2025-26 deer season change wish list

[iowaqdm]

Iowaqdm— please don’t lecture me, I’ll bet $1000 I’ve got way more kids into hunting than you have. With 4 boys of my own, their friends and dozens ever year on group Pheasant Forever youth hunts.

What kid passes a 150 on his first hunt? Cmon ? Unless he was told he had to …

The 1 buck limit would have no impact on youth hunting! Youth hunters like to hunt and if they shoot a buck they can still chase small game, pheasants, waterfowl, or maybe fall fishing ?
If kids enjoy hunting, they will make it a lifelong sport !

I’m not lecturing anyone. My son knew what deer we were going to pass before season started. He enjoys going through trail cam pictures. So he knew which deer were off limits. He also knew which deer were fair game. He has taken bucks with gun in prior seasons so it was far from his first deer or first hunt.

You might want to be careful who you bet $1000. I too have 4 kids and have introduced them and several of their friends to hunting. I too have helped with PF youth hunts for 25+ years for what was once the 3rd largest PF chapter in the country. I have served on the banquet committee. Our chapter has raised 50k-100k at our banquets going clear back to the late 80’s. I have also helped with our local county sportsman’s club youth pheasant hunt. I also helped start the first SYC group in Iowa and helped set up and guide youth deer and turkey hunts for them. Plus helped run their fundraisers. I can tell you that PF youth hunts don’t do crap as far as recruiting life long pheasant hunters. I bet less than 5% take it up. That is being generous. I have also started and helped coach a youth trap team with 60 kids per year for 10 plus years. I can tell you less that 5% of those kids keep shooting once they graduate. Regardless of how good they shoot. So introducing kids to something and them taking it up and continuing it life long are two very different things. But I am not here for a pissing match.

I’m here to see that we keep the DNR funded, crossbows out of regular bow season and non resident tag quotas where they are at. Those have been the issues we have been successfully fighting for 20 years with the IBA’s help. Getting side tracked with things that don’t matter doesn’t do any of us any good.

Having said that you will most definitely have an impact on youth and adult retention by going to a one buck State. I guarantee it. And condensing seasons by taking days away for no reason will also impact retention because nobody likes to show up to hunt a place and find a vehicle or two already in the driveway.

More importantly you will hurt the DNR’s revenue. Because every bowhunter I know buys a late muzzleloader tag or shotgun tag. So that will lead to significant revenue loss for the DNR on top of the decreased doe tag sales due to the population being down. I can guarantee the DNR doesn’t care about your 180” buck but they do care about their budget and keeping FB off their back. Once the DNR runs short of money they will go after more NR tags because it is a lot of “easy” money that is being left on the table every year. The legislature is not going to pony up any money for the DNR’s budget and when there is no other option the legislature will increase NR tag quotas.

That will lead to increased leasing and land purchases by outfitters, increase recreational ground prices and land fragmentation. All of which are really bad for the quality/age structure of Iowa’s deer herd.

I recommend you guys quit pushing for things that wont do anything to help our herd but will only hurt us down the road. Stay focused on the real threats to our deer herd quality and hunter recruitment and retention.

Thanks for introducing kids to hunting and being passionate about the sport. I can assure you we have more things in common than not.

 

[iowavf]

Why do you want to end season Dec 31st vs Jan 10th? Some people only hunt late muzzleloader. So they haven’t been hunting for three months. So this years it was Dec 23rd through Jan 10th. Those that hunt it also have to work around Christmas and New Years holidays. If they work and had family commitments on the holidays then they only had two weekends or four days to hunt. You think four days is excessive and just too much?

Some only hunt first season shotgun, many of those only hunt two of the five days.

Some only hunt second season shotgun with most only hunting four of the eight days.

Some only bow hunt. I would be surprised if most licensed bowhunters hunted more than 10 days a Fall.

Deer season may last three months but most hunting takes place on weekends or holidays unless someone takes vacation to do it. Most are not die hards so they don’t do it every chance they get.

So most deer/deer herds or private properties in general are not hunted solid for three months. Most private land sees minimal pressure maybe two or three days a week during certain seasons and public varies on location and habitat.

So what is your reason for stopping season Dec 31st? Because you have deemed it enough or too much?
You said no one is stopping you from going afield and sitting without a tag. Look maybe 1/1000 people would go sit in a cold tree stand just to watch the wildlife. If you have a kid ask them when they get home from school if they want to go sit in a stand tonight and watch deer.
I just asked my 9 year old when we were walking from school to our house in the cold wind if he wanted to sit in a tree stand tonight and watch deer. He just laughed and said “no”. He knows season is over. Not worth freezing if there is no chance of getting something. I asked him if he had a tag and could hunt tonight would he want to go? Without hesitation he said “Yes”.

