting season ahead.
Potential fines and civil damages from these cases could exceed $100,000.
“Part of the increased harvest was due to the increase in pheasant hunters – 10,000 more hunters compared to 2019, which was the highest since 2009.”
Anglers with a valid sport fishing license may harvest all sizes and unlimited quantities of any species of fish from Pickeral Lake by any means except by use of dynamite, poison, electroshocking devices, or any stupefying substances.
Black bears are native to Iowa. However, Iowa has been without a resident bear population for more than 100 years. But as black bear populations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri stable to increasing, it is possible that a small population could set up residence in Iowa.