(Iowa DNR News) – Iowa’s most popular hunting seasons are less than two weeks away when more than 100,000 blaze orange clad hunters will be walking, posting, sitting and standing in Iowa’s timber and field edges hoping to tag an Iowa deer. The first deer gun season is Dec. 2-6; the second deer gun season is Dec. 9-17. The good news is, that Iowa’s deer population is stable to slightly increasing across much of the state, with the exception of certain parts of northwest, west central and southwest Iowa. Jace Elliott, state deer biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says “The gun seasons are the most popular of all of our hunting seasons, a lot of great tradition and memories are made during this time. These two seasons also play an important role for our deer herd management with more than 50 percent of the total harvest typically occurring during these 14 days in December.”

In 2022, hunters reported harvesting 109,600 deer and Elliott is predicting a similar harvest this year. So far in 2023, more than 25,000 deer have been harvested, which is slightly higher than each of the last two years’ harvest up to this point. While hunter success in earlier seasons has been good, Mother Nature can play a role when hunting opportunities are much shorter. Cool weather with snowfall on opening day leads to higher harvest; warm weather with rain leads to lower harvest. The way too early forecast calls for above normal temperatures.

Method of take for the gun seasons

Over time, the type of firearm allowed in the gun season has expanded from the original shotgun-only, to include muzzleloaders, handguns and, most recently, rifles. Rifles shooting expanding type bullet with a maximum diameter of no less than .350 of an inch and no larger than .500 of an inch with a publish or calculated muzzle energy of 500 foot pounds or higher are allowed as a method of take in the gun season. The hunting regulations has a list of allowable cartridges that has generated the most questions. Based on the recent deer hunter survey, the method of hunting during the gun season is split nearly 50-50 between hunters who prefer drive hunting (pushing deer towards hunters on post) and those who prefer stationary hunting (sitting in a tree stand, ground blind, etc.).

Changes to deer seasons

• The antlerless deer quota has been adjusted in 24 counties.
• The Population Management January antlerless-only season will be offered in Allamakee, Winneshiek, Decatur, Appanoose, Monroe, Lucas and Wayne counties if the number of unsold antlerless licenses on the third Monday in December exceeds 100 tags. This season allows the use of any legal method of take, including shotguns, handguns, muzzleloaders, bows, crossbows, and center-fire rifles .223 and larger.
• The Excess Tag January antlerless-only season will be held in any county that still has unsold county antlerless tags by January 10. Only centerfire rifles .223 caliber and above are allowed during this season.
• A new requirement for hunters who harvest an antlered deer is reporting the length of the main beam of each antler.

Phone use while hunting

Reminder to hunters that the use of cellphones, one or two-way radios to communicate the location or direction of game or furbearing animals or to coordinate the movement of other hunters is prohibited. Outside of very few and specific exceptions, modern technology, including social media and instant messaging apps, is not allowed to assist with the hunt. Hunters are encouraged to keep their phone on their person and not in a backpack for safety reasons.

Be sure to report your harvest

Hunters who harvest a deer are required to report their harvest by midnight on the day after it is tagged or before taking it to a locker or taxidermist. The hunter whose name is on the transportation tag is responsible for making the report. If no deer is harvested, no report is necessary. Successful hunters have the option to report the harvest by texting the registration number to 1-800-771-4692 and follow the prompts, through the Go Outdoors Iowa app, online at www.iowadnr.gov, by phone at the number listed on the tag, or through a license vendor during their regular business hours.

Main beam antler length added to harvest reporting requirement

Beginning this year, Iowa deer hunters who harvest a buck will have a quick, additional piece of information to report as part of the harvest reporting requirement – the length of the main antler beam. Specifically, hunters will be asked if the main beam length is below or above 14 inches, but will not be required to provide the exact length. This information will provide buck age structure to the DNR’s harvest data, producing a better overall picture of Iowa’s deer herd from year to year.

Online hunting atlas

Hunters have an online tool that may improve their in-field experience, even before opening day. The Iowa hunting atlas is an interactive map that shows all available public hunting land that is managed by the state, county or federal governments. The atlas is online at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting. A mobile version is also available. A click on an area will show basic information like size, habitat type and likely species available.

Deer donation program

The Iowa DNR, the Food Bank of Iowa and 34 meat lockers are participating in the Help Us Stop Hunger program for 2023. Hunters are encouraged to contact a participating locker before they harvest a deer to see if the locker has any additional drop off instructions. Hunters may also sign up as a deer donor with the Iowa Deer Exchange at www.iowadnr.gov/deer then scroll down to Iowa’s Deer Exchange Program link. There, donors can provide their information on what they are willing to donate. The database creates a map and table with information deer donors and deer recipients can use to get connected.

