(Radio Iowa) — Iowa saw a record number of coyotes taken last year and a D-N-R fur-bearer biologist says they remain the hot animal to hunt and trap. Vince Evelsizer says there were more than 18-thousand coyotes taken last year. “Typically it’s been 12 to 13 thousand in recent years, which is higher than recent years before that. Twenty or 30 years ago — that would have been unheard of,”Evelsizer says. The 18-thousand was well above the previous record of 15-thousand-347.

Evelsizer says several things have put the coyote in the spotlight. “In the last few years the fur market for coyotes has remained good — and then at the same time there’s more T-V shows, videos — and the hunting industry has developed gear a little more specifically predator hunting,” Evelsizer says. “And so it’s just kind of caught on. It’s become more popular, all those things have just kind of come together and it’s made coyote hunting and coyote trapping more popular than ever.”

He says coyotes have a key place in the food chain here. “As a whole, coyotes are the largest carnivore and canine that we have in Iowa. Typically an adult will weigh up to 35 pounds or so. A few can get bigger than that — but on average — an adult male coyote is round 30 to 35 pounds,” according to Everlsizer. “So, they are like a medium-sized dog if you are trying to picture what they look like.” He says they start adding some weight in the fall and their fur becomes “prime” or very thick so the animals can make it through winter. There are a variety of other fur-bearing animals hunted in Iowa. “Raccoons are still up there as probably the number two species most targeted. And after that it is probably a mix of mink and muskrat, and red fox, things like that,” Evelsizer says.

He says the majority of the fur-bearers in Iowa are doing very well. “Either their population is currently stable or trending up slightly — it depends on which species. There’s only two species that are a concern, gray fox or muskrat,” Evelsizer says. “Gray fox, the population has declined fairly drastically.” He says they want to do a study to try and determine why the gray fox population is dropping. Evelsizer says the muskrat population has been declining across the Midwest — but has seen an uptick in some states — and is not as big a concern.

The fur-bearer season for most species opens November 2nd. The coyote season is continuous. The D-N-R reports Iowa ranks in the top five states for the number of licensed fur-harvesters per capita, averaging around 14-thousand-500 each year for the last three years.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

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Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are hopeful that Patrick Mahomes will be able to play next week against Minnesota, especially having practiced on a limited basis just days after dislocating his kneecap. Hope is not lost if the reigning league MVP misses a second consecutive game. Fill-in quarterback Matt Moore and the Kansas City defense showed in a 31-24 loss to the Green Bay Packers that they can keep the Chiefs’ season afloat until their biggest star makes his return to the field.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska coach Scott Frost says he doesn’t know what prompted Indiana athletic director Fred Glass to tell the Indianapolis Star newspaper that the Cornhuskers’ staff doesn’t respect the Hoosiers’ football program. Glass said the win at Nebraska was “particularly gratifying” because Nebraska’s staff “had no respect for our program.” Glass declined to elaborate. Frost says he was complimentary to the Hoosiers before and after the game.

UNDATED (AP) — Purdue coach Jeff Brohm changed his mind. Two days after announcing there would be an open competition for the starting quarterback job, Brohm says Jack Plummer has the job going into Saturday’s game against Nebraska. Plummer was yanked twice in last weekend’s 24-6 loss to Illinois.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — UNLV assistant football coach Barney Cotton is progressing well after having a heart transplant in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. The operation was Oct. 22 at Nebraska Medical Center. The Cotton family says the surgery and recovery have gone as expected. Cotton has been on UNLV’s staff since 2015 and stepped away for health reasons in July. Cotton was a Nebraska lineman from 1976-78 and a Cornhuskers assistant in 2003 and from 2008-14.

The Riverside Bulldogs volleyball team advanced to the Class 1A Region 2 Semifinals with a 3-0 sweep of the CAM Cougars on Monday night in Oakland. The Bulldogs were able to use some nice point runs throughout each set to grab the win 25-22, 25-15, 25-14.

The Bulldogs got down early in the first set at 8-4 and then used runs of 3, 4, and 5 points to grab control. The Bulldogs then fought off back to back 5 point runs from the Cougars to take the opener. Riverside had three runs of 5 points in the second to control that set. The third saw some stellar service play from Jadyn Achenbach with 6 aces to seize the victory.

