Lots of birds. A few birds. No birds.

Your success over the opening weekend of pheasant season hinged on where you hunted. Good cover; especially grassy set-aside type acres, and nearby corn stubble increased your odds. Standing corn, or lack of grassy cover, meant you worked a lot harder. "I checked maybe 85 to 90 hunters (Saturday) across Johnson County. It was real spotty," offered Kyle Jensen, conservation officer for the Department of Natural Resources. "Some groups would have one bird; then there would be a couple hunters with three."

The south side of the Hawkeye Wildlife Area, near North Liberty, looked like a parking lot, as shooting time (8 a.m.) arrived on Saturday. I was riding with Jensen for the day. We counted 30 vehicles stretched along several miles of gravel. Three or four campers had settled in, also. All but four or five vehicles had Johnson or Linn County plates.

Late morning, area hunters here were struggling to match the harvest expectations brought on by the summer's 10-year high pheasant count. To be fair, though, there was standing corn just a few wing-beats away in any area where we talked to hunters. "Shoulda been here at 7:30," laughed one hunter as we checked his group, south of Tiffin. "About 35 or 40 pheasants ran out of the grass there and into the (standing corn) field. Most were roosters."

Still, that group of eight had popped three birds by 10 a.m. Jason Dykstra and two friends each held up a rooster, as they leaned on a tailgate. "We were coming to the end of the field. They were usually running at the end of the field," Dykstra explained. "This one got up and all three of us shot at the same time." That bedraggled bird was no longer a taxidermist's dream. The other two almost sparkled, though; russet, bright red, black and white in the sun, while the three teenagers beamed.

Actually, hunting activity was tailing off as the clock ticked toward the Hawkeyes 11:10 kickoff. Several hunters said they'd be back later that day, or on Sunday.

It seems obvious, but bears repeating. Just about every hunter with a pheasant had a dog-or dogs-on hand. "She's only 1½ years old, but she did well for her first time out," said Mike Majerle, praising the big yellow Lab, now back in the truck. "We saw a lot of birds this morning (near the Oxford wells on the Hawkeye area). They weren't always close enough to shoot; but we've seen birds down here. They're in the weeds, the CRP, heading toward corn. We had a real good day hunting."

But the glowing reports this year point to northwest Iowa. Summer roadside counts were up 73 percent, in a region that had the highest 2002 counts anyway. Even there, opening weekend success was so-so, fair or great…depending on your spot. "The number of hunters was about the same (as '02)," relays DNR officer Gary Koppie from Palo Alto County. "I did see quite a few limits." Koppie has a variety of wildlife management areas in his county. "Hunters were doing real well in the grassy areas; near food plots. It was very dry, though. Birds were scattered."

Next door, in Emmet County, Officer Rich Jordet was almost ready to direct traffic. "I talked with hunters from 14 different states; California, New Hampshire, New York, Texas. Everybody had birds. I saw a lot of limits." That opening weekend success might be short-lived. "All the corn is down here. That really concentrated the birds for these opening days."

In Woodbury County, Officer Steve Jauron says hunters didn't have a lot to show for their efforts; at least for the opener. "There were low numbers here. I don't understand it. (It seems) some have moved off to the northeast. A dozen hunters Saturday and Sunday, with good areas to hunt, had a less than a bird apiece. There is a lot of standing corn left here," he acknowledged. "It was pretty windy, too, on Saturday."

But hunting is not just about putting birds in your game vest. Back in Johnson County, Jensen and I ran into a group of Ohions who make the trek each fall. John Bowling, of Dayton, was back for his 34th year. For him, it's vacation. "Oh yeah. We spend quite a bit of money. It's not a cheap trip," agreed Bowling. "Over time, we got to be friends with Harvey Yoder. We come back every year, just to see him and to hunt. If we do any good, that's just fine. If not, that's okay, too."

As the rest of that corn comes out, there will be many more days like that, before the January 10 close.

A warning here. A ticket there.

For the most part, the weekend activity was trouble free, as Kyle Jensen patrolled Johnson County in his first season opener here as a DNR conservation officer. "I had one citation for an uncased gun in a vehicle on the roadway. Other than that, I checked a lot of hunters. Everybody's been real polite and law abiding."

The most trouble he encountered was with illegal ATV operation. Two riders, southwest of the Hawkeye Wildlife Area walked away with tickets, after trying to outrun him on gravel roads. Three others, including a woman followed by an 8 or 9-year-old girl on a separate four-wheeler, received verbal warnings. "You can't operate one on a public road. It has to be for farm purposes (it wasn't) or you have to ride on private land or in the ditches," explained Jensen.

Of more concern, were two instances of kids hunting with little or no supervision. One was a 12-year old, with his seven-year old brother stumbling behind him. Though the older boy had taken hunter education, he still needed either a license or a licensed adult with him. Jensen's concern, though, was the trailing sibling. "With no hunter orange, as an officer, it makes me want to let them know how much safer it would be with hunter orange and knowing where each other was, during the hunt."

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