You said “Literally no one is taking away time to “be outdoors””. Well you would be taking away 10 days of someone’s time to be outdoors late muzzleloader hunting if you closed Dec 31st.

I would like to hear why? Because the argument of three months of solid hunting may sound like a good talking point but is total BS other than maybe a few pieces of public property and a few pieces of private that are basically open to everyone. Those pieces may see heavy pressure. However, most of the deer on those pieces have relocated to other private property by Christmas. Closing season Dec 31 won’t help you kill a bigger buck or help the deer herd in general. By late muzzleloader most of the deer have relocated to private property with food, cover, and low to no pressure. It won’t make any difference other than condensing hunters to less days on both private property and public thus decreasing their experience.

This is my season of choice as of now. I used to get a doe tag for the 1st season, mainly just to be able to hunt, and yes I could party hunt and use my brother's tag if needed and get an any sex tag for late ML. The county eliminated doe tags and made 1st season shotgun buck only, I'll just go late season. I don't bow hunt, but get the feeling a lot of the ones complaining about shorter seasons and stopping the season December 31st do. I personally don't think we'll see the numbers back to where they were several years ago because we've lost habitat every year to farming, industry and urban sprawl and mother nature added her way to thin the deer out. I do like the one buck, no matter what method you hunt is a good thing, even after the numbers start coming up and two bucks for landowners.

 

[Rjack]

This is absolutely the only way to truly be a one buck state. I personally don’t think it’s necessary to go to one buck yet but that’s a whole other subject and I do understand the possible advantages. I do have a lot of respect for this tho. Anything other than one buck for everyone is the equivalent to our government passing laws that they don’t have to follow. Multiple bucks for the lords and only 1 for the peasants will go nowhere. Rightfully so.


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You do realize landowners already get an extra buck tag right now. So, is it lords and peasants now?

 

[booneriverbucks]

You do realize landowners already get an extra buck tag right now. So, is it lords and peasants now?

Believe it or not I actually do realize that. HUGE difference tho. Right now if I was a non-landowner I could shoot a buck October first with a bow and still continue to plan/scheme/ look forward to whatever I enjoy with deer hunting all the way until January 10th. Whether it was gun or late muzzleloader/bow season. My season was not over the second I flung an arrow October 1st. Huge difference from what is being proposed. Might as well just call it the one buck rule for everyone else but not for me.


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[Hardwood11]

If you improve the quality, you will have more hunters (youth & adult) excited about the season and buying tags!

 

[iowaqdm]

If you improve the quality, you will have more hunters (youth & adult) excited about the season and buying tags!

That is another fallacy. Even if there was a 180” in every square mile south of I-80 you won’t be able to increase license sales in a one buck State. That is because of access. The guys that have access have it and those that don’t won’t get it. Only guys with a place to hunt will buy more tags. But not in a one buck State. The guy with a set up farm that fills his tag Oct 1st now has a sanctuary for the rest of the season. Zero pressure. As ground gets harder to access each year the guys with the land become more protective. If they are watching the population decline and the habitat around their farm decline they will be even more protective of their land and the herd. Access is the main driver of hunter participation and why people quit. You can take a new kid hunting on your farm every year but if they don’t have a location to go the next year they will quit. That is why the average age of hunters goes up every year and has for the last 20 years despite hunter recruitment efforts. The only way to increase license sales is to increase the population and allow those with access more tags. Period.

 

[OMB]

I keep seeing two things, both here and on social media:

-"we need to move a one buck state" Ok great, but Iowa historically has not been that. Party hunting during gun season has been an accepted practice since before most people on this forum have been alive. Do you think the majority of hunters in Iowa outside of this website would support your position? The annual end of season survey says no. The "Golden Age" of Iowa deer hunting had party hunting, what changed?

-"straight walls need to go" Please post the ballistic trajectory tables between a 45-70 and a 12 gauge slug through a rifled barrel. Heck, throw in the 350 Legend. It's all the same for the average hunter.

I know this hard to accept, but what we experienced in the year 2000 is never coming back. We had too many deer, the habitat wasn't all ripped out for 4 more rows of corn, and the population of the United States was 50M lower.

There's not a Booner around every tree, and yelling at some kid or adult online about shooting a buck that's not up to your standards isn't going to change that. This is all about a small but vocal minority of hunters getting upset that somewhere, somehow, there's somebody shooting a buck that isn't up to their standards.

 

[tall@wide]

If a one buck limit cannot be passed at least limit everyone to 2 bucks max. Landowners being able to kill 3 is too much. I know sometimes this is good for highly managed farms and taking culls, but overall, 3 buck tags is too much. Also, who gets a landowner tag needs to be tightened. Getting your young son or daughter a landowner tag is ridiculous.

