Iowa has two gun seasons to separate approximately one-half those 100,000 deer hunters so all of them are not in the fields at the same time. If 50 percent hunt the first season, and the other 50 percent option is to hunt the second gun season, the quality of the hunt and safety is greatly enhanced.

Iowa’s second gun deer season is Dec. 14-22. There will be a few special later seasons in areas where more deer need to be taken. News releases will advise of these as they arise.

As of midweek, deer taken by youth hunters in their early season, and archers and early muzzleloader hunters have recorded over 29,000 deer kills. This is very close to past years of deer hunting statistics.

When first and second gun seasons harvest numbers are added up, deer herd numbers will be reduced by about 60,000 more animals. The remaining deer numbers are more than sufficient to carry over into 2025.

The capacity for white-tailed deer to repopulate is very high. Indeed if the policy of the Iowa DNR was to allow as many deer to survive as possible, the public would soon come to regret that action.

The increased numbers of deer would have a negative impact on all sorts of situations both rural and urban and on increased highway incidents with vehicles. Then a program to take more deer would have to follow and probably go too far in those efforts.

Big population swings and ups and downs is not the way to maintain a satisfactory comfort level between landowners and hunters, and the Iowa Legislature, and that is why professional wildlife biologists will not take that course of action. Acceptable deer numbers vary considerably across Iowa’s landscape due to huge habitat differentials.

Managing deer numbers on a per county basis is a balance between the number of deer (doe tags) allowed for that area and tags that allow hunters to take does or bucks. Most hunters consider any sex tag as a “buck” tag, since that is part of the allure and dream of every hunter to be in the right place at the right time to have all the infinite conditions lined up so that a very impressive antlered buck may be taken.

The reality of a deer hunt is much different however. The odds are not equal, the habitats across Iowa are not equal, and the methods of hunting play another big piece of the puzzle of who will and who will not be in the right place at the right time.

Each year the mysteries of deer hunting good fortunes, or missed opportunities, will play out and be recalled by numerous stories told and retold to family and friends. Later, major deer hunting magazines will feature stories about the big boy bucks that ended up cut and wrapped in a hunter’s freezer. The big antlers on a shoulder mount will adorn another trophy collection. Medium to small antlered buck stories normally do not make the cut from magazine sales departments.

Managing deer in any state is a mix of doe and buck allotments. The sex ratio for healthy deer recruitment is a fine line to walk for wildlife biologists.

They need enough doe deer but not too many. They need an adequate number of buck deer but not too many.

The numbers biologists seek on a statewide and area by area basis is a tough job to get just right. Perhaps the best they can hope for in managing hunter numbers and actual on the ground deer numbers is to be close to an ideal. Being close is far better than letting politicians think they know better than professional biologists.

During this Iowa deer gun seasons, the wish and hope of everyone is that safety is the first priority, second is a great experience with family and friends at “deer camp” and third is that all deer harvests will be conducted in ethically, legal and prudent operations that will put high quality venison meats into the freezer. Be safe.

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This scribe is an official measurer for big game animals, antlered or in the case of bison or wild sheep, horned animals. I have taken the classes and instruction and periodic online retesting to stay current in this endeavor.

I can measure for the Boone & Crockett Club and for the Pope & Young Club. Requests to set appointments will ramp up beginning in late February. In the meantime, hunters who do take a big antlered critter will be curious. They will want to know a “green score” of about what number those antlers will tally so as to compare it with others.

“Green scores” are at best an educated guess. Yes, the hunter will want the numbers obtained to be close to reality.

I can look at a deer rack and make my educated guess and then provide a low estimate or range of possibles. Official scoring takes time and to be accurate, special care to evaluate base lines, delineate typical measurable points from non-typical points, all in accord with the manual for measurers that has been published and printed by the B&C or P&Y Clubs.

Once an animal has been taken, these organizations require drying time for skulls or skull plates of at least 60 days after that skull has been stored at room temperature and humidity for a full 60 days or more. A very tiny bit of shrinking of the skull plate may take place, but it is very very small. Antlers are true bony material and do maintain their lengths of points incredibly well.

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Dec. 15 is the date when 2025 fishing, hunting or trapping licenses go on sale. Any of these make great Christmas gifts for dedicated outdoor enthusiasts.

All 2024 licenses are valid through Jan. 10, 2025. Other outdoor related gifts could be subscriptions to a favorite magazine.

I am particularly fond of the state outdoor magazines published by their respective DNR offices. I get the Iowa Outdoors issues as well as Montana, Wyoming and a few others.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation publishes a magazine titled BUGLE which I rate very high for the quality and superb content of their contributors. Christmas is only 2.5 weeks away. It will be here in a blink of the eye.

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Trout fishermen and women may already know this story. Iowa DNR fisheries bureau workers are well into the raising of rainbow trout for next year and the following year’s stocking programs.

Each year about 375,000 rainbow trout are stocked into favorable natural cold water streams or community lakes. Sand Lake is just one of many community lakes to receive the rainbows.

The journey from newly acquired trout eggs to stockable fish is a long one. Brood stock of fish four to seven pounds are raised at the Manchester Fish Hatchery.

These large fish produce the eggs and milt for new generations of fish. Fish from prior years that are two or three years old are also used.

They are separated and placed in special raceways, separated by sex. Every 10 to 13 days, three year old females are anesthetized to help reduce stress as eggs are gently massaged from the fish.

Eggs go into a dry collection pan. Milt is added. Then fresh water is added to activate the fertilization process.

Once that is done, the eggs are rinsed and placed in incubators for the next 30 to 36 days. The goal is to obtain 750,000 fertilized rainbow trout eggs. By May, the resulting fry are fed until three to four inches long.

They are now called fingerlings and will be stocked in streams or kept in raceways at the hatchery until 11 to 12 inches long. Those are the fish that will be stocked both in streams or community lakes.

To learn more about trout in Iowa, go to this web site: www.iowadnr.gov/trout.

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005