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I always tote my camera along wherever I’m going these days to capture glimpses of wildlife and so should you! This Thanksgiving holiday period I decided to bring my camera with me to our Thanksgiving family rendezvous with my in-laws who live on Kuester Lake located on the east side of Grand Island, NE. I was hoping to shoot some pics of waterfowl on the lake that I could share with you. I was fortunate. There were mallard ducks hanging around! Enjoy …

To me the week of thanksgiving means chasing pheasant.  And by this time of the season pheasants have become wily critters that make a living…well…staying alive.  In fact, it doesn’t take very long after opening day shots are fired for the roosters to begin to use some crafty ways of dodging the hunter – both two and four-legged.  This holds even more true in years when fewer young pheasants are on the landscape.  This is when a it’s time to …

LINCOLN – The following is a listing of Nebraska Game and Parks Commission events and important dates in December: Dec. 1 – Cornucopia of Crafts, Eugene T. Mahoney State Park (SP), Ashland, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 402-944-2523 Dec. 1 – Bobcat hunting and trapping season opens Dec. 1, 21-22, 26-30 – Roger G. Sykes Outdoor Heritage Education Complex open to public, Platte River SP, Louisville, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 402-471-5547 Dec. 1-31 – Antlerless elk hunting season Dec. 1-31 – Muzzleloader deer …

I know most of you will think I am crazy, but I am still on the water.  This past week has been nice and knowing this might be “the last hurrah” for my open-water fishing for the year, I have been taking advantage of every nice afternoon that I can.  Yes, I know hunting seasons are in full swing, and I will be doing that too; I also might get around to setting some steel again this fall/early winter.  But, …

Purchasing a hunting dog can do nothing but add to the pleasure of the sport – if done correctly. I have seen more than one dog point a covey a quail, wait for the flush, then point the first of many singles before the shooter has vested the first bird. On the other hand, I’ve also been on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, chasing a dog that refused to hunt or return to the …

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 …

I’ll admit, I’ve never figured myself to be much of a flower guy. Prior to this year, my nature photography has gravitated toward wildlife. I’m guilty of zooming past countless beautiful plants and flowers to fill the frame with whatever bird, mammal, reptile or other critter catches my eye. I’ve rarely stopped to shoot, let alone smell and identify, the roses. That’s changed. As nature photography, in a more broad sense, has become a big part of my job description, …

My job with the Game and Parks commission and NEBRASKAland has taken me to some incredible places throughout the Panhandle and beyond in the first six months. With more than 40 Commission properties within 160 miles of my home, there is a lot to see and photograph in this spacious region. That being said, it seems some unbeatable travel opportunities await me right before my nose. While I join others in the desire to set up camp at a location …

One thing I like is the sight of a fish coming over the side of a boat. That’s just one of the reasons I thoroughly enjoyed a boat ride Thursday with Al Hanson and Joe Rydell, fisheries biologists for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s northwestern district. Hanson, district supervisor, and Rydell were collecting data from the frame nets they had set in Whitney Lake the previous day, a process they use to keep tabs on fish populations at bodies …