Updates on the familiar and not so common wildlife species in Iowa
PHOTOS BY GARRY BRANDENBURG — Deer are everywhere in Iowa from backyards, city streets, rural forests and crop fields. Way less common are confirmed sightings/evidence of mountain lions or black bears. Do sightings of the latter two critters happen? Yes. Today’s story will share data and facts on all of these animals. The deer image was made July 21, 2015 near the Iowa River’s Indian Bridge (E-23) as a chance encounter when my long lens camera was at the ready. The antlers on these bucks were in full velvet condition with growth for the year almost complete. As for the mountain lion and black bear images, I made these at past Iowa Taxidermists Association shows. Facts on these large predators will be discussed in this story.
Deer are common, very common, and so widespread across the USA, the Midwest and throughout Iowa that discussion about this critter will always bring one’s ears to alert status with a new variation on where and when questions are asked. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a long established wild animal for Iowa. Their population is managed by specific seasons, methods of take, and hunting quota limitations in various regions of Iowa to reflect regional habitats and overall population densities.
The breeding population is maintained well below the potential carrying capacity of Iowa’s landscape by specific regulations created by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The primary reason for keeping deer populations way less than their potential is to strike a balance between what wildlife viewers and hunters may desire and what private landowners and the general public will tolerate. This balancing action tries to find a point that satisfies the most people.
Wildlife managers, research biologists and game wardens work all year long to gather data and inputs from surveys to determine trends in deer numbers. Citizen inputs are also used to help verify field data. These annually adjusted data points, along with long term historic deer population trends, and hunter harvest data from previous fall hunting seasons are very useful to gauge what those trend lines indicate.
Biologists year after year come very close to finding and maintaining that balance. Now during late July and August, deer antler growth is at or reaching its peak. Antlers appear larger at this time than they really are due to the thick layer of specialized tissue covering the true bone growth of the new antlers.
The soft and fuzzy appearing tissue is called ‘velvet,’ and within it are numerous blood vessels feeding calcium and other minerals into the new growing antlers. Antlers are shed off each
later winter and regrow a new set on all of the deer family members; moose, elk, mule deer, Columbia black-tailed deer, and caribou.
Antlers are true bones. Antlers are not horns. Horn material is keratin based tissue and is found on bison, muskox, pronghorns, wild sheep and mountain goats.
New antler growth on deer family members is controlled by day length called photoperiod, which affects hormone levels within the male of the species, and the availability of good forage plants that these animals browse upon. The velvet covering has a complex network of blood vessels. If you could touch the newly growing antler, it would be warm to your touch. There is so much blood carrying proteins and minerals into the new antlers that thermal imaging night vision scopes can pick out a buck during the middle of the night just by the sight picture.
Antler growth will become fully developed for the buck deer during July and early August. By late August, the soft bone inside the velvet ‘case’ will have completed its job. Soft bone inside will harden, and during September, the buck will rub his antlers on bushes, tree branches and
tree trunks to get rid of the velvet.
His biological systems are preparing for the fall rut breeding season, again a function of decreasing day length. This takes place predictably during late October and the first two weeks of November.
Bucks prior to the rut will spar with each other to determine who is the strongest and to establish pecking orders. Just the sight of a big thick necked large antlered buck can send lesser bucks running away, not in fear, just a case where they know that a deer to deer buck pushing match is not a fair fight.
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Predators of deer in Iowa include bobcats for the fawns. Coyotes have learned to look for and sometimes, not always, find vulnerable fawns when they are still very young, but once fawns have learned to run and hide, predation numbers decrease.
Now we have new players in the game of hide and seek, eat or be eaten. These larger predators are rare in Iowa but occasionally show up. They are the cougar, or mountain lion, and the black bear.
First, a bit of discussion of cougars and the number of confirmed sightings in Iowa over time. According to the book “A Country So Full of Game” by the late Iowa State University professor James Dinsmore, the mountain lion/cougar probably occurred throughout the state originally but never in great numbers.
This large cat was extirpated as settlement took place. The last historical record of a cougar in Iowa was one that was shot in 1867 in Appanoose County near the town of Cincinnati, Iowa.
Since the 1990s, reports of big cats began to trickle into Iowa DNR field offices. The same can be said for surrounding states of Nebraska, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Missouri, and others.
One known source for many dispersing cougars is the Black Hills of South Dakota where about 200 resident cougars live. Once a young cougar reaches about 18 months of age, it is kicked out of the family territory.
