Iowa’s busiest deer seasons coming soon; here’s what to know

Iowa’s most popular deer hunting seasons start this weekend, when more than 100,000 hunters take to the timber for the long-awaited gun seasons.

Iowa’s first gun season is Dec. 6-10. Second gun season is Dec. 13-21.

While hunters are split about 50-50 to which season they hunt, the trend has been moving toward second season due to the flexibility of hunting two weekends. Hunters are expected to harvest 55,000 to 60,000 deer during these two seasons, which is 50-60 percent of Iowa’s total deer harvest.

So far this fall, youth, disabled hunter, early muzzleloader and archery hunters have reported 28,600 deer through the harvest reporting system, which is 3% below the five-year average.

“We’ve had a strong harvest in Eastern Iowa, which has offset a lower deer harvest in Western, Central, Southern and Northwestern regions of the state,” said Jace Elliott, state deer biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. To date, the 2025 harvest is about exactly the same as the 2024 harvest at this point in the season.

“We are getting reports of low deer numbers in Central and Western Iowa in the wake of severe hemorrhagic disease impacts from 2024 and 2023. Hunters are encouraged to reach out to our wildlife staff and conservation officers to discuss what they are seeing in the field.”

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Weather-wise, the 10-day forecast calls for high temperatures from middle 30s to middle 20s, which means the snow is likely here for a while.

“The cooler temperature generally leads to better harvest, but the snow can be tricky. We know that snowfall on opening day leads to a 10% increase in harvest for the season. Snow does make it easier to see deer, track deer and to see deer signs, which are all the right conditions for hunters to be successful,” Elliott said.

“However, if the snow is too deep, it can lead to fewer deer harvested and that’s likely due to hunter behavior, not deer behavior,” he said.

The gun seasons have been traditionally associated with groups of hunters walking through the timber, pushing deer towards other members of the hunting group, but results of the 2024 deer hunter survey found that gun season hunters are divided evenly in how they pursue the deer.

About half participate in traditional deer drives, while the other half prefer to hunt from stationary position. The deer hunter survey found that overall, 80% of respondents indicated they are satisfied with the overall deer hunting experience, citing the social aspect of the hunting groups and the opportunity to put deer meat in the freezer as two reasons they hunt.

Main beam antler measurement

Hunters are required to include the main beam antler measurement when reporting their deer harvest.

“Main beam antler measurement allows us to estimate the percentage of yearling bucks as part of the harvest. There was a strong variation across Iowa where counties with lower deer densities and less deer habitat saw a higher rate of yearling bucks as a percentage of the buck harvest,” Elliott said.  

Statewide, yearling bucks made up roughly 40% of the total buck harvest.

Safety first, during the gun deer seasons

Before heading to the timber, it’s important that hunters go through their gear, sight in their gun and take time to review their hunting safety plan, said Craig Cutts, chief of the Iowa DNR Law Enforcement Bureau.

“Hunters should check their blaze orange gear to make sure it still fits and that that orange hasn’t faded to the point of being ineffective,” Cutts said. “We’re not hiding from deer during the firearm seasons; we want to be seen by the other hunters. The more external blaze orange that’s worn, the better the chance that hunters will be seen in the timber.”

The minimum amount of blaze orange required by Iowa law to hunt in the firearm deer season is a 100% solid blaze orange vest, but hunters should wear as much blaze orange as possible, he said.

“We have a lot more hunters choosing rifles and rifles can travel much greater distances so blaze orange is really important,” he said. “But they also need to be cognizant of that distance, so they need to take good shots – avoid shooting at running deer, and know what’s in front of and behind the deer, in case the shot misses.”

Not shooting at running deer is key to avoiding property damage or injuring another hunter. With the added distance rifles are capable of, hunters need to be aware of what is behind the deer if the shot misses.

Cutts said there has been an average of nine hunting related incidents over the past three deer gun seasons involving rifles with around six involving personal injuries. Following the hunting plan is another way to avoid problems.

The hunting plan identifies the location, outlines each person’s role, describes how it will unfold and when the hunters are expected to return home. Hunters are encouraged to leave a copy of the plan with someone in the event of an emergency.

