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2025-26 deer season change wish list

tall@wide

tall@wide

PMA Member
What would deer hunters like to see changed for the upcoming deer season? Be realistic.
My realistic hopes are that all in season bait and supplements are banned. Too many hunters skirt the current law now and it gives an unfair advantage to them.
I would also like to see Iowa go to a one buck limit with landowners getting an additional buck tag with their landowner tag (the landowner tag will help with the mgmt of culls).
If the late season antlerless only season was axed, I wouldn't be upset either.
 
A step in the right direction would be 1 buck limit in Iowa ! Landowners (resident) can get a second buck tag for management if they own 80 acres or more in counties that can support it .

The far northern counties of Iowa with mostly cropland should not have multiple buck tags in any way, shape or form.
 
tall@wide said:
What would deer hunters like to see changed for the upcoming deer season? Be realistic.
My realistic hopes are that all in season bait and supplements are banned. Too many hunters skirt the current law now and it gives an unfair advantage to them.
I would also like to see Iowa go to a one buck limit with landowners getting an additional buck tag with their landowner tag (the landowner tag will help with the mgmt of culls).
If the late season antlerless only season was axed, I wouldn't be upset either.
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I too want to see in season feeding go away. I haven't seen it become an issue yet but I keep hearing rumblings about "defensive baiting" to keep deer off other properties. That is not a road I want to see us go down.
 
Hardwood11 said:
A step in the right direction would be 1 buck limit in Iowa ! Landowners (resident) can get a second buck tag for management if they own 80 acres or more in counties that can support it .

The far northern counties of Iowa with mostly cropland should not have multiple buck tags in any way, shape or form.
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I like the landowner tag if you own a minimum number of acres but I would even bump it up to maybe 120 and also let a nonresident landowner get at least a few doe tags they can use at their own discretion and some sort of separate lottery system so these guys can at least shoot a buck every few years not having to wait five or six.
I also think you shouldn’t be able to buy a county doe tag and party hunt and shoot as many bucks as you want and then still get an any sex late muzzy tag.
Definitely need to do something about registration on those properties as well so the system isn’t abused.
 
I would like to see the no cams on Public land rules the DNR tried to implement earlier this year come up in legislation and passed. Mixed feelings about cells cams but not something I'm worked up about.
 
One buck state for all.
Landowner tag acreage increased from 2 acres to somthing realistic. 40?
End shed buck season (late doe)
No party hunting for anyone. Your deer, your tag.
Return power to DNR, not clueless bought and paid for politicians

Other things I'd support but probably arnt realistic:
Roll back of straight wall rifles. Go back to shotguns
Ban smokeless muzzleloaders
No cell cams
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
One buck state for all.
Landowner tag acreage increased from 2 acres to somthing realistic. 40?
End shed buck season (late doe)
No party hunting for anyone. Your deer, your tag.
Return power to DNR, not clueless bought and paid for politicians

Other things I'd support but probably arnt realistic:
Roll back of straight wall rifles. Go back to shotguns
Ban smokeless muzzleloaders
No cell cams
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IBA1983 for governor this is my list! Love it!
Also expand or buy more public land
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
One buck state for all.
Landowner tag acreage increased from 2 acres to somthing realistic. 40?
End shed buck season (late doe)
No party hunting for anyone. Your deer, your tag.
Return power to DNR, not clueless bought and paid for politicians

Other things I'd support but probably arnt realistic:
Roll back of straight wall rifles. Go back to shotguns
Ban smokeless muzzleloaders
No cell cams
Click to expand...
Great list.
As much enjoyment as I get out of my cell cams I’d have no issue at all voting to completely eliminate them.
 
1. Get would get rid of cell cameras.
2. Get rid of late season anterless season.
3. 1 tag + 1LO tag
4. Price of non resident tags would go up and proceeds would go towards EHD research. (Whether that is a $100 more for a tag or a $20 stamp. Something to get started on EHD research.)
 
1 buck tag state wide, plus 1 buck tag for LO who own 20 acres or more.

Land owner tags be priced at the same price point as a regular any sex tag.

Cell cameras illegal to use during season.

No more party hunting.

Doe tags reduced state wide.

Youth hunters must be 12 years of age and have taken hunter safety in order to participate actively in the hunt (I have 2 kids, one who is 7 and shot a Tom last spring )
 
Some of the ideas above aren't bad. But I think a touch unrealistic.
Banning straight walled cartridges won't happen. And Banning Cell cams won't happen. And Banning group hunting also won't happen.

A couple I see being a little more realistic.
1) Slash doe tags hard. The areas west of I-35 and North of Hwy20. Deer hunting should darn near be banned.
2) Iowa goes to a 1 buck state,+ 1 LO tag.
3) Get rid of the late Shed buck season

I have an idea about public lands but it's kind of different, as a private landowner that owns land in a big section, that has a lot of public land in that section, I think the public land gets abused pretty hard. Everyone wants more public land(which is ok, but it's just gets abused hard here) I think instead of getting more public land, there should be a law introduced on public land that only allows so many gun hunters to hunting this X section and it should be a yearly draw on X public land piece or Y public land piece. (I truly believe bow hunters are not the problem) I think this law should be limited to the gun season only.

