In The Wild

Scott Frost has begun his second season as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, but did you know that he really enjoys hunting (and fishing)? Here are two interviews that I did with the Husker gridiron head coach late last winter for my WOWT 6 Sports Outdoor Report at a charity hunt for Teammates about his enjoyment of hunting and his perspectives about Nebraska’s  outdoor scene. It is fun hanging out and hunting with Scott Frost. By …

Everything is in place, isn’t it? Fully vetted, trained mentors/experienced bowhunters with transportation, check. Permission from parents or guardians for youth to participate, check. Young mentees who’ve successfully completed the Nebraska bowhunter education course and met the other requirements, check. The necessary equipment, check. Shooting proficiency on the target range, check. Wait, are we missing anything? Oh yeah, a place to go. Wait. What? A place to go. That is what is needed in the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s …

My wife thinks I am a hoarder. I believe I am a collector of things. I tell my wife, Polly, that a collector finds special value in one type of thing but the hoarder finds value in innumerable things, thus the reason for keeping everything. I don’t keep everything. Just the cool things of value, whether intrinsically or monetarily, that I find outdoors or outdoors-related to be displayed. I guess you could say that I am into ‘alternate de-cluttering.’ For …

I have exciting to news to share with you. The popular Great Outdoor Radio Show I host is moving and going to a network! That’s right! After more than 25 years at one radio station, the Great Outdoor Radio Show, produced by Gerry Gray/Great Plains Marketing, is moving to the Omaha-based Boomer Radio Network of stations beginning Saturday, July 27th. Coverage is expanding! The Saturday morning, one-hour long, LIVE, interactive show will still run from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. …

A nice package of benefits. A plan for pay advancement. Flexibility with your work schedule. Working outdoors, especially with fish, wildlife, parks and water sports. Sound good? These are all positive facets of being a Nebraska conservation officer or what some still refer to as a “game warden.” And, guess what? Game and Parks is looking to fill up to six conservation officer positions around the state. Interested? You will have until Aug. 26, 2019 to apply. Truly, there are …

You and your family are invited to come join us at a special Game and Parks Community Fishing Night at Lake Halleck in Papillion, NE this Tuesday night, July 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. Come, get some fresh air, sample some Dutch oven cooking and find out how easy and fun fishing is! Hungry sunfish await you! We at Game and Parks will be hosting the event. We will be furnishing loaner fishing tackle and bait as well as …

It’s the spring and summer storm season in Nebraska. You’re­ on a leisurely canoe/camping trip on Nebraska’s Elkhorn River. It’s a warm, humid spring afternoon. You’re unloading your canoe where you have permission to camp. Suddenly, you feel a few raindrops splat on your forehead as the sky becomes tumultuous and rapidly begins to darken. Then you hear loud claps of thunder in the distance. What should you do or not do? If you find yourself outdoors when a thunderstorm or tornado …

I am a hunter. I am an angler. I am a bird watcher. I love to watch birds, especially when I am hunting or fishing. I love watching all birds, not just the game birds I hunt. I enjoy viewing them intently and trying to capture some halfway decent photos of them. If you’re a hunter or an angler, you should become a bird watcher. I’ll explain why in a moment. May is a great month to view birds. In …

Taking someone new out fishing in the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s new fishing challenge doesn’t just apply to hook-and-line angling. Nope. Not by a long shot. Not when there is the action-packed thrills of shooting nongame fish like Asian carp with a bow and arrow to be had in Nebraska waters! Current, avid bowfishers in Nebraska are being encouraged to get others involved in the new and exciting Nebraska fishing challenge called Take ‘Em Fishing, whereby someone new is …

Along with finding and picking morel mushrooms, there is another edible wild fungus growing in your moist woodlands that you should know and consider harvesting and making for dinner — the dryad’s saddle. Dryad’s saddle? Say, what? The dryad’s saddle (Polyporus squamosus) , a.k.a., pheasant back’s mushroom, or hawks wing, is a widespread edible wild fungi that is easy to spot beginning in late April and continuing into May. Found east of the Rockies and potentially throughout Nebraska, it is a common basidiomycete bracket fungus …