Hunters donated more than 4,100 deer hides to Elks Lodges across Iowa last year. The deer hides are used by the Veterans Leather Program to make professionally-crafted leather gloves for veterans in wheelchairs and also turned into leather used for therapy programs for recovering veterans.

Over 70 citizen climate advocates from seven Midwestern states converged at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory earlier this fall to learn about and discuss common sense climate solutions. Citizens Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, bipartisan grassroots climate organization with volunteers in every state and over 300 chapters nationwide, including Iowa’s District 4 Chapter.

Back on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, the formal dedication of the Howard K. Vincent Waterfowl Production Area site (Moore Slough Waterfowl Production Area), a 195.5-acre parcel of farmland took place, which when completed would become both a much-needed wildlife area and an important buffer to help protect Big Spirit Lake waters.

This was an incredible collaborative effort across borders among conservationists in both Minnesota and Iowa to make the purchase of this land a reality.

SPENCER — The Tigers fell to 0-2 Tuesday, losing to visiting Sioux City East, 67-27, in the field house. Spencer’s girls recorded single digit scoring in 3 of 4 quarters, including two in the final frame

“We didn’t stay disciplined on offense or defense,” Tiger girls basketball coach Matt Stevenson said.

He added, “We have reoccurring mistakes that we need to fix quickly.”

Sydnee Hopkins led Spencer scoring with seven points.

SPENCER — Behind top finishes, Spencer boys ran away with the points total in Tuesday’s season opening meet at home against Carroll, Fort Dodge and Bishop Garrigan. The Tigers topped the field with 574, 134 points more than runner-up Carroll.

“We had a great first meet,” said Jesse Kuehler, first-year coach of the Spencer boys swimming team.

Joel McCoy, Sioux Central girls wrestling coach, said, “First of all, happy for our girls getting another individual tournament victory and winning the Manson Invite for the second straight year. …”

Nichole Hart, Nataley Frerk and Kiely Morrow were all perfect on the night, Monday at Manson-NW Webster, all scoring tourney wins. It was the first varsity tournament win for Morrow.

ESTHERVILLE — A double-double from Koen Glover and 19 points from Jack Christian helped Sioux Central pick up the nine-point win on the road at Estherville, Tuesday night. The Rebels put together a 55-46 victory against their hosts.

“I was very pleased with our effort, intensity and focus tonight,” Rebel coach Stephen Tjaden said following his team’s victory.

HARTLEY — Sioux Central moved to 2-0 on the season by stopping a late rally by Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, 49-47, on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

HMS grabbed a 9-0 lead, but the Rebels rallied and led by four at halftime. They extended the margin to 10 in the third quarter, but HMS rallied to within one one point with three minutes left in the game.

For 103 years, the Northwest Iowa Amateur has been among the most popular and prestigious golf tournaments on the Iowa Golf Association calendar. And for more than 50 years of that span, Spencer’s Bill Zinn, recipient of the 2024 George Turner Distinguished Service Award, has been an integral component of ensuring a smooth and memorable experience for the multitude of participants.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will again be partnering with Iowa deer hunters to collect tissue samples to monitor for chronic wasting disease during the upcoming gun seasons.

For an expected 100,000-plus deer hunters, the long wait is almost over, Iowa’s gun deer seasons are right around the corner.

But before heading to the timber, it’s important that hunters go through their gear, sight in their gun and take time to review their hunting safety plan, said Craig Cutts, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Bureau.

It’s at about this time of year when those of us who enjoy ice fishing start thinking about and making plans to go ice fishing. In the past few years, ice that is safe to walk on has been appearing later and leaving sooner than we had become accustomed to, but we still want to be ready to go fishing. Just in case.

While late fall fishing and various hunting seasons are taking place across the country, there’s something else taking place. Yes, plans for ice fishing have been going on at ice fishing manufacturers and retail outlets since, well, the 2023 ice fishing season ended so abruptly.

We all know how short and frustrating the 2023 ice season was. Across the ice belt, the ice came late, and it left way too early.

ORANGE CITY — MOC-Floyd Valley used a strong second quarter to build a lead and went on to defeat the Spencer Tigers, 67-40, in high school girls basketball Monday evening, Nov. 25.

The Tigers trailed 16-11 after the first period, but a 22-6 run in the second eight minutes resulted in a 38-17 halftime lead for the hosts.

Iowa Lakes had three plays in double figures and defeated the Buena Vista junior varsity, 70-41, in women’s basketball Monday, Nov. 25.

The Lakers were led by Tayona Keys and Morgan Bednarek each with 12 points apiece. Tayona Allen-Winston added 11 points.