Anyone hunt Iowa as a non-resident?

[slayer1]

How difficult is it to obtain a license and a tag? I have a friend who has relatives in zone 9. They have about 3000 acres they said we could hunt. Does anyone know how the deer hunting in that zone is? Anyone who has had experience with doing the non-resident thing in Iowa please chime in with advice.

[fireman_3311]

Slayer1...You can apply online, or via an 800 number. The Iowa DNR site has all the info you need. I don't have any advice for Zone 9, I have only hunted Zone 4. It took me 3 yrs to finally get a tag last fall! Good luck to ya, here's a link to the dnr site...

 http://www.iowadnr.com/

[slayer1]

Fireman, how did you do? Did you see many deer?

[fireman_3311]

Originally posted by slayer1:
Fireman, how did you do? Did you see many deer?

My bro in law and I were up there for the 2nd week of Oct...we saw, from the stand, 12 bucks that were PnY quality and above, including a MONSTER of a 10 pt, that would easily go BnC..I went back the 4th week of Oct, only saw 2 keepers, bro in law went back 1st week of Nov, and killed a mid 130's 10 pt, I killed a busted up buck, Thanksgiving weekend, and filled my doe tag the 2nd of Jan. I hunt and live in central Mo, in Saline County...the hunting I do in Iowa is wayyy better, than I have here, on my spots in Mo!!! Mo has some awesome bucks as well, but they're closer together in Iowa!!!  Here's a couple of pics, from last fall's take!!! The buck COULD have been my first droptine buck, but that late in the year, he'd been fightin quite a bit!!!

 

 

[thp]

let's put it this way, last night my 9 year old daughter and I did drive around the block doing a little turkey scouting.

I said to my wife when we got back, "well, we didn't see any turkeys.  But we saw a few deer."

"pffbt!  We only saw 11 deer."  said my disappointed daughter who is used to seeing much larger groups of deer...

[thp]

sorry, a little immodest braggin' on my home state.

oh, but if you're a rich guy intending to tie up a bunch of ground with exclusive leases etc... there ain't no deer left in Iowa... they've all gone to MO and IL     :D

[slayer1]

thp, do you know anything about the Cresco area. This farm is about a mile south of there. Its only 3000 acre's know that is pretty small compared to a lot of farms there. Do any members live close to that area that could offer some input?

[Morning Star]

That is a terrific part of Iowa to hunt.   Did you mean 300 acres, because it's rare to see privately owned farms that large?  3000 is huge.

[slayer1]

Morning Star: This land is owned by a buddies wife's family. I am pretty sure he said there were 3 separate tracts of 1000 acres each. I could be wrong though. We are trying to plan a trip on a budget. They said we could camp in one of the barns. They have a wood stove and bunks, and could use the house for showers. I know we probably wont be drawn this year(from what I hear) but I figured we could start planning as far in advance as possible, so as to be prepared. I have wanted to hunt Iowa for as long as I can remember, I sure do love that part of the country. I would move there tomorrow if my wife would let me -LOL.

[Morning Star]

Sounds like you've got the making of a nice trip, in a good area to boot.

[thp]

I don't know much about the Cresco area, but I agree with Morning Star.  Sounds like you've got a dandy of an opportunity.  3000 acres of hunting land is fantastic.  

Be sure to check out the IA DNR website in order to get your non-resident tag

[slayer1]

Thanks for all the replies. It may be 3 to 5 years before we get drawn....but hey, it will give us something to look forward to.  

[fireman_3311]

Yea, 3000 acres of private ground, is NOT small!!! Put in for that tag, I highly recommend it!!! Good luck, and let us know how ya do!!!

[varmint]

Scott,

     If you don't want to put the full tag price on your CC,and wait for a refund after you find out you haven't been drawn,you can buy preference points now.I bought a pref point last year,and will get another this season.Hopefully will gaurantee me a tag for the 2008 season.You can buy a pref point over the phone as soon as applications for tags are being taken.Cost is about $15-20......

[JohnV]

You will likely need 1-2 preference points to draw a bow tag.  Gun tags are a little easier to draw.