Anybody Live in Iowa

[SWR]

Spent the past 4 days traveling around the southern part of the state. We thought it was beautiful and peaceful everywhere except in the city of course.The countryside, rolling hills, small town country, farms etc.

If you do, what is it like in general to live their ? Hows the weather in general, I imagine the wind can get intense on the open lands and the snow and ice might get a bit rough a time or two. How the political climate. How are the attitudes of the population in general ? I could imagine a quiet no hassle existence in a small community somewhere there.

 

[Kevin]

I grew up in Kirksville Missouri, which is about an hour south of the Iowa border.

We had relatives up near Souix City Iowa, so we drove through Iowa a whole lot. And we had a boat on Lake Rathbun near Centerville, Iowa.

I remember several winter storms causing us to stop and get a motel room in whatever small town because the roads in the winter are not safe at all.

Or the tornadoes and storms in the summer. Or that derecho they had a few years ago.

I sure wouldn't move there, or back to MO either. But that's just me. After 20 years I was ready to leave as fast as possible.

But! my college roommate lives in Des Moines. He loves it. Him and his family, we still talk a lot. It's a good place to raise kids.

His brother just bought some land up near Jefferson Iowa and wants to build a house out in the country.

My old roommate wants to do the same. Land in the country and build something called a barndominium.

I thought he was joking when he said this, but apparently it's an Iowa thing, upscale barns people use for homes.

I just never heard the word Barndominuim. it still makes me laugh when I think about it

I don't believe land is cheap. Mostly because of the farmers.

This is just my opinion, I'm sure some people must like Iowa and Northern MO.

 

[SWR]

Thanks for the reply - interesting

 

[Kevin]

I'm surprised more people haven't chimed in?

I would also be interested in hearing from people that live there. The last time I was in Des Moines was 2009.

It's a nice city, I brought my bike, they have A LOT of bicycle paths around town. And I always wanted to participate in the race across Iowa, "Ragbri" I think it's called?

 

[Mobuck]

A LOT of bicycle paths around town.
Many of those 'bike paths' are built on abandoned RxR beds. Railroads were the cheap transportation for fertilizer in and grain out BUT were put out of business by government browbeating and the railroad's own unions.
Southern Iowa and north MO are just trying to stay alive. Small communities are collapsing and becoming nothing more than 'bedroom communities' for those willing to commute 40-50 miles to work.

 

[turd]

I kind of hate to respond to this, as I didn't live in southern Iowa, but spent 22 years in the Des Moines metro. I did do a lot of hunting in the southern part of the state. Iowa DNR owns a LOT of land there open to public hunting. If you aren't related to any land owners there, you are unlikely to find private land to hunt on. No matter, I took quite a few deer, turkeys, and pheasants there. I no longer hunt ducks or geese, but my brother always found public sloughs and riverways to hunt ducks when he lived there (much of the same time I was there, we hunted together a lot).
The weather can be a real trial. Snowstorms that drop more than a foot of snow at once are common. Most I saw was 14" in one two day storm. Summers are hot and humid with often torrential rainfall. Tornados are not unheard of.
If you are considering a small town, I would do as much research as I could, as they are often essentially run by one extended family that has been in place for many years. Everyone will know everything you do, and will talk about it.
The people are generally very easy to get along with, but may or may not be friendly, since you are not from the area. I found it difficult to make real 'friends', although my wife made quite a few, based mostly on and from the company she worked for in Des Moines. I had a lot of acquaintances, mostly through work. Nice people, but kind of private.

 

[bwct]

I spent 2 years in Iowa City(1971-73) in college. I enjoyed the time there and the people. But I never considered living there, although one lady was a factor briefly. I was always glad to see the pine trees when I got back South.

 

[Watchman]

I live in South-central Iowa, been here for almost 14 years now. I love it. We moved here from Portland Oregon!

We live 8 miles from the nearest "large" town, about 4 miles from two much smaller towns. Two miles from the nearest pavement, on 40 timbered acres of hillside land. the bottom part is almost to the bottom of a major creek valley, but high enough not to flood. The top corner is almost 100 feet higher in elevation, and is bordered on two sides by my neighbor's row crop land. The house and barn sit near the middle, so my driveway is close to 300 yards long as it winds up to the house. Our closest neighbor is nearly 1/2 mile away, and we can't see them or any of the other neighbors except for the outbuildings of some neighbors across the bridge over the large creek over a mile away. Deer are plentiful, as are turkeys, rabbits and squirrels. I can shoot whenever I want.

Land is still cheaper than most places, especially if it's not considered prime farming ground. Cost of living is generally very cheap too, especially compared to the coasts. We pay a lot for gas because we use a lot of it, but the price per gallon yesterday was $3.09. Food is pretty cheap, and you can grow a lot of things here. Great black soil and enough rain that you don't need to water your garden much. You do need to fence the deer out though.

