2025-26 deer season change wish list

[booneriverbucks]

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.

I understand the reasons to get rid of party hunting but I also do not expect gun hunters to be overly happy that only their seasons/form of hunting are really being looked at to change. It’s not like the first few weeks of December are always great for natural deer movement. I’d hate for them to complain too much and eventually have a November firearms season or make the push for all rifles to be used.


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[hillrunner]

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.

I bet a lot of landowners are like me and can pretty much hunt when they want. Even the ones who can't have a much greater chance of hitting a good front when they have all the seasons available to hunt. Most of us use that landowner tag for a 2nd bow tag which eliminates the gun seasons. Now we can hunt them all of we want to.
I agree on it not feeling right to use a gun in October, but I bet it'll still happen plenty.

 

[Rjack]

I understand the reasons to get rid of party hunting but I also do not expect gun hunters to be overly happy that only their seasons/form of hunting are really being looked at to change. It’s not like the first few weeks of December are always great for natural deer movement. I’d hate for them to complain too much and eventually have a November firearms season or make the push for all rifles to be used.


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Party hunting means tagging someone else's deer. Removing that does not restrict hunting in groups - but does restrict 1 guy from shooting multiple bucks.

 

[iowaqdm]

I bet a lot of landowners are like me and can pretty much hunt when they want. Even the ones who can't have a much greater chance of hitting a good front when they have all the seasons available to hunt. Most of us use that landowner tag for a 2nd bow tag which eliminates the gun seasons. Now we can hunt them all of we want to.
I agree on it not feeling right to use a gun in October, but I bet it'll still happen plenty.

While we are talking about gun seasons. Here is another question. Why can’t you use a bow and arrow during shotgun one and two??? It is a lesser weapon. You can use shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns, rifles/AR chambered in straight wall but not a bow? Why not a bow??? If you have a valid license for the season and are wearing blaze orange why can’t you use your bow? I would think that is actually something that could be accomplished relatively easily.

 

[booneriverbucks]

Party hunting means tagging someone else's deer. Removing that does not restrict hunting in groups - but does restrict 1 guy from shooting multiple bucks.

I wish it was that easy. That is not true tho. Without party hunting when a guy uses his tag he can no longer be in the group. Saying you don’t want to get rid of drives and groups but you want to get rid of party hunting is like a politician saying we don’t want to get rid of your guns but we do want to take away your ammo.


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[booneriverbucks]

While we are talking about gun seasons. Here is another question. Why can’t you use a bow and arrow during shotgun one and two??? It is a lesser weapon. You can use shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns, rifles/AR chambered in straight wall but not a bow? Why not a bow??? If you have a valid license for the season and are wearing blaze orange why can’t you use your bow? I would think that is actually something that could be accomplished relatively easily.

Always a good question. I would guess at some point in time they must have decided bow hunters already had a long enough crack at them. Who knows tho


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[JNRBRONC]

While we are talking about gun seasons. Here is another question. Why can’t you use a bow and arrow during shotgun one and two??? It is a lesser weapon. You can use shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns, rifles/AR chambered in straight wall but not a bow? Why not a bow??? If you have a valid license for the season and are wearing blaze orange why can’t you use your bow? I would think that is actually something that could be accomplished relatively easily.

Maybe I shoot a deer during shotgun, stab an arrow in it, put my bow tag on it and feel smug. Continue to hunt with my shotgun tag.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

I wish it was that easy. That is not true tho. Without party hunting when a guy uses his tag he can no longer be in the group. Saying you don’t want to get rid of drives and groups but you want to get rid of party hunting is like a politician saying we don’t want to get rid of your guns but we do want to take away your ammo.


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No, it's not at all. All a guy needs to "be the group" is to have a valid doe tag. He or she can become a pusher or whatever if they already shot a buck. You 100% can eliminate party tagging and still have group hunting.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

I don't buy the revenue argument as a means for decision making whatsoever.

Many ways to replace the revenue.

Increase tag amount tomorrow. NR and R alike.

 

[booneriverbucks]

No, it's not at all. All a guy needs to "be the group" is to have a valid doe tag. He or she can become a pusher or whatever if they already shot a buck. You 100% can eliminate party tagging and still have group hunting.

