I've heard a number of people say that deer numbers are way down in most areas of Iowa and that quality is also beginning to suffer. How was it for you guys who hunted there this season? I'll probably draw a tag for next season. Just looking for a little perspective.
I have 2 points....it'll be alot better next year.
The deer population is down in my area and I've heard the same from all hunters and I've really noticed their were a LOT of bucks this year but we went through gun season so its a waiting game for next year. 1 property that I hunt and have hunted for the last 10 years and I am the only hunter on the propery the farmer asked me NOT to shot any does. I think further south the population might be better because for the big timber. Let's see what the boy's from southern iowa have to say.
doug77
1st time Not Bad :rolleyes: I saw bigger buck every day, just a matter of getting the right shot...Doc
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/tippit/Iowa%202010/Iowa2010018.jpg)
My brother lives in Iowa and he feels the numbers are way down. He has refused to shoot any does the past couple years, even though the DNR is encouraging it and handing out doe permits by the boat load. He believes the DNR is being influenced too much by the insurance companies and not by what the actual deer numbers are. He says the last few years of the shoot everything and anything mentality has decimated the deer numbers.
I have seen the same thing in my area in Kansas.
Deer numbers in general way down in Dad's area (he's near Albia, Zone 5). There has been a steady decline in both numbers of deer and overall quality of older bucks in general in that area since he moved out there - 12-15 years ago. He has been taking a significant amount of does from the property the last several years - as have been the neighbors - and, of course, the deer are hammered big time during the gun seasons - and the overall population is about right, in his opinion, but probably down 50% from the high point 10 yrs ago.
The more distressing part is the decline in mature bucks. That area is hit really hard by the "wannabe trophy hunter" types. Lots of TV crews and magazine writers in the area. Some of these guys are famous for hunting mature bucks until the last couple days then shooting "whatever" for the video camera. There are still plenty of younger bucks, and some older deer, but not nearly like it was 5-10 yrs ago.
Of course its all relative....if you are from an area with few good deer you will see better deer than you are used to, but it ain't the Iowa of 10 years ago.
Ryan
Im not in southern Iowa but am close. My two spots are within a mile of a river and I havent seen much decline in numbers. Iv heard of others that have said the same, theres good numbers next to the rivers.
QuoteOriginally posted by Ryan Rothhaar:
Deer numbers in general way down in Dad's area (he's near Albia, Zone 5). There has been a steady decline in both numbers of deer and overall quality of older bucks in general in that area since he moved out there - 12-15 years ago. He has been taking a significant amount of does from the property the last several years - as have been the neighbors - and, of course, the deer are hammered big time during the gun seasons - and the overall population is about right, in his opinion, but probably down 50% from the high point 10 yrs ago.
The more distressing part is the decline in mature bucks. That area is hit really hard by the "wannabe trophy hunter" types. Lots of TV crews and magazine writers in the area. Some of these guys are famous for hunting mature bucks until the last couple days then shooting "whatever" for the video camera. There are still plenty of younger bucks, and some older deer, but not nearly like it was 5-10 yrs ago.
Of course its all relative....if you are from an area with few good deer you will see better deer than you are used to, but it ain't the Iowa of 10 years ago.
Ryan
GOOD.............maybe this word will get out and we ( residents ) can get our hunting ground back from out of state leasers!!!
Plenty of deer left in Van Buren county. I will add however that I did not see as many really big bucks this season as I usually do. I'm surrounded by celebrities and persons who manage their deer herds for quality deer. Very little gang hunting takes place on properties near mine.
"Plenty of deer left in Van Buren county"
Good cause I have two point and that is where my buddy's farm is located! His farm house is on the Mazzura side of the line.
Yep, All the TV shows were headed to Iowa 10 years or so ago, to see what all the buzz was about. They were hunting Illinois and Texas before that, back during the infancy of quality deer management and managed food plots. I remember watching Bill Jordan saying "If you want big trophy bucks, come to Iowa" (paraphrasing) So they all started hunting southern Iowa. In 5 years time, folks were buying up timber left and right and leasing it out or running outfitter services, especially in Van Buren County. I had been watching the signs go up faster and faster since 1994. Next thing you know, someone hunts the Milk River and sees the number of deer and they all rush out west and invade the river valley. Uh-oh! I heard someone killed a big one in Kansas. Yeah they got big ones over there! ...and so it goes. Missouri is creeping onto the TV shows more and more too. I'm waiting for the day when the tag prices shoot up and are no longer available over the counter.
