[chuckrozasrn]

If you had 10 days to hunt south central iowa would u go early to mid or mid to late november ? I know theres always a chance on bucks to lockdown on does later but how late is too late ? 5 points in and im fairly sure my dad and i will be picked for zone 4 finally. Any opinions appreciated .


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[DTales]

Nov 8th and 9th can be 'magical' some years so I would lean towards your earlier option.

 

[nanuke22]

I am doing 11/6-11/13 in zone 5, good luck this year. I am also in with 5 points.

 

[aaronbell3]

I would go early November. Seems Mid November is always a little slower. Its a toss up for sure. Depends if you're hunting public or private. Public I would say the earliest you can go the better.

 

[2-bucks]

You will get a lot of variation on this question. I would go 3-13. 10th -20th is still very good but I just can't miss about the 6th - 10th. I'm in SE Iowa.

 

[Buellhunter]

I'd go 3-13

 

[bgusty]

I'd say 3-13 for sure. That first week of November up here is when I see the most bucks up and moving. Does are just starting to come into estrus, so they have to work more to find the ones in heat. The middle of November it seems most does are in estrus, so they don't have to move as much to find the next one. This year for me in southern MN the most daylight movement was between 10/28 and 11/9. I shot my biggest buck to date on 11/2.

 

[chuckrozasrn]

Well darn i guess that kinda sums it up! Thanks guys!!!

 

[Mark2180]

It’s a guess and is probably more dependent on weather. In 2016 I hunted south central Iowa from the 10th thru the 14th. I picked the 2nd week just to make certain I didn’t hit any warm weather. The week before us was cool and lots of big bucks were seen and killed. Our week was 60 for a high on Monday and gradually got to 75 on the 4th day. Hunting was slow.

On the last day it was 65 degrees when I walked to the stand in the morning. By 8 AM it was 32 degrees outside and the wind was blowing steady 30 mph. Absolutely miserable. I stayed in the stand until 2 PM when it it wasn’t safe. Had to keep reattaching the stand as it would come lose. I stayed as long as I did because I didn’t go 20 minutes without seeing a deer. I was going to stick out but I knew I was risking trouble.

 

[nightvision]

The first week and hope for cool weather. If there’s any way to swap at the last minute depending on how warm the weather is I would go that route and keep my options open.

 

[basnbuks]

If you had 10 days to hunt south central iowa would u go early to mid or mid to late november ? I know theres always a chance on bucks to lockdown on does later but how late is too late ? 5 points in and im fairly sure my dad and i will be picked for zone 4 finally. Any opinions appreciated .

The last 3 yearsfor me the most mature bucks have been locked down, the 1st week of November. I see my biggest deer from oct 25ish to nov 2 then it really gets good about the 10th, 1 of these years I’m gonna hold out to hunt thanksgiving week because my cams tells me that’s when the biggest are on there feet more in daylight. If I only had 10 days it would be nov 8 -18. Also pressure may play a different role in any given place. Good luck

 

[Binney59]

I have hunted Iowa several times over the years, both as a NR and when I was in college there, and I feel as though you will hit a couple dynamite days right around Halloween and then the first week of November is hit or miss but can be "slow." The second week of November has typically produced more mature buck sightings and better daytime activity but possibly less overall deer sightings. The closer you get to Thanksgiving the less deer you will see but your odds of seeing a monster during daylight hours seems better.

With that being said, it is still Iowa and its still a blast to hunt no matter when you're there. The colder the better but I shot my bow buck in Iowa last year on a 60 degree afternoon. If it were me I would opt for the later dates. Good luck either way!

 

[BigBrian]

Tough dates buy me observation right over the boarder from there in Illinois is that November 6 to 13 is usually the time frame I'm in the woods. Deer sightings and 20 or so cameras have all backed up those dates. We have kill a lot of bucks from he 8th to 12th.

 

[bassman417]

If you want to see lots of bucks running around crazy the 1st week is fun. If you want to see more mature bucks tho I'd go with the 2nd week. That's personal opinion but I started taking the 2nd full week of November for vacation and have had pretty good success. I'm in zone 6.

 

[123 4/8 P&Y]

The earlier dates IMO.


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[Liv4Rut]

I love hunting from the 6th on. I have killed 4 good ones on the 6th but I have noticed lately it seems to explode from the 10th on. Also the last week of October is good. For some reason in the area I hunt, the first few days of November is slow as molasses granted you can always get lucky any time in the woods. Good luck!