Iowa deer hunters have important changes to know heading into 2026-2027 hunting seasons

Iowa deer hunters have some changes they should understand ahead of the upcoming hunting seasons.

• Deer license sales will now begin at 9 a.m., on Aug. 15, which is a change from previous years.
• Audubon, Carroll and Greene counties have been added to the Antlered-buck only first regular gun season.
• Population Management January Antlerless Season will be available in Allamakee and Winneshiek counties only, if the number of unsold antlerless licenses on the third Monday in December exceeds 100.
• ONLINE DEER AND TURKEY license sales will stop two weeks prior to the season opening to ensure tag delivery.
• TREESTANDS on public land must have a metal tag with the owner’s DNR issued customer identification number attached and visible from the ground.
• A new online tool now allows for instant reporting of buck deer “deadheads” from Feb. 1 through July 31. More information about the new digital reporting process is on p. 42 of the upcoming hunting regulations.
• TRAPPING Identification tags attached to traps may include either the trapper’s name and address OR their DNR issued customer identification number.

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Iowa now has two deer hunting zones

Iowa now has two zones for resident deer hunting: ZONE A and ZONE B.

Hunters may purchase up to two General Deer licenses, including any combination of ZONE A or ZONE B licenses, consisting of no more than one archery season and one firearm season tag of choice.

NEW ZONE B (county Any-Deer quotas for resident hunters)

The new ZONE B counties (in red) includes Crawford, Ida, Lyon, O’Brien, Plymouth, Shelby, Sioux and Woodbury. 

A limited quota of county specific Any-deer licenses will be available for purchase in select ZONE B counties on a first come basis, beginning at 9 a.m., Aug. 15. Quotas are shown as the number in each county.

Purchasing a ZONE B county Any-deer license counts toward one of the two available resident General Licenses (archery and/or firearm). Limit one per hunter.

ZONE B allows hunting for Antlered-buck only (at least one forked antler) in all seasons except Youth, Disabled, Landowner-Tenant and Depredation. Party hunting is not allowed in ZONE B for residents and nonresidents. ZONE B requires each hunter to tag their own deer.

ZONE B Antlered-buck only licenses are valid zone-wide; county-specific Any-deer licenses are valid only in the designated county. 

ZONE B licenses are not allowed in ZONE A.

NEW ZONE A (all counties not shaded black)

• All other counties not in ZONE B, are in ZONE A. County Antlerless-deer quotas are shown as the number in each county. ZONE A licenses are not allowed in ZONE B.
• ZONE A counties in yellow continue the Antlered-buck only restriction during first regular gun season, EXCEPT for Landowner-Tenant. The remaining ZONE A regulations are unchanged.

Visit the DNR website for more information about deer hunting in Iowa.