"Then about five or six years down the road, they notice that they've got deer coming out of their ears. And they start to think it might not be a bad idea to kill more does than bucks. Then they're playing catch-up and have to kill a whole bunch of does in a short time. It's better to consistently kill does as part of the overall deer-management process."

South-Central
"South-central is one of the areas where we've had the special bonus late antlerless season where hunters can use centerfire rifles," said Suchy.

"After two years, that season is working very well. In some of those counties, hunters killed 500 to 1,000 does during that late season."

He noted that there was some resistance to adding centerfire rifles as an option during the bonus late antlerless season in January. Non-hunters in relatively close confines were concerned about the safety of centerfire rifles. And hunters worried about unintentionally killing bucks that had already shed their antlers.

"We shortened the (special bonus late antlerless) season a bit in 2006 to offer some protection to bucks that lost their antlers early," Suchy said. "We may shorten it a little again this year, or we may hold it the same, depending on whether the numbers show that hunters need extra days to kill the number of deer we need to reach our management goals."

In the two years that centerfire rifles have been permitted during the special bonus late antlerless season, non-hunters have become comfortable with the safety exhibited by rifle-toting hunters. And hunters have accepted the opportunity for a "different" kind of deer hunting.

"It's becoming a tradition with some hunters in other parts of our state to load up and go to southern Iowa and hunt deer with their high-powers during that late season," said Suchy.

"That's great -- it provides hunters another hunting opportunity. It helps us accomplish our deer management goals. And the motels and restaurants in southern Iowa appreciate the extra money in the middle of winter."

Southwest "We've got the same problem around Council Bluffs that we have around other urban areas," said Suchy. "Too many deer in housing developments that are protected from hunting. Other than that, our deer herd in the southwest region is about right.

"There's good trophy hunting in the Loess Hills because those hills are so hard to hunt. But there's not an overpopulation that concerns me.

"We'll probably leave regulations and quotas pretty much the same this year in southwest Iowa."

Central
The large acreages of Saylorville and Red Rock reservoirs, along with the expanding Des Moines urban area, have helped Dallas, Warren, Marion and Jasper counties advance in the deer-harvest rankings.

That's good in the short term, but could be bad in the long term.

"We've got lots of hunters in central Iowa, but have trouble in some instances getting them access to the deer," said Suchy.

"Special hunts inside the Des Moines city limits have been a big success, and the folks at Saylorville are doing a special hunt again this year.

"Special hunts are great opportunities for bowhunters to hunt close to home and do something that benefits the community. We add more and more special hunts every year. City officials are finding out they're a very effective way to deal with overpopulations of deer in urban areas."

So that's a quick overview of deer hunting in Iowa for the 2007-08 seasons. Long-time Iowa Game & Fish readers may notice a discrepancy in harvest totals between 2006 and previous years.

In past years, the DNR used voluntary hunter report cards to create a statistical projection of the total number of deer killed during all hunting seasons, then calculated a county-by-county harvest total for the shotgun seasons only.

In 2006, all hunters were required to report via phone or Internet the number of deer harvested. This more accurate process provides a county-by-county tally of deer killed during all hunting seasons, and will help the DNR do an even better job of providing the tremendous deer hunting that Iowa has come to expect.