Hunting

With the calendar flipped to the final month of the year it is safe to say we are in the late season of upland bird hunting.  And though many of the easy-roosters are already nestled in hunters’ freezers, some of the most exciting and memorable bird hunts are about to unfold. Late season to me means small groups of three to four hunters plus a couple of dogs.  This size can efficiently utilize some post and pinch strategies with minimal …

LINCOLN – Hunters and landowners are encouraged to offer their feedback on big game issues during the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s public informational meetings in December. Meetings are scheduled in each Game and Parks district. Biologists will explain and take questions on several topics, including deer management, deer damage and depredation permits, antlerless harvest, trophy management and diseases. Antelope and elk issues may be discussed at meetings located in areas where these species occur. All meetings begin at 7 …

Nebraska’s only bighorn sheep hunting permit holder for 2016, Brett Roberg of Holdrege, ended his hunt successfully at Fort Robinson State Park on the afternoon of Monday, Dec. 5, by harvesting a trophy-class ram. The Rocky Mountain bighorn ram, estimated to be 10 years old, unofficially scored 166 using the Boone and Crockett Club’s system. The score is derived from measurements of the horns’ length, their spread and four points of circumference for each. Roberg obtained the permit through a …

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will kick off its series of public informational meetings about big game animal management at two sites in the Panhandle this month. Discussion about deer, elk and pronghorn is on the agenda. The two meetings, conducted by biologists of the Commission’s northwest district, will be Tuesday, Dec. 20, at the Knight Museum in Alliance and Wednesday, Dec. 21, at the Eagles Club in Oshkosh. Each begins at 7 p.m. The annual series of meetings …

What’s hunting without traditions?  Well yes, it’s still hunting, and it’s still great, but it’s our traditions that make it even better.  Hunting itself can be a tradition, but I’m talking about all the stuff that goes along with it – the stuff we look forward to year after year: the favorite “lucky” hat, granddad’s gun, who sleeps in which bunk, or what I’ve discovered to be a Nebraska tradition – chili and cinnamon rolls.  Any hunter who has logged …

LINCOLN – A bull elk harvested by a Seward girl in September is not only the new non-typical record for Nebraska, it also ranks 16th in the all-time world records maintained by the Boone and Crockett Club. Hannah Helmer’s bull, harvested on the Sept. 24 opener of the elk season in the Hat Creek Unit near Crawford, was officially scored at 430 6/8 on Nov. 30 by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission wildlife biologist Randy Stutheit. That topped the previous …

LINCOLN – Nebraska mule deer buck harvest is on a pace to set a record this year. Mule deer buck harvest, as of Dec. 1, has increased for the third consecutive year to 8,486 (up 2 percent from 2015) and is on track to beat the 2008 record of 9,115 adult bucks. Populations continue to grow in response to low mule doe harvest. Overall, mule deer harvest is higher and whitetail harvest is lower, so far this year, compared with …

LINCOLN – Applications for multispecies Super Tag and Combo lottery permits will be accepted by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission beginning Jan. 2. The Super Tag lottery permit will be valid for one elk of either sex, one antelope of either sex, one deer of either sex, and two turkeys (only toms and bearded hens may be taken in the spring). One permit will be authorized for residents only, and one permit will be authorized for residents/nonresidents. Persons may …

There’s not much reason these days for me to visit my childhood home of Beaver Valley, the stretch of mostly dry creek dotted by the villages of Danbury, Lebanon and Wilsonville along the Kansas border in southwestern Nebraska. Most of my immediate family no longer lives there, a great majority of the businesses have closed shop and the schools have consolidated to larger communities to the north. Shifts in rural America’s agriculture dynamics have forced populations to be a fraction …

It is late November again and time to head out the door for Grandma’s house for the annual Thanksgiving feast.  This year I started doing some research on the origins of Thanksgiving, but I did not go far before it made my head hurt.  Like many things related to history, there is some debate as to origins, exact times and places, etc., etc.  In addition to the United States and Canada, there are some other places that observe thanksgiving holidays, …