The Iowa DNR will start a series of series of town hall-style meetings Monday where local staff provide updates on the recently completed hunting seasons and possible changes to hunting rules and regulations.
Wildlife Biologist, Todd Gosselink, they hope for some good interaction. “We want to hear from the hunters out there what’s working what they think might be changes and then any changes that we might have ideas too,” he says. Gosselink says there are often questions that come up and this is a chance to provide some answers.
“Usually you know, there’s reasons why we have certain regulations, right. So talk about it and you know, have the conversation of well, this is the reason we do this type of thing,” he says. “And a lot of times once you have that conversation, it’s like, ‘oh, okay, that makes sense. I understand why we’re doing that now.’ But they also have great ideas that we can take back and discuss for other things maybe we didn’t think about that might improve hunting and trapping in Iowa.”
Gosselink says he hasn’t heard of any major concerns with the most recent hunting seasons. “These are doing pretty well yeah, there’s things that are down like the furbearers section like gray foxes and know how many gray foxes and some of those similar ones that are, you know, always sort of low like rough grouse in northeast Iowa. But those more common species are are doing quite well thought state,” Gosselkin says.
The first meetings are Monday at the DeWitt Community Library at 7 p.m. and wat the Waverly Public Library at 6 p.m.
Here is the schedule for the rest of the meetings.
February 21st: Bloomfield, 6 p.m., Wapello County Conservation Board Pioneer Ridge Nature Center; Creston, Southern Prairie YMCA 6 p.m.; Des Moines Izaak Walton League, 6:45 p.m.; Lakeview Speaker Park Shelter House; Perry Forest Park Museum Building, 7 p.m.; Otter Creek Lake & Park Nature Center in Toledao at 7 p.m.. O February 22nd, in Algona,6:30 p.m.. at the Waters Edge Nature Center; Okoboji, 6 p.m., Maser Monarch Lodge; Onawa,6 p.m., Lewis and Clark State Park visitor center, Ventura, 7 p.m., Iowa DNR Wildlife Office; February 23rd, Chariton, 6:30 p.m., Chariton Community Center; Council Bluffs, 6:30 p.m., Council Bluffs Fish and Game Club, Decorah, 7 p.m., Franklin W. Olin Building, Room 102, Luther College; Dubuque, 7 p.m., EB Lyons Nature Center at Mines of Spain; Iowa City, 7 p.m., Johnson County ISU Extension Office; Wapello, 6 p.m., Langwood Education Center.