I have lived in Blackhawk county, Iowa for the last 47 years and have seen the pheasants dwindle around here for the last 25 or so. The last year I went,1996,I went to Otter Creek marsh with 2800 acres of wonderful habitat and we saw only one bird and 2 sets of tracks. There was 4 inches of fresh snow and tracking would have been easy.Big Marsh north of here was the same. Prime,managed habitat and no birds. I used to take off work every time we had a fresh snow and usually had a limit, or the chance to limit, every time I went. I had no dog and just trailed them in the snow. Very exciting and great exercise in the tall grass and brush thickets. I can remember seeing flocks of,I am serious, 75 or 100 birds with a large percentage of cock birds.No more and my buddy, who is with the state DOT, reports very few sightings and he is out on the roads every day doing maintainence.
