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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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Whitetails 365 – Aim Small/Miss Small
Whitetails 365 – Aim Small/Miss Small By Tom Peplinski If you’ve never been there, you’re lucky! But most archery hunters have experienced that deep guttural feeling when you release an arrow only to see it drive into a deer way off mark. That sick feeling knowing you didn’t make a good shot. Will you find […]
READ MOREQuail Resurgence
Quail Resurgence By Troy Hoepker We’d witnessed Casey point plenty of pheasants before but on this point all four of her legs trembled uncontrollably like cold jelly. What lay in the weeds in front of her nose couldn’t be a pheasant? It was something she wasn’t sure of and to tell you the truth, neither […]
READ MORESetting Yourself up for Trapline Success
Setting Yourself up for Trapline Success By JD Rogge One factor most successful trappers have in common is their dedication to pre-season preparation and scouting. Pre-season prep can be the difference between meeting your season’s goals and falling woefully short of your expectations. I’ve known many trappers who prior to season claim to be ready […]
READ MOREFall Bass Tactics
Fall Bass Tactics October in Iowa… nature, as a whole, begins to transition from summer to fall. Average daytime highs will reach 68 degrees while lows will fall to the upper 40’s. By then end of the month we will see a 10 to 15 degree drop in those averages. As the water temps drop […]
READ MOREFeatured Story
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.