Volume 85, Issue 7, 2007
August-September 2007
- Identifier:
- nela.2007_085_07
- Title:
- Volume 85, Issue 7, 2007
- Issue Name:
- August-September 2007
- Date Issued:
- 2007-08-01
- year:
- 2007
- Season:
- Summer
- PDF filename:
- NL_85.07_2007_Aug_Sep_Spreads_Entire.pdf
- Publisher:
- Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
- Format:
- Periodical
- volume:
- 085
- issue:
- 07
- number:
- 085.07
- Decade:
- 2000s
- Type:
- Rights Holder:
- Copyright Nebraskaland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, all rights reserved.
- Extracted Text:
-
A dark phase female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) rests on a spike of prairie blazing star
(Liatris pycnostachya) in a small prairie at Twin Lakes Wildlife Management Area in southeastern
Nebraska. Photo by Justin Wambold.
NEBRASKAland Magazine
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Volume 85, Number 7, August-September 2007
10 Boating – The Way We Were
Boating has dramatically changed in Nebraska over the last
100 years, and so have boating waters. BY JON FARRAR
20 The Clearwater Elk
A wandering young bull elk took up residence in northeastern
Nebraska farm country for a while and became quite the
tourist attraction. BY ERIC FOWLER
24 Is Your Dog Nebraska Field Ready?
Don’t wait until this fall to start your hunting preparations –
follow these simple guidelines to get your dogs ready for the
upcoming hunting season. BY RON GREEN, DVM AND LIBBY MILROY
30 Photographing Nebraska Outdoors
In this last of our five-part series, we take a look at some of
the tools that a professional photographer takes to the field.
BY MICHAEL FORSBERG
34 Women’s Wilderness Weekend
Three days each August, an outdoor workshop for women is
held on the banks of Harlan County Reservoir.
BY CHRISTY CHRISTIANSEN
40 Dog-day Cats – and Lots of White Bass
20
●
Fishing heats up along with the temperature in August. Go
after the right species to weather out dog days.
BY ROCKY HOFFMANN
34
●
44 Niobrara – a Park of Two Places
First established on an island at the mouth of the Niobrara
River in 1927, Niobrara State Park was moved to higher
ground in the late-1980s. BY JON FARRAR
8 Outdoor Business
30
●
Unwanted cedar trees are improving trout habitat.
49 Parks & Places
Ponca State Park – home of the Missouri River Expo.
Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Outdoor News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Portraits from the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Cover: The quiet boating times of the early 1900s are difficult to imagine today, their last
vestige being yellowed and dog-eared postcards. See story beginning on page 10.
Opposite: As days shorten in September, leaves start to take on their autumn colors in western
Nebraska, such as these ash trees along West Ash Creek in Dawes County. Photo by Bob Grier.
44
●
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
3
Comment
Comment
a Canon digital camera. Thanks
for considering these for
NEBRASKAland – my husband and I
enjoy your work very much.
Dianne Rosenquist
via e-mail
Headquarters
2200 N. 33rd Street
Lincoln, NE 68503
Phone (402) 471-0641
District Office I
East Hwy. 2, Box 725
Alliance, NE 69301
Phone (308) 763-2940
District Office II
524 Panzer St., Box 508
Bassett, NE 68714
Phone (402) 684-2921
Published by the
Nebraska Game and
Parks Commission
Director: Rex Amack
Assistant Directors:
Roger Kuhn, Kirk Nelson, Sam Sidner
Information & Education Administrator:
Doug Bauch
Commissioners
Chairman:
Gary Parker, Columbus
Vice Chairman:
Bill Zutavern, Dunning
2nd Vice Chairman:
George E. Hall, Bridgeport
James Ziebarth, Wilcox
Jerrod Burke, Curtis
Dr. Mark Pinkerton, Wilber
James Stuart, Jr., Lincoln
Ron Stave, Waterloo
Magazine Staff
Editor: Doug Carroll
Associate Editor: Jeff Kurrus
Art Director: Tim Reigert
Senior Editors: Jon Farrar, Ken Bouc
Regional Editors:
Eric Fowler, Bob Grier, Rocky Hoffmann
Contributing Editor: Michael Forsberg
Circulation: Donna Robinson
Photo Librarian: Sarah Johnson
NEBRASKAland
ISSN: 0028-1964
VOL. 85 / NO. 7
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2007
Published monthly, except for Jan./Feb. and Aug./Sept.
issues, by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, 2200
N. 33rd St., Lincoln, NE. Copyright 2007, all rights reserved.
Please address comments or questions to this address.
Periodicals postage paid at Lincoln, Nebraska, and other
locations. POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to
NEBRASKAland, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370.
NEBRASKAland is available on audio cassette from the
Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille
Service, Suite 120, 1200 N St., Lincoln, NE 68508. (800)
742-7691.
Rates: $18 for one year; $33 for two years; $44 for
three years. Nebraska residents must add
appropriate sales tax.
To subscribe call 1-800-NEBLAND (632-5263),
or go online to: NebraskalandMagazine.com.
For address changes and questions about your
subscription, e-mail donna.robinson@ngpc.ne.gov.
4 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Memphis Lake Memories
I just read Jeff Kurrus’s June 2007
NEBRASKAland article “Memphis
Lake - Both Past and Present” and it
brought back very good memories
for me, especially since he
referenced a paper by my mom,
Merna Washburn.
It has changed a lot since back
then, but Memphis Lake was a
wonderful place to grow up. We
would have our school picnics there
and had secret trails where we
would play. In high school, I worked
at the Snack Shack.
Before Platte River Park was built,
Memphis Lake was packed on
weekends. Campers would start
coming in on Thursdays to reserve
spots and if you weren't there early
on Friday you wouldn’t have a very
good spot, if you got a spot at all. In
the winter kids would ice skate there
and have a blast.
My dad, Don Washburn, and mom
built Don’s Bar. It had a grocery
store on one side with a bar/
restaurant on the other where my
mom would cook. My mom was a
schoolteacher, but wasn't teaching
during this time. They sold the bar
when I was around 18 months old.
Gosh I could just go on and on, but
I loved the town when I was growing
up. Those of us who grew up
together are still very close.
Thanks again,
Bev Hohensee
Ashland, Nebraska
Waxwing Visitor
Attached are recent photos of a
male cedar waxwing that was
perched and sunning himself in an
ash tree in rural Douglas County. I
took these just off my deck with
District Office VI
1617 First Ave.
Kearney, NE 68847
Phone (308) 865-5310
Omaha Office
1212 Bob Gibson Blvd.
Omaha, NE 68108
Phone (402) 595-2144
Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium
21502 W. Highway 31
Gretna, NE 68028
Phone (402) 332-3901
World Wide Web site: OutdoorNebraska.org
E-mail: ngpc@ngpc.state.ne.us
NEBRASKAland reader Brenda Capps photographed these two tom turkeys
fighting at Camp Maha Girl Scout Camp recently.
Battling Toms
I recently attended a nature
photography class with Mark Dietz
at the Camp Maha Girl Scout Camp
near Omaha and witnessed a battle
between two tom turkeys. It was
AWESOME!! I have several decent
photos that I printed off and thought
I’d share with you.
Brenda Capps
Lincoln, Nebraska
District Office III
2201 N. 13th St.
Norfolk, NE 68701
Phone (402) 370-3374
District Office IV
301 E. State Farm Rd.
North Platte, NE 69101
Phone (308) 535-8025
Diamond Willow Canes
I love the article you did on the
carving of diamond willow canes.
The art of carving canes and other
useful items is still alive all over
Nebraska and that is good to see.
Rod Termaat – cane carver, spoon
maker, and general wood junkie
Lincoln, Nebraska
walkingart.blogspot.com
Send your comments to:
Doug Carroll, Editor
NEBRASKAland Magazine
P.O. Box 30370
Lincoln, NE 68503
or e-mail doug.carroll@ngpc.ne.gov.
Please include your postal address
and telephone number.
Letters may be condensed and edited
for clarity. Photographs are
welcome and will be returned.
Story and photo submissions can be
sent to the same address. Include a
self-addressed stamped envelope for
mailed submissions. The publisher
assumes no responsibility for
unsolicited material.
Under federal and/or state law, discrimination is prohibited on the
basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, marital status, national
origin, disability or political affiliation. If you think you have been
discriminated against in any program, activity or facility by the
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission or want more information,
contact the Commission in Lincoln, NE, at (402) 471-0641 or the
Equal Opportunity Commission, Lincoln, NE, (402) 471-2024,
TTY/TDD (402) 471-4693).
Administration
Ted Blume (Adm.)
Craig Stover (Asst.)
Wes Loos (Asst.)
Rod Loos (Asst.)
Murray Johnson
Lincoln
471-5531
Lincoln
471-5532
Lincoln
471-5591
Ogallala (308) 284-8056
Lincoln
471-5003
Panhandle
Officer
City
Phone (308)
Jim Zimmerman (Sup.) Gering
436-7561
Walt Meyer
Chadron
432-4398
Scott Brandt
Gering
436-3418
Heath Packett
Gordon
282-2553
Dennis Thompson
Ogallala
284-6450
Dan Zuehlke
Ogallala
284-4815
Doug Pollard
Oshkosh
772-9950
Frank Miller
Valentine (402) 376-1183
Dan Kling
Whitney
432-8367
Southwest
Officer
City
Phone (308)
Roger Thompson (Sup.) N. Platte
532-9175
Ray Dierking
Brkn. Bow
872-3078
George Sund
Cambridge
697-4629
Michael Thome
Cozad
784-4362
Matt Andrews
Elwood
785-3025
Dirk Greene
Imperial
882-5328
Virgil Gosch
McCook
345-2185
Dudley Sorensen
N. Platte
532-0747
Rich Routh
Rep. City
799-2085
South-central
Officer
Jerry Pecha (Sup.)
Jeff Jones
Randy Pomplun
City
Phone (308)
Kearney
865-5327
Clay Center(402)762-3124
Fullerton
536-2987
Terry Brentzel
Darin Gress
Dale Johnson
Mark Reeves
Robert Finke
Richard Seward
Grand Is.
384-8296
Hebron (402) 768-2287
Kearney
237-1079
Loup City
745-0662
Milford (402) 761-3537
Ord
728-3115
Northeast
Officer
Tom Zimmer (Sup.)
Robert Kelly
Dale Davis
Ross Oestmann
Steve Oberg
Daniel Roberts
Jon Reeves
Marion Shafer
Pat George
Eric Wiebe
Tim Williams
Cory Krause
City
Phone (402)
Norfolk
371-6625
Albion
395-2538
Bassett
273-1700
Bloomfield
373-4412
Columbus
564-5937
Fremont
721-7852
Kennard
427-7378
Norfolk
371-2031
O’Neill
336-1588
Ponca
755-2566
Neligh
887-1335
West Point
372-6979
Southeast
Officer
Duane Arp (Sup.)
Sean McKeehan
William Krause
Jeremy TenKley
Mike Luben
Douglas Kramer
Dina Barta
Stacey Lewton
Levi Krause
Russell Mort
Dan Evasco
Jeff Clauson
City
Gretna
Ashland
Auburn
Beatrice
Colon
Lincoln
Lincoln
Lincoln
Louisville
Nebr. City
Papillion
Waterloo
Phone (402)
332-2965
944-4174
274-3789
228-1437
443-4278
466-9001
483-2358
476-0436
234-2212
873-5684
592-6733
359-5301
Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers 1-800-742-7627
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
5
Outdoor News
Outdoor News
Attention
Migratory Bird
Hunters...
