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Bowhunting Iowa

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muzyarrow

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wolverinehunter,
I am an avid bowhunter from southcentral Pennsylvania. I am planning a 2004 hunt providing license are available. I am an active member of the Iowa Bowhunter Association, United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania, PA State Archery Association, NFAA, NRA, and FOP. I am looking for public grounds to hunt and have read that there are some that do not receive much pressure. I am also looking for maps of these areas to study before coming out. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Bryan
 
Look around the Rathbun area...I think it has over 10,000acres and I've personally seen big bucks there and had duck hunting friends who have seen monsters around there too. Also, check out Stevens State Forest. All of these are in SE Iowa...I am not sure what zone or anything like that they might be in.
 
There are some public areas around the Des Moines river in central Iowa hat don't get pressure. Alot of people from that area are going south, they don't even bother with these public areas. I've spotted some bruisers and found some pretty decent sheds. You really need to scout it out. public ground kind of works like this: you start scouting an area in the early part of the year and continue thruout the year up to the season and you've "marked" your terrritory, so to speak. Most of the guys into bowhunting honor this type of thinkin. they don't want to be hunting where someone else has been anyway. there aren't going to be as many 130's and up but you might run across a real big one. Goodluck
 
I just wanted to say that I'm from iowa and I have hunted a lot of public ground and there are some good ways ways and bad ways to go about it, all which I would be happy to tell you about. Public hunting is no cake walk but it can be very rewarding as I can attest too taking a 150 gross deer last year and a 180 this year both on public lands.

I might suggest that a good place for you to start is by getting ahold of a booklet called the iowa sportsman guidebook which shows all the public land in iowa by county with maps. The bad thing about this book however is that it is always out of date, since the dnr is constantly buying up new land.

Once You know the spots that are public hunting grounds I would suggest going to a site http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com and start downloading the arial immages of the areas which you are intending to hunt. This may cut down on a lot of footwork in the woods scouting, since good funnels and other areas that one doesn't see from the ground tend to stand out a little more from overhead view,and it will give you a better idea of what is in the area.
If you need any addional advise don't be afraid to contact me at [email protected]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by swanny:
Look around the Rathbun area...I think it has over 10,000acres and I've personally seen big bucks there and had duck hunting friends who have seen monsters around there too. Also, check out Stevens State Forest. All of these are in SE Iowa...I am not sure what zone or anything like that they might be in.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank You, I will be checking out those areas.
Bryan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by primetime:
There are some public areas around the Des Moines river in central Iowa hat don't get pressure. Alot of people from that area are going south, they don't even bother with these public areas. I've spotted some bruisers and found some pretty decent sheds. You really need to scout it out. public ground kind of works like this: you start scouting an area in the early part of the year and continue thruout the year up to the season and you've "marked" your terrritory, so to speak. Most of the guys into bowhunting honor this type of thinkin. they don't want to be hunting where someone else has been anyway. there aren't going to be as many 130's and up but you might run across a real big one. Goodluck<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, I sounds like a few road trips are in order.

Bryan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by fastflyght:
I just wanted to say that I'm from iowa and I have hunted a lot of public ground and there are some good ways ways and bad ways to go about it, all which I would be happy to tell you about. Public hunting is no cake walk but it can be very rewarding as I can attest too taking a 150 gross deer last year and a 180 this year both on public lands.

I might suggest that a good place for you to start is by getting ahold of a booklet called the iowa sportsman guidebook which shows all the public land in iowa by county with maps. The bad thing about this book however is that it is always out of date, since the dnr is constantly buying up new land.

Once You know the spots that are public hunting grounds I would suggest going to a site http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com and start downloading the arial immages of the areas which you are intending to hunt. This may cut down on a lot of footwork in the woods scouting, since good funnels and other areas that one doesn't see from the ground tend to stand out a little more from overhead view,and it will give you a better idea of what is in the area.
If you need any addional advise don't be afraid to contact me at [email protected]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, You folks out there are great. I will be emailing you with are problems here in PA.

Bryan
 
Muzzyarrow, I worked at one of iowa's wildlife units this past fall. It was the Riverton Unit in extreme SW Iowa. It is known for it's duck hunting but also has a very good deer pop. i personally saw 5 different P&Y bucks while living there (we lived right in the middle of the park) and one very massive buck, probably a 180 class typical. To my knowledge none of these bucks were harvested unless it was done in the late muzzleloader season, i had moved by then, but there are still some nice deer there i'm sure. As for deer hunting pressure it is almost nonexistant during the week and not too much on weekends. You may want to look into this. I just thought i would give u some options.
 
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