We do have cold Winters and hot humid Summers, but the seasonal changes are beautiful after 50 years of Portland, which has two seasons - Summer and the rainy season. Tornados are a thing, but that's what insurance is for. We generally get very good weather forecasts and have good emergency warnings on radio, television and cell phones. A storm shelter/cellar is a good idea.

What others have said about small town life is true. As an outsider, it will take some years before the community will accept you and be friendly. Anything you say or do can and will be used either for or against you. Everyone knows everyone, or knows someone else who does and has heard about them! I maintain a low profile and mostly keep to myself except for political activity. I don't need everyone to know me or what I'm about. I know all my neighbors for about 2 miles in every direction. We all keep an eye out for each other and our properties, and know if strangers are in the area by their unfamiliar vehicles. Crime is virtually non existent. Everyone is armed.

The political climate is good. We have a Republican legislature, both house and senate, and a Republican governor. Gun laws have improved since I arrived, and I personally worked hard to help make that happen. We no longer need a permit to carry, have stand your ground/castle doctrine laws, and recently added an amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing the Right to own firearms.

It's a great place to raise a family, but I would home school my kids. Our schools are run by the typical cadre of liberal morons that place more emphasis on "social justice" than academics. It shows in the test scores.

Good luck if you move here. I hope this helps.

 

[NDAR15MAN]

I live in iowa. been here 8 years.
When folks say land is cheaper here than other states I disagree. Hunting land is 7000 to 8000.00 a acre. Farm land that you can grow a crop on is $10,000 plus acre. There is some public hunting land. First year I moved here I bought deer tag over the counter. I started my hunt at 4:30 am by pulling into a public hunting land. No parking. Full. Not one parking spot , with a weathered sign that said do not park on the grass. What does that tell you. I went to 4 for other public hunting land spots that morning , every one parking was full. I even seen 2 hunters 150 yards from parking lot sitting on buckets in the wide open hoping a deer would cross the road and run by parking lot. Which I thought was a good idea seeing the situation. I went back home and watched a deer hunting show on tv. I have not bought a deer tag since. Just putting the money toward ammo now and target shooting. Not trying to burst your bubble on hunting in Iowa but it will be impossible to find a spot to deer hunt or small game hunt. I am a Mgr at a manufacturing plant and have 100's of friends that I have made in the 8 years I have lived and worked here. It was impossible for me to break the ice and find a place to deer or small game hunt. You can lease some land to deer hunt if you have very deep pockets. I was offered a place to hunt (15 acres of woods near a corn field ) for a 5 day hunt $4000.00. Oh I for got to mention no walking and owner would only allowed doe deer to be killed. Waterfowl hunting is deferent story Along Mississippi River.
major fly way and you can hunt out of boat on the rivers. Takes a lot of money to buy a boat , decoys , etc to play that game. Better to find a hunting partner that has a boat , decoys etc and pay for the gas and buy him lunch. Make sure you let the guy kill the first bird , helps a lot when he decides to invite you again If you can stand the cold North Dakota is the place to be to retire or by a 2nd home. Best kept secret in regards to hunting fishing. I will be moving back there when I retire in one more year. I loved North Dakota. People are great in Iowa. Conservative state. Pro gun every place but Des Moines , Iowa city and quad cities. Crime not bad in smaller towns. Do your research. MD

 

[Watchman]

It's true there isn't much public land to hunt. You need to know a landowner and get permission, but the farmer next door to me sells an exclusive right to hunt his ground for about a grand a year to another neighbor, who can bring his own guests along if he wants. I only allow one guy I know to hunt my land, due to the location of the house and outbuildings. We usually shoot big fat does and allow the bucks to get bigger. Only rarely do we take a buck, and it's always a good one!

 

[turd]

The OP was asking specifically about the southern part of the state, and there IS a large amount of land open to public hunting. It has been about ten years since I lived in Des Moines, but the area around Grand River has several thousand acres of contiguous land. I hunted it for a number of years for turkey and deer. Walk in, but mostly one big continuous plot, including river frontage, state owned land that is farmed, prairie and wooded land. Near Jefferson there are a number of sloughs that are owned by the state and open for public hunting. There is a large area along the Des Moines River just south of Des Moines that has controlled flooding to attract waterfowl. We never found ourselves pushed by other hunters, but my brother and I have a tendency to walk into those areas far enough to be beyond where most folks are willing to go. Also, there is a large area near Muscatine that I know of, although I never hunted it. Not wanting to argue, I don't know much about the rest of the state, but south central has open land.

It is true that Iowa has large deer. I also mostly shot does, but did score a couple of large bucks, one 5x6 nontypical that is in the state record book.