By Tim McNeil It’s always wise to keep your garage door closed and locked at night. And not just at night, but at all hours of the day. Larry Dendinger knows there’s wisdom in safeguarding home possessions and personal safety, but he runs a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week business from his garage. His garage door is always open. Dendinger, 75, owns L&A Bait in southwest Omaha. It’s not the first bait shop he’s owned — Dendinger is an accidental bait store owner. …

Members of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers are joining forces to protect our hunting heritage. On this episode, Nebraska BHA Secretary Kyle Broadfoot explains how the organization is mission-focused and how we can get involved. She Goes Outdoors Podcast · 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 & 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 About She Goes Outdoors: Join a team of all-female hosts from Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa to learn a little, laugh a lot and get inspired to get outdoors! To learn more, visit …

By David L. Bristow, History Nebraska On a clear, hot July day a haze came over the sun,” Addison Sheldon recalled. “The haze deepened into a gray cloud. Suddenly the cloud resolved itself into billions of gray grasshoppers sweeping down upon the earth. The vibration of their wings filled the ear with a roaring sound like a rushing storm. As far as the eye could reach in every direction the air was filled with them. Where they alighted, they covered …

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist In Nebraska, we have 29 species of snakes, and of those species, only four of them are venomous. They are the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis), western massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus tergeminus), timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) and copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix). Generally found in the western half of Nebraska, the prairie rattlesnake has the widest range of all, while the other three species are restricted to the southeast. All four are considered pit vipers. Vipers are a …

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist As an outdoor educator, I hear a lot of discussion about the “poisonous” snakes in Nebraska. Actually, the correct term is venomous snakes, not poisonous. Although both poison and venom can cause death or serious impairment to the function of organs and/or living tissues, these two terms cannot be used interchangeably: Poisons are toxins that are ingested or inhaled, such as a plant or substance; whereas venom is a toxin that is injected, most …

By Roger Welsch Maybe it’s just a habit of old romantics like me, but I like to think that sooner or later, even the most unimaginative Nebraskan must wonder — maybe while watching an old movie or cruising along on Interstate 80 — what these Plains must have been like before the white man came. We know that many things have changed. The herds of bison that stopped trains for hours and the clouds of passenger pigeons that darkened the …

Tick talk — there’s a lot to be heard about this nasty, little, bloodsucking arachnid. Kait Chapman, an Extension Educator at Urban Entomologists, talks to us about the different species of ticks and how to protect ourselves from them. Learn more about ticks at the following websites: https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/index.html https://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/NebraskaTicks345.shtml https://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/lancasterextension/14372/82347 Picture Id: American Dog Tick She Goes Outdoors Podcast · Tick Talk: Protect Yourself About She Goes Outdoors: Join a team of all-female hosts from Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa to …

By Todd Mills Keeping your hunting dog in shape during the summer can be challenging, to say the least. With nothing to hunt, and kids and family activities getting in the way, it’s easy to neglect your hunting companion. Unfortunately, that can lead to frustration when fall rolls around. An out-of-shape dog can lead to handling issues as well as physical problems — all can result in anxiety, and in some cases, disaster. Although keeping your dog in hunting form …

Have you thought about trying backpacking? What do you take? Where do you go? Why are ladies tossing in bare minimal essentials in a bag, hiking into the backcountry and camping for many days at a time? Guest Meghan Manary has hiked the hills of Nebraska and in many different countries. Listen to why she backpacks and what essentials she packs along. Host Rachel Alliss of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is also a backpacker, and she, too, will …

By Allison Barg, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Research Graduate Assistant Read Part I: https://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2022/04/a-researchers-field-season-part-i/ Read Part II: https://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2022/05/a-researchers-field-season-part-ii/ One of the hardest and most interesting aspects of research is that answering one question generally leads to at least three new ones. For example: What is the best way to count pheasants? Answer: Males crow regularly during the breeding season, so we can listen for those calls and count how many we hear. Easy, right? But to make those counts useful, we …