If you want to save the expensive nontox stuff, you don't need to use it on the Walk-In areas. You can shoot lead on those. State public land, virtually all federal land (Waterfowl Production Areas), you have to use nontox. But the National Grasslands are also OK for lead.
Read the trespass laws carefully if you hunt road ditches. Some years they are quite productive here in Iowa, and legal to hunt as long as you observe a 200 yard safety distance from any building housing either people or animals. You can also cross onto private property to retrieve a bird you shot from a road ditch, but you have to leave your gun behind.
This year, the Iowa pheasant forecast shows us to be the only major pheasant state with declining bird numbers from last season. And last season was not very good.
