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Mastering Summer Catfish
Iowa Sportsman July 2025
This Issue Brings You:
- Mastering Summer Catfish
- Fishing Iowa: Iowa Hot Spots
- Do It Yourself – Iowa Kill Plots
- Introducing Youth to Shooting Sports
- Whitetails 365 – Drought, Deer & Looming Threat of EHD
- County Spotlight: Iowa Fishing Destinations
- Blind Buyers Guide: Clear Sight Hunting Blinds
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Hunting the Rut Phases and Strategies
Hunting the Rut Phases and Strategies The rut is a magical time that all whitetail hunters impatiently wait for all year long. As hunters we dedicate countless hours preparing for the upcoming season by spending time practicing shooting, planting food plots, checking trail cameras, setting blinds, and hanging tree stands. All of this preparation leads […]
READ MORECatch Your Largest Bass Now!
Catch Your Largest Bass Now! Last month we took a look at October bass fishing and the potential that exists to hook into some incredible catches. As October winds down air and water temps will begin to drop and both you and the bass will slow down. In Iowa the average temperatures will range from […]
READ MOREMistakes made by Shotgun Hunters
Mistakes made by Shotgun Hunters By Jason Smith Goodness where to start… I cut my teeth on shotgun hunting when it came to hunting deer in my beautiful home state of Iowa. I joined my father’s first season hunting party when I was 14 years old, and I probably had around 15 years of shot-gunning […]
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Hunting in Cold Weather: Whitetails 365
Hunting in Cold Weather: Whitetails 365 The late hunting seasons can be some of the best times to kill a giant whitetail buck. Undoubtedly! In some cases, it can actually seem too easy. That’s right…too easy! This is the case because of some very good reasons all line up when the temperatures dip into the […]
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10 Killer Big Buck Bow Hunting Ambushes
Why do top notch hunters shoot quality mature deer year after year? Sure they scout, don’t shoot young bucks, maintain their land, pay attention to the wind, plant food plots, are in big buck country, ect. Yes all of those and many more reasons can attribute to better chances of shooting bigger bucks consistently. However do you know the most important reason why people shoot big deer year after year? Because they place their stands in locations where big bucks like to frequent…it really is that simple. They are in the right place at the right time. You will never consistently shoot mature deer if you are not putting your tree stands in the proper locations.
Whitetails are creatures of habit and instinct, they do everything for a purpose and that is actually a good thing for us hunters. If we know what they like to do, what they don’t like to do, and how they navigate their day then we can key in on certain geographical locations on our properties and ambush an unsuspecting bruiser.
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.