There are currently 23 hunters registered who are willing to donate deer, and 287 registered recipients wanting venison. Hunters and recipients who had previously registered for the Deer Exchange Program should review their information to make sure it is still accurate and active. There is no cost to participate. It is illegal to sell wild fish and game in Iowa.

DES MOINES – Today (Thursday), Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the signing of a disaster proclamation for Sioux County, Iowa effective immediately through December 23, 2023. The USDA has confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial layer chickens. 

This proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection. The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites. 

The recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately. 

(Radio Iowa) – Quad Cities-based Deere and Company is wrapping up its fiscal year on a high note. Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is releasing its fourth quarter earnings, reporting net income of more than two-point-three billion dollars for the quarter, up from two-point-two billion at this time last year.

A Deere news release says worldwide net sales and revenues fell one-percent for the quarter and rose 16-percent for the year. The statement says Deere’s being driven by solid market conditions, differentiated products, and strong execution.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says there are opportunities for Iowa as the United Kingdom negotiates a free trade agreement with the United States. “Certainly that’s important in the U.K. as they are starting to forge a new trail post-BREXIT and going about creating new trade agreements with countries,” Naig says. “We already have a significant trade relationship between our two countries and it seems like it would be a great opportunity to increase that, to strengthen that.”

The United Kingdom left the European Union in early 2020, three and a half years after voters in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland narrowly approved leaving the trading block. Naig and state ag officials from five other states were in the United Kingdom last week. “I see lots of opportunities to connect further with one of our oldest and most important allies in the world,” Naig says.

The United Kingdom was the 5th largest export market for Iowa in 2019, with about 11 million in grain sales that year, along with 50 million dollars worth of Iowa-made machinery. Naig sees an opportunity to boost pork and beef exports to the U-K, as well as a focus on relationships with British tech companies.”This is not a large market, certainly not something that would overwhelm our existing trade relationships,” Naig says, “meaning there are opportunities here to send some higher value products.” And Naig suggests ag tech companies in the U-K may be an area for growth.

“You’ve some start-ups in the U.K. that have some good ideas, some interesting technology, but they do not have agriculture at the scale we do,” Naig says. Naig says that means there are partnerships or investment opportunities in Iowa. “Precision ag both in the crop standpoint, but also in the livestock side of things, seeing some interesting things happening on the biological side in terms of crop inputs,” Naig says. “If you’re a company sitting the U.K. you’ve got a start-up, you’ve got a good idea, but you don’t have access to agriculture at scale, work with us in Iowa. Get connected with Iowa State University, get connected with one of our Iowa based companies.”

The U-S is already a major ethanol supplier to the United Kingdom.  “I think there’s opportunity for that to even grow as well as they look to lower the carbon intensity of their energy sector,” Naig says. In September of 2021, E-10 became the standard blend of fuel at gas stations in Great Britain. Last month, Naig hosted Mark Spencer, the U-K’s Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries during World Food Prize events in Iowa.

“It was nice to just within a matter of a few weeks host him on farms in Iowa and then to turn around and be in his office, in parliament…talking about what are the opportunities for us to work directly with the U.K.,” Naig says, “but certainly pushing for that U.S.-U.K. free trade agreement.”

Naig was the only Midwestern official in the trade delegation. The other state ag officials were from Arizona, Tennessee, Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest U-S-D-A crop report showed south-central Iowa had 12 percent of its corn remaining to be harvested by the end of last week — the only region with more than four percent remaining. Iowa State University field agronomist, Clarabell Probasco, says from what she’s seen that harvest number would be a little higher. Probasco says some rare wet weather this spring may’ve impacted the harvest by requiring some growers to replant corn and those hybrids may be just now getting to the point where they’re good enough on moisture content to come out of the field. That could be what’s caused the harvest in the region to be behind other areas.

(Radio Iowa) – One area of the state continues to lag behind in finishing off the corn harvest. The U-S-D-A crop survey found twelve percent of the corn in south-central Iowa remained to be harvested at of the end of the week Sunday. No other crop district had more than four percent remaining, with the statewide average of just three percent of the corn still in the fields.

The corn harvest is on the same pace as last year, and ten days ahead of the five-year average.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Turkey Federation president Brad Moline says the variant of bird flu that’s circulating in the U-S appears tougher than the one that hit the poultry industry in 2015 — but he says stepped up biosecurity at poultry operations is preventing the virus from spreading like it did six years ago. “In 2015, it disappeared in June. Warm temperatures came and it was gone. From 2022-2023 warm temperatures haven’t necessarily stopped it. It doesn’t follow the fall bird migration or the spring bird migration,” Moline says, “so it’s been totally different.”

