Quail hunters had good success this past season — despite a drop in the number of hunters. Wildlife biologist Todd Bogenschutz keeps track of the numbers.  “Quail harvest was up 11 percent — we went from 24-thousand to 27-thousand — and actually hunter numbers were down a little bit. So, the guys who went out and hunted did better than the guys last year and we had more hunters,” Bogenschutz says.

He says the increase in birds mirrors the strong population. “Our quail index last year was like the third highest in the last 22 years,” Bogenschutz says, “and we had a mild winter and they’ll nest all the way through September. They’ll double nest where pheasants don’t.”  Bogenschutz expects positive news from the August roadside survey. “I think quail numbers potentially could be pretty dang good again this fall,” Bogenschutz says.

The August roadside survey takes place August 1st to the 15th.

(Radio Iowa)

Pheasant hunters shot around 20-thousand fewer birds last hunting season compared to the year before. Iowa D-N-R wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz says the drop follows lower counts in the roadside surveys. “I kind of expected that because the roadside counts…were down 30 percent. We were in a drought when we did the counts last year, so we think things were probably a little better than that based on what hunters told us,” Bogenschutz says. “The roadside counts said the populations were down about 30 percent — the hunters said they were only down about ten percent.”

He says the drought meant there was less dew when the roadside counts were done and that led to less birds out in the morning — which impacted the overall count. Bogenschutz says the numbers have held pretty steady in recent years. “We’ve bounced up from the all-time lows when we were down to almost a hundred thousand. So we’ve been back up around the quarter-million mark these last couple of years, so we kind of hung right there. Last year we shot about 245-thousand, this year it was 221-thousand, so about 20-thousand different, right in that same ballpark,” Bogenschutz says.

The next pheasant number survey takes place in August and Bogenschutz says all the weather issues this year didn’t help pheasants nesting numbers. He says they numbers will be status quo at best and likely down. “Given the flooding is on par almost with 1993 levels. A lot of rain in May and June is not good at the peak of nesting. In April we had record snow in parts of the state and some of the birds can nest that early.”

There were 55-thousand hunters out this past season, which is down around four percent. He says the survey numbers likely impact the hunting plans of some. “I think hunters do look at the report, I think that’s why hunter numbers are down,” according to Bogenschutz. “They look at our forecast and if we said things are down there’s a few folks who tend not to go. I think when we say things are good or just word of mouth from other hunters, then we go up.”

While Bogenschutz expects the weather to impact the number of pheasants this season — he says southern Iowa had been much drier and that could make for better nesting and numbers there.

(Radio Iowa)

Class 1A District Finals
District 13 @ Lenox, 7-p.m.
Nodaway Valley vs. Lenox
District 14 @ St. Albert, 7-p.m.
Council Bluffs/St. Albert vs. Essex
District 15 @ Coon Rapids-Bayard, 7-p.m.
Audubon vs. CAM/Anita
District 16 @ Tri-Center, 7-p.m.
Tri-Center/Neola vs. Ar-We-Va/Westside

Class 2A District Finals
District 15 @ Underwood, 7-p.m.
Underwood Vs. Treynor
District 16 @ Kuemper Catholic/Carroll, 7-p.m.
Kuemper Catholic vs. MVAOCOU (Maple Valley-Anthon Oto-Charter Oak-Ute)

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

CHICAGO (AP) — Leury Garcia had three hits and three RBIs, All-Star Jose Abreu homered for the first time in July, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 9-6. Garcia doubled in two runs in the first, singled in the third and connected for a solo drive in the sixth. Omar Narvaez added a two-run homer in the eighth off Kevin McCarthy and Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 17 chances.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Scooter Gennett and Dilson Herrera homered, Matt Harvey tossed five solid innings and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1. Jesse Winker reached base four times and drove in three runs for the Reds. They won their second in a row against St. Louis after breaking a 13-game losing streak to the Cardinals on June 10.

SILVIS, Illinois (AP) — Michael Kim took a four-shot lead at the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities, which was suspended twice because of weather concerns. Kim, who is winless in 84 career PGA Tour starts, was 16 under through 35 holes, with the second round still to be completed. Kim birdied eight of his first 14 holes without a bogey to race past first-round leader Steve Wheatcroft, who shot 68.

