A deer next to the Bill Riley Trail in Des Moines on Dec. 28, 2024. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hosting a series of public meetings to discuss the past hunting and trapping season and possible rule and regulation changes to the sports.
The meetings will be in locations across the state from Feb. 17-20.
Todd Bishop, chief of DNR’s wildlife bureau, said the meetings and the comments gathered will help to inform potential rule changes to hunting and trapping regulations.
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“We want people to come out to these meetings, listen to the seasons reviews, ask questions and hear directly from our staff,” Bishop said in a statement.
According to a press release, the comments collected from the meetings will be presented to the Natural Resources Commission and will be considered by DNR before it proposes any changes to hunting or trapping regulations.
DNR Information Specialist Mick Klemesrud said the meetings include a presentation on the concluded hunting seasons with harvest, disease and other data. The meetings then open to discussions on local issues or questions the community has for local wildlife staff.
“As a department, we have been holding these meetings for decades and they have provided valuable feedback by our hunting community and by those who are interested in watching or viewing wildlife,” Klemesrud said in an email.
Meeting locations and dates:
- Glenwood, Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m., Southwest Iowa Sportman’s Club, 22869 Jamett Road
- Waverly, Feb. 17, 6 p.m., Waverly Public Library, 1500 W. Bremer Ave.
- Bloomfield, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., Pioneer Ridge Nature Center, 1339 Hwy. 63
- Boone, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., Wildlife Research Station, 1436 255th St.
- Burlington, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., Starr’s Cave Nature Center, 11627 Starr’s Cave Park Road
- Chariton, Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m., Pin Oak Lodge, 45996 State Hwy. 14
- Charles City, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., The Pub on the Cedar, 101 North Jackson St.
- Decorah, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Franklin W. Olin Building, Room 102, Luther College, 700 College Drive, next to the Prues Library
- Des Moines, Feb. 18, 6:45 p.m., Des Moines Izaak Walton, 4343 George Flagg Parkway
- Hinton, Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m., Dennis L. Sohl Center for Outdoor Learning, Hillview Recreation Area, 25601 C60
- Spencer, Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m., Iowa Lakes Community College, 1900 Grand Ave. Suite B1, Entrance #1-West side of the North Mall
- Ventura, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., Clear Lake Wildlife Unit Office, 15326 Balsam Ave.
- Algona, Feb. 19, 7 p.m., Tietz Entrepreneurial Center, Algona campus of Iowa Lakes Community College, 2111 Hwy 169 North. Attendees should enter through the southwest door.
- Iowa City, Feb. 19, 6 p.m., Johnson County Extension Office, 3109 Old Hwy 218 South
- Maquoketa, Feb. 19, 7 p.m., Hurstville Interpretive Center, 18670 63rd St.
- Perry, Feb. 19, 6:30 p.m., Forest Park Museum administration building, 14581 K Ave.
- Toledo, Feb 19, 6 p.m., Tama County Nature Center at Otter Creek Lake Park, 2283 Park Road
- Creston, Feb. 20, 6 p.m., Performing Arts Building multi-purpose room (124), 1201 West Townline St.
- Lake View, Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m., Speaker Park Shelter House, 418 North Blossom St.
- Okoboji, Feb. 20, 6 p.m., Maser Monarch Lodge, 22785 Nature Center Road
2024 hunting data
In January, DNR announced it sold more than 300,000 hunting, fishing or combination annual licenses to Iowa residents in 2024 and nearly 50,000 annual fishing, hunting or combination licenses to nonresidents. These figures do not include shorter time period licenses, lifetime licenses or specific season licenses.
Annual licenses for 2024 expired Jan. 10, and Iowa’s final deer seasons wrapped up Jan. 19, which according to DNR’s harvest report, more than 101,000 deer were harvested in 2024. This was close to the totals for 2023, which reached 104,000 deer.
DNR asked the public to help collect samples throughout the hunting season to monitor for chronic wasting disease. The department collected more than 5,000 samples from deer across the state during the 2024-2025 deer seasons and confirmed 51 wild deer were positive for the disease that is fatal to deer.
The department increased the number of samples it gathered in 2024 after confirming the disease in 128 wild deer in 2023. The 2024 figures are close to what the state saw in 2021, according to the DNR interactive database.
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