Bow Season Underway
by Joe Wilkinson
Posted: October 7, 2008

The early days of Iowa's archery deer season have more than 50,000 bowhunters anxious to head to the woods....if they haven't already. The nearly four month season (knocking off for a couple weeks during the December shotgun hunts) is what appeals to many bow hunters. They can pursue whitetails in the near summer conditions of October...or pile on the layers and wait for the buck that everybody missed, during the later days of January.

Early season hunters can build their own advantage; reading the woods for deer activity and maybe taking a doe or two before the excitement of the breeding season builds in late October and into November. "It's a good time to take antlerless animals if they have that interest", suggests Tom Litchfield, deer research biologist for the Department of Natural Resources. "It helps out the landowner and helps attain deer population objectives, especially in eastern, southern and central counties."

Bowhunters harvested 23,696 deer last season; 8,274 with antlerless tags. The 85,240 tags sold--any sex, landowner, nonresident and antlerless--represented a 5 percent hike from the year before.

A lot of hunters harvest a doe before their buck. Bo Jackson is one of them. The only man named to both major league baseball's All Star Game and pro football's Pro Bowl (and college's 1985 Heisman Trophy winner) is sold on Iowa deer hunting...and on shooting a doe or two. In his first season here, he filled his antlerless tag on the first night (nonresidents pay for an antlerless 'doe' tag as well their any-sex 'buck' tag). Returning to northern Iowa in the waning days of that season, he tagged another doe.

"It's important for hunters to harvest does. You don't want areas overpopulated," says Jackson. "Everybody wants to take that one big buck to get them on the cover of some magazine (but) I think it should be mandatory for everybody who hunts to take a doe first." That's why he enjoyed dropping a nice buck last fall, hunting near Iowa City.

Beyond the excitement that builds as a mature doe....or a 10-point buck...approaches your deer stand in the moments after dawn, bowhunting from a tree stand, 15 feet above the ground offers a unique outdoor observation post. Wild turkeys, raccoons and other critters crisscross below and the fall colors take on a richer hue, viewed from the 'second story' of an oak or hickory tree.

Bow hunters also get first crack at using 120,000 county-specific antlerless tags available this fall. In addition, 60 special zone hunts are provided-in parks, urban areas and other areas. Iowa's 2008 hunting regulations contain deer season information, including where to call for information on those special zones, as well as county quotas for antlerless tags. You can also find it at www.iowadnr.gov.

Bo Knows....Hunting

Tagging along as a toddler, Bo Jackson learned hunting early. "It's very important to pass the hunting tradition along," stresses the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner and professional football AND baseball star of the '80s and '90s. "My grandfather introduced me to hunting when I was 3 or 4; going along on a coon hunt. I have been hooked ever since."

Jackson spends much of the fall hunting in various states. He wants to pass along that love of the outdoors to others, just as his grandfather imparted it to him. "It is important for us as hunters in this day and age to introduce hunting to the next generation," underscores Jackson. "If we don't, years from now, there won't be hunters. We have to do whatever we can to protect this heritage. It's a privilege."