PROVIDED PHOTOS Mike Stegmann likes to make life-like taxidermy mounts of game birds. At a recent Iowa Taxidermist Association conference held in Des Moines earlier this month, Mike secured the Masters Division Best of Category Waterfowl for his mount of a male White-winged Scoter Sea Duck and Best of Masters award for his ring-necked pheasant. Mike started his hobby, now turned business, in 1995 but only went full time in 2023. Attention to detail of each biological specimen is critical to creating a preserved mount to exquisite quality.

If you love wildlife and waterfowl, and have a passion for creating art work to preserve those outdoor adventure moments, then a skilled taxidermist is what you need to have contact with. Mike Stegmann fits that billing perfectly.

His work is proven by consistent results of the highest quality. Ducks and geese may be his specialty. Wild turkey and pheasants are on his list also.

Stegmann dabbled in taxidermy attempts during his early teen years but never followed through until adulthood. He first entered competitions in 2002. His work improved and his techniques of learning how to improvise those improvements allowed him to graduate into the masters division in 2005.

Every year is a learning experience and every mount is a chance to make it better than the last one. Patience and practice prevailed.

During the recent Iowa Taxidermist Association show, there were a total of 118 entries for judging and display. This number is an increase of 30 over 2024.

Specimen animals ranged from exotic big game, fish, reptiles, mule deer and white-tailed deer, elk, ducks and geese, and wild turkey, pheasants, quail and many others. The show is a great opportunity for members, not just from Iowa, but many surrounding states, to compare their works. Judging is accomplished by other taxidermists who are well noted for their expertise and attention to detail.

Contact Stegmann at his work number 641-691-7127 for special projects you may have in mind. The outdoor world of adventure, many times carried out while hunting but not exclusively so, are creative in the minds of those who enjoy time spent outdoors at nature’s best locations.

Outdoor adventures are meditative and thus of great value to the person who is enthralled with wild things in wild places. There is no way to put a dollar value on every outdoor experience. Your interest can only be judged by you.

To many who read this column, I know your valued time outdoors is very high. A good thing indeed.

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A few special comments about Stegmann’s sea duck, the White-winged Scoter. Scientifically, its name is Melanitta fusca. It can be found along the California coast and then northward to Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska.

Summer range is interior Canada, Alaska and the Yukon. It is a large duck, 21 inches long. The male has almost all black plumage. Its orange bill has a black knob at its base. A white crescent shaped patch can be found below its eye.

In flight, the male has white trailing edge wing feathers. Its legs are set way back on its body so it is a great underwater swimmer with a not so graceful gait if walking on land. Since the introduction of an invasive species, namely the zebra mussel, white-winged scoters have been observed on Lake Ontario.

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Pheasants are common game birds in many locations of North America. This author’s travels on back roads allow observations of many critters from time to time.

Ring-necked pheasants fit this category perfectly. Obtaining good quality long lens photographs is not so easy.

I try anyway and sometimes I get lucky if a bird feels hidden by tufts of grass. Iowa pheasant seasons have an interesting history.

In 2025, outdoor organizations will celebrate 100 years of hunting the ring-neck. The very first season began in 1926. It was a two day season.

Later the season was extended to seven days. In 1933 it was open in counties where at least 150 petition signers asked for it, mostly in north central Iowa 13 counties. Even then a three bird limit existed for half day hunts beginning at noon until sunset.

Shooting times back then were somewhat “experimental” in that opening earlier was felt to interfere with farm chores in the morning hours. Later years tried sunrise to sunset shooting hours. Finally in 1966 the standard time of 8 am until 4:30 p.m. was established that still prevails now. A look back at history tells us how the conservation commission learned from experience and as the new sciences of wildlife management grew, adapted to facts and habitat projects to enhance pheasant populations.

According to Todd Bogenschultz, upland research biologist for the Iowa DNR, “it is surprising how ultra-conservative seasons were early on, when staff of the conservation commission was fielding complaints that perceived pheasants as doing crop damage. Back then, the new sciences of wildlife management and biology were gaining ground in how habitat affected populations.”

Data revealed that a longer season was justified for pheasants since roosters were the only legal bird to take. The start date has been set as the last Saturday of October and ending on Jan. 10 of the following year.

The start date is late enough that most farm crops have been harvested, and the end date of Jan. 10 is still early enough to avoid the bulk of time of winter snow and intense cold. Female pheasants need to survive the winter in good cover and where food can still be found easily without exposure to too many predators.

Hen pheasants produce one successful nest per year. Quail may have up to four successful nests per year. Since hen pheasants are a one and done nester, it is important that they be given the best habitats possible. Organizations such as Pheasants Forever stress the need for and work with landowners to improve food plots and native grasses.

Hunters like consistency in season dates and lengths. A late start season ensures that young of the year roosters are fully feathered to allow for easy identification of them from hens.

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Prairie Chickens are another big game bird. However this one has protection from hunting. Its biggest hurdles seem to be nuances of habitat specific factors that are not fully understood. Iowa attempted for many years to re-establish prairie chickens in Iowa’s Ringgold County and the next county south in northern Missouri.

Resource departments from South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas contributed birds for stocking in what was thought to be a representative habitat area. It worked, kind of, but in the end, not so well. The attempt to see the population grow did not come to fruition. Decreases in the prairie chicken population continued.

The effort was noble, but a reality is recognized. A once active Prairie Chicken Day has been cancelled for 2025 and into the future. Partners in this experiment were the Iowa DNR, and natural resource agencies from Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri and the private conservation organization The Nature Conservancy.

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This scribe will end with these notes about other wildlife sightings. One notable bird was a Pileated Woodpecker that came to my suet stack at my residence.

I was able to capture a few images with my long lens. I will share those images in a future column.

Additionally, while driving on West Summit street road and still within the city limits of Marshalltown, a coyote crossed the road in front of my vehicle. I did not get any photos of this sly predator.

Turkey vultures have returned to the airwaves. Wild turkeys are common in last year’s corn fields as they seek out waste grain, and Bald eagles on their nests are doing what they can to increase the population of this avian bird of prey.

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005