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Polk county urban hunt

bcuarcher

bcuarcher

Member
Hey everybody,
I just moved to Des Moines last week to open an office and am already starting to look for places to hunt for the 2012 season. I came from Davenport where I hunted their urban bow season for 4 years with pretty good success, and I see in the DNR regs book that there is also an urban hunt in Polk-Dallas county, but it doesnt give much information on it. Does anybody know where I can find more info on the regulations of this hunt? Is it limited to certain cities? Parks? Any info would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris
 
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Hunting/DeerHunting/DeerManagementHunts.aspx

Go to the Polk Co Management map for the 2 zones in the metro. I personally hunt some stuff in zone 61, but have yet to hunt anything actually in the other zone. Most citys are on the earn a buck program. I have a buddy that hunts in Jester Park, but you have to go through them directly. City of des moines contact is Mike Gaul (Parks Department I believe). Each city has their own little tweaks to the criteria, so I would think it would be best to figure out where you really want to hunt, and then do your leg work. It will take some phone calls/ foot work to get it done. But once you're on the list, its easier the second time around from what I've been told. Biggest thing is making sure you have your bow education and proficiency shooting done before applying. If you happen to get on private land somehow, you will need signed permission slips when applying and notify the city of such.
 
I've done the urban hunt for a few years now. It USED to be good. But thanks to over hunting the doe #s are way down and thanks to poachers, a 140-150 class buck is a really good buck and becoming a rarity.
It's hard to get into a DSM park hunt, and every good private property is already locked up by hunters. While the county urban hunt seems to have better #s and less people willing to participate.
I personally leased a property in town the last couple years, and the land owner finally sold it to me a few weeks ago. I've already had problems with poachers and shed poachers. I found several stands on it that weren't mine, and even a ghille mask they accidentally left. Before I left for work yesterday, there was a nice smooth coat of snow covering my property. I was excited to get out and shed hunt after work. When I returned home, there were 2 sets of tracks walking parallel throughout my property and the neighbors. .... Seriously... Who has time to shed hunt the middle of the day, middle of the week? Get a job!
As I'm typing this, I'm checking trail camera pics from the far side of my property, and have a guy in full army fatigues with binos and a young lab walk right in front of my camera.... HMMM... I wonder what he's doing?! I suppose I'll just add it to the pics of the guy with his daughter and his lab from last year. I just can't wait till I catch these people in person!
Bottom line, urban hunt can be rewarding if you have the right place to hunt and time to dedicate towards doe management. That is, IF there are any does left in that area.
I think this years survey will show DSM #s are poor, but Polk county urban hunt still has good doe #s.
 
If you are still interested after bladedbrows glowing report, here are a couple links that you should find helpful.
http://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/conse...nting/controlled-bowhunt-hunter-requirements/

http://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/media/10555/controlled-bowhunt-guidelines.pdf

As DoneRight indicated, each entity can have special rules, but the basic requirements are the same which include bow hunter safety course, annual proficiency test, and approval from the entity and landowner (if private).

The Polk County Deer Task Force provides recommendations to the entities each year. I have been the City of Johnston representative for a few years and currently serve as secretary for the PCDTF. Let me know if you need more information.

Good luck.
 
Sad news

bladedbrows said:
I've done the urban hunt for a few years now. It USED to be good. But thanks to over hunting the doe #s are way down and thanks to poachers, a 140-150 class buck is a really good buck and becoming a rarity.
It's hard to get into a DSM park hunt, and every good private property is already locked up by hunters. While the county urban hunt seems to have better #s and less people willing to participate.
I personally leased a property in town the last couple years, and the land owner finally sold it to me a few weeks ago. I've already had problems with poachers and shed poachers. I found several stands on it that weren't mine, and even a ghille mask they accidentally left. Before I left for work yesterday, there was a nice smooth coat of snow covering my property. I was excited to get out and shed hunt after work. When I returned home, there were 2 sets of tracks walking parallel throughout my property and the neighbors. .... Seriously... Who has time to shed hunt the middle of the day, middle of the week? Get a job!
As I'm typing this, I'm checking trail camera pics from the far side of my property, and have a guy in full army fatigues with binos and a young lab walk right in front of my camera.... HMMM... I wonder what he's doing?! I suppose I'll just add it to the pics of the guy with his daughter and his lab from last year. I just can't wait till I catch these people in person!
Bottom line, urban hunt can be rewarding if you have the right place to hunt and time to dedicate towards doe management. That is, IF there are any does left in that area.
I think this years survey will show DSM #s are poor, but Polk county urban hunt still has good doe #s.
Click to expand...

Geez I guess on the positive side, as long as your land doesn't burn up in a fire, it should only get better:way:
 
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I hunt in town quite a bit. While I can understand where bladedbrows is coming from, its not quite that bad depending where you're at. There are still good deer out there. Mike Gaul runs a good program and is a good person to talk to.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I can see where Bladedbrows is coming from, I've seen the same thing happen in the Davenport hunt. Lots of deer the first couple years (too many), and the numbers have really been down especially this year. And you can almost forget about finding good private ground that doesnt already have 3 guys on it. We have also had problems with trespassers on our spots, have had 4 stands stolen so far.
Im not too familiar with the Des Moines area so I'll just have to do some leg work to find some areas worth concentrating on. Rjack I'll probably be talking to you more as my office is in Johnston and it would be nice to be able to run out to the stand quick after work.
 
It seems that the majority of the city hunts start out awesome, with big bucks, lots of does, and deer that haven't been hunted before. As the years go by more deer are shot, there aren't the numbers of deer (bucks and does), and the deer start to realize they are being hunted.
 
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