The outbreak, though, has not impacted the supply of turkeys for this Thanksgiving. More turkeys were raised in the U-S this year than in 2021. The price of Thanksgiving turkey is down more than five-and-a-half percent from last year according to the Farm Bureau. If the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza continues, though, the price and availability of turkey may be impacted in the new year. There are at least 30 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in 16 states right now.

“The whole industry is on edge again, there’s no question about it,” he says. “…Folks on our farm and many other farms in the state of Iowa follow strict bioseurity protocol and do everything we possibly can to keep that disease out of our farms.” Moline’s turkey operation is near Manson, on the border of Calhoun and Pocahontas Couties and it had a bird flu outbreak in 2015. Moline says state and federal government officials have eliminated red tape and there’s a speedier process of euthanizing infected birds now.

“From that, you have stopped the spread from farm to farm,” Moline says. Wild birds like geese are thought to be major spreaders of the virus to confinements and backyard flocks. However, the number of avian influenza cases in the wild bird population appears to be dropping according ot the U-S-D-A. It could be a sign wild birds are developing immunity to the virus and may be contributing to a reduction in bird flu cases this year.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Hundreds of pages of written briefs that argue for and against a hazardous liquid pipeline permit for Summit Carbon Solutions in Iowa are due before the end of the year, with written replies to those arguments due Jan. 19, the Iowa Utilities Board recently ordered. If approved, the pipeline would run through about the western-third of Montgomery County. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the three-member IUB board will decide whether to issue or deny a permit to Summit to allow construction of its carbon dioxide pipeline system and whether the company can use eminent domain to obtain land easements for about a quarter of its route.

State law does not set a deadline for that decision, and the board has not estimated when its decision might come. Summit proposes a five-state pipeline system spanning more than 680 miles to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to North Dakota for underground sequestration. The board’s evidentiary hearing for Summit’s proposal in Iowa ended Nov. 8. After the hearing’s conclusion, the board said it would allow a briefing schedule that is longer than normal “due to the voluminous record and the upcoming holiday season,” and would accept atypically long initial briefs of up to 150 pages, with some exceptions for even longer filings. It noted that the case file has tens of thousands of pages of testimony and exhibits. Pipeline opponents sought to circumvent the laborious briefing process after the hearing concluded with a motion for the board to deny Summit’s permit application.

More than half of Iowa’s corn is used to produce ethanol, and Summit has argued that supporting the ethanol industry also supports higher corn prices. The company has agreements with ethanol plants to share profits from federal tax credits that reward capturing carbon dioxide and producing low-carbon fuels, along with increased profits from selling those fuels in new markets. The specific details of the agreements have not been made public. Pipeline opponents have argued that those profits will mostly benefit wealthy Summit investors. They further oppose the use of eminent domain to force construction of the pipeline system against landowners’ wishes and worry about damage to farmland and safety threats from potential pipeline breaches.

Summit’s permit application in North Dakota is under reconsideration and has no definitive timeline for completion. The state’s capital city of Bismarck recently sought to intervene in the process because of the pipeline’s proximity, according to documents filed with the state’s Public Service Commission. Bismarck’s petition said it does not support or oppose the company’s proposal, but that it will be affected by it. Specifically, the city said the pipeline route might affect its future growth and the safety of its residents. The city’s fire department might also lead an emergency response to a pipeline rupture. South Dakota rejected Summit’s initial route proposal for that state, and the company has said it plans to reapply with a modified route. The company has not indicated when that might happen.

Summit has delayed the projected operational date of its pipeline system by more than a year to 2026.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds, Friday, announced the extension of a disaster proclamation for Buena Vista, Clay, Hamilton, Kossuth, Pocahontas, and Taylor Counties, effective immediately through December 17, 2023. The USDA has confirmed positive cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in all 6 counties.

The proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection. The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites.

The recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately.

Cass County: Corn $4.28 Beans $12.89
Adair County: Corn $4.25 Beans $12.92
Adams County: Corn $4.25 Beans $12.88
Audubon County: Corn $4.27 Beans $12.91
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $4.31 Beans $12.89
Guthrie County: Corn $4.30 Beans $12.93
Montgomery County: Corn $4.30 Beans $12.91
Shelby County: Corn $4.31 Beans $12.89

Oats $3.13 (Same in all counties)