NEBRASKAland Articles

Just because ticks aren’t your favorite creatures doesn’t mean you can’t admire their life strategies. Story and photos by Chris Helzer I found a deer carcass one April day while walking around my family prairie. I’m not a trophy hunter, but I’m pretty sure my friends who are would have been happy to see it beneath their tree stand the previous fall. I don’t know how long the dead deer had been lying there. By the time I found the …

Flanagan Lake in Omaha offers anglers action-packed fishing in the spring. Story and photos by Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley “You call this a lake?” said my friend Hank Shaw as we unloaded out of the truck on a weekday morning in April. From the southwest parking lot near Fort and 168th streets, Flanagan Lake in Omaha looked little more than a pond. Hank didn’t know that the rest of the lake was obscured, and I had forgotten it. The last time I was …

By Gerry Steinauer, Botanist Like other nature photographers, I often return to a prairie or woodland for another round of photographs. Sometimes it is because Mother Nature does not cooperate — the light is bad or it is too windy to take close-up photos. Other times, the subjects do not cooperate. They won’t sit still, or I’m unable to creep close enough. Lastly, I occasionally do something that is mechanically boneheaded with my camera that results in poor photos or …

Rockhounds spend hours, days searching for rocks, minerals, artifacts and fossils. Story and photos by Renae Blum Over 35 years of searching Nebraska for rocks, minerals, fossils and artifacts, Charles Wooldridge’s biggest find wasn’t even his. It was his dog’s. Wooldridge — who goes by “Wooly” and lives in Lincoln — was in the north-central Sandhills, trying unsuccessfully to relocate an earlier find. And then his dog Hank, a 7-year-old Plott hound, began barking and wouldn’t stop. Hank was standing …

The work of wooden lure carver Vince Gewinner Story and photos by Jeff Kurrus Wood-carved praying hands for his mother and obscene gesturing fingers for his father. This is the talent, and personality, of Weeping Water creator Vince Gewinner. Yet despite the multitude of carvings he’s made — from recurve bows and backwoods utensil sets to keychain ceramics and home décor — his current passion is homemade fishing lures. But they’re not fishing lures to set on the shelf. They …

A scenic drive at Fort Robinson State Park has a colorful, and sometimes treacherous, history. Story and photos by Justin Haag Smiley Canyon Scenic Drive has long allowed visitors to immerse themselves in the grandeur of the Pine Ridge without leaving their vehicles. The winding road has surely brought some smiles to drivers — and, yes, some frowns in its early years. Believed to have been named for a family of Smileys that settled in the vicinity in 1893, the …

A Trophy from the Year Nebraska Banned Girls’ Basketball Tournaments By David L. Bristow, History Nebraska Jim Brogden was browsing an estate sale in Acworth, Georgia, when he noticed this beautiful trophy. It tells a story not only of a basketball team, but also of a generation-long reaction against girls’ and womens’ sports. Brogden bought the trophy and took it home. He knew nothing about it except the inscription: O C H S Invitation Tournament GIRLS BASKET BALL 1922 Won …

Trail cameras on the Platte River catches sandhill cranes on their bellies. Story and photos by Eric Fowler Do sandhill cranes sleep? On their bellies? In a wooded creekbottom? From what we know about the cranes that stop in the Platte River Valley in Nebraska each spring, none of those ideas seem to make sense. It certainly didn’t to Chris Helzer of the Nature Conservancy, whose tip on this seemingly odd behavior spurred me to spend two days in a …

A championship duck caller shares his methods for success. By Todd Mills It’s one thing to call in ducks from a blind, but to compete and earn a championship title, competitive callers have to excel at a much higher level. After a few years of attending classes, exchanging audio files with other callers, obsessively watching videos and driving my wife crazy by blowing nonstop in our basement, I entered the world of competition calling. In 2011, I competed in the …

In March, the millions of ducks that move through Nebraska are just as impressive as the gathering of sandhill cranes. By Eric Fowler When it comes to birdwatching in Nebraska in March, sandhill cranes get most of the love. But many don’t realize that a few miles south of the Platte River in the Rainwater Basin there is an equally impressive gathering of millions of ducks. The Rainwater Basin includes nearly 400 wetlands, ranging in size from a few to …