The Iowa DNR says Iowa hunters this fall will have access to hunt on more than 25,000 acres of private land on 132 sites around the state as part of a program that helps landowners improve habitat on portions of their land in exchange for allowing hunter access.

The Iowa Habitat and Access Program (IHAP) provide expertise and funding to landowners who are interested in improving wildlife habitat on their property. Landowner participation varies from three to 10 years depending upon the contracts.

“Hunters told us they felt access to private land was an important step to improving their hunting experience and to attracting new hunters to the outdoors. We were fortunate to have this opportunity to provide them with access to these areas through the IHAP,” said Kelly Smith, private lands program coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources who manages the IHAP.

Areas are posted with signs, are regularly patrolled by Iowa DNR conservation officers and will be treated like public hunting ground, with the noted exception that it is private property.

“Hunters should respect private property, stay on the land enrolled in the program and pick up after themselves,” Smith said. “This program is only available because landowners were willing to participate in it.”

Site maps are available at www.iowadnr.gov/ihap showing boundaries, which species would be most likely attracted to the habitat and the location of a checkout box where hunters are asked to leave their comments on the program. The checkout cards are used to evaluate the program to see if hunters are getting what they expected from the program.

Walk-in public hunting through IHAP is available between September 1 and May 31. The IHAP is supported with money from Federal Farm Bill and Habitat Stamp.

The Iowa DNR says a new license went on sale July 13th that allows anyone age 16 and older to bypass the hunter education requirement for purchasing a hunting license while they give hunting a try under the direct supervision of an experienced, licensed adult hunter.

“We want to reach out to our fellow Iowans who missed hunter education when they were 12 and are now in their 20s and 30s and are interested in trying dove hunting or small game hunting,” said Megan Wisecup, hunter education administrator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “If they like it, we can get them in the hunter education program and hopefully they become lifelong hunters.”

The apprentice hunting license includes the habitat fee and is available to residents for $30 and nonresidents for $123. There must be one licensed adult mentor hunter for each apprentice hunter. The apprentice hunting license may be purchased up to two times without having completed hunter education.

Resident apprentice licenses may be used to pursue small game and as the hunting license requirement for deer and turkey licenses and waterfowl stamps. A person hunting with an apprentice license must shoot and tag their own deer or turkey.

The nonresident apprentice hunting license is not allowed as a license for nonresidents to hunt deer or turkey. The apprentice program was approved by the Iowa legislature and signed by Governor Branstad during the 2015 session. More information is available online at www.iowadnr.gov/learntohunt.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Chris Parks.

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UNDATED (AP) – The big change in the Big Ten this coming football season is the move to a 9-game conference schedule. What doesn’t figure to change is the dominance of the East Division.  Ohio State, Michigan and defending champion Michigan State all are positioned to make runs at being national top-10 teams, if not College Football Playoff contenders.

Last season, Michigan State went to the playoff and was joined by fellow East members Ohio State and Michigan among the top 12 teams in the final Top 25. Iowa, at No. 9, was the only West team among the top dozen. Commissioner Jim Delany says shuffling the divisions is not in the plans. He terms the East’s recent dominance of the conference a “little cyclical.” Iowa is the favorite heading into the season to win the conference’s eastern division.

Nebraska had five losses by five points or less, but a bowl win over UCLA left the Cornhuskers with a positive vibe coming out of a 6-7 first season under Mike Riley. If the Huskers can split back-to-back road games against Wisconsin and Ohio State, their Nov. 25 game at Iowa might decide the West.

Yasiel Puig has found the party in the Pacific Coast League. Days after a demotion to the minors, the unpredictable Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder posted videos to his Snapchat account Monday night of him partying with his new Triple-A teammates. The series of videos followed Oklahoma City’s 3-2 loss at the Iowa Cubs.

Puig began by posting a video of him shirtless in the team’s locker room, smiling and saying: “It’s so funny. We lose today, and everybody’s happy.” Videos posted later showed Puig and his teammates dancing, singing and chanting, often using profanity. A banner on one of the videos reads, “I Love this Team.”

