Early Spring Trout Fishing
Early Spring Trout Fishing

Early Spring Trout Fishing Spring in Northeast Iowa’s Driftless Region marks the beginning of one of the most rewarding trout fishing seasons in the Midwest. This is one of the prettiest areas in Northern Iowa marked with limestone bluffs, spring-fed creeks, and rolling pastures. The Driftless Region contains a several cold, clear streams that flow steadily year-round. This creates perfect trout habitat, and spring offers fishermen peaceful days on the water. With stable water temperatures, increasing insect activity, and hungry post-winter trout, there’s no better time to explore these legendary streams. Why The Driftless Region? This region is a trout […]

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Butchering: It’s In Your Blood

Butchering: It’s In Your Blood One of my favorite conversation starters is to tell the tragic story of my name. My first name “Kent” is the same as my dad’s middle name. What’s so bad about that? Well nothing, except that he got the name from his grandmother’s preferred brand of smokes. As for my […]

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Bait and Lures for Ice Fishing

Bait and Lures for Ice Fishing Ice Fishing opportunities are increasing across the state of Iowa right now, and there is no better time to go out and give it a try. What was once a simple sport of drilling a hole in the ice and sitting on a five-gallon bucket has turned into a […]

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Playing Percentages Pays Off Calling Coyotes

Playing Percentages Pays Off Calling Coyotes The sea of blue-green sagebrush seemingly went on forever until it met the steep butte off in the distance and turned into a wall of rocky red earth mixed with grey and white lines of mineral deposits exposed by centuries of erosion. As I sat overlooking the huge landscape […]

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Hunting Iowa’s Gun Seasons 2022: Whitetails 365

Hunting Iowa’s Gun Seasons 2022: Whitetails 365 “I Got Him Daddy, I Got Him?” One of the greatest instances of my personal hunting career had very little to do with me pulling a trigger and more to do with the fact that my son had just put a well-placed shot on his first target buck. […]

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Featured Story

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 deer ever.

Turning a Dream into Reality

As has been noted in several articles since 2023, my family and I finally put together the means to purchase our very own piece of Iowa ground. “The 32,” as we call it, has become a passion project to see if we could take an unassuming piece of real estate and harvest a mature deer from there by giving him all he needs in the way of habitat. This year was the first year that the farm would be huntable in the state in which we intended due to construction projects over the past couple of seasons.

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The Iowa Sportsman website and magazine are Iowa’s only privately owned media sources catering to hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts here in Iowa. Simply put, we are unlike other Iowa outdoor media sources: All our staff is from Iowa, from our publisher to our writers. We actually follow through on what we advertise; we provide knowledgeable content from people who know the industry or sport discussed.