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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

Check Out Our Current Issue!

The Most Wonderful Pheasant Time of the Year

The Most Wonderful Pheasant Time of the Year “It’s the most wonderful pheasant time of the year! There’ll be hunting parties for pushing and posting, the dogs won’t be roasting, and the birds will hold tight in the snow. There’ll be sharing of late flushing stories, and tales of the glories of December pheasant seasons […]

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Late Season Muzz What’s the Buzz?

Late Season Muzz – What’s the Buzz? I grew up shotgun hunting with the same great group of guys every year from the time I was about thirteen until I was in my early twenties. I looked forward to the first weekend in December as if it were a holiday finding it hard to sleep […]

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Pheasant forecast 2022

Pheasant Forecast 2022

Pheasant Forecast 2022 Growing up, I heard stories from my dad about his pheasant hunting adventures and the success he and his brothers had seeking out birds hiding out in Iowa’s pastures and ag fields. Fast forward several years to the time I started hunting, very seldomly would I see a bird in the southern […]

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Aging a Whitetail on the Move

Aging a Whitetail on the Move

Aging a whitetail Sitting in my tree stand on a cold and crisp fall morning, I can hardly contain the anticipation of seeing the first deer of the breaking day. My eyes and ears are at the ready as I eagerly scan the woods around me for the flicker of that white tail or the […]

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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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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.