The director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says there are fewer hunters, but more gun owners in Iowa these days.
1975 seems to be the high-water mark for hunting in Iowa. The state issued more than 416-thousand hunting and fishing licenses that year. This past year, the state issued nearly 60 percent fewer licenses than it did four decades ago. D-N-R director Chuck Gipp says his agency’s operations are financed, in part, by those license fees.
According to a study by researchers at Columbia and Boston Universities, nearly 34 percent of adult Iowans own a gun.
The state owns and manages 10 shooting ranges. The rest are private or run by a county conservation board. In 2012, Gipp’s agency started awarding state grants for the development and improvement of shooting ranges around the state.
Earlier this year, more than 22-hundred Iowa kids participated in the annual “Scholastic Clay Target Program Trap Championship.” It was held near Cedar Falls, at the Iowa State Trapshooting Association Home grounds.