100% true!!! Unfortunately doe tags are not available in every county tho or are very limited! If everyone was guaranteed a doe tag in addition to their anysex tag this scenario would totally work and would be awesome. Until that happens it is a severe restriction on group hunting tho.


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[hillrunner]

While we are talking about gun seasons. Here is another question. Why can’t you use a bow and arrow during shotgun one and two??? It is a lesser weapon. You can use shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns, rifles/AR chambered in straight wall but not a bow? Why not a bow??? If you have a valid license for the season and are wearing blaze orange why can’t you use your bow? I would think that is actually something that could be accomplished relatively easily.

I look at that as us bowhunters already get all the prime times to hunt. I think it's fair that the gun hunters don't have to share their season with us too.

 

[booneriverbucks]

I look at that as us bowhunters already get all the prime times to hunt. I think it's fair that the gun hunters don't have to share their season with us too.

Exactly!!!!


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[Muddyrem]

I don’t buy it either. It’s very very easy to make an increase in price and not even have to justify it. Look at the world we live in today, every single thing has gone up in price and the justification behind it is what? Nothing…………

So the state in every single aspect of their revenue stream could make a slight increase and majority of the outdoor enthusiasts today are going to pay it and not bat an eye at those increases.

Not only on the hunting side but the fishing side is also in the same boat. Any legal boat owner should have to have a habitat stamp in order to operate their vessel on public land. That one to me is a no brainer, saylorville, redrock and Rathbun lake all over run with “pleasure boaters” using “public land” for their pleasure. Bikers using public use trails to ride their bikes, habitat fee should be required, kayakers using the streams and rivers, habitat fee.

Land owner tags, should be the same price as a statewide tag, period. No reason in Hell those tags should be as cheap as they are.

We could go on and on with how the state could slightly tweak their model and be plus big in the states net revenue toward its natural resources.

 

[newfarmer]

I don’t buy it either. It’s very very easy to make an increase in price and not even have to justify it. Look at the world we live in today, every single thing has gone up in price and the justification behind it is what? Nothing…………

So the state in every single aspect of their revenue stream could make a slight increase and majority of the outdoor enthusiasts today are going to pay it and not bat an eye at those increases.

Not only on the hunting side but the fishing side is also in the same boat. Any legal boat owner should have to have a habitat stamp in order to operate their vessel on public land. That one to me is a no brainer, saylorville, redrock and Rathbun lake all over run with “pleasure boaters” using “public land” for their pleasure. Bikers using public use trails to ride their bikes, habitat fee should be required, kayakers using the streams and rivers, habitat fee.

Land owner tags, should be the same price as a statewide tag, period. No reason in Hell those tags should be as cheap as they are.

We could go on and on with how the state could slightly tweak their model and be plus big in the states net revenue toward its natural resources.

I’ve said for years- why don’t people have to pay to use it for everything else. I have to buy state passes in other states, and then on top, pay for spots at the campgrounds for camping. Anyone notice how nice other states are? Iowa for sure can do some tweaking!

 

[booneriverbucks]

I don’t buy it either. It’s very very easy to make an increase in price and not even have to justify it. Look at the world we live in today, every single thing has gone up in price and the justification behind it is what? Nothing…………

So the state in every single aspect of their revenue stream could make a slight increase and majority of the outdoor enthusiasts today are going to pay it and not bat an eye at those increases.

Not only on the hunting side but the fishing side is also in the same boat. Any legal boat owner should have to have a habitat stamp in order to operate their vessel on public land. That one to me is a no brainer, saylorville, redrock and Rathbun lake all over run with “pleasure boaters” using “public land” for their pleasure. Bikers using public use trails to ride their bikes, habitat fee should be required, kayakers using the streams and rivers, habitat fee.

Land owner tags, should be the same price as a statewide tag, period. No reason in Hell those tags should be as cheap as they are.

We could go on and on with how the state could slightly tweak their model and be plus big in the states net revenue toward its natural resources.

Poor farmers can’t pay more for their tags!! The deer are already eating them out of house and home!!


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[Rjack]

100% true!!! Unfortunately doe tags are not available in every county tho or are very limited! If everyone was guaranteed a doe tag in addition to their anysex tag this scenario would totally work and would be awesome. Until that happens it is a severe restriction on group hunting tho.


