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!
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 […]
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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 […]
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Water Conditions and How to Fish Them
Water Conditions and How to Fish Them That crisp air that we feel each morning is a sign of things to come, fall is definitely in the air around the state of Iowa. This can be a welcome sign for hunters, hikers and anglers ready for cooler temperatures. The change in weather can also bring […]
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Calling All Rabbit Hunters
Calling All Rabbit Hunters The hunters in my family learned to hunt small game long before pheasants or deer. Our education began by plinking targets with Dad’s walnut stocked Marlin 56 lever-action .22 until we could consistently hit a nickel tucked into a hickory trunk at 30 feet. Once we passed this test, we graduated […]
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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.
