How was the hunting in Iowa this year?

[BUCKY]

Wow,I had no idea how slow it could be in Iowa! You watch all the "experts" like Lee and Tiffany and the Kisky's and they pass up monster after monster and we get the idea there are nothing but these monsters in your state.It's good to hear from the real hunters out there.

[rascal]

My experience might be a little tainted, the land owner timbered the property I lease this year.  It really threw the deer for a loop as it was done over the summer.  Virtually no rubs or scrapes but I kind of expected that as well as the lower than usual deer sightings.  I did not however expect to see so many small does.  I saw fewer bucks but they were virtually in the same percentage that I am used to seeing.

[Mr.Vic]

Bucky, Last I heard about The first two so called, "Experts" is they own or lease a couple thousand acres Between here and there. Put lots of food plots on them,And you have attracted most of the area deer. Manage Bucks for a few years on it and BINGO, you have expert status. Take those acres away from them and make them hunt like 90% of Us Iowa Bowhunters and that Expert status drops down a notch or two. Same system alot of the guys who carry that "expert" status use.. Now show me a hunter who can harvest those Lakosky/Kisky size bucks out of Public hunting every year, and i'll kiss his B...ow.

[Bernie B.]

I agree with everthing that Muley40 said.  I hunt in NC Iowa about 20 miles from his area and the deer numbers are way down over here also.  Very few acres of CRP, too many does shot off in the past few years, and the deer really get hammered by the gunners.  As the corn prices keep going up, every acre of land will be used for crop production.  We also are really limited to the amount of timber in our area.  Remember Lee and Tiffany are hunting a huge amount of private land with lots of food plots to help hold the deer.

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

48# Spirit longbow
45# Martin Hunter recurve

We saw over a hundred deer when we went out to get my tree stand.  Most of them were on a golf course miles from any wooded corridor area. There were mostly groups of young deer where i hunt, two bucks.  which ran into protected land.  this was close to the last day of the season and the weather went bad after that, so I would bet that at least one good buck will be around for next year.

[Morning Star]

We have definitely taken a hit.  The antlerless tags have worked, and worked to well in a lot of areas from what I'm hearing and seeing myself.  This was the toughest season I've personally had in many years.

We are now into our late antlerless season.  To many of those nice old bucks get whacked if they have shed.  I've been hearing and seeing a lot of early shedding this year to.     :(       That's one of the reasons people aren't seeing the amount of big deer as in years past.

You still see pockets of good numbers here and there, depending on the property situation.  If you are hunting near the Hollywood area, you'll probably be fine.        
One thing to be mindful of though, is these limited access properties with large numbers of deer are getting to be a thorn in our side.  The farmers, insurance companies and non hunting public percieve these areas as over population issues and complain of them as such.  A member of the IDNR told me that is one of the biggest issues we face in the management plan.  He said that it will be tough to EVER eliminate the late antlerless season and rifles in the Southern two tiers of counties because of this issue.  So, you see a double edged sword.  

Sadly, the Des Moines Register put out an article recently that Iowa ranks second in the country for deer collisions.  What a bunch of BS!  
The insurance company spin is amazing at times.  They won't be happy until our herd is decimated.   I got a letter forwarded yesterday originating from the IDNR.  It was in regard to the Register article.  They are asking Iowa Sportsmen to get the word out so people know the real truth and there is a more balanced perception of what's happening in this State.

If you are from Iowa and care about our deer hunting, it's time to make yourself heard.  BTW, that letter I got forwarded was courtesy of the Iowa Bowhunters Assn.  If you're from Iowa and not a member, you need to be.  Nobody else is working harder to maintain what we have!

[Kelly]

Yes, the deer herd is way, way down but the age class of bucks is lowering. Very few over 4 and not man 3-4 year olds.

Biggest problem we have is the January Anterless season, which is going on right now, rifles can be used, is taking too many of the shed antlered bucks out of the herd. And if they are not shed before shooting they will be after.

[katie]

Originally posted by Morning Star:

If you are from Iowa and care about our deer hunting, it's time to make yourself heard.  BTW, that letter I got forwarded was courtesy of the Iowa Bowhunters Assn.  If you're from Iowa and not a member, you need to be.  Nobody else is working harder to maintain what we have!

Point taken.  I am guilty but will fix that now!

[Zbone]

" GOOD.............maybe this word will get out and we ( residents ) can get our hunting ground back from out of state leasers!!! "

23feetupandhappy - Oh no you just didn't say that did you?...  

