2025-26 deer season change wish list

[Muddyrem]

Can you expand on that ? I thought the first half of your comment made sense, then you added in trophy hunting & antlers to the reason things have gone downhill?

How have hunters being more selective or passing up bucks hurt hunting, as opposed to shooting the first deer you see, or brown it’s down ? Just curious …

We use to have a percentage of hunters that didn’t care about antlers or growing “booners” and that was ok. We still had plenty of deer to hunt. Now today, you’re the OutKast if you don’t kill a 5.5 year old 170 “ deer. The hunting world has made it a giant competition, hence why we’re not all on the same page. If you don’t own and manage 300+ acres of land, you don’t have a seat at the table for what is right for Iowa’s deer herd. Iowa, you use to be able to knock on a door and get permission. When I was going to Iowa state and hunting around Boone, I had a 50-60% success rate on gaining access, that was 15 years ago. Today, not a chance in hell a college student is having that kind of success gaining access to just hunt. I moved to southern iowa back in 2016, since moving down here; I’ve lost access to more farms to hunt that i can even count purely based off someone with more money wanted to hunt the farm more than me.

You tell me, how any of this is good for our sport? It all circles back to the craze for “big deer”. Guys on this exact forum, are leasing land just to keep people from hunting their fence rows on farms they own for deer hunting. Those exact farms they are paying money to lease, they aren’t even stepping foot on in some cases, they just don’t want other people to have a chance to kill one of their deer.

I lease farms, because it’s my last ditch opportunity to take my 8 year old daughter hunting. After that, it’s fishing full time I guess and that really sucks.

 

[Sligh1]

What do we do? Leave the seasons dates alone. They have been what they are for 30 years. Nobody was complaining about quality 30 years ago, they weren’t complaining 20 years ago, even 10 years years ago people were more worried about declining population after the antlerless season debacle than the quality.

As far as weather, we had way worse winters two - three decades ago compared to what we have had in the last 10-15 years. We have barely had measurable snow in most of Iowa during the entire hunting season this year. So I am not buying the deer herd is stressed. Especially with more acres of food plots being left every year.

Again, our season length and number of buck tags available are not affecting quality. Which is why people seem to think we need to be changing things.

I will say if you shorten the season and move gun season into November you will really be crying about your buck quality in a couple years.

Everyone needs to just take a deep breath. Quit panicking. We just had EHD whack the herd in many areas and significant numbers of deer died. It sucks. I get it.

Changing the regulations won’t make the herd rebound any faster. The only thing we can push for is decreased doe quotas in the counties affected. Then talk to your fellow hunters and get them on board to not shoot any does for a couple years to let the herd bounce back. Spend the next two years killing cull bucks. Let your young studs go and things should bounce back in a couple years. There is no quick fix to EHD die offs. All you can do is quit shooting does.

I agree with a lot of this. The seasons, weapons and quotas are vastly different though. The deer harvest has been cut in half in 15 years. HALF! We have twice added shed buck season with rifles. Another blow in 30 years… Habitat loss & loss of access where more dudes are stuffed onto the average farms or public where they pounded.

On this note…. I’m not throwing stones at weapons or technology but it’s night & day different. 30 years ago, my bow shot 20 yards confidently (pry double now), slug gun was a 100-ish yard gun - 300 yards now with many guns. Same with ML’s. We couldn’t use rifles in mid January. We didn’t have cell cameras. 30 years ago the DNR had most influence on policy…. Since Brandstad, DNR is neutered and politicians decide how our deer are managed. That has influenced the quotas & how we got our harvest in half. & side note…. Harvest in half vs 15 years ago…. As of TODAY, we are trending down. By 2025 or 2026…. The impacts of ehd & guys laying off deer will truly be seen. Id strongly suspect we dip below 100,000 by 2026.

