The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says hunter success in Iowa’s 2012 pheasant season opener followed what the roadside survey predicted. Officials say better bird numbers were found in northwest Iowa,  and few birds were seen in southern Iowa, but by and large, conservation officers found hunters were encouraged, but not satisfied, with their opening weekend hunt.

Mark Gulick, northwest Iowa district wildlife supervisor for the DNR, says “The general consensus is that the opener was good compared to the past few years. Pressure on public land was moderate to extremely high on Saturday and considerably lower on Sunday. Harvest was fair to good; many groups reported about one bird per person with several groups reporting limits, some by mid morning.” Success was not as good in southeast Iowa.

Rick Trine, central Iowa district wildlife supervisor for the DNR, says in central Iowa, more hunters were on public wildlife areas and most were pleased with the numbers of pheasants they saw over last year. Iowa’s pheasant season continues through Jan. 10, 2013.

w/ Jim Field

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All games on Friday, November 2 at 7:00 pm

8-Man:

• Glidden-Ralston @ Exira/EHK  —on KJAN at 5:30—
• Adair-Casey @ Murray
• M-M-C @ Newell-Fonda
• Clarksville @ Don Bosco

Class A:

• Logan-Magnolia @ Woodward-Granger
• Hinton @ Akron-Westfield
• North Tama @ Wapsie Valley
• BGM @ Lynnville-Sully

Class 1-A:

• Mount Ayr @ St. Albert
• Emmetsburg @ IKM/Manning
• Aplington-Parkersburg @ Dike-New Hartford
• Maquoketa Valley @ Iowa City Regina

Class 2-A:

• Kuemper Catholic @ West Marshall
• Spirit Lake @ Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley
• Waukon @ Dyersville Beckman Catholic
• Bondurant-Farrar @ Mediapolis

Class 3-A:

• Lewis Central @ Bishop Heelan Catholic
• South Tama County @ Grinnell
• Central Clinton @ Decorah
• Winterset @ Williamsburg

Class 4-A:

• Ankeny @ WDM Valley
• Dowling Catholic @ SE Polk
• Cedar Falls @ Pleasant Valley
• Cedar Rapids Prairie @ Cedar Rapids Xavier

AMES, Iowa (AP) – This hasn’t been a pleasant week at Oklahoma. For the second time this season, the 14th-ranked Sooners (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) are coming off a tough home loss to a national title contender. Fourth-ranked Notre Dame stomped the Sooners 30-13 last weekend in Norman, and Kansas State’s unbeaten march toward Miami has made even the Big 12 title a long shot.  Sounds about as good a time as any to get Iowa State.

Oklahoma’s domination of the Cyclones (5-3, 2-3) has been nothing short of staggering. The Sooners, who face Iowa State on the road on Saturday, are 69-5-2 against the Cyclones and have lost to them just once in 42 years.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Coaches at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University are the state’s highest-paid employees. The Gazette in Cedar Rapids says the Iowa Department of Administrative Services released a state salary database for fiscal 2012 on Thursday. It includes employees in all branches of state government. Coaches and doctors are always the top earners, with many of the largest salaries being paid in part with private money.

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz tops the list at $3.7 million. Next is ISU football coach Paul Rhodes, who was paid $1.4 million. ISU men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg earned over $908,000, while Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery was paid $872,000. Rounding out the top five is University of Iowa professor Mark Iannettoni, at $867,000.

Missouri Valley Conference favorite Creighton expects to be one of the best offensive teams in the nation again this season. The Bluejays don’t expect to be one of the worst on defense again. Senior guard Grant Gibbs said the Bluejays were so good offensively last season that they simply believed they could outscore their opponents. He said Creighton was fortunate to win some of those games.

With first-team All-American Doug McDermott and nine of the top 10 players returning, Creighton is aiming to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. The Bluejays know they probably can’t get away with allowing opponents to shoot 44.1 percent from the field, 36.1 percent on 3-pointers and average 69.7 points like they did last year.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Antonio Gates caught a 14-yard scoring pass from Philip Rivers on the game’s opening drive to snap a streak of six straight quarters without a touchdown and the San Diego Chargers went on to a 31-13 victory over the staggering Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night. The Chiefs, who lost their fifth straight, committed four more turnovers to run their NFL-high mark to a staggering 29, which have led to 104 points..

Snapping a three-game losing streak might take some heat off coach Norv Turner, who’s been heavily criticized by fans after the Chargers (4-4) blew double-digit, second-half leads in losses to New Orleans and Denver, and then lost 7-6 at Cleveland on Sunday.The heat will surely intensify on coach Romeo Crennel of the Chiefs (1-7).

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The man who provided the soundtrack of St. Louis Cardinals baseball for four decades has died.  The Cardinals on Thursday announced the death of Ernie Hays, a St. Louis native who spent 40 seasons as the ballpark organist.  Hays was 77 when he died Wednesday night. A cause of death was not announced.

Hays also served as organist for the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, college sports teams and for professional soccer in St. Louis. But he is best known for his work at both the old and new Busch Stadiums. He began his sports music career when the Cardinals installed an organ in 1971. His version of “Here Comes The King,” a Budweiser beer advertising jingle, soon became a staple at every game.  Hays retired from the Cardinals in 2010.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources say dry conditions over much of Iowa will concentrate trappers near existing water when the Iowa furbearer hunting and trapping season begins on Saturday, Nov. 3rd.  Vince Evelsizer, furbearer biologist for the DNR says “Right now, most of the crops are out and the weather looks decent for the first half of November,” so he’s expecting a good start to the furbearer season.

Surveys of two of the higher profile furbearers in Iowa – bobcat and river otter – have indicated the species could support additional harvest. The DNR increased the bobcat quota from 350 to 450 in the open zone, but kept the one bobcat per furharvester restriction, regardless if it was hunted or trapped. The river otter quota was raised to 850 this year, with licensed trappers allowed up to three otters.

Both species must be reported within 24 hours of harvest and a CITES tag applied within seven days after the harvest is reported to DNR staff. Last year, a record 326,368 raccoons were harvested in Iowa and Evelsizer expects the harvest this year to be similar to slightly higher.  He said the fur markets are dependent on the Asian and European economies but appear to be about the same as last year.

Trapper numbers have increased more than 20 percent since 2009, from 14,000 to 17,000 last year.