A shotgun weekend in Iowa timber usually means the corn is down and the hard chasing of early November has eased. If those weekends are the days you can hunt, set the stand for food and cover.
STEP 1 · Weekend plan
Shotgun weekends fall after the November peak
The Iowa DNR deer page says the breeding season begins in mid-October and runs through mid-January. The same page says the peak of activity occurs during the first three weeks of November. December gun dates still sit inside that long breeding window. They sit after the peak that page names. Our rule is to plan these sits around the last good food and the cover beside it.
STEP 2 · Gun dates
Gun 1 is Dec. 5 through Dec. 9
The 2026-27 regulations booklet and the Iowa DNR hunting seasons page both set regular gun season 1 as Dec. 5 through Dec. 9. Regular gun season 2 is Dec. 12 through Dec. 20. Shooting hours for all deer seasons are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.
Our count of those printed ranges is five days for gun 1 and nine days for gun 2. A December 2026 calendar we opened says the month starts on Tuesday. From that Tuesday, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 are Saturdays and Dec. 20 is a Sunday. Gun 2 also holds the Dec. 19 weekend. The DNR tables do not print weekdays.
A resident may hold one general bow license and one general firearm license. The firearm season is early muzzleloader, late muzzleloader, regular gun 1 or regular gun 2. The license chart allows gun 1 or gun 2 and bars holding both.
Straight-wall and other centerfire rifles are legal in the youth season, the disabled season and both shotgun seasons. The bullet must be an expanding type from .350 inch to .500 inch. Muzzle energy must be at least 500 foot pounds. Legal shotguns are 10, 12, 16 and 20 gauge with single slugs only.
Hunters using a firearm for deer must wear solid blaze orange as a vest, jacket, coat, sweatshirt, sweater, shirt or coveralls. An orange hat alone does not meet the rule. In the regular shotgun seasons a man-made blind needs at least 144 square inches of solid blaze orange visible in all directions.
Resident party hunting is allowed in Zone A during gun 1, gun 2 and the January antlerless seasons. The resident whose tag goes on the deer has to be in the party. Zone B bars party hunting. Each hunter there tags the deer that hunter shot.
Online deer and turkey license sales stop two weeks before the season opens so the tag can arrive. The booklet does not print the hour of that cutoff.
STEP 3 · After the guns
Late bow and muzzleloader start Dec. 21
Early archery is Oct. 1 through Dec. 4. Late archery is Dec. 21 through Jan. 10, 2027. Late muzzleloader uses the same Dec. 21 through Jan. 10, 2027 dates. Our read is that bow stays closed through both gun seasons and reopens Dec. 21 with late muzzleloader.
Residents may use a crossbow during the late muzzleloader season. A legal muzzleloader is a muzzleloading rifle, musket, pistol or revolver between .44 and .775 inch shooting a single projectile.
The nonresident holiday season is Dec. 24 through Jan. 2, 2027. Those licenses go on sale at 9 a.m. Dec. 15 until the nonresident antlerless quota is filled.
STEP 4 · January tags
Both antlerless seasons end Jan. 24
Population management January antlerless and excess tag January antlerless both run Jan. 11 through Jan. 24, 2027.
Population management can open only in Allamakee County and Winneshiek County. It opens in a county only if unsold county antlerless licenses exceed 100 on the third Monday in December. Licenses become available the same day the season is reinstated. The season table also lists 9 a.m. Dec. 15 as an on-sale time. Our count from the Tuesday start puts that third Monday on Dec. 21. Our rule is to wait for the DNR to say the county cleared the Monday test. The Dec. 15 table line is earlier than that test.
Only antlerless deer may be taken then. The booklet's legal weapons are shotguns, handguns, muzzleloaders, bows, crossbows and centerfire rifles from .223 to .500 caliber with at least 500 foot pounds of muzzle energy.
The deer hunting FAQ names shotguns, handguns, muzzleloaders, bows and centerfire rifles .223 caliber and larger for that season. The FAQ text does not state a .500 cap and does not list crossbows. The seasons page says to use the regulations booklet for official legal season dates. Our read is to follow the booklet where the FAQ and the booklet differ.
The excess tag season is every county with unsold county antlerless tags on Jan. 10. Licenses start at 9 a.m. Jan. 11 and sell until the quota fills. They will not be sold online. Only antlerless deer may be taken. Only centerfire rifles from .223 to .500 caliber with at least 500 foot pounds of muzzle energy are legal. Which counties qualify is not set until that Jan. 10 unsold count.
STEP 5 · License clock
Annual licenses expire on Jan. 10
Annual licenses, stamps and fees expire on January 10. The booklet says to replace them because hunting runs later into January. January antlerless hunting starts Jan. 11. Our read is that the 2026 base license does not cover that day.
Nonresident licenses for 2027 go on sale Jan. 1, 2027. The 2026 nonresident license expires Jan. 10, 2027. The fee pages we read do not print a resident on-sale clock for the 2027 base hunting license.
Before Sept. 15 the maximum is one antlerless-only license. Beginning Sept. 15 there is no fixed cap until quotas fill. That second rule is the one in force for the rest of this season. An antlerless deer means a deer with no forked antler.
STEP 6 · Eight counties
Zone B general tags are buck-only
Zone B is Crawford, Ida, Lyon, O'Brien, Plymouth, Shelby, Sioux and Woodbury. A Zone B general license is for bucks with at least one forked antler. Exceptions named in the booklet are youth, disabled, landowner-tenant and depredation. Some Zone B counties sell a limited any-deer license for that county only. Buck-only Zone B tags are good across the zone and are not good in Zone A.
Every other county is Zone A. A Zone A general license is either sex and is not good in Zone B. Some Zone A counties allow only antlered bucks in the first regular gun season. Landowner-tenant hunters are the exception. Audubon, Carroll and Greene were added to that group for 2026-27. The other counties are the yellow ones on the booklet map.
Party hunting is banned in Zone B. The deer hunting page says drives are still allowed. A tagged-out hunter may help and may not kill another deer.
STEP 7 · Food check
Sit the best food still on the ground
The evening before a gun weekend, walk the food and write down what is left. Count cobs or loose grain, fresh acorn caps and green stems nipped overnight. If the sign is cold, move the sit.
The late-season food guide states the rule as an evening sit on the best energy food still available. The foods named there are standing or spilled grain, leftover acorns, coralberry fruit and green leaves on greenbrier or honeysuckle. That list is the guide's reading of studies it cites. This calendar did not reopen those papers.
The deer page lists forests and wooded areas, brushy draws and fencelines, marshes and grassy areas, and standing corn fields where cover is adequate. It says deer sample many plants and often use one source for most of the diet. On these gun days that source is the food still concentrated after the November peak.
NOTES AND SOURCES
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. This guide reports official agency dates and rules as published when it was written. Confirm with the state agency before you hunt.
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