Posts Tagged ‘Iowa’
Iowa Preview – Day 3 of the Rooster Road Trip
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
An Iowa rooster snapped by Iowa photographer Roger Hill
Wednesday, November 16th – Iowa
We’ll be hunting in northwest Iowa near the South Dakota and Minnesota borders on day 19 of Iowa’s pheasant and quail hunting season.
Shooting Hours: 8AM to 4:30PM
Daily Limits: 3 rooster pheasants per day / 12 in possession. 8 quail per day / 16 in possession.
Public Hunting Land
We’ll be focusing our efforts on the state’s Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) with an emphasis on tracts of land Pheasants Forever’s Iowa chapters have helped acquire for public access. In fact, Iowa’s PF chapters have participated in opening up more than 77,000 acres in the state to public hunting through land acquisitions.
Non-resident Licensing
The Iowa DNR requires a non-resident hunting license ($112) and habitat stamp ($13) to hunt upland birds in the state. The license is good for the entire pheasant season. Resident and non-resident hunters born after January 1, 1972, must satisfactorily complete a hunter education course in order to obtain a hunting license.
Pheasants Forever’s Impact in Iowa
Pheasants Forever Chapters: 101 (more than any other state!)
Pheasants Forever Members: That is today’s Pheasants Forever trivia question on Facebook
Quail Forever Members: 302
Habitat projects completed by Pheasants Forever in Iowa: 100,016 projects
Total habitat acres improved by Pheasants Forever in Iowa: 1,004,971 acres
I bagged the first rooster of my life in Iowa. I'm pictured far left with three other Yoopers.
My Iowa Memories
As a kid from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, my formative years of bird hunting were spent in the woods targeting ruffed grouse and timberdoodles. It wasn’t till after my college years that I experienced the thrill of a rooster’s flush. That first flush and the first bird I slid into my game pouch, both occurred in Iowa. You know what they say about your first love . . . it’s similar with your first rooster.
Follow Pheasants Forever’s Rooster Road Trip 2011 at www.RoosterRoadTrip.org, on Facebook , YouTube, and Twitter (#rrt11).
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre.
October 2011
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
Are you counting the days till October too?
As the snow falls out the window behind me again today, I can’t help but think about pheasant hunting season. Apparently, I’m not alone. According to our website’s analytics, the most commonly searched term driving pheasant hunters to our website the last few weeks is “October 2011.”
My hunch is that folks are already planning their 2011 fall pheasant hunting calendar. While not all states have announced their 2011 pheasant seasons yet, I’ve been able to find opening day dates online for most of the top pheasant hunting destinations. So here you go!
2011 Pheasant Hunting Opening Days
(These dates are tentative, please be sure to check your state’s regulations)
Colorado Not announced till July
Iowa Saturday, October 29
Kansas Saturday, November 12
Montana Saturday, October 8
Minnesota Saturday, October 15
Nebraska Saturday, October 29
North Dakota Saturday, October 8
Ohio Not announced till July
South Dakota Saturday, October 15
Wisconsin Saturday, October 15
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing.
Meet a National Board Member: Bruce Hertzke
Saturday, February 12th, 2011
Bruce Hertzke, Chairman of Pheasants Forever's National Board of Directors
As a non-profit, Pheasants Forever operates under the guidance of a volunteer board of directors. That guidance takes many forms, but boiled down, the board is responsible for ensuring Pheasants Forever operates in the best interest of our members and also helps shape our vision for the future. There are currently 18 individuals on the national board and they meet three times a year.
Through this new series of blog posts, I’ll introduce each of our national board members and share some of their personality and passion for our organization.
Up this week is Bruce Hertzke, who is also the current Chairman of the National Board.
Bruce Hertzke
Born in what town: Buffalo Center, Iowa
Current Town of Residence: Forest City, Iowa
Family: Wife – Janice; 2 children – Heather and Michael; 4 grand daughters – Emma, Gracen, Allie, and Avery
Occupation: Retired Chairman and CEO of Winnebago Industries. Retired in May 2008 after 36 1/2 years with Winnebago
Dogs: Libby Lou, a German shorthair hunting machine
Favorite place to pheasant hunt: My farm in Iowa with my son and friends
Favorite pheasant hunting shotgun: Benelli Super Black Eagle
Best pheasant hunt of your life was: I have had many hunts that could be classified as great, but I must say that it’s always fun to shoot a few birds for some of my fellow Board members; Bob Brengman, Kim Price and Howard Vincent definitely believe in the practice of “Shoot and Release,” so I help make sure they have some meat to put on their dinner plates.
How did you first get involved with Pheasants Forever? I have been a member of the Winnebago/Hancock Chapter of Pheasants Forever for over 24 years and have held several officer positions with the chapter during that time. I’ve been a part of many chapter events and banquets, along with many habitat and tree planting projects. I applied for the National Board of Directors of Pheasants Forever in the fall of 1997 and was accepted in 1998.
What is your favorite aspect about serving on the National Board? I enjoy seeing the organization grow; both in dollars and in habitat projects accomplished. I’m also proud of the voice we’ve developed in Washington, D.C. to make sure that we as conservationists and hunters have a say in our lands and water.
What is the single biggest challenge facing Pheasants Forever in the future? I wish that there was just a single challenge. We must work in many areas to continue to be successful. Bringing more kids to the outdoors, hunter retention, more habitat so wildlife can thrive, more accessible acres so hunters have places to hunt, Farm Bill in Washington that address habitat benefits along with water quality, and supporting our 700 plus chapters so they can continue their success. We have a lot of work ahead.
Previous Blog Profiles of National Board Members
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing.
Exploring Iowa’s Neal Smith NWR
Monday, June 7th, 2010
You don't expect to find a free ranging, 2,000-pound bison bull in the middle of Iowa farm country, but he's there -- along with 79 more, elk, pheasant and other wildlife.
A few weeks ago I was driving home from doing stories on a few of our PF chapters in Ohio. Along Interstate 80 just east of Des Moines, Iowa, I stopped at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).
I’ve wanted to visit it for years. Why? It is a prairie wildlife jewel in the middle of one of the planet’s most intensively farmed landscapes – the prairie.
What struck me most about the refuge is the huge expanse of native grass. At the time the refuge was opened in 1990, it was the largest prairie restoration in the country. (The Glacial Ridge NWR in northwest Minnesota now holds that distinction.)
The Neal Smith includes 5,600 acres, most of it restored. Congress has authorized refuge personal to purchase another 3,000 acres from willing landowners.
The refuge also includes about 800 acres of native (i.e. never cleared and plowed) habitat, most of it oak savannah. I walked through one such forest, dubbed the Savannah Trail. It was incredible: cool, shady, noisy with bird calls and scented with the perfume of numerous flowering plants blooming along a small creek.
If you ever get a chance to stop at the Neal Smith, do so. It is nothing short of amazing to see so much grass and wildlife in the middle of such a heavily farmed area. It also has a top rate visitor interpretive center.
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