Hunting

Waterfowl Habitat Keeps the Flyway Alive

Waterfowl Habitat Keeps the Flyway Alive There’s something about waterfowl season that sticks with you long after the last flock fades over the tree line. It’s the early mornings when the world is still dark and quiet while you’re heading to the marsh you’ve hunted a hundred times before. It’s the smell of wet cattails, […]

spot and stalk, Iowa B&C, Boone and Crockett, Iowa, Iowa Rut

Spot-And-Stalking Whitetail Deer

Spot-and-Stalk on a 150-Class Buck If you had told me that my 2026 bow season was going to go the way it did, I would’ve laughed. I would have said, “That’d be sweet, but there’s not a chance.” A Season of Change My family and I relocated almost two years ago. We’d spent the last […]

The Iowa Sportsman, deer blind, treestand, deer hunting, Iowa hunting, hunting blind

Build the Best Deer Blind Setup Now

Build the Perfect Deer Blind Setup Now Hunting blinds have changed a lot over the years. Hunters now have more choices than ever before. Some hunters like large permanent blinds that stay out all year. Others like lightweight pop-up blinds they can move around. One important thing to remember is deer need time to get […]

Planting More Than a Plot: Why Fall Food Plots Matter

Planting More Than a Plot: Why Fall Food Plots Matter I remember the first time we got him on trail camera. My jaw dropped. A 160-inch 8-point we started calling “The Big 8.” The kind of deer that makes you lose sleep trying to figure out how you’ll ever get close. The next time I […]

Delta Waterfowl Duck Expo is Coming to Des Moines

Delta Waterfowl Duck Expo is Coming to Des Moines For the first time ever, the Delta Waterfowl Duck Hunters Expo is coming to Iowa. It is shaping up to be one of the biggest outdoor events of the summer. Waterfowl hunters from across the country will gather in Des Moines for three full days of […]

The Iowa Sportsman, Magazine, Whitetails, hunting, deer hunting, how to scout for deer, deer food plot

Summer Foodplots & Projects

Summer Projects for Whitetail Hunters If you’ve been hunting for any period of time, you know a lot of hunting comes down to luck. I’ve always been a fan of trying to make my own luck, or get myself set up in as good a spot as possible to be ready for when a trophy […]

When Is My Puppy Ready For The Field?gundog, The Iowa Sportsman, , training, puppy training, dog training, pheasant hunting

Training Your Gundog for the Field

When Is My Puppy Ready For The Field? A puppy’s readiness for the field is relative. To bring clarity to this article, I call any dog under the age of two a puppy. Large breed dogs are still developing mentally and physically until they are 16-24 months old. So, if we identify any dog under […]

Smart Scouting Tools for Iowa Deer Hunters

Smart Scouting Tools for Iowa Deer Hunters When I first started hunting, scouting consisted of going out to the timber with my dad, looking for deer paths, sign, tracks, and then reflecting on the data. Sometimes we’d hang a stand with the idea that we might have to move it. We relied heavily on woodsmanship […]

Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report – May 8th

The episode features an in-depth Iowa Hunting and Fishing report for early May across key destinations in Iowa, delivered from the perspective of an active angler who has been on the water. The conversation begins with a recap of the Iowa Walleye Opener on the Iowa Great Lakes, with particular focus on Spirit Lake. Listeners [...] READ MORE

Inaugural Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report

Inaugural Episode – Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report

Inaugural Episode of the Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report In this inaugural episode of the Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report, host Aaron McKinney introduces a new weekly series presented by the Iowa Sportsman Magazine, focused on real-time field reports rather than secondhand information. He explains that each episode will highlight current conditions and productive locations […]

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