HIP
t
Harves ion
t
a
m
Infor
m
Progra
Dove, duck, goose,
snipe, rail, coot and
woodcock hunters
must register with
the Harvest
Information Program
(HIP) before hunting
and must carry their
registration number
in the field.
HIP numbers for 2006-2007
hunting seasons are no
longer valid. Call the
toll-free number below to
register for the 2007-2008
seasons.
register online at the Nebraska Game
and Parks Commission’s web site:
OutdoorNebraska.org
or call:
1-888-634-8687
(Only residents under 16 years
of age are exempt)
6 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
DOUG CARROLL
You
Must
Get
HIP
Again!
These four peregrine chicks were hatched and raised in the nest box outside the
18th floor of the Nebraska State Capitol Building this summer.
Peregrine Falcons Named
Boreas, Notus, Eurus and Zephyrus
were the winning entries in the 2007
“Name the Chicks” contest for the
four peregrine falcon chicks hatched
from a nest box outside the 18th floor
of the Nebraska State Capitol
Building. Bess Ghormley, a
transcriber for the Nebraska
Legislature, won the contest by
suggesting the chicks be named after
the four wind gods of Greek
mythology that are ascribed to the
cardinal directions North, South,
East, and West. The names were
chosen from about 200 contest
entries submitted from people across
the U.S. and Canada.
Asian Clam Reports Needed
Anglers across Nebraska have
reported finding large numbers of
small clams in their favorite fishing
spots this year but are often
mistakenly identifying them as zebra
mussels. According to Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission rivers
and streams program manager Steve
Schainost, most are Asian clams, an
exotic species that first appeared in
the U.S. in the 1920s and has steadily
spread across the country. In the
mid-1990s they were discovered in
Nebraska and are now found
throughout the Platte and Missouri
river systems.
Asian clams are thick-shelled and
usually about the size of a nickel,
though a few can get up to 11/2 inches
across. Like zebra mussels, most
Asian clams are spread by people
whose boat bilges, livewells, and bait
buckets carry water contaminated
with clam larvae from one water
body to another.
Just as with zebra mussels, Asian
clams may be hurting Nebraska’s
native clams and mussels by
outcompeting them for food. They
can also be a problem for municipal
water treatment and power plants
after being sucked into a facility
where they grow and clog water lines.
Schainost asks anyone who finds
Asian clams to contact him at the
Commission’s office in Alliance, or
to contact their nearest Commission
office and report where and when
the clams were found.
Fire Restrictions on National
Forest Ground
In late-June Nebraska National
Forest Supervisor Don Bright
instituted “stage one” fire restrictions
on the western parts of Nebraska’s
national forest and grasslands. The
restrictions affect the Pine Ridge
District of the Nebraska National
Forest in Dawes and Sioux counties
and the Oglala National Grassland.
Under the restrictions, open fires
such as campfires or charcoal stove
fires are only allowed within
developed or improved Forest
Service recreation sites. However,
petroleum-fueled stoves, lanterns, or
heating devices are allowed if they
meet fire underwriter’s specifications
for safety. In addition, smoking is
restricted to enclosed vehicles or
buildings, developed Forest Service
recreation sites and areas at least
three feet in diameter that are clear
of all flammable material.
“With the forecast for warmer
than average temperatures through
September and the grasses already
cured out over large parts of the
grasslands, it’s important for everyone
to realize that fire season is here,” said
Brian Daunt, Acting Fire
Management Officer. “The main
purpose of the stage one fire
restrictions is to raise awareness to
the potential for wildfire and help
reduce the chances of human-caused
fires.”
For the remainder of 2007, there is
also a special order in place for
Nebraska National Forest land
requiring motor vehicles to remain
on designated roads within the
Spotted Tail area and the Roberts
Tract Fire area, where motor vehicle
travel has been prohibited since the
mid-1980s.
“We used an airplane to drop nearly
five tons of native grass seed on
parts of the Spotted Tail Fire south
of Chadron,” said Charlie Marsh,
Pine Ridge District Ranger. “The
native seed, in combination with the
natural recovery and well-timed
rains, has helped to stabilize many
of the steep slopes where the fire
burned intensely. We’re hoping for
more rains to help the plants build
their root systems before we open
the area to motorized traffic.”
Cross-country motorized travel on
Nebraska forest service ground is
due to be phased out in the near
future as part of National Forest
Service plans to allow vehicle travel
on designated routes or areas only.
Anyone interested in participating in
the process to decide which routes
and areas will be open for motorized
travel on the Pine Ridge Ranger
District or the Oglala National
Grassland should contact Charlie
Marsh at (308) 432-4475 and request
to be added to the Travel Management
mailing list.
Who Won?
Conservation officers routinely issue
citations while performing their duties, but the
number varies by area and time of year. Some
of the least popular citations I write involve
boating violations. I don’t know how many
times I’ve heard “I wasn’t really hurting anything.”
We try to keep people and property from getting
“hurt,” because when it occurs on water, small
mistakes can be fatal.
Two of the more common violations I write are excessive speed and
improper boat registration and/or numbering. Excessive speed for the
circumstance can include close proximity to people, vessels and boat
launching areas, and the need to prevent such actions should be
apparent. Proper boat numbers and current registrations are necessary
for identification, among other things, by the public as well as law
enforcement. Many of these citations can be handled by waiver – the
offender does not have to appear in court, and usually receives a
minimal fine. When the case goes to court it’s not always as obvious
as one would think as to who wins, the State or the defendant.
This first case involves a man riding a personal watercraft through a
restricted speed area near a boat ramp. The operator apologized for
his actions three times and said he wasn’t paying attention, so I was
surprised when he asked for a trial. During the trial, two officers
testified that the man was doing 30 mph. in the 5 mph. area and the
defendant did not question either officer. The defendant did not present
any evidence at all, not even a statement, and was found guilty. The
judge, however, cut his fine to forty percent of the waiver amount
because of problems with the court equipment that extended the trial
by five to 10 minutes. Since the defendant, who had absolutely no
defense, had his fine lowered at a rate of $90 per hour, it’s difficult to
say he lost.
The second case involves an unregistered motorboat. The operator
did not have any paperwork showing ownership aboard and the
validation sticker said the registration had expired the previous year.
Since this man probably would qualify as a boat dealer, I expected
him to pay his $25 fine, then pay $43 for dealer numbers. Instead he
decided to manipulate the system to save the $25 fine. He still paid
the county treasurer the $43 in registration fees and paid nearly $500
in taxes, interest and penalties. The State definitely lost this case as it
was dismissed. I’m not sure how the defendant won by paying nearly
$500 in additional fees.
– Rich Routh, Conservation Officer, Republican City
Lewis and Clark State
Recreation Trail Open
A 31/2 mile long trail at Lewis and
Clark SRA is currently open for
hiking, mountain biking, and
horseback riding. The dirt-surfaced
trail, between eight and 10 feet wide,
is in heavy woods except for about
one-half mile following the high
bluffs overlooking the lake. “We
plan to add about three more miles
of trail,” said Daryl Holmberg,
superintendent at Lewis and Clark
SRA. “It is just a great place to get
away.” ■
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
7
Outdoor Business
Plum Creek
Unwanted cedar trees are improving trout habitat.
By Jon Farrar
Fisheries biologists are using cedar trees to narrow the channel of Plum Creek,
resulting in deeper, faster, cooler water and better trout habitat.
arely are two problems solved
with the same simple solution.
That is proving to be the case
on Plum Creek Valley Wildlife
Management Area (WMA)
southwest of Johnstown in Brown
County, where a National Wild Turkey
Federation grant to remove invasive
cedar trees to enhance terrestrial
wildlife habitat is also improving trout
habitat.
In March 2005, fisheries and
wildlife biologists from the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission’s
Bassett office began anchoring cedar
trees on Plum Creek’s shorelines to
accomplish several goals, all leading
to improved trout habitat.
“When the Commission acquired
the area in 1999,” said fisheries
biologist Andrew Glidden, who
initiated and heads the project, “that
stretch of Plum Creek had a long
history of overgrazing. There were
sloughed off banks and a heavy load
of sediment in the creek. Some
stretches of the creek were long, flat
chutes 20 to 30 feet wide but only
three or four inches deep, with a
PHOTO BY JON FARRAR
R
8 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
roiling sand bottom. It was not
trout habitat. The first few years we
sampled the creek on the wildlife
area, we never saw a trout.”
For several years after the WMA was
purchased, it was not grazed and its
grasslands allowed to recover. Runoff
into the stream was significantly
reduced, and lush bank vegetation
began draping over the creek again,
resulting in cooler water and protected
retreats for trout.
“In about the sixth year,” district
fisheries supervisor Joel Klammer
recalled, “we found four trout when
we sampled the area. We were starting
to see a few gravel beds develop and
some aquatic vegetation in the
streambed. In places the channel had
narrowed as vegetation stabilized the
banks. We began to see more meanders.
And we thought, ‘Hey, maybe we
could speed this process along.’”
The plan was deceptively simple
and inexpensive. At strategic locations
along the creek bank where channel
modifications were desirable, workers
cut some of the cedar trees that were
being removed so they fell into the
stream, leaving them partially attached
at the trunk to anchor them in place.
Where bankside cedars were not
available, they were cut nearby and
anchored along the bank with steel
posts and cable. All work is being
done under a nationwide 404 permit
from the Corp of Engineers.
The results were dramatic and
immediate. Within hours of anchoring
cedars along the shoreline, sand began
forming small bars immediately
downstream, further narrowing the
channel. Within a few weeks vegetation
had colonized the sandbars. While the
partially submerged trees provided
immediate habitat and attracted
insects, a food source for trout, that
was not their most important function.
“The cedars act like a wing
deflector,” Glidden said. “They
changed the direction of the current,
creating meanders with alternating fast
and slack water downstream. With the
creek channel more narrow and the
same volume of water, the stream
became deeper and faster, with cooler
water and better trout habitat.”
“The increased velocity also scours
sand from the stream bottom, exposing
gravel bars, essential spawning beds
for trout. And by constricting and
diverting the water, the cedar trees
made Plum Creek more meandering.
We added shoreline. In either standing
or flowing water, the more shoreline
you have, the better the fishery.”
Only two years into the five-year
project, today that section of Plum
Creek ranges in width from four to
10 feet. It has deep pools where the
channel runs knee-deep or deeper and
riffles only a few inches deep. All of
these steam components are essential
for trout habitat.
The lower reach of Plum Creek has
long supported trout populations.
Until a few years ago, both rainbow
and brown trout were stocked
annually above and below Plum Creek
Valley WMA. About four years ago
the fisheries biologists found both
species were naturally reproducing, so
stocking was suspended.
The south fork of Plum Creek is
relatively short, born of groundwater
seeps and springs originating not
many miles from the WMA. Its waters
are cold and capable of supporting
trout. The north fork originates from
the lake country of east-central Cherry
County, and as a consequence carries
warmer water. They merge just
upstream from the WMA.
Klammer said the creek flowing
through the wildlife area is probably
marginal for trout because of the
water temperature. Neither biologist
expects this stretch of Plum Creek to
be as good a trout stream as nearby
Long Pine Creek.
“We know that by narrowing the
channel we can decrease water
temperature, expose gravel beds
and improve conditions for natural
recruitment of both trout species,”
Glidden said. “But our main goal is to
improve the health of the stream and
the area as a whole.”
