NGPC News

LINCOLN, Neb. – Ponca State Park will host its second Outdoor Cooking Camp May 3-5. The interactive camp includes a variety of specialty courses with hands-on instruction. Courses include campfire cooking, wild game sausage making, smoking meat and backyard barbecue, grilling techniques, fish preparation, canning venison, jerky making and dehydration, making strawberry preserves and Dutch oven cooking. Special nature-inspired programs for youth run concurrent with adult courses and include campfire cooking and safety, food art and wild edibles hike. The …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Outdoor fun awaits families at the Family Outdoor Discovery Program at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area on May 11. This spring celebration of Nebraska’s outdoors is free and runs 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Among the activities available for all ages and experience levels are shooting sports (shotgun, 3-D archery, aerial archery and air rifle), kayaking, fishing, dog field activities, campground games, sling shots and trapping. In addition, you can compete in a s’mores eating contest, learn about Nebraska’s …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Come to Lake Wanahoo State Recreation Area (SRA) on April 6 for the Wanahoo Eagle Extravaganza. The event will feature the lake’s nesting eagle pair, and it will be an opportunity to learn about the eagles that have made their home at the lake. Hosts from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have binoculars and spotting scopes available for visitors to view the pair of bald eagles nesting in a …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Natural resource officials in northwest Nebraska are turning to one of the oldest forms of seed dispersal to replace some of the countless trees and shrubs that were burned in the 2012 Pine Ridge forest fires. Blocks containing seeds of native trees and shrubs soon will be fed to the region’s wild animals, which are expected to “deposit” the seeds in remote areas of the region’s rugged landscape. Shelley Steffl of Chadron, the Nebraska Game and Parks …

LINCOLN, Neb. – A male mountain lion was shot and killed in the Pine Ridge in Dawes County on March 27 after the resident’s attempts to scare off the cat failed, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. The resident reported the incident to Game and Parks. The resident spotted the lion while walking along a creek near his home. He estimated that the lion was about 20 yards from him. He continued walking and the lion walked parallel …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is seeking information in an investigation of deer shot and left in Red Willow County. Between March 20 and March 22, three mule deer were shot and left near an abandoned farm northwest of Indianola. One of the deer was left alive but injured when a conservation officer investigated the site March 23. Anyone can provide information on this case by calling the Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers at 1-800-742-7627. Callers can remain …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Experience Platte River State Park in the spring with a daylong Beyond Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshop April 27. The workshop will include horseback riding for beginners, Dutch oven cooking and shooting skills (archery, shotgun and rifle). Participants must be at least 18 years of age. The $50 registration fee includes meals, but not camping or lodging. A park entry permit is required. Registration and fees are required by April 19. Download a registration form at: http://www.outdoornebraska.ne.gov/Education/Programs/bow/BeyondBOW/pdf/Horses.pdf. Contact …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will begin collecting walleye the night of April 1 at Sherman and Merritt reservoirs and the following week at Lake McConaughy, weather permitting. Closures and warnings for boaters and anglers again will be in place. Those are needed to keep fishing lures and boat props from becoming entangled in nets. Anglers and boaters must avoid Game and Parks boats and nets at all three reservoirs. At Sherman, waters within 150 feet …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Devin Sobotka of Lincoln Southeast High School set a state record with 290 points at the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) state tournament March 23 in Lincoln. Kora Shedenhelm of Omaha Mater Dei Academy repeated as the top girl scorer in the meet with 284 points. The tournament at the Lancaster Event Center drew 460 elementary, middle school and high school archers from 23 schools. The tournament was the culminating event in the state for …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Target shooting at Box Elder Wildlife Management Area (WMA), 5 miles southwest of Maxwell in Lincoln County, has been indefinitely prohibited by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, because of a recent unsafe target shooting incident there. No target shooting has been posted at Box Elder WMA and will be enforced by law enforcement authorities. Game and Parks will look at options for future target shooting on this area, as well as others near North Platte.