Hunting

By Mick Jensen, Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioner, District 3 I had a really great day at the 2013 Rooster Road Trip near Orchard, NE.  Commissioner Lynn Berggren and I participated with NGPC staff and Pheasants Forever national board member Dick Bell in an exercise to showcase Nebraska public hunting areas. We hunted two medium-sized fields and with six hunters bagged 12 roosters and 8 quail in about 2½ hours. Dick and I had to make a quick trip to his …

I was informed there were some teal using my friend’s pond, so I decided a hunt was in order. On a crisp morning, I arrived an hour before daylight to set up. With a moderate breeze from the south, I put out six teal decoys, two mallards on a jerk line, and a Mojo teal and mallard. As the sky started to lighten I could see about 40 teal on the middle of the pond. They looked relaxed and in …

For me and my spaniels there are two time designations in the fall – BN & PT.  We are currently in the BN or Before November time period.  The BN period is often characterized by the mostly carefree time one spends outdoors pursuing critters during the early hunting seasons.  These hunts are often rather relaxing affairs with the idea that many are a prelude to the bigger or better hunts yet to come.  Common examples of hunting at this time can …

Like iron filings to a magnet – or teenie-boppers to a Justin Bieber concert – I find myself almost inexplicably drawn to the ring-necked pheasant.  As October nears its end my mind centers more and more on the bird that wears autumn in its feathers. Make no mistake I love the chaos of a bobwhite covey, sing praises for the noble prairie chicken and sometimes swear at the devious sharp-tailed grouse.  However, when the final Saturday of the month arrives I have tunnel vision for the …

My wife and had a great dog, Jazz, for 12 years. A female black Lab, she was an awesome companion and hunting dog. But as things go, we had to put her down a couple years ago. So here we were a year later picking from a litter of puppies whose daddy came from our Jazz. That was a year ago, and that little bundle of puppy has grown to be a big, rambunctious, slobbering hunting buddy. Her official name …

A few years ago while looking for a deer processor, I was referred to Todd Hanson in eastern Nebraska by some folks at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. I called Todd and asked him one very important question: “Do you guarantee that I will get my deer back if I send it to you?” “Absolutely,” he replied, and we have had a wonderful relationship since. I mostly have him grind my shoulders and hind quarters, but he also has …

Whether it’s running down a tree head first or standing on hind legs to inspect an attractive aroma, raccoon behaviors can be fascinating to observe. Though easily identified by their distinctive black mask and ringed tail, witnessing a raccoon in the wild can pose a challenge due to their nocturnal nature. In the city, however, the odds of catching a glimpse of these mammals are considerably greater. With a population density and life expectancy higher than that of their country …

While it seems logical that it would become warmer as soon as the sun rises on a winter morning, many hunters will tell you that the coldest part of their morning in a deer stand or waterfowl blind is when the sun rises. There’s good reason for this. Between sunset and sunrise, the Earth’s surface gathers no solar energy but continues to radiate away its stored heat and the temperature lowers. When the sun comes up at dawn, the incoming …

[ Submitted by Commissioner Mick Jensen] After my last turkey hunting excursion to Lynch, Nebraska with Commissioner Fisher, I decided to try again with friends from Atlanta, Georgia and Minneapolis, Minnesota. After getting permission from Gene and Kelsey Timperely, we headed back to ranch country. Andy Smith had joined me at Eppley Airfield and Jon Donner drove in from Minneapolis.  Preliminary scouting showed the flock likely to use the same roost area so we were set for the next morning!  …