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!
Three Strategies to Taking a Giant this November: Whitetails 365
Three Strategies to Taking a Giant this November: Whitetails 365 Last month, I stressed 3 tactics I use each October when trying to get in front of a giant whitetail. Taking advantage of bed to feed patterns, hunting active scrapes, and calling in October. October starts out all about food and bed to feed patterns, […]
READ MORE
Top Tactics for Each Stage of the Rut
Top Tactics for Each Stage of the Rut By Ryan Graden I walked out this morning and it hit me! The cooler temperatures of the fall have finally showed up. Immediately, my mind went to my hunting memories. The smells, the sounds, and the scenery of my favorite hunts. The things that I have witnessed […]
READ MORE
Whiskers and Ditty Poles
Whiskers and Ditty Poles One of my fondest memories of setting bank poles, or ditty poles as many call them, took place on the Des Moines River two summers ago. My friends Josh, Jarred and I fished for two nights out of Jarred’s big twenty foot flat-bottom and camped along the bank. It was one […]
READ MORE
Late Season Deer Hunting Tips to Fill Your Tag
Late Season Deer Hunting Tips to Fill Your Tag It’s now the late season. You’ve hunted hard all fall and winter and yet you find yourself sitting here in the timber with an open tag. The snow is deeper, the cold wind is biting, and maybe you’ve spent too many hours away from your “honey […]
READ MOREFeatured 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.
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.