Both biologists believe the segment
of Plum Creek passing through the
WMA will one day be good enough
that a fishermen can go there with the
expectation of catching trout. ■
★
Plum Creek Valley WMA has both
woodlands and grasslands, 1,320 acres
in all. Access is by foot only. There are
four parking areas. In addition to the
stream there is a small pond on the
southern portion of the area with
rainbow trout. The area is located
1½ miles west of Johnstown on U.S. 20,
then 1½ miles south on a county road.
Get Ready to
Hunt this Fall
Buy Your Nebraska Hunting
Permits Online!
Visit our secure web site to
quickly and conveniently
purchase fishing, hunting and
park permits online using your
Visa or Mastercard.
Online permit purchase is
safe, hassle-free and there is
never a checkout line. Simply
choose the permits you want,
pay for them, download and
print. And, you are on your
way to Nebraska’s great outdoors.
www.OutdoorNebraska.org
NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
9
B
OATING
the way we were
By Jon Farrar
Boating has dramatically changed in Nebraska over
the last 100 years, and so have boating waters.
T
he quiet boating times of the
early 1900s are almost
impossible to imagine today,
their last vestige being
yellowed and dog-eared photo
postcards from a time when men wore
straw boater hats and women wore long
white dresses, when boating was nearly
as silent as the photographs of it. In
those days there were two means of
propelling most boats in Nebraska – an
oar on the starboard side, an oar on
the port side. The only sound was a
rhythmic whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Nebraskans have always had a
powerful affinity for water, particularly
for irrigation and power generation. But
they also sought water for recreation,
perhaps because we are a prairie state,
not a water-rich state, at least not on
the surface – no seashores, no Great
Lakes, not a “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”
Nebraska’s only natural lakes were
found in the Sandhills, the Rainwater
Basin and backwater oxbows along
larger rivers. Before 1900, and for some
years after, millponds were sprinkled
across the state wherever flowing water
could be harnessed to power the
gristmills used to grind grain into flour.
Millponds near small towns and cities
were popular for fishing, boating and
ice skating; and ice was harvested from
many during winter months. Millponds
were often sites of summertime
Chautauquas – community-based
cultural events where lectures, dance,
music, drama and other “cultural
enrichment” were offered. Many revelers
pitched wall tents in tree groves near
the water for several days, some for a
week or two, and boating was the most
popular recreation.
Some small lakes in Nebraska were
A postcard mailed in 1909 shows merry mariners enjoying their inboard-motor launch on Carter Lake on Omaha’s northern edge.
created specifically for recreation, such
as when J.B. Heartwell dammed a
small Hastings creek and dredged a
lake behind it in 1880. Schimmer’s
Lake near the Platte River southwest of
Grand Island was even grander. In 1898,
Martin Schimmer excavated sand and
dirt to construct an earthen and log
dam on a diversion of Wood River.
Even before the lake’s construction the
area was the site of a tavern, hotel and
ballroom. Once the lake filled, summer
cabins and boathouses sprouted up and
The W.H. Mullins Company’s 20-foot
“Auto Boat” with a seven-horsepower
inboard motor sold for $990 in 1915.
10 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
for decades it was the place for Grand
Islanders to fish, boat and catch a lake
breeze on sultry summer days. A flood
washed out most of the dam in 1942
however, and by 1952, Schimmer’s
Lake resort passed into history.
Modest, early day impoundments
storing water for irrigation also provided
recreation, such as Pibel Lake and Lake
Ericson in Wheeler County. Small
resorts catering to anglers and boaters
immediately appeared on the shores of
both lakes and others like them across
the state. Lake Ericson was created in
1895 by damming the Cedar River to
store irrigation water. Stocked by the
Nebraska Fish Commission, it was
soon full of largemouth bass, including
many four- to six-pounders.
“Sportsmen began to flock in,” A. Dahl
wrote to the Omaha World-Herald in
1903, just after the original dam
washed out. “Up till this spring it has
been a favorite resort for sportsmen all
over the state.” The dam was soon
rebuilt, the lake refilled and Lake
Ericson became an even more desirable
destination, with electric lights, a
clubhouse, cottages and campgrounds
for “pleasure seekers and anglers.”
GRAND RESORTS
Unquestionably the grandest early
day boating resort in Nebraska,
challenged only by Lincoln’s Capitol
Beach (a natural, saline lake on the
western edge of Lincoln), was Carter
Lake on the northern edge of Omaha.
The large oxbow lake formed when the
Missouri River abandoned its former
channel and shifted east in the early
1870s. Because state boundaries had
already been drawn, Carter Lake,
although on the west side of the
Missouri River, legally remained part of
Iowa. In the late-1800s and early 1900s,
it was locally known as Lake Nakomis,
Lake Nakoma or Cut-Off Lake. By the
close of the first decade of the 1900s
and since, it has been called Carter Lake.
Even into the early years of the
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
11
PHOTO COURTESY OF RED DEER HUNTING CLUB
Pressed-metal duck boats were popular, and used by Red Deer Hunting Club members in Cherry County.
The grandest boating resort in Nebraska was Carter Lake at Omaha. The Rod and Gun Club boasted 635 members in 1907.
1900s, Carter Lake was a popular
shooting ground for Omaha sportsmen,
but as the city crept closer it became a
resort for anglers and boaters. In its
heyday, Carter Lake was dotted with
sailboats, most owned by members of
the Omaha Yacht Club, and in the
late-1880s with racing boats of the
Omaha and Council Bluffs Rowing
Association. There were even houseboats
and launches powered by inboard
engines. Rowboats, though, were far
and away the most popular water
transportation.
“There is more real outdoor sport out
at Cut-Off lake to the square foot than
is to be found in about any similar
body of water in the world,” Omaha
World-Herald sportswriter Sandy
Griswold wrote in 1901, “and even yet
a comparatively few of the citizens of
Omaha know its sources of enjoyment.
And yet there are hundreds of sportsmen
and pleasure seekers who resort there,
even at this early day in the spring and
a half day on its classic shores is a treat
incomparable. Aside from the shooter
there were fishermen, frog catchers
and pleasure seekers in flotillas of sail
and row boats dotting the waters
everywhere, and the scene was as lively,
picturesque and interesting as one could
well imagine. Often in the cool of an
evening young couples go out to Cut-Off
and spend an hour or two rowing up
and down, happy in their seclusion.
Here troths have been plighted and
castles built in the air.”
The most prominent stakeholder in
Carter Lake boating was the Omaha
Rod and Gun Club. “The newly
organized Omaha Rod and Gun club
is undoubtedly destined to achieve
wonders,” Griswold reported in 1905.
“Already it is flourishing like a green
bay tree and has a membership of 175.
The club intends to build a commodious
club house at Courtian [Courtland]
Mill ponds, such on the Blue River at
Beatrice, left, were scattered across the state
and popular boating and fishing waters.
12 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Beach. It will include boating and
bathhouses, shooting boxes and angling
facilities and will be modern and up to
date in all details.” By 1907, Griswold
reported the club had 635 members
with 14 sailboats, and motorboats were
common.
“There is great activity among the
sea dogs at Lake Nakoma,” Griswold
wrote in 1908. “Every day when the
sun shines hot and when it drops
from the zenith, after laboring hours
downtown, the busy mariner is putting
things in shape for the navigation of
the classic waters… On the shore the
ship carpenters are hammering away on
last year’s craft and the shore cabins
are being rapidly reared or transformed
into structures of increased comfort and
comeliness.”
By the 1910s, Carter Lake’s tranquil
waters reverberated with the din of
internal combustion engines, both from
the large launches and increasingly from
small boats powered by outboards.
“Few people…realize to what extent
motor boating has become in
Nebraska,” Fred Goodrich, president of
the Walter G. Clark sporting goods
house, told Griswold in 1911. “The
Rod and Gun club up at Carter lake
own scores of them, and every lake in
the state of any considerable dimensions
is dotted with them.” As the boating
season began the following year,
Goodrich predicted: “We are going to
have our greatest epoch in aquatics on
Nebraska waters this summer,” and that
“there never was anything like the
demand for boats, canoes, skiffs, rowing
sculls, yachts, launches and craft of all
kinds.”
Early day boating on Carter Lake
and Capitol Beach, though, was the
exception in Nebraska. Elsewhere there
was not water deep enough or expansive
enough for sailboats and launches, nor
the urban population to support vendors,
and perhaps not the wealth and
recreational time for elegant boating
found in metropolitan areas. With the
exception of millpond rowboating by
young lovers, boating across the rest of
the state was mostly utilitarian by
anglers and waterfowl hunters.
STORE-BOUGHT BOATS
An array of manufactured boats was
available during the early 1900s.
Among the most prolifically advertised
in sporting magazines of the time were
the Racine Boat Mfg. Company of
Muskegon, Michigan; the Thompson
Brothers Boat Company of Peshtigo,
Wisconsin, and Cortland, New York
(acquired by the Chris Craft
Corporation in 1962); and the W.H.
Mullins Company of Salem, Ohio.
Such companies manufactured and sold
everything from canoes, rowboats,
10-foot sneak boats and sailboats to
24-foot launches and 80-foot yachts.
Some inboard launches, yachts and
sailboats plying the waters of Carter
In addition to
large launches
and small
pressed-metal
hunting and
fishing boats, the
Mullins Company
manufactured
canoes with a light
sheathing of wood
covered with
waterproof canvas.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
13
A 1912 Mullins catalog illustration shows a cross-section, “phantom view” of one of its launches, revealing “airtight compartments, silent under-water exhaust system,” and “automobile seat and steering wheel.”
Lake and Capitol Beach during the
early 1900s were no doubt
manufactured by those companies.
The W.H. Mullins Company produced
a full line of pleasure boats, all
equipped with “air-tight compartments”
making them “virtually unsinkable.”
Mullins duck boats were popular with
Nebraska waterfowlers and frequently
appear in early 1900s photos. Mullins
manufactured the 14-foot Get-There
Duck Boat ($50 in 1915) with a
36-inch beam and weighing about
85 pounds; and the Bustle ($64 in
1915) that was 10 inches wider, making
it “a very steady boat to shoot or cast
from.” The 1915 Mullins catalog
featured several 14- to 15-foot boats for
fishing, each with square sterns to
accept increasingly popular outboard
motors. The 14-foot Izaak Walton
Fishing Boat had both a square stern
and bow, and in appearance looked
much like today’s aluminum johnboats.
Portability was an important
consideration during those decades
when roads into the state’s lake country
were often little more than trails.
Beginning in 1890, the Acme Folding
Boat extensively advertised its portable
boat in outdoor magazines: “When the
ducks are flying, simply strap your
rolled-up folding boat to the running
board of the flivver – get your gun,
boots and coat – and you’re off. When
you reach the river or duck pond the
boat is ready for the water in a mighty
few minutes.” The boat weighed a mere
45 pounds but was claimed to safely
Most towns of any size once had a millpond that was the hub of aquatic recreation. The above postcard was mailed in 1907.
14 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
carry 600 pounds on the water.
Acme’s folding boats were popular
enough to spawn numerous other
takedown boats from the early 1900s
into the 1940s – such as King Folding
Boats; the Fellows & Stewart Fold Flat
boat; and the Kalamazoo, a canvascovered folding duck boat. One of the
most curious takedown boats for hunting
and fishing to find its way to Nebraska
waters was the three-piece, galvanized
iron Taifun boat manufactured by the
Alfred C. Goethel Co. of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Weighing slightly more
than 100 pounds and 12 feet in length,
the front and back sections were sealed
air chambers that neatly dovetailed like
keystones into the middle section.
