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Proposal would let hunters use rifles on does
The DNR asks for a pair of new seasons to thin the deer population in Iowa.
By JULI PROBASCO-SOWERS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
June 9, 2005
Iowa deer hunters could use rifles during a special January deer season if a proposal aimed at thinning Iowa's troublesome deer population is approved by the Iowa Natural Resources Commission today.
Biologists with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources want to add two doe seasons. Officials are calling for a one-week high-power rifle (.24-caliber and up) season in January and a three-day shotgun season on Friday through Sunday after Thanksgiving.
If the proposal passes, it would be the first time deer hunters could use rifles since the state reopened deer seasons in 1953.
Antlerless-only tags for the proposed hunts would be sold only in counties where a quota of tags is not met by mid-November, said Willie Suchy, wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources.
The proposal includes increasing the number of antlerless-only tags by 19,000.
Last year, 90 percent of the state's 84,000 antlerless-only tags were sold. Often, the tags left over are in southern Iowa counties, where deer populations are the highest.
Reducing the doe numbers is key because deer reproductive rates are so high, Suchy said.
He used as an example the wildlife unit that includes Lucas, Monroe, Wayne and Appanoose counties. There were 4,975 does killed last hunting season in that area, but Suchy said he would like to increase that number to 7,500.
Suchy will present the proposals to the commission today in Storm Lake.
Randy Taylor, president of the Iowa Bowhunters Association, said he has safety concerns about the proposed weekend season after Thanksgiving, when many pheasant hunters and bow deer hunters are also in the field.
But Suchy said some neighboring states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri, already have some rifle deer hunting, and the hunting accident rates in those states are not higher than Iowa's.
Jeremy Flannery, sales manager of JLM Gun Shoppe, 10079 Hickman Road in Urbandale, said he would welcome a rifle season.
"Rifles would extend the range and the accuracy potential for hunters," he said. "I'm for anything they can do to thin the population."
The DNR asks for a pair of new seasons to thin the deer population in Iowa.
By JULI PROBASCO-SOWERS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
June 9, 2005
Iowa deer hunters could use rifles during a special January deer season if a proposal aimed at thinning Iowa's troublesome deer population is approved by the Iowa Natural Resources Commission today.
Biologists with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources want to add two doe seasons. Officials are calling for a one-week high-power rifle (.24-caliber and up) season in January and a three-day shotgun season on Friday through Sunday after Thanksgiving.
If the proposal passes, it would be the first time deer hunters could use rifles since the state reopened deer seasons in 1953.
Antlerless-only tags for the proposed hunts would be sold only in counties where a quota of tags is not met by mid-November, said Willie Suchy, wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources.
The proposal includes increasing the number of antlerless-only tags by 19,000.
Last year, 90 percent of the state's 84,000 antlerless-only tags were sold. Often, the tags left over are in southern Iowa counties, where deer populations are the highest.
Reducing the doe numbers is key because deer reproductive rates are so high, Suchy said.
He used as an example the wildlife unit that includes Lucas, Monroe, Wayne and Appanoose counties. There were 4,975 does killed last hunting season in that area, but Suchy said he would like to increase that number to 7,500.
Suchy will present the proposals to the commission today in Storm Lake.
Randy Taylor, president of the Iowa Bowhunters Association, said he has safety concerns about the proposed weekend season after Thanksgiving, when many pheasant hunters and bow deer hunters are also in the field.
But Suchy said some neighboring states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri, already have some rifle deer hunting, and the hunting accident rates in those states are not higher than Iowa's.
Jeremy Flannery, sales manager of JLM Gun Shoppe, 10079 Hickman Road in Urbandale, said he would welcome a rifle season.
"Rifles would extend the range and the accuracy potential for hunters," he said. "I'm for anything they can do to thin the population."