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We are talking about making changes. It is easy to eliminate tagging deer shot by someone else and keep the group hunting aspect. I can assist any turkey hunter as long as I bought a turkey tag - even if that tag is filled. Same rules could apply to each gun season. I have no problem with people continuing to push if they fill their buck tag to help others fill their tag - what I have trouble with is 1 person knocking down 4 or 5 bucks just because there are that many tags in the "group".

 

[booneriverbucks]

We are talking about making changes. It is easy to eliminate tagging deer shot by someone else and keep the group hunting aspect. I can assist any turkey hunter as long as I bought a turkey tag - even if that tag is filled. Same rules could apply to each gun season. I have no problem with people continuing to push if they fill their buck tag to help others fill their tag - what I have trouble with is 1 person knocking down 4 or 5 bucks just because there are that many tags in the "group".

Totally agree! I think everybody has a problem with that! I also think it happens a lot less than most think and most groups self police that pretty well. I have never ran across anybody that would be perfectly happy some dude whacks 4 small bucks during the season and fills a bunch of their tags with them. That guy would be without a group to hunt with 99% of the time. What i’m saying is the issue is a lot more complex than just getting rid of party hunting. You cannot preserve deer drives/group hunting while eliminating party hunting without making other major changes as well. Group hunting/deer drives are as big of a tradition as any in this state and if that can be changed unfortunately anything else can too at some point. If we enjoy our bow season and everything else we like we better find a good way at preserving some of what people enjoy about gun season. If that can get axed anything could. We don’t need a bunch more people crying for crossbows in bow season or November gun hunting in the future because we chose to totally screw up gun season for them.


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[Rjack]

Totally agree! I think everybody has a problem with that! I also think it happens a lot less than most think and most groups self police that pretty well. I have never ran across anybody that would be perfectly happy some dude whacks 4 small bucks during the season and fills a bunch of their tags with them. That guy would be without a group to hunt with 99% of the time. What i’m saying is the issue is a lot more complex than just getting rid of party hunting. You cannot preserve deer drives/group hunting while eliminating party hunting without making other major changes as well. Group hunting/deer drives are as big of a tradition as any in this state and if that can be changed unfortunately anything else can too at some point. If we enjoy our bow season and everything else we like we better find a good way at preserving some of what people enjoy about gun season. If that can get axed anything could. We don’t need a bunch more people crying for crossbows in bow season or November gun hunting in the future because we chose to totally screw up gun season for them.


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I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone on this site is advocating to eliminate group hunting and deer drives. "Party hunting" often means different things, that is why we need to be clear on which aspect we are talking about. Allow drives and working together - but only your tag can go on a buck.

 

[booneriverbucks]

I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone on this site is advocating to eliminate group hunting and deer drives. "Party hunting" often means different things, that is why we need to be clear on which aspect we are talking about. Allow drives and working together - but only your tag can go on a buck.

Anybody with half a brain on here should know the difference between group hunting and party hunting by now. What many do not understand is that by eliminating party hunting you effectively eliminate group hunting in a huge portion of the state. 1/3 to 1/2 of the state does not have any or many antlerless tags available. How the laws are currently, anybody in a group would be completely done hunting as soon as their anysex tag is filled in those areas without the current party hunting laws. This pretty much gets rid of group hunting for all of these people if we only get rid of party hunting and make no other changes.


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[Sligh1]

It seems like everyone is similar on what they would like to see. Skip, what do you think are some realistic changes we could see? How can we help?

Sorry- long rant here but covered all the subjects &
Reflecting on reading others….

ON HELP:
1) folks need to join & volunteer (easy & not a lot of time!) to help the IBA & ISC!! Do both. For the classic… if you have DECENT people skills. Help in the booth for a day or few hours! Get folks to buy lifetime memberships to IBA. Go to ISC banquet. These things are not minor!!! HUUGGGEEEE help!!! Fund both these orgs as both need funds & about 99.9% of the $ goes right to the fight. & it’s working!!!
2) when subcommittee meetings on legislation happen- be a dude that will GO & speak for 30-60 seconds. Contact me on this. It’s not hard. Need folks who actually will show up with a couple days notice. It’s super easy, not time consuming & makes a HUGE difference as well. Lemme put it to u this way…. If I could get 3-4 guys to come with me, we’d have a substantially better shot at killing bad bills earlier in process or passing good ones. This comes down to MAYBE 30 mins at capital + drive time & maybe you talk for 30-60 seconds on BULLET POINTS. Easy.
3) when bad bills or good, share the links to write in and get dudes to actually take the time to write their legislator!!! Or all of them. Takes me maybe an hour to do all in senate & house. Regular dude could just write their house & senate legislator & take 2-5 mins.
4) go & bring with an army of folks to the dnr listening sessions.

