Tag Archives: prairie chicken

Starting this blog post with a disclaimer.  This particular post ain’t going to be about fishing.  If that bothers you, quit reading now.  However, I realize most of you also enjoy our great outdoors in many ways including hunting.  Yes, I love to hunt too, but admittedly end up spending more time on the water, even in the fall. What I really want to do with this blog post is continue with a theme that I mentioned before Thanksgiving.  A …

The story of this weekend adventure actually started a year ago.  Late spring 2022 my wife and my cousin’s wife decided that they had never been to see the prairie grouse dance.  Each spring prairie chickens and sharptail grouse have a mating display where the males “dance” to attract females.  It is a spectacle.  I had seen prairie grouse performing their spring mating rituals in many of my travels and adventures in Nebraska, but I told the girls to make …

Prairie grouse dancing begins in mid-March and will last into May at a prairie near you. Read on for viewing locations. There are some things you just have to see to believe, and others you have to hear. Few provide a treat to both of those senses like watching prairie grouse perform their courtship dances in the spring. Sitting in a blind before first light, you will hear the birds fly into the lek before you can see them. When …

The thrill of the dance. When the Pine Ridge Rangers erected a lek viewing blind on the Oglala National Grasslands, I jumped at the chance to experience the dance of the sharp-tailed grouse. For years I had researched private and public blinds. Distance and weather concerns kept me home, but this blind was nearby. I packed blankets, camera, water and snacks and made my way to the blind. Flashlight in hand, I stowed my gear and settled in. Wrapped in …

Anyone can appreciate the mountains but it takes a true outdoors person to appreciate the Sandhills.    They are as beautiful as they are rugged.   Inviting yet unforgiving.    Gentle to the eye yet harsh to all who inhabit this rugged and scenic landscape.  Filled with incredible flora and fauna along with some of the coolest people Nebraska has to offer.   Each year I have the good fortune of heading out into the Sandhills, shotgun in hand, to chase sharp-tailed grouse and …