Hunting Areas

Hunting is allowed in 5 areas managed by the JCCB: Mac Coon Access, Livingston Timber, Cedar Creek Timber, Turkey Run Wildlife Area, and Gantz-Hewett Timber.

* Parking facilities and wildlife habitat enhancement projects for Gantz-Hewett will start in the fall of 2003.

All of the rules and regulations of the Iowa State DNR apply. For instance, you must have a hunting license, and can hunt only during the stated season.

Go to the Iowa DNR site for complete information - Iowa DNR Hunting

White tailed Deer

White-tailed deer were reported to be quite abundant when white settlers arrived in Iowa in the early 1800's. Uncontrolled exploitation for food and hides rapidly reduced deer numbers and by 1880 deer were rarely sighted in much of the state.

In 1898 the deer season was legally closed. By this time deer had been virtually eliminated from all of Iowa.

Reestablishment of deer into the state can be traced to escapes and releases from captive herds and translocation and natural immigration from deer herds in surrounding states. A conservative estimate of the population in 1936 placed statewide numbers at between 500 and 700 animals.

This small herd grew steadily. By 1950 deer were reported in most counties and the statewide estimate topped 10,000. Concentrations in some areas were beginning to cause problems by damaging agricultural crops.

In response to these problems the first modern deer season was held in December of 1953 and 4,000 deer were killed. Currently, the deer herd is estimated to be about 200,000 after the hunting season and harvests have approached 100,000 in recent years.

Careful management of deer populations by man has played a crucial role in allowing deer numbers to return to the levels enjoyed today. Management consists of carefully regulating the harvest since hunting provides the only major source of mortality for deer today.

Unchecked, Iowa's deer herd would double in as few as 3 years. With Iowa's abundant agricultural crops providing food, densities could potentially reach 100 or more deer per square mile before natural regulatory mechanisms would begin to affect deer health and slow the rate of growth.

Deer numbers this high would cause economic hardship to Iowa's landowners as well as alter the natural vegetative community. Maintaining a deer population in balance with the wants and needs of the people in the state is a difficult task, but hunting is the only viable management option to achieve this goal.

Wild Turkey Restoration

Iowa's primitive oak-hickory forests covered nearly 7 million acres during the original land survey in 1859. Settlers' records indicate turkeys were associated with most of this timber.

Although turkeys may not have been as numerous in Iowa as in their primary range east of the Mississippi River, they were still plentiful. Unfortunately, wild turkeys were eliminated from Iowa by the early 1900's due to habitat loss and partly because of uncontrolled subsistence hunting.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) began experimenting with turkey restoration in 1920 using pen-reared birds. Releases were made over the next 18 years but all releases were uniform failures. By 1960 no known wild turkey populations existed in Iowa.

The first attempts at releasing transplanted wild turkeys were in the early 1960's. Rio Grande and Merriam's subspecies were released at several sites during the 1960's but ultimately their poor adaptation to Iowa's oak-hickory forest led to population failures for both subspecies.

The first release of Eastern wild turkeys was in 1966 in Lee County. The population response of these turkeys was phenomenal - survival of released birds, reproduction, and poult survival were all excellent. The success of this Eastern subspecies stocking led to an additional stocking that also proved successful.

By 1971 it was obvious that the Eastern subspecies was the turkey to use in future restoration attempts.

Since the initial 1965 release, 3,063 Eastern wild turkeys have been released at 220 sites at a stocking rate of approximately 3 adult gobblers and 10 hens per site. Nearly all sites are considered successful, however the most recent stockings are still being evaluated. No sites are currently considered to be unsuccessful.

Most sites were opened to hunting after populations were established, usually about 5 years post-stocking. Restoration efforts by the IDNR during the last 2 decades have returned wild turkeys to about 95% of the remnant timber stands in the state.

Some in-state translocations continue, but the majority of trapping effort is to assist other states in their restoration efforts. (From Iowa DNR website.)