Iowa’s youth pheasant hunting season will be held Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22 and 23, with resident-only youth age 15 and under able to experience the first flush of rooster pheasants of the year. Youth hunters can hunt the weekend without having taken hunter education courses. They do not have to purchase a license or habitat fee, but they must be under the direct supervision of a licensed hunter 18 or older. The following Saturday, Oct. 29, nearly 60,000 hunters are expected to take advantage of opening weekend of the regular pheasant season. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) August roadside survey has predicted Iowa pheasant hunters can expect to have good hunting this fall with five consecutive years of higher populations and hunter harvests recorded. Regulations for pheasant hunting are unchanged. There is a limit of three roosters per day, 12 roosters in possession and hunters are required to wear one blaze orange piece of clothing. The pheasant season remains open until Jan. 10.