Agree with rest like I said. Shooting older “culls” vs targeting the best genetic far younger deer. Getting more folks to lay off. Regulations & quotas will be the only control for the masses though… the every day dude just doesn’t care and likely never will…. “I just wanna blast!” Fine, that’s reality.. That’s why regs define all. Doe quotas must be reduced. All the counties with rifle season NOW… all have been pounded by doe quotas, ehd & 2 previous rifle seasons… all of them have massive levels of left over tags. Dudes going “ahhh, I don’t need to shoot any. I don’t have a bunch to shoot or I don’t have a place to go”. If we get this season eliminated, quotas reduced & avoid massive ehd outbreaks, absolutely things will bounce back.

 

[Hardwood11]

We use to have a percentage of hunters that didn’t care about antlers or growing “booners” and that was ok. We still had plenty of deer to hunt. Now today, you’re the OutKast if you don’t kill a 5.5 year old 170 “ deer. The hunting world has made it a giant competition, hence why we’re not all on the same page. If you don’t own and manage 300+ acres of land, you don’t have a seat at the table for what is right for Iowa’s deer herd. Iowa, you use to be able to knock on a door and get permission. When I was going to Iowa state and hunting around Boone, I had a 50-60% success rate on gaining access, that was 15 years ago. Today, not a chance in hell a college student is having that kind of success gaining access to just hunt. I moved to southern iowa back in 2016, since moving down here; I’ve lost access to more farms to hunt that i can even count purely based off someone with more money wanted to hunt the farm more than me.

You tell me, how any of this is good for our sport? It all circles back to the craze for “big deer”. Guys on this exact forum, are leasing land just to keep people from hunting their fence rows on farms they own for deer hunting. Those exact farms they are paying money to lease, they aren’t even stepping foot on in some cases, they just don’t want other people to have a chance to kill one of their deer.

I lease farms, because it’s my last ditch opportunity to take my 8 year old daughter hunting. After that, it’s fishing full time I guess and that really sucks.

I’m going to disagree with you on the reason you can’t get permission to hunt, but I understand the frustration!! . This has been on the making for 25 years. Heck I can’t hardly get permission to hunt pheasants in Minnesota? I’m fortunate to own land to hunt both deer & pheasants otherwise it would be mostly all public ! (I do hunt public on occasion)

Lots of factors, but it’s certainly not just antlers. Land is more valuable and people realize you don’t just give access away for free.

Things change and it won’t go back to what it used to be… i guarantee that .

The evolution of hunting access has been telegraphed for 25 years, you either have to buy, lease, have a generous landowner that probably doesn’t hunt, or hunt public?

It’s just change over time, and it’s not just deer hunting .

 

[booneriverbucks]

Somewhat unrelated but kind of in the same subject on some of these posts.. is comparing harvest numbers from this year to 20 years ago really an apples to apples comparison or does the number of people that have access to where the deer live have an effect on that?? I have my doubts on how closely the harvest numbers correlate to the overall population. Totally agree total deer numbers are down but whether it truly follows the trend of harvest numbers I do not know. Access to where the deer actually live has gone way down. Naturally harvest numbers would somewhat follow that since obviously if none of us had a place to hunt the harvest would be zero. Totally no proof on any of this. Just a thought


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[Sligh1]

We use to have a percentage of hunters that didn’t care about antlers or growing “booners” and that was ok. We still had plenty of deer to hunt. Now today, you’re the OutKast if you don’t kill a 5.5 year old 170 “ deer. The hunting world has made it a giant competition, hence why we’re not all on the same page. If you don’t own and manage 300+ acres of land, you don’t have a seat at the table for what is right for Iowa’s deer herd. Iowa, you use to be able to knock on a door and get permission. When I was going to Iowa state and hunting around Boone, I had a 50-60% success rate on gaining access, that was 15 years ago. Today, not a chance in hell a college student is having that kind of success gaining access to just hunt. I moved to southern iowa back in 2016, since moving down here; I’ve lost access to more farms to hunt that i can even count purely based off someone with more money wanted to hunt the farm more than me.

You tell me, how any of this is good for our sport? It all circles back to the craze for “big deer”. Guys on this exact forum, are leasing land just to keep people from hunting their fence rows on farms they own for deer hunting. Those exact farms they are paying money to lease, they aren’t even stepping foot on in some cases, they just don’t want other people to have a chance to kill one of their deer.

