Articles

Slamming car doors, shifting cargo, stumbling feet. Each has been unkind to my fishing rods more times than I care to admit. After a fly rod somehow broke while riding freely in my truck bed this spring, it was time to take action to keep it from happening again. Of course, many excellent rod cases are available from retailers. After some research, though, I found a simple design created from a favorite inexpensive building material – PVC pipe. Not only …

Process allows researchers to monitor changes in survival, abundance and movement over time. By Tim Lyons and Mark Vrtiska Canada geese are perhaps one of the most easily recognized birds in Nebraska. From record lows in the 1960s, the goose population in Nebraska has rebounded, and geese are now common throughout the state. This growth has allowed increased recreational opportunities for hunters and wildlife-watchers, but also created problems in urban areas. Effectively managing the goose population, whether to sustain recreational …

Help Uncover a Mystery By Renae Blum, NEBRASKAland Contributor It’s one of the miracles of nature: each fall, millions of insects weighing less than one gram fly to overwintering sites in Mexico from across the United States, some traveling several thousand miles. This is the monarch butterfly, and the details of how this migration occurs are still surrounded by questions. Since 1992, Chip Taylor and his team at the University of Kansas have endeavored to find answers via a monarch …

It is just before dawn in Nebraska’s eastern saline wetlands. You sit quietly on the edge of a salt marsh – a nearly level pan of sparse vegetation and mud. Just in front of you water laps in rhythmic beats at the shoreline. On the opposite shore, the growing light gently begins to fill in the dark spaces, giving definition to the dusky shapes that have been murmuring in the distance. They are a mixed flock of shorebirds and waterfowl …

It wasn’t until I finally shot the turkey that I noticed what had happened to my boot. It was twice as large as normal, a clown shoe of sorts, and the first line of my internal dialogue was “I don’t feel injured.” Yet something still wasn’t right. Both of my feet were wet, as they often get when turkeys pitch down from their roost on the wrong side of the creek and I’m forced to quickly head them off. But …

During the week of February 26 through March 3, 2017, my wife Shauna and I traveled on a grand adventure to central Mexico to view the overwintering population of Monarch butterflies. Shauna has been passionate about butterflies all of her life, gaining knowledge and interest about them while raising and releasing various species as a child in Denver, Colorado. I too have become concerned about the decline of all pollinators the last few years, and alongside other Nebraska Game and …

An Interview with Jeff Kurrus, author of Can You Dance Like John? Article by Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley What was the inspiration behind the “crane books?” How did these stories develop? The first time I saw the sandhill cranes, there were a couple of things that stuck out. One was that there are 500,000 to 1 million of them on the Platte River each spring. Two, they all look alike. After doing a bit of research and finding out that they mate …

When I received the call from my co-worker, Justin Haag, about coming to the Panhandle to take photos of the bighorn sheep capture, I was more than ecstatic. I had always wanted to see how this process takes place and get close to the sheep. Along with that, who doesn’t want to travel to one of the most beautiful areas of Nebraska, the wildcat Hills and Pine Ridge. Not knowing what to expect, I went out to watch the crew …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Hunters liked what they experienced while pursuing wild turkeys in Nebraska this spring according to an annual survey by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Almost all respondents — more than 96 percent — of the 2017 turkey hunter survey said they would hunt Nebraska again based on their experiences. The survey data underscores many of the reasons Nebraska is the best turkey-hunting destination in the nation, said Jim Douglas, Commission director. Commission officials often point out …

This turkey season was filled with some of the most grueling hunting experiences I have yet to conquer. Although I did fill my turkey permit this season, it was not completed with my bow. However, the experiences I had this season have made me a better archer and hunter. Here are the things I will be doing differently next spring archery season. Practicing different shot placements specifically for turkeys. Prior to this turkey season, I was unsure of the best …