Photo by Mike Lambeth.

Fewer deer but more trophy bucks. That's the minimalist version of what trophy whitetail hunters can expect in Iowa this year.

"We're seeing a subtle shift in our deer population," said Terry Hainfield, Iowa Department of Natural Resources district wildlife biologist in far northeast Iowa. "We're starting to see a lower overall deer population that is higher in quality, as far as trophy bucks. Our hunters are buying into the philosophy of harvesting lots of does, passing on small bucks, and taking only the largest bucks."

Harvest statistics verify that our deer population is trending lower.

"By the numbers, our deer herd is down from what it was three years ago when it peaked at around 300,000 deer in the state," said Wille Suchy, DNR wildlife research supervisor. "There are places where we may have overhunted deer, and there are places where we still have too many deer. But statewide, 250,000 is about where we want to be on deer numbers. That will provide the good hunting our hunters have become used to, but minimize problems we had with crop damage and car/deer accidents back when the deer population was at an all-time high."

Suchy and his coworkers are confident that 250,000 deer will provide Iowa's hunters plenty of opportunities to cross paths with bucks that make visiting hunters from other states weak in the knees.

"I've noticed that non-resident hunters who get an antlered license often take the first 130- or 140-class buck they see," said Ron Munkel, DNR district wildlife biologist in west central Iowa. "Those are big bucks in a lot of states, so they're tickled to get one like that. Then they go back hunting to fill a doe tag, and start seeing 150- and 160-class bucks, and suddenly it dawns on them that trophy hunting in Iowa is a different ballgame from what they're used to in their home states."

Munkel, an avid deer hunter, has "adjusted his sights" in recent years to accommodate the improved quality of Iowa bucks.

"I've shot (with a bow) enough 140-class bucks that I don't even draw on them any more," he said. "If a buck won't score at least 150, I just watch it and try to learn something new about deer behavior. There are bigger bucks out there. Lots bigger. And I'm willing to wait for a chance to get one of them."

OUR TROPHY DEER, BY THE NUMBERS
A look at the latest round of entries in the DNR's Trophy Deer Registry supports the contentions of wildlife biologists that our smaller deer herd is producing bigger racks. Because the Registry is voluntary, it doesn't record every trophy buck harvested in Iowa. But the Registry is the only long-term, comprehensive record of trophy racks harvested in Iowa, and its statistics parallel the DNR's official county-by-county total deer harvest statistics, so it provides a valid view of where and how hunters take Iowa's largest bucks.

Whitetail racks that score more than 150 Boone and Crockett or more than 135 Pope and Young are eligible for entry in their respective gun or bow classes in the Iowa Trophy Deer Registry. Since 1953, when the Registry was started, more than 9,850 racks from Iowa have met those minimum standards.

That sounds like plenty of trophies, and could give the false impression that a trophy rack is easy to come by in Iowa. Divide those 9,850 deer over the 54-year life of the Registry and that averages out to only 182 trophy racks per year. Spread those 182 wallhangers evenly across Iowa's 99 counties and it would average out to be 1.8 trophies per county, per year.

But Iowa's deer herd isn't evenly distributed across the state, and neither are its trophy bucks. The steep, wooded ridges and bluffs of northeast Iowa and the rolling hills of southern Iowa provide more refuge for deer, and therefore have more entries per county in the Registry than heavily farmed, flat and relatively treeless counties in northwest and north central Iowa.

Allamakee County in rugged northeast Iowa, leads all other counties, with 416 qualifying racks. Marion County, with rolling hills bisected by the Des Moines River valley, has the second highest number of entries: 305. Clayton County, along the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa, put 288 entries in the Registry, while Warren County, again in south-central Iowa, claimed fourth place with 282 trophy racks. Jackson County, along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa, earned the fifth spot with 273 entries.