Reduced doe quotas among proposed hunting rule changes

A substantial reduction in antlerless deer quotas is among several potential changes in Iowa hunting and trapping laws to be discussed during public meetings at 19 locations on March 6.

Other potential changes include increasing trapping quotas from 650 to 850 for river otter and from 350 to 450 for bobcat and changing the zone structure and season dates for waterfowl.

Under the deer proposal, 107,175 paid antlerless licenses would be available during the upcoming deer season - 25,725 fewer than have been available in each of the past two years.

The reduced quota would allow deer numbers to stabilize in counties where numbers have been satisfactorily reduced while still allowing hunters to harvest extra does where numbers need to be reduced, said Dale Garner, chief of the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Bureau.

The reduced quotas would be confined to 20 contiguous Eastern Iowa counties, with some of the sharpest percentage reductions in Linn (from 1,900 to 450), Johnson (from 2,000 to 375) and Jones (from 1,500 to 0) counties.

“Iowa's deer herd has shrunk considerably since its peak in 2006. To respond, we have to roll back some of the liberalized harvest quotas,” said Tom Litchfield, the DNR's deer biologist.

Besides reducing the overall antlerless quotas, proposals include eliminating the November antlerless season, removing four counties from the January antlerless season and shortening that season by a week and excluding early muzzleloader season hunters from obtaining a paid antlerless deer license during the shotgun deer seasons.

The DNR proposed similar reductions in antlerless quotas last year, but Gov. Terry Branstad, asserting that deer remained too abundant in much of the state, intervened to prevent the reduced quotas.

Garner said the public meetings are part of a new process initiated by Branstad to ensure that rule changes serve the public without unnecessarily hurting the economy.

Eastern Iowa locations for the meetings, which run from 6 to 9 p.m., are the elementary school in Middle Amana, the high schools in Clinton and La Porte City and Preus Library at Luther College in Decorah.