Iowa Sportsman
Reflections on My Boone & Crockett Class Archery Buck
Reflections on My Boone & Crockett Class Archery Buck Growing up with a profound love for the great outdoors, I had always felt a deep connection to nature. From fishing the many ponds, lakes, and rivers Iowa has to offer, to hunting the quiet woods for large and small game. I was most happy and […]
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Prepare Your Truck for Outdoor Adventure
Prepare Your Truck for Outdoor Adventure My first introduction to deer hunting was tagging along with my Dad during Iowa’s first shotgun season. Every year, he would get together with his two brothers and Dad to hunt the southern Iowa timber and farmland that they loved. The hunting party grew as they got married, had […]
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Trail Camera Strategies for Big Buck Success
Trail Camera Strategies for Big Buck Success Placing trail cameras strategically during the summer can provide valuable insights into deer movements and behavior leading up to hunting season. It’s only July, but by getting your cameras out now, you can learn more about how deer move through your property, which trails they frequent, and where […]
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Cast Iron Cooking
Cast Iron Cooking When it comes to cooking while camping, there are numerous options to suit different preferences, needs, and styles of outdoor cooking. It’s hard to beat the taste and feel of cooking directly over an open flame. It is a classic camping tradition. Campfire cooking can be done using cast iron cookware, skewers, […]
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Sighting in your Rifle for Deer Season
Sighting in your Rifle for Deer Season Whether or not you plan to hunt with your firearm you will need to verify it shoots where you aim it. This is true for any firearm with an optic, and sometimes even with factory installed iron sights. To gain accuracy you must first obtain consistency. To gain […]
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Topwater Fishing
Top Water Fishing Of all of the types of fishing that we do throughout the open water season, top-water fishing has to be at the very top of your list of techniques. Whether you are targeting bass, northern pike, or even musky, top water can be some of the most exciting and visual types of […]
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Training your Dog for Waterfowl Retrieval
Training your Dog for Waterfowl Retrieval The love of water plus the love of retrieving doesn’t make a duck dog. They need to love being steady, or at least act like they love it. An impatient, fidgeting dog will stand out to a team of ducks making their initial buzz by your spread of decoys. […]
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The Story of the Varghese Boys: Beginner’s Luck
The Story of the Varghese Boys: Beginner’s Luck I was taken into the timber for my first hunt when I was four years old. It was a squirrel hunt at Ledges State Park just outside of Boone, Iowa. My Dad was attending college at Iowa State, and I had a few uncles who were attending […]
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Immaculate Spring Food Plots: Whitetails 365
Immaculate Spring Food Plots: Whitetails 365 When it comes to hunting big deer, food, habitat, and water are the three ingredients you need to have a stellar place. In this article, we are going to focus on one of my favorite aspects: food. I recommend having a balance of spring and fall crops, you want […]
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Bowfishing Opportunities in Iowa
Bowfishing Opportunities in Iowa Bowfishing has always held a special place in my heart. In fact, bowfishing is the only form of archery that I have ever done outside of some casual target practice with a longbow. I first started when I was about 14 years old. My dad had an old 25 lb youth […]
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