Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Iowa’s game bird populations have seen a bit of resurgence in recent years, but a drop in the number of hunters has kept the harvest numbers moving back to past levels.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, Todd Bogenschutz, says some of the hunters were lost during the bird population drop.
He says another reason for a drop in hunters is the core group is getting older.
He says the DNR is trying to get younger people to give hunting a try.
Bogenschutz says they follow the three R’s when it comes to hunting: retention of the current hunters; reactivating hunters who haven’t been out in awhile; and recruitment of new hunters into the fold. Trap shooting has become a more popular sport in high schools and he says it is something that can get kids to move into hunting.
Bogenschutz says they are trying to respond to that survey information by offering more mentor-type programs.
He says there have been plenty of birds out there to support more hunters, and they just need to continue working on increasing the hunter base.