I lease farms, because it’s my last ditch opportunity to take my 8 year old daughter hunting. After that, it’s fishing full time I guess and that really sucks.

Agree with most of this. The “buck craze” is not the reason for this though!!! The decline in deer & buck quality is. The change in regulations that degraded that resource. Where buck quality is far worse by state vs IA, access insanely worse than here. MI, 30 years ago (horrible hunting) - access was non-existent back then!! Iowa is just lagging behind…. I saw this coming to every state 30+ years ago!!

At same time, reality of access loss is COUNTRY WIDE…. Elk, mule deer, pheasant, deer, small game, fishing, you name it!!! Iowa has been impacted lessor than most other states believe it or not. & we have the best quality herd. Guys are sick of seeing what were great areas with “big deer” become shells of their past & blown to bits. & make no mistake …. Dudes were OBSESSED With big deer 30 years ago!!!!! Same dudes & mindset that want a quality resource. Those that have seen it & then seen it ruined (like anyone that lived through Illinois) want to create an environment where the resource isn’t exploited & destroyed!!! A balanced age structure with “some big bucks” is good for all hunters, the health of herd & the future…. Regulations are the #1 tool to enhance or hurt that. You hurt that- the locking up of land will get far worse. We need regulations that protect & favor our resource & not destroy it!!! A healthy herd, balanced age structure, conservative regulations are a winning combination for EVERYONE, especially the everyday hunter!!

 

[Muddyrem]

I’m going to disagree with you on the reason you can’t get permission to hunt, but I understand the frustration!! . This has been on the making for 25 years. Heck I can’t hardly get permission to hunt pheasants in Minnesota? I’m fortunate to own land to hunt both deer & pheasants otherwise it would be mostly all public ! (I do hunt public on occasion)

Lots of factors, but it’s certainly not just antlers. Land is more valuable and people realize you don’t just give access away for free.

Things change and it won’t go back to what it used to be… i guarantee that .

The evolution of hunting access has been telegraphed for 25 years, you either have to buy, lease, have a generous landowner that probably doesn’t hunt, or hunt public?

It’s just change over time, and it’s not just deer hunting .

Yeah I guess I’ll agree to disagree. I’m 35 years old, I don’t own any land yet. So my entire hunting career has merely been based off permission and relationships. You say 25 years and I say 5 years, Tomato / Tamata…….

 

[Muddyrem]

Yep!! I couldn’t care less about the antlers on the wall but I will always remember the times out hunting and the people I was out hunting with. Have been totally blessed to hunt with great people in my life. Generous people! People that let me hunt with them even tho they really didn’t have to! That is the real trophy. Those will always be the most important things! The people and the experiences. Not the antlers. (Not that I don’t like those too! Lol) I’d hate to do anything that would limit that for anyone! I even enjoyed hunting with you back in the day! Now I just have to hunt with your little bro!


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Jesse and Cody were taking bets on if I would come back and hunt this year. That group of guys is the last of the Mohicans. If nothing else I need to get back on Saturday night just to drink some Busch Latte’s with everyone. Like you said though, some of my fondest memories hunting were with you guys, it was truly the epitome of “deer camp”.

Good times, good times!

 

[iowaqdm]

OK, Let's extrapolate that a bit. If 3 is better than 1, then 5 is better than 3, and 8 is better than 5. Should we go ahead with 8 buck tags for everyone?

I think you make a mistake assuming everyone will manage the resources as you would. Your logic may be right for you and your land, but sad fact is Facebook horn porn has given the mindset of "take whatever I can get" for way too many.

A few weeks ago, Skip posted up some cull buck pics. I remember thinking those are "buck of a lifetime" for a lot of guys.


Maybe you should be railroading against box blinds? All the nature you claim to experience... isn't there so much more when you're actually sitting in a tree and not shooting out a window?

Hey, to each their own. Whatever trip your trigger, but it doesn't make your neighbor stupid just because he has different goals than you.

