ORIGINAL: loogout1
I didn't think I was letting the cat out of the bag by asking about the monster quotient, thats why I asked. Never having hunted deer anywhere but where I live and seeing the walking coat racks that they constantly shoot and pass up drives me nuts. How is the hunting land situation? Here its all private land and you have to have permission to hunt anywhere. This means a lot of door knocking and a lot of groveling, very dis-heartening. When You get a spot around here, you do whatever you have to, to keep it. Is it the same in these other states?
IA has very little public land compared to other states. Most of IA also does not have many deer, just cropfields. Because of all the hype in the last 10 years, a lot of the better land is getting leased up, making it hardergain access tosomeone elses land based on a relationship formed and not the almighty $.It breaks my heart how deer hunting has changed in parts of IA in the last 10 years.Be thankful for what you have.
There are huge bucks around, but mostly in lower pressure or exclusive managementand hunting rights areas. Not where most laid back-fun to hunt with guys hunt.