Double Droptine

I have the opportunity to go to "southeastern" Iowa to bowhunt deer on a place we've never been. I know Iowa is one heck of a deer state but because of work, family and a dozen other things I want to do my homework before I commit.
It sounds strange but this is arranged through a friend of a friend that knows of a place! Sounds tempting but at this time in my life it is a big committment.

Do any of you have personal experience deer hunting southern Iowa? What is the terrain like? Hilly? Huge fields? Big deer population? Decent size bucks in this part of the state?

Any personal knowledge appreciated. Thank you!

IOWABUCKHUNTR

Depending on where you go in Southern Iowa you will possibly experience a hunt of a life time, regardless or not if you "nail" that monster lurking in the woods. If you will be in a county that is in the lower two tiers of the state, you will no doubt have an awesome opportunity to harvest not only a deer, but possibly a mature buck; this is totally dependent on the management of the land among other things. The lower two tiers of the state are experiencing an excess of deer and will provide you with a shooting opportunity.

You will be happy to know (if you are out of shape after the holidays!)that most of Iowa is fairly flat with rolling hills in many places, and possibly steep hills if along a river basin. With timber that could possibly be thick and impossible to walk through or even light woods. To be fair, the state of Iowa has possibly every combination of timber and hills that you could possibly think of, including many wide open fields for late evening glassing.

If you have any questions about a specific area I could possibly aid you with more information and personal knowledge.

Will you be hunting on private land or working with a guide/outfitter?

iashedhunter90

Just as iowabuckhunter said you will fall in love with southern Iowa. I hunt in Marion, Mahaska and Monroe counties and can give you an idea of what my areas are like.
You will see alot of flat farmland but also some rolling hills and ditches of timber. While there are some big areas of timber around this area it seems there are small tracts dividing corn , bean or crp fields. I have had sucesss at all times of the season but your srategy needs to change as the season goes on. Early season I like to sit along alfalfa or crop fields then move into timber deeper as rut gets close then back out to fields late season, especially if you get alot of snow/ice like this year.

Good luck and I know you will enjoy it. SE Iowa is producing alot of big bucks.

BOB 22

just remember if your not a residence it is a draw state which most times it takes 2 years to draw a tag

Double Droptine

I guess it is south of Bloomfield in Davis county on private land. That's all I know at this time. Any experience with this general area? Since I've never been down there I don't know if it is flatter than a pancake, mainly huge fields with small patches of woods or what. I'll try to find out more.

One of the other responders said I have to enter a draw for a license. I assume to get preferrence points. Do you know anything about that?

Thank you all for your replys!

driftrider

Iowa is a great place to hunt if you have access to private land. If you don't then you're very limited because Iowa has one of the lowest percentages of public land of any state. As far as terrain, the area you'll be hunting, which is just a little way north of the Missouri border, is going to be a mostly a combination of rolling farmland and heavy timber. There are gobs of deer in that area of the state, so many that a couple years ago Iowa opened a late antlerless centerfire rifle season in the southern two tiers and are giving out antlerless tags like candy (to residents, at least). I have no doubt that there's a decent chance you could see a nice buck or two, but nothing is certain unless the fences are high. [:@]

Mike

Robert L E

Hunt southern Iowa and you too can have a porch picture like this.