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Listen Now! To the Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report

This week’s Iowa Hunting and Fishing Report finds anglers dealing with lingering late-summer heat while hunting season draws closer across the state. Aaron McKinney checks in with bait shops around Iowa for the latest fishing conditions and also spends some time getting the dogs ready for another season in the field.

A special thanks goes to Al Martin Real Estate and Auction for sponsoring this week’s report. The company has an upcoming estate auction in Bloomfield, Iowa, featuring a variety of firearms and outdoor-related items. Outdoorsmen and women looking for shotguns, rifles, handguns and other sporting items will want to check out the upcoming sale: https://almartinauctions.com/september-auctions/?_kx=z8-rbjcsRDFqtgBuODqXLA.RRbGmN#KoettelEstate

Iowa Hunting Fishing Report
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Train Your Dog for Waterfowl Season, Iowa Sportsman , Gundog training, Dog training, waterfowl, duck, retrieve

Train Your Dog for Waterfowl Season

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Budget VS Premium Hunting Scopes

Budget VS Premium Hunting Scopes There is a common trend I run into when advising people on rifle setup, whether for hunting, tactical, or other purposes. I have no problem getting folks to spend money on rifles. But when I tell them to spend as much or more on optics, I seem to lose them. […]

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hunting iowa, iowa hunting, bow hunting, october hunting iowa

Hunting Iowa in October

Hunting Iowa in October There’s a certain feeling that settles in as summer starts to fade and we approach the deer seasons. Acorns start to fall and your mind drifts to the woods even when you’re nowhere near them. Long before the leaves turn, the anticipation begins. You think about the first cool morning and […]

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CWD and EHD in Iowa, The Iowa Sportsman, EHD, CWD, Hunting in Iowa, deer population in iowa, Iowas deer hunting 2026

Understanding CWD and EHD in Iowa: What Hunters Should Know for 2026

noUnderstanding CWD and EHD in Iowa: What Hunters Should Know for 2026 I remember the drought of 2012. It barely rained, grass turned brown, ponds dried up, ag yields were catastrophic across the state, and then deer began to die. This was the first time I remember chatter from Iowa deer hunters getting really concerned […]

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Featured Story

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.

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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.