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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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Iowa’s Trinity of Trout
Iowa’s Trinity of Trout By Rod Woten It’s often said that good things come in threes. Whoever established that had to have trout fished in Iowa’s trout country because that number certainly has some significance when we’re talking about Iowa trout. One of the most obvious trinities is the three species of trout; brook trout, […]
READ MOREThe History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part Two
The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part Two Last month we chronicled the early beginnings of the first fur traders to enter Iowa lands in the late 1600’s and the development of the fur trade from then until after the Revolutionary War. In this month’s edition we move forward from the year 1800 […]
READ MOREA Professor of Trout
A Professor of Trout Eric L. Kilburg By late January the accumulation of snow on the park road at Backbone State Park was, without a doubt, impassible by car, even for a couple adventurous college boys (i.e. the road gate was locked closed). Temperatures in past days depressed our hopes of finding a pool yet […]
READ MOREA Look at the Chesapeake Bay Retriever
A Look at the Chesapeake Bay Retriever By Ryan Eder Here in the Midwest, we face some of the harshest conditions during our hunting seasons imaginable. Temperatures near zero, brisk winds, snow and of course frozen bodies of water are very typical for the Midwest bird hunter. Some of us hunt waterfowl, others hunt upland […]
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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.
