Iowa Deer · Zone 8

Iowa Zone 8 spans 2,394,161 acres, centered 16 miles north-west of Eldridge. 3% of it is public land. In 2024, hunters took 11,299 deer here (sum of published member-area rows); hunter counts not published. Its most applied-for hunt, Z8-GUN, put up 156 nonresident tags in the 2026 draw for 195 first-choice applicants.

NR Tags, 2026
240

2 licenses

Applicants
326

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
—

not published

Public Land
3%

56% Other public

Size
3,741 mi²

2,394,161 acres

Eldridge Marion Washington Dubuque Mount Pleasant 8

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.

Every License in Zone 8

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
Z8-BOW 0% 1
Z8-GUN 76% 0

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) 11,299

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 7 counties in this zone. Hunter counts not published for 2024. Source: Iowa DNR 2024-2025 White-tailed Deer Program Report.

The Ground

State land 25,250 ac 1%
Department of Defense 17,717 ac <1%
County or city land 16,417 ac <1%
National Wildlife Refuge 2,643 ac <1%
Other public 836 ac <1%
Private 25 ac <1%
Private or other non-public land 2,331,269 ac 97%

Source: Iowa DNR 2026 Boundaries/Public_Lands.

What the Agency Says About the Area

Counties: Dubuque, Jackson, Clinton, Scott, Muscatine, Louisa, Des Moines

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