You want everyone to agree with you on management, the first step is to agree on the goal. Then we can figure out how to get there. No common goal, (next to impossible) no regs that everyone is going to like. Someone is always going to get piss in their Cheerios.

The point I was making on buck tags is thinning cull bucks to take pressure off your better genetic bucks and getting the doe to buck ratio higher makes it easier to keep a buck on your farm and shrink his home range and decrease his chance of roaming. If you have 110” 5 1/2 year old 8 pointers pushing your 160” 3 1/2 year old off the farm your hunting then you’re not going to be able to keep him alive. If you don’t have multiple buck tags you won’t ever shoot the 110” 5 1/2 year old buck. Thus, high grading your herd.

My box blinds are set up for gun hunting not bow. I didn’t sit in a box blind this year until January 3rd and that was looking for a cull buck which didn’t show. All my hunts this year were in tree stands and ground blinds with my son hunting. But I could put a kid on a deer like I said. But that doesn’t mean I bow hunt out of box blinds all Fall. For the record I don’t care if guys do bow hunt out of box blinds though. I agree to each their own. Hunting out of stands is by far my preferred method.

I agree you have to agree on defining the goal. If it is quality bucks then you need multiple buck tags available to manage culls and not high grade the herd. That is regardless of where you hunt, public or private ground otherwise the herd will be high graded. If you hunt public or private that is open to multiple people then you need as many days as possible available to spread out hunting pressure to make it a better experience. So we shouldn’t change season length.

No hunters were complaining in 2005 with all time high population numbers (but the farmers were). So getting the doe population up should be on all deer hunters goal list. Unless your area has abundant doe numbers of course.

If you hunt in an area where nobody has goals for quality or quantity and you have tried to get them to set some goals and they wont. If you want to shoot 150” plus deer but they shoot them at 120”. Then the old adage applies. You have to hunt where they are. That may mean looking for a new area to hunt otherwise you have to lower your goals or be disappointed with your hunting experience.

 

[booneriverbucks]

Jesse and Cody were taking bets on if I would come back and hunt this year. That group of guys is the last of the Mohicans. If nothing else I need to get back on Saturday night just to drink some Busch Latte’s with everyone. Like you said though, some of my fondest memories hunting were with you guys, it was truly the epitome of “deer camp”.

Good times, good times!

Good times is an understatement! We could all bitch about the trophy quality at times and every other minor complaint there was but it is too bad most will never experience anything close to that!! I’ll have a latte or two or two cases waiting for you next year! Always a place for you even if you have to wrestle your little brother for a spot or two now!


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[booneriverbucks]

The point I was making on buck tags is thinning cull bucks to take pressure off your better genetic bucks and getting the doe to buck ratio higher makes it easier to keep a buck on your farm and shrink his home range and decrease his chance of roaming. If you have 110” 5 1/2 year old 8 pointers pushing your 160” 3 1/2 year old off the farm your hunting then you’re not going to be able to keep him alive. If you don’t have multiple buck tags you won’t ever shoot the 110” 5 1/2 year old buck. Thus, high grading your herd.

My box blinds are set up for gun hunting not bow. I didn’t sit in a box blind this year until January 3rd and that was looking for a cull buck which didn’t show. All my hunts this year were in tree stands and ground blinds with my son hunting. But I could put a kid on a deer like I said. But that doesn’t mean I bow hunt out of box blinds all Fall. For the record I don’t care if guys do bow hunt out of box blinds though. I agree to each their own. Hunting out of stands is by far my preferred method.

I agree you have to agree on defining the goal. If it is quality bucks then you need multiple buck tags available to manage culls and not high grade the herd. That is regardless of where you hunt, public or private ground otherwise the herd will be high graded. If you hunt public or private that is open to multiple people then you need as many days as possible available to spread out hunting pressure to make it a better experience. So we shouldn’t change season length.

No hunters were complaining in 2005 with all time high population numbers (but the farmer were). So getting the doe population up should be on all deer hunters goal list. Unless your area has abundant doe numbers of course.

