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HF 2217 land owner deer and turkey tags

Should HF 2217 changing landowner deer and turkey tags be adopted?

  • Yes

  • No

  • Undecided

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Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
HF 2217 would remove the restriction on landowner deer tags from shotgun only to archery or shotgun and adds language that allows landowner turkey tags to be used in any spring turkey season.

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=HF2217&ga=87

As I understand the proposed legislation a landowner could take three bucks with archery gear, a paid archery tag, a landowner archery tag and a late season ML tag. The LO tag would be good for any season. Or the LO could take two deer in shotgun, one in each season and an archery buck. Or something like that.

According to the bills explanation there currently isn't any language preventing a LO turkey tag to be used in any turkey season this bill just puts it in code, probably to match the proposed deer regs or vice versa.

I did not know until this bill dropped that one of the LO tags had to be shotgun.
 
Either I don’t understand the current laws or the proposed changes, at least as it pertains to deer hunting, but I don’t understand what you are saying. Landowner tags are not currently restricted to shotgun season only.
 
What I find strange is the deer tag is a bonus tag, but the turkey tag is not a bonus tag. 2 total turkey tags are all that are allowed, even for a landowner. At least that is how I read the regulations.
 
HorseDoctor said:
Either I don’t understand the current laws or the proposed changes, at least as it pertains to deer hunting, but I don’t understand what you are saying. Landowner tags are not currently restricted to shotgun season only.
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Copy and past from the bill:

The free deer hunting licenses issued pursuant to this paragraph shall be valid and may be used during any shotgun bow or firearm deer hunting season.

Formatting will not copy a strike through but "shotgun" is struck through to be replaced by the underscored bow or fire arm. That is what I'm basing my assumptions on.

Like I said, I thought LO could choose the season for their tags but the strike through, or language to be replaced, and the underscored replacement language makes it appear that LO tags were only for shotgun seasons.
 
To me it looks like they are making the landowner tag similar to the youth tag where it will be issued and valid for any season. I believe they crossed out shotgun season due to there is not limited shotgun season with the introduction of the straight wall cartridge rifles. I could be wrong in my interpretation.
 
Got it now. Landowner anysex tag would be good for one deer, in any season. In the past you had to select from archery, early muzzy, "shotgun" 1 & 2, or late muzzy. It was not limited to just shotgun, at least not in the last 30 years...
 
HorseDoctor said:
Got it now. Landowner anysex tag would be good for one deer, in any season. In the past you had to select from archery, early muzzy, "shotgun" 1 & 2, or late muzzy. It was not limited to just shotgun, at least not in the last 30 years...
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That's the part I don't fully grasp. Maybe they are changing the name of the gun seasons from shotgun to firearm in the regs? I know in the past muzzleloader and pistols were also legal during "shotgun" season
 
This is an interesting bill. This makes it possible to have your bonus tag in your pocket from Oct. 1 to Jan 10. Day one, a guy would buy his statewide archery and the landowner tag. If he/she fills their archery tag they keep bow hunting. If unsuccessful, tag is still good for shot gun. If unsuccessful during shotgun, tag is still good into muzzleloader, in which you would have two late season tags (the still valid landowner tag & a purchased muzzleloader tag).
 
I am a landowner and I vote no. I just don't see the need to keep tweaking things like this. How long before someone proposes a bill that all deer tags should be good for all seasons? Can you imagine the pressure on early muzzleloader?
 
I like the idea of a landowner tag being good for all seasons. I farm full time which means I miss out on a lot of the good hunting times. It also means that once in a while the weather is such that I get a chance to hunt. This law would make it so I could get my tag to begin the year without worrying about which season I can go. I would just go when I can. It would mean I might hunt early muzzleloader instead of waiting till shotgun or late muzzleloader to use my landowner.
 
hillrunner,you are right thats what happened in kansas,now we have a anu season tag or a archery tag.We also have a hunt on your own land permit,these require you to hunt only on land you own or have control on
 
If tag would be good for early muzzleloader, I am also against this bill. I actually forgot about that season. That would be terrible.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
If tag would be good for early muzzleloader, I am also against this bill. I actually forgot about that season. That would be terrible.
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The tag is already good for early muzzleloader. The only change would be if you were unsuccessful your tag would still be good for later seasons. Does anyone know how many any sex landowner tags are issued each year? That number would add insight to the proposed change. Just curious.
 
