Iowa Deer · Zone 4

Iowa Zone 4 spans 6,449,327 acres, centered 19 miles north of Creston. 2% of it is public land. In 2024, hunters took 19,966 deer here (sum of published member-area rows); hunter counts not published. Its most applied-for hunt, Z4-GUN, put up 832 nonresident tags in the 2026 draw for 1,272 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 1 point.

NR Tags, 2026
1,280

2 licenses

Applicants
2,144

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
—

not published

Public Land
2%

59% Other public

Size
10,077 mi²

6,449,327 acres

Creston Waukee Carroll Nevada Knoxville 4

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Best Bets at 0 Points

Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2024. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

None of these licenses drew anyone at your points in 2026: see the table below for the cut on each.

Every License in Zone 4

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
Z4-BOW 0% 5 ▲2
Z4-GUN 0% 1

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.

Draw results: Iowa DNR 2026 Nonresident Deer Draw, retrieved Sep 1, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $644 ($644 to apply). Open May 1 – Jun 6, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Deer
2024 (summed) 19,966

What Iowa Department of Natural Resources publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. Iowa Department of Natural Resources publishes these by county rather than by zone; the figures are summed from the 19 counties in this zone. Hunter counts not published for 2024. Source: Iowa DNR 2024-2025 White-tailed Deer Program Report.

The Ground

State land 56,100 ac <1%
County or city land 40,847 ac <1%
Department of Defense 36,116 ac <1%
Other public 5,162 ac <1%
National Wildlife Refuge 1,950 ac <1%
Private 209 ac <1%
Private or other non-public land 6,308,942 ac 98%

Source: Iowa DNR 2026 Boundaries/Public_Lands.

What the Agency Says About the Area

Counties: Boone, Dallas, Polk, Guthrie, Greene, Audubon, Cass, Adair, Madison, Warren, Montgomery, Adams, Union, Page, Taylor, Ringgold, Clarke, Decatur, Shelby

Source: Iowa DNR 2023 Nonresident Deer Hunting Zones map.

▸ Sources 6
  1. Iowa DNR 2026 Nonresident Deer Draw draw results, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  2. Iowa DNR 2026 Nonresident Deer Application… fees, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  3. Iowa DNR 2024-2025 White-tailed Deer Program Report harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  4. US Census Bureau 2024 TIGERweb State_County layer, counties boundary, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  5. Iowa DNR 2026 Boundaries/Public_Lands land ownership, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  6. Iowa DNR 2023 Nonresident Deer Hunting Zones map area description, retrieved Sep 1, 2026

About These Numbers

Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Iowa Department of Natural Resources' published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.

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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

We don't take applications: check Iowa Department of Natural Resources's site and apply there.

Prior-draw odds from Iowa Department of Natural Resources' results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Iowa deer hunts