Whitetail Properties and Iowa Land Company

[MuddyHntr]

For those of you that don't know Wisconsin has a regular 9 day gun season that starts the 3rd Saturday of November and has a week of muzzleloader following it. After that theres a 4 day doe season in early December and a 10 day doe season around the holidays. I for one won't participate in the doe hunts but I know people that will go and slaughter does and complain why their not seeing any deer.

 

[DarkMark]

I think if leasing and high land prices stay the way they are, you’ll have a lot less hunters a few years from now. The state will take a cut selling tags/licenses and will want to make their money some other way and will probably switch things up to try to sell more tags/ licenses

 

[Hardwood11]

Every state should look at this

Does this already take place in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio ect.....? I guess idk what makes Iowa such a great place to hunt other than the regulations that separate them from the states listed? I get what you are saying but agriculture will always be king in Iowa and idk if you could get enough ground in one location to not see a drastic drop in the quality of hunting. If they brought gun season into the rut Iowa would be just like the neighboring states. Just moving shotgun seasons up a couple weeks would ruin it. The orange army would like it but what about the bow hunters (which I believe most rec land owners are)? Start shotgun season around the second week of November and the bowhunters are done for those 3 weeks. I believe that alone would have a great impact on rec ground.

That's true....if Minnesota delayed gun season which is now in early November, if it was Dec 1... Minnesota would be one of the best states in the nation for deer hunting.

It has so much quality cover, just poor timing of gun season.

 

[MarkF]

Does this already take place in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio ect.....? I guess idk what makes Iowa such a great place to hunt other than the regulations that separate them from the states listed? I get what you are saying but agriculture will always be king in Iowa and idk if you could get enough ground in one location to not see a drastic drop in the quality of hunting. If they brought gun season into the rut Iowa would be just like the neighboring states. Just moving shotgun seasons up a couple weeks would ruin it. The orange army would like it but what about the bow hunters (which I believe most rec land owners are)? Start shotgun season around the second week of November and the bowhunters are done for those 3 weeks. I believe that alone would have a great impact on rec ground.

The difference between Iowa and other Midwest states is that there is already large blocks of management areas, at least in southern Iowa. I guess I see it differently, my farm is surrounded by people that bought them primarily for hunting and investments, thousands of acres with not a whole lot of pressure. A change in regs like you suggested certainly wouldn’t help qdm but I also don’t believe it would cause guys to sell and leave, especially if land prices came down. Look at Illinois,the hunting is not nearly as good, prices are a bit higher on average and guys are still buying hunting farms. Like it or not it’s here to stay.

 

[Bowtech84]

I think if leasing and high land prices stay the way they are, you’ll have a lot less hunters a few years from now. The state will take a cut selling tags/licenses and will want to make their money some other way and will probably switch things up to try to sell more tags/ licenses

I agree and sadly I believe this is exactly where it's heading. I honestly feel if they were to do a vote tmrw to allow guns in the rut it would pass. I know most on this site will disagree but the "weekend warriors" are the majority.

 

[Bowtech84]

The difference between Iowa and other Midwest states is that there is already large blocks of management areas, at least in southern Iowa. I guess I see it differently, my farm is surrounded by people that bought them primarily for hunting and investments, thousands of acres with not a whole lot of pressure. A change in regs like you suggested certainly wouldn’t help qdm but I also don’t believe it would cause guys to sell and leave, especially if land prices came down. Look at Illinois,the hunting is not nearly as good, prices are a bit higher on average and guys are still buying hunting farms. Like it or not it’s here to stay.

I believe Iowa has the least timber of all the states mentioned. Why would in not be susceptible to the same outcome? Rec landowners and leases have zero effect on hunting in my area right now. I don't even know a recreational land owner or know of a farm that's leased for deer hunting. It's laughable that ppl think this resource is untouchable. I knew this wouldn't be a very popular point of view when I posted it but it's what it's coming down to. If Iowa continues to lose hunters it's doomed.

 

[4DABUCKS]

I agree and sadly I believe this is exactly where it's heading. I honestly feel if they were to do a vote tmrw to allow guns in the rut it would pass. I know most on this site will disagree but the "weekend warriors" are the majority.

You are probably right with weekend warriors being the majority (hell, we all know you are right). The thing is, those land owners and the ones that truly care about iowa's deer herd are the ones that speak out, point out facts, tell and show reasons why, spend the time to educate and inform. If something is important to John Doe, (don't mean this to sound like I'm trying to be a smart ass) prove it, go to meetings, join organizations, donate some time and funds and explain your opinion.

