Iowa

Check out the latest info for Iowa. Image by Rich Waite

Season Dates (2024):

Bow season has two splits, Oct. 1 to Dec. 6 and Dec. 23 to Jan. 10. There are two shotgun seasons, Dec. 7-11 and Dec. 14-22, followed by a late muzzleloader season Dec. 23-Jan. 10. There are also youth seasons, resident-only early muzzleloader seasons, and special holiday seasons. Check the Iowa DNR WEBSITE to confirm.

The Grade: A

The quality of whitetails found in Iowa is nothing short of legendary. Tightly restricted hunting pressure and short, late firearms seasons help keep it that way, although Iowa’s expansive farmland is ideal whitetail habitat. It can take non-residents several years to draw an Iowa buck tag, and when you can get one, they’re expensive. Antler Nation’s grading system takes into account tag availability, hunting pressure, trophy potential, available public land and other factors when assigning a grade. Even though Iowa has some knocks against it, it’s difficult to argue that an A grade isn’t well deserved.

Iowa hunters can expect more than a few changes for 2024. It’s now illegal for non-resident hunters to “party hunt.” Each hunter in a group must now possess his or her own deer permit. Party hunting is still legal for residents. There have also been some new antlerless harvest quotas implemented in certain counties. Several straight-wall rifle cartridges are also now legal during shotgun seasons, although this change is a couple years old now.

Antler Nation Knowledge:

Iowa hunters enjoy good odds of tagging a really big buck almost anywhere in the state. But there are two obvious hotbeds: southern and eastern Iowa. Southern counties such as Appanoose, Marion, Monroe, Van Buren, and Warren have solid reputations. Unfortunately, these are also some of the areas hit hardest by recent bouts with EHD. In the eastern region, Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Jackson, Jones, Linn, and Winneshiek counties crank out a lot of deer. Don’t overlook other Iowa counties, though. Just because they don’t rank as well doesn’t mean they don’t produce. Looking at Iowa, practically the entire state lights up with record-book entries.

Examining the Iowa DNR website reveals public ground is evenly distributed THROUGHOUT THE STATE. State forests make up the largest percentage of opportunities. However, there are additional options, including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, wildlife management areas and some federal ground.

Also, don’t overlook the IOWA HABITAT AND ACCESS PROGRAM (IHAP). It offers more than 20,000 acres of private land open to all hunters. Many of these are smaller tracts of land but still harbor good hunting opportunities. The key is to hunt these as soon as they enter the program. When people learn of them, hunting pressure quickly follows.

The Iowa DNR also makes planning easy and does a great job tracking the deer harvest and offering detailed information to the public. Use its online databases to observe HISTORICAL AND REAL-TIME HARVEST REPORTS, as well as quota limits for SPECIFIC AREAS. These tools can help you plan your next out-of-state Iowa deer hunt.

“Compared to most other Midwestern states, Iowa is unique in that only about 5% of the state is forested,” Elliott said. “The remaining natural landscape consists of upland prairies, pothole wetlands, and early successional cover. While most deer hunters look for big sections of forest to hunt, white-tailed deer are a generalist species that can thrive in a diversity of land cover types. Iowa is a place where hunters can find great luck by getting creative and hunting often-overlooked areas, using ground set-ups.”