I'm wanting to hunt in Iowa next year and would like some info to help plan the hunt and save some pain from learning the hard way.

I went to the state web-site and see that you have to be drawn and apply for different zones for non-residents and I saw that the longest season is the late gun season from I think late Dec. to early Jan.

What zones have the most public land to hunt and might be a good choice for my first try. I saw that some zones have more quotas than others. Also I would need somewhere to stay, would like to rent cabin etc.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks John TN.

plan on some big deer.

John,
That late "gun" season is muzzleloaders only. there are good, big deer out there, but they get pretty scrambled after the gang-hunters get done with them. The Iowa deer-hunting culture is a bit odd by my count. Much of the two different shotgun seasons (spanning the first three weekends in Dec and the intervening weekdays) is done by large groups of hunters that surround a section and then drive it. After routing or shooting every thing in the area, they move on to the next spot. Deer are running every which way, so late season will find surviving big deer a long way from where they were before the gangsters went after them.

I'm not familiar with nonresident rules about zones and so forth. Resident rules are quite different. Areas that produce the most big deer are along the Mississippi River in the northeast, and the southern two tiers of counties.

Brent

John,

The first question would be, are you planning to hunt with, a bow, muzzleloader or shotgun? Next would be, are you a "trophy" hunter or just want to hunt? Do you want to "buy" a hunt, or just go on your own? I have lived here all my life, and as Brent said, there are a lot of party hunters out there messing around. I personally hunt alone, as I trust no one Check out a website called, www.iowaoutdoors.org. You can e-mail me at centerfire20@hotmail.com.

DGK

Brent, where are you in Iowa?

375hh,

I'm in Ames at the moment. I live north a little, out of town.

Brent

Thanks for the info Brent,

Looks like it would be dangerous to be in the woods during those drives. I have a friend that has hunted during the archery season and they have seen several good bucks, but all on the move and chasing does or just too far to shoot.

I was hoping to gun hunt to up my chances, so looks like if you could locate that long way off area you might have a chance in the late season. I'm like you I prefer to hunt one on one, but I don't knock the drive method, just not my cup of tea.

Is the rut completely over by the late season muzzleloader?

John,
The problem with the drive method it that it wipes out everyone else's hunting as well.

As for the rut, it's over. The normal rut is about 17 Nov. The secondary rut a month later. If there is a teriary rut, I can't detect it.

The best time to hunt in late season is during a major blizzard. The deer pack into predictable areas and are quite stalkable.

If I wanted to shoot a big buck really bad, I would either go for archery, or go for early muzzleloading (mid October ~9 days I think).

Brent

375hnh

I could hunt either with bow or muzzleloader, I would like to go after 140 class or larger bucks P&Y or B&C.

I have friends that have been on the pay hunts (both bow and gun) and so far they have been unsuccessful, after paying $2000.00 and up, so I would like to try on my own, as I hate to spend that kind of money and have nothing to show for it.

John,

Some good advice above and as a long time Iowa resident, my personal first choice would likely be archery, targeting the first couple weeks in November. That said, seems to me I heard somewhere that drawing nonresident archery tags is tougher than drawing nonresident gun tags. By the way, if you haven't applied before for a nonresident license and therefore don't have a preference point, your chance of drawing a tag might be around 50/50.

I differ from one reply above in that my inclination for muzzleloader hunting, if you are from weather-hardy stock, is to pick the late season, in particular I would pick the last week of the late muzzleloader season. By that time, deer have settled back to a more normal routine from the firestorm of the shotgun seasons. This back to normal movement is generally helped along by at least one very cold spell to “switch on†a need-to-feed mechanism. During this last week, if you can find one deer, you’ll find a whole herd and there is generally at least one big boy in the bunch. Scouting can be done much easier with the deer grouped up, bare trees, and with any luck some snow to make them stand out. For any county in the southern tier with the exception of the 3 or 4 furthest east by the Mississippi, getting permission on a bunch of ground shouldn’t be too difficult. I would certainly not make a plan based solely on public ground as I know for a fact you’d be welcomed on a good bit of private stuff. The farmers down there are a little sick of the overpopulation and crop depredation. When I went down last August on a scouting mission, I spent a couple hours in a local watering hole and had guys walking up to ask me if I needed a place to hunt.

