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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 Scouting for the 2023 Deer Season : Whitetails 365

 Scouting for the 2023 Deer Season : Whitetails 365 It seems as soon as deer season concludes Jan. 10th, I am already looking forward to opening day of bow season October 1st. In February, we get outside to check for sheds and take inventory of which bucks made it through the gun seasons. Finding sheds […]

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2 DIY Taxidermy Projects

2 DIY Taxidermy Projects

2 Do-It-Yourself Taxidermy Projects to Display Your Trophy When it comes to preserving the memory of time out in the timber we often turn to taxidermy to help us preserve the animal as well as the memory. I love walking into a shop or business and looking at different mounts on the wall. Each one […]

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Leveraging Perennial Food On Your Land

Leveraging Perennial Food on Your Land

Leveraging Perennial Food on Your Land When we begin planning our food plots, often we focus solely on annuals. We focus on turnips, brassicas, radishes, and maybe some soybeans, sorghum, and corn. For the most part those are fantastic because they yield results right away, within a couple months. However, when it comes to long-term […]

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Early Season Shed Hunting

Early Season Shed Hunting: Extra Miles for the Piles

Early Shed Season: Extra Miles for the Piles Once the curtain falls on deer and pheasant season, I consider taking advantage of my last few small game opportunities, but my heart really belongs to the antlered critters, and I know they will soon be antlerless. Honestly, I love shed season about as much as I […]

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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.