Boyer Chute NWR
Pottawattamie County, IA
✓1 open!10 special
🦌🦆🦃🎣
4K huntable acres
State guide · 2026–2027 season
Iowa Wildlife Refuge Hunting
Iowa has 9 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and stations in our database, 9 of which list hunting opportunities, plus 86 named Waterfowl Production Areas covering 26,674 acres of walk-in public land. The largest huntable refuge areas are Upper Mississippi River NWFR (237K ac), Iowa WMD (27.5K ac) and Port Louisa NWR (15.4K ac).
9refuges & stations
25hunt units
116Khuntable acres
86WPAs
Map of refuges & WPAs in Iowa
Loading interactive map…
Refuge with open unitsNo open unitsWPANational Wildlife Refuge
Tip: switch to Satellite or USGS Topo in the layer menu · click the map for GPS coordinates
Iowa by the numbers
- Open27,209 ac 22%
- Special regulations89,086 ac 73%
- Closed5,674 ac 5%
All refuges & stations in Iowa
Desoto NWR
Washington County, NE · primary: NE
!4 special✕2 closed
🦌🦃🐦🎣
6.8K huntable acres
Driftless Area NWR
Clayton County, IA
!1 special✕1 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
798 huntable acres
Iowa WMD
Kossuth County, IA
✓1 open!3 special✕1 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
27.5K huntable acres
Neal Smith NWR
Jasper County, IA
!1 special✕1 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
4.6K huntable acres
Northern Tallgrass Prairie NWR
Lincoln County, MN · primary: MN
✓1 open!3 special✕1 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
6.7K huntable acres
Port Louisa NWR
Louisa County, IA
!4 special✕1 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
15.4K huntable acres
Union Slough NWR
Kossuth County, IA
!3 special✕1 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
2.8K huntable acres
Upper Mississippi River NWFR
Houston County, MN · primary: MN
!10 special✕6 closed
🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🐗🎣
237K huntable acres
Counties with federal public hunting land
- Allamakee County 2 refuges
- Benton County 1 refuge
- Boone County 1 WPA · 1 refuge
- Buena Vista County 1 WPA
- Cerro Gordo County 5 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Clay County 5 WPAs · 2 refuges
- Clayton County 2 refuges
- Clinton County 1 refuge
- Dickinson County 15 WPAs · 2 refuges
- Dubuque County 2 refuges
- Emmet County 10 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Greene County 2 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Guthrie County 2 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Hancock County 6 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Harrison County 1 refuge
- Iowa County 1 refuge
- Jackson County 1 refuge
- Jasper County 2 refuges
- Kossuth County 15 WPAs · 3 refuges
- Louisa County 1 refuge
- Lyon County 1 refuge
- O'Brien County 1 refuge
- Osceola County 2 refuges
- Palo Alto County 5 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Pocahontas County 2 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Polk County 1 WPA · 1 refuge
- Pottawattamie County 2 refuges
- Sac County 3 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Scott County 1 refuge
- Tama County 1 refuge
- Winnebago County 7 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Winneshiek County 1 refuge
- Worth County 3 WPAs · 1 refuge
- Wright County 3 WPAs · 1 refuge
Hunting in Iowa: what to know
Licenses & seasons
Refuge hunts follow Iowa seasons, bag limits and license requirements set by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Refuges may be more restrictive — never less — than state rules.
Refuge-specific rules
Each refuge publishes hunt regulations in 50 CFR Part 32 and in its hunt brochure. Units marked special regulations may limit species, dates, weapons, or require quota permits.
Walk-in WPAs
Iowa's 86 Waterfowl Production Areas are generally open to hunting under state rules. Browse IA WPAs by county →
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