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Northeast Iowa - Bowhunting

lbehm482

lbehm482

New Member
Hello-

I am moving to Allamakee Co. for a new job next month and am looking for information on potential leases for next year. If anyone has information on available land for next season can you please PM me? I am an avid bowhunter from Wisconsin and I am primarily looking for permission to archery hunt. If permission to gun hunt is granted or included, that would be a bonus.

Let me be clear on this, I am not coming on here asking for secret spots or access to free land. I am just seeking information or potential leads. I am very unframiliar with the area and would love to get together/speak with other hunters to discuss hunting in Northeast Iowa. Shoot me a PM for contact information.

Thank you all and good luck as your hunting season wraps up!

-Luke
 
Welcome to the site! Beautiful country up there. Very rugged, though. I'm pretty sure there are a few guys on here from that neck of the woods. Good luck!
 
You should spend a weekend in January driving around with a map making notes on good habitat and deer sightings. Then knock on some doors and ask permission. You may not have to lease land to hunt, leasing land for hunting is not nearly as common in NE Iowa as it is in in Southern Iowa and Wisconsin. I hunt Clayton and Allamakee counties and haven't had any problems getting access on private land without paying a lease. Good luck and welcome to Iowa
 
Thank you for the replies. Question in regards to the public --> how often to people hunt the Mississippi backwaters for whitetails? I would imagine that if you were willing to put the work in and canoe back in there you might be able to find some bruiser swamp bucks? Thank you for the information 1luckyguy, it is my plan to knock on as many doors as possible, but I was unaware of how difficult it would be to get permission. Here in Central Wisconsin it seems like every 40 is loaded with hunters.
 
There are definitely some good people in NE iowa. I have a friend who turkey hunts over there and he just gives the owners a ham or some deer sticks at the end of the season. Seems like they're calling him to see when he'll be back to hunt their ground, not the other way around. He had tons of ground to hunt....I mean there was no way he touched 25% of it in a season between he and his dad.

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I know another guy that is from WI and he drew an Iowa bow tag this year. He was amazed at the differences from WI to IA. He made the same comments about how many more guys hunted bow in WI than Iowa. I gained bow hunting access 13 yrs ago to 640 acres of timber and only myself and my buddy hunt it. We just give the landowner a box of ribeyes every year to show our appreciation. There is some good state ground that doesn't get hunted hard during archery season too.
 
^^ what amazing is you can hardly sniff a piece ground west of say winneshiek county. Less deer, worse habitat, but the landowners there are pretty stingy.....but to each there own, gotta respect.

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I grew up in NE Iowa and still go up to hunt some every year. Not only is it just an awesome part of Iowa (terrain mostly IMO) just extra special to get back to where you cut your teeth. Not a better class of people either...bias of course. I don't have anything to answer your question...just got excited about a NE Iowa post!

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Still favorable conditions to find hunting opportunities in Iowa. Thank you Iowa Bowhunters Assn and it's members for fighting to keep our limited NR draw.
 
If you are looking for a place to yourself it will be tough. Especially in alamakee county. State can be good but first couple weeks of November its pretty busy. I know of a place or two that's private and give permission normally. Also can be tough to find but some leases are around
 
Still can find places to hunt but it is getting tougher. I just lost one of the farms I hunt. They decided to lease it out and already offered it to a group. I was disappointed but not surprised.
 
Hang out at the local coffee shops and feed stores (Farmers like to drink coffee there..haha). Also you stated new job....first people I always pimp...and I travel a lot around the world...are my co-workers. You may have to give up some of that 640 you have permission on but may show you are good on your end of the bargain and may open up more doors.
 
There is some awesome public land in Alamakee Co! I have driven from MI, Bow-Hunted 5 days, and tagged out on 3 different occasions on public land in ALamakee Co. If that tells you anything.
 
Knock on some doors and there's a good chance you'll find something. Public is good here if you hunt around the hunters if you know what I mean. Don't go throwing money around most people actually don't like that around here. Stop in my shop in Waukon sometime. Take Care
 
If you are in NE iowa I would recommend stopping at JJohnson's store in Waukon. I don't live there anymore, but stop whenever I am in town. Great shop, great selection of quality stuff.

As far as hunting the public land around there, I would shop around. I hunt near public there and I have never seen it get pounded as bad as I did the last two years. Both gun and bow seasons. I think it goes in spurts, some areas get pounded hard because it's the "new hot spot" then it dies down after a few years and people move to the "new public hot spot".
 
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