Official State of Iowa Website Here is how you know

Wildlife Damage Management

The DNR is responsible for managing Iowa's wildlife for all of Iowa's citizens. One of the DNR's responsibilities is to provide private landowners with the guidance and assistance they need to effectively deal with wildlife damage.

How do I get started?
A wildlife biologist with the DNR can answer many of your questions and provide technical advice on how to deal with crop damage. Please contact your local depredation biologist.

Wildlife Damage Identification - Identifying Crop Damage, 21MB
Wildlife Damage Identification - Identifying Tree Damage
Wildlife Damage Identification - Techniques to Reduce Damage
Wildlife Damage Management - Options for Producers (under revision)

Wild Turkey and Crops: Identifying Crop Depredation

Deer Management Zone Procedures
   (City Administration Guidelines)


Wildlife Depredation, YouTube Video


What kind of help can I get?

Once you have contacted the depredation biologist for your area they will visit your property with you to evaluate the extent of the wildlife damage and work with you to find a solution to reduce or stop the damage. This could include:

  • Providing technical advice on how to exclude or deter the animals causing damage.
  • Alternative horticulture or silviculture practices that would minimize the level of damage.
  • Working with neighbors to keep wildlife populations at acceptable levels.
  • Recommendations to increase hunting pressure and take more antlerless deer within existing seasons.
  • Providing extra deer depredation licenses for hunters who hunt your property.
  • Providing you (the landowner or tenant) or your designee with permits to shoot deer outside of existing seasons (all deer taken must be recovered and processed for consumption).

To qualify for extra deer depredation licenses or shooting permits the landowner or tenant must enter into an agreement with the DNR that outlines the goals and timeframe in which deer numbers will be reduced and how normal hunting practices will be used to keep deer numbers at desired levels.

Hunter RegistryDeer Hunter Registry (Hunters for Farmers)
The Deer Hunter Registry is a list of antlerless deer hunters who have expressed an interest in helping landowners meet their harvest goals. These goals are specified in management agreements with the Iowa DNR, and some landowners may need additional hunters to assist them with these harvest goals. Hunter contact information is provided to landowners who request this information, and landowners have the option to contact any or all hunters on their list.

NOTE: Hunters who register may, or may not, be contacted by a landowner. All contact is initiated solely by the landowner, and landowners have the right to grant or refuse permission to any hunter.

           Conscientious deer hunters who are willing to harvest antlerless deer are encouraged to register.
           Register online: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/deerdepredation/

Other Sources of Wildlife Damage Management Information and Assistance: