Iowa Bow Hunt

In '09 I started applying for a non-resident Iowa deer tag. I wanted to at least hunt there once, and experience what's considered to be one of the top deer states in the country. Their abundant deer population and good distribution of age classes provides for some of the best free-range whitetail hunting available anywhere.

Part of Iowa's management is restricting non-residents to about 3000 archery deer tags statewide. Due to extreme demand for these tags, it can take 4 to 5 years to be drawn. And worse yet, it's the most expensive whitetail deer tag in the USA....by far!

In order to help get the most bang-for-the-buck, my resident friend who owns a small parcel, also recruited his neighbor to allow us access to his land too. Although the total area was only about 80 acres, a late spring scouting trip revealed some great cedar-thicket bedding areas, and we even picked up a couple of decent sheds. I waited for the peak-rut time period, to make my bowhunting trip count. Notable in Iowa's management is that deer hunters may only use archery gear during the months of October and November. Commencing with the first Saturday in December there's a 5-day firearms season in which hunters may then use shotguns. This takes the bulk of hunting pressure off the herd while breeding is taking place. So the gun season was still 3 weeks away when I arrived on Saturday Nov 15th.

After hanging a couple stands that evening, we took a drive around the general area to see what kind of activity was going on. After the spectacle I witnessed that evening, I'd have to say that Iowa is a "Deer Disneyland". The rut was in full swing with scenes like this frequently visible around this rural area.

When going in to set up a tree-stand, we'd startled a doe nearby as she was being tended by a big mature 8-pointer. The doe bolted on seeing us, but we hoped they wouldn't go far, with the breeding frenzy that was afoot.

That spot was where I hunted on Sunday morning. Over the course of the morning, several deer passed by my stand. One was a decent young 8-pointer that I passed on. The stand was in a small shagbark hickory overlooking a small opening off the edge of a cedar thicket. Most all of the deer were coming out of the small gap in the cedars, dead center in the picture below.

For the evening hunt I moved to a different stand located in an open hardwoods area. This buck below came through at dusk, coming as close as 8 yards from my stand, then proceeded on to cruise for does. He was decent, but not really the type of deer that you come to Iowa for.

After the snowfall Friday night, the weather was getting colder each day. The snow and cold temps made for perfect hunting conditions, and creating lots of deer movement.

For the Monday morning hunt, I returned to the hickory tree stand. After first light, two different younger bucks cruised through, and a doe with fawns came by. Then at about 7:45, I heard a noise and turned to see a buck had slipped in behind me. It looked like the big 8-pointer from Saturday, and immediately I deemed him a shooter and got ready.

This stand was situated below the dam of a small lake, and it looked like he'd come down to the spillway pipe to see about getting a drink. Pic of the spillway and pool is below. But it was frozen solid and he soon came up from the draw and headed my way, offering a fairly close bow-shot of 20 yards.

The buck was mine and no ground shrinkage, just a good mature 8-pointer with a 20-inch inside spread, 5-inch bases, and the longest tine was 12 inches.

We later roughly green scored him at 145 net, which I think is pretty dang good for an 8-pointer.

So with the Indiana buck on 11/11, I'd been lucky enough to tally two P&Y bucks in 6 days! Never would have expected that, and may never repeat it, but it sure was a fun week while it lasted!

Thanks for sharing your adventure, Greg, Congrats !!

Great story and pics!!!! Thanks!!

Excellent buck! Congrats!

Sounds like a great week, congrats on the buck.

Great buck! Thanks for sharing.

Sweet !!!

Awesome year you are having.... Congrats!!!

SWEEET!
Congratulations Greg... another hoss!
Definitely a good season you are having bro!

congrats

Heck of a year Greg!

Congrats!

Congrats

Well done! And Iowa bow hunt is on my bucket list in the middle of the rut!

I'm right there with ya. I'd love to try Iowa at least once. I'm looking at doing a pre rut west-central Illinois bow hunt next year. It will be my first time hunting Illinois. Let's see what the hype is about. :-)

Congratulations! Yes, Iowa is amazing! I have hunted there 3 different years. The amount of deer they have compared to Indiana is unreal. Iowa is definitely God's country. My buddy drove around one evening and took photos of some many mature bucks it was unbelievable. I wish Indiana would pattern their hunting seasons after the state of Iowa!

I've been hunting in Indiana for 35 years and keep meticulous records. Between EHD and the over slaughter of antlerless deer we have unfortunately almost eradicated the herd. I guess that is the desire of the state DNR. I'm sure the farmers and insurance folks are happy. Me, a serious hunter, not so much.

Congrats Stick on another great buck.....

Excellent laid out story and great pictures, congrats!

I knew those arrows weren't done. Fantastic year for you.... Congrats!!

Great write up and pics.... Thanks for sharing!!!! Congrats

congrats, love reading your stories.

Very cool congrats on a very successful year

2 p & y in 6 days.....is say....he!! Ya.....udaman stick!!!

Good going Greg, "ride that wave"! People in Indiana who have not ventured to Iowa have no idea just how good deer hunting is there.

Iowa's goal is to produce so many whitetails that hunters can't kill all the bucks (not even dent the male population). Then they don't allow the general gun season until December. AND they have a very short gun season. The drawback of their season structure is deer drives. The normal gun hunting method is party hunting of family and friends drive blocks of land with standers placed to kill bucks ........mature bucks.

When I was there people didn't give a second glance at a dead buck until it was over 160".

Too bad they are now a CWD positive State, big deer reductions are on the horizon. They7 have a great deer biologist that will do her best to control the disease but, sportsmen in an infected area are not going to be happy for many many years.........