During this year, will all the slim probabilities finally coalesce to create a once-in-a-lifetime event? Somewhere in Iowa, these factors are at work. A few hunters will be eager to tell their story and glow in the limelight of success.

As for Iowa gun hunters, the coming seasons of early to mid December are much anticipated. Every hunter knows the odds are slim. The reality is very high that their hunts will be “average” and all will go as expected.

Once the dust settles after all deer seasons close for the year, there will be a few very unique stories of a big buck that did not get away, that someone’s arrow or a gun hunter’s bullet found its mark to make that person’s dream come true. Just the thought that it could happen for them is enough incentive to prepare.

I was reminded of the good fortune and good luck factors, or lack thereof, during a recent conversation with fellow deer hunters. One told of how they have tried and tried to be in the right place for a known big buck in the area, only to get “skunked” by this wily whitetail that

did not follow the script, evaded all efforts, and relying on his instincts found ways to completely avoid detection from the hunter.

They compared deer hunting for big antlered bucks similar to buying a lottery ticket with the hope that all the stars would align. They know going into a deer hunt that the odds are not in their favor.

And yet, hope runs eternal that maybe, just maybe this fall’s deer hunts will be different. Hunters know that you cannot be in the right place, right time, if you are sitting at home watching a TV football game.

Priorities must be made. Advice: get outside, deer hunters.

Put in the time, endure the weather (good or bad) and enjoy the pursuit even if the deer do not cooperate this time. Tomorrow will be different, and it could be your lucky right place, right time.

Iowa’s Deer Classic show will be coming up the first weekend in March of 2025. The Des Moines Hy-Vee Events Center building will be filled with all things deer and deer hunting related. The Iowa big buck contest will also show off numerous new examples of how Iowa can grow excellent deer year after year. Antlers are fascinating objects to compare since each one is unique, each one is a testament to good genetics, good food and the ability to survive.

The owners of those deer mounts will tell us about their dreams of big bucks come true.

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A reminder to deer hunters: This scribe is an official measurer for two conservation and record keeping organizations, namely the Pope and Young Club (archery only) and the Boone and Crockett Club (bow, firearms or even picked ups). All deer hunters are eager to know the score of their deer antlers.

I get it. It is a talking point for sure. However, there is a process and rules to follow to obtain an official scoring for any of the big game antlered and/or horned animals of North America.

The basic idea is to wait for a minimum of 60 days after harvest to allow the skull or skull plate to dry. The time frame actually begins after the cleaned skull is stored at room temperature and humidity for 60 or more days.

Can close guesses be made as to the final net score of a deer’s antlers? Yes. But remember that those initial guesses are just a close estimate.

Official measurers take pride in following the rules, making clear distinctions of base lines, using precision techniques in obtaining point lengths and at the end, a tabulated score sheet backed up by photographs for use by the P&Y Club or B&C Club to verify the entry for their record books.

The Pope and Young Club will hold its next conference in Arizona next April for all entries they have received during the last two calendar years. New entries for their biennial end this Dec. 31, 2024.

The Boone and Crockett Club has a three-year long recording format. Their next convention will be in Springfield, Mo. at the Wonders of Wildlife Museum (Bass Pro Shop) in July of 2025. Each organization works together and cooperatively to get record eligible big game heads scored and entered in their respective record books.

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Iowa deer harvest information continues to be tabulated through the DNR’s website. It is an easy system to use.

The hunter provides basic data about their deer harvest of when and where, buck or doe, mature or young of the year. Data is obtained on a county by county basis, all is a tremendous amount of good data for biologists.

They need to manage deer numbers as best they can for every region of Iowa. This keeps the deer herd well within the carrying capacity of the land and within a social acceptance level for the general public.

As of mid week, deer taken by hunters show a statewide take of about 21,415 deer. Of that number, just under 9,000 are doe deer, and about 12,000 are male deer (bucks). Marshall County deer hunters have recorded 97 deer, 17 does and 80 male deer.

Of all the counties in Iowa, Linn County hunters lead at this time with 619. The lowest harvest number is Ida County with 14. Top county counts will always be those with more habitat such as those Mississippi River counties and southern Iowa, where more forested landscapes dominate. Lower record counties are those where the landscape is flatter, and has a very high proportion of intensive agricultural production. Deer are not equally distributed across the state.

By the time the archery season closes just prior to gun season number one, the deer harvest will be over 30,000. Then when gun seasons take effect in December, the bulk of deer herd reduction work will take place.

A total deer harvest by Jan. 10, and special late deer seasons after that, will show over 100,000 deer removed from the population. There will be adequate numbers remaining of surviving deer to carry over into 2025.

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Congratulations are in order to the Pheasants Forever chapter of Marshall and Tama County for their successful banquet and fundraiser held on Nov. 9. A full house of over 350 people attended the event at Midnight Garden’s 17th Avenue facility in Marshalltown.

Silent auctions and a lively live auction helped to bring in financial capital for future projects. Putting that money to work on the land is the goal of PF.

PF has a grassroots system for fundraising and project development. This system allows local chapters to decide how to spend 100 percent of the funds they obtain.

On a national scale, PF and its partner Quail Forever (QF) has since their beginning improved 26.5 million acres of private and public land and cooperated in 580,000 plus habitat projects with 5,000 wildlife projects just in 2022 alone. These project totals used $1.4 billion.

Since 1982, when PF began, they have helped with 1,810 land acquisitions encompassing 229,846 acres. PF and QF put a priority on public lands by assisting local, state and federal agencies with project and program development.

Cooperation works. Thank you PF.

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Aldo Leopold, author of The Sand County Almanac, stated this about hunters and hunting. “A particular virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than that of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.”

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005