Water pressure kept the sections snuggly
locked together. By the 1930s, even
more untraditional boats were being
advertised for the sportsman, such as
the Inflatex, essentially a rubber raft
with “inner tubes of heavy-duty latex
rubber” protected by an outer casing of
16-ounce canvas.
Aluminum boats began claiming
more of the market following World
War II, especially beginning in the
1960s. Alumacraft Ducker Boats were
popular with marsh hunters, and some
are still being used today on Sandhills
lakes. They were advertised as providing
“a solid, roomy shooting platform for
2 men,” to be tough enough to break
ice, weigh only 67 pounds and “Can’t
rot, rust or dry out!” Boats made of
plywood also became popular after the
war, particularly for pleasure craft, in
part because they could be manufactured
more cheaply with less skilled labor.
Perhaps the most elaborate water resort outside of Omaha and Lincoln was Schimmer’s
Lake southwest of Grand Island, built on a diversion of Wood River.
Plywood had been around since 1905
but not widely used until the mid-1930s,
when a waterproof adhesive was
developed. The use of plywood
mushroomed during World War II,
proving its worth in gliders and PT
boats, and after the war for pleasure
boat construction.
CHEAPER HOMEMADE
With few exceptions, boats found
across Nebraska in the first half of the
twentieth century were small, powered
by oars and later by small gasoline
motors. Particularly in rural areas,
many were hand-fashioned. It was
common for small town lumberyards to
keep their workers busy during slow
winter months by building wooden
boats for hunters, anglers and resorts.
Perhaps nowhere in the state were
small boats as extensively used as in
the Sandhills lake country. Because
most Sandhills lakes are fringed with
dense bands of cattail and bulrush, it
was, and is, nearly impossible to hunt
ducks or fish without a boat. About the
only alternative was to run a team of
horses into the lake as far as they
would go and fish from a wagon
(literally a horse-powered boat), which
was done on Dads Lake in Cherry
County and probably other lakes with
firm, sandy bottoms.
During the early 1900s, Sandhills
lakes attracted hunters and anglers by
the droves from rural towns, from
Omaha and Lincoln, and from other
states across the country. Few brought
their owns boats. From 1900 into the
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
15
Pibel Lake, near Ericson in Wheeler County, was created to provide water for irrigation in 1895, and immediately became a resort for
campers, boaters and fishermen. Today, Pibel Lake is a state recreation area. The postcard above was mailed in 1909.
1930s, hunting and fishing clubs formed
on the larger lakes, and maintained
their own flotilla. Sportsmen not as
well stationed in life rented from
seasonal resorts operated by local
people. During the early 1900s, start-up
ranchers often supplemented their
income by accommodating sportsmen,
including boat rentals. For a modest fee
a rancher or ranch hand could be hired
to load boats and sportsmen on a wagon
and deliver both to secluded waters.
For most it was more convenient and
cheaper to rent a boat than to own and
transport one. In the early 1900s, for
example, boats and a pair of oars were
rented for a dollar a day at Wendler’s
hunting and fish resort on Rat Lake in
Cherry County.
While few locally made boats were
comely to the eye, they served their
purpose. Most were 12 to 16 feet in
length, narrow and nearly canoe-shaped,
and were flat-bottomed with a pointed
bow and square stern. Typically they
were made of cedar or redwood, often
with sides fashioned from one board
14- to 18-inches wide, and flooring of
16 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
two-inch or four-inch boards. Seams
were caulked, or tarred with roofing
blackjack and covered with strips of
galvanized sheet metal held in place
with closely spaced galvanized nails.
Most were little more than elongated
mortar boxes, but they floated and were
inexpensive. By the 1920s, commercial
metal boats were replacing many
wooden rowboats at Sandhills resorts
and on other Nebraska waters.
Even on big waters like the Missouri
River, homemade boats were the rule
during the early 1900s, probably for
the same reason as in the Sandhills lake
country.
“We built‘em out of wood,” Carl
“Rudy” Fick (1902-1990) said in a
1988 interview. Fick grew up in Blair,
hunting and fishing on the Missouri
River and was a state game warden in
the 1930s and 1940s. In his youth, and
before outboard motors, he customarily
rowed three or four miles upstream in
the dark to reach his favorite sandbar
for waterfowl hunting. “I built my own
boats, I could do one in a couple of
days,” he said. “The lumberyard here
would get us redwood. They’d get ‘em
in 20-foot length boards. I worked on
the ferryboat when I was a kid and that
old guy was a boat builder and he give
me my start in boat building. And I
built them for a lot of other guys too. I
always tried to keep an 18-foot boat,
but most of ‘em wanted a 16-foot.
There was no metal boats to buy at that
time that I know of, so all we had here
on the Missouri River were boats that
we built ourselves.” Fick’s boats were
flat-bottomed, the seams sealed with
caulking compound, and then painted.
“I built boats from about 1918 on,”
Fick said, “until tin boats got popular
and then I quit.”
Even though commercially
manufactured boats and metal boats
became increasingly common on the
Missouri River from the 1940s on,
hunters and fishermen grudgingly parted
with the their locally made wooden
boats. Charles Livingston Sr. of Sioux
City, Iowa, started hunting the
Newcastle area of the Missouri River
with his brothers in the 1940s. He said
many hunters and fishermen bought
Sunday afternoon boaters found watery respite even in Nebraska’s semi-arid western counties. The 1909 postcard above tells of the simple
pleasures of standing water and a homemade boat in the scenic setting of the Pine Ridge’s rugged butte country.
their boats from Wayne Ross,
a policeman in South Sioux City who
built boats on the side.
“He built those boats for years over
there in South Sioux,” Livingston
recalled in a 1995 interview.
“Everybody had ‘em. They were narrow
enough you could use oars. The bottom
was pretty flat but it flared up, and then
the sides would come up to a point.
Most of them were 16-foot boats.
Nobody had anything bigger in those
days. Usually when you took them out
of the water over the winter you’d have
to fill ‘em up with water and let ‘em
swell up again [before using them the
next spring]. We run 10-horse
Johnson’s on them. Later on we started
to put fiberglass on them, went over
the wood with fiberglass, but it really
didn’t last. You get a little water under
it and you had big pieces of it peel
off.” Many of Ross’s boats were still
running the Missouri River in the
early 1960s.
Following World War II, the demand
for pleasure crafts mushroomed and
boat and outboard motor construction
technology moved in new directions.
The fine woods once used in boat
construction were scarce and expensive
and the cost of labor to build them
prohibitive, leading to the use of new
materials and boats that could be
assembled more quickly. Marine
plywood finished with waterproof
resins became more common, followed
by molded fiberglass and plastic.
“THROW THE OARS AWAY!”
Portable boat motors appeared in the
United States at least as early as 1896.
Cameron B. Waterman assembled his
first outboard motor in 1905 using a
Curtis motorcycle engine. While
functional, it was air-cooled and vibrated
excessively. Within two years Waterman
had refined his invention and produced
25 water-cooled outboards, essentially
the first commercial production of
outboards in the U.S. In 1914, the
Waterman Porto Motor was advertised
as the “most power for the price” and
the “most power for the weight.” The
1914 model weighed 59 pounds and
was rated at three horsepower. By the
end of 1915, his company had sold
more than 30,000. By 1921, though,
the company was out of business,
unable to compete with the new
Evinrude outboards.
Ole Evinrude’s inspiration to produce
an outboard motor, so the story is told,
came from wanting to satisfy Bess’s
(then his wife-to-be) craving for a
double-dip ice cream cone. Evinrude
rowed several miles to an ice cream
parlor across the lake from where they
were picnicking. Of course the ice
cream melted before he returned and
his thoughts turned to outboard motors.
Evinrude’s prototype motor was a
water-cooled, single cylinder, two-cycle
engine producing 1½ horsepower and
weighing 65 pounds. Production of the
Evinrude Detachable Rowboat Motor
began in 1909. Later a two-horsepower
motor weighing 50 pounds was
produced and claimed to push a rowboat
at eight miles an hour or a canoe at
12 miles an hour.
Evinrude outboards soon dominated
the market. It wasn’t just that their
outboards were probably the best on
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
17
The Waterman outboard motor was first marketed in the U.S. in 1907. Evinrudes,
Johnsons and others made by short-lived companies, such as Callie, quickly followed.
the market, it was the company’s
extensive advertising that sold the
product. “Don’t row! Throw the oars
away!” was the company’s long-running
advertising line. Evinrude outboards
were not seriously challenged until
1921, when three brothers—Harry, Lou
and Clarence Johnson—introduced the
lightweight (35 pounds), nearly vibration
free, Johnson outboard and pioneered
the use of aluminum castings to reduce
the motor’s weight.
Nearly from the beginning,
manufacturers hawked their outboards
as a way for sportsmen to get to the
best hunting or fishing places first. A
1912 Evinrude advertisement read:
“Instead of tugging at the oars against
the waves and current up to where the
birds flock, clamp on an Evinrude
Detachable Rowboat Motor to the stern
of your boat or skiff and get up there
easily. You’ll avoid that tiresome rowing
up and down, get your blind out earlier,
have more time to shoot, follow faster
and return quicker—with more birds.”
Outboards were quickly adopted by
those who could afford them, including
Omaha beer brewer Charlie Metz,
who was using one on Cody Lake in
Cherry County as early as 1913.
Rudy Fick, and probably many other
Missouri River hunters, bought their
first outboard motors in the 1920s. “I
had the first outboard motor in Blair, a
little old Johnson,” Fick said, “an eight,
18 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
or nine or 10 horse, something like
that. They had ELTO (Evinrude Light
Twin Outboard Motor Company, a
company started by Ole and Bess
Evinrude in 1920 after selling their
interest in the original Evinrude
company in 1914), and an Evinrude
come out before, but they had a rudder
on the back, they didn’t turn the whole
motor, they weren’t worth nothing, just
a little better than nothing. You’d crank
them on top, and you always had sore
knuckles where it kicked back.”
Fick’s first Johnson outboard cost
him $180. “They were good motors,
those Johnsons, in those days they were
the best then,” Fick recalled. “I’d hook
it on the side of my old Model T. The
door didn’t open on the driver’s side of
that Model T, so I could hook it right
on there. That’s the way I hauled it. It
was handy.”
Outboards were heavily promoted as
essential equipment for sportsmen in
outdoor magazines, even during the
depression years of the 1930s.
Sportsmen who couldn’t really afford
to buy a motor were even encouraged
to “put one on layaway” so they did not
need to suffer without. “Sportsmen will
no more think of being without a motor
than without a fishing rod or gun,”
Hugh Grey wrote in the February 1939
issue of Hunting and Fishing magazine.
“Today, more and more sportsmen are
learning that the outboard motor is no
longer the greasy, sputtering imp of
a generation ago, but a spotless,
gleaming genie which, like the one in
Arabian Nights, will do their bidding
instantly and silently in response to a
rub on the ‘magic lamp’ of the starting
handle.” Grey wrote that 75 percent of
the craft marketed by boat manufacturers
at that time were “designed with the
anticipation that they will be driven by
an outboard motor,” and “prices have
tobogganed until today the cost of a
modern outboard is well within the
pocketbook of any sportsman.”
During World War II, American
manufacturers of boats and motors
converted to wartime production and
the domestic supply essentially vanished.
