I' m strongly considering trying my hand at bow hunting. Last year I had my heart set on getting a bow, but other events syphoned off the money saved for that purpose. Now I think I' m going to start saving again to buy a new bow in the spring.

In Iowa the only legal weapons are bow, shotgun, muzzleloader and handgun. The advantage to bow hunting is that bow season is by far the longest deer season, running from Oct. 1-Dec. 5th, and then from Dec. 22nd through Jan. 10th, pausing in the middle for the two shotgun seasons.

The other bonus to bow hunters is that one can buy two " any-sex" tags, one for bow and one for one of the gun seasons, plus any additional " antlerless-only" tags good for any season. If one just gun hunts (regardless of type of gun), then they can only get one " any-sex" tag.

Mike