My biggest problem with the early muzzleloader, especially since I hunt quite a bit in that southern tier of counties, is that normally 90-95% of the corn crop has not been harvested when that season occurs in mid-October. The deer get in these unpicked corn fields and lay down in the shade provided by the corn, right among the vittles, and have no reason to go anywhere else. And, it has not been uncommon the last several years to have mid-day temps in the 70’s during early muzzleloader season which further seems to cut down movement, not to mention making a tree stand vigil miserable with bugs. That said, having first poke at them with a gun is worth something, and if you have time to scout hard and long, it could be made to work out very well.

As for places to stay, virtually any little town in Iowa will have one of those drive-up-to-the-door motels tailor made for a hunter. Depending on what county you are in, there are also quite a few small state and county parks where you could camp – during bow season I tow my pop-up down and often have the entire camping area to myself.

I’m a map-head, so I’d be inclined to spend about $55 on a couple of information sources. Buy a publication called “The Iowa Sportsmans Atlas". For each county, it has a map with public hunting areas highlighted and gives some motel and camping information – the book is about $25. Decide on a zone, and then zero in on a county, and go to the Farm and Home Publishers website to order the plat book for that county – it will be about $30 and will have maps showing who owns what land and lives where. An invaluable resource.

If you need any more info, feel free to shoot me an e-mail. Good luck!

I second the Sportman's Atlas recommendation. Really quite essential and it has every road in the state to boot.

I believe I heard something about doubling the nonresident permits but not sure - caught the tail end of a radio news piece. Maybe it was doubling the price.

Much of Southern Iowa is locked up in deer hunting leases. At least that is my experience (limited). I have hunted Stephen's State Forest (two units) and seen lots of deer.

I rarely see the big boys running with the herds in the late season. Just my observation. Small and medium bucks yes, but the bigger they are, the more likely they are solitary or in bachelor herds around here.

Brent

PS. Hunting big bucks IN the standing corn is supposed to be very profitable for bow hunters. Never tried it myself.

Thanks everyone for the info, this gives me some in-sight and some options to ponder. I am map freak,and I like to look at aerial photo's as well.

Sounds like the draw is going to be my first problem to conquer,I don't mind hunting cold, I have bow hunted in West Virginia and actually it wasn't as bad as it is here. I know it's really cold up there, but the air is dryer.

You said that some private land might be available to hunt on, any counties to recommend?

I plan on taking a motorcycle ride to Iowa to do some looking and like you said talk to some local farmers, hopefully I can connect that way as well.

I'm looking forward for at least a chance to see or take a large buck, as we just don't have deer with the mass and size of horns of your deer, every-now and then maybe a 120-130 class but very rare, the hunters just won't let them grow and we don't have the agriculture that you do.

Thanks again and if you think of anymore suggestions feel free to e-mail.
jrbtn1@yahoo.com

John TN.

jhrod

Could you send me your e-mail address? Couldn't find it on this forum.

jrbtn1@yahoo.com

Thanks

John,

Some good advice above. When you head up this way, check out the Shimek forest in south east Iowa, usually good numbers of deer in that area. Check out the private land in the area around that. An awful lot of the private land in Iowa in becoming eaten up by leases though, it seems to be the wave of the future. Good luck.

DGK

Guess you can't blame the farmers, they make enough money hopefully to pay some taxes and get deer removed at the same time, when they lease.

Down here in Tennessee unless public-land most everything else is leased, even BoWaters Paper Mill land is all lease now and they own thousands of acres of land around where I live.

Like you said it's the wave of the future.

Did a little looking on the state web-site today. Looks like the first muzzle-loader is for residents only. Now my choices are archery, or the late muzzle-loader and I'm leaning toward the muzzle-loader.

I think my chances of being drawn might be better and I would love to hunt in the snow, as we get very little here and seems to never be during deer season. I can try this and maybe learn from it and then apply for another hunt later.

One other thing, on the equipment it said percussion and flint lock, do they allow the 209 primer guns as percussion? I plan on buying a new one, if not I still have my old inline to hunt with.

In-lines with 209 are indeed allowed. As one might expect insofar as Knight is based in Centerville, Ia. Scopes are also okay.