After the war, the public’s pent-up
desire for possessions and recreation
was unleashed. American sportsmen,
now with money in their wallets,
scrambled to make up for lost time.
Innovations and improvements made
during the war immediately found their
way into recreational outboards. The
1949 Johnson Sea Horse model QD
introduced almost all features found in
today’s outboards.
Even in the early 1900s, boats had
been designed for, and marketed to,
specific buyers – fishermen, duck
hunters or general pleasure boaters.
After the war outboard motor
manufacturers followed suit, although
user-specific outboards were usually
more packaging than mechanics. In
1955, for example, Evinrude painted
their reliable three-horsepower Lightwin
motor a “marsh brown” and advertised
it as the Ducktwin for duck hunting:
“On icy dawns, or when blizzards blow
in, it starts – quickly, positively,
always!” a 1955 advertisement boasted.
“Its specially designed underwater
drive lets you smack right through
reeds and rushes that would stop any
other motor – lets you keep on driving
in a few inches of water – wherever
there’s depth to float your boat!”
shallow lakes in the Rainwater Basin of
south-central Nebraska, lakes large
enough that during the 1950s local
people waterskied on them. Sandhills
lakes remain much as they have always
been because the region remains much
as it has always been. After decades of
exploitation for irrigation water, the
interior rivers were even more shallow
than they once had been.
But new waters appeared, providing
boating opportunities formerly
unknown in a prairie state like
Nebraska. Beginning in the 1940s,
rivers were impounded by earthen
dams, and behind each dam was an
enormous expanse of standing water
for boats. Farm ponds proliferated
across the state, followed by even
larger watershed conservation
impoundments.
After World War II, pleasure craft
took on an entirely different meaning.
There seemed to be few who found
pleasure in rowing, far more who found
pleasure in power at their fingertips. In
the early 1900s only the wealthy could
afford launches or yachts powered by
in-board gasoline engines. During the
In the late-1800s and early 1900s, the only sounds issued by a passing boat were the
rhythmic whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of oars. The postcard above was mailed in 1909.
1950s, pleasure craft with ever-larger
motors came within the means of many
average Americans. Quiet times on
Nebraska waters were pushed aside by
bigger and faster boats. Recreational
boaters came to equate noise with
power, and relished it. Airboats now
skim at high speed up and down rivers
on only inches of water where no
motorboat could pass. And in recent
decades, personal watercrafts have
further detracted from the once peaceful
times on Nebraska’s standing waters.
Today, few Nebraska’s waters are quiet
places where “troths have been plighted
and castles built in the air.” ■
CHANGING WATERS
Not just boats and motors changed
over the years, so have Nebraska’s
waters. Gone are the millponds of the
early 1900s. Gone, too, are the oxbow
lakes along the Missouri River, vanished
as the floodplain was ditched and
drained to create more cropland on the
rich and valuable soils; and the large
Oxbow lakes, formed when a stream changed its channel, were once common along many Nebraska rivers, especially the Elkhorn.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
19
THE CLEARWATER ELK
A wandering young bull elk that took up residence in northeastern Nebraska farm
country for a while became quite the tourist attraction and is an example of how elk
have been repopulating the state since the 1950s.
daughter, Laura, often went looking for
the elk.
“The kids, as soon as they got home
from school, that’s what they wanted to
do is go look for the elk,” Dave said.
Sehi said the elk seemed to get more
accustomed to people the longer he
was around. “He never took off and ran
harder than heck away from me,” he
said in October. “He just kind of trotted
away. He was getting used to my pickup.
A lot of times, I would drive out there
where he was laying in the shelterbelt
and he wouldn’t even get up.”
The elk did stand up when Sehi’s
truck passed within 25 yards while son,
Tim, and grandsons Dylan, 10, and
Tyler, 8, were home from Omaha during the holidays. “Their eyes were as
big as saucer plates,” Tim Sehi said of
his sons.
Sehi hasn’t seen the elk since
January 10, not long after a storm
blanketed parts of south-central and
northeastern Nebraska with several
inches of ice that snapped power poles
and tree branches. “Nobody else has
seen him. He just plain vanished,” Sehi
said. “I don’t know if (the breaking
branches) just scared the heck out of
him and he took off and ran completely
out of the country or what.”
Assuming the bull did return to elk
Photos and text by Eric Fowler
lthough elk were once extirpated
from this state, seeing one
wandering through any part of
Nebraska is no longer a complete
surprise.
An estimated 1,400 elk occupy
suitable habitat in the Pine Ridge,
North Platte and Niobrara river
valleys, and areas in southwestern and
northeastern Nebraska. And when
young bulls in those herds or herds in
neighboring states are struck by
wanderlust, they could end up anywhere,
and have.
Rarely, however, does such a bull
stay in an area not considered elk
habitat for as long as the young
four-point that showed up near
Clearwater last June and didn’t leave
until January.
Merle Sehi saw the elk’s tracks
before he saw the elk, but thought they
belonged to a neighbor’s yearling cow
that had gotten out. Soon after, however,
he saw the true source of the tracks
while on his daily walk around his farm
southwest of Clearwater. “We surprised
one another,” Sehi said. “I came around
one bunch of trees and he came around
the other and there he stood. And he
put his big head up and looked so
massive with his antlers, I couldn’t
believe it.”
Sehi’s story was met with the
skepticism expected from the report of
an elk living in a shelterbelt in the
middle of northeastern Nebraska farm
country. But whenever someone would
say, “Yeah right,” he simply replied, “I
know an elk when I see one.”
So Sehi began carrying a camera on
his walks. “And I saw him a lot of
times, but he was always so far away
that my little camera wouldn’t pick him
A
20 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
up very good. So I finally set up a
blind. He was kind of a creature of
habit. He followed the same pattern
and when I set that (hay bale) blind up,
he came within 30 or 35 feet of me and
I got some good pictures of him that
way.”
Others soon began seeing the elk,
and as word spread, the animal became
quite the celebrity in the town of 384.
“There were a lot of tourists out here,”
Sehi joked, noting the increased traffic
on the two-track, county road typically
used only by area farmers and ranchers.
John Mlnarik was one of the tourists.
He’d been on a dozen elk hunts in three
mountain states, and couldn’t resist
pulling out a cow elk call to see how
the bull would respond. “I spotted him,
went up ahead and walked into brush a
bit and called him,” Mlnarik said. “I
had him within 25 feet, 30 feet. I never
did get him to call. I heard a chirp, but
I never heard him bugle or anything.”
The elk would spend the day bedded
in a shelterbelt a half-mile from Sehi’s
house. In the evening, he would strike
out through the countryside, making a
circle that covered most of two sections,
stopping at Sehi’s water tank along the
way. On fall mornings, the school bus
driver and his passengers often saw
him headed back to the shelterbelt as
they passed about 7:30 a.m. The elk
was often seen with a small herd of
white-tailed deer.
Dave Hynes and his 13-year-old son,
Michael, saw the elk several times while
deer hunting, including once during
bow season when he was 15 yards from
their stand. They live near Sehi’s farm,
and the elk dined in their crop fields
during his stay. The Hynes family,
including Dave’s wife, Elizabeth, and
A young bull elk walks along a shelterbelt near Clearwater following a light snow last October.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
21
The Elk Population in Nebraska
country, it’s fortunate that this story
had a happy ending. Transient elk are
tempting targets for poachers, but this
elk was also in a part of the state where
elk are not welcome. Under the
Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission’s elk management plan,
the state is divided into three sections.
In western Nebraska the agency is
managing the species to provide quality
hunting and viewing opportunities
within the social and ecological carrying
capacity of the habitat. In some parts
of central Nebraska, including the
Sandhills, the agency is taking a
wait-and-see approach. But the agency
has decided that it will not allow elk
to become established in farm
country, especially in eastern Nebraska.
Elk can do considerable damage to
crops and, more importantly, there is a
concern about diseases, including
chronic wasting disease, and the
possibility that wild elk could come
into contact with captive elk that are
more prone to carry the disease.
“It’s an uneasy situation when an elk
gets to wandering around,” said Tom
Welstead, regional wildlife manager in
the Commission’s Norfolk office. “You
worry at some point it will get next to
an elk pen and we have to go kill that
elk. I really don’t want to do that.”
Like deer, elk also rub small trees in the
fall to shed velvet from their antlers and
mark territory during the breeding season.
22 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
There is also a risk to the “tourists”
who come out to watch elk. Welstead
said a mature bull spent more than a
year near Norfolk in the mid-1980s.
Biologists became concerned for
human safety after watching a woman
and child climb a fence to get close to
the animal for a photo while the bull was
showing signs of aggressive behavior
during the rut. Soon after, the bull was
the prime suspect in the death of a cow
and had to be destroyed. Had the
Clearwater elk begun to cause trouble,
it would have met the same fate.
So why was this animal so tolerant of
people? Was it sick? Did it escape from
a captive herd? Or was it just too
young to know any better? While no
one knows for sure, it likely wandered
south 60 miles from a herd living in the
forested breaks rising from the
Missouri River in northern Boyd
County and across the border in South
Dakota. And there’s a good chance
that’s where it went when it left. Again,
no one knows for sure.
“I miss him,” Sehi said. “A lot of
the neighbors do too. People are always
asking me if I’ve seen him again, and
‘What’s up with the elk?’” ■
do. Nobody could guess they would do what they did,”
Hams said, referring to the exponential growth of deer
populations across the country, especially whitetails.
“The better question now is what will elk do?”
Landowner tolerance for, and the public’s appreciation
of, elk has grown
considerably in
the past 20
years, Hams
said. If that was
not the case,
the Commission
would be
working to cut
the population.
Hams and other
biologists are
already working
This wild bull elk was photographed
on plans to
last fall near the Bob Devaney Center.
stabilize elk
numbers when numbers reach their limit. If the population
doubles again, 20 percent of the cows will have to be
harvested to meet that goal. “That’s a lot of permits,”
Hams said.
With more elk, there will likely be more wandering
young bulls. Already there have been reports of elk from
all corners of the state, including a bull that ran through
Lincoln last fall, pausing long enough to have its photo
taken near the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Elk have
been struck and killed by vehicles in Gage County, and
near Grand Island and Lincoln.
For an extreme case of wandering, consider the two
bulls, one wearing a radio collar, that left Theodore
Roosevelt National Park in southwestern North Dakota
on about Aug. 21, 1987, and headed southeast. They
swam Lake Oahe between Mobridge and Pierre, S.D.,
headed northeast to Fargo, N.D., on the state’s eastern
border, and then back southwest to Aberdeen, S.D.,
where they were spotted Oct. 6. The elk weren’t seen
again until they were found back in Roosevelt National
Park early in 1988 after covering more than 1,000
miles.
Young bulls most often strike out at the onset
of the breeding season in the fall and keep
walking until they find more elk. At some point in
the future, a group of elk will go for a walk and
settle in a new home range in Nebraska.
“You might have something spook a small
group and they’ll run 50 miles. That becomes
the nucleus for a new herd, and nobody
saw it happen,” Hams said. “Nobody
knows where the elk in the Box Elder
Unit south of Brady came from. They’re
150 miles from an established herd.”
If you like elk, it’s a good problem to
The light brown areas of this map indicate the currently known areas
where elk herds have become re-established in Nebraska.
have.
SCOTT BRUHN/NU MEDIA RELATIONS
The Clearwater elk stands in grass planted on the corner of a center pivot-irrigated corn field at sunrise last October.
