Iowa landowners can get more opportunities to kill the pesky deer on their property. Willie Suchy, the top deer biologist in the Department of Natural Resources, says landowners and their tenants are asking state officials to clarify the new state law. Suchy says this past spring, the legislature boosted the number of licenses or tags landowners and tenants can get to hunt deer on their property.
He says the lengths of the deer hunting seasons are pretty much the same, but a landowner who buys a license to hunt in the shotgun season, for example, can get a free tag to hunt deer in another season, like when bow hunting is allowed. Bow hunting of deer is allowed in Iowa from October 1st to December 2nd, and from December 19th through January 10th. The season for using muzzleloaders to hunt for deer runs from October 15th through October 23rd and again from December 19th through January 10th. The state has established a shutgun season for hunting deer from December 3rd through the 7th, and again from December 10th through the 18th of December.
You can find more information about hunting seasons and licenses on-line at www.iowadnr.com. Suchy says the goal of the expanded number of deer licenses for landowners and renters is to reduce the deer herd in Iowa.
Suchy estimates there were 370-thousand deer in Iowa in January. They’re trying to reduce the size of the deer herd by 25 percent. “We’re hoping to accomplish that by shooting a bunch more does this fall,” Suchy says. The price of a deer license is a buck higher this year and that extra money is funnelled to a program that pays meat lockers to process deer that hunters can’t eat themselves and the meat is donated to food banks.