For young male cougars, they have two choices. One choice is to stay in the home territory and be sought out and killed by the resident adult cougars. The second choice is to leave, find new territory not already occupied, and take its chances in unfamiliar places.
That is how a very few of these large cats meander along the rivers of the Dakotas and Nebraska to enter Iowa. DNA samplings from cougars can confirm a large portion originated from the Black Hills.
Confirmed evidence of cougars is always sought, rather than hearsay conversations. Evidence based data comes from trail cameras set out by hunters scouting for deer, roadkill on our highways, verifiable tracks, feces, hair samples and sightings. Strong evidence is best in the form of photos, video, tracks and sightings.
Do know that Iowa has never ‘stocked’ or brought in cougars from other states, and there is no consideration of doing so. Between 1995 and 2022, specific DNA samples from Iowa found cougars established links to the Black Hills, Nebraska and recently Wyoming.
Marshall County had a trail camera confirmation of a cougar in November 2004. I published that image and a cougar fact story soon after this confirmation. The story brought out all kinds of people and comments soon afterward during a public informational meeting at the Fisher Community Center hosted by Ron Andrews, who at that time was the fur-bearer biologist with the Iowa DNR.
Cougars have no legal status in the Code of Iowa, therefore they are not given any legal protection. That does not mean indiscriminate killing is advocated, as the animal will likely not find what it needs in terms of habitat to call Iowa home.
Most move on to other places in a long wandering search for any place far away from people. Confirmed and probable evidence in Iowa of cougars shows these numbers: 1995, one confirmation. 2001 had 5. 2003 — 2, 2004 — 5, 2009 — 1, 2011 — 1, 2012 — 1, 2013 — 2, 2014 — 2, 2015 — 1, 2016 — 0, 2017 — 4, 2018 — 3, 2019 — 6, 2020 — 0, 2021 — 2, and 2022 — 4. The above confirmations came from sightings eight, tracks nine, photos 13, shot five, roadkill or collisions three, found dead or in a snare one, and video one.
This data is from a 21-year time frame of 2001 – 2022. Iowa is far from being inundated by cougars.
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Black bears in Iowa are easily recognized and therefore more noticeable if one shows up. Settlers generally killed any black bear they encountered thus a rapid decline in bear numbers followed the influx of pioneer farmers. There are accounts of pre-1900s evidence of black bears in 48 counties, again from Dr. Dinsmore’s book and his research.
The eastern one-third of Iowa dominated bear sightings and shootings. The last historical black bear sighting was near Spirit Lake in 1876. Since then in our more modern times, sightings have trickled in as known black bear population centers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and southern
Missouri may have had a few dispersing bears.
Here are the recent confirmed numbers from 2001-2022: 2002 — five, 2003 and 2004 — zero, 2005 — one, 2006 and 2007 — zero, 2008 — five, 2009 — one, 2010 — three, 2011 and 2012 — one each year, 2013 — zero, 2014 — three, 2015 — four, 2016 — three, 2017 — five, 2018 — two, 2019 — four, 2020 — five, 2021 — three, and 2022 — three.
Legal status for black bears in Iowa has not been authorized by the Legislature. In fact, the DNR has been specifically asked to not bring the topic up for discussion in the future. Iowa is far from being inundated by black bears.
Will the future years see additional confirmations of cougars and/or black bears? Yes. However, it is unlikely that these critters will be more than occasional passers-through. I hope you learned something about these not-so-common wildlife species.
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Ducks Unlimited, Iowa River Chapter, will host a clay bird five station fun shoot at the Marshall County Izaak Walton League grounds on Aug. 6. This strictly fun event will feature five woodland settings for hunters to practice and compete against fast flying clay targets.
The fee will be $20 for the first round of 25 targets, and $15 for every round thereafter. Light refreshments will be available for purchase.
Registration begins at 9 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m. The Ikes grounds are located at 2601 Smith Ave., Marshalltown. Come help support the cause for conservation of wetland habitat by attending this DU local event. Thanks.
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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
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- PHOTOS BY GARRY BRANDENBURG — Deer are everywhere in Iowa from backyards, city streets, rural forests and crop fields. Way less common are confirmed sightings/evidence of mountain lions or black bears. Do sightings of the latter two critters happen? Yes. Today’s story will share data and facts on all of these animals. The deer image was made July 21, 2015 near the Iowa River’s Indian Bridge (E-23) as a chance encounter when my long lens camera was at the ready. The antlers on these bucks were in full velvet condition with growth for the year almost complete. As for the mountain lion and black bear images, I made these at past Iowa Taxidermists Association shows. Facts on these large predators will be discussed in this story.
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