DEER DISTRIBUTION
Suchy was pleased with the mix of counties that made up the top 25 counties for deer killed during the 2006 shotgun seasons. In years past, that top 25 was overloaded with counties from far northeast and far southeast Iowa, along with the southern two tiers of counties. Those high harvests paralleled comments and complaints about too many deer in those parts of the state.

In recent years, counties in east-central, south-central and west-central have earned a spot in the top 25.

"We're getting the (deer) population down in some places where there were too many deer, so those counties aren't showing up as strongly in the harvest results," said Suchy.

"We're seeing other counties in east-central and south-central Iowa fill those spots, which reflects good distribution of deer across the habitat that's available."

Johnson County, in east-central Iowa, is one of the mid-state counties that made the top 25 in 2006. It earned the 8th spot in the harvest listing, with 3,011 deer killed. Monroe County, in south-central Iowa, claimed the 12th position with 2,515 deer. Warren County, just south of the Des Moines urban complex, placed 13th with 2,489 deer.

Iowa County, in east-central Iowa, took the 15th spot with 2,465 deer. Washington County, also in east-central Iowa, placed 17th with 2,416 deer; and south-central Iowa's Marion County claimed 18th with 2,260 deer killed during all hunting seasons.

Other mid-state counties in the top 25 include Guthrie (with 2,239 deer), Madison (2,110) and Tama (1,969).

Plot the top 25 deer producers during last year's shotgun season on a map of Iowa, and the results checkerboard the southeastern third of the state. Add the next 50 top deer producing counties, and they fill in the middle third of the state -- from Cedar Rapids/Waterloo across to Council Bluffs.

Counties in the state's northwest third populate the bottom of the shotgun season harvest tally, except for a few counties along the Des Moines River corridor, which benefit from the deer-friendly habitat in that otherwise heavily agricultural landscape.

REGION-BY-REGION FORECAST
What can deer hunters expect in their regions during this year's seasons? Suchy gave a quick rundown:

Northwest
"Pretty much the same regulations and quotas as last year," he said. "We'll cut back in a couple counties up there. Some of the hunters are concerned that we've over-hunted deer in that area. I think it depends on where you hunt.

"In agricultural areas where the hunters can get to the deer, we may have to tighten quotas to give the deer some breathing room. In other areas -- along rivers where there's timber that's hard to hunt with a deer drive, or where landowners are restricting hunter access -- we still get complaints that there are too many deer. So overall, I think we're about where we want to be in northwest Iowa."

North-Central
"I got e-mails from hunters in northern Iowa last year, expressing concern that they didn't see as many deer," said Suchy. "Harvest data indicates that in some of those counties, the doe harvest was around 35 to 40 percent. As a biologist, that tells me there are enough does to maintain the herd at current levels. So we'll probably keep the quotas and regulations about the same, or maybe tighten them just a little in areas where the harvest data indicated we're getting ahead of the herd."

Northeast
"In the western part of northeast Iowa, where it's flatter and more heavily farmed, we're about right for our deer numbers, so we'll leave things alone," said Suchy. "Over along the (Mississippi) River, deer numbers are still strong in all our surveys. So we may actually increase quotas again. Allamakee and Clayton counties are deer factories, and we have to work to stay ahead of them."

Eastern
"One of the challenges in eastern Iowa is, we have a lot of urban areas there that are expanding into areas that were previously rural," said Suchy. "The rolling, wooded habitat is still excellent deer habitat. But now hunters can't hunt because of acreages and housing developments.

"In the areas where our hunters can get to the deer and hunt them effectively, deer numbers are appropriate to the habitat. So we'll probably keep the quotas the same as last year.

Southeast
"Our hunters have really stepped up and taken advantage of liberalized regulations to help us bring down the deer population in southeast Iowa," said Suchy. "We'll probably keep the quotas the same or maybe higher in a few areas.

"One problem we're running into (in southeast Iowa) is the purchase or leasing of land for hunting rights," he continued. "Guys buy or lease land, keep other hunters off, shoot only the biggest bucks for themselves, and think they've got it made.