I don’t get nearly as excited as I used to about deer season. Once upon a time, I hunted all day, every day, though the 9 days of rifle season, hoping to find a trophy buck. In recent seasons, my hunts have lasted a few days. The main goal now is to put a little meat in the freezer. It’s not that I’m too old to hunt that hard, although some will grin as they tell me I am. Life …

Whitetails Most white-tailed deer live in heavy cover offered by woodlands, and hence, are most abundant along rivers and in forested areas of eastern Nebraska. The easiest way to harvest a whitetail is to spend an evening waiting for one to arrive at its dining room: a crop field adjacent to heavy cover. Chances are you found one of these feeding areas while you were looking for a place to hunt. All you need to do now is find a …

You don’t have to spend much time around a raccoon hunter to figure out the sport has its own vocabulary. Some of the colloquialisms are self-explanatory, but those who don’t know the difference between a bluetick and a deer tick should read on: Strike – When a hound finds the first raccoon scent trail after being sent into the woods at the start of a hunt. Open – The howl a dog lets out when it strikes a track. On …

Waking to a landscape covered in hoarfrost is a photographer’s dream. Hoarfrost’s creation is a simple combination of water vapor in the air and cold temperatures. The vapor source, however, can range from atmospheric fog to steam fog rising from water that is warmer than the air above it. You can’t always look at the forecast and plan for it, but it doesn’t take a degree in meteorology to know that when overnight lows dip to -16 degrees, you can …

For 50 years, Indian Cave State Park near Brownville has enticed visitors to soak in autumn’s vibrant colors along the forested bluffs lining the Missouri River. Named for the petroglyphs etched in the sandstone ledge by early American Indian tribes, the park offers many events during the fall season.

When you grow up in Western Nebraska and move east, you never really get used to the heat and humidity, you just learn to live with it. And you learn that when the temperatures turn unseasonably cool in July or August, you get out and enjoy them. I did just that last weekend, taking advantage of gorgeous weather to photograph two stories: one on Wagon Train Lake and one on tanking, with this stop on the Elkhorn River. Not only …

I added yet another case of “should’ve been here yesterday” to my bourgeoning portfolio last week. Mary Harner from the Crane Trust called to let me know that a whooping crane had been spending the night in front of one of their viewing blinds on the Platte River south of Alda. I’m hoping to get lucky and have a chance to photograph one of those rare birds that has been fitted with a GPS transmitter for a story I’m following …