Bad thing about Public land in NE Iowa is the locals do deer drives (and lots of them) and kill everything they can. Ive been there and hunted both private and public, bow and gun. When I went to gun hunt (party hunt) with a family I know there I wasnt prepared for the "its brown its down" deer drives after passing up bucks while bowhunting.
I am sure there is good public land there but be weary of using three years of points to hunt it.