The Art of Persuasion: Deer Scents, Rattles, and Bleats 
The Art of Persuasion: Deer Scents, Rattles, and Bleats 

The Art of Persuasion: Deer Scents, Rattles, and Bleats In the 80’s, my father and grandfather were “entry-level” deer hunters.  They had been invited to begin hunting a timber here in central Iowa that had a steady population of deer.  In their efforts to learn more regarding the tactics to use to fool a wise old whitetail, my grandfather and father would douse their boots with fox urine!  It was an effort to hide human scent when they were in the woods.  It goes without saying that those boots were not allowed in the house, ever! There is no doubt […]

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Cooking with Cast Iron

Cooking with Cast Iron Professionally, I am a director at a church camp. To be honest, this career was never on my radar when I was younger. What I thought I wanted (desk job making lots of money) ended up being something I just couldn’t stand to do. Yes, I tried a desk for a […]

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Building your own Cabin

Building your own Cabin I remember my first long-distance family vacation. We packed up our van, when I was five years old, and headed west to South Dakota. This would be the first of many family camping vacations, which instilled a fascination with nature and camping. I always liked looking at the modern and historic […]

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Mistakes Archers Make and How to Correct Them

Mistakes Archers Make and How to Correct Them “Mistakes archers make and How to Correct Them”, it sounds cut and dry, doesn’t it? Well, it would be if we looked at the obvious mistakes. You know the ones I’m talking about: not pulling your bow out to practice until the week before the season opens, […]

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Establishing and Maintaining Native Warm Season Grasses

Establishing and Maintaining Native Warm Season Grasses My husband and I just moved to our current residence a few years ago. During that first year, we knew we wanted to attract wildlife to our property. We wanted to create a wildlife mecca, holding gamebirds, deer, and other wildlife. The first steps included planting cover and […]

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Featured Story

Iowa Public Land Hunting 

Every hunter wants to know where to go to harvest a great deer.  We often assume that there is some “honey hole” spot out there that a person can always go to and harvest a trophy year after year.  While having hope for that, we are always keeping our ears perked for that privileged information on where the best place to hunt would be.   

Now, let me ask you, if somebody had the perfect spot to hunt where they are harvesting trophy deer year after year, do you think that they would share that information with you?  Probably not.  Unless they are VERY gracious and kind.   

In this article, I will not share any “secret spots” with you who are reading.  Frankly, because I don’t have any secret spots to share!  However, I’ve lived in Iowa long enough to steer you to certain areas of our great state that might give you a great chance to fill a tag this fall and winter.  So let’s begin with some regions of the state to key into. 

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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.