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I am convinced that most people from Iowa really do not get it when it comes to the whitetail hunting and what Iowa has compared to other states. I know I lived and bowhunted in Iowa for nearly 30 years and I had no idea how good I had it until I moved to Minnesota in 2001.

A year and a half ago, I started a website for bowhunters that want to travel to places like Iowa for bowhunting road trips (bowhuntingroad.com), and I know have readers from across the eastern half of the US... it is exploding, with more than 10,000 unique visitors most months now. People that hunt in states that do not have the quality of hunting that is found in Iowa are absolutely enamored with the hunting you have in Iowa. Most Iowans just take it for granted but believe me the rest of the US doesn't!
 
Agree with above. Educated Hunters from Michigan flee that state's hunting like they are trying to get out of Communist China or Russia!!!
 
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I don't think most of "US" take it for granted. That's why we voice our opinions when someone wants to change the laws. We like what we have and want to protect it.

Mobile Cooter using IW

Agreed, and my point exactly. The reason it is good is because of how it is now. You change it and it will be no better than any other state.
 
I don't think most of "US" take it for granted. That's why we voice our opinions when someone wants to change the laws. We like what we have and want to protect it.

Mobile Cooter using IW

I know I took it for granted, but didn't realize I had taken it for granted until I moved away back in 1997 and had to spend 2 years in Texas where I had no access to private land (no $$ to pay for it) and then moved to Arizona where I had access to millions of acres of public land, but so did thousands of other hunters. I certainly wont say MOST Iowans take what they have for granted. I think there is a good mix of folks back home (because Iowa is still my real home) that do take it for granted because they have never had anything else and then there are those who have ventured to other states to hunt and realize just how good they have it. Either way, a resident should absolutely want to protect what they have. We went throught this a handful of years ago in AZ when NR outfitters sued the AGFD over the 10% cap on NR tags for big game. I won't lie, I'm an AZ resident hunter and I feel I deserve a chance at a tag before a NR does every single year, especially with our lottery system.

I will also freely admit that I've kicked around the idea of buying land in Iowa so that WHEN I get drawn back there again, I will have my own piece of land that is managed how I want it to be. Do I think I deserve a tag every year to come back and hunt (even a doe) if I become a landowner (even if I'm not)? Absolutely not. Do I have a couple of buddies back there that I trust to manage and oversee things for me in between years I hunt? Absolutely, including 1 good buddy with 2 rotten kids that I love to death (and 1 kid too young to be rotten, yet)! :D

Bottom line for me is that residents (no matter what state you live in) should always fight for their rights as resident hunters first and foremost, but they should also understand that NRs will want to come to their state once in a while. And when it comes down to it, if a NR truly hates their hunting situation, then they should consider moving to another state with better hunting before trying to change the laws of another state to suit their needs.
 
I know I took it for granted, but didn't realize I had taken it for granted until I moved away back in 1997 and had to spend 2 years in Texas where I had no access to private land (no $$ to pay for it) and then moved to Arizona where I had access to millions of acres of public land, but so did thousands of other hunters. I certainly wont say MOST Iowans take what they have for granted. I think there is a good mix of folks back home (because Iowa is still my real home) that do take it for granted because they have never had anything else and then there are those who have ventured to other states to hunt and realize just how good they have it. Either way, a resident should absolutely want to protect what they have. We went throught this a handful of years ago in AZ when NR outfitters sued the AGFD over the 10% cap on NR tags for big game. I won't lie, I'm an AZ resident hunter and I feel I deserve a chance at a tag before a NR does every single year, especially with our lottery system.

I will also freely admit that I've kicked around the idea of buying land in Iowa so that WHEN I get drawn back there again, I will have my own piece of land that is managed how I want it to be. Do I think I deserve a tag every year to come back and hunt (even a doe) if I become a landowner (even if I'm not)? Absolutely not. Do I have a couple of buddies back there that I trust to manage and oversee things for me in between years I hunt? Absolutely, including 1 good buddy with 2 rotten kids that I love to death (and 1 kid too young to be rotten, yet)! :D

Bottom line for me is that residents (no matter what state you live in) should always fight for their rights as resident hunters first and foremost, but they should also understand that NRs will want to come to their state once in a while. And when it comes down to it, if a NR truly hates their hunting situation, then they should consider moving to another state with better hunting before trying to change the laws of another state to suit their needs.

:way:..........
 
Threads like this are like the movie groundhog day. You wake up and it's the same thing over and over.

Nonresidents complain about buying land and not being guaranteed a tag. Residents complain they don't want the flood gates opened to NRs buying up land and making it even harder to find a place to hunt.

