With Chris Parks.

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The turkey gets all the attention during the Thanksgiving holiday, but another bird is creeping back into the spotlight this year. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz, says after several years with their population being down, pheasants are making a comeback. “One of the traditions in Iowa was doing the pheasant hunt before the Thanksgiving meal and with improved bird numbers this year we’ve been getting pretty positive reports and I expect they’ll probably be a few more folks bringing back that tradition,” Bogenschutz says.

The pheasant season opened October 25th, and while the first few weekends are generally some of the best hunting, he says several factors have combined to make the prospects better for hunting now. “Our bird numbers were improved and on top of that we kind of had the late crop harvest, so it was a little challenging the opening week and week after there,” Bogenschutz says. “People had good success, but the birds figured out those crops were there, and most of those crops are gone now and that’s providing a few more birds that weren’t available to hunters.”

He says the latest snowfall also is a benefit to hunters. “Birds can make use of road ditches or even crop fields before we had snow and blend in pretty well, but now when things turn white the birds aren’t so comfortable just being out there in the open. That helps hunters, they can concentrate on the good areas of habitat, and that’s probably where the birds will move to as well,” Bogenschutz explains. A final count on the pheasant harvest won’t come until March, but Bogenschutz likes what he’s heard form hunters thus far.

“It’s just anecdotal reports, but they have all been positive. Folks are really pleasantly surprised with the bird numbers and the success they have been having,” Bogenschutz says. “I think that’s going to lead to probably our best bird harvest that we’ve had in a number of years.” Hunting hours for the pheasant season are 8 a-m until 4:30 p-m each day. The daily limit is three rooster pheasants. The season closes on January 10th.

(Radio Iowa)

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Seth Tuttle scored 19 points and Northern Iowa beat Northwestern 61-42 to claim the Cancun Challenge championship. Nate Buss added 11 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Panthers (6-0) posted their 11th win all-time against a Big Ten team.

Northwestern (5-1) took an 18-14 lead at 10:14 of the first half after a layup and 3-pointer by Alex Olah, but Northern Iowa went on a 17-2 run to close the half, including a pair of 3-pointers by Nate Buss, to lead 31-20 at the break. The Panthers were 14 of 24 (58 percent) from the floor before intermission and 48 percent overall.

The Wildcats got it to 10 with 11:05 left, but a pair of free throws and a dunk by Tuttle pushed it back to 16. Bryant McIntosh led Northwestern with 13 points. The Wildcats shot just 30 percent (16 of 53) and were 5 of 21 beyond the arc.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Aaron White and Anthony Clemmons each scored 14 points to lead Iowa to a 70-49 win over Northern Illinois on Wednesday night. Adam Woodbury had 12 points and six rebounds for the Hawkeyes (4-2). Gabriel Olaseni added 10 points, five rebounds and four blocks in 20 minutes.

Aaric Armstead scored 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting to lead Northern Illinois (2-1). Jordan Threloff added nine points and 11 rebounds. Iowa scored 22 points off 17 turnovers, blocked 12 shots — one shy of tying the school record — and held the Huskies to only 27.9 percent shooting.

The Hawkeyes used a 16-0 run during a six-minute stretch early in the first half to pull away from Northern Illinois. The Huskies never got closer than 10 points in the second half.

Jim Field and Chris Parks have the call of the game played at Denison High School.

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With Chris Parks.

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CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Matt Bohannon scored 13 points to lead a balanced attack and Northern Iowa defeated Virginia Tech 73-54 in the Riviera Division of the Cancun Challenge on Tuesday. Seth Tuttle had 11 points and Marvin Singleton and Nate Buss had 10 apiece for the Panthers (5-0), who are off to their best start in 14 years. Joey van Zegeren had 15 points to lead Virginia Tech (2-2).

Buss and Bohannon scored 10 points apiece in the first half as Northern Iowa shot 60 percent to take a 40-31 lead. Bohannon’s 3-pointer 4 minutes into the second half started a 12-0 run that put the Panthers up 57-35. Singleton turned a put-back into a three-point play and added a layup during the surge. Wes Washpun capped the run with a layup and as soon as Malik Muller ended the drought for the Hokies with a 3-pointer Washpun answered with a three-point play.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Ally Disterhoft scored 18 points and Samantha Logic added 13 with seven rebounds as No. 17 Iowa rolled past Northern Iowa 73-45 on Tuesday night. The Hawkeyes improved to 5-0 on the season, shooting 43.3 percent from the field and hitting eight 3-pointers. Whitney Jennings added 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with four assists. Logic also had four assists and Disterhoft grabbed six boards.

After leading by five at halftime, Iowa pulled away in the second half as Logic, Alexa Kastanek and Jennings each hit 3-pointers to fuel a 21-3 run. After Stephanie Davison’s layup at the 17:54 mark, Northern Iowa (1-2) went on a scoreless drought until she hit another layup with 10:38 left. Kali Peschel’s pair of free throws capped the Iowa surge, making it 49-28.

Jen Keitel led the Panthers with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Davison also chipped in 13 points.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jared Nickens and Jake Layman scored 15 points apiece to lead a balanced attack, and Maryland beat No. 13 Iowa State 72-63 on Tuesday night in the championship game of the CBE Classic. Dez Wells added 14 points and Melo Trimble scored 11 for the Terrapins (5-0), who built a 15-point lead with three minutes left before hanging on down the stretch.

It was a happy homecoming for Terps coach Mark Turgeon, who grew up in Topeka and starred at Kansas before coaching at Wichita State. He improved to 6-0 in his career against Iowa State, the majority of those wins coming while he was coaching at then-Big 12 rival Texas A&M.

Bryce Dejean-Jones had 17 points to lead the Cyclones (3-1), who won the Big 12 title in the same building in March. Georges Niang added 10 points, but was 4 of 14 from the floor.