Check Out Our Current Issue!
Iowa Sportsman April 2025
This Issue Brings You:
- Thriving Bird Habitats in Iowa
- Fishing Iowa – Walleye Tackle & Tricks
- Whitetails 365 – Growing Giant Whitetails
- Maximizing Native Warm Season Grasses
- Turkey Seaso – Getting Youth Involved
- Equipment for Managing Your Own Acreage
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Early Ice Crappies
Ahhhh…nothing like your first trip out to the ice. Days prior to your first trip you go through the list, Vexilar battery…check; auger…check; load new line on your ice rods…check; ice jigs and bait…check; ice shack…check; lantern and heater tested…check; everything seems to be in order and ready to go. Reports are coming in that […]
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Dismal Days of a Fur Market
Every morning running the trapline, I’d roll up on many of my sets and find raccoon fairly regular. Each trap location that I’d scouted and set on was producing every few days bringing in consistent fur for the trapline as a whole. Except one particular spot that I’d check on every morning only to find […]
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First Day Success for Whitetail Shotgun Season-Steer Clear of the Crowds
Typically in Iowa during the first day of shotgun season for whitetails you will see groups of orange clad hunters chasing deer all over the place. The Iowa landscape is literally dotted with orange from border to border. The most common tactic used is large group or party hunting. This is when hunters will get […]
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Teaching the Fundamentals of Handguns
I’m often asked how I recommend new people begin shooting. You’d think that would be relatively simple. For the most part it can be, but we manage to make it complex more times than we realize. When asked how I prefer to introduce kids into shooting handguns, I don’t do so any differently than an […]
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Featured 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.
