HF 360 Squirrle hunting

[Fishbonker]

This bill would change to date of the squirrel opener from the first week in Sept to the first Saturday in August.

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=HF360&ga=87

I can't make this stuff up. Do we really need three or four more weeks to kill squirrels in Iowa? The season is already 5 months long with many methods of take...... I actually have no opinion on this bill but I do wonder why it was introduced. FB thinks there are too many car/squirrel interactions leading to loss of profit by their auto insurance division? Maybe their agricultural insurance (crop loss) division is losing profits from crop damage by squirrels? Could it be the squirrel hunters want the same length of season as rabbit hunters? Who knows.

 

[bigbuckhunter88]

Maybe this is to lessen the chance of some MN or Wisconsin residents ruining the hunts of the youths on public ground. The first few weeks of squirrel season get super crazy in NE Iowa

 

[mplane72]

We did a squirrel hunt in January at my buddy's farm. Way over populated. Rustling the leaves and getting me excited for a deer every sit. Not to mention the crop damage. If guys weren't so crazy about not disturbing their precious deer hunting we could get a handle on the population.

 

[Hardwood11]

I don't care either way, not a squirrel hunter, but I had a buddy hunt public in Iowa in November and he said the Hmong squirrel hunters practically ruined every one of his hunts.

.22 shell whizzed by him one day

 

[bigbuckhunter88]

I don't care either way, not a squirrel hunter, but I had a buddy hunt public in Iowa in November and he said the Hmong squirrel hunters practically ruined every one of his hunts.

.22 shell whizzed by him one day

He's lucky it was only a .22. Typically they use larger caliber rifles

 

[Oct-Lull]

Takes alot of squirrel meat to make the cost of a non res hunting license make sense. I wonder how many actually buy one

 

[bigbuckhunter88]

Opening weekend every public land parking spot is loaded but they will hit it hard again when the leaves fall. It is a very eerie feeling when you hear the Crack of a high power and hear branches break near you.

 

[JNRBRONC]

Opening weekend every public land parking spot is loaded but they will hit it hard again when the leaves fall. It is a very eerie feeling when you hear the Crack of a high power and hear branches break near you.

High power or shotgun slug, clicking branches above your head makes a person wonder. Stopped me from hunting public ground a long time ago.

 

[Fishbonker]

I don't care either way, not a squirrel hunter, but I had a buddy hunt public in Iowa in November and he said the Hmong squirrel hunters practically ruined every one of his hunts.

.22 shell whizzed by him one day

There was a case last year near DSM where the Hmong hunters had a bag full of song birds on public and another with buckets full of fish, rough and sport, that had been caught with a cast net. I'm sure we have all heard these or similar stories. I would hope there is some cultural sensitivity training going on so they become more sensitive to our culture. Wouldn't that be a switch? Now that I think about it, there is some sensitivity training, it's called "Here's your ticket sir".

 

[Sligh1]

"Do you support your Iowa Legislatures and what they are spending their time on?"..... That would be a big frigin "NO" here. These guys got some serious issues to deal with in Iowa, I'm just thinking to myself, who of these guys is spending their "valuable" elected time worrying about lengthening squirrel season?? On the other end of it, why are these clowns spending that same time trying to increase our 4 month deer season and adding to our 5 weapon allowance that exists now? If you really wanted to do something with hunting MEANINGFUL - how about ONE sort of bill (no idea how this would work & I'd have to think) on how to get pheasant hunting back on the increase for participation & quality (yes, lot of problems there). "$.50 cent increase on small game licenses to help pay for native grass cover in XYZ locations & release of 5,000 wild-strained pheasants per year" OR..... "no cost trapping tags for fur-bearers in XYZ pheasant zones". WHATEVER.

I think these guys have one of those spinning game wheels in their office, they spin the arrow a few times a year and that's how they choose what to propose.... The wheel would be split into categories like "add new weapon to deer season" "Shooting catfish with shotguns" "Letting Farm Bureau write one law for me" "WILD CARD - the craziest law I can come up with" "Take a nap" "Let all the Legislatures have a party with young interns with state paid booze, whip cream & cigars", etc.

We got some politicians that both need to refocus, term limited out, get off the lobbyist/donor kool-aid or be replaced. These guys gotta go.

 

[Hardwood11]

The MN DNR actually did a study a few years ago as to why there were few squirrels on public land near the Twin Cities metro area?

At first I thought the article was a joke, but it was serious.

Hmong obviously hit the public close to the metro and wipe out all the squirrels, but the MN DNR could not comprehend the reason for the decline??