Hunting

Trapping Beaver Through Iowa Ice

Trapping Beaver Through Iowa Ice Trapping beaver beneath the ice during late winter is one of the most reliable ways to trap in Iowa. When lakes, ponds, and sloughs freeze over, beaver movements become easy to predict, their food supply is fixed in place, and their sign is simple to read if you know what […]

Big Buck Profile: The 2025 Gandy Buck

Big Buck Profile: The 2025 Gandy Buck Ok, this first big buck profile is a little self-serving in that it is of a buck that I personally took this past deer season. While it is likely not the “biggest” big buck that we will profile this year it is definitely one of my most special […]

Thunder in the Timber: A Morning with a Longbeard

Thunder in the Timber: A Morning with a Longbeard Songbirds sing their songs and fill the cool air along a timber edge overlooking a fresh, green alfalfa field. Virginia bluebells and spring beauty add dashes of color across the awakening forest floor behind the giant oak tree I rest my back against. A deer works […]

Picking A New Pup

Go To Sets for Iowa Furbearers

Go To Sets for Iowa Furbearers Simple yet very effective… sets are the backbone of any successful trapline. I often read articles in print or online describing sets that seem unusually complex and time consuming to construct, which always makes me wonder how efficiently the author’s line runs. The fact is that successful trappers don’t […]

Engaging the Next Generation

Engaging the Next Generation The future of wildlife conservation in North America rests squarely on the shoulders of the next generation of hunters. For over a century, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation has been predominantly funded by hunters through license fees and excise taxes on equipment. As the number of licensed hunters steadily […]

Reflecting on a Productive Season

Reflecting on a Productive Season The time of year and season that we all longed for not so long ago has now come and gone in what has seemed like the blink of an eye. Deer season 2025-2026 is, for all intents and purposes, a wrap. So much can be said for what many would […]

Five Easy Tips to Find More Antlers

Five Easy Tips to Find More Antlers The hunting season might be over, but the real fun in the woods is just beginning if you ask me. If you’ve never tried shed hunting, you’re missing out on a serious adventure. It’s like a treasure hunt in the woods. It’s also one of the best ways […]

Iowa’s Hunting and Shooting Preserves 

Iowa’s Hunting and Shooting Preserves  I can vividly recall my first trip to an upland hunting preserve in 2012. It wasn’t just a simple work outing; it was a retreat I took with a few work colleagues. To prime our minds and sharpen our reflexes, we kicked things off with a couple of rounds of […]

Set A Rut Ambush

Set A Rut Ambush: Locations to Fool Bucks With hunting season well underway, deer hunters across the state have gotten their taste of the chase. November rolls in and we begin to see rutting bucks chase after hot does, while at the same time leaving their marks warning off potential competitors. Little do they know, […]