I wish the NRs would fight to change things in their own states so they wouldn't have to buy land out of state to hunt. Why do so many states continue to have gun seasons during the rut? Instead of complaining on this forum send a few letters, emails, etc to you legislators, DNR and try to improve your deer herd.

:way: Smart post here.

How about every time this pops up all of us resident hunters call up/write the legislators/DNR from which ever state the complaining NR landowner is from...
 
I don't think most of "US" take it for granted. That's why we voice our opinions when someone wants to change the laws. We like what we have and want to protect it.

Mobile Cooter using IW

I agree, well said. Virtually every Iowa deer hunter that I know does not want to exclude NR's so much as they don't want to see regulation changes that would lead to a significant reduction in the quality of the Iowa deer hunt and/or their access to it.
 
Bingo

Threads like this are like the movie groundhog day. You wake up and it's the same thing over and over.

Nonresidents complain about buying land and not being guaranteed a tag. Residents complain they don't want the flood gates opened to NRs buying up land and making it even harder to find a place to hunt.

I wish the NRs would fight to change things in their own states so they wouldn't have to buy land out of state to hunt. Why do so many states continue to have gun seasons during the rut? Instead of complaining on this forum send a few letters, emails, etc to you legislators, DNR and try to improve your deer herd.

Bingo. I live in Illinois and our deerhunting has become a money market. I have hunted public land here for 20 years and it really really sucks. Wall to wall nonresidents putting pressure on the bucks beginning October 1st. Any shooters are completely nocturnal well before the rut. My work requires travel and I've hunted over 20 properties across the state. They are all the same.

This year I am finally biting the bullet and burning my 4 Iowa deer points to have a REAL bowhunt. Not a ghost hunt. Wasted my last 4 years here trying to sell myself that it was better to stay here where I have 2 buck tags for $26/each. Wrong! Scouted 4 days this spring and have 4 new public properties with over 50 trees ID's that are all better than anything anywhere on Illinois public.

Stay the course on keeping nonresidents out! 6,000 is enough! Any more and they will ruin your quality statewide. Guaranteed from someone who knows!

I also totally agree that us NRs need to fight to change things in our own states. The one good thing about Illinois is we do keep the guns out of the rut. Our problem is the OTC nonresident tags. I have done everything I can as far as writing letters to legislators and visiting site managers to restrict nonresidents. They are addicted to the dollar signs like cocaine. Not exaggerating. That is the impression I got during my last site manager visit. But I'll keep fighting.

Anyway, I hope Iowa continues to do what they are doing, and I am happy to wait in line to bowhunt there every 3 years.
 
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Stay the course on keeping nonresidents out! 6,000 is enough! Any more and they will ruin your quality statewide. Guaranteed from someone who knows!

I also totally agree that us NRs need to fight to change things in our own states. The one good thing about Illinois is we do keep the guns out of the rut. Our problem is the OTC nonresident tags. I have done everything I can as far as writing letters to legislators and visiting site managers to restrict nonresidents. They are addictd to the dollar signs like cocaine. Not exaggerating. That is the impression I got during my last site manager visit. But I'll keep fighting.

Anyway, I hope Iowa continues to do what they are doing, and I am happy towait in line to bowhunt there every 3 years.

Well said, Zim! Thanks for helping make NRs look good and responsible and that there are NRs who get it. Your last sentence sums it all up nicely.
 
AZHunter, Do you recognize me from the MonsterMuley or CouesWhitetail sites? I see you are a wildlife biologist there in AZ, but I didn't see your name posted. I got to learn some of you guys out there due to my involvement fighting HB2072.
 
Bingo. I live in Illinois and our deerhunting has become a money market. I have hunted public land here for 20 years and it really really sucks. Wall to wall nonresidents putting pressure on the bucks beginning October 1st. Any shooters are completely nocturnal well before the rut. My work requires travel and I've hunted over 20 properties across the state. They are all the same.

This year I am finally biting the bullet and burning my 4 Iowa deer points to have a REAL bowhunt. Not a ghost hunt. Wasted my last 4 years here trying to sell myself that it was better to stay here where I have 2 buck tags for $26/each. Wrong! Scouted 4 days this spring and have 4 new pubic properties with over 50 trees ID's that are all better than anything anywhere on Illinois public.

Stay the course on keeping nonresidents out! 6,000 is enough! Any more and they will ruin your quality statewide. Guaranteed from someone who knows!

I also totally agree that us NRs need to fight to change things in our own states. The one good thing about Illinois is we do keep the guns out of the rut. Our problem is the OTC nonresident tags. I have done everything I can as far as writing letters to legislators and visiting site managers to restrict nonresidents. They are addicted to the dollar signs like cocaine. Not exaggerating. That is the impression I got during my last site manager visit. But I'll keep fighting.

