IOWA, USA — Editor's Note: The featured video was published on Nov. 19, 2023 and highlights the opening of Illinois' whitetail deer rifle season.
In less than a week, Iowa hunters will be able to get their shotguns out of their gun cases, throw on their orange vests and head out into the wilderness to bag an award-wining buck.
Iowa's first firearm deer hunting season opens on Saturday, Dec. 2 and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 6. The second runs from Saturday, Dec. 9 to Sunday, Dec. 17.
According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, more than 100,000 people are expected to join in the hunt. There's good news for those hunters; officials said the state's deer population is stable or slightly increasing across wide portions of the state.
“The gun seasons are the most popular of all of our hunting seasons, a lot of great tradition and memories are made during this time,” Jace Elliott, state deer biologist with the Iowa DNR said. “These two seasons also play an important role for our deer herd management with more than 50 percent of the total harvest typically occurring during these 14 days in December.”
Iowa hunters bagged nearly 110,000 deer in 2022, and Elliott predicted similar results this year. However, there are some new changes to the deer season that hunters should know about before they set up their blinds.
- The antlerless deer quota has been adjusted in 24 counties.
- The Population Management January antlerless-only season will be offered in Allamakee, Winneshiek, Decatur, Appanoose, Monroe, Lucas and Wayne counties if the number of unsold antlerless licenses on the third Monday in December exceeds 100 tags. This season allows the use of any legal method of take, including shotguns, handguns, muzzleloaders, bows, crossbows, and center-fire rifles .223 and larger.
- The Excess Tag January antlerless-only season will be held in any county that still has unsold county antlerless tags by January 10. Only centerfire rifles .223 caliber and above are allowed during this season.
- A new requirement for hunters who harvest an antlered deer is reporting the length of the main beam of each antler.
Across the river, Illinois hunters are preparing to wrap up the first weekend of their own firearm hunting season on Sunday, Dec. 3. The Illinois DNR said that hunters in the state have taken over 53,000 deer so far. Here's a breakdown of which counties those bucks were bagged in:
- Jo Daviess - 967
- Knox - 821
- Bureau - 695
- Mercer - 600
- Rock Island - 526
- Ogle - 503
- Whiteside - 402
- Carroll - 389
- Lee - 385
- Stephenson - 375
- Warren - 337
- Henry - 321
- Stark - 150
Watch more news, weather and sports on News 8's YouTube channel