| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 24 OCT – 25 OCT 2026 | 2d |
| Window 2 | 31 OCT 2026 – 10 JAN 2027 | 72d |
As publishedRegular: Oct 31, 2026 - Jan 10, 2027; Youth: Oct 24-25, 2026
Rooster-only harvest; hens illegal.Evidence-of-sex (foot, fully feathered wing, or fully feathered head) must remain attached when transporting. Youth season (residents 15 or younger) is Oct 24-25, 2026, 1 daily/2 possession, no license required if accompanied by a licensed adult. Blaze orange required (at least one external garment, 50%+ solid blaze orange). Shooting hours 8am-4:30pm.
Iowa DNR's August Roadside Survey breaks the state into 9 regions and reports pheasant density for each every year. Iowa's best pheasant range has shifted historically between north and south as farming and CRP practices changed, but the 2025 survey (the most recent published) puts the northern tier, west-central/central Iowa, and southeast Iowa all at 20+ birds/route — the state's best densities — while southwest and south-central Iowa remain the lowest-density regions despite recent gains.
Iowa's pheasant season runs Oct 31, 2026-Jan 10, 2027 (regular), with a youth season Oct 24-25; roosters only, 3 daily/12 possession. The DNR's August Roadside Survey published its 2026 results September 1: pheasant came in at 23 birds/route, the second-highest count in over a decade, trailing only 2025's 20-year record (28.1 birds/route). That's still well above Iowa's own 10-year trend line — 2025's count was 41% above it, putting the trend at roughly 20 birds/route, so 2026 is running around 15% above it too, not a pullback toward baseline. DNR's pre-season weather-model prediction ('similar, might go up a little or down a little') undersold it slightly: winter 2025-26 stayed mild with no major snow events, extending the same favorable pattern behind 2025's outlier high rather than easing off it.
A second consecutive mild winter kept overwinter hen survival strong, holding the population well above its 10-year trend for a second straight year rather than reverting to it.
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