Here are answers to the most common questions that visitors ask.
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General Questions |
 | What am I responsible for and what do I need to bring? |
 | You are responsible for the following: Purchasing your appropriate tags and licenses. Obeying the rules and regulations of the Iowa’s and Missouri’s Dept. of Natural Resources. Your own personal hunting equipment e.g. firearms, bows, clothing, coolers, safety belts and harnesses, boot dryers, etc. Any special dietary requirements that you may have. Meat processing fees and trophy mounting fees plus any shipping fees involved. There is a local locker that we use and we also have a taxidermist that we recommend if you choose. |
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| What about food and cooking arrangements? |
| All meals are provided. Breakfast usually consist of toast, bagels, cereal, donuts, etc. Sack lunch is provided while you are in the field. Full multi-course, home cooked meal in the evening. We provide several snacks as well, but if you have any “favorites” you should bring those as well. |
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| What types of stands or blinds are available? |
| We have a several different types of stands. For archery we use Gorilla Kong lock-on stands with 20' climbing sticks and for firearm seasons we use 20’ ladder stands as well as enclosed shooting houses. Hunters may bring climbing stand of thier own if they would like. |
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| What is included with your lodging? |
| We provide all bed linens, pillows, towels, and meals. Bring your own snacks and personal items. Please call us if you have any specific dietary requirements as we try to be as accommodating as we can. We have internet access in our lodge as well as a telephone in case your cell service does not cover this area. |
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| What if my vacation time doesn't exactly match your hunt arrival and departure dates? |
| There may be a little bit of wiggle room, let us know what would work for you and we can see what we can do. |
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| I want to bring along a non-hunting guest. Is this allowed? What will it cost? |
| Depending on the room we have this can usually be done. Non-hunting guest will be charge $95 per day for lodging and meals. |
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| I'd like to bring my son/daughter with me on a hunt. Do you have any special rates for children? |
| For children under the age of 16 hunt at 50% of hunt price when booked with an adult paid hunter. |
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| What about caring for the deer meat and the trophy? |
| Windy Ridge Outfitting guides will field dress your animal and cape the deer if you would like. There is room for you to do some of your own meat processing if you like or there is a local meat locker that we recommend. |
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| Is there a trophy fee if I kill a Pope & Young or Boone & Crockett buck? |
| No. your hunt is paid in full and we have no trophy fees. There is however, a $500.00 fine if a hunter shoots a deer scoring less than our minumum in which state hunt takes place. |
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| What is your policy on wounded bucks? |
| We will make a strong effort to find your animal. No hunting will resume until Windy Ridge Outfitting staff has determined the animal to be un-recoverable. Once this happens, the hunter will be allowed to hunt again, but a miss or second wounded animal will result in the end of the hunt. |
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| Do you have a size restriction on your bucks? |
| Our minimum in Iowa in 140” and Missouri is 130”. There is a fine of $500.00 for any deer shot scoring under the minimum imposed by Windy Ridge Outfitting for each state. |
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| How do I tell if a buck will score a 130 or 140 + Pope & Young? |
| We can give you a “crash course” once you arrive by showing photos and explaining what to look for. Please let us know in advance if you are unsure of how to judge whitetails efficiently and we can give you some photos to look at. |
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| Do you have food plots? |
| Yes. Windy Ridge Outfitting possibly has the best array of foodplots you will find at any place in the Midwest. There is over 100 acres of corn and soybeans, as well as brassica’s, clover, sorghum, wheat, chicory, oats, and turnips as well as a rigorous mineral supplement program. |
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| Do you have a management policy in place? |
| Yes we do. We do our very best to harvest the right amount of does and let our smaller bucks go un-harvested until they are mature. This along with our food and mineral program and the great genetics found here in Iowa provides you some of the best whitetail hunting in the world. |
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| What size deer will I be hunting? |
| Most of the bucks harvested here range from 140” – 165”. Every year a few of our hunters a blessed with deer much larger, some even going over 200” but this would not be the “norm.” |
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| What is your hunter's success rate? |
| We feel that we have exceptional success/opportunity rates here. By keeping the hunting pressure to a minimum and maximizing our herd’s potential we have averaged nearly a 200% opportunity rate. This does not mean that everyone has had the opportunity at 2 deer above our minimum, but if there were ten guys in camp for a week, there were 20 encounters with deer considered “shooters.” When it comes to actual harvested deer our gun hunter's average success rate is 85% on bucks. Bow hunters success is around 65% on bucks. |
