iowa
Analyzing Sheds: What Can They Tell You
Analyzing Sheds: What Can They Tell You Two thunderous shots from a shotgun filled the timber. I anxiously scanned as far as I could see to the north, the direction in which I heard the shots. This was Iowa’s opening day of shotgun season. I was in high school and this was the 8th shotgun […]
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Killer Bobcat Calling Techniques
Killer Bobcat Calling Techniques From our parking spot we could see the magical place where we wanted to be, high on a hill overlooking the most beautiful predator habitat you’ve ever seen. It would be a half-mile hike to get there but we knew the long walk was worth it. There was never a shortage […]
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Butchering: It’s In Your Blood
Butchering: It’s In Your Blood One of my favorite conversation starters is to tell the tragic story of my name. My first name “Kent” is the same as my dad’s middle name. What’s so bad about that? Well nothing, except that he got the name from his grandmother’s preferred brand of smokes. As for my […]
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Bait and Lures for Ice Fishing
Bait and Lures for Ice Fishing Ice Fishing opportunities are increasing across the state of Iowa right now, and there is no better time to go out and give it a try. What was once a simple sport of drilling a hole in the ice and sitting on a five-gallon bucket has turned into a […]
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Playing Percentages Pays Off Calling Coyotes
Playing Percentages Pays Off Calling Coyotes The sea of blue-green sagebrush seemingly went on forever until it met the steep butte off in the distance and turned into a wall of rocky red earth mixed with grey and white lines of mineral deposits exposed by centuries of erosion. As I sat overlooking the huge landscape […]
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Key in on these Coyote Habits for Success this Year
Key in on these Coyote Habits for Success this Year By Troy Hoepker Coyotes are mysterious creatures certainly! The subject of folklore and myth, they represent the very epitome of stealth and sly. As secretive as they are however, they have routines and habits just like all animals that make them vulnerable to the hunter […]
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Hunting Iowa’s Gun Seasons 2022: Whitetails 365
Hunting Iowa’s Gun Seasons 2022: Whitetails 365 “I Got Him Daddy, I Got Him?” One of the greatest instances of my personal hunting career had very little to do with me pulling a trigger and more to do with the fact that my son had just put a well-placed shot on his first target buck. […]
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Fur Market Struggles During Uncertain World Events
Fur Market Struggles During Uncertain World Events Covid 19 shutdowns in China, Russia’s savage invasion of Ukraine, oversupply and limited demand have all created the perfect storm to leave the fur market struggling to see an optimistic future this year. Uncertainty is the best word to describe current conditions on the global stage. Covid 19 […]
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Spot and Stalk Iowa Coyotes
Spot and Stalk Iowa Coyotes I peered out of our kitchen window seeing the burnt orange sky illuminated from the sun’s imminent rise framed between the old red corncrib and our picturesque red barn with Dad’s cattle lot centered in between. The school bus came very early to our driveway. Way too early for my […]
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Hunting the Late Archery Split
Hunting the Late Archery Split For bowhunters, it does not get much better than hunting the rut. Deer are active during daylight hours, anything can happen, especially if an estrus doe is in the timber. It amazes me how one doe can have a buck guarding her, chasing off other bucks that come too close, […]
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