Deer numbers were down for us this year more than last year in our spots. I don't remember too many marks on the DNR report i fill out each year. And the ones we had were way small, like one to two year olds. We were lucky on one farm as we seen five real nice bucks. But they were coming out of ground tied up year after year to one or two people. My wife and a Buddie of mine both like to drive around and take Wildlife photos. And he usually covers half of Van Buren County's roads and comes up with ten to fifteen Record book bucks on film a year(150 up). Cheryl only got one in 40 days of road work. This year he got one nice buck photo and has gave up wasting his gas. Most of the gang i associate with has had the same concerns. Too little deer available on little available ground and all young. For the first year in many years we made a nice tag soup with four in the pot. My opinion is some will say there is a crap load of deer. But, where you seeing them? Me, Tied up land like out of state owners who only draw once in a while. Thus a haven for the pressured animals in the available ground. Leased land, or no hunting land. And assured they all have food plots to attract the deer when the pressure gets on. Looking at some of those places from the road and you see a majority of those deer are no older than 2 years old. Got to agree with Ryan, Iowa is no longer the Iowa i once knew. From no deer and all the open Land you ever wanted to hunt, To a good amount of deer and all the Land you could get permission to hunt, To now, few Deer and very little free land to hunt.
Deer herd noticeably down in my area of NE Iowa. Most CRP ground going into crop production while other good habitat being cleared for farm use. Add in several years of bloated doe tags and you have a recipe for disaster. The hunting is still pretty good, but not like it was 5-10 years ago.
NW Iowa (Woodbury County) had very good numbers. Saw more deer than ever this year. Part of that is because of more time hunting for me this year. Was fortunate to get over 90 hrs in the stand this year. A great season.
My land is divided by the Cerro Gordo and Worth county line, this year Worth county didn`t have any doe tags which was good, but overall the deer population here is way down, we don`t have the timber like southern and eastern Iowa, crp program is almost none excitant in this area every thing is in production and with $6.00 corn and prices getting higher because of the damand for ethanol it is going to get worse for the deer up here, the only thing that got worse this fall was more drive by shooters during the shotgun season and the late muzzeloader season,
This was the slowest deer season I have ever had. Night and day compared to last season. Like Vic said, most does (what I saw of them) were young. Saw very few fawns. The state biologist said that most does aborted last winter due to the weather being sooooo bad. Many farmers called into the DNR ths past spring worried about the numbers of dead deer found curled up under trees. I know many party gun hunters that did not tag out. They said that had not happened in 10 years. I think it is a combination of the doe only gun seasons and the weather last season.
I sure hope they come back next year. We are having a nice winter so far. Not a ton of snow. For now, no shooting does at our place. My archery tags went to waist this season:( Got a big boy with my patch and ball smokepole to make up for it. While I was gutting him, a 140 class 8 pointer walked up at 60 yards to see what was going on. We stood up and watched him for a few minutes. I had to wave and say "hi" to get him to run off. Strange, never had that happen before. Not to mention that after I shot the big buck, a small 2 year old 8 pointer came in and fed 15 yards in front of me for 15 minutes. I was sitting on the ground up against a blow down. Got some great pics of him on my cell phone:) He finally took off when my hubby came in to help me drag the buck out. Strange season indeed!
Good luck to everyone next season!
The Pope and young ten pointer that i was after all year, got run off by an idiot in a blue/green Blazer storming across the field,(public land) when it was 50 yards and heading my way. Considering the language that came out of his mouth in my direction, it showed his intent. I now know where he lives. You bet, I am still mad about it.
Iowa has sold doe tags by the truck load and it has caught up to them real fast we'll see what they do next year.I moved to Iowa in the fall of '99 and hunted starting in 2000 and what has happend in the area I hunt almost makes me sick to my stomach. A few years back It wasn't uncommon to see 4-6 150" plus bucks during the rut this year I saw 1. Lets hope for a change at least in some areas.
doug77
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
QuoteOriginally 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!
