"Plus, tradition is a big thing with Iowa's deer hunters. Our hunters have strong traditions of hunting certain places at certain times in certain ways. The challenge has been to develop new traditions, and we're seeing that start to happen.

"Some of the guys made a special effort to get together for the special antlerless season over Thanksgiving weekend we had for the past two years," Suchy continued. "Other guys are making it an annual thing to travel south and use the bonus January season to take deer with bow or muzzleloader, or maybe with high-power rifles."

"The nice thing is that our hunters are making the transition, changing the way they think . . . taking the does, passing up small bucks, and taking only the biggest bucks. It's turning into a win-win situation." -Chad Paup, IDNR

Randy Scheel of Garrison is one of the hunters who traveled to southern Iowa with his high-power rifle to take a big doe last January. An avid hunter who regularly scores on wallworthy bucks by means of bow and arrow, he viewed a rifle hunt as a unique way to end last year's hunting seasons.

Hunting in Wayne County with his nephew-in-law Tracy Bonar, Scheel had his pick of a herd of does that ran past his stand less than 10 minutes after he sat down on a cold Saturday morning in January. He studied his options through the scope on his .243 Savage, chose the largest doe, and pulled the trigger at a range of 40 yards. Bonar dropped a doe a few hours later at 100 yards.

Scheel had checked the IDNR's website before traveling to Wayne County, and knew that extra antlerless tags were still available for that county. So, after field dressing their deer, he went to town and bought another tag so he could hunt again on Sunday. He dropped another doe at 20 yards early the next day.

"I've got use for the venison, and I love to hunt, so the bonus late season is just a great deal for me," said Scheel. "When it was all said and done, I could have got those deer with a shotgun, but the rifle made it interesting. Some people were concerned that a .243 wouldn't have the power to put down some of our big Iowa deer, but I'm really pleased with how well it worked. I use Winchester Ballistic Silvertip 95-grain bullets, and they seem to have plenty of punch. The first doe was shot through the shoulder, and only went 30 yards before she dropped, and the second one was a spine shot that dropped in her tracks."

THE IDNR'S SECRET WEAPON: OUR HUNTERS
Suchy said that the IDNR needs passionate hunters like Scheel and Bonar, but acknowledges that different hunters have different attitudes toward deer hunting.

"As we've computerized our licensing and registering process and become able to analyze our hunters, we're finding out that we have three distinct groups of hunters in Iowa," said Suchy. "There's one group who are the fanatics, the guys who think and plan and study deer hunting 12 months a year. Bowhunters make up a lot of that group.

"There's another group that are enthusiastic hunters, who hunt every year, but they are seasonal. They only get interested when the weather cools off and it starts to feel like deer hunting weather. A lot of those guys are shotgun hunters, along with some muzzleloaders.

"The third group," said Suchy, "is made up of casual hunters, guys who might not hunt every year, or might not hunt unless they're invited by friends or relatives. They like to hunt deer, but the social aspect is what keeps them coming back year after year."

The ability to recognize hunters' interests may influence decisions the IDNR makes to manage our deer herd in the future. "We've been surprised at the number of hunters who drop in and out of hunting," said Suchy. "We know our die-hards are going to be out there every year and appreciate what they do for us. We're confident that we can provide good hunting for the middle third of hunters, the ones who are seasonally interested. But we can't stay ahead of our deer herd with just those two segments of our hunting population -- we need to keep that bottom third, the casual hunters, interested and involved if we're going to maintain the deer population at current levels."

That's because Iowa's deer hunters are the IDNR's chief deer management tool. The agency makes rules and regulations and licenses quotas to control and direct hunting pressure, but deer management is ultimately dependent on how our hunters use the opportunities provided by the IDNR. According to Chad Paup, wildlife management biologist for Adams, Union, Clarke, Taylor, Ringgold and Decatur counties in southern Iowa, Iowa's hunters are "managing" our deer herd very well.