Flora & Fauna

As a longtime hunter, landowner and natural resources professional, I still just don’t get why some hunters feel the need to bait areas with artificially made materials/substances to bring game animals in to a particular area to be harvested within the confines of our laws/regulations (for info on Nebraska’s new baiting laws/regulations with reference to hunting, click here.) Why? Is it because it involves minimal effort and is cheap? Is it because you saw the flashy advertisement for the product …

Professors lead squirrel studies with broader applicability.  By Sarah Kocher You could say Wesleyan biology professors Cody Arenz and Gary Gerald have gone a little nuts. Nevertheless, the pair has been radio-tracking campus squirrels since a revamped entry-level biology course debuted in the spring semester of 2015.  The goal: field biology in an urban setting. “Being at Nebraska Wesleyan… it’s a challenge to just dart outside, watch some mountain lions and dart back inside in a three-hour lab period,” Arenz …

Wild bats. They get such a bad rep. Most likely it’s because they’re portrayed in popular culture and the media as scary, blood-sucking, rabid creatures of the night that live in dark, stank places. They are the subjects of creepy, Halloween tales and horror stories. Gosh darn, I think that’s a shame! As a resource professional, I view bats as a native, beneficial component of our natural world and so should you! In fact, I think they’re cool. No, check that, I think they’re beautiful! Look! So, here are 10 things you should know about …

Conservation Officer Rich Berggren of Waterloo, NE continues to seek information on a deer poaching incident that occurred recently in the Ponca Hills area of northern Douglas County. Here’s the news release done by Jerry Kane of Game and Parks concerning the details of the incident as well as trail/game camera photos of it. Game and Parks Seeks Information on Illegally Harvested Deer LINCOLN – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is seeking information involving a case of deer being illegally harvested …

“Laws change; people die; the land remains.” – Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.  Farmers, I am one of you. I am a landowner. I manage our nearly 150 year-old family farm here in southeastern Nebraska. No, I am not some crazy, wild conservationist just because I work for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. I am a crazy, wild conservationist because I am a progressive Nebraska landowner who has farmed his best ground and conserved the rest of it. Over the years I have …

SSSSsssss… A cool, slithering topic is on my weekly TV outdoor report this week. That’s because the popular “Snakes of Nebraska” weekend is upon us at the Ak-sar-ben Aquarium/Schramm Park State Recreation Area near Gretna, NE! See many of Nebraska’s 29 different species of snakes up-close! The featured presenter is none other than Nebraska’s own snake man – UNL herpetologist and good friend Dennis Ferraro. Find out more about this must-attend event for the whole family by tuning in to the …

“I am standing here in the middle of this field, and all I see is this grass, and sky, and it is effortless to breath.” – Source Unknown There is still a classic case of misrepresentation, rather a state of misconception happening with regard to the great state of Nebraska where I live. Just ask my new neighbors in Dundee Omaha! This blog post is for them and you to get an idea of just how Nebraska is such a state of diverse, …

It’ll be an exciting, highly informative hour of outdoor talk radio when Laura Stastny, Executive Director of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, Inc. based in Louisville, NE, visits The Great Outdoor Radio Show I host. The primary mission of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, Inc. is to rehabilitate injured, sick and orphaned native Nebraska wildlife and migratory birds for return to the wild. The organization is also a huge promoter of educating folks about the importance of wildlife, conservation and ecosystems as well as maintaining and restoring native wildlife habitat. …

If you live near some of our deciduous forests in eastern Nebraska, or if you are visiting there, you right now have an opportunity to experience an amazing and rare wildlife experience.  In fact I would rank this right up there with the annual sandhill crane migration, turkeys gobbling, elk bugling, or a surface-feeding frenzy of big wipers.  This is even more amazing because it only occurs once every 17 years! The year 2015 is the year of the emergence of …

“Pollination is one of the most important mechanisms in the maintenance and promotion of biodiversity and, in general, life on Earth. Pollination benefits society by increasing food, security and improving livelihoods.” – Convention on Biological Diversity, Sustaining Life on Earth.   We are in the midst of National Pollinator Habitat Week (June 15-21) here in Nebraska and elsewhere in this great country. I am promoting it and proud to say that our family farm in southeastern Nebraska is enrolled entirely …