Iowa non-resident turkey tag question

[Poleaxe]

I have quite a lot of land to hunt in Iowa and usually go up for deer season. It takes every other year to get a tag. How easy/hard is it to draw a non-resident tag? All my family are cattle farmers up there and deer hunt occasionally but don't turkey hunt so they don't have any idea. I was thinking about going up next year.

[drake799]

My brother put in for a non resident tag this yr and got 1.  He's never applied before    He was in unit 4 I believe.  Maybe you'll have the same luck

[budtripp]

Most of southern Iowa you can draw about every year from looking at the past data of applications  vs number of tags issued. You may not draw every once in a blue moon.

[stinkpickle]

Yeah, it really depends on which unit and which season you want.

[Poleaxe]

Yeah, it really depends on which unit and which season you want.

It would be zone 4 I guess (zone 7 for deer) in powshiek County South of Grinnell.

[stinkpickle]

Yeah, it really depends on which unit and which season you want.

It would be zone 4 I guess (zone 7 for deer) in powshiek County South of Grinnell.

It looks like all non-resident tags for zone 4 got drawn this year for all seasons, but I don't know how many applied.

https://jc.activeoutdoorsolutions.com/iowadnr/app/locFindPage.do?licnYear=2017&lottery=8

[captpete]

From what I can see, If you would happen to be north of I-80  & west of Hwy 63 you would be in zone 7 for spring turkey. If you are north of I-80 & East of Hwy 63 you be in zone 6. South of I-80 is zone 4. As of today there are still 16 non-resident tags available for 4th season in zone 7. There are 40 tags available for 4th season in zone 6.

[arrow1]

There are usually enough tags to go around, however,  the real secret is if you just have to have a tag consider a muzzleloader shotgun tag and for sure they are never sold out. Pretty easy to work up a nice muzzleloader turkey load about as good as any cartridge gun and just as deadly.  I even killed an April Iowa gobbler in the snow a few years ago.  The heaviest turkeys I have ever hunted because they are vacuuming up corn and soybeans 24/7.

[Roost 1]

I could not draw a modern firearms tag when I went a few yrs ago, do I did the mzl shotgun thing.
I'd be glad to go back with you.