Iowa's Best Deer Counties per Square Mile: Van Buren by a Hair

IReading the list

Equal harvests across unequal acreage

Compare Lucas with Davis. Their average seasonal registrations were nearly equal: 1,838 deer for Lucas versus 1,828 for Davis. Yet Lucas places sixth with a rate of 4.23, while Davis places thirteenth with 3.62. Davis has more land over which to spread that harvest. We apply the same calculation across 99 counties. For each, we divide its average deer registrations during the 2020 to 2024 seasons by its mapped area, measured in square miles and counting inland water. Those areas come from the USDA county summaries for the Cropland Data Layer. This division accounts for differences in county size; total counts alone cannot.

IIAt the top

A 0.07 spread among the leading three

The rate puts Van Buren first with 5.28, followed by Allamakee with 5.22 and Clayton with 5.21. Their registration rates differ by just 0.07 deer for each square mile. Such a narrow difference supports treating these three together, with access guiding the choice among them. Next are Madison with 4.91 and Monroe with 4.57.

The counties leading this ranking also lead when we count total registrations. Both measures put the same four counties highest, though they trade positions. By average seasonal total, Clayton takes first with 4,128 deer; Allamakee takes second with 3,439; Madison takes third with 2,760; and Van Buren takes fourth with 2,592. Their agreement across measures makes these four places to begin researching Iowa counties. They lead both in total deer registered and in registrations relative to square mileage. We track Clayton’s extended streak atop the total-count ranking in our study of which counties lead each state's totals, where each leading county is compared using this same rate.

To put the difference in perspective, Van Buren registers about 3.2 times the median county’s rate of 1.65. Des Moines, ranked 20th with 3.23, still records nearly double the median rate.

IIIStaying power

Every season’s highest tenth included seven consistent counties

A strong individual year can disappear inside an average. We therefore ranked each season separately as well. Iowa has 99 counties; a tenth of 99 equals 9.9. Discarding the fraction leaves nine places in each season’s highest tenth. Throughout the full window, seven counties qualified every year: Allamakee, Appanoose, Clayton, Lucas, Madison, Monroe and Van Buren. These occupy the first seven positions in the ranking across five seasons, with Appanoose closing that group at 4.13. Different counties filled the remaining two spots as seasons changed. The boundary shifts, but the central group stays. Immediately below that group in the average ranking are Warren with 4.06 and Lee with 3.75.

IVThe south

Dividing by area lifts smaller counties

After the leading four, the rankings diverge. Adjusting for area raises several counties along Iowa’s southern tier. Monroe’s average seasonal total of 1,985 deer puts it twelfth, while its rate puts it fifth. Lucas rises to sixth from seventeenth. Clarke reaches twelfth from twenty-fourth, Jefferson reaches seventeenth from twenty-sixth, and Des Moines reaches twentieth from thirtieth. When a modest total produces a high rate, the county has little land. These smaller counties recorded substantial deer registrations relative to their acreage.

Winneshiek shifts in the opposite direction: its total of 2,460 ranks fifth, but a rate of 3.57 ranks fifteenth. Jackson drops to eleventh from sixth, Dubuque to fourteenth from eighth, and Guthrie to sixteenth from tenth when switching from totals to rates. Those larger counts paired with lower rates indicate greater county area.

VThe northwest floor

Calhoun’s rate: 0.24

At the bottom, the ten counties range from Plymouth’s 0.43 down to Calhoun’s 0.24. Each is a row-crop county, and corn plus soybeans occupy most of its acreage. The highest rate in this group reaches about a quarter of the statewide median. Van Buren registers at 22.4 times Calhoun’s rate. The table’s smallest seasonal deer counts belong to Osceola with 126 and Ida with 127. In our forest-cover paper, Iowa showed the closest relationship between tree cover and harvest for each square mile among the five states examined. The opposite ends of this ranking display that same divide.

A similar boundary appears in the Iowa DNR’s zone system. With the 2026 deer season, resident licenses are split between Zone A and Zone B. Under Zone B’s general license, hunters may take only antlered bucks, subject to limited exceptions; party hunting is prohibited. On its page about deer hunting, the DNR identifies Zone B counties as places "where deer populations are lower or more sensitive to additional harvest." Zone B covers eight counties: Crawford, Ida, Lyon, O'Brien, Plymouth, Shelby, Sioux and Woodbury. Our lowest ten include four from that group: Plymouth, O'Brien, Sioux and Ida.

These zones begin after our study seasons, which means they cannot account for the figures here. They instead offer the agency’s assessment of that same Iowa region through another route. The DNR says that route involved public meetings with hunters concerned about low deer populations.

VIData and caveats

Understanding these registrations

We used deer harvest registrations that hunters submitted by county to the Iowa DNR, covering five seasons and every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. We did not assess the completeness of that reporting. For area, we used each county’s mapped acreage from the Cropland Data Layer, counting inland rivers and lakes. Harvest-based rates reflect hunting effort, available access and antlerless permits alongside deer abundance. They cannot substitute for a population estimate. A low county rate may reflect few deer, few hunters, restrictive permit limits or little acreage available for hunting. These figures cannot distinguish among those explanations. We calculated the 22.4 ratio using county averages before rounding. Using the rounded values, 5.28 divided by 0.24 gives a slightly smaller result. A mean across five seasons conceals annual shifts, while five yearly counts can reveal a short-term trend.

VIIChoosing a county

How to use Iowa’s ranking

Our approach: Iowa’s ranking should guide you toward groups more than a rigid sequence. Consider the leading three together, then include Madison because all four lead under both measures. Choose based on the hunting you can access. Permission, available public land and how many other hunters share it matter more than a difference of 0.07.

The next group consists of Monroe with 4.57, Lucas with 4.23 and Appanoose with 4.13. They hold the next three rate positions, and each of those three stayed in the highest tenth throughout every season. Consult the DNR zone map before committing a season to a county below the leading 20. The table’s top 20 includes none of Zone B’s eight counties. On the DNR deer page, a January season for managing populations through antlerless harvest is also listed. It is restricted to Allamakee and Winneshiek, which both rank in the leading 20. Opening that season requires more than 100 antlerless licenses still available on December’s third Monday. Check the current regulations before building plans around that hunt.

For broader context on the distribution of Iowa’s harvest, The Two Iowas explains how the forested northeast accounts for far more than the northwest’s corn-and-soybean country.