The final deer hunting season begins Jan. 11, in the 38 counties in southern and western Iowa where antlerless deer licenses are available.

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Heading into Iowa's busiest outdoor 'opening day,' shotgun deer season hunters should expect to see fewer deer. While that downturn is by design, they should still fill plenty of tags, during the December 1-5 first shotgun season or the December 8-16 second season.

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Iowa's walk in public hunting access program has 7,000 acres of private property on 41 sites available to hunters, an increase from 1,366 acres during its inaugural year in 2011.

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Iowa's early muzzleloader deer season begins October 13 for the 7,500 muzzleloader hunters taking part in the nine-day season.

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Iowa’s popular archery deer season begins Oct. 1, with nearly 60,000 hunters expected to head to the timber & field edges of the state.

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Hunters reported harvesting 121,407 deer in Iowa during the 2011-12 seasons, which is 4.5 percent lower than the 127,094 deer reported in 2010-11

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The Iowa pheasant population has fallen to a new all-time low with a statewide average of 7 birds counted for each 30 mile route driven, after a fifth winter in a row with above normal snowfall, followed by a wet nesting season. The 2010 statewide average was 11 birds per route.

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Final approval of a rule that will allow the hunting of mourning doves in Iowa was approved by the Iowa Natural Resource Commission which also added an amendment that would require hunters to use non-toxic shot.

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Hunters have reported harvesting more than 108,000 deer so far through the DNR's harvest reporting system, which is 6.4 percent behind the 2009 levels, or about 7,000 fewer deer. Harvest totals have been lower each of the past few years as the deer herd approaches targeted population goals in more counties.

"We are expecting that the kill would be down at least 4 to 5 percent this year," said Tom Litchfield, state deer biologist with the DNR. "The statewide deer population has been shrinking for the past five years and a lower harvest is a natural outcome of that population trend."

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Iowa pheasant hunters already know it. They will see fewer birds when they step into the fields this weekend and for the next couple months. Iowa's pheasant season opens October 30, on the heels of the lowest pre-season survey ever recorded.

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Dubuque, Iowa - December 22, 2008 - Pheasants Forever (PF) has announced a one-of-a kind partnership with Diamond Jo Casinos that will create funds for local habitat projects.

Donations to an account created by PF will be funded by a designated group of slot machines located at each of the two Diamond Jo Casino properties in Dubuque and Northwood, Iowa. Whenever a player hits the jackpot on one of the machines in the designated slot bank, Diamond Jo will match the jackpot with an equal donation to the Diamond Conservation Fund. The slot machines have specially designed signage and a conservation theme to promote the program to visitors at each casino.

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The National Wild Turkey Federation’s Iowa State Chapter continues to make public hunting access a priority, having already contributed $72,000 toward the purchase of 812 acres of land in the Hawkeye State in 2008.   Most recently in Iowa, NWTF volunteers helped purchase land that will be used for public hunting as part of four existing conservation areas in Allamekee, Buchanan, Woodbury and Webster counties. The NWTF, with help from project partners, purchased land to expand public hunting land in the Lansing Wildlife Management Area, along the Wapsipinicon River, in the Oak Ridge Conservation Area and in the Boone Forks WMA.

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Iowa pheasant hunters could see variable bird numbers this fall, thanks to different weather patterns across Iowa.

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KEOKUK - Tens of thousands of migrating lesser scaup ducks have arrived on Mississippi River Pool 19.

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DES MOINES - Spring turkey hunting season is right around the corner and many hunters are primed to head into the woods to pursue this most elusive quarry.

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Freed from their five month entombment beneath ice and snow, Iowa wetlands are returning to life.

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The Iowa DNR was informed by the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames that none of the 4,232 Iowa whitetail deer tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD) by the lab during the 2006-07 season showed any signs of the disease.

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Like other states in the midwest Iowa produces some outstanding white-tailed deer.

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One of the questions I am frequently asked is, "How many deer are there in Iowa?" Although I usually produce an answer, often I can tell that my response leaves the questioner with more questions than answers. I believe this is because I try to answer in 1 or 2 sentences when this question really deserves a couple of pages. So here is the detailed version of "How many deer are there?" 

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Winter wants to hang on, with snow flurries and morning temperatures in the 30s. There's no better evidence of spring, though, than Opening Day of Iowa's first turkey season.

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White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were reported to be quite abundant when white settlers arrived in Iowa in the early 1800's. Although the clearing and cultivating of land for agriculture may have initially improved the suitability of the landscape for deer, uncontrolled exploitation for food and hides rapidly reduced deer numbers.

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IOWA 2007-2008 HUNTING & TRAPPING SEASONS AND BAG LIMITS

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