THINGS TO CHANGE…. Lowest hanging fruit….
1) get rid of shed buck rifle season!!!!! Legislators & dnr need to get bombarded again.
2) focus on ehd over cwd. Long discussion. Awareness that ehd is a far bigger issue & reality than CWD IMO.
3) celeb tags promoting iowa must go. 8 figures of views per year still going on promoting iowa.
4) lower deer quotas in MOST counties.
5) no changes or minor gentle changes to forest reserve. CRP program likely will have cuts so we need to protect our tiny bit of forest.
6) minimum acreage for a THIRD buck tag needs to change!!!! It’s some crazy low amount right now that does not merit, biologically, a 3rd buck for folks!! IMHO- 3 is too many for ANY size land owner. 2 is enough. Let’s start by at least making it a sane amount that warrants a 3rd buck tag, let’s say instead of 2 or 5…. It’s like 20 or 40. That’s a start in right direction.
7) no more new seasons, new weapons added (rifles, crossbows to archery season, etc). No special tags for xyz special interest. Leave it alone!!!! NO MORE!!!!

I’m reading through the rest right now. Above referenced THIS YEAR & a good reality/starting point. Because of ISC & IBA, you likely will see maybe 1/5th as many bad bills vs years past. The amount knocked out before they got launched is due to YOU & these groups. The hunters across state have been winning & even “silently winning” as so much has been done that you will never see because xyz disaster never got legs under it. I’ll chime in with some bigger longer term ones too. This was just “this year”. Wanna read through every post as it’s super helpful & that’s where best ideas are generally found. Thanks all!

AFTER READING ALL POSTS:
Remember - iowa is managed exceptionally well vs any other state…. Why we need to be careful with changes. At the same time- we have had TONS of changes - more seasons, new weapons, new technology, more killing, habitat destruction & ramped EHD…. So dialing something back sure could be warranted since it’s only gone one way for 20 years now!! Other states: ruined, disasters. You think access here is tough?!?! Go to IL, MI, MO, WI, etc…. Almost impossible. The worse the states hunting & age class…. The more the land is locked up, sectioned up, all pay to play & no access. Folks often miss this part!!!! When u make a system worse in any way, it triggers a reaction for guys to lock land up to insulate & attempt to have quality hunting. If the regulations gave a balanced age structure & limited kill…. The competition for “great land” would be far less as that quality land would be more common. Iowa has land locked up, make no mistake. But it’s nothing like surrounding states. Heck, KS has less people, more habitat & deer but offers any NRLO with 80 acres a guaranteed buck tag…. Folks are hemorrhaging access to insane degree in last 5-15 years. Go across Line into MO where it’s free for all & lunatic regulations… all tied up. Leased up. Outfitters, etc etc. IL is solid locked up and huge $ pay to play for 10-20 years now.
Bottom line: lifting up the resource across the state for reasonable deer #’s & a balanced age structure helps EVERYONE!!! Helps with access, helps retain hunters. Helps fund dnr & state. There is very little downside to a well managed deer herd with ample balance in age structure!! On other hand, ruin the resource with crazy regs…. All the opposite is true!!! It hurts everyone & every part of the system!!!
If someone posed the question “selfishly, you want 3 buck tags & it’s nice to have them… BUT…. If I could convince u going to 2 would benefit the resource, other hunters & the state….. would u choose the resource?” I would. I think that’s the ? We need to ask or start with…. What’s best for resource, access, other hunters, hunting economy, future, etc. VS ME ME ME - any topic. How we choose that path is delicate but at the same time…. It’s pretty obvious… we’ve liberalized our regs here for 20 years by a lot!!!! A bit of tightening back up is warranted. Even if it’s starting with “hey, the northern 2/3rd of state, let’s lower quotas so there’s actually deer on land with habitat vs it being decimated like it is now”. Increase deer #’s is the absolute easiest & lowest hanging fruit we can get fixed. The first place to start. The legislator & dnr are getting a lot of pressure due to “no or low deer #’s” right now!!!