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still have average deer numbers?

As far as EHD we had 5 carcasses last year and our neighbor had over 20. So far it seems we faired well this year but as mentioned won't know for sure till we start shed hunting. A guy we duck hunt with who has marsh/bottom ground found 20 dead deer this year again. Lots of deer still in the area but that's a serious dent in the population.
 
Muscatine Co... numbers down overall as far as road sightings. I had 4 or 5 sits this year where I didn't see a single deer and last year I only had one. Crop rotation can be a factor in that for me though. I did see plenty of mature deer. I do currently have a group of about 30 deer around my house right now which is more than any other year I have been here. I think it is more because they are becoming accustomed to eating out of my food plot for three years now and this harsh winter is herding them up more. I'm also lucky to have enough neighbors that don't allow any hunting at all which has helped my local population.
 
Harrison County, during shotgun season seen about half of what we usually see. We use to be able to get 20 deer in 3 days of hunting, this year we hunted 6 days hard and got 13 deer, only 2 mature bucks.

Pottawatamie County, Bow hunting I knew from trail cams that there were no mature bucks and very few mature does, EHD hit the area hard and if we don't get some snow and much needed moisture in the spring the EHD will destroy the hunting in the area for a few years. Where I bow hunt there are at least 10-15 other bow hunters in the area not a single one of us shot a decent buck and we all let the does walk on by.
 
Linn Co. I would say where I hunt the #'s are average with less mature bucks and more 2-3 year old bucks and yearling does. I would see anywhere between 5-20 deer a sit on one farm and about 2 or 3 on another.
Jones Co. Seen more deer per sit last year than this year. Usually would see 1 buck every time out, and maybe 1 or 2 does but nothing mature. I don't think there are any reports of ehd in Jones co., I just think the does have been blasted the last 3-4 years in the area I hunt
Jackson co. - numbers are down, but not near as bad as Jones county. A lot of small bucks and fewer does than previous years. Way fewer road kills and road sightings than last few years too
 
I spent very little time in Harrison County this fall do to the lack of shooter bucks/mature deer, based on summer scouting trips. I spent most of this fall in Page County. The deer numbers based on my observations were down about 40% but I did see mature animals, both slick heads and bucks. Also seen a hand full of 2 year olds that had potential.
 
I would say that southern Iowa in general has very few deer left on public lands. Decent numbers on some private lands, but far fewer mature bucks everywhere. I blame the increase in antlerless harvest which includes a fair percentage of button bucks, late rifle season which includes both button bucks and shed bucks, and the fact that EHD seems to hit mature bucks pretty hard.

I have run multiple trail cameras since we had to make our own and have never had a year that I got fewer pictures of mature bucks.
 
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