As thousands of deer hunters head out, Iowa DNR stresses safety and surveillance

Starting this weekend, thousands of Iowans from across the state will take to the outdoors to partake in this year’s first round of shotgun deer hunting season.

According to data from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, more than 34,000 licenses have been sold so far for the first round of deer hunting, which will run from Saturday, Dec. 6 through Wednesday, Dec. 10.

DNR officials said they expect sales to continue as the hunting season gets underway.

Mick Klemesrud, an information specialist with the DNR, said hunters can purchase a license at any point while the season is open. He said the DNR often sees a spike in licenses purchased the day before hunting season starts.

Breaking down the numbers

If hunters can’t get outdoors to hunt this weekend, they will have another chance to go shotgun deer hunting during the season’s second round, running from Saturday, Dec. 13 through Sunday, Dec. 21.

As of Thursday, 18,057 tags have been purchased for the second season of hunting — a number that is expected to climb.

Historically, hunters have been roughly split on which round of shotgun season they choose to hunt in December, but in recent years, shotgun deer hunters have increasingly opted to hunt during the second round. The DNR said that likely is related to the fact that the second round includes two weekends.

Between the two seasons of shotgun hunting this month, Iowa hunters are expected to harvest 55,000 to 60,000 deer, accounting for about 60 percent of the state’s total deer harvest.

Klemesrud said the Iowa DNR anticipates this year’s hunting numbers to be on par with previous years.

The DNR reported that, according to its harvest reporting system, between youth, disabled hunter, early muzzleloader and archery seasons, about 29,231 deer have been killed.

According to a press release distributed by the DNR on Tuesday, 28,600 deer had been harvested during the earlier seasons, which the agency reported was just 3 percent below the state’s five-year average.

“We’ve had a strong harvest in Eastern Iowa, which has offset a lower deer harvest in Western, Central, Southern and Northwestern regions of the state,” Jace Elliott, state deer biologist with the Iowa DNR stated in a news release. “To date, the 2025 harvest is about exactly the same as the 2024 harvest at this point in the season.”

Weather impacts

Elliott said this is the first opening shotgun deer hunting season in several years to have snow covering nearly the entire state.

“Last year, opening weekend brought unseasonably warm conditions, with much of southern Iowa experiencing high temperatures in the 60s,” he said.

Generally, Elliott said cooler temperatures can make for a more successful deer harvest, but the fresh snow can present challenges.

“We know that snowfall on opening day leads to a 10 percent increase in harvest for the season. Snow does make it easier to see deer, track deer and to see deer signs, which are all the right conditions for hunters to be successful,” Elliott said. “However, if the snow is too deep, it can lead to fewer deer harvested and that’s likely due to hunter behavior, not deer behavior.”

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Elliott said snow and winter conditions can increase feeding activity in deer during daylight hours. He said this will make deer “more susceptible to harvest, especially for hunters that employ stationary tactics like tree stands.”

“Additionally, deer are easier to spot, track and recover in snow given the contrast in color. However, increased deer activity only makes a difference if hunters choose to hunt. Analyses from past years show that snow depth accumulation has a negative impact on gun season harvest, meaning the deeper the snow, the less deer get harvested. However, this is likely more the result of decreased hunter effort in less-than-comfortable conditions.”

Chronic Wasting Disease

Elliott said Iowa is currently seeing low deer numbers in central and western parts of the state due to chronic wasting disease, a severe hemorrhagic disease that is “uniformly fatal” in deer.

The highly contagious disease is caused when “prions,” or misfolded proteins, attack the brain and nervous system of animals as it accumulates in their tissues. It predominately occurs in white-tailed deer, elk, moose and reindeer, and has been growing in Iowa and other Midwest and northern states.

The disease has continued to spread in Iowa, with first-time detections in six counties reported during the 2024-2025 surveillance season. That brings the total number of counties with chronic wasting disease detections to 29.

The DNR is partnering with Iowa deer hunters to collect tissue samples to help monitor chronic wasting disease across the state during the upcoming shotgun season.

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The agency’s goal is to collect tissue samples from deer in all 99 counties, with some additional testing in counties that have had more confirmed cases of the disease.

So far during the 2025-2026 surveillance year, there have been 24 positive cases of chronic wasting disease across the state.

For hunters interested in submitting samples to the DNR’s chronic wasting disease surveillance program, they can do so by contacting their local wildlife staff.

Deer hunters can also monitor levels of chronic wasting disease by visiting the DNR’s deer surveillance dashboard.

Elliott said hunters are encouraged to reach out to the DNR’s wildlife staff and conservation officers to report what they are seeing while out hunting in the field.

Hunter safety

With officials expecting more than 100,000 hunters to head out in search of deer this month, the DNR is urging them to take precautions before starting their hunt and while they are outdoors.

Craig Cutts, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Law Enforcement Bureau, said it is important for hunters to have the right hunting gear, to adjust the sights on their guns and to review their hunting safety plans.

“Hunters should check their blaze orange gear to make sure it still fits, and that orange hasn’t faded to the point of being ineffective,” Cutts stated. “We’re not hiding from deer during the firearm seasons; we want to be seen by the other hunters. The more external blaze orange that’s worn, the better the chance that hunters will be seen in the timber.”

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According to Iowa law, the minimum amount of blaze orange hunters are required to wear is a vest made up of 100 percent solid blaze orange material, but hunters are encouraged to wear as much blaze orange as possible for more visibility.

“We have a lot more hunters choosing rifles and rifles can travel much greater distances, so blaze orange is really important,” Cutts said. “But they also need to be cognizant of that distance, so they need to take good shots.”

Cutts also said that hunters should avoid shooting at running deer to avoid property damage or injuring other hunters. He said hunters should be aware of what is in front of and behind the deer in case the shot misses.

Cutts stated that there have been on average about nine hunting-related accidents over the last three shotgun deer hunting seasons, six of which he said resulted in personal injuries.

According to the DNR, a hunting plan sets up where the hunter will be, what each person’s role is in the outing and outlines when hunters are expected to return home.

“You cannot deviate from the plan,” Cutts stated. “The problems start when you see the deer coming out of a different area than you expected, then leave your location to get closer to the deer and suddenly the hunter is in the line of fire.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com