MN Pheasant Beginner

[yfarm]

Please explain your comment. I intended no nuance. I've lived and hunted pheasants in Iowa my entire life and ditch hunting is 100% legal.

Please see the attached straight out of the regs. The only ditches that are not public are on private lanes or roads, which should be a no-brainer. If you re-read my post I also emphasized multiple times that the OP should consult the MN regs.

Born and raised in Iowa, family has farmed in NW, Central and SE Iowa for multiple generations. I can tell you most farmers despise road hunters despite what the DNRs regulations are. We see them at dusk creeping down the roads at 5 mph, spotting deer in the fields. Rifle barrel sticks out the window, bang deer down. Next day get a phone call from the local dnr says hunter wants to retrieve animal that ran wounded onto our property. Same thing shooting pheasants on the ground just inside the fence. Had the dnr set up deer decoys, caught 3 different groups, seized their guns and trucks plus fines. This is what the farmers see, not a guy walking a roadside ditch. Makes you pretty hostile when a guy knocks on the door for permission to hunt.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Born and raised in Iowa, family has farmed in NW, Central and SE Iowa for multiple generations. I can tell you most farmers despise road hunters despite what the DNRs regulations are. We see them at dusk creeping down the roads at 5 mph, spotting deer in the fields. Rifle barrel sticks out the window, bang deer down. Next day get a phone call from the local dnr says hunter wants to retrieve animal that ran wounded onto our property. Same thing shooting pheasants on the ground just inside the fence. Had the dnr set up deer decoys, caught 3 different groups, seized their guns and trucks plus fines. This is what the farmers see, not a guy walking a roadside ditch. Makes you pretty hostile when a guy knocks on the door for permission to hunt.

There are always going to be bad guys out there, and I've seen the same thing myself. The old "i got a wounded buck that just ran onto yours, can we go get him" excuse is rampant everywhere. They have no right to go get the buck with a weapon, and when you say yeah, you can go retrieve him without a gun, usually they go fly a kite.

None of this changes the fact that road hunting for pheasants is legal, and effective, when done properly in Iowa. If farmers don't like it that's tough. I own 14 acres with 10 in grass myself and manage another 110 for a relative. No, I don't like it when guys creep by. However, as long as they're not shooting within 200 yards of my place or doing anything else illegal, I'm fine with it, because I've been the guy with no private to hunt and no dog.