Hitting some upper Iowa trout streams this week.

[Rick Pierce]

I've bought an Iowa out of state hunting license every year since my yearly 20s because of the amount of public land they offer for hunting as well as other outdoor sports compared to what Illinois offers. Of course you know that. As you mentioned the farm lobby dictates what happens in Iowa and I have found, at least in my range from Green Island WMA South of Dubuque to the Lake Odessa area, some of the states more historical waterfowl hunting locations, the DNR doesn't support these areas due to lack of funding. We had a summer flood this year on the Mississippi I'm sure you're aware of and in pools 14, 15, 16 and 17 there's not much for the ducks to feed on. With that said, Iowa is saying the pheasant road counts are better than the past 20 years. I'm headed over today to get my Iowa license so I hope these old legs will allow me some walkin and my old lab doesn't just follow me around! I hope you have a great season down there.

It's been a long time since I hunted pheasants in Iowa.

Before Daven-dorf expanded so much, it wasn't unusual to see pheasants sitting on the farm fences along the highway in the spring. I know it sounds weird, but that used to be my gauge of whether or not the trout trip was going to be a good one. If I saw a pheasant on the way up, it was almost a guarantee of a good day.

I hope you have a great season, Ed. If you do get into a pheasant or two, put up a picture and send me a note. I'll root for you...