Nrharris said:
The tag is already good for early muzzleloader. The only change would be if you were unsuccessful your tag would still be good for later seasons. Does anyone know how many any sex landowner tags are issued each year? That number would add insight to the proposed change. Just curious.
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yeah I understand you can choose to buy the tag for that season, but almost no one does. With this change it would become "might as well" mindset because as you noted, the tag would be good later if unsuccessful. That would result in a whole bunch of guns in the woods in mid October, and that my friends, would be a travesty.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
yeah I understand you can choose to buy the tag for that season, but almost no one does. With this change it would become "might as well" mindset because as you noted, the tag would be good later if unsuccessful. That would result in a whole bunch of guns in the woods in mid October, and that my friends, would be a travesty.
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I think travesty is a pretty harsh word to describe someone hunting with a gun on their own land, but just my opinion. It' worth what you paid for it. It would be nice for my situation but I can see how it could be taken advantage of.
 
Nrharris said:
I think travesty is a pretty harsh word to describe someone hunting with a gun on their own land, but just my opinion. It' worth what you paid for it. It would be nice for my situation but I can see how it could be taken advantage of.
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I think anything that gets Iowa closer to "everybody else" as far as deer quality is a travesty. Common sense tells us this change would result in more guns going off in October. I also know that would be bad thing for the quality of deer hunting we all want to protect. I think it is a classic example of not seeing the forest thru the trees.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
I think anything that gets Iowa closer to "everybody else" as far as deer quality is a travesty. Common sense tells us this change would result in more guns going off in October. I also know that would be bad thing for the quality of deer hunting we all want to protect. I think it is a classic example of not seeing the forest thru the trees.
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Do you think though, that if this opened up for any season, that landowners would be more picky with the tag and wait for a more mature/bigger deer as they have more opportunities with the tag? I feel as though "most" landowners try to manage their deer herd and therefore, this tag would more than likely be saved for a specific deer or two. I don't think this would hurt the deer quality. So even though there would be some landowners that do go out early muzzleloader and might be successful (which is tough weather bow or gun during that time of year), that really won't hurt the quality of deer hunting. Plus, not many landowners would take time off during the October lull to hunt, so if there isn't a good cold front I don't think many would even venture out more than a time or two during the 9 day season. I think there are many other issues that truly hurt the quality of deer hunting, but I do not think this is one of them. Just my opinion though!
 
I love to hunt. As much as a person can. However, I cannot wrap my head around how more guns across all the seasons is a good idea. More people will be hunting early muzzleloader. That's not debatable. A lot of people that already hunt early muzzleloader will hunt shotgun and late season if not successful. That's not datable. More seasons with more people with more guns means more bucks getting killed. I don't think that's debatable either.

THERE IS A GOOD REASON THE STATEWIDE TAGS ARE LIMITED TO 7,500 FOR THE EARLY MUZZLELOADER SEASON.

If and when those cold fronts hit in October and it coincides with early muzzleloader, those big deer are very very vulnerable (this year perfect example). Keep in mind this is before any of them have bred. The "October lull" is 95% a reaction to hunting pressure. The biological data doesn't support that an October lull exists. Overall, I don't know the stats on how many people qualify for and purchase LOT tags. I realize its not the majority. I also agree there are bigger threats out there such as broad use crossbow, rifles, etc, but this is still a nibble. Just a little nibble at potentially compromising what we have here. Huge impact..... na. A little impact.... probably.

If it weren't for the early muzzleloader factor, I could get on board with this bill. Personally, I would just assume they got rid of early muzzleloader all together, but that's a debate for a different day.
 
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