Deer licenses have been on sale for almost one week now and have already sold out in some counties.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mick Klemesrud says the number of licenses is about the same with a few adjustments for the number of antlerless licenses available in individual counties.
“We had 11 counties where the quantity increased and we had 11 where the quantity decreased. But, by-and-large most of the state is similar to previous years,” according to Klemesrud. He says there are a variety of options available for hunters.
“What people want primarily are the ‘any deer’ licenses. And you can buy an any deer license for a gun season — like first or second shotgun — and you can by an any deer license for an archery season,” Klemesrud explains. “You can get those two licenses and you can buy and ‘antlerless only’ deer license. In early September you can buy as man of the antlerless only licenses that are available as long as the quota is still open in the county.”
September 15th is the date when you can start buying the remaining antlerless deer licenses remaining in each county. The antlerless deer licenses are for female deer, and Klemesrud says the number of those available in each county is adjusted to control the deer population.
“For example, down in Ringgold County we have 1,600 antlerless licenses available — so we’d like to get a little more pressure on the does. In counties like say Pocahontas, we don’t have any extra up there because we’d like to see the population come up a little bit. So, it’s used as a management tool,” Klemesrud says. He says the tags can be snapped up pretty fast in some areas.
“Especially with some of these counties that have limited numbers of antlerless licenses. Like Tama for example — the first county to sell out — that had 200 antlerless licenses and they’re gone by the first day,” Klemesrud says. “Other counties we are seeing fewer numbers, Boone County has 300 and they are almost ready to sell out. Same with Buchanan.”
You can find out which counties still have licenses by going to the DNR’s website. He says go to the hunting section and there is a quote link that shows how many antlerless license remain in each county. An Iowa deer license costs $28.50. Kelmesrud says you can buy a license at some 700 locations around the state.