[Altiman94]

If one were to frequent the Iowa deer hunting boards that are out there, you would find the very same complaints as many of us.  Less deer, more hunters, hardly any public ground.

I moved this year due to a job change.  I had high hopes because I moved from a county with 600 doe tags (Bremer) to a county with 2000 doe tags (Johnson).  One would think that means more deer right?

Definitely not so.  In the Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Coralville area most of the deer are within city limits.  The best way to get at them is to participate in the city hunts.  They even give out a buck tag if you shoot enough does.  There's some monster bucks in sub divisions as we all well know.

As for myself, it's the worst deer season I've ever had.  I'm within 5 miles of a 13,500 acre preserve of all public hunting land.  Mostly river bottom, marsh, sparse timber.  There are some DNR food plots and I think its 3500 acres of crop land.  10% of it is left for the animals.  Sounds like a dream huh?  Well I saw some decent numbers early in October, but as soon as the hunters came out in late October the deer disappeared.

Most of me not getting a deer this year was due to poor scouting, but the deer numbers are definitely down.  It's to the point now where fewer deer tags are being sold.  We will kill off our population of deer just like we did to the pheasants if we are not careful.

I feel Iowa's biggest problem is the non-availability of public land.  Alot of the private land is being leased up, so that pushes the rest of us to public land which overcrowds it.  Then, overhunting occurs and we see fewer deer on public land.

[Mr.Vic]

Altiman whats a Pheasant?  :rolleyes: , Lived in Van Buren County for almost five years and only seen one wild one while there. The most i seen while there was brought in by the Landowner i hunted on and released to hunt. Running the Roads here in southern Jefferson county coyote hunting and yet to see one. My friend that lives in Algona Iowa said this year the number of deer and Pheasants was nil. And the hunters numbers that bring in cash flow pheasant hunting in that area were way down. So your very right.

[Burnsie]

Seems like the Wensel boys continue to do just fine.

[Zbone]

As those alluded, it all depends upon how much land you can lock up…

One way to bring the numbers up on public land is to eliminate the early gun seasons, youth and inline muzzle-loaders, another easy one would be to make it so that all tree stands need to be removed on a daily basis or simply eliminate them on all public land.  I have heard of more than a few cases where hunters were shooting does and leaving them lay, justifying that they were taking live target practice for the good of the deer herd and the land owners. I left private land because of what was happening during the gun season, I found lots of does and yearlings left.  The land owner approved, since all he wanted was to get rid of the deer.  he let anyone and everyone on his land thinking that it would reduce his does, but the bowhunters only wanted to elbow everyone else out to keep the bucks for themselves and the gun drives were a disgrace to anything sporting.  So that leaves us with the goal of "locking up" land, that is just as discouraging.

[Steve O]

There are a   TON of big bucks getting shot during this late centerfire "antlerless" season in the southern two tiers of counties.  I have not looked this year, but last year there was a place on the website to look up the harvest.  It was disgusting the number of shed bucks AND button bucks shot.  Shamefull actually.  I sent a letter to the DNR director and contacted the Iowa Bowhunters, but as expected, the DNR does what they want, not what the hunters want.

[Yellow Dog]

12047 button bucks and 1007 shed bucks.

[Morning Star]

Originally posted by Steve O:
There are a   TON of big bucks getting shot during this late centerfire "antlerless" season in the southern two tiers of counties.  I have not looked this year, but last year there was a place on the website to look up the harvest.  It was disgusting the number of shed bucks AND button bucks shot.  Shamefull actually.  I sent a letter to the DNR director and contacted the Iowa Bowhunters, but as expected, the DNR does what they want, not what the hunters want.

Until the people who have limited access properties (leased or owned) get their herds in check, the political pressure on the IDNR will prevail and the late antlerless seasons will remain.  I'd put my life savings on that one.

[doug77]

pavan if your seeing this stuff I sure hope it got reported to the local game warden's . Yes theirs a lot of problems with Iowa's deer management and IMOH the late season center fire is the worst. The state has sold so many doe tags and now their used to that money and I can't see much change coming.

doug77

[RLA]

Here in MO it's the same story as Iowa, our MDC has sold our deer herd down the river. Anyone from any state, come on over and buy all the cheap tags you want! unlimited doe tag's $7.00 a peace. Yep, they like that money! It's not gonna get any better I'm afraid.

[Mr.Vic]

Money won't last them forever! Like the rest of things in this world. Get it now and forget tomorrow.