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Administrative | Deer & Turkey or Pheasant & QuailIn the case of MAHA, we lease land in Iowa deer zones 4 & 5 and spring turkey zone 4 all within the Grand River Watershed of south central and southwest Iowa. This southern Iowa region is well known to locals for the quality deer racks and acceptable turkey populations with many upland bird hunters finding the overlapping quail and pheasant hunting in this area very attractive as well. That aspect allows for the economic viability for leasing large amounts of land in this area as any one hunter discipline does not produce enough Iowa hunters to pay for land costs. Read about our hunter pressure. This issue begins with the limited number of non-resident Iowa deer and turkey tags as well as the limited spring turkey season. In short the number of Iowa deer and turkey hunters we can attract is limited and that limits our Iowa lease land.
Traveling upland bird hunters have a tendency to travel to new spots each trip for that added adventure and begin their season during Iowa's earlier opener. However, once Missouri and subsequently Kansas upland bird seasons open the quail hunters move to the better Missouri quail hunting regions and the pheasant hunters to the better pheasant areas in Kansas. This leaves Iowa upland bird hunters limited to those that typically hunt birds there as a quick stopover hunt to shorten the drive to the other better areas. The end result is that the limited Iowa acreage we maintain reflects the low hunter pressure it receives. Should we gain more hunters we will increase our land inventory. Until that time our acreage will be managed to add the better and drop the less productive farms with the total acreage remaining consistent to the hunter pressure we experience.
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