Iowa Quail Hunting & Habitat

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Pointing Dog Realm

MAHA do it yourself wild Iowa quail hunting is a bonus for those quail hunters from the northern and eastern states seeking a shorter ride for wild quail hunting stopping off in Iowa on their way farther west.

The shorter drive makes Iowa all the more attractive as a stop over place or as a break while on the way to Kansas or Missouri. Comparatively the hunter will be well pleased with the easy to walk fields and more frequent blue sky shooting as well.

While the flushing and retriever hunters pass on quail in favor of the pheasant, the pointing bird dog hunters enjoy a full day of both. Those with the bird dog power to cast along the miles of drains for quail as well as the point stand off required for pheasant will find these 100% wild birds a great hunt superior to any planted bird plantation or club.

The chance to work a single dog on both wild pheasant and quail while on the same hunt, the same day on the same habitat as well as every day of the hunt will make it more enjoyable to continue the hunt until both bags are achieved or the day ends.

Our Iowa quail hunts while a surprise to some has rivaled that of Missouri in some years. And as weather environmental limiting factors change, our Iowa region allows for good or bad year flexibility of where to hunt.

We conduct our own Bobwhite road surveys and field surveys throughout the year to be able to recommend to our quail hunters where to hunt. Please see our upland bird forecast for pheasant and quail.

Least Used Period

Iowa has a split ending for its upland bird season ending the pheasant season in early January when its seasonal upland bird license expires while allowing quail hunts until January 31. What occurs is that most do not hunt the quail only middle to late January period.

This time period, in our most northern of the three states of leases, typically allows for colder dog friendly weather and plenty of tree covered drainages to block any wind making for a higher probability of better hunting conditions. This may be contrasted to the big open of Kansas even with its greater abundance of pheasants and greater probability of higher wind speeds. And, very few hunters hunt during this period as most by this point of the three month season have walked and hunted plenty and their hunt intensity has waned. An additional motivational degradation is the psychological block of having to buy another license at the season's end even though it is good for the subsequent fall as well.

For those that truly want to chase bobwhites and do so when seeing another hunter is at its least probability this 20+/- day period is the time to be hunting.

Iowa quail habitat.

Some of Iowa's prime upland bird habitat. The one above is opening day. Notice the standing corn that makes for some tough hunts. The bright sun was as warm as it looks and typically so that by noon most are through with their hunts. By mid winter all these adverse effects have changed and more reliably colder weather and concentrated habitat exists to a better degree than our southern Kansas leases that remain warmer later in the year.

Iowa does have some tall grass and while not prime quail habitat this field did in fact have a covey that flushed from the tree line at the left into the grass making for some great singles action. Review some more Iowa quail habitat and bird dogs during a hunt.