Achenbach finished the night with 8 aces, 10 kills, and 5 digs. Izzy Bluml was also great at the net with 8 kills to go along with 7 digs and 2 service aces. The Bulldogs improve to 25-12 and will now play Coon Rapids-Bayard on Thursday in the Regional Semifinals at 7:00pm, site to be determined.

CAM had some early fire in the match but just couldn’t string together enough points at key times throughout the match. The Cougars finish the year at 10-22.

Listen to the postgame interview with Riverside Head Coach Michaela Schwartzkopf  below.

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Class 1A Region 2
(3-0) St. Albert 25-25-25, Woodbine 10-4-6
(3-1) Boyer Valley 19-25-25-25, West Harrison 25-15-23-15
(3-1) Coon Rapids-Bayard 21-29-25-25, Glidden-Ralston 25-27-20-21
(3-0)  Riverside 25-25-25, CAM 22-15-14– ON KJAN

Class 1A Region 3
(3-0) Sidney25-25-25, Bedford 15-9-14
(3-2) Lenox 25-25-23-21-15, Lamoni  19-14-25-25-8
(3-0) East Mils 25-25-25, East Union 16-9-14
(3-1) Southwest Valley 25-25-22-25, Stanton 22-20-25-16

Class 2A Region 3
(3-0) Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 25-25-25, Manson-NW Webster 8-8-17
(3-0) South Central Calhoun 25-25-25 , IKM-Manning 13-13-16
(3-0) East Sac County 25-25-25, MVAOCOU 13-11-18
(3-2) West Monona 25-25-21-13-15, Logan-Magnolia 21-24-25-25-8

Class 2A Region 4
(3-0) Grundy Center 25-25-25, Ogden 10-3-14
(3-1) Woodward-Granger 23-25-25-25, Van Meter 25-23-18-20
(3-0) Underwood 25-25-25, AHSTW 18-19-11
(3-2) ACGC 25-23-22-25-15, Treynor 23-25-25-16-9

Class 2A Region 5
(3-2) Van Buren 25-25-21-24-15, Cardinal 11-11-25-26-3
(3-0) Pella Christian 25-25-25, Pleasantville 8-18-17
(3-0) Nodaway Valley 25-25-25, Mount Ayr 23-17-14
(3-2) West Central Valley 25-18-25-23-18, Earlham 22-25-20-25-16

The Iowa State Cyclones will travel to face the Oklahoma Sooners on the gridiron on November 9th. The game has been set for a 7:00pm Central Time kickoff and will be televised on FOX. The Cyclones are off this week.

Class 4A
1. WDM Valley (9-0), LW #1 vs Indianola
2. Dowling Catholic (8-1), LW #2 vs DSM Roosevelt
3. Cedar Falls (9-0), LW #3 vs Dubuque Senior
4. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (8-1), LW #4 vs Fort Dodge
5. Ankeny Centennial (8-1), LW #5 vs #10 Urbandale
6. Southeast Polk (7-2), LW #6 vs #8 Ankeny
7. Bettendorf (7-2), LW #7 @ Linn-Mar
8. Ankeny (6-3), LW #8 @ #6 S.E. Polk
9. Waukee (6-3), LW #9 vs CR Prairie
10.Urbandale (6-3), LW (X) @ #5 Centennial

Class 3A
1. Western Dubuque (9-0), LW #1 vs Washington
2. Solon (9-0), LW #2 vs Iowa City Liberty
3. Cedar Rapids Xavier (8-1), LW #3 @ #5 North Scott
4. Dallas Center-Grimes (8-1), LW #4 vs Harlan
5. North Scott (8-1), LW #5 vs #3 Xavier
6. Lewis Central (8-1), LW #6 vs Oskaloosa
7. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (8-1), LW #7 vs Carlisle
8. Independence (9-0), LW #8 @ #10 Pella
9. Norwalk (8-1), LW #9 vs Glenwood
10.Pella (7-2), LW #10 vs #8 Independence