 

[MN Slick]

I heard an relevant anecdote on podcast the other day. A guy that has hunted the Amana Colonies ground, which I believe is over 20,000 acres, said they made it one buck per hunter about 20 years ago. He said there used to be a number over 170 taken every season prior to one buck. He believes it's because of high grading. With one tag, guys now wait until a good one shows up, which is often a 3 or 4 years old with potential, and let the "managment" bucks walk. Back in the day they would take a management buck knowing they could still hunt. Interesting......

 

[Hardwood11]

That is another fallacy. Even if there was a 180” in every square mile south of I-80 you won’t be able to increase license sales in a one buck State. That is because of access. The guys that have access have it and those that don’t won’t get it. Only guys with a place to hunt will buy more tags. But not in a one buck State. The guy with a set up farm that fills his tag Oct 1st now has a sanctuary for the rest of the season. Zero pressure. As ground gets harder to access each year the guys with the land become more protective. If they are watching the population decline and the habitat around their farm decline they will be even more protective of their land and the herd. Access is the main driver of hunter participation and why people quit. You can take a new kid hunting on your farm every year but if they don’t have a location to go the next year they will quit. That is why the average age of hunters goes up every year and has for the last 20 years despite hunter recruitment efforts. The only way to increase license sales is to increase the population and allow those with access more tags. Period.

What’s your suggestion, since you’ve been critical of every possible change that anyone has brought it? Do you ever think “hmm 25 guys are suggesting this, but I’m against every one of them”

The guys on here are not amateurs? Let’s see your list and post something that can actually happen, not unrealistic changes?

 

[1boonr]

all they have to do to keep revenue the same in a one buck tag scenario is to put the price of that one tag the same as what the 2 buck tags would have cost. i am for going to 1 either sex tag for everybody. I want to Make Iowa Great Again and am willing to give up my landowner tag to do it. i came here from Illinois because i watched that state go down the tubes.

 

[iowaqdm]

What’s your suggestion, since you’ve been critical of every possible change that anyone has brought it? Do you ever think “hmm 25 guys are suggesting this, but I’m against every one of them”

The guys on here are not amateurs? Let’s see your list and post something that can actually happen, not unrealistic changes?

I don’t think any change to season dates (Sept youth, Oct 1-Jan 10th) and no change to buck tags (1 bow, 1 gun, 1 LO)

Things I think would be nice:

I think doe tags need to be significantly decreased (like 75% decrease) in most county’s to help population rebound.

No January Antlerless season

I think NR tag quotas should be decreased by 35% but the price doubled to help offset the decreased revenue from doe tags sales. Plus that should help decrease NR land ownership pressure when it takes 5-7 years to draw and it should decrease outfitter leasing pressure.

Get rid of governor tags.

I think late muzzleloader should be just that. No handguns, AR pistol or smokeless muzzleloaders. I’m ok with crossbow during late muzzleloader if it keeps them out of regular bow. But would rather they be restricted to 65 and older or with medical for both regular bow and late muzzleloader

State put a $10 bounty on raccoons and coyotes

I would like to see the CRP reduction taken off and the $300/acre max removed to incentivize more CRP enrollment statewide.

 

[QDM]

I heard a relevant anecdote on podcast the other day. A guy that has hunted the Amana Colonies ground, which I believe is over 20,000 acres, said they made it one buck per hunter about 20 years ago. He said there used to be a number over 170 taken every season prior to one buck. He believes it's because of high grading. With one tag, guys now wait until a good one shows up, which is often a 3 or 4 years old with potential, and let the "managment" bucks walk. Back in the day they would take a management buck knowing they could still hunt. Interesting......

I’d be interested in listening to that podcast…can you post a link to it? Thanks

 

[Hawk32]

Similar to Iowa qdm but my twist. In order for my top 5.

1. Reduce doe tags in most counties by 50%. I think even 50% is a pipe dream.

2. Keep NR tags as it is. No reduction, no increase, and no exceptions for current landowners.

3. Get rid of governors tags.

4. 2 buck state. One bow and one gun season. No LO tags. Doe tags only for LO. I’m sure this won’t fly with many but could be some middle ground. I own ground fyi.

5. Eliminate sharing of buck tags during the 2 gun seasons. You use the any sex tag that’s in your pocket. Can only share doe tags. Again probably not a popular idea but a compromise on the sharing of doe tags would be used for potentially population control.

