Iowa DNR hosting hunting courses

A series of Iowa Department of Natural Resources hunter education hunter education classes will be held later this summer in Clayton, Dubuque and Jackson counties. A classroom course will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 11, 13 and 15 and from 7:30 a.m. to noon Aug. 16 at Osborne Nature Center in rural Elkader. Participants must attend all days of classes to receive a certificate. Swiss Valley Nature Center will host a classroom class from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 14 at the center, near Dubuque.  Hunter education is a mandatory program. It introduces students to basic survival and first-aid skills, water safety, wildlife identification, firearm and archery safety and other topics. Iowa law requires that anyone born after Jan. 1, 1972, must be certified in hunter education before they are eligible to purchase an Iowa hunting license. Visit ilearntohunt.com/iowa for registration and other information.