Class 2A
1. Waukon (8-0), LW #1 vs Tipton
2. Clear Lake (9-0), LW #2 vs #10 Spirit Lake
3. Algona (9-0), LW #3 vs Central Lyon/GLR
4. OABCIG (9-0), LW #5 vs West Marshall
5. Waterloo Columbus (8-1), LW #6 @ #9 Williamsburg
6. Benton (8-1), LW #7 vs PCM Monroe
7. Greene County (8-1), LW #4 @ #8 DSM Christian
8. Des Moines Christian (8-1), LW #9 vs #7 Greene County
9. Williamsburg (6-3), LW #10 vs #5 Waterloo Columbus
10.Spirit Lake (6-3), LW (X) @ #2 Clear Lake

Class 1A
1. Dike-New Hartford (9-0), LW #1 vs Panorama
2. Van Meter (9-0), LW #2 vs Pella Christian
3. West Branch (9-0), LW #3 vs North Linn
4. South Central Calhoun (9-0), LW #5 vs Mount Ayr
5. West Sioux (8-1), LW #6 vs #9 Underwood
6. West Lyon (8-1), LW #6 @ Osage
7. Treynor (9-0), LW #8 vs #8 Western Christian
8. Western Christian (8-1), LW #4 @ #7 Treynor
9. Underwood (8-1), LW (X) @ #5 West Sioux
10.Iowa City Regina (7-2), LW #8 @ Mediapolis

Class A
1. West Hancock (9-0), LW #1 vs IKM-Manning
2. Saint Ansgar (9-0), LW #2 vs #8 Edgewood-Colesburg
3. North Tama (9-0), LW #3 vs Central Decatur
4. MFL MarMac (9-0), LW #4 vs South Winneshiek
5. Grundy Center (8-1), LW #5 @ Belle Plaine
6. Earlham (8-1), LW #6 vs #9 BGM
7. Woodbury Central (8-1), LW #7 vs Westwood
8. Edgewood-Colesburg (7-2), LW #8 @ #2 Saint Ansgar
9. BGM (Brooklyn) (8-1), LW #9 @ #6 Earlham
10.South O’Brien (8-1), LW #10 vs Tri-Center

Eight-man
1. Don Bosco (9-0), LW #1 vs New London
2. Turkey Valley (9-0), LW #2 vs Rockford
3. Remsen St. Mary’s (9-0), LW #3 vs East Mills
4. Audubon (9-1), LW #4 vs #6 Harris-Lake Park
5. Coon Rapids-Bayard (8-1), LW #5 @ #8 Fremont-Mills
6. Harris-Lake Park (8-1), LW #6 @ #4 Audubon
7. Easton Valley (8-1), LW #7 @ #9 Gladbrook-Reinbeck
8. Fremont-Mills (6-1), LW #9 vs #5 Coon Rapids-Bayard
9. Gladbrook-Reinbeck (7-2), LW #10 vs #7 Easton Valley
10.CAM (7-2), LW #8 @ Lamoni

Playoff volleyball is on tap again tonight for Class 1A and 2A schools. Quarterfinal round match-ups will be contested with 7:00pm first-serves. We’ll have a match from Class 1A Region 2 for you on KJAN. CAM travels to Riverside and we’ll start pre-match coverage about 6:50pm in Oakland.

Class 1A Region 2
Woodbine @ St. Albert
Boyer Valley @ West Harrison
Glidden-Ralston @ Coon Rapids-Bayard
CAM @ Riverside – ON KJAN

Class 1A Region 3
Bedford @ Sidney
Lamoni @ Lenox
East Union @ East Mils
Stanton @ Southwest Valley

Class 2A Region 3
Manson-NW Webster @ Clarion-Goldfield-Dows
IKM-Manning @ South Central Calhoun
MVAOCOU @ East Sac County
West Monona @ Logan-Magnolia

Class 2A Region 4
Ogden @ Grundy Center
Van Meter @ Woodward-Granger
AHSTW @ Underwood
Treynor @ ACGC

Class 2A Region 5
Cardinal @ Van Buren
Pella Christian @ Pleasantville
Nodaway Valley @ Mount Ayr
West Central Valley @ Earlham

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

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