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Southern Iowa Rifle Season

houston

houston

Member
This has been beat to death however 3 years later the mature buck counts are down. I live in Ringgold, hunting it and each county east and west of me decature and taylor respectivly. I hunt an average of 7-10 sits a week during bow season and late M/L season. Again sightings of mature deer are on the decrease. This late season rifle season has to be stopped. This season is worse than having an open licence policy. The killing of shed bucks is a serious problem, I have heard dozens of horror stories from hunters that participated in group hunts killing as many as 8 shed bucks in 1 day. We need to put a stop to this tragedy before more seasons appear in other counties that are ammune thus far. This problem stems from everyones insurance companys lobbying for these seasons due to car/deer accidents.
We need to act now, but how???
jeff~
 
This (from what I gather !) is a statewide problem!! Has to do with money!! And we will never win!!!!!!!:mad::mad::mad:
 
I had a guy tell me last year he had shot his biggest buck of the season and it was just two knobs...shot it on the run. I don't even live in a county where they have it, and I wish they would knock it off!!!
 
bury the DNR and your legislators with calls and emails. its the only way change will come about. it will take a TON of calls and emails over time to get them to change,
 
Its real bad. About to call it quits for the yr. Seen the ringgold co and rifle season figured you were talking about bow season. I hear rifles all the time real sad county to live in cause of the poachers, I say the buck loss is shotgun season and shooting all the bucks . Yep you know the groups that do this if you live in that county . DNR is a joke with the small fines they give out.
 
i actually ran into the CO twice in a week so far this year so hopefully theres a presence this year as we discussed all of the problems we've had these last few years.. but as far as mature buck sightings its very low and I'm running out of excuses for it short of those solo rifle shots at dusk..
 
If the DNR would rather listen to State Farm instead of the Hunters maybe we need to adopt the approach of not shooting Does past Jan 10th. Just because there is a season, doesn't mean you have to hunt it. Poachers are poachers and it doesn't matter what the season is. Don't buy the tags...

Go pick up a yote call and shoot those instead.. If you must shoot more deer I guess the only solution is to shoot the smallest deer you see rather than the big ones.. Or, making sure you've properly identified it as a doe before pulling the trigger..

But speak with your money is the better approach.
 
the problem is its not the guys on here that are the ones slaughtering everything in the late season... its the guys buying the buying the 1.99 slugs at walmart that shoot at everything that moves
 
Rifles

Boy, not many good things to say about Ringgold, I will add that I had a nice buck poached off my property in Ringgold, probably with a rifle. It was witnessed by a bowhunter on my property. He got the buck in the truck so fast I guess it was unbelievable.

I am selling that farm, bought closer to Des Moines, hopefully it will be better up there, this farm is off the road aways and the neighbor is law enforcement so that should help.
 
I hunted an entire week down in Ringgold with a friend who lives there back in '09. Didn't see any poaching activity then, but heard about it plenty from the residents. We do need to get rid of the rifle anterless season. Our deer herd is back to where it needs to be. Let's work on keeping it there.
 
Hardwood11 said:
I am selling that farm, bought closer to Des Moines, hopefully it will be better up there, this farm is off the road aways and the neighbor is law enforcement so that should help.
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It should, but it prolly wont. Being closer to Des Moines might only make things worse, maybe not with rifle poachers, but with tresspassers, who can be just as bad.
 
poachers

bearcatbaseball10 said:
It should, but it prolly wont. Being closer to Des Moines might only make things worse, maybe not with rifle poachers, but with tresspassers, who can be just as bad.
Click to expand...

Well, you might be right. I will find out the next few years. Long walk from the road, and no easy access for vehicles so that could help??
 
I also STRONGLY disagree with this season, I cannot understand how they think that rifle hunting is going to be of any help...The entire state of Missouri has a rifle hunt DURING the RUT ! There are still car deer accidents in Missouri ??? DUH Also, I think if they are going to only have a late season rifle doe hunt in select counties, they need to restrict the tags to only residents of those counties ! I am in western Ia and we have a TON of shed bucks killed every year from people who are from northern counties, not the local guys. If they have to have this season, make it statewide so that we southern counties don't have to endure all the pressure. I can't wait to hear responses to this one !
 
Rifles

Best thing would be no rifles ever in Iowa and no late season due to shed bucks. It does not make sense for Iowa and/or during a time of year when bucks lose their antlers.
 
I have been the biggest supporter of this season. It's genius and has tremendously helped Iowa's deer hunting and mature buck amounts. It's the reason for the extremely famous- Shed Buck Contest on here. Fun, prizes, celebrities, fame, recognition and a frenzy of passion & new tactics for winning this coveted contest.

My schizophrenic side says this season is absolutely foolish, needs to go as bad as a tumor growing on your face & is disastrous to IA's bucks & many areas with too few deer. The yahoo's need to be done hunting Jan 10th, the rifles need to be oiled and put in their cases after they come back from out west. These folks need to get back to work Jan 10th so they can save up for 4 new teeth they are missing in the front of their mouths. Ok- kidding on that last part, that's just mean :)

How you all feeling about this year's Shed Buck Contest? www.shedbucksofiowa.com
 
Ive hunted the rifle season the last two years. Usually i go with a buddy or two. We each prolly kill an average of 7 or 8 does a year so we have done our fair share of shooting. That being said me or any of my friends that have been with me have NEVER shot a shed buck. As long as you are taking your time to make sure its a doe i think this is a great way to manage your hunting ground. Some of the farms i hunt have many of food sources so there are lots of does and they need to be thined out. Some of my other farms dont have much food and not many does so we dont hunt there. I believe as long as your being ethical during this season and shooting does to manage your herd and not just to kill everything that moves then this season can be benificial. I dont think we should close this season just because some idiots take advatage of it.
 
Hunt Taylor as well and it gives the outlaws just that much more opportunity not to be noticed. For instance I witnessed two bucks shot last year on a deer drive during the rifle season while I was stand hunting across the farm. They shot them opened up cattle gates and threw them on fourwheelers and were gone within 15 minutes. One of them was a very sizeable buck as I was half mile away and could see his antlers as they were loading him up. To boot they left the gates wide open and cattle got out. I have mentioned it to DNR in the past and you never see hide or hair of law enforcement around. It is a given they are going to do it every year. Also we had a couple real foggy days during late muzzy last year down there and they had the gut to drive in on the farm when it was foggy and try to poach the deer. Doesn't make me feel real safe to tell you the truth. I want to be able to take my kids out there and not have to worry about it.
 
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