Check Out Our Current Issue!
In the July 2026 Issue of the Iowa Sportsman
- Summer Foodplots & Projects
- Spot-And-Stalking Whitetail Deer
- How to Stay Safe and Prepared for Any Disaster
- Planting More Than a Plot: Why Fall Food Plots Matter
- Topwater Bass Fishing
- Finding Fish When the Water Heats Up
- Campfire Cooking Made Simple
- Waterfowl Habitat Keeps the Flyway Alive
Click Here To View This Issue Now!
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 […]
READ MOREScouting 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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When Coyotes Won’t Commit
When Coyotes Won’t Commit Their howls cut through the cold air with fresh exuberance but they held their advance stubbornly at the ridgeline to my west. Darkness was approaching on that cold winter’s afternoon that found me deep in the heart of a large tract of some of Iowa’s public hunting land in pursuit of […]
READ MOREBenefits 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 […]
READ MOREFeatured Story
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 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.
My land partner and I placed the farm into the CRP program and watched it grow over this summer creating thick bedding and cover. As part of that program, we placed an acre and a half into a food plot near a natural funnel from the timber that would hopefully incite deer movement into the plot in range for a shot opportunity. The plan worked like a charm.
Created By Iowans, For Iowans
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.