If you hunt in an area where nobody has goals for quality or quantity and you have tried to get them to set some goals and they wont. If you want to shoot 150” plus deer but they shoot them at 120”. Then the old adage applies. You have to hunt where they are. That may mean looking for a new area to hunt otherwise you have to lower your goals or be disappointed with your hunting experience.

On the same topic and I have absolutely no proof and cannot defend this thought but maybe when a higher percentage of guys were whacking the first small buck every year things were naturally better. Maybe they were all shooting the first 1.5 yr old that came by and didn’t even hunt long enough/hard enough to take out many in the older age classes. I’m not supporting doing this or anything but maybe we overthought this whole thing. Now guys are embarrassed to shoot a 1.5 yr old so instead they take out the best 2.5 yr olds and 3 year olds. Who knows


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[booneriverbucks]

Agree with most of this. The “buck craze” is not the reason for this though!!! The decline in deer & buck quality is. The change in regulations that degraded that resource. Where buck quality is far worse by state vs IA, access insanely worse than here. MI, 30 years ago (horrible hunting) - access was non-existent back then!! Iowa is just lagging behind…. I saw this coming to every state 30+ years ago!!

At same time, reality of access loss is COUNTRY WIDE…. Elk, mule deer, pheasant, deer, small game, fishing, you name it!!! Iowa has been impacted lessor than most other states believe it or not. & we have the best quality herd. Guys are sick of seeing what were great areas with “big deer” become shells of their past & blown to bits. & make no mistake …. Dudes were OBSESSED With big deer 30 years ago!!!!! Same dudes & mindset that want a quality resource. Those that have seen it & then seen it ruined (like anyone that lived through Illinois) want to create an environment where the resource isn’t exploited & destroyed!!! A balanced age structure with “some big bucks” is good for all hunters, the health of herd & the future…. Regulations are the #1 tool to enhance or hurt that. You hurt that- the locking up of land will get far worse. We need regulations that protect & favor our resource & not destroy it!!! A healthy herd, balanced age structure, conservative regulations are a winning combination for EVERYONE, especially the everyday hunter!!

I agree with you on *almost* everything when it comes to deer hunting and have a huge amount of respect for everything you have done and have done for all of us but I don’t quite agree with you that the “buck craze” has nothing to do with our current situation. 30 years ago there were most definitely people obsessed with killing big deer but they were not nearly as common and even fewer had the ability to do it.

Totally hypothetical but let’s just say you owned 1000 acres back in the day.. 30 years ago.. maybe 1 or two of your neighbors cared about shooting trophy deer.. and maybe their definition of a trophy wasn’t even the same. Maybe one had it figured out and was only harvesting trophy deer that were 5yrs plus and the other was shooting the best buck he could get regardless of age. The rest of your neighbors were happy shooting deer that weren’t even on your radar…

Today all of your neighbors are into shooting trophy deer and the *knowledge* not just the technology/regulations are there for them to do it. A few are targeting 5yr old plus deer and a few are still killing the highest scoring deer possible. These people now have the ability to do it regardless of whether the regulations are what they are today or what they were 30 years ago. 30 years of people talking, writing, making videos on how to hunt trophy deer has caught up to us. The bar has been raised. There is not the monopoly on shooting trophy deer that there used to be. This has without a doubt hurt the top end of trophy quality in certain areas and changing regulations back to what it was back in the good old days would not necessarily bring it back.. I have no answer on how to fix it but hopefully it’s cyclical and the people that are currently taking out a lot of the great up and comers will eventually move on and up their standards a little. If they don’t I hope everybody at least finds a way to still enjoy hunting and hopefully there is room for everyone.

The buck craze has without a doubt also lead to everyone tying up as much ground as possible in hopes of harvesting a buck that’s up to the standards of the current hunting world. It’s not strictly to isolate themselves from poor regulations



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[MN Slick]

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

Episode 696 Zach Jacobi on the Working Class Bowhuner. The Amana statement was about 1 minute of and otherwise very long podcast so you'll have to listen through a lot of talk. If you are offended by crass language it will a rough listen!

