Early Spring Trout Fishing
Early Spring Trout Fishing

Early Spring Trout Fishing Spring in Northeast Iowa’s Driftless Region marks the beginning of one of the most rewarding trout fishing seasons in the Midwest. This is one of the prettiest areas in Northern Iowa marked with limestone bluffs, spring-fed creeks, and rolling pastures. The Driftless Region contains a several cold, clear streams that flow steadily year-round. This creates perfect trout habitat, and spring offers fishermen peaceful days on the water. With stable water temperatures, increasing insect activity, and hungry post-winter trout, there’s no better time to explore these legendary streams. Why The Driftless Region? This region is a trout […]

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The Rise of Women Outdoors

The Rise of Women Outdoors

The Rise of Women in the Outdoors When I first started hunting 25 years ago, the landscape for women in the outdoors was vastly different. For instance, you didn’t see a lot of girls hunting. It for sure wasn’t the “cool” thing to do, and you had to be ready to face a bunch of […]

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Create Fall Food Plots For 2024 Deer Season!

Create Fall Food Plots For 2024 Deer Season! Very few things in life bring me more peace and satisfaction than climbing into my tree stand to hunt over a fall food plot. Crafting the perfect fall plot can be both rewarding and challenging. There have been years where plots turn out lush and abundant with […]

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Paintballing Iowa

Paintballing Iowa

Paintballing Iowa When looking for some summer fun for your family or friends, it can’t get much better than a friendly or competitive game of paintball. Fortunately, around Iowa we have several different courses where you can take a group of friends or your family. Our Iowa courses are accommodating to new players, or competitive […]

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Why Crate Training is a Good Thing

Why Crate Training is a Good Thing Dogs instinctively seek smaller, darker spaces as shelters. We can utilize this instinctive behavior in our puppies during the process of crate training. Even though our puppies have a predisposition to den, they will likely have some issues settling into their crate. Understandably though, right? First of all, […]

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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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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.