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Joined: May 2003
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Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971 Likes: 1 |
Huh, I didn’t even know they had them there…. Looks like I’ll be hunting them though.
I hope they taste good.. this is going to be a first for me.
I have zero clue on hunting them, but have a Brittany, and a 5 month old Drahthaar that is just a heck of a lot of fun - should be a good time. I really need to get my DD broken in soon.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 3,008
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 3,008 |
we had a small covey or 2 at times on the place I grew up on in Iowa..........IMO they are better eating than pheasants
pretty much you hunt them like pheasants , early season you can get reasonable distance shooting , later they can get pretty danged wild
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Joined: Nov 2008
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2008
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Better than pheasants for sure, somewhat darker meat though not strong like sage grouse. Not quite as tasty as chukars, though I’ve yet to see a game bird that is.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 11,388
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 273
Campfire Member
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I'm from SE Iowa... what area(s) of the state have huntable populations of Grays?
Life Member: NRA, GOA, PF, QF
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Joined: Aug 2008
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2008
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North central and northwest most likely although I don't think they are common anywhere in IA. We used to shoot a few now and then in east central IA but it has been 20 years since I've seen one here. A friend in in west central (north west of Des Moines) shot 3 last year but it was the only covey he saw and he hunts a lot. If you are concentrating on Huns you would be much better off in Montana or ND.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2 |
NW Iowa traditionally has had the highest numbers. But aside from the odd case of scaring a covey up out of a road side ditch in the summer of ‘20, I haven’t seen any huns in decades of pheasant hunting here. The last time I got any was in the ‘80’s. But then pheasant numbers have greatly declined also. As a former high school acquaintance, now retired from the Mn DNR, has said, NW Iowa is a biological desert.
If you are saying you are coming to Iowa to hunt them, don’t. Just anecdotally, I would say we are very far from any thing resembling a hunt able population. And that’s an understatement. It’s too bad. They are great little birds.
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 4,774
Campfire Tracker
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I try to tell people that nw Iowa is a desert and no one can fathom it until they visit. The only thing we have here is jobs.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 219
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 219 |
Huh, I didn’t even know they had them there…. Looks like I’ll be hunting them though.
I hope they taste good.. this is going to be a first for me.
I have zero clue on hunting them, but have a Brittany, and a 5 month old Drahthaar that is just a heck of a lot of fun - should be a good time. I really need to get my DD broken in soon.
As others have indicated, don't waste your time! Sure there are scattered coveys in the windswept black moonscape of NW iowa, don't ask me how. Problem is they don't relate to cover like pheasants. They will sit on the middle of chiseled corn stubble for days. Incredibly hardy little birds. If you find them in cover, it will be bromegrass or alfalfa, or more likely a random plum thicket on a fenceline somewhere.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 219
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 219 |
I try to tell people that nw Iowa is a desert and no one can fathom it until they visit. The only thing we have here is jobs. "Land ethic be damned. The lord provided us with some of the most fertile soil in the world, we are entitled to beat the piss out of it as we see fit. Drop 200 bucks of federal crop subsidies in the plate on Sunday mornings and call it good!" 19352012...pardon my rant, but the above mentality is exactly why I don't think i could ever move back to that part of the world(Osceola co). And, the hog barns for christ sake!!
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2 |
Let her rip Black-ice! 😉 I certainly can understand the frustration as I’ve watched the changes here over fifty-five years. It’s funny, “growth” is a word about everybody proposes as something desirable in every human endeavor, particularly business and farming. But, hog confinement’s about every two miles or less? Fence-to-fence tillage? Tile every stream with cover? Burn every ditch in the spring?
No, growth is not always a good thing.
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,262 Likes: 10
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,262 Likes: 10 |
They eat great. For some reason the hun numbers were really good in East Montana and W ND this year. Got into huns in central Idaho too in the sage around farm lands. Find them in corners or wheat fields, alfalfa too
Last edited by ribka; 01/20/22.
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Joined: Apr 2017
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Campfire Tracker
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Huns tend to do well in dry conditions, even droughts, which is one reason why they are more common in the western Dakotas and eastern Montana up into Canada. The 80s and into the 90s it was a bit drier than today which helped put bird numbers into a huntable range in MN and IA. The last time I found enough Huns to specifically target in IA was about 1998 in the NE part of the state. It was about then I last saw Huns in the adjacent parts of MN too.
Best odds of finding Huns is in the Dakotas and Canada. I have found the greatest numbers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan but the western Dakotas and eastern Montana are often not far behind. Western and northwestern MN has areas where one can have decent odds of putting up a covey or two but there can be a long ways between areas.