" 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?... :goldtooth:
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.
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.
Seems like the Wensel boys continue to do just fine.
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.
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.
12047 button bucks and 1007 shed bucks.
QuoteOriginally 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.
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
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.
Money won't last them forever! Like the rest of things in this world. Get it now and forget tomorrow.
I thought NJ was bad!We have some zones that have unlimited does with the shotgun and muzzleloader till the middle of February! I'm bowhunting one of these zones and let me tell you I do not see so many does to warrent the unlimited taking.It's all about the money in alot of states.
QuoteOriginally posted by Yellow Dog:
12047 button bucks and 1007 shed bucks.
How can the DNR live with themselves with data like that?
They have taken out over 13,000 bucks during "doe" season???
I am due for a tag this year, and numbers like that every year since my last tag in 08 do not make me very optimistic the hunting will be as good.
AND while we are discussing this,I would love to hunt with my friends in IA every year and be happy to shoot a doe to do that in return for drawing a buck tag every few years, but again, the DNR has punished the honest law abiding sportsmen because some poachers were taking advantage of that and shooting bucks on doe tags.
Sure wish they would punish the criminals...
Northern Wisconsin has the same mess, doe tags given out like candy, bait and shoot everything. I grew up hunting the North woods, seeing/taking a lot of deer. Our camp is hard pressed to put even a couple deer on the pole anymore.
Shooting Iowas big bucks!! Purchasing land against Iowas parks and large sections of land, and planting large food plots on them to draw the deer in. Ha ha that that doesn't take much skill. That is what I call bought and paid for bucks. Look at the big names that have move to Iowa to hunt deer. If I plant twenty acres of corn and leave it stand hell yes the big bucks will come. We support it by calling these people hunters. Do you want a list of some of the rich that have moved to Iowa to hunt this method. Just watch a few hunting shows. Its sick.
Steve, those harvest numbers are for all seasons, not just the special doe seasons.
During the 2009-2010 season there were 2235 shed and 15619 button bucks REPORTED. Hard to tell how many killed are actually reported.
The total harvest is down this year...but that should not be a surprize. That's been the goal for some time.
Our numbers are down certainly in central Iowa...but still plenty of deer and I saw more good bucks then I ever have.
Couple of neighbors have decided to stop shooting does to self regulate. Wish they'd do the same for the little bucks they're shooting. Seems most people just want to see a lot of deer.
Some quotes from the article "THE IOWA PRESCRIPTION" our deer biologist Tom Litchfield wrote recently.
QuoteIowa's deer herd has always been managed by social tolerances and not by biological carrying capacity considerations.
QuoteThe quality of Iowa's deer herd and being known for "big bucks" also can create issues and desires that can negatively impact the population. One issue that is becoming more common is for recreational landowners to implement practices designed to attract and hold deer. However, too often such properties overlook one all-important component; an adequate doe harvest. The result is higher than average deer densities, impaired herd quality, and reduced public acceptance of deer due to conflicts (agricultural producers, highway collisions, etc.). Increasing a property's attractiveness to deer also demands an increased responsibility to density management. Being a good neighbor and maintaining acceptable deer densities that promote herd quality and public appreciation of the resource should be a primary goal. The mistaken belief that success is only possible when pursuing undisturbed animals or the fear that someone may shoot "my buck" are not valid excuses for ignoring this responsibility.
The deer hunting we have known in the past may very well be in serious jeopardy. The DNR's hand is being forced from powerful lobbying sources like Farm Bureau and insurance companies.
Yep, pretty soon, they will magically find TB and CWD and then the slaughter will really get rolling! You Iowa Bowhunter guys are the only voice out there. Keep at it!
All of this is very discouraging. We experienced very similar problems in Illinois when our DNR started the late handgun season. Then pretty soon it became an "all weapons" anything goes season. The buck quality and herd dynamics went down in a matter of two years of this. Unfortunately, they keep adding more gun days, and the herd is unable to bounce back. Iowa has historically had the best deer management program of all whitetail states. Seems like most people were very happy with it. Makes you wonder why they don't leave it alone if it aint broke! Hopefully officials in a number of good whitetail states will realize the mistakes being made and correct them.
