| The first element about Mid-America Hunting Association Iowa deer bow hunting is that all may bow hunt Iowa in addition to any other deer hunting regardless of method in Kansas, Missouri or Iowa. This gives the bow deer hunter additional options to consider. The first option that may be obvious is that the bow hunter may also bow hunt Kansas (if drawing a tag) or Missouri (OTC tags). Part of this option decision criteria would be any portion of the rut most wanted to bow hunt may be manipulated amongst our three states. An illustration is that peak rut hunters will find conflicting seasons between Iowa and Kansas, but not Missouri. Those that peak rut hunt may opt for either Iowa or Kansas while those that hunt pre, early or post rut bow deer hunt will find Missouri an easy alternative. A less considered alternative, but an option nonetheless, is for the bow hunter to muzzleloader or modern gun hunt as a means to add some added adventure of having a different deer hunting method rather than spending the entire season in tree stand. Walking up deer with gun in hand across the big open of western Kansas where archery equipment has very limited value brings a bit of adventure diversity to the bow hunter’s season. However, for the hardcore bow deer hunter that spends time a field during deer season without bow in hand, it is typically the dad’s bringing up a youth deer hunter taking advantage of gun seasons for the all too valuable early success requirement of youth deer hunts. Within Mid-America Hunting Association each family membership allows all in that family to deer hunt to their own skill or development level and do so without any administrative membership change requirement. The family membership covers all deer seasons for all family members who can enjoy the flexibility of moving from one deer season to another or hunt multiple states.
Back specifically to Iowa bow deer hunting. For those familiar with Iowa deer hunting it is most productive from a trophy whitetail standpoint within the agricultural regions of large grain crop fields. That is where our Iowa deer hunting exists, or specifically in the south-central portion of Iowa in zones 4 & 5 and those portions of those Iowa zones within the Grand River Watershed. For those not familiar with this part of Iowa this is a region of wooded drainages cutting through crop fields connecting many small wood patches. The right combination of cover and food. Trees for stands will abound, lock-ons more suitable than climbers. Lots of edge and transitional cover as well as fewer cattle pastures than other Iowa regions. The challenge is that this type of deer habitat exists in many small areas repeated many times over within the larger area and from a human perspective it all looks the same. Finding that two to three spots most likely to yield a trophy whitetail deer will always remain the deer hunter’s challenge. We offer the deer lease land resource to maximize that deer hunter’s challenge throughout the entire range of deer seasons. This article is probably not the Iowa deer hunting answer most anticipated reading about. What we offer is self guided deer hunts and encourage scouting. That is all that we offer in addition to the bow hunter’s preseason preparation of equipment refinement, target practice and deer hunting skill development. We exists for the execution phase of that deer hunter’s effort right down to the land resource to allow him to put into practice his hunting spot selection, stand placement, sight decoy, antler rattling and scent decoy skills. Or, simply put we help eliminate the reasons why a deer hunter may not achieve his own personal best any given year. No secrets here, just the opportunity to work as hard as he wants at bow deer hunting. Iowa bow deer hunting specifics. Iowa's archery deer tag is a more difficult draw tag than that of Kansas (Missouri bow tag is OTC). Most Iowa bow tag applicants have two non-draw year point preference points before successfully drawing a tag. A handful will be lucky and draw a bow tag after one point. Mid-America Hunting Association has close to the same amount of acreage with different amounts deer habitat between zones 4 and 5. Never have we come close to exhausting our deer leases due to hunter pressure. The competitive nature of the Iowa draw tag has effectively limited our deer hunter pressure. Iowa is a favored non-resident deer hunter state and the secondary effect are the trophy book chasers. One method to give good indication of draw success rates and the viability of drawing an Iowa bow tag with one or two points is to evaluate which zone for bow and gun had the most trophies harvested the previous season. Those zones with the highest number or the best record book registered buck the previous year have always had a noticeable increase in tag applicants for the immediate as well as second season after such harvests (see Iowa deer lease and Iowa deer hunting plans). If having but one preference point and having a set mind to hunt Iowa then applying for a bow tag between zones 4 & 5 should be to the zone with the fewest registered trophy the previous season. Conversely zone 5 application, if wanting to build non-draw preference points such as a year most wanting to bow hunt Kansas. It is by such manipulations that most of our hunters commonly hunt two of our three states each year.
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