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The Puzzle in Patterning a Rutting Buck
The Puzzle in Patterning a Rutting Buck By Aaron Stonehocker I have always been fascinated with the complexity and interconnection of everything in our natural world. Like a completed jigsaw puzzle, the perfect picture is only there if every piece is carefully laid in the perfect place, starting with the outer edge. A big buck […]
READ MORETools of the Trade and their Usage Techniques
Tools of the Trade and their Usage Techniques By Jason Smith When it comes to deer hunting today, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all of the different products on the market. Each making claims of bringing in more and bigger bucks. Many are just variations of one another, and it’s tough to make up […]
READ MOREPrepare Now For Waterfowl Season
Prepare Now For Waterfowl Season Ugh the lull of fall! The turkey woods have gone silent, the mushrooms are all but gone, decaying or hidden in a jungle of poison ivy and May apples. The bugs have reinforced their armies, and the mosquitoes have once again started their aerial assaults. So now what? I guess […]
READ MOREPre-Ice Ice Preparation
Pre-Ice Ice Preparation By Rod Woten It’s hard to believe that we could legitimately be walking on water in a handful of weeks. As I write this, it is 90 degrees outside and it feels more like ice fishing season is months away instead of weeks. Eventually, Mother Nature will get with the program and […]
READ MOREFeatured Story
Introducing Youth to Shooting Sports
I can still remember the day my mom told me we had to watch the next episode of “Buckmasters TV.” Being an oblivious five-year-old, you can only imagine how excited I was to see my picture pop up as their weekly winner of a FREE Buckmasters Daisy Model 840 BB gun. Bubba and Shotgun Red announced my name, and I was the proud new owner of my very first firearm.
I ran to meet the mail carrier every day to check for that long cardboard box. Watching “Buckmasters” with my parents fed my enthusiasm for the outdoors, but I was already obsessed with all things related to shooting at an early age. That BB gun gave me so much more than a tool to shoot targets with. It gave my parents an opportunity to teach me about gun safety. It gave me my first memories of being in the woods, tagging along with my dad and his .22 chasing squirrels and rabbits. It gave me another way to spend time with my younger sisters when they began to learn about gun safety. Most importantly, it sparked a lifelong love for hunting and target shooting.
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.