I bowhunted Iowa for several years before I ended up moving to Illinois which allowed me 2 bucks/year for $26/each instead of one for $550 in Iowa. Public land is very good, except the big problem we ran into at ALL the properties we went to were coon and bird hunters after those seasons opened 1st week of November.
The coon hunters were incredible, pounding every woodlot with barking dogs and spotlights all night long. I have not hunted anywhere so many wanted to coon hunt. It must be some kind of hillbilly tradition there or something?
Anyway this activity takes place late at night so as bowhunters we would never have even known how bad it was if we had not been camping inside our hunting area. We did always see the occasional coon remains. I spoke with a few other NR's who also complained of patterning several nice bucks but they disappeared after pheasant dogs ran them off.
We hunted Sedan Bottoms, Lake Rathbun, Appanoose County. Many areas of the Stephens State Forest are very good. You just need to scout them. Also there are many county properties available you will not see advertised in the F&G regulations.