Northern Iowa

[Wlog]

I recently got permission from a family friend to hunt her family's farm she grew up on in Iowa. I started doing a little research and was able to figure out that it is in zone 1. I haven't been able to look at an aerial of the exact location because I don't know the boundaries, address, etc. Never the less I am pretty excited about it. She was able to tell me there were plenty of deer and no one has hunted them there in a long time. Does any one have any knowledge of this part of the state?

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[JoeRE]

I have not deer hunted out there but have spent some time out there because of some friends in that area....northwest iowa is pancake flat with low deer numbers because of the lack of cover. Its one giant corn field lol. The only good cover is along creeks and rivers, if the farm includes some of that it might be good hunting I suppose.

Further south in western Iowa you have the Loess hills with some really good deer numbers (A sleeper part of Iowa IMO) but that is not in Zone 1.

[Wlog]

Thanks for the info. It only makes sense that I would find a place to hunt in Iowa and it's a barren wasteland LOL. I noticed there aren't a lot of bow tags applied for by non-residents and kind of put two and two together. I'm still gonna give it a shot, apply for a tag and see what happens. I'll know more once I can look at the property.

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[JoeRE]

Yea look at the farm on google if you haven't already....if there is decent cover, there are probably good deer if there's no hunting pressure!

Out there you can see so well because of the flat land, bucks have a hard time making it through shotgun season....once they get jumped guys just chase them until they catch up to them on the next quarter section. If the farm doesn't have other hunters on it - or a trespassing problem - bucks might have a chance to mature.

[nater]

I live in SW Minnesota and have thought about going south to Iowa to hunt Zone 1, but I'm not sure it would be worth it given the expense of a NR license. The exception, as JoeRE pointed out, is the Loess Hills area north of Sioux City. Beautiful land, lots of public, and one of the top areas for B&C bucks in the state. So if you decided to apply for Zone 1 to hunt this family friend's property, you might think about headed over toward the Missouri River for a side trip while you're over there.

If I have time and the gas money, I'll be going down there to mushroom and shed hunt this year.

[Wlog]

This place is a long way from home. If I go out there I definitely need a back up plan in case it doesn't work out. That's not a bad idea to find some public areas to go to if I need to

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[DEERSLAYER]

I think you really lucked out Wlog. You should be able to draw almost every year in that zone. You will probably draw this year and if there are plenty of deer with no hunting in years (hopefully trespassing has not been an issue) you should do real well. I would be all over the cyber scouting right now. Good luck!

[nater]

Heck if it turns out to be good let me know. Maybe I'll head down there and join you! It does look like they rarely turn applicants down for tags.

[Wlog]

I will definitely be doing as much research as possible from home. I think there were only like 180 application last year. I know I haven't actually drawn a tag yet but I'm debating on the timing of my trip out and how much vacation to burn.

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[Stanley]

I live in a county that is mostly agriculture flat land. There is a hunter in every patch of timber /cover available. If you have 50 acres to hunt that is a good amount. I hunt a lot in other counties because of this. That said if you had a place with some timber it would be good hunting.