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Since I was unsuccessful at finding any hunting grounds this weekend, I spent opening day helping out at the deer check station at the Norfolk Game and Parks Office. It was a fantastic learning experience. And I also got to meet some really nice people with some really nice deer. The best ones were the kids and the ladies who came in, especially when it was their first deer. All animals we saw were young, all 3 1/2 years and …

Visitors to Fort Robinson State Park often enjoy catching a view of the animals that roam most of the park’s 22,000 acres. In addition to the wildlife, the bison, longhorn cattle and horses that graze the park’s scenic pastures instantly conjure up images of the region “when the West was wild,” as they say. I was fortunate this week to be on site when park superintendent Mike Morava and a crew of experienced ranch hands rounded up the bison and …

Think you have the best man cave in the state? NEBRASKAland Magazine is looking for the most decked out, unique and jaw -dropping man caves in all 93 counties. Send us photos of your sanctuary and it can be featured in the magazine or online. Ladies, you’re welcome to send submissions, too! Show us where you hang out with the boys (or girls), where you contemplate your next hunt and where you proudly display all your accomplishments in the field. …

The Pheasants Forever Rooster Road Trip held in northeast Nebraska this past Wednesday was a success! 12 pheasants and 8 quail were harvested in just one morning on public land in the Open Fields and Waters Program. I’d like to thank the Pheasants Forever crew, PF National Board Member Dick Bell, NGPC Commissioners Mick Jensen and Lynn Berggren, Scott Wessel, Josh Konouvsky and Mark Davis from the Omaha World-Herald for making this happen and for inviting me along.

I figure it’s time to put words to some of my hunting experiences this fall. Time certainly does fly when the birds are flying. Turkey Time We’ll start off with an event in my “backyard.” In early October, about three dozen hunters came to Chadron to be paired with landowners for the Pine Ridge Wild Turkey Hunt. The annual hunt, which began in the mid-1990s, has forged many relationships while celebrating turkey hunting in the region that led the state’s …

The crawdad – or commonly known as the crayfish, crawfish or mudbugs are smaller versions of lobsters and they taste just as good, only in a smaller package. Collecting crawdads, as I have called them since childhood, is an easy process if you know when and where to find them. Every fall the canal system waters in southwest Nebraska are lowered for water conservation and/or canal repairs – leaving a smorgasbord of crawdads that can be harvested for a tasty …

My wife and had a great dog, Jazz, for 12 years. A female black Lab, she was an awesome companion and hunting dog. But as things go, we had to put her down a couple years ago. So here we were a year later picking from a litter of puppies whose daddy came from our Jazz. That was a year ago, and that little bundle of puppy has grown to be a big, rambunctious, slobbering hunting buddy. Her official name …

The 22nd annual Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) workshop was held last weekend at the 4-H camp near Halsey, NE. I write about this event every year after the workshop, not because writing is part of what I do, but because I am passionate about every aspect of the weekend and empowering women to get outdoors and experience all the wonderful activities and beautiful things in nature – all in hopes that they will pass their new knowledge on to …

I attended my first Missouri River Expo a couple weeks ago, and I had a great time! For those who have never been (which may not be many of you), the Expo runs for 3 days in September — Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While Saturday and Sunday are open to the public and are the busiest days, Friday is only open to elementary schools. Nearly a thousand 5th graders this year received a private sneak peek before the general public …