NonRes Iowa Hunt in Butler Co

[bassfisherman711]

Hey yall-

Much of my mothers side of the family is from Iowa and I began talking with some close family friends about hunting their farm and the land he leases for farming. These friends are located in Butler County - which is split between zones 7 and zone 10. I have read what the DNR website has to say about the application process, now I want to hear from so locals on the hunting in this area.

What would be the best time to apply for and hunt? The bow season (Oct-Dec), gun season 1 or 2 (Dec1-18), or muzzleloader (Dec18-Jan)? I realize that can be tough to answer - but for someone who has not hunted on the property out there, so will need to scout, and would like to experience as much deer movement as possible, when would be best? When does the rut generally kick in there?

I have looked at aerial photos of the properties and they are 99.9% ag land. There are a few fence rows to set up on. Will the deer move across the open terrain, thus making setting up in a irrigation ditch a viable option? This question is coming from someone who usually hunts the wood choked forests of Virginia!

Finally, are there some good bucks in this part of the state?

Thanks for any and all help/advice!

[hatchet jack]

Good Luck with this one!!!!

[hatchet jack]

Originally Posted by bassfisherman711

Hey yall-

Much of my mothers side of the family is from Iowa and I began talking with some close family friends about hunting their farm and the land he leases for farming. These friends are located in Butler County - which is split between zones 7 and zone 10. I have read what the DNR website has to say about the application process, now I want to hear from so locals on the hunting in this area.

What would be the best time to apply for and hunt? The bow season (Oct-Dec), gun season 1 or 2 (Dec1-18), or muzzleloader (Dec18-Jan)? I realize that can be tough to answer - but for someone who has not hunted on the property out there, so will need to scout, and would like to experience as much deer movement as possible, when would be best? When does the rut generally kick in there?

I have looked at aerial photos of the properties and they are 99.9% ag land. There are a few fence rows to set up on. Will the deer move across the open terrain, thus making setting up in a irrigation ditch a viable option? This question is coming from someone who usually hunts the wood choked forests of Virginia!

Finally, are there some good bucks in this part of the state?

Thanks for any and all help/advice!

It will take you 3 years to get a non-res tag in Iowa. Its a point state.

[IOWABUCKHUNTR]

Not only that, we have a very limited supply of non-resident tags available. I believe that there were only 6,000 non-res tags issued this last year. Zone 7 accounted for 360 tags and zone 10 had only 200 tags.

As for applying and for what season, that is your perogative (sp?), what you want to hunt is what you should apply for. As for the rut, it has generally followed a pre-rut- Last week in October to maybe 2nd week in November, from then on its game time. (This is strictly from my experience in west central Iowa, the rut is more localized, as I cannont hunt our southern Iowa farms for the rut at the same time, it is usually a week or two later).

The wonderful thing about Iowa is you can almost find a deer anywhere, that said, woodlots and CRP are still your better options for hunting. Aside from that, never rule out the public hunting grounds that we have, in many cases they are often overlooked until the shotgun seasons in December.