 

[MN Slick]

This is exactly why we shouldn’t decrease buck tags available. He is 100% correct.

The herd is and has been being high graded for 20 years driven by the big buck craze. That will only worsen going to a one buck State because nobody will want to burn their only buck tag on a cull.

It has always been my belief that there is typically one stud genetic buck in each age class for every 1000 acres give or take in southern Iowa. By that I mean a buck that has the potential to break 180” by age five or six. Problem is if you own less than 1000 acres it is hard to keep any particular buck on your property during the entire hunting season.

For example, let’s say you and your kid hunt on a 200 acre parcel that you own and manage and there are five parcels of 200 acres including yours making up a 1000 acre block. Each parcel has 2 guys hunting on them. That is 10 guys total hunting the 1000 acre block. Let’s say you got a 2 1/2 year old that blew into a stud 160” at 3 1/2 year old. Let’s say that stud has to make it for 2 full seasons (3 1/2 & 4 1/2) to reach his full potential and see his fifth birthday.

Even if those guys only got one buck tag per year the bucks chances of making it to his fifth birthday are slim at best because of box blinds and food plots. I would say his odds are even better to survive if each guy got two or three buck tags. This is because most guys are more willing to take an old lower scoring buck if they know they can get another tag and still hunt for their target buck. Cull bucks pushing young stud bucks off to neighboring properties to be shot happens all the time. If your stud 3 1/2 year old 160” keeps getting push from piece to piece to piece by bully culls he won’t set up a small home range and his odds of surviving go down drastically.

You have to be able to take out cull bucks to get your stud buck to shrink his home range and stay put. Guys will not shoot culls when they have a target buck they are after without the potential for a second tag. They will eat that tag before they shoot a cull which just leads to cull bucks living longer and breeding more than your better genetic bucks and ultimately poor genetics being passed on. Ultimately, high grading the herd.

So unless you can buy 1000 acres or get all your neighbors in your 1000 acre block on board to pass certain bucks and take culls your chances of shooting 180’s consistently or at all in any 1000 acre block come down more to luck than management. That is just the facts. As disappointing as it is you need to realize what you are up against.

I would even say giving out 3 buck tags to every hunter would lead to more top end bucks being killed. Why do I say that? The reasons listed above. All you have to do is look back to our glory days 2000-2005 the buck to doe ratio was probably 1 buck to 7-10 does in most areas. More does lead to less competition and smaller home ranges for bucks. As our buck to doe ratio has decreased to closer to 1:3 means more competition and bucks traveling further during the rut. As a bucks home range increases his chance of seeing his fifth birthday decrease to almost zero if he has good head gear.

FB and the insurance lobby won’t allow us to get the population back to 2005 levels so we have to do what we can to increase the population as best we can. We also have to be able to remove cull bucks by having multiple buck tags if you want to see high end bucks make it to 5 1/2 and prevent high grading Iowa even more.

If you want to keep Iowa great do not push for Iowa to go to a one buck State. It will do the exact opposite of what you think it will. Just like they saw happen in the 20,000 acre Amana Colonies.

As counterintuitive as multiple buck tags sounds to buck quality, I agree it can help. Only 3 out of 10 bucks has the genetics to be above average. Now we have cell cams, box blinds, more effective weapons, extended season, standing grain plots, and of course EHD, etc. Everyone knows what bucks are out there and how to kill them AND we are good at it. Well I'm not, but other guys are damn good at it!!!

I've said this on here before. I'd be happy with this scenario and had it for years on my farm in extreme Northern MO. Give me a solid deer poplulation, reasonable hunting pressure with no cross tagging, and neighbors that shoot the first decent buck they see. Once in awhile it will be a future giant, but most of the time it end ups being a "management buck" and the high potential bucks live to see another year. This scenario is essentially the same as guys targeting management bucks and letting the high potential ones go.

Sadly for me, most of the bucks that have next level potential are no longer getting there in my area of North MO.