Hope everyone's Fourth was safe and fun. I went up to Iowa to see some family over the weekend. Some of my family is liberal with one of my aunts who lives in Iowa being very out spoken in that regard. She mentioned to me that Iowa just allowed AK's for deer hunting. My first thought was that is not how hunting regulations work. I told her something to that effect. She didn't believe me.
So I decided to check that laws myself being curious. According to the 2021-2022 regs "Rifles firing straight wall or other centerfire ammunition propelling an expanding-type bullet with a maximum diameter of no less than .350 of an inch and no larger than .500 of an inch and with a published or calculated muzzle energy of 500 foot pounds...".
Ok so no 7.65x39 or 5.45x39 allowed previously but semiautos with centerfire ammo are allowed. The regs specifically mention 450 Bushmaster as legal so by extension an AR platform rifle chambered in that round would be legal as well.
Looking for more recent info I found sites with captions saying those scary AR-15 and semiautomatic rifles are legal now.
Needless to say I did not click on those sights.
So I thought I might ask actual Iowa hunters what the new laws really say? I am assuming something along the lines of .22 cal centerfire and up with no energy requirement.