The expansion of elk in Nebraska has been fairly
quick, due in part to the species’s tendency to wander
and look for greener pastures, as the Clearwater elk
did. That’s good news for those who enjoy the majestic
animal, be it wildlife watchers or hunters.
Elk were once found from one end of the United
States to the other, including much of Nebraska. But
unregulated sustenance hunting by Euroamerican settlers
took the last Nebraska elk by the late-1800s. The first
reports of elk returning to the state came from the Pine
Ridge area of northwestern Nebraska in the 1950s. Those
elk are believed to have wandered in from Wyoming,
where elk had been relocated to the butte country near
Lusk. By the 1970s, the Pine Ridge herd had grown to a
point that landowners began complaining about crop
and hay losses. Hunting seasons in 1986 and 1987
thinned the herd by 30 animals, most from an area
southeast of Chadron where about 20 remained.
By the mid-1990s, there were more than 50 elk in that
area, as well as four other small herds spread across
the Pine Ridge; a herd along the Missouri River in
northern Boyd County; and another along the North
Platte River near Lisco. In 1995, elk hunting resumed in
the two management units that had previously been
established in the Pine Ridge, and has continued there
since. Additionally, five other units have been added, and
the Commission will issue 198 permits to landowners
and the general public for this fall’s elk season.
Kit Hams, big game program manager with the
Commission, said Nebraska’s elk population has been
doubling every five years and was expected to reach
about 1,400 animals with this spring’s calf crop. Half or
more of the population lives in the Pine Ridge area.
That’s a big jump from the 150-200 animals the agency
hoped to maintain there when it adopted its first elk
management plan in 1995, and is well on the way to the
2,000 animals a University of Nebraska study found the
habitat is capable of supporting.
“50 years ago we were wondering what deer would
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
23
Is Your Dog
Nebraska Field
Ready?
By Ron Green, DVM and Libby Milroy
Photos by Rocky Hoffmann
Don’t wait until this fall to start your hunting preparations. In order to make this season
a success, follow these simple guidelines to get your dogs ready for the upcoming
hunting seasons and to minimize any injuries that might occur in the field.
T
he kids are back in school and the cheers from
football stadiums across Nebraska shatter the
crisp, Friday night air. For many of us, these
traditional signs of fall also indicate the approaching
hunting seasons. It’s time to buy a couple boxes of
shotgun shells, oil the gun and dig out all the gear
that never got put away at the end of last season. Everything
appears to be ready, but have any of us given much thought to
our best hunting buddy? For most of us, preparing our dogs
for the rigors of the hunt is not high on the August priority list.
Instead, our seasonal friends have been lounging in the shade
with only an occasional romp through the sprinklers, simply
enjoying the life of summertime dogs. With hunting
season now suddenly here, we expect them to become instant
athletes.
The hunting season shouldn’t start the moment we send
Fido into thick, often dry, cover. Without proper preparation,
we could be picking up our own birds while the best hunting
tool we ever had is “benched” due to injuries that most often
result from the lack of conditioning.
Conditioning
Conditioning is the most important thing we can do for our
dogs to avoid injuries, and safe “road work” is an excellent
method for getting a dog in shape – that is if we choose not to
run them alongside a vehicle. Many owners have accidentally
run over their dogs while exercising them in this manner. An
ATV makes this practice a bit safer, but we should consider
our own conditioning as well and go on extended walks or
bike rides in low traffic areas. Swimming is an excellent
method to promote dog fitness, and handling and retrieving
skills can be worked on at the same time. Swimming is a more
forgiving style of exercise than running, as it produces less
strain on tendons and bones. If your dog is a little overweight,
a careful feeding routine, combined with daily swims, will
produce good results.
Building fitness and memory skills can be combined in a
fun exercise by taking our dogs for a walk and dropping a ball
or dummy along the way. After traveling 100 yards or so past
the ball, turn and send the dog back to retrieve it. When the
dog is controlled and with us, it can only walk, but sent to
retrieve the dropped ball or dummy, the dog goes at full
speed. Such episodes of exertion give him a chance to build
lung capacity and stamina. As he becomes more fit, leave the
ball or dummy at the top of the hill then walk down the hill
and send him back for it. Many professional athletes build
EXERCISING A DOG IN THE WATER is more forgiving
to the animal’s joints than working out on hard ground and
helps keep them cooler during the hot days of summer. A
routine workout schedule will help prepare and maintain
sporting dogs for the rigors of hunting season.
24 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007 25
their strength and stamina by running up stairs or steep
inclines. The best time of the day to condition a dog is when
it is cool. Remember, suddenly starting a dog on a intense
conditioning routine is as dangerous as starting him suddenly
in the field on opening day. Ease into exercise. Better yet, try
to keep your dog active from the close of one season to the
opening of the next.
Nutrition
Nutrition is extremely important. About six weeks before
the season opens, start to feed a premium diet that is high in
fat and protein. Adequate protein is crucial, as dogs really
have no protein reserves. If a diet doesn’t contain enough
protein, muscle mass may be depleted, increasing the risk of
injury. During the cold hunting months, dietary protein
should comprise at least 24 percent, and go as high as 40 percent,
of our dogs’ total daily calories. Carbohydrates and fat are
also very important for maximum energy conversion.
Heat-Related Injuries
During the fall of 2005, an estimated 100 hunting dogs died
during an unusually warm week right after the opening of
South Dakota’s pheasant season. Because South Dakota’s
pheasant season opens earlier than Nebraska’s, conditions are
often quite warm. Nebraska hunters have experienced similar
heat-related losses to their dogs during the September grouse
seasons. Dogs that haven’t done much of anything all summer
are not ready for warm temperature workouts. An out-ofshape dog can easily become overheated, and this can lead to
serious problems, including death.
It is important to realize that our dogs cover almost three
times the ground that we do as they quarter back and forth,
and they spend all their time in the “dust zone”
– their faces down in the weeds, looking and
sniffing for birds. A black dog or one with a
heavy coat will overheat more quickly than a
light-colored or light-coated dog. Also, some
dogs are more prone to excitement during the
hunt, which can also lead to heat stroke or heat
exhaustion much more quickly than a steady,
easygoing dog.
Always carry plenty of fresh water. If you
notice heavy panting and signs of overheating, it
is best to cool your dog immediately. Pour the
water on the dog’s underside, tongue and ears
while keeping it calm. It is essential that body
temperature be brought back to normal. A dog
that isn’t forced to cool down can go into a coma
and die. Try to prevent overheating by keeping
your dog hydrated as you hunt. If you are
running several dogs, cycle them by alternating
the fields they work and limiting the duration of
the hunts. Take shorter hunts on hot days and
come back to the vehicle for rest and shade.
Always carry a squeeze bottle full of water to
hydrate your dog during the hunt.
If you only have one dog, pick your hunting
spot wisely and try to pick a spot that has a stock
tank, creek or pond. If your dog has a safe spot
to cool off, this will enable him to hunt a bit
longer and certainly more proficiently. Common
sense is probably the best defense against
overheating.
Also, be careful about what water you allow
your dog to drink, as a thirsty dog isn’t picky.
Toxic blue-green algae colonies are common in
stock dams and shallow ponds, especially in hot,
dry weather, and the ingestion of toxic blueSTYLISH RETRIEVES will be made easier
and with less stress on both the dog and hunter
alike if the dog has been prepared for hunting
season. A combination of obedience training
and conditioning workouts during the summer
months will help ensure a good season.
26 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
TAKE YOUR DOG TO THE VETERINARIAN at least once a year for an annual checkup and whenever your dog has
suffered a serious injury in the field. In order to minimize downtime for your most important hunting partner, keep your dog in
shape and carry a basic first-aid kit in your vehicle when you go afield.
green algae can result in liver failure and a loss of the blood’s
ability to clot.
Gunshot Injuries
Shooting injuries can be devastating, and are usually the
result of inexperienced hunters in the party. If there are too
many hunters or dogs for the situation, it is far better to pass
up the hunt than to be rushing your best gun dog to the vet
because of an accident.
If your dog happens to get shot, keep calm and immediately
assess the injury. If the range at which the dog was shot was
not close, the injury will likely not be life threatening.
While assessing the injury, be careful, as a dog that is
injured may bite. Generally there will be only minimal
bleeding, and sometimes none at all. Look for very tiny entry
wounds made by pellets in the skin. Even if you think the
wound is not serious, observe the dog closely. You may not
need to make an emergency run to the vet unless the dog is
obviously distressed, the injury is in a vital location, or the
shot was from close range.
Unlike a bullet wound, most shotgun pellets penetrate only
the skin and immediate subcutaneous tissues, often remaining
there for the rest of the dog’s life. Antibiotic administration
may be needed to prevent infection, but in general, the pellets
do not need to be removed surgically.
Foot Injuries
Sporting dogs are running dogs, and are only as good as the
condition of their feet.
There are many types of injuries that may occur to a dog’s
feet, most of them involving their pads. Abrasions are probably
the most common pad injuries suffered by sporting dogs. This
is especially true for dogs that run in rocky country or where
the soil is sandy, as the abrasive action of the foot against a
rough surface keeps wearing away the tough lining of the
pad. Rough terrain can also cause bruised pads – usually the
least serious of the injuries, but one that can be misdiagnosed.
Bruising can cause a dog to be lame, and the dog may show
pain when pressure is applied to the pad. Puncture wounds
can become infected because the depth of the injury allows
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007 27
foreign materials to remain in the wound. Cuts can be the
most severe type of injury since they take the longest to heal,
and deep lacerations may cause damage to tendons or
ligaments. These injuries often occur in areas close to water,
hiking trails or other places where people leave broken glass
and other debris.
Pad injuries cannot always be avoided, but you can make
your dog’s pads more resistant to injury by keeping him on
dry, mildly abrasive surfaces such as fine gravel, concrete or
sand.
Booting is another way to protect your dog’s feet. If you are
going to be hunting in sand burrs or cacti, Cordura boots will
save your dog’s feet and will allow him to hunt again tomorrow.
Short toenails promote healthy paws. The pad plays a much
greater role in gripping surfaces than the nail, so length of
nail is not important to the dog’s ability to gain traction. Long
nails predispose the toes to fractures, dislocations and nail
injuries. Other problems associated with long nails are
splitting and severing, which can lead to pain, lameness and
infection.
quantities directly into the wound.
Fill: After initially cleaning by flushing, wounds can be
protected from field debris by filling them with a harmless gel
such as Neosporin or another wound gel.
Bandage: Lacerations on the legs, tail and ears should be
bandaged. The key is to avoid placing dry bandage material
directly on the wound. Dry material adheres to the wound and
then damages the wound edges when the bandage is removed.
A small kit containing some nonstick bandages and a larger
piece of absorbent cotton can work well to stop bleeding.
Normal clotting time for healthy dogs is between two and
three minutes, but dogs that have been running hard may take
up to five minutes for bleeding to stop. Direct pressure from
your hand is the best way to stop bleeding. Cuts on the tip of
the ear or the tail are especially troublesome. As the normal
clotting process proceeds, the dog tends to shake its head or
wag its tail, which causes renewed bleeding. Many times,
these cuts look much worse than they really are due to the
amount of blood produced. Cuts on the chest, back and muzzle
are not easily covered.
Cuts
Porcupines
Cuts are very common injuries in hunting dogs. Briars,
barbed wire, broken glass, dogfights or even sharp broken
saplings can slice a dog’s skin. Appropriate field care of
wounds can decrease healing time and make the veterinarian’s
job much easier.
