best week for the rut in iowa

[ajj]

This questions for you iowa guys I just drew my non resident tag this year for zone 9 in iowa and I was wondering whats the best week to take off in november? Im gonna be lucky to even get a week off this year cause I just started a new job doing road construction so its hard to get time off during the rut.

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[Stanley]

I hunt in zone nine. Got my buck in zone 9 last year. There are lots of public acres to hunt. I have seen very few hunters early season. The rut is when hunters start to use the public ground. That zone was the #1 zone for many years. You like hills? Lots of hill ground in 9. I like last few days in October through November 5th. I see less bucks than like November 5-14. But The bigger bucks are more gettable I feel October 29-Nov 5th. Good luck

[ajj]

Thanks for the info my uncle lives down there and a few of his buddys have a few small farms I can hunt and I scouted some good public last year. So I feel pretty good about it I just need to get the time now.

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[Spysar]

First week in Nov for "any" buck.

Second or third week in Nov for a chance at a "bigger" buck.

Let me explain. I believe less mature bucks start to roam and seek much sooner than the mature bucks. Younger bucks get antsy and start harassing does before they are ready to breed. These types of bucks make themselves vulnerable earlier. They also get taken out of the gene pool.

Mature bucks know how to breed more efficiently . They tend to expose themselves later, when the does are actually ready to breed. They stay safer and expend less energy that way. They stay alive longer, and that why they are bigger and mature.

Generally, rut action is good until gun seasons open. In Iowa that's Dec. So there's plenty of time late into Nov to kill a good one.

[Stanley]

Thanks for the info my uncle lives down there and a few of his buddys have a few small farms I can hunt and I scouted some good public last year. So I feel pretty good about it I just need to get the time now.

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If you can get on some private ground you should do ok.

[JoeRE]

What Stan said. I hunt some of zone 9 too. Good luck.

For a thousand bucks worth of preference points and tag I would do whatever it takes to get as much time to hunt as possible.

[ajj]

Ya thats what im gonna have to do im gonna hunt every weekend I can if we dont work saturday. And thanks for all the info im gonna try and get off a whole week in early november. It took me 4 years to get it so I gotta make it worthit

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[Stanley]

Good luck.

[MN Slick]

I hunt just a few miles south of the Iowa border in Northern MO and agree with Stanley on late October being great with a cold front but am not that fond of the first 3-4 days in November in my area as it seems the mature bucks don't move much during daylight. November 5-6 through the 12th tend to be much better with the sweet spot about November 9th. I'm not sure if the mature ones are locked down with the does the first few days of November or if they discovered it's not quite time but I now start my hunts on the 5th or 6th.

[jboswell]

Zone 4 resident here, seems like the best dates for seeing 3 year olds are November 5th - 10th with the 4+ year olds showing up cruising maybe the 8th -12th before they get locked down good

October 25th -31st can be awesome too if it gets cold

[rizzo999]

Good info for next year for me! Trying to determine if I should go the last week of Oct thru the first week of Nov or the first 2 weeks of Nov.

Also, there were a couple W2H podcast in the last month that addressed this info. The podcast with Mark Drury and the one with Don Kisky.