Springtime Panfish-Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill
Springtime Panfish

Spring is in full swing here in Iowa, and what can be more pleasant a reminder than the sound of birds, the sight of flowers blooming, and the feel of a warm afternoon? I can think of at least one more thing…Panfish!

Spring is in full swing here in Iowa, and what can be more pleasant a reminder than the sound of birds, the sight of flowers blooming, and the feel of a warm afternoon? I can think of at least one more thing…Panfish! The next order of business was to hunt for worms. Flipping anything that we could find stuck in the ground in hopes of just finding a few crawlers.

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Springtime Panfish

Check Out Our Current Issue!

What Should I Plant in my Iowa Food Plot

What Should I Plant in my Iowa Food Plot Today, the food plot market offers a plethora of choices and varieties for food plots. You can find a multitude of custom blends and plant species. Quite honestly, it can be a little overwhelming with the amount of choices. To narrow these choices down and help […]

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Whitetail Summer School

Whitetail Summer School Our country in 2020 took a turn that we had never dealt with before. Covid-19 sent us into cover and, in many ways, hindered living in ways that we could never imagine. Our freedoms, to a certain degree, have been suspended by a “bug” that none of us could see with our […]

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The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part Two

The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part Two Last month we chronicled the early beginnings of the first fur traders to enter Iowa lands in the late 1600’s and the development of the fur trade from then until after the Revolutionary War. In this month’s edition we move forward from the year 1800 […]

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How to Call Turkeys

Turkey Talk – Learn The Language

Turkey Talk – Learn The Language Many moons ago, in my high school days I can remember my Multi-cultural Studies teacher telling the class that if you truly want to understand a culture then you have to learn the language. While I never really applied that piece of advice to the real world, I did […]

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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.