Iowa Sportsman

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Learning from your Catfishing Mistakes

Learning from your Catfishing Mistakes By Nick Johnson It was nearly twenty years ago when I caught my first catfish. It was not by design, but rather a welcomed surprise while fishing for bluegills with a small chunk of worm at Badger “Kennedy” Lake on the north edge of Fort Dodge. This did not spark […]

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Sold: Gun Auction 101

Sold: Gun Auction 101 By Troy Hoepker As the auctioneer yelled “SOLD!” another gun was crossed off the list that had went too high for my blood. There had been several of those already and I was beginning to wonder if any of these firearms would fetch a price that I was comfortable with? An […]

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Carry Ammo: Choose Wisely and Shoot what you choose!

Carry Ammo: Choose Wisely and Shoot what you choose! By Michael Ware Since the change from “May Issue” Iowa weapons permits back in 2010 we’ve seen a monster uptick in the number of people attaining their Permit to Carry here in Iowa. At the time the “Shall Issue” law passed Iowa hovered around 37,000 permit […]

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5 Go To Plastics That Work

5 Go To Plastics That Work By Ben Leal Last month Todd Reed discussed some killer soft baits used for bass. I wanted to expand on his useful info and talk about five soft baits that I like to use for a variety of fish and go into depth on each one of those plastics. […]

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Gaining Permission: A Gentle Art

Gaining Permission: A Gentle Art Many of you reading this I’m sure would rather have a root canal than walking up and knocking on the door of an unfamiliar landowner to ask permission to his or her property. Indeed it can be a nerve wracking endeavor because you really have no idea how this landowner […]

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Chasing Those Summer Croakers!

Chasing Those Summer Croakers! By Ryan Graden It’s one of the sounds that you always hear in the outdoor setting of a movie, the low-bellowing undertone of that long-legged-lakeside sitter. He carefully studies his surroundings for any danger as he patiently waits for his next meal. I’m talking about the great bullfrog, one of nature’s […]

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Archery Accuracy Tips You May Not Know About

Archery Accuracy Tips You May Not Know About By Aaron McKinney  We have all read the articles on accuracy tips discussing paper tuning, broadhead tuning, sight adjusting, and just flat out tinkering with your bows set up for hours.  These are all fine and will help you but let’s step back for a moment and […]

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Tips on Shooting a Buck Without all the Extra Gear

Tips on Shooting a Buck Without all the Extra Gear I have rattled in bucks during the rut, I have decoyed bucks during the rut, and I have used scents and lures to bring bucks in close during the rut. I have had good success with those tactics and use them quite regularly during the […]

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Adding Sweeteners to Food Plots

Adding Sweeteners to Food Plots: Whitetails 365

Adding Sweeteners to Food Plots: Whitetails 365 I don’t know that I have a single stand placed for archery hunting that is without some kind of what I call a sweetener. This might be unimpressive if I had only one or two, but I have dozens of stands across five different farms that I plan […]

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Bait Rigs that Catch Fish

Bait Rigs that Catch Fish If you were to go out and ask a dozen anglers what their favorite live bait rig is for any number of species you’ll likely get a dozen different answers. Now it may not be a dozen different baits, but certainly a variety of ways to rig those said baits. […]

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