2023 Deer Season: A Season to Remember

2023 Deer Season: A Season to Remember

By Jessica Graham

A cold front was moving in, during the first weekend of Iowa’s bow season, and I was excited to hunt with my Dad overlooking an alfalfa field. I just noticed six does about 150 yards away. About the time I saw them, they bolted right towards my Dad and me. His stand was about 15 yards away from mine and the does ran past us. I stood, and grabbed my bow, ready in case a predator or possibly a buck might be following. About 60 yards in front of us, a rack emerged heading up the incline toward us. The buck charged past my shooting lane, but unfortunately was directly head-on facing my Dad, and he was not able to shoot him. My eyes swept past him to the buck chasing him. I drew and stopped him about 10 yards away, and in a shooting lane. His sides were heaving from the fight and the chase, and I squeezed my release. My Dad and I watched the arrow hit him and watched him run hard for about 150 yards before tumbling over. It was one of the most exciting bow hunts I’ve had, probably because my Dad was with me while I shot the buck. I never expect to harvest a buck during my first sit of the year, but this one was too exciting to pass up. As the season progressed, I became more thankful for that buck, because the amount of mature bucks I saw were few after that one.

What Are Iowan’s Seeing?
I started hearing a lot of hunters mention hunting season has been slow for them. On Facebook, we asked the question: “What areas did you hunt and what did you notice as far as deer population?”. Most of the comments indicated hunters had seen less deer than years prior. “Hancock and Cerro Gordo counties, fewest deer I’ve seen in 44 years,” one user commented. Some of the other comments reported a high population in north central Iowa. For instance, another Facebook user stated, “Very high doe population in central north Iowa. Doe to buck ratio was close to 20:1 on my summer cams,” and some others agreed.

DNR Population Findings
After getting a feel for what hunters were seeing around the state, I had a brief conversation with Jase Elliott, the Iowa DNR whitetail biologist. I asked Jase about the 2023 deer population and what his work was revealing. “There definitely was some EHD and CWD in areas, and there are areas that witnessed lower populations,” Jase explains. “However, just because the hunting on one property is experiencing lower numbers, that doesn’t necessarily mean the whole county is affected. The population can recover from EHD pretty quickly, within a couple of years,” Jase explains.

Jase goes on to point out a couple of key weather events that can get deer up on their feet: cold temperatures and snow. Jase reveals “We were tracking pretty close to historical harvests up until the gun seasons. Then, things fell off.” Thinking back, it was unseasonably warm during December. Jase goes on to point out that with snow on the ground, you can see a lot more deer. When you don’t have snow, the deer are there, but are harder to see. Another thing that can affect the movement on your property is your neighbors. Their activity, animals, food, water, and habitat sources can influence how the deer move through your property. Sometimes we don’t know about our neighbor’s changes that affect the deer we see on our own property.

A Season to Remember
Some Iowans had a fantastic season. For example, Christian Glandorf arrowed a nice buck in October in Iowa County. “I was in my haybale blind my fiancé got me for our anniversary. I looked over and saw two coyotes chasing a couple of deer, with a good size buck in the group. I thought my hunt was over, so I stood up and was looking around. I heard something behind me and I looked over and there was a doe staring right at me, and five yards from her was this giant! She ran and he followed. As he moved, he brushed up against my blind. I pulled back and had to let him go farther away because he was too close at the time. I could have grabbed his antlers he was so close. The buck had no idea I was there. After he got about five yards away, I let the arrow fly and he maybe went 10 yards after that!”

Another hunter that had an unforgettable season is Ryan Dean. Ryan shares the story of the buck he was able to harvest. “I was after him for about a week this year when he showed up. Finally, the morning of Nov 2nd I saw him. He stood around 300 yards from my stand when I could finally make out what deer it was. I had little time to spare with a herd of does headed my way. I knew if they got to me, the game was up. So, I grunt called to him. He picked his head up, flickered his tail, and went back to eating. I waited about five minutes. When he finally saw the heard moving, he started to head their way. I had to act fast, so I snort-wheezed at him. Well, as a buck of his stature, he couldn’t resist another buck in his area. So he headed my way. After a couple other distractions from the heard of does and two more snort-wheezes, he was finally within 20 yards. He closed the distance to 12 yards and I came to full draw with my bow. He stopped and pinned me in my tree. it was the moment I had been waiting for! My single pin sight found its mark, and I released my arrow. While running away, I could see little blood coming out. The arrow had under 10 inches of penetration. I backed out for three hours. With a friend, I came back to start our track. 250 yards later we found him, but only to be still alive. I made a stalk into 66 yards. As he picked up his head again, I let another arrow go. It found its mark, but to the old mature buck it still wasn’t enough. I had to sneak into 25 yards for a little better shot. I let it go and finally, steady was in my hands. The neighbor came over to see him and tell us he was actually shot twice last year with a bow. He’s a tough old buck and he’s absolutely beautiful. He ended up having 20 scorable points with a green score of 206 inches.”

Without a question, my favorite part about being an Iowan is the deer hunting opportunities. Congratulations to the hunters who filled their tags. Regardless, time in the timber is time well spent, and the hope of seeing giant Iowa whitetails keeps us going out year after year.