Puig was optioned to Oklahoma City last week after the Dodgers could not find a taker for him before the non-waiver trade deadline. He went 2 for 4 in his first game with Oklahoma City on Sunday and was 0 for 3 on Monday. A major league All-Star in 2014, the 25-year-old Puig has been physically limited this season and largely inconsistent when healthy, batting .260 with seven homers in 81 big league games. The Cuban slugger signed a $42 million, seven-year contract in June 2012.

Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley says his focus in fall camp this year is a flip-flop from last season when they didn’t have to work as much to prepare the defense for the opener.  “Last year we spend a lot of time on offense because the defense was sound. The defense has a lot of good players on it and all you had to do was get them lined up right and let them run,” according to Farley. “This year, the defense is so raw and so new that I walk in the room and more than half of it, it will be the first time they take the field. There was a time in spring ball that there was only one guy who played a game for us in the starting 11.”

Farley says they’ll do a lot in practice to put pressure on the defense to get them ready. “We need to prepare them through how we coach them because we can’t test our team on the field. We’ve got to find out about them through the stress we put on them on the field. We will stress the defense,” he says. One key will be the linebackers, where the Panthers have some experience returning along with several new players who Farley says have to learn defense after being featured as quarterbacks or runningbacks in high school.

“When we’ve really got good linebackers, they were either quarterbacks or running backs in high school. And then we’ve got to coach the toughness into them, coach that play into them. Because, they have that athleticism, they’ve just got to get used to playing close to that line of scrimmage,” Farley says.

The Panthers open the season on the road September 3rd against Iowa State.

(Radio Iowa Sports)

Hawkeye offensive coordinator Greg Davis knows who they key guys will be on offense as they prepare for the season opener — his challenge is to find the supporting players. He said “We’ve got seven guys back who have played some ball, so that’s an encouraging thing. We we ant to do, is we want to get better each day as an offense, and then when we get to scrimmages and we play in game situations, we want to get into as many of those situations as you can without your quarterback being played live.”

The offensive game plan will come together after Davis sees who stands out. “You want to install the offense — there’s no question — but you also want to find out who is ready to help this year,” Davis says. “And then when you kind of know who is ready to help this year, then you can start trying to determine how many two tight ends will be play, how many three wide receivers.” Davis has senior quarterback C.J. Beathard to get everything started, and he says that gives them a lot of options.

“He’s a guy who can do a lot of different things, from under the center from in the gun, it doesn’t really matter to him. The biggest thing is he’s done it now. And we felt last year at this time when we were talking he would do what he did. But he hadn’t. Now he has,” Davis says. Iowa lost a couple of experienced receivers and moved redshirt freshman Ryan Boyle of West Des Moines over from quarterback to help give them more depth.

Davis says Boyle was moved to slot receiver in spring and now Boyle is starting to pick up the nuances of the postion. He also likes what he has seen of freshman Devonte Young. “I think it will end up being a pretty good group,” Davis says. Davis says the idea was to get Boyle on the field, and his change of position for now is a one year experiment.

“I didn’t see Ryan getting in the mix this year, and I didn’t see it hurting him when we come back in the spring,” Davis says. Davis says he’s confident the offensive line will be good again this year, and that’s why it’s key to find out who can play where at the skill positions to determine how to develop the offense. Iowa opens the season at home on September 3rd against Miami of Ohio.

(Radio Iowa Sports)

Atlantic standout basketball player Ryan Hawkins switched his college commitment last week to Northwest Missouri State.  Hawkins signed a letter of intent last Wednesday to play for the Bearcats.  The 6-7 Forward had originally committed to play at Wayne State College but changed his mind after a coaching change for the Wildcats.

Hawkins joins a Bearcats squad that went 27-6 overall last season and earned a trip to the Elite Eight of the Division II NCAA Tournament.  The Bearcats also went 19-3 in the MIAA Conference.

Hawkins finished his senior season at Atlantic averaging 22.2 points per game on 54.6% shooting from the field.  He also had 89 steals and 43 blocked shots for the Trojans.  He now will start with preseason workouts until practice with Northwest officially begins on October 16th.

The 7:17-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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