NR Statewide Options

[Zim]

So last month my company expanded my work area to include the entire state of Iowa. I live in Indiana. I’ve been scouting & hunting zone 5 public for 25 years, but with the hunting pubs pushing zones 4&5, I see the points required going up significantly soon. And with the $50 point fee and years of waiting, I am thinking it would be a better idea for me to take this opportunity and scout lesser zones, try to find some overlooked public, and hunt more frequently. So I am seeking others thoughts on this plan. I already scouted tons of public in zone 8 but not interested in what I saw there. Now thinking of checking out zone 7 and the western Loess Hills zones. I have a lot of freedom in determining when I go work in these areas so I can get the vast majority of my travel expenses paid for. Any opinions?


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[bkcrrtnps]

The Loess Hills is a great area for great bucks. The toughest part of them are terrain and access from my experience. EHD seemed to take a big toll in that area and deer numbers aren’t same as zone 5 but I think your chance at a great mature buck are great! Biggest sheds and dead heads I’ve ever found came from that area


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[2dblind]

I think zone 8 is an under valued zone in my opinion. I turkey hunt a fair amount in that non-resident zone I think it looks pretty strong. I don't know a ton about zone 7 but, knowing the topography I would say that if 8 disappoints you then you will just as or if not more be disappointed in 7. That zone has Des Moines, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo/Cedar Falls in it.

I use to live out in zone 3 so I can give you some places if you would like to look at if you head out there. There is a ton of public out there and some fairly rough terrain with lower populations.

Again, this is all just my opinion so take that with a grain of salt. There are big deer in every county in the state.

 

[Hardwood11]

Boone/Hamilton counties have nice stuff and they are in a zone that is probably every other year for archery.

 

[booneriverbucks]

The DNR cut the number of non resident tags available for zone 2 in half so it will probably take longer now to get a bow tag for hamilton county and northern boone county