(Trying to avoid the 8-10 trucks hunting 1 section) and try to improve the deer numbers and the quality of the deer numbers) in all honesty deer drives should be banned(I know unrealistic)
 
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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?
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
One buck state for all. YES
Landowner tag acreage increased from 2 acres to somthing realistic. 40? I like 80 or 120 even. Keep tracts big as possible to discourage parceling out every sale. Look at KS- anything under 80 ac is devalued. NE is 80 (360 to qualify as a NR landowner), not sure about other surrounding states.
End shed buck season (late doe) YES
No party hunting for anyone. Your deer, your tag. YES
Return power to DNR, not clueless bought and paid for politicians YES

Other things I'd support but probably arnt realistic:
Roll back of straight wall rifles. Go back to shotguns YES
Ban smokeless muzzleloaders YES, and I don't think this one is unrealistic
No cell cams I waffle on this one...well over half of our cell cams are used mainly for trespasser watch
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CottonwoodCanyon nailed it. Especially on the landowner tag being for larger tracts of land so we don't go do the path of dividing everything up. I do like the fact I can see my shot after shooting with the smokeless. I don't care about shooting long distances. So that one I'm not huge on personally. Can't say that's been as impactful as straight wall rifles.
 
LoessHillsArcher said:
CottonwoodCanyon nailed it. Especially on the landowner tag being for larger tracts of land so we don't go do the path of dividing everything up. I do like the fact I can see my shot after shooting with the smokeless. I don't care about shooting long distances. So that one I'm not huge on personally. Can't say that's been as impactful as straight wall rifles.
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I don't think smokeless is the big bad ogre people seem to think it is. You have one shot, unlike the 450 bushmaster in the AR platform. Also, back when I hunted with mine, I tried to set up to have close shots, 50 yards or so. I didn't climb a tower blind and try to cover 40 acres of food plot. My T/C Omega with Blackhorn is a tack driver at 100 yards, could push it further if I cared to.
 
With all due respect. I think some of you guys are being short sighted, maybe selfish and some just not thinking about the future of Iowa deer hunting. All you’re thinking about is wanting to shoot a bigger buck and I get it.

Our problem isn’t too many hunters, lack of deer or a lack of quality bucks. Our problem is declining habitat and access to private property. Decreasing the season by 10 days just concentrates hunters using public property or private land that is open to multiple people. This will lead to a diminished experience due to increased pressure. Which leads to people quitting the sport.

Let’s say we go to one buck plus 1 LO. Are you going to make the regular buck tag floating like the LO? If the tag isn’t a floating tag then you or your kids don’t get to do both bow and gun hunting. Now you just decreased their exposure to different types of hunting and their days afield and yours significantly. And what are you trying to accomplish? Save a few bucks?

You can’t control what happens on the neighbors property and you will never be able to save all the bucks on your property. All you can control is how many deer and more importantly what deer you kill.

The reality is more properties are being managed every year. Unfortunately there is also decreasing habitat. One guy is adding or improving his habitat and the guy across the fence is tearing his out. So the deer relocate to the property with the habitat. There is also less ground available each year because more people are trying to access the land that still has the habitat which leads to guys being displaced. Just think of how many dozers and excavators you have seen in a field with all the trees and brush piled up ready to burn and bury. The removal of habitat is not going to slow anytime soon.

Every year less kids are being introduced and taking up the sport. Every year there are less guys party hunting during shotgun. Instead of 5 guys pushing a half section now it is one guy sitting in a box blind overlooking a food plot. The other 4 guys quit because they lost access to the half section. All this is leading to less tags being sold. This leads to less revenue for the DNR.

What you’re going to accomplish with all these wishes is the exact opposite of what you’re hoping for. What will happen is there will be less tags sold which means less revenue coming into the DNR. This will force the DNR to push to increase license sales. First they will add crossbows to regular archery season to boost license sales. This will be detrimental to buck age structure and access. Then when the addition of crossbows doesn’t fix the budget issues they push to increase NR tags quotas to make up for the shortcomings.

Every NR tag purchased is equal to approximately 20 resident tags. So if they add 5000 additional NR tags that would offset approximately 100,000 less resident tags sold. Then with the increased NR tags allotments there will be increased leasing pressure and land purchases by outfitters. This will lead to decreased access to quality ground, increased recreational land prices, land fragmentation and ultimately decreased age structure just like it has for Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, etc.

The DNR needs to sell tags to fund their department. With every resident hunter having one less opportunity to buy a buck tag that means one less resident tag sold. Not to mention each hunter will be in the field less days and therefore probably less likely buy an additional doe tag just incase they get an opportunity. Which will ultimately lead to even less revenue for the DNR. There will be some very detrimental consequences that you won’t be able to reverse if some of these wishes come true.

I would recommend just leaving things alone. Work to educate other hunters when the deer numbers are down due to EHD or over harvest. January antlerless seasons are a pain and I don’t like them but they are the DNR’s chosen tool in CWD areas to slow spread. (Which I don’t think does anything to slow the spread but that is another discussion). I would argue that the January antlerless season is better than sharp shooters shooting deer off corn piles like they do in Missouri. I would also argue that with the January antlerless season you still control what is being harvested versus a sharp shooter killing everything they can get a shot at over corn.

Again, you can only control what you are harvesting. Quit trying to change the regulations just because you didn’t get a chance at a 180” buck this year and do what you can to educate others about deer numbers and management practices.
 
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