At least one Midwest state is home to some mighty fine white-tailed bucks, but it is also home to guys and gals who simply love venison no matter what form it takes. This is evidenced by the state’s overall harvest totals as of today, Dec. 31.

So far, nearly 9% of Iowa’s 2025 deer harvest consisted of bucks without visible antlers, according to statistics released by the state’s DNR.

In 2025, Iowans shot 91,697 whitetails. Of those, 6,979 were button bucks (fawns), and 1,108 were adult bucks that had already shed their antlers.

These totals are on par with recent harvests. In 2024, hunters shot 101,281 deer. The highest harvest on record came in 2005 when bow and gun-hunters combined to take home 211,451 deer. Iowa is home to approximately 220,000 hunters and 80,000 bowhunters.

And, no, the 2025 “antlerless” harvest was not a record, although it would appear that way to some folks who aren’t familiar with antlerless trends. Each year in almost every whitetail-rich state, the overall antlerless harvest consists of 10 to 15 percent button bucks.