seazofcheeze wrote:am planning to draw for the 2018 Iowa bow season. I would like to hear anyone's input who has hunted Iowa regularly. I'm asking now because I plan to make a trip in March this year and March next year for scouting and shed hunting purposes.
My goal for the trip is to shoot a 135"+ buck. I'm pretty comfortable hunting marsh/swamp, farm, or hill country.
Looking for input on zones that have a good balance of public land and opportunities for 135"+ if I put in the work. I'd prefer NOT to have any specific information on wma's, or specific areas, just looking for general info on the different zones and the type of terrain and public. My tentative plan is for a 2-week hunt around the October 31st - November 14th time frame, but I am open to suggestions and advice on the dates.
Feel free to pm if you don't want to post information on the public forum.
Thanks in advance.
Your goal is definitely doable. Many come to Iowa public with the mindset of 150" 5 year old or bust and they eat tags. No to say it isn't possible-it is. Just not probable with limited scouting and hunting time.
Iowa bow hunters all take vacation at the same time(residents and non-residents). Pressure is highest during the first 10 days of November. We hunted nearly every day(as a group-not me personally) from Oct. 5 through Nov 28. The least amount of mature buck sightings were Nov 2-10. I think we saw one mature buck during that period and we were in my best stand. I'm half tempted to start sitting out the first week of November and strictly scouting for hunting pressure. We do this to a degree already but could be more efficient if we weren't hunting.
P.M. me if you need help deciding on a unit but I think you'll find most of them can be good (excluding the NW). Stanley has a good point about drive time.