i am getting ready to return to iowa after a couple of years over seas and was wondering if the rut has started or what the deer have been like this year. good luck to all.
Marshall

Yes Virginia, there are Iowans here. Yes the bucks are getting active. Plenty of chances to tag and bag, but not in Carroll! lol

Scraping and rubbing big time. I drew a non res this year and will be hunting it for the first time this weekend. Looking forward to it. Best Pre Rut sign I have seen in years. Then again this will be the first time in Iowa.

I hunt Southern Iowa. The small bucks are starting to chase, so I would say primetime is about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks out. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be going now though. There has been a lot of scraping and rubbing going on too.

Yes, Dubuque. Iv'e been out about every other day and the last few weeks have been slow. Small bucks and some does. My trail cams having been picking up all the activity at night- and all night at that. The last two days there has been considerably more movement along with local stories just starting to pop up about bucks moving. I always look at Nov. 1st as a good marker for the start of action and it seems to be holding true to form this year. Good luck!