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6 To 7% Timber

I think it's actually worse to have "selective" neighbors as they pass up the marginal quality bucks and select the high potential 3 year olds.
Guess we need to define selective but yes your definition is definitely worse. My definition of selective hunters are those that try to shoot 4-5 plus year old deer only.
 
Farmable land has always carried high value in Iowa, as well as it should. Timberland didn't used to carry much value at all, but the increased popularity of deer hunting in the state has driven it to the stratosphere within the last handful of years. I don't think it's a good idea to turn food producing fields into timberland just to hunt deer though. Iowa is like no other place on earth. We can grow just about anything. We should fight to keep as many farm fields producing as humanly possible. It's already almost criminal that urban sprawl is paving over some of the best farmland in the world.
 
It's already almost criminal that urban sprawl is paving over some of the best farmland in the world.
We tried to rezone some HEL from Ag to subdivide and the county drug it's feet. Then, I see all kinds of sprawl/development around North Liberty on flat black ag dirt. WTH? Probably has something to do with the tax base.....
 
FWIW, "Iowa's video stars" are/were often receiving Governor's tags. Perhaps that was more true 10-15 years ago, but A LOT of the rationale behind someone successfully getting a Governors tag was whether or not they would be filming their hunt and promoting the herd in Iowa, etc.

I worked for a company in those days that had multiple applicants every year for the Governor's tags and that was one of the key points made on the application(s) that were sent in to the state...FWIW.

As far as who to "blame" for the soaring land prices...it is not accurate to identify only Iowa video hunting residents, although they are certainly in that mix. I could take you to dozens of farms though that were purchased by out-of-staters quite a few years ago as they came to realize that Iowa was "special" in that they could hunt during the rut with archery tackle and see more BIG bucks in a few days than they could in YEARS worth of hunting in their home state. That recognition and understanding is not just a recent phenomenon.
Iowa giving out Governor's Tags to every country music star and everyone associated with Realtree and Drury in the early 2000's to promote deer hunting in Iowa will probably be cited on this forum as the beginning of the end of "easy access to big bucks" on this forum 10 years from now. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was something like almost 70 tags per year at one point.

I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but as hard as the IBA fights against nominal NRLO tag situations, the ship on non-residents has sailed at this point. I zoomed around OnX around one of the Drury properties recently and of course, every other surrounding huge farm around their own huge farm is owned by an orthodontist in Michigan or a multi-state wholesale distributor in Minnesota. The money will talk eventually, whether IBA likes it or not.

I know absentee non-resident landowners that are buying resident tags and getting their 2 tags per year, and I've sent full documentation to the IDNR, and nothing has happened. Not even a response with full documentation.
 
The phone your holding in your hand and the internet is the biggest cause for land values in any area to sky rocket in last 20 yrs!!!! Bar none!!!!!! Info is at our fingertips every min of every day!!!! Think out it !! If im looking for property anywhere i can search listings , view do a virtual tour ect from my couch!!!!! 20 yrs ago you had to make tons of phone calls to realtors and spend tons of man hours driving and looking at places for sale!!! Very few thought of buying property in a different state for recreation! Not to mention people have lots more expendable income today than years ago!!

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The phone your holding in your hand and the internet is the biggest cause for land values in any area to sky rocket in last 20 yrs!!!! Bar none!!!!!! Info is at our fingertips every min of every day!!!! Think out it !! If im looking for property anywhere i can search listings , view do a virtual tour ect from my couch!!!!! 20 yrs ago you had to make tons of phone calls to realtors and spend tons of man hours driving and looking at places for sale!!! Very few thought of buying property in a different state for recreation! Not to mention people have lots more expendable income today than years ago!!

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Good point. Drone pics/videos, great maps, Onyx…It’s all there. When I first started looking you would often just get a brief description of the land and a couple pics.
 
I also read this while searching the history of trees and deer in Iowa:

Reestablishment of deer into the state can be traced to escapes and releases from captive herds, and translocation and natural immigration from deer herds in surrounding states. A conservative estimate of the population in 1936 placed statewide numbers at between 500 and 700 animals. This small herd grew steadily. By 1950 deer were reported in most counties and the statewide estimate topped 10,000. Concentrations in some areas were beginning to cause problems by damaging agricultural crops. In response to these problems the first modern deer season was held in December of 1953 and 4,000 deer were killed.
 