The exasperating part of these birds is they like to spend their time in short cover which makes them rather skittish. Think cover short enough that if the bird stood up tall it could see over the tops of whatever it is hiding in. That is why they are so often found in cut wheat, oat, or barley fields as well as recently cut hay and cattle pastures. A covey will often hold for a pointing dog if the dog doesn't crowd them but they often flush outside of gun range when walked up. Mark where the birds go and walk up those that head toward "heavier" cover as they may hold until you get in gun range.
If you find Huns around fencelines, windrows and such they may let you get within shotgun range but that type of cover is increasingly rare, especially where one finds row crops like corn and soybeans. This is where most hunters find Huns as the hunters are typically looking for pheasants and Huns are an incidental opportunity.
Hun numbers and range have decreased a lot over the last few decades. It used to be common to take well over 30 birds a season across several states and provinces but now hard hunting will get a fortunate person half that number, if they concentrate in prime areas.
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Joined: Dec 2010
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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We have good numbers here but I don’t specifically target them. 2020 was phenomenal hun hunting, I shot my three just about every time I went out pheasant hunting. Guessing I shot over 30 of them. I only shot a few here and there this year. They are my favorite game to eat
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2 |
Very nice! They are wonderful game birds. I miss them.
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,262 Likes: 10
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,262 Likes: 10 |
Good summation. I find E Wa is a sleep area for huns too. I always had a few coveys on my property. I never hunted them but always did well on near public land Huns tend to do well in dry conditions, even droughts, which is one reason why they are more common in the western Dakotas and eastern Montana up into Canada. The 80s and into the 90s it was a bit drier than today which helped put bird numbers into a huntable range in MN and IA. The last time I found enough Huns to specifically target in IA was about 1998 in the NE part of the state. It was about then I last saw Huns in the adjacent parts of MN too.
Best odds of finding Huns is in the Dakotas and Canada. I have found the greatest numbers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan but the western Dakotas and eastern Montana are often not far behind. Western and northwestern MN has areas where one can have decent odds of putting up a covey or two but there can be a long ways between areas.
The exasperating part of these birds is they like to spend their time in short cover which makes them rather skittish. Think cover short enough that if the bird stood up tall it could see over the tops of whatever it is hiding in. That is why they are so often found in cut wheat, oat, or barley fields as well as recently cut hay and cattle pastures. A covey will often hold for a pointing dog if the dog doesn't crowd them but they often flush outside of gun range when walked up. Mark where the birds go and walk up those that head toward "heavier" cover as they may hold until you get in gun range.
If you find Huns around fencelines, windrows and such they may let you get within shotgun range but that type of cover is increasingly rare, especially where one finds row crops like corn and soybeans. This is where most hunters find Huns as the hunters are typically looking for pheasants and Huns are an incidental opportunity.
Hun numbers and range have decreased a lot over the last few decades. It used to be common to take well over 30 birds a season across several states and provinces but now hard hunting will get a fortunate person half that number, if they concentrate in prime areas.
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Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 80
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 80 |
They just reminded me of quail on steroids. I like to hunt them and I like eating them. I usually found them when hunting pheasants.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,119 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
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I have a lasting memory of Huns in the late ‘80’s or 90’s that impressed me of their hardiness. As to remarks above, cover in NW Iowa is scarce in winter. It was during a blizzard during that time and I was out, probably after pheasants. I was crossing some railroad tracks a mile west of my place when I noticed an amorphous grey-tan mass — kind of like coyote hide —that lay between the rails.
I actually had to back up to get a better look. It was a fairly big covey of Huns huddled in a circular manner about ten feet off my passenger side door. As visibility was probably less than forty yards, it wasn’t a very smart move on my part, but the 6” height of the rails apparently cut the wind enough that with their heads inward, it was enough. They were going nowhere for awhile. Probably WC of at least -10.
Tough, tough birds. Wonderful birds.
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Joined: Dec 2019
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Very nice! They are wonderful game birds. I miss them.
Keep trying. You won’t always miss😁 I appreciate woodmaster81’s input. We saw more than usual this past fall on the (drought stricken) Canadian prairie. The ducks there did not fare as well.
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 149
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Oct 2009
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In the early 80's, Wisconsin still had a Hungarian Partridge season in the NE counties. I never hunted them, but while working around different farms, I was always amazed how a covey would flush, fly a short distance, set their wings and glide into a short hay field and literally disappear. Haven't seen any in years.
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