“You cannot deviate from the plan,” Cutts said. “The problems start when you see the deer coming out of a different area than you expected, then leave your location to get closer to the deer and suddenly the hunter is in the line of fire.”

For more information on hunting safety, contact your local conservation officer.

Gun season is important for chronic wasting disease sample collection

The Iowa DNR will be partnering with Iowa deer hunters to collect tissue samples to monitor for chronic wasting disease during the upcoming gun seasons.

The goal is to collect samples from each county, with higher quotas based on the presence of or proximity to confirmed positive locations. Hunters interested in submitting samples to the DNR’s surveillance program can do so by contacting their local wildlife staff.

Hunters can monitor progress towards county quotas on the DNR CWD Dashboard. So far during the 2025-26 surveillance year, there have been 24 positive cases of chronic wasting disease.

Hunters in areas where the disease has been found or in counties where the quota has filled, can get their deer tested by going to www.iowadnr.gov/cwd and clicking on the hunter submission pathway. There is a video (see below) demonstrating how hunters can remove the lymph nodes and package them for mailing.

The hunter submission pathway allows hunters to pull and submit their own tissue sample simply by filling out the online form and paying a $25 processing fee, the same fee the DNR pays for its samples.

No special packaging is required and hunter submitted samples are prioritized to expedite testing and results. Samples are tested at Iowa State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, and results are included with the data from samples the DNR is collecting.

Local wildlife staff can help hunters with pulling samples. There are also resources online that shows how to pull and ship samples.

Chronic wasting disease is spread through direct contact between deer and through contact with contaminated surfaces in the environment. Artificially concentrating deer by putting out grain or mineral can increase transmission of the disease because it increases the opportunity for deer to interact and come in contact with infectious material. Deer will concentrate on their own through scrapes and during the breeding season.

The disease can also be spread by transporting infected carcasses. To avoid introducing the disease to a new area, hunters should not transport deer carcasses outside of the county where it was harvested, if at all possible.

If, for some reason, hunters need to take the carcass with them, they should landfill the carcass through regular waste disposal. In the few instances where landfilling isn’t an option, hunters should return the carcass to the site of harvest after processing.

Deer donation program

Hunters may sign up as a deer donor or recipient with the Iowa Deer Exchange at www.iowadnr.gov/deer then scroll down to Iowa’s Deer Exchange Program link. There, donors can provide their information on what they are willing to donate. The database creates a map and table with information deer donors and deer recipients can use to get connected.

Hunters and recipients who had previously registered for the Deer Exchange Program should review their information to make sure it is still accurate and active. There is no cost to participate. It is illegal to sell wild fish and game in Iowa.

The Iowa DNR, the Food Bank of Iowa and 32 meat lockers also participate in the Help Us Stop Hunger program for 2025. Hunters are encouraged to contact a participating locker before they harvest a deer to see if the locker has any additional drop off instructions.

Doe harvest registry

Hunters interested in working with farmers to harvest additional does are encouraged to sign up with the Iowa Doe Harvest Registry. The Registry has been a resource that the Iowa DNR has offered to farmers since the mid-2000s, but is now easier to access.

To participate, go to the Doe Hunter Registry (Connecting Farmers with Hunters) page and complete the online form. Hunters and farmers can select their preferred hunting seasons and their region of the state.

Harvesting antlerless deer is the most important tool for managing deer populations at the state, county and local level.

Donated deer hides benefit disabled veterans

Hunters donated nearly 3,500 deer hides to Elks Lodges across Iowa last year, which was a decrease from the year before but still very beneficial to the program.

The deer hides are used by the Elks Veterans Leather Program to make professionally-crafted leather gloves for veterans in wheelchairs and also turned into leather used for therapy programs for recovering veterans.

The Elks Veterans Leather Program relies on the charity of hunters to donate their deer hides. Hunters willing to donate their hides are encouraged to contact the local Elks Lodge for drop off locations or visit www.elks.org/lodges to find the nearest lodge.

The therapeutic kits and gloves are distributed at no cost to the veterans. Contact Curtis Blystone at 712-621-2823 or blystonecurtis@gmail.comfor more information.