A new three-day antlerless deer hunting season opens tomorrow (Friday) in Iowa, for a limited time only. Currently, only bow hunting is allowed, but Iowa Department of Natural Resources District Three Supervisor Mark Sedlmayr (SEDDLE-my-er) from Creston says hunters will have a few more options this weekend. They’re trying a special season for the Thanksgiving weekend in which hunters can use their antlerless, or doe tag, to hunt not only with bow and arrow but with handguns, shotguns and muzzleloaders as well. Sedlmayr says normally, rifles are not allowed in any of Iowa’s deer hunting seasons. But this year the antlerless season in January also will be extended for a week — and during that extension they’ll allow high-powered rifles for the harvesting of does only.Sedlmayr says the hunt was designed as an incentive to try and get more people to purchase the doe tags, because some of the counties – especially those in the southern two-tiers of the state – aren’t seeing the interest they hoped in taking does and thinning the herds. Licenses are still available in many southern counties, and this weekend’s 3-day special hunt takes place in nearly a third of Iowa’s 99 counties. To see where it’ll be, log-on to www.iowadnr.com, and click on “licensing,” then on “current availability of limited quota deer and turkey licenses,” and finally, click on “resident antlerless deer by county.”D-N-R Conservation officers and staff will be out this weekend monitoring how the hunt is going, and making sure ONLY antlerless deer are being harvested.
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