Remember the key words are flush, fill and bandage.
Flush: Fresh cuts may look quite clean, but tiny fragments
of debris and certainly microscopic bacteria are usually
present in even the cleanest-appearing laceration. Use hydrogen
peroxide for minor cuts and sterile saline or distilled water for
larger cuts. A forceful stream through a squeeze bottle can
dislodge tiny foreign objects and remove many of the early
germs that are present. Be fairly aggressive with the flushing
– the stream is not going to do any harm, so squeeze large
Most dogs never encounter a porcupine. When they do,
they are immediately curious and will usually get a snout full
of quills. Porcupine quills are extremely painful to the dog
during the removal procedure. Usually it is best not to attempt
the procedure yourself unless you have a VERY steady dog
and heavy gloves. The chance of breaking a quill is good,
which will allow it to migrate into the dog’s body. It is much
safer for you and the dog when a veterinarian removes the
quills while the dog is under sedation.
Burs, Cactus and Seeds
Because hunting dogs spend most of their time running
through weeds in search of game, they are very susceptible to
getting particles in their eyes, causing
irritation and discomfort. An easy remedy
is flushing the foreign objects from the
eyes with saline solution. Use the same
solution you are carrying for flushing
out wounds.
Foxtails and cheatgrass also pose
problems for dogs. Longhaired dogs are
susceptible to seeds wedging in their
hair and forming cysts. Brush your dog
thoroughly after returning from the field
to remove all the seeds from his coat.
Trimming the hair between his toes will
prevent seeds from gathering there and
causing infection.
SHORT TOENAILS help prevent foot
injuries in dogs, and nails can usually be
cut at home. Using trimmers designed
for dogs, start at the tip of the nail and
snip a little at a time. Stop cutting when
you start to see pale pink tissue (the
quick) near the top of the cut edge.
28 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
A GOOD FIRST-AID KIT that is designed specifically for hunting dogs is essential. You can get most of these items from
a drug store, or from your local veterinarian. You can use an old fanny pack to keep them with you in the field during extended
trips away from the vehicle.
Snakes
First-Aid Kits for Dogs
include a hemostat, pair of small scissors, tweezers, liquid
tissue adhesive, Neosporin gel, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide
for superficial wounds, a bottle of sterile saline for more
significant wounds, a squeeze bottle and nonstick bandage
material.
It is a good idea for all hunters to carry a sport bottle filled
with water mixed with a little powdered glucose. It doesn’t
take long to burn up energy and calories during a hunt and
your dog’s sugar reserves can be depleted to the point of
collapse. The glucose water helps keep energy levels up.
The health and fitness of your dog is important if you want
a good partner for the entire season. Together you will have a
great season. You owe it to him to make sure he is ready to
hunt and that you are ready for any emergency that may occur
in the field. ■
Even the most careful hunters occasionally have problems
with their dogs. A first-aid kit designed specifically for hunting
dogs is essential. Carry a multi-tool plier in your game bag for
removal of cactus needles or burs. Eye drops or eye cleansing
solutions are a good idea. A good field first-aid kit would also
Ron and Libby are active hunters with their dogs,
participating in AKC and UKC hunt tests as well as
educational events. They own and operate Heartland Animal
Center in North Platte, and they breed and sell Labradors
under the name DuckDawg Retrievers.
Rattlesnake bites are rare, but they occasionally occur. In
the event of snakebite, the most important thing to do is get
the dog to a veterinarian as soon as possible. Try to restrict
your dog’s movement and keep him comfortable. The sooner
treatment is started, the sooner the dog is likely to recover. A
rattlesnake bite vaccine is currently on the market that
decreases the severity of the symptoms if your dog happens to
be bitten. Check with your veterinarian about this vaccine if
you are interested. The best medicine is trying to avoid the
snake in the first place. If you encounter a snake, exit the area
the same way you came or take a wide berth around the snake
with the dog at heel or on a leash.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007 29
In this last of our five-part nature
photography series, Michael Forsberg shares
what he considers to be necessary items to
take with you when out in the field.
Tools of the Trade
Michael Forsberg – Freelance Photographer
Over the last dozen years as a nature photographer, I have
come to rely on a number of simple items to help me
accomplish my job, regardless of season or subject. To me
these items are worth their weight in gold, but the great
thing is you don’t need to break your bank account to
acquire them – most cost ten bucks or less. You can find
them in your house, hardware store, grocery market or local
camera store down the street, and they’ll easily fit on your
person or in your pack. Here’s the list:
Duct Tape and Gaffer Tape
Great for just about everything but ductwork, duct tape has
numerous brands and comes in 20-something different
colors. I always carry a partial roll of duct
tape in a drab color like olive,
brown or, better yet,
camouflage. I’ve used it for
covering lens hoods,
shiny parts of tripods
and a myriad of
things that have
come apart and
needed to be
held together,
such as tent
poles,
radiator hoses,
flash cords
and even skin.
Gaffer tape
is often used in
the movie and
television industry on
camera and lighting
equipment. It’s
similar to duct tape
in size and strength,
but doesn’t leave
duct tape’s gooey
residue once it is
removed. Found in
some electrical
supply stores and
various catalogs, it’s
pricier than duct tape
but can be used over
and over on clean
surfaces. I carry a
couple 12-inch strips
with me either on a
tripod leg or wrapped
around a pencil or pen.
One-Gallon Ziploc Bags
I try to carry at least two one-gallon Ziploc bags with me
all the time. If it’s raining or snowing I can protect the
camera by cutting a hole in one side to stick the lens through
and still have access to the controls. When it’s cold out I can
place camera equipment inside the bags, squeeze out the
excess air and seal them to prevent condensation from
building up when gear needs to come inside to a warm
environment. I also use them as collection bags if I photograph
a plant I am unfamiliar with and need to take a sample of it
back for a positive identification.
30 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Something as simple as a plastic garbage bag comes in handy as a camera/lens protector that fits snugly around the front of the lens.
Heavy-Duty Plastic Trash Bags
I carry two of these also: One to use as a liner inside my
pack to keep out moisture, the other to cover a large
telephoto lens and camera in the rain. I’ve also used them as
rain collectors for drinking water, rain ponchos, storage bags
for dirty clothes or trash, etc.
Plastic Cable (or “zip”) Ties
Some people may recognize these as the plastic handcuffs
sometimes used on cop shows instead of traditional
handcuffs. If you are an electrician, you likely use zip ties
every day. They can be found in most hardware stores and
come in a variety of sizes and colors. I like the 8-inch-long
black zip ties, which can be daisy-chained together for
longer lengths if needed. I carry maybe a dozen on me all
the time and use them for blind-building situations where I
need to attach camouflage cloth or natural materials to the
wire mesh or other fencing material that serves as the structure
of the blinds I build. I also use cable ties to bundle camera or
flash wires in order to keep them from tangling or getting in
the way. They hold up well over time and do not degrade too
quickly in sunlight. Once you cinch them tight, however, you
have to cut them to get them undone, and they are not
reusable.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
31
Utility Tool
Camouflage Cloth
Pack something along the lines of a
Leatherman tool or Swiss Army knife.
Here you get what you pay for, but it
doesn’t have to be the fanciest in the
display case. I like a simple tool that
has a good knife, pliers with a sharp
edge to cut wire and regular and
Phillips head screwdrivers.
A six-by-six-foot square of camouflage cloth is perfect
just about anywhere for those impromptu situations where
you need to make a blind in a hurry. The camouflage pattern
you carry can vary by season and situation.
Parachute Cord, 550 Cord, Sturdy String or Twine
Whatever you want to use. Twenty-five feet or so of sturdy
cord wraps around a tent stake easily and can be used in
everything from blind building to clothes drying.
Bag of Bird Seed
When covered with duct tape, a small bag of birdseed
provides a sturdy, cheap and easy shooting platform that
molds to your camera for those times when a tripod is too
unwieldy or just not an option. Place the bag on a rock,
fence post, fallen log, car roof or the ground and you have
very solid support. It can also double as a pillow for a
midday nap.
One Nail
A four- to sixinch nail is
perfect to pound into
a tree trunk or fence post
to hang camouflage cloth
for a quick and easy blind.
Using the trunk or post as a
backrest, drape the camouflage on
the nail, then let it hang over
yourself and your camera. Usually
a piece of wood or rock nearby
can be used to drive in the nail far
enought to hold the material, but
not so far that you can’t remove
the nail when you leave.
Flagging Tape
Used by field biologists, forest and
construction crews, and others, a small roll
of bright orange tape is perfect for
marking bird nests and other hard to find
things you may want to come back to.
Easy to tear off, tie and see at a long
distance, I refer to it as a poor man’s
GPS. You can also use it to leave a
trail for yourself to mark your way
into or out of a blind or to any
particular place you want to find
again. Note: When you’re done
using the tape, try to pick it all
back up and dispose of it
properly.
32 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Cleaning Cloth
I like to carry a chamoislike soft cloth or rag such as
backpackers use as a camp towel to wipe their face, clean a
pot, etc. Make one of these part of your
camera gear and use it to wipe away
dust and grit from lenses without
leaving little flecks of cotton or residue
behind. They’re great at soaking up water
and can be used to wipe away raindrops
and easily wrung out.
Blower Bulb
All important, my rubber blower bulb
looks like a rocket ship when stood on
end, fits in the palm of my hand and
blows out a concentrated burst of air
when squeezed. I use it to clean off
lenses, sensors and exterior surfaces.
Most camera stores carry them. They are
less hassle than canned air and never run
out of pressure. I lost mine while doing
fieldwork in rural South Dakota last
summer during a windy, dusty drought and
had to have one Fed-Exed to me so I could
keep working.
Flashlight
I carry one that fits in my pocket, along with a rubber
band and piece of red cellophane that can convert bright,
white light to soft, red light. Red light is much less
conspicuous at nighttime to many animals, and the reduced
amount of light it gives out may be all you need to see
camera controls and other jobs at close range.
Using a nail to hang camouflage netting material to a tree makes an easy and quick photography blind.
Water Bottle
Binoculars
On a day hike I carry between two and four liters of water
depending on the situation. It’s extra weight, but your body
needs water and when you have drunk it up, the weight is
gone. The wide liter bottles with big mouths are great for
extended backpacking trips, but on day hikes the taller,
narrower water bottles you can buy at any convenience store
pack better and, wrapped with duct tape, can be reused over
and over.
This is the only pricey item on the list, but a compact,
quality pair of binoculars is a must in my opinion.
Through careful and patient observation, time
spent glassing an area makes you slow
down and reveals many
photographic
opportunities
that you would
otherwise miss. ■
Energy Bars or Hard Candy
Always stow a few of these items in the bottom of your
pack or pocket. They’re light, take up little space and you
can forget about them until you need them. They keep the
fire burning when you need it most. You’ll be glad you did.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
33
W O M E N ’ S
W I L D E R N E S S
Women’
s
Wilderness Weekend
By Christy Christiansen
Photos by Rocky Hoffmann
W E E K E N D
Flyr
od novice
Flyrod
novice Amy
Amy Sirc
Sirc y of
Sidney
Sidney practices her cast
while wearing a camp T-shir t
showing
showing the many
many sponsors
sponsors
of Women's Wilderness
Weekend.
★
The South Central Nebraska 4-H Center
is the host site for the annual Women's
Wilderness Weekend. The center is located
at Harlan County Lake in south-central
Nebraska near the Kansas state border.