Anyway, I hope Iowa continues to do what they are doing, and I am happy towait in line to bowhunt there every 3 years.


Well said. It's nice to see some people get it. :way:
 
NRs

I can tell you exactly how long it would take NR's to ruin the public land there if the floodgates were opened...................one archery season. That is it! I've seen it at a few of newly opened public properties here. They were wastelands by the 2nd year opened. Not exaggerating. It doesn't take much to turn them nocturnal or dead.

The NR's would have stands on all the private land borders and even those would suck, polluted by bootprints.

I actually had more fun SCOUTING Iowa properties this March than I had ghost bow hunting all last year here in Illinois. Really. Maybe because I know I would draw this year due to having 4 points.

I loved that little steakhouse in Albia. Was surprised to see a news article about it last week when I was working in SE Wisconsin.
 
Iowa

I can tell you exactly how long it would take NR's to ruin the public land there if the floodgates were opened...................one archery season. That is it! I've seen it at a few of newly opened public properties here. They were wastelands by the 2nd year opened. Not exaggerating. It doesn't take much to turn them nocturnal or dead.

The NR's would have stands on all the private land borders and even those would suck, polluted by bootprints.

I actually had more fun SCOUTING Iowa properties this March than I had ghost bow hunting all last year here in Illinois. Really. Maybe because I know I would draw this year due to having 4 points.

I loved that little steakhouse in Albia. Was surprised to see a news article about it last week when I was working in SE Wisconsin.

I'm not sure if you read this post? No one is asking for more tags to be used on public land. I brought up the issue of NR landowners having no doe management options with archery, or youth tags...far different than what you are talking about.

Neither would hurt the quality of hunting in Iowa, if you think I'm interested in jeopardizing the quality of hunting (as a landowner) you are very wrong.
 
Yes I chimed in the thread midstream. I would not be opposed to some add'l NR doe permits at some point. But any additional NR antlered tags issued in any capacity will automatically trickle down to more pressure on the public land. No question about that.
 
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Cooter; two posts now in regards to rich man...that I am not.
Are you are part of obamas bash someone who makes a decent living and spread the wealth... Ridiculous
 
"Ok that changes this year then next year it will be this one other little thing and so on and so forth.

If not that it will be someone else says hay you change this for them what about me."

Yup, absolutely. They will never have enough. Never. That is what is ruining hunting out west too. Take AZ HB2072 the attempted midnight rape of 350 primo big game hunting tags. The special interest groups want more and more and more. Utah now auctions off 500+ of the best of the best trophy tags. That is on top of landowner tags, stolen from the public pool.

Landowners want entitlements.

Outfitters want entitlements.

SFW wants entitlements.

Who else?

They will never stop asking for more.

Check out Colorado. The landowners are going to take 5% more of the public hunting tags next year across the board. From 15% to 20%.

Some states like Arizona give no entitlements to landowners. I consider Iowa & Arizona two of the very last holdouts and I pray for a miracle and they are successful long term.
 
NR's

Actually I wish some sportsmen's orgs would push to reduce the Iowa NR quota and eliminate the celebrity tags just to counterbalance the proponents of expansion. Ultimately it seems the legislators always "compromise" on issues. I'd rather have the "compromise" be to leave the current NR quota as is, not compromise a 4,000 increase to only 2,000, or something. Anything over 6,000 in any way, shape, or form will crap up the existing public.
 
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ANYONE can own land if they want it bad enough.

You might not be able to drive newer vehicles.

You might not be able to buy a new bow every year.

You might not be able to eat out much.

You might not be able to live in the house that your wife dreams about.

There will be many sacrifices, but if the desire is there, it can be done.

A few will do it, most won't.
 
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It doesn't matter if you own land or not. Quality should be maintained on public land. It should not be thrown under the bus.

Some folks are robbed of their hard work and land by entitlement spouses and liberal redistributons of wealth by the state who loves to pass entitlement bills but doesn't want to pay the resulting welfare.
 
I'd say fact of the matter is you can afford to own land in a different state than where you reside and be able to afford to 'manage' it which means multiple trips throughout the year, pay for the gas, the NR tags, the payments, the gear/equipment you are very well off. May not be rich but are doing much better than your typical U.S. citizen. If you like the quality of hunting our state has to offer don't try to change the regs. Zim, AZhunter, and a few other NR have made great posts and reasons about why Iowa is good, it is because of how the regs are now! Change them and we are no differen than any other state. Changing one thing will just be a domino effect and will to another and another and so forth. Rally with other like minded hunters in your home state and change the regs there, don't come here and do that.
 
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