Hunting
Iowa Pheasants are Making a Comeback
Iowa Pheasants are Making a Comeback Growing up, I would hear hunting stories from my Dad about his youth, most of these were shared while we were in the field pursuing our own game. During his youth, deer were scarce, there were just a few days a year set aside for deer hunting seasons. You […]
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Planting Switchgrass for Cover
Planting Switchgrass for Cover “Switchgrass on my property would be a great way to bring in the pheasants”. This is what I told myself, an avid pheasant hunter, after I bought a small acreage in northwest Iowa. However, I knew enough about plants to know that I was no agronomist, and the thought of planting […]
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Scouting Spring Toms
Scouting Spring Toms The doldrums of winter will soon be behind us. Spring will begin to spring forth, and a whole world of outdoor opportunities will be available to the Iowa outdoorsman. Shed hunting for deer antlers will be high on folks’ priority list. Finding delicious morel mushrooms will take high priority. Crappie fishing, and […]
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Benefits of Frost Seeding Upland Habitat
Frost Seeding Upland Habitat Have you ever wanted to improve your upland hunting and wildlife viewing success on private land? Maybe you have an area you can improve. Iowa has lots of monocultures of pastures that have overtaken idle areas. These monocultures lack structure and variety that wildlife crave, and in turn do not support […]
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Scouting for the 2023 Deer Season : Whitetails 365
Scouting for the 2023 Deer Season : Whitetails 365 It seems as soon as deer season concludes Jan. 10th, I am already looking forward to opening day of bow season October 1st. In February, we get outside to check for sheds and take inventory of which bucks made it through the gun seasons. Finding sheds […]
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2 DIY Taxidermy Projects
2 Do-It-Yourself Taxidermy Projects to Display Your Trophy When it comes to preserving the memory of time out in the timber we often turn to taxidermy to help us preserve the animal as well as the memory. I love walking into a shop or business and looking at different mounts on the wall. Each one […]
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Leveraging Perennial Food on Your Land
Leveraging Perennial Food on Your Land When we begin planning our food plots, often we focus solely on annuals. We focus on turnips, brassicas, radishes, and maybe some soybeans, sorghum, and corn. For the most part those are fantastic because they yield results right away, within a couple months. However, when it comes to long-term […]
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Early Season Shed Hunting: Extra Miles for the Piles
Early Shed Season: Extra Miles for the Piles Once the curtain falls on deer and pheasant season, I consider taking advantage of my last few small game opportunities, but my heart really belongs to the antlered critters, and I know they will soon be antlerless. Honestly, I love shed season about as much as I […]
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Enrich Deer Habitat with Hinge Cutting: Whitetails 365
Enrich Deer Habitat with Hinge Cutting: Whitetails 365 Practically every timber in Iowa could benefit from hinge cutting to create cover and browse for whitetail deer. Hinge cutting is when a tree is cut, about waist high, partially through. The tree then falls with the top of the tree resting on the ground, and the […]
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Planning a Spring Food Plot
Planning a Spring Food Plot When most people are planning a food plot for deer and turkey, we think of fall food plots. We think of brassicas, purple top turnips, and radishes. Maybe we even consider planting some winter wheat or rye. All these annuals are planted in the fall. Have you ever considered planning […]
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