A firearm deer hunting is underway in Iowa.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer for Greene County Aron Arthur tells Raccoon Valley Radio that late muzzleloader season is currently underway as he shares that there was not much participation in the county during the early muzzleloader season that happened in October.

“It seems like the last few years, we only have – I believe – it’s 7,500 tags for early muzzleloader season in the entire state, and we don’t even sell out of those anymore. It seems like less people are doing the early muzzleloader (season). Some people like the late muzzleloader (season), especially those that like to hunt by themselves that don’t want to go out during the shotgun seasons. Late and early muzzleloader (seasons) gives them the ability to essentially hunt more like a bow hunter, if they don’t like to bow hunt, and they like to use a firearm, they can sit on their own.”    

Arthur explains why sometimes hunters don’t do the late muzzleloader season. 

“Late muzzleloader (season) I can tell you, if you don’t like the cold and you don’t have a place to sit in where you have a heater, it can be kind of cold. It can be a good time of year to shoot a good deer, but you have to be prepared and dress for the temperatures then, because sometimes it’s a negative ten (degrees) out and that’s what you have to sit out and endure. So I don’t think maybe it’s less friendly to the fair-weathered fan hunters.”

Arthur reminds those hunters that during late muzzleloader season, the minimum safety requirement is wearing a solid blaze orange vest. The late muzzleloader season is from December 23rd through January 10th, 2025.