 

[4DABUCKS]

Then what makes Iowa different than surrounding states? Why not allow gun season during the rut? What's everyone so afraid of? Let's just open it up. Hell even allow non resident tags every year (that ones for you hardwood lol). Most rec ground owners are adamant about keeping the regs the way they are? Now we are saying the regs won't even effect them?

Most of the ?'s you posted here are obvious and I totally get what you are saying. I would love to be one of them landowners that owns ground in a great area and wouldn't have to worry bout what regs get changed. Maybe, and I don't know, but maybe this is what is driving rec ground prices up. The everyday guy or wknd warriors are worried some of the ?'s you posted could happen and us so called wknd warriors are the majority of the one's driving both rec prices and the leasing.

 

[4DABUCKS]

Bowtech84, I just noticed that I replied to a couple of you messages! By no means was I going against what you have posted! I was just posting some thoughts on this subject that are from a different angle and maybe the opinion of some!

 

[hans1]

Many things have changed in Iowa deer hunting in the past 20 years since I have been involved “immersed”. Quality hunting no matter what’s your definition of that, is a finite resource. The more that we publicize ie; this site, Deer Classic or Drurys the more we create demand. In reference to the OP it isnt surprising that the same people that have become successful in marketing hunting land, also arrange hunts through subleasing, or guiding. The system that Iowa has in place actually makes this more common than many would believe.
This is the way it works Realtor/Outfitter has real estate clients that only draw once every 2-5 years instead of theses farms being vacant they are now leased and managed by Realtor/outfitter. This gives a land base to guide some hunts and the out of state owner some income and someone looking after the farm.
In reference to the side line discussion about opening rut gun hunting to lower the quality of hunting therefore decreasing demand won’t work there would only be more people making it more competitive =more leasing.
If the people of Iowa wanted to remove the culture of deer hunting it would be quite easy, remove the habitat then go back to the crazy late doe seasons and high tag numbers that would do it .

 

[JoeDirtyGirl]

If allowed I'll default back to the original question. My thoughts are this...only an opinion here. Commingling real estate sales and outfitting would seem to be quite a quagmire. It could lead down a slippery slope that I'd want nothing to do with.


Hey, by the way, I've got a fox for rent if any of you have a hen house you'd like him to look after...

 

[Bowtech84]

Bowtech84, I just noticed that I replied to a couple of you messages! By no means was I going against what you have posted! I was just posting some thoughts on this subject that are from a different angle and maybe the opinion of some!

It's all good. Thanks for your input.

 

[isu22andy]

Even if you were to buy up every peice of recreational ground Iowa has to offer how would that effect the weekend hunters? They would be in the same position they are in now. They have nothing to lose. The big buck craze is going to be the demise of Iowa hunting. It's going to take numbers to keep things the way they are and every kid or adult that loses access is another lost. Eventually it's going to catch up. As much as rec ground owners and big leases feel secluded in their own little peice of heaven it will ultimately end up effecting them. Bring a rifle rut season to Iowa or even a shotgun/muzzleloader rut season to Iowa and Iowa deer hunting big buck craze would be over.

Half the weekend warriors around here already act with the mentality of they got nothing to loose , Farmer Joe Blow wont let you hunt his ditch cause its leased? Thats fine we will just sit on the edge shoot the living shit out of the timber to get them to run to neighboring property so we can hammer them. Or the classic, take off the orange and run through. Could you imagine the road hunters with gun season during the rut, there wouldn't be a buck left. The big buck craze has been taking its toll... I find myself slowly not caring about whitetail hunting as much and moving to doing something else be it out of state fishing, ice fishing, waterfowl or something else without so much butt hurt competitors in the area.

 

[JNRBRONC]

Rec landowners and leases have zero effect on hunting in my area right now. I don't even know a recreational land owner or know of a farm that's leased for deer hunting.

In the past 25 years, I've seen changes in my area. It used to be truck loads of orange racing up and down the gravel road during shotgun season, moving from one big drive to the next. Then, slowly, rec landowners started buying up 40's and 80's. Also, sprinkle in a lease here and there.... The land got so chopped up the big drives ran into access issues. Most of the big groups have broken up.

While this trend might sound like a great thing to some, now you have people hunting their rec land from late Sept (youth) until Jan 10. Driving down the road, you can see a wagon stand or some other hunting structure on almost every parcel. While they might not be blasting every deer, they are looking for the top end. Big bucks don't make it too many years with such pressure.

As to realtors and leasing, not a big fan of either alone, let alone mix the two. It is Merica, so as long as things are legal, I'll worry more about what I can control.

 

[HorseDoctor]

JNRBRONC said: "As to realtors and leasing, not a big fan of either alone, let alone mix the two. It is Merica, so as long as things are legal, I'll worry more about what I can control."

Absolutely, it's just capitalism at work. May not be perfect, but beats any alternative I'm aware of!