Iowa Sportsman

Whiskers and Ditty Poles

Whiskers and Ditty Poles One of my fondest memories of setting bank poles, or ditty poles as many call them, took place on the Des Moines River two summers ago. My friends Josh, Jarred and I fished for two nights out of Jarred’s big twenty foot flat-bottom and camped along the bank. It was one […]

Water Conditions and How to Fish Them

Water Conditions and How to Fish Them That crisp air that we feel each morning is a sign of things to come, fall is definitely in the air around the state of Iowa. This can be a welcome sign for hunters, hikers and anglers ready for cooler temperatures. The change in weather can also bring […]

Calling All Rabbit Hunters

Calling All Rabbit Hunters The hunters in my family learned to hunt small game long before pheasants or deer. Our education began by plinking targets with Dad’s walnut stocked Marlin 56 lever-action .22 until we could consistently hit a nickel tucked into a hickory trunk at 30 feet. Once we passed this test, we graduated […]

Calling Coyotes and Bobcats in Iowa

Calling Coyotes and Bobcats in Iowa The trail of coyote tracks were as plain as dominoes in the hard packed snow weaving from one point of interest to the next as we followed them to our hunting location. It was clear that a pair of coyotes had hounded their way down this two-track a day […]

Three Strategies for Whitetail this October: Whitetails 365

Three Strategies for Whitetail this October: Whitetails 365 Whitetails 365, if you haven’t noticed already, is mostly about off season habitat and food plotting. Mixed in are some articles about buying land, or an article mixed in here or there answering reader questions. But October is here now, the season is open. It’s time to […]

Fishing Big Spirit Lake For The Fall Double Header

Fishing Big Spirit Lake: For The Fall Double Header Fall is always a great time for fishing. The months of September and October offer stretches of mild weather and beautiful colors as the trees turn a myriad of colors, and best of all, the fish are putting on that fall “feed bag” and are on […]

Strategic Rooster Hunting

Strategic Rooster Hunting If I was asked to identify my greatest weaknesses I would be able to compile an extensive list within a moment, and one item on that list would be grocery shopping. I walk into the store, forget to grab a cart and then begin wandering aimlessly down the aisles waiting for my […]

Overcoming and Adapting to Whitetail Obstacles

Overcoming and Adapting to Whitetail Obstacles Obstacles. Hate ‘em, but gotta like ‘em. Right? I’m old enough now to know that when things get in my way of accomplishing a task, I don’t like it. It might make things harder. It might add time to whatever I’m doing. Or maybe it might create delays. It […]

Decoying Tactics for Rutting Whitetails

Fake Out: Decoying Tactics for Rutting Whitetails Counterfeit, fraud, hoax, phony: all are words that may be used to describe the art of decoying mature whitetail bucks into archery range. If one can effectively trick the senses of a whitetail buck by using decoying tactics then the odds of having an archery chip shot increase […]

Whitetail Body Language

Whitetail Body Language Much like all animals’ whitetails have a language they use to communicate with each other. As a hunter it is important to understand, as much as possible, a whitetails language. By deciphering the whitetail language code hunters can understand what a deer is thinking and saying to other deer. In return a […]

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