Pope County Hunting Report

DEER

The 9 day slug season opens on November 8th here in Pope County.  The weather is expected to be cold, so the deer will probably be active.  Deer numbers are on the increase, however, many hunters feel that we could support more deer.  The late corn harvest might make hunting difficult in some areas.  Whitetail deer adapt to standing corn, because it is not only a source of cover and food, it is very difficult to hunt.

According to the local hunters, there are some nice bucks in the area.  Many bow and gun hunters set out trail cameras to determine what type of deer are on their property.  The timing of the gun season should result in some rutting activity and as is the case every year, a few trophy deer will be harvested.

PHEASANTS

The number of pheasants in the bag is down slightly this year.  A cool and wet spring resulted in a poor to average hatch in our area.  There were a lot of birds that carried over from last year, so the hunting is still pretty good.  Pope County has a lot of public land and there are good numbers of pheasants on both the public land and several private land owners have planted CRP and windbreaks for pheasants as well.

Once the corn in gone, the hunting will be better.  As the weather turns colder, the heavy cover (cane/cattails) will be where the birds are!

DUCKS/GEESE

As of early November there are quite a few geese in the area.  Duck numbers are scattered.  Some diver ducks have moved in, with a few pockets of mallards as well.  The big lakes and sloughs can be very good in the late season.  Watch the weather, if a cold front moves in, the hunting can be very good…

Kurt Amundson