Departments have been assigned to operate at a profit. This will probably spread to every state. It cultivates a system of false science and false data to achieve the agenda. Considering everything else that is going on, it is to be expected that this management method would get into the DNR as well. The next thing will be security checks before we can get hunting licenses, we will need to walk through naked body scanners to hunt on public land and be forced to give blood samples on request from anyone connected to the state. All the while news outlets are allowed to call us 'crackers' like Tim Mathews did on 'Hardball'. If it ain't broke, it needs fixing until it is broke. When it gets to a point where we are told to sit down and shutup because our voice doesn't matter, we will know that something other than sound game management principles are running the show.
Part of the issue is that our DNR doesn't know what's best for the hunters. They are out to make their lobbyists happy. They've killed off the pheasant population, most of our rabbits are gone, quail are gone. Now I guess they are working on the turkey and deer. Sounds like we need some change huh?
The last set of pheasants I saw were at our in laws farm. There was a group of 5 or 6 that would be out in the field almost every day picking at the open grain. Keep in mind these pheasants were 250-300 yards from the road. One day my wife and I were relaxing in our house (we lived across the gravel) and heard gun shots. Then I see a truck screaming off. I went outside quickly and picked up 6 spent 12gauge shells off the road. They were well within 200 yards of both houses and shooting at pheasants over 250 yards away. Not honestly sure what they were doing. I wish I could have gotten their license plate #.
The over harvesting needs to stop. I think the DNR should start to get the point since deer tag sales are down. Less deer are harvested, less people are hunting mostly due to the poor population. I won't personally quit hunting, but it's discouraging some days.
At least you have some deer to start with, after this winter ,I doubt we'll have any left in most of N.D. !!!!!
Glad to see a lot of people concerned about Iowas deer herd. "Departments have been assigned to operate at a profit." Great statement!! Recreational hunting land being bought more and more. Its all about the revenue fellas. My best advise for your future and our children and grand children is to buy land!! I talked to guy from Montana and him and his brother moved here several years ago too easten Iowa and bought land to escape the same problem in Montana and Now we have it here.
The problem with buying land in Iowa is that you guys are past the top of the bubble and sliding down as far as deer hunting goes, but on top of the price bubble for recreational land. The guys that paid $300-500 an acre will still be OK when the deer hunting goes completely to crap - and that will be sooner than later - but the guys paying $2000 + an acre will be getting the Big Banana when the crash comes. There are easier ways to lose your money than "investing" in hunting land in Iowa right now.
Its a crying shame what is going on out there, heck here too and all over the Midwest. I wish they never invented "The Book" for scoring deer. That is a legacy that is burning us bad right now.
R
There are many good people in the DNR, we have a great biologist in Tom Litchfield. I kind of hate these type of threads, to many comments from people who don't take time to get the whole picture and all the facts from the real sources.
Pressure comes from the top down. By the time it gets to our biologist, he has his hands tied. Make some sort of a compromise or get replaced. The guy who'd replace him would be put into the same situation. Chief Wildlife Officer - Dale Garner once said at a meeting I was at, "If we are getting our asses chewed the same amount from each side....we know we're about right in our decisions.
I can tell you, Litchfield and friends would much rather manage for the resources than social tolerances.
It is up to us to do our part in the political arena, we need to off set the ass chewing into our favor.
We do NOTHING on these internet threads other than make fellow hunters aware. You want something to change, join your State bowunting association and start communicating with legislators.
I wish they never invented the video camera for all those back slappin yahoo huning shows.
QuoteIts a crying shame what is going on out there, heck here too and all over the Midwest. I wish they never invented "The Book" for scoring deer. That is a legacy that is burning us bad right now.
:thumbsup:
Yeah I want to see a list of big named hunters that moved there to hunt
I have seen a sure and steady decline in both the number and quality of deer here in SE Iowa. I work outdoors almost every day of the year and live out here with the deer. Make no mistake-it is changing and changing fast. Unless we as hunters make our voices heard here in Iowa, the slaughter (and it is a slaughter fully endorsed by our DNR and state legislature to appease the insurance and farming interests) will continue. The number one thing that needs to be eliminated from Iowa is the legal method of party hunting during shotgun season.