Spysar wrote:Stanley wrote:Zonk54 wrote:Winke's article was very good. I started bow hunting NE Iowa in 2001 and I didn't realize how good I had it for the first 3-4 years. I saw nice bucks all the time unfortunately I made a lot of mistakes as a new bow hunter but it was a great time to learn. The deer hunting is still good there but nothing like it was in the mid 2000's. I'm not sure I would shell out $700 to hunt whitetails. Add in possible taxidermy and travel costs and it would be a bit much for me. I just sent Colorado $600 for an elk tag and that is getting ridiculous.
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I think you are looking at it correctly. Mid 2000s was the peak. Since then more hunters killing does = less bucks. This is a big factor you need numbers to produce quality. Those numbers came from does. When you kill off 35-45 % of your buck producers guess what happens? The next thing is more guys are hunting public ground and there isn't very much public ground in Iowa.
The next thing is outfitters have surfaced and are leasing up a lot of private hunting ground. So that farm you used to get permission to hunt for free has been leased for $2000.00 instead of letting you hunt for free. I stopped on a gravel road and talked to a guy that was hunting NR from North Carolina. He said he paid $700.00 for the license. Gas bill split with another guy was $420.00 per each. Lodging was $675.00 ea. for 9 days. $2000.00 to the outfitter per ea.
He didn't know what his food bill would be. But you have to eat and it is not cheap. His taxidermy bill was $425.00. He killed a 140 inch 10 point. That was the biggest buck out of the four guys. One guy didn't kill a buck. Now I'm thinking if I were a NR I probably would not hunt Iowa or any other out of state hunt if it cost that much. Then again if your independently wealthy go for it.
How did they pay for lodging and an outfitter? Usually outfitters have lodging. And you have to eat no matter where you are, so that doesn't count. It's easy to say all that stuff when you live in Iowa.
I wish Iowa guys would quit whining. You want something to whine about, come hunt the northeast. If it's your hobby and passion, it's worth spending the money. You only live once. And guess who shot all the does? Iowa residents, non res hunters don't come to shoot does...The only people that think Iowa sucks are the residents. I'll be there this fall, I'll take my chances with the crappy hunting.
Nobody thinks Iowa hunting sucks. It is awesome and that's why I moved here. However, people do think the hunting has declined since the mid 2000's, which you agreed with.