Nebraskaland Magazine
LINCOLN – Recent rains have created very favorable wetland conditions in much of the Rainwater Basin as duck hunting season approaches.
Ted LaGrange, wetland program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said water conditions are mostly good to excellent in the south-central Nebraska wetlands east of U.S. Highway 281.
“Most of those wetlands filled with water due to above normal rainfall in late August and in September,” LaGrange said. “Generally, the portion of the Rainwater Basin west of U.S. 281 received less rain in August and September, so the basins there tend to be in poorer condition, and many of them are dry. In the remainder of the state, water conditions in the wetlands are generally good to excellent.”
Game and Parks’ information on wetland conditions and pumping plans is updated weekly throughout the fall and is available at http://www.outdoornebraska.ne.gov/wildlife/programs/wetlands/pumping_plans.asp.
Duck season opens Oct. 4 in zones 2 and 4, Oct. 11 in Zone 1 and Oct. 22 in Zone 3.
Visit OutdoorNebraska.org to purchase permits and stamps, view videos on a variety of waterfowl hunting topics, read or download the 2014 Waterfowl Guide, and see NEBRASKAland Magazine’s Waterfowl Hunting Nebraska, a special lift-out in the October issue of the magazine.
