Iowa Deer · Zone 9

Iowa Zone 9 spans 1,838,655 acres, centered 19 miles south-east of Decorah. 3% of it is public land. In 2024, hunters took 12,432 deer here (sum of published member-area rows); hunter counts not published. Its most applied-for hunt, Z9-GUN, put up 572 nonresident tags in the 2026 draw for 735 first-choice applicants.

NR Tags, 2026
880

2 licenses

Applicants
1,411

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
—

not published

Public Land
3%

86% State

Size
2,873 mi²

1,838,655 acres

Decorah Waverly Dubuque Waterloo Charles City 9

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 9

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
Z9-BOW 0% 3 ▲1
Z9-GUN 70% 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) 12,432

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

The Ground

State land 42,371 ac 2%
County or city land 3,803 ac <1%
National Park Service 2,462 ac <1%
National Wildlife Refuge 625 ac <1%
Private 180 ac <1%
Other public 15 ac <1%
Private or other non-public land 1,789,196 ac 97%

Source: Iowa DNR 2026 Boundaries/Public_Lands.

What the Agency Says About the Area

Counties: Winneshiek, Allamakee, Fayette, Clayton

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