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Listen Now! To the Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report

Watch the October 6th Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report!

Fishing: The fall bite is on! Panfish are still biting, the walleye bite is finally starting to pick up too.

Hunting: Congrats to all the youth hunters who were able to fill their tags. Bow season is now open, movement has been okay.

This week's sponsor of the Hunting and Fishing Report is Polk County Conservation's controlled waterfowl hunting program. Waterfowl hunting blinds at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt in NE Polk County can be reserved by calling the Chichaqua office at (515) 323-5395 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The twelve blinds are located in both marsh and woodland settings. Blinds cost $30 per day and hold up to four hunters. Reservations are available for both the early split (October 10 – 16) and late split (Oct. 24 – Nov. 30).

Click here to reserve your blind today!
https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/conservation/things-to-do/hunting

Iowa Hunting Fishing Report
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Check Out Our Current Issue!

In The Iowa Sportsman December 2026 Issue…

Winter brings fresh opportunities for hunters and anglers, and this issue of Iowa Sportsman has plenty to explore. Follow the trail in Whitetail 365: Tracking Goes to the Dogs, explore December Coyote Hunting, and bring your harvest full circle with How to Process Your Own Venison.

Keep your hunting season going with Hunting the Late Split and Where to Find Late-Season Pheasants in Iowa. For a closer look at your equipment, read Understanding Barrel Lengths, Profiles, and Twist Rates, then help your four-legged hunting partner prepare for colder outings with Winter Safety: Keeping Your Dog Warm.

Ready to trade the field for frozen water? Discover Why Anglers Head North to Devils Lake and explore A Minnesota Winter of Big Fish and Miles of Trails. Round out your winter preparations with Ice Augers for Every Situation and Budget.

Click Here To View This Issue Now!
August Bass Fishing, topwater bass fishing

August Bass Fishing

August Bass Fishing Of all of the methods that anglers use in chasing after and landing bass, having one of these feisty fish explode on a topwater bait is one of my all-time favorites. In my early years of bass fishing and learning to catch them, topwater wasn’t part of my arsenal. As it turned […]

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Introducing Your Gundog to Gunfire,, reward, shy, loud

Introducing Your Gundog to Gunfire

Introducing Your Gundog to Gunfire Every great gun dog begins with a solid foundation, and one of the most important milestones in that journey is becoming comfortable with gunfire. While most hunting breeds possess natural instincts for retrieving and working in the field, a poorly handled introduction to loud noises can create fear and anxiety […]

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Whitetail 365- The August Advantage: Building Your Buck Inventory Before the Rut

Whitetail 365- The August Advantage: Building Your Buck Inventory Before the Rut

Whitetail 365- The August Advantage: Building Your Buck Inventory Before the Rut Sponsored by: Recently, a guest of my podcast and I were having a brief conversation before recording about bucks in velvet. We discussed the anticipation for hunting season. He and I both agree that you have to be so careful when you analyze […]

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Waterfowl Habitat Keeps the Flyway Alive, migration, duck hunting, duck habitat

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, […]

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Featured Story

A Classic Evening with an Iowa Giant – Bowhunting Boone & Crockett Bucks

Does a plan ever fall into place the way it should? The months leading up to October and November are filled with daydreams of target bucks making their way in front of our stands. Perfect conditions, with a shooter buck coming in on a string, setting up for perfect shot placement. If only that was how it worked… but that wouldn’t be as rewarding, would it?

READ FULL STORY

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.