(Des Moines, IA – Iowa DNR news release) – 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 three percent 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 (DNR). 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.”

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 percent 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 percent 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 percent of the total buck harvest.