I also read this while searching the history of trees and deer in Iowa:

Reestablishment of deer into the state can be traced to escapes and releases from captive herds, and translocation and natural immigration from deer herds in surrounding states. A conservative estimate of the population in 1936 placed statewide numbers at between 500 and 700 animals. This small herd grew steadily. By 1950 deer were reported in most counties and the statewide estimate topped 10,000. Concentrations in some areas were beginning to cause problems by damaging agricultural crops. In response to these problems the first modern deer season was held in December of 1953 and 4,000 deer were killed.
Im from wi and my dad tells stories of when he started gun hunting around 1961 and there were few deer in our county to hunt!!!

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OMB. I’m sure they looked into it. They must qualify for residency. My neighbor lives in Iowa and Fla part time but does what’s required to be an Iowa resident. It’s not a crime to live in two places just need to meet the minimum for Iowa. Idk. I do agree the ship has sailed with NR purchases.
 
Nobody likes to see a guy cheating the system. But if you read the new Iowa tax bill they are encouraging ownership in Iowa, not discouraging.

Every taxpayer—middle class to wealthy—helps the bottom $$$ of the Iowa budget .

From an outsider looking in (liberal state of Minnesota) … Iowa IS doing the right thing making it attractive! My state should learn from your Republican run congress & Governor.

This will be a big plus for Iowa, my state is losing high earners and some middle class to Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona & South Dakota. Taxes are very high here in Minnesota .

It’s refreshing to see Iowa take these steps.
 
OMB. I’m sure they looked into it. They must qualify for residency. My neighbor lives in Iowa and Fla part time but does what’s required to be an Iowa resident. It’s not a crime to live in two places just need to meet the minimum for Iowa. Idk. I do agree the ship has sailed with NR purchases.
They don't qualify for residency, so it clearly wasn't looked into. Everyone gets so hot and bothered about any change to allowing a higher NR cap on licenses that they ignore the amount of PO Box and illegal residency status that's happening.
 
They don't qualify for residency, so it clearly wasn't looked into. Everyone gets so hot and bothered about any change to allowing a higher NR cap on licenses that they ignore the amount of PO Box and illegal residency status that's happening.
I heard multiple times from different people that the Iowa dnr stopped going after them because they lost a couple cases in court and couldn’t afford to fight every rich non residents attorneys. Anyone else hear anything similar.? Because the amount of them claiming residency is ridiculous these days.
 
A persons wealth has nothing to do with bringing a case against them. Wealthy folks can certainly hire good lawyers but the state pays dnr officers and county pays their county attorneys and assistants. The states employees get paid what they get paid regardless of the financial ability of potential defendants and plays zero part in filing charges.
 
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I heard multiple times from different people that the Iowa dnr stopped going after them because they lost a couple cases in court and couldn’t afford to fight every rich non residents attorneys. Anyone else hear anything similar.? Because the amount of them claiming residency is ridiculous these days.
It seems hard to prove someone isn't a resident if they have a house/cabin. They are paying taxes, electric bills, etc. It seems hard to prove that someone wasn't there but I'm sure they can with a lot of work and investigation. But is it worth all that work/money in their minds for a full fledged investigation, just for a deer?
 
It seems hard to prove someone isn't a resident if they have a house/cabin. They are paying taxes, electric bills, etc. It seems hard to prove that someone wasn't there but I'm sure they can with a lot of work and investigation. But is it worth all that work/money in their minds for a full fledged investigation, just for a deer?

That is what I was thinking. The trend is encouraging people to live in Iowa. You can’t have a bunch of Columbo’s following these guys.

Unless it’s blatantly obvious it’s a fraud, you are right it’s just a deer !
 
Sounds like you guys have a lazy game warden or these guys are actually considered residents by Iowa standards. Game warden in my county caught 3 of my neighbors, one of them owned a ton of land, a house and even served jury duty in Iowa, still lost in court.
 
That is what I was thinking. The trend is encouraging people to live in Iowa. You can’t have a bunch of Columbo’s following these guys.

Unless it’s blatantly obvious it’s a fraud, you are right it’s just a deer !
I agree completely, but that circle is eventually not going to square with the hard cap on non-resident tags. We have almost 1,000 acres in a zone that was an easy draw for a bow tag every other year, now it's a 3 year wait minimum. I don't say that to brag or throw any weight around, we just like getting together as a family to trout fish and hunt a couple days in December. But I know of people with a lot more time and money than me that are active in Iowa politics on this issue.

Keep crossbows out, and keep gun seasons after Thanksgiving and Iowa deer hunting will be just fine. (Yes, I fully support doing away with youth season where Dad does everything up to and including pulling the trigger so he can say his 4 year old killed a 150 and get 150 likes on facebook.)
 
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