Iowa DNR Establishes New Waterfowl Hunting Zone Boundaries

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has announced new waterfowl hunting zone boundaries have been implemented for the 2021 waterfowl hunting season and hunters should carefully review the zone boundaries and season dates relative to their intended hunting location as the new boundaries may change which zone certain locations fall within.

Wetland conditions have improved ahead of the Oct. 2 opening day of Iowa’s duck season in the north zone. The most recent migration report shows an increase in the number of ducks that pushed in to Iowa, thanks to a classic September weather change.

Iowa offers hunters the opportunity to hunt in three different waterfowl hunting zones – north zone, central zone and south zone – and those zone boundaries are new this year.

Iowa’s duck hunters can expect to see good numbers of ducks this fall, but fewer young ducks will be part of the migration.

While the wetlands have improved since the teal season, hunters are encouraged to scout to see the water conditions and duck use.

The South Zone is that part of Iowa west of Interstate 29 and south of State Highway 92 east to the Iowa-Illinois border. The Central Zone is the remainder of the state. The dates of the South Zone for Iowa Waterfowl will be October 16th through the 22nd and October 30th through December 21st for ducks, mergansers, and coots and October 9th through the 24th, October 30th through December 21st, and December 25th through January 22nd of 2022 for geese.