The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is taking public comments on a proposed rule change that would give in-state hunters the first shot at pheasants and other game over out-of-state hunters.
The DNR’s Chris Ensminger says it’s something they’ve been working on since 2021. “We have some places like near the borders and things where we have consistent resident, non-resident usage of our public areas, and this hopefully will help alleviate a little bit of that and spread some people out,” he says.
Ensminger says the change keeps non-residents out of the first week of pheasant season and adds other restrictions as well. “The general hunting license allows small game hunting for the whole season…for resident or non-residents. And this change would make it so that the non-residents need to pick two 7-day periods that they would be eligible to hunt,” he says.
The Natural Resource Commission approved the change and some commissioners said during discussions there can be a lot of out-of-state hunters in the state areas along the borders. Ensminger says it won’t be a big problem for most visiting hunters. “The the average non resident hunter hunts in Iowa, our data all shows about 5 days a year,” he says. “So this is this is 14 right off the bat with the possibility of getting more. So we don’t we don’t think it’s going to be too restrictive on our non residents and it’s very similar to what other states are already doing.” He says out of state hunters could buy another 14-day license if they want more time, and a 5-day license is also available.
Ensminger says squirrel hunting is another season that has raised some concerns during the early bow hunting season for deer. “We also have a fairly large number of Minnesota residents and other states that come in to squirrel hunt up in Northeast Iowa. And there’s been some conflict with bow hunters,” he says. Ensminger says they hope the change will ease some of the pressure in the woods for Iowa bow hunters.
He says the changes don’t impact the deer or turkey seasons. “The general hunting license is the same license that deer hunters have to buy, nonresident Turkey hunters have to buy. and it does not affect those,” Ensminger says. “So if if you come here to Iowa to deer hunt, they’re going to ask you what dates do you want for small game hunting. If you don’t small game hunt, you can you can just tell them, you know, leave the default.”
The DNR is taking comments on the rule change through September 22nd. You can send written comments, or there will be a public hearing on September 22nd. Ensminger says the NRC will vote on final rules approval after the public hearing.
The changes would not go into effect until the 2027 hunting seasons.