District 16 @ Winterset
Glenwood 17, Greene County 5 (5 innings)
Winterset 4, Creston 1 (Winterset & Glenwood will face off 7-p.m. Monday at Winterset for the chance to move on to Substate)

The Class 3-A District baseball games scheduled to be played at Harlan Friday were postponed due to rain. The games will be played on Saturday, July 14 at J.J. Jensen Park in Harlan.

The times have been moved up slightly. Atlantic will play Denison at 4:00 pm and Harlan will play Carroll in the second game, at about 6:00 pm.

We’ll have the Atlantic vs. Denison game live on KJAN AM 1220/FM 101.1 with the pre-game at 3:45 pm.

The Class 3-A District baseball games scheduled to be played at Harlan today have been postponed due to rain.  The games will be played on Saturday, July 14 at J.J. Jensen Park in Harlan.

The times have been moved up slightly.  Atlantic will play Denison at 4:00 pm and Harlan will play Carroll in the second game, at about 6:00 pm.

We’ll have the Atlantic vs. Denison game live on KJAN AM 1220/FM 101.1 with the pre-game at 3:45 pm.

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

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Atlantic will open up Class 3-A district baseball play tonight as the first game of a doubleheader at Harlan.  The Trojans will face Denison at 5:00 pm.

Atlantic split the two regular season games with the Monarchs, winning 11-1 in five innings on the road and losing a tough 5-4 decision at home.  Trojan coach Gaylord Schelling explained that the main difference in those two games was the pitching.  Denison had Dawson Dorhout throwing in the Monarch victory and despite several chances for Atlantic, he was able to hold them off for the win.  Expect Dorhout to start tonight for Denison.

Atlantic will throw Chase Mullenix tonight.  Injuries limited Chase to just three starts during the regular season, but Schelling feels Mullenix is ready to give his best effort.  He says if he has all three of his pitches, fastball, curve and change-up, working tonight, Chase will be tough for the Monarchs.

Atlantic doesn’t have a lot of power in the line-up, instead they depend on consistency at the plate and stringing hits together.

We’ll have the game for you tonight on KJAN.  Jim Field will have the call with the pre-game at 4:45.

The area 3-A schedule:

District 15 @ Harlan

• 5:00 – Atlantic (15-12) vs. Denison (16-18)
• 7:00 – Harlan (28-3) vs. Carroll (4-21)

District 16 @ Winterset

• 5:00 – Greene County (14-11) vs. Glenwood (10-19)
• 7:00 – Winterset (16-10) vs. Creston (8-22)

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

SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Steve Wheatcroft shot a career-best 9-under 62 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead in the John Deere Classic. Wheatcroft birdied seven of the last nine holes to finish a shot ahead of Michael Kim. Johnson Wagner, Nick Taylor, Andres Romero and Joel Dahmen shot opening-round 64s. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau withdrew with a right shoulder injury.

CHICAGO (AP) — Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas has been removed from the National League’s active roster for the All-Star Game next Tuesday because he is scheduled to start Sunday for St. Louis against the Cincinnati Reds. Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling was added to the NL pitching staff as Mikolas’ replacement.

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma State athletics will start selling beer at its venues this fall. The school made the announcement Thursday. Oklahoma State had a pilot program at baseball and softball games during the spring. At football games, beer will be sold at up to 22 locations adjacent to existing concession stands throughout Boone Pickens Stadium. Oklahoma State joins Texas and West Virginia as the only Big 12 schools that will allow fans to purchase beer throughout stadiums.

District 13 @ Lenox
Nodaway Valley 5, Stanton 0
Lenox 8, Lamoni 7
District 14 @ St. Albert
Essex/South Page 14, Bedford 12
St. Albert 15, East Mills 0 (4 innings)
District 15 @ Coon Rapids
Audubon 10, IKM-Manning 0 (6 innings)
CAM 9, Coon Rapids-Bayard 0
District 16 @ Neola
Ar-We-Va 11, Westwood 9
Tri-Center 10, West Harrison 0 (5 innings)