Conservation

I have been doing a little rod shopping again lately.  Oh yes, there is a reason and a story behind it. . . some other time.  Anywho, I have often joked about just buying another Ugly Stik.  Seriously, for the price, they are good rods, and they come in a variety of models.  There is an Ugly Stik for a lot of fishing situations. They really are just about indestructible.  I have one that I have had since I was …

Need a date?  Wait a minute, maybe I should ask if you need a great idea for a date night?  I got one, this Saturday night.  Nebraska’s own Cornhusker Fly Fishers is hosting this year’s International Fly Fishing Film Festival (IF4): Get your tickets HERE. If you have never been to one of these fly-fishing film festivals, they are a hoot!  The films are excellent, there are lots of big fish, and I guarantee you will get fired up, ready …

 A bull elk tag will be auctioned off by the Nebraska Big Game Society on April 14 in Lincoln. The 11th annual meeting and auction will be at Hillcrest Country Club, 9401 O St. Residents and nonresidents are eligible for the bull elk tag. The high bidder will receive a bull elk tag valid in any elk management unit during a 2022 open bull elk season; legal weapons for that season must be used. Additional items and outdoor experiences will …

Estimating Migration Chronology of Ducks in Nebraska By Cynthia Anchor, waterfowl biologist The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, developed the eBird platform to offer birders a way to store and organize birding media, species lists, counts for single birding events, and “life lists”— complete lists of every bird species seen by an individual — at county, state, national and global scales. Since the release of eBird in 2002, birders have contributed more than 60 million checklists containing …

Northern Saw-whet Owl autumn migration in eastern Nebraska: results from a three-year banding study By Stephen J. Brenner & Joel G. Jorgensen The northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadius) is one the smallest owls in North America. In Nebraska, breeding has been documented in the Pine Ridge and Wildcat Hills and is suspected in the middle Niobrara river region, but its status over the remainder of the state is poorly defined. We recently concluded a three-year banding study at sites near …

By Dr. Andrew Little, University of Nebraska-Lincoln In February 2021, Dr. Andrew Little at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Ranglack at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and biologists with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission began a 2-year study designed to identify critical ranges, temporal and spatial distribution, habitat use, migration corridors and survival of pronghorn in western Nebraska. This project is a collaborative effort amongst the University campuses, Game and Parks and more than 300 private landowners. This …

Nebraska Game and Parks assists in collecting American burying beetles for Ohio reintroductions By Shaun Dunn, Zoologist This summer, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and partner biologists led and participated in several trapping efforts for the federally threatened American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in the Loess Canyons and Sandhills regions of the state. The populations in these two areas are among the largest concentrations of American burying beetles in the world. Efforts to monitor their numbers and distribution have …

Keyes Outdoors produces a muskie fishing show for TV, Keyes Outdoors Muskie Hunting Adventures. You will not find Keyes Outdoors Muskie Hunting Adventures on any Nebraska TV stations.  Who fishes for muskies in Nebraska? I will tell you who fishes for muskies in Nebraska–Keyes Outdoors!  They filmed not just one, but two episodes in Nebraska last year.  The first of the year marks their new TV “season” and guess what two episodes debuted their 2022 season?!  You will want to …

My phone almost always rings when whooping cranes show up in the central Platte River valley. A good friend, who simply appreciates seeing the tallest and rarest bird in North America, called in early November. So did another. There weren’t just a few whooping cranes on the river: There were a lot of them. When I had a chance to head west from Lincoln with my camera on Nov. 7, I was rewarded with something that was not just rare, …

Questions for Conservation Officer Cory Krause I had the opportunity to patrol the Elkhorn River with Game and Parks Conservation Officer Cory Krause, who is stationed in West Point in northeastern Nebraska. Shortly after getting on the water, we came upon two fishermen in a remote area of the river. As Cory predicted, they did not have valid fishing permits. Cory filled out a couple of tickets and made some calls, and just when I thought this was going to …