 

[newfarmer]

I think a lot of people like the thought of eliminating party hunting (use your own tag)- but let’s be honest- how do you patrol it? I mean really the only way you can is to eliminate group hunting right? You shoot a deer, you’re done. No more pushing for the group? A group does late muzzleloader here and they keep hunting because “coyotes”…

 

[JBAGS]

Reducing doe tags is great to try and rebuild the heard numbers, but just lowering tags for does only is going to upset the already off doe/buck ratio some guys already have, IMO. Most people shoot a buck with their any sex tag, and I would guess vast majority don't shoot a doe at all during season while hunting. If you cut doe tags by whatever %, I think you will further imbalance the ratio. I realize this won't be everyone's scenario, but I think areas that have good populations of deer, will have issues with it.

I am also in favor of doubling the cost of the NR tag, or at least a big jump. This will weed out people who aren't too serious about going on an out of state hunt. If you raised it $500, that's $3mil in revenue for the 6000 allotted tags. This would also cut the wait time down as not as many people would put in.

I like the small bounty on raccoons or yotes, that may help get more people on board to tackle the booming populations

Keep crossguns out of bow season

I think a small amount of govenors tags that get raffeld off for a good cause is fine. The celebrity type tags to "promote" the state, gotta go. Last thing Iowa needs is more promotion.

 

[hillrunner]

Similar to Iowa qdm but my twist. In order for my top 5.

1. Reduce doe tags in most counties by 50%. I think even 50% is a pipe dream.

2. Keep NR tags as it is. No reduction, no increase, and no exceptions for current landowners.

3. Get rid of governors tags.

4. 2 buck state. One bow and one gun season. No LO tags. Doe tags only for LO. I’m sure this won’t fly with many but could be some middle ground. I own ground fyi.

5. Eliminate sharing of buck tags during the 2 gun seasons. You use the any sex tag that’s in your pocket. Can only share doe tags. Again probably not a popular idea but a compromise on the sharing of doe tags would be used for potentially population control.

On your#4. I don't have an issue with it but how much impact will that have? I'm sure some abuse it to its max but none of the landowners I personally know are killing 3 bucks. I have never killed 3 and only killed 2 one time. Maybe I'm not normal though.
Would the land owners 2nd tag still be floating? I think that floating tag is a lot more consequential than most realize. I could have hunted any and every good front this season. If October would have had a good cold snap, I bet you'd of seen a lot of early muzzleloader bucks killed on land owner tags. Some years we get a brutal cold snap in early December, I would have been able to hunt that too. Not having to pick a season is a huge advantage.

 

[JBAGS]

On your#4. I don't have an issue with it but how much impact will that have? I'm sure some abuse it to its max but none of the landowners I personally know are killing 3 bucks. I have never killed 3 and only killed 2 one time. Maybe I'm not normal though.
Would the land owners 2nd tag still be floating? I think that floating tag is a lot more consequential than most realize. I could have hunted any and every good front this season. If October would have had a good cold snap, I bet you'd of seen a lot of early muzzleloader bucks killed on land owner tags. Some years we get a brutal cold snap in early December, I would have been able to hunt that too. Not having to pick a season is a huge advantage.

I agree. I think a floating tag is dangerous for that reason. You can pick all the good times to hunt because you know you have a ton of season for that tag. Guys would jump out for early muzz if the weather was good, when previously maybe they wouldn't even have a tag for it.

 

[iowaqdm]

I would be 100% behind getting rid of party hunting. There is no reason or need for someone else to fill your tag. I was just glad to see the NR loophole finally being closed. If we could get rid of it altogether great.

If you got rid of handguns and AR pistols during late muzzleloader that would make pushing deer and filling tags much more difficult. But while your at it dump the crossbows and smokeless muzzleloader from late muzzleloader season as well.

 

[iowaqdm]

On your#4. I don't have an issue with it but how much impact will that have? I'm sure some abuse it to its max but none of the landowners I personally know are killing 3 bucks. I have never killed 3 and only killed 2 one time. Maybe I'm not normal though.
Would the land owners 2nd tag still be floating? I think that floating tag is a lot more consequential than most realize. I could have hunted any and every good front this season. If October would have had a good cold snap, I bet you'd of seen a lot of early muzzleloader bucks killed on land owner tags. Some years we get a brutal cold snap in early December, I would have been able to hunt that too. Not having to pick a season is a huge advantage.

Hillrunner,
You are not alone. I have never killed three bucks in a year since I bought my farm over twenty years ago. Only shot two I think twice and both of those years both bucks were cull bucks. I also don’t know of any landowners who are killing three bucks. Not one.

I don’t think the floating tag is a big issue because unless you are retired you’re probably sitting at work wishing you were in a stand when most cold fronts come. At least that is how it usually works for me.

Besides before the floating tag a landowner could buy a state wide bow tag, LO shotgun tag and a state wide late muzzleloader tag and hunt every day from October 1-January 10. The only thing you would have missed is early muzzleloader. And I never cared about early muzzleloader because there is no way in hell I am taking out my number one buck with a gun in October when the whole bow season is ahead of me.