Well if your gonna hunt Iowa you will need at least 2 preference points,if you have never got a point it will be 2 yrs before you will be able to hunt Iowa,I would check out Corn Crib Outfitters in Illinois,we will have their info on here before long,they have great ground and very good prices for that area,In Illinois you have to put in for your tags through the draw system but it's pretty much a lock on getting tags there now,the draw is the first of June till the end of June. But they usually have left over tags so you could probally get one on line,my biggest problem with Iowa & Illinois is the price of their tags,a archery ONLY is $425,but I buy one for Illinois every year and one in Iowa every 2 years (when I get my points back up) so I guess it's not making me to mad huh? LOL
But if you want to hunt where the big deer are your gonna have to pay.
Also you may want check out Kentucky Trophy Bucks,myself and alot of the guys on here know as well that Chuck has some great ground,plus Ky tags are over the counter and they only run $190.
Have anymore questions feel free to contact me.