With winter weather finally beginning to come in, the favored deer seasons are about to start in Iowa.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Jeremy King says that the first gun season starts this weekend, and goes until December 6th, and the second season is from December 9-17th. He adds that this year, hunters may notice an extra question when filling out their harvest logs.

King mentions that the logs have always asked what county the deer was harvested in, whether it’s a buck, doe, shed buck or yearling, and a few other questions. He tells Raccoon Radio that there is one new question that will need to be answered.

“Well this year, in addition to all those questions, you’ll still get those, there is one more question that’s been added, and that is if you shoot an antlered buck, that if the main beam is 14 inches or longer. So on the back of your hunting license, there has been printed a seven inch ruler on that hunting license so you can measure that. And basically that measurement will go on the backside of the antler, from the burr where the antler grows out of the head, all the way out to the tip of the antler.”

King explains that biologists can tell the age of a buck by the length of the main beam, so by having hunters report this length, they can see what age range of deer is being harvested in the season.