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How's the deer herd?

I'm Tony Cleveland from Colorado Springs. Every few years I truly enjoy coming to your state to hunt whitetails. I'd like to ask for an unbiased opinion on the condition of the deer heard in south central Iowa. I'm speaking more specifically about the areas around Madison, Warren and down to Ringgold and Decatur. I've heard that EHD/Blue Tongue has had an effect over the last couple of years. I'd like to hear from any locals in that region who have an opinion. I'm due to draw again in 2015 but if the herd is diminished the last thing you need is more non-residents coming over until the herd rebounds. I'm asking local residents and not Iowa DNR because I'm afraid I may not get a true answer from the state government. I truly hope that Iowa continues to manage the whitetail heard appropriately and does not cave to political pressure to start issuing more tags like some of the other mid western states. As a non-resident I would much rather only draw a tag every few years and see the quality of the herd remain in tact. Thanks for any input.

2015 should be good-my local reports from zone 4 are deer numbers still low-however they cancelled the Jan antlerless season which should help holdover numbers.

Getting better this year. 2015 should be better yet.

Thats great news about the antlerless season being cancelled! THat tells me Iowa still cares more about their resources than the almighty dollar. A friend of mine who hunts two different counties in Illinois said the herd has been severely diminished there and the state is still giving out the same amount of tags as if the herd has not even been affected. One of the counties he hunts is Pike County. Pike was arguably one of the best counties in the midwest for trophy whitetails for many years. Due to EHD and too many tags being given out for so long He says that county is nothing like it used to be years ago. Just goes to show what poor conservation and bad politics will do.

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