March 28, 2024

Time will tell if Union County gets additional deer season

With Iowa deer populations nearing half a million, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has allowed counties with unsold antlerless deer licenses to open a season in January to curb the population.

The Iowa Department of National Resources said unchecked, the deer population could grow between 20-40% annually - doubling in as few as three years.

This isn’t the first time counties have been allotted an additional antlerless season, but in the past it has been limited to a few sparsely populated counties where deer have posed more of a problem.

The bill states hunters are able to use rifles with barrels of at least 16 inches and firing centerfire ammunition rounds as low as .223.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously, but Democratic representatives had concerns about the weapons allowed. Todd Prichard, formerly active-duty in the U.S. Army, said he thinks using AR-15s for hunting deer is dangerous.

He compared his 200 training hours in the military with similar weapon before becoming combat certified to the small requirements Iowa hunters go through before being able to handle the rifle. His concern included the 2.5 miles the ammunition allowed in the bill can travel.

Union County Conservation Officer Corey Carlton said .223 is a popular caliber and it’s a more readily-available ammunition.

Whether or not Union County will have a January deer season will be up in the air until the end of the final deer season in the beginning of January. Hunters can purchase additional antlerless deer tags up to the final day of the season.

Carlton said tag numbers are hit or miss, but if this season were to continue in a similar fashion to the previous years, there would likely not be an additional January season.

His concern is hunters harvesting less does early on to try to prolong the season. “Your best bet is to take care of those does early on,” he said. “By the time shotgun season comes around, they’re moving around.”

The Iowa State Extension Office says deer can cause economic loss by consuming corn and soybeans in agriculture fields, cause permanent death or disfigurement to plants and eat stored food intended for livestock.

“We’ve already done this rifle season,” Carlton said. “We’re on the fence this time.”

Cheyenne Roche

CHEYENNE ROCHE

Originally from Wisconsin, Cheyenne has a journalism and political science degree from UW-Eau Claire and a passion for reading and learning. She lives in Creston with her husband and their two little dogs.