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Snowflake Photography with Don Komarechka Don Komarechka is a connoisseur of snowflakes. Give him a random snowflake, and he’ll probably have a pretty good idea of how and why it likely formed, despite having no background in science. He can also tell you exactly how to take a macro photograph of that snowflake in dazzling detail, having photographed thousands. Komarechka, a self-taught professional photographer from Barrie, Ontario, has made a career out of photographing what he calls “the unseen world,” …

Ice fisherman Don Cox reflects on 25 years of fishing through the ice Don Cox of Mullen clearly remembers 28 years ago. He was at Pelican Lake on the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge ice-fishing with his brother-in-law, Dave Fehlhafer, near an angler they nicknamed Red Man. While Red Man was catching some of the largest bluegill Don has ever seen, Don and Dave weren’t doing so well, spending most of the time second-guessing their tackle and technique. Nowadays, Don doesn’t …

A forgotten family recipe When I was growing up, once a year my family would shoot a few rabbits while hunting pheasant and quail. The following weekend, using the rabbits, Mom would undertake what she called “the task of making hasenpfeffer.” Then, my uncles and older male cousins on the Steinauer side of the family would gather at our house for an evening meal of hasenpfeffer and gravy-smothered dumplings. This was followed by endless games of five-point pitch played for …

A distinctive finch with an unusual beak The red crossbill is a distinctive finch whose crooked beak usually catches one’s attention. Rather than being a deformity, the odd beak is an adaptation that the bird uses to extract its preferred food source – seeds from the cones of conifers such as pines, spruces and firs. Although its specialized beak may give the red crossbill an advantage in foraging on its preferred cone type, its relationship with conifer cone seeds is …

Nebraska’s Threatened and Endangered Species In spring 2004, I was attending a National Association of Interpretation certification and training program as a naturalist. The daily workshops were interesting, but as is often the case, the most memorable part of my trip took place during the meeting off-hours. I was spending the night in a cabin in the woods. I was also tired and very pregnant at the time, only a few weeks shy of my due date. As I was …

Cooked with red wine, this is the best chili you will ever taste. I would venture to say this is not only the best venison chili you will find, but the best chili you will ever taste, period. It differs from other chili recipes in its red wine base. Don’t spend a fortune on the wine, but get a robust variety like malbec or cabernet sauvignon that will hold up to the spices. Serve with a dollop of sour cream …

Let’s discuss the constants, myths, and what you can do to advance your white-tailed deer hunting experience during the rut. Look online, or watch outdoor television, and you’re bound to see or hear someone talking about “the rut,” one of nature’s most intriguing rituals as bucks and does appear more and more across the landscape. When exactly the rut takes place and precisely how deer – particularly whitetails – behave then is a source of great debate. Millions of dollars …

Nebraska offers a unique variety of upland hunting opportunities. The ultimate challenge? Bringing home a mixed bag of birds. Can you do it? Only one way to find out. Starting this fall, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, along with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, introduced the Nebraska Upland Slam. The concept is simple: harvest four birds – northern bobwhite quail, ring-necked pheasant, greater prairie-chicken and a sharp-tailed grouse – in Nebraska for an official certificate, pin, bragging rights and …

DiVentures in Omaha has become one of the largest scuba schools in the Midwest. As Dean Hollis began to think about how he wanted to spend his retirement, his thoughts kept returning to the water. Hollis grew up in Florida “on, in and under the water.” When a career with ConAgra brought him to land-locked Omaha, he continued to spend time scuba diving, swimming, boating and water skiing. When he retired as Conagra’s Chief Operating Officer in 2008, he imagined …

UNL students can now rent hunting equipment on campus. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is now offering hunting equipment rentals at its Outdoor Adventure Center to any registered student on campus. In addition to bike, hike, camping, climbing and paddling gear, student hunters can now rent pop-up blinds, layout blinds, turkey decoy or waterfowl decoy combinations from the university for a small fee: $3 per day or $6 per weekend (3 days). The equipment is available through a grant partnership between …