Three days each August, an outdoor workshop for women is held at the
4-H Center on the banks of Harlan County Reservoir. There, women
learn a variety of outdoor skills set in this casual and friendly atmosphere.
A
small-framed, 68-year-old
woman sat next to me aboard
a bumpy school bus on an
uncomfortably warm and
windy August day.
She smiled and asked, “What class
are you taking today?”
“Windsurfing,” I replied, “How about
you?”
“My daughters and I are going
sailing,” she said.
“Really?” I exclaimed, “What did
you do last night?”
“We went four-wheelin’ in Jeeps. It
was a blast, and we ended up covered
with mud!”
This was no kid’s camp for girls.
This was the Women’s Wilderness
Weekend that is held each August at
the South Central Nebraska 4-H Center
near Alma on the banks of Harlan
County Lake, a perfect setting for such
an event. Last year’s three-day weekend
was jampacked with learning adventures
geared for every interest and skill level.
Activity classes included astronomy,
birdwatching, Dutch-oven cooking,
muzzleloading, horseback riding and
fly-fishing, among other things. Corps
of Engineers personnel even provided
guided tours of the old Republican City
and the Harlan County Reservoir and
Conservation Officer George Sund offers instruction in handgun basics to Neala
Shepherd of Sterling, Colorado.
34 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Dam.
Who were these ladies in attendance,
and why did so many come so far? Most
of us simply wanted to experience the
outdoors in a unique and friendly way.
The bonus, of course, was a weekend
away from work, the city and yes, even
our dear husbands and kids. We ranged
in age from a young 18 to a seasoned
70-something, but none of us lacked a
desire for adventure. Some of the
attendees were returning veterans,
having attended for the past ten years,
and many of the seasoned alums will
be back this August to begin a second
decade of participation.
Each year attendees of this popular
event learn about outdoor skills in a
relaxed and supportive atmosphere, free
from the pressure and irritating sighs of
frustration that often accompany homebased, outdoor-learning experiences.
We know that nobody is going to make
fun of us or make us feel stupid if we
don’t catch on right away.
“Well, except for maybe our best
friend, but what are friends for if we
can’t laugh at each other a little?” said
one participant, trying awkwardly to
stay upright on the sailboard.
So what makes this event so
successful? Probably because we
women typically put ourselves last on
our list of priorities. The Women’s
Wilderness Weekend, however, is
dedicated to putting us first.
That is why I was there. As an
instructor and coordinator for Women
in the Outdoors events (put on by the
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
35
A
T H R E E - D A Y
National Wild Turkey Federation) for
more than seven years, it was time I
had some fun and adventure. I brought
along my best friend, Marisue
Campbell, as a personal gift to her. For
years I had been dragging her off to my
events as an assistant instructor for
numerous curriculums, including antler
jewelry design, archery, Dutch-oven
cooking and making turkey calls from
scratch. Now it was our turn to take on
the role of students and learn some new
skills. Loading our sleeping bags and
W E E K E N D
G E A R E D
F O R
E V E R Y
I N T E R E S T
A N D
S K I L L
L E V E L
outdoor gear, we headed southwest
from our homes in Ashland, leaving
behind seven boys, one girl and two
pouty husbands. After several hours
and a few wrong turns, we joined an
anxious group of gals with diverse
backgrounds from four states.
Trailblazer Resource Conservation
and Development (RC&D), a regional
rural-development organization, puts
on Women’s Wilderness Weekend. In
2005 the event captured three awards,
one of which was the coveted National
Karen Marriott, a member of the U.S. sailing team, demonstrates proper board and sail techniques when quartering a wind.
Lincoln-based Husker Diving taught scuba diving lessons at the nearby Alma city pool.
36 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Wild Turkey Federation award for the
Most Outstanding Women in the
Outdoors Event in North America. It
was chosen from among 300 similar
events held in the United States and
Canada that year.
The event is designed to educate
women and give them hands-on
experience with outdoor sports, but it
also showcases the recreational
opportunities in and around Harlan
County Lake, hopefully promoting
return visits by attendees and their
families and friends. Merle Illian,
manager of Trailblazer RC&D and
coordinator of the event since its
inception, said, “In 1997, our first event
attracted 42 women. Since then, the
event has been filled to capacity with
120 enrollees and 40 volunteers
participating each year. In 2001 the
event received state recognition when
Governor Mike Johanns and the Rural
Development Commission selected it
as one of the top ten rural development
initiatives.”
After we gathered as a group in the
main lodge of the 4-H camp for
registration and a short orientation, we
unloaded our gear in the cabins. I felt
like a kid at summer camp as I staked
claim on a top bunk and then joined
others on a school bus. Organizers
wasted little time getting us started, as
Marisue and I attended our first class
that afternoon at the Alma swimming
pool, where Joe and Donna Tyler from
Husker Diving in Lincoln were anxious
to get our feet wet in scuba diving. My
initial thought was that we would have
to share tanks and take turns, but there
weren’t any shortcomings to this class
– each of us had our own wet suit, fins,
goggles, masks, oxygen tanks and
buoyancy compensators. Before the
class, I couldn’t even say buoyancy, let
alone know how to compensate for it,
but in no time I was combing the bottom
of the pool. Marisue, who is a nonswimmer, took to the scuba experience
with ease and could confidently take
her mouthpiece off and put it on underwater.
The Tylers are excellent instructors
and made scuba diving seem as simple
as riding a bike. Their instruction that
weekend was a condensed version of
the two-day class they normally offer at
their dive school, and they invited all of
us to take a complete class with them
at a discount rate. After certification
they take their students on trips to
weekend diving adventures at a
reasonable cost, and when they
mentioned something about underwater
spearfishing for walleye at Bull Shoals
Lake in Arkansas, I thought “Hmmm…
I might have to move that adventure
into my priority column.”
After a hearty supper, we headed off
to our evening classes. Marisue and I
chose to participate in drifting for
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
37
L E A R N
O U T D O O R
catfish, so we geared up for a night on
the lake. Our friend, Peggy Griffin, and
our own personal guide, Ken Schifferns,
joined us. A local fisherman and
volunteer of the program for the last 10
years, Ken not only had a comfortable
pontoon with a battery of poles set up
for our use, he baited our hooks and
handled our fish. He even took the time
to clean and package them for us at the
end of the night. All we had to do was
relax, fish and enjoy the beautiful
Nebraska sunset over the lake.
Saturday morning, we joined the
group for pancakes and sausage and
then were on to the buses again to go
learn windsurfing. I had never imagined
that I would learn how to windsurf in
Nebraska, about as far from the ocean as
one could get. There were plenty of
boards and sails to use, and our
instructor was Karen Marriott, a member
S K I L L S
forth like rubber bands, I began to feel
comfortable. I was so busy concentrating
on my balance and keeping the sail in
front of me, however, that I was
shocked to discover I had drifted into
the middle of the lake. Apparently I
missed the part about how to steer and
could not figure out how to get back to
shore! Luckily the skiing class was
nearby and observing my dilemma,
towed me to shallow water with all the
participants looking on. I was eventually
able to maneuver the board and sail
so that I could glide parallel to the
shoreline, turn around and come back.
Windsurfing, though exhausting, is
incredibly exhilarating. I was so hungry
I am not sure what I ate at lunch. Being
outside in the fresh air and sun made
for some dangerously hungry ladies.
That afternoon involved jet skiing and
water-skiing. Having decided that she
The Dutch-oven cooking class becomes the most popular curriculum in camp around noon.
of the United States Sailing Team and a
candidate for the 2008 summer
Olympic Games in China. Marriott
explained the concepts of windsurfing
– sailing, steering and turning. I found
out that balance is key to staying
upright on the board and that pulling
the sail out of the water without
falling requires strength, agility and
coordination. Once my sail was up and
my legs stopped springing back and
38 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
had enjoyed about all the water she
could for one day, Marisue signed up to
take the primitive skills class, so we
parted ways.
B.J. Spring, a naturalist from Lincoln
who teaches primitive skills at several
Nebraska colleges, explained to
Marisue’s group that there are four key
components to basic survival under
hostile environmental conditions. The
most important, according to Spring, is
I N
A
R E L A X E D
shelter, second water, third food and
last, supplemental heat through the use
of fire. Participants in the class were
taught to make a debris hut, designed
much like a squirrel’s nest, from
natural litter. Marisue found the hut
quite insulated and comfortable until she
discovered a sharp stick in her bed.
From a block of wood, an arm’slength stick and a string, students next
attempted to build a fire. Spring warned
that a small percentage of the group
would become obsessed with their
effort to spark a flame. Marisue was one
of those people and although up half the
night spinning her stick, managed only
to send up smoke signals of frustration.
That afternoon’s temperature was
typical of August in Harlan County so,
unlike Marisue, I was thankful to be in
the water again. Still tired and sore
from the windsurfing class, I was
determined to relearn how
to ski. I hadn’t skied since
the 7th grade, and without
revealing my age, I have
four kids in high school.
Arlen Michelson from
Superior was our instructor
and brought all the latest
skiing gear, plus a couple of
tubes for those who simply
wanted to go for a fun ride.
Having set me up with a
pair of skis and a good
lifejacket, Arlen handed me
the rope handles and told
me what I needed to do to
pop right out of the water.
Once the rope was tight, I
gave Arlen the symbolic
thumbs-up. He mashed the
throttle forward, but instead
of gracefully standing up, I
planted my face somewhere
between my two skis,
which had spread painfully
wide apart. The resulting
wreck and amount of water that I drank
indicated I was not using the proper
techniques as instructed by Arlen.
Several tries later, however, I was
standing up and actually skiing! I
thought I was smiling, but Arlen said I
had nothing but terror on my face. By
the end of the class, I had taken several
trips around the lake. Although still
tense and thoroughly exhausted, I had
learned to ski again!
A N D
S U P P O R T I V E
A T M O S P H E R E
After ride-along demonstrations, instructors turn over their personal watercrafts to the women.
That evening provided a special treat
to all. The RC&D furnished grilled
steaks and fried chicken with all the
side dishes. The participants, instructors
and volunteers gathered together at the
outdoor pavilion overlooking the lake
as country music artist Gretchen Lea of
Oxford provided her upbeat style of
entertainment. Lea sang a selection of
her current original hits and a few golden
oldies as she joked with the audience.
The day had been long, but for many
the night was still young. A hayrack
ride, movie or karaoke at a local
establishment were some of the options
on the table, but I was ready to turn in.
At registration we were offered a choice
of cabin lifestyles – “Early Bird” or
“Night Owl.” Unfortunately I must have
selected a new cabin designation called
“Sleep, What’s Sleep?” My roomies
obviously had a great time and were
pretty wound up when they returned.
I’m bringing my own tent this year.
The next morning Marisue and I,
desperately short on sleep, looked like
true Wilderness Women and decided to
prove it by entering the Iron Woman
Competition. We knew there was
archery involved, so we brought along
our own bows. Experienced archers, we
were confident we could win this portion
of the competition until informed that
everyone had to use the same equipment
and it wasn’t going to be the bows we
brought with us. Even more disturbing
was the fact that the reigning four-time
champion was again in the mix.
The first leg of the competition was
blue rock shooting. Contestants were
allowed five practice shots before their
ten competition shots. With sleep
deprivation weighing heavily, I managed
to win the event in a five-target shootoff.
Then it was off to the archery run. Did
they say run? No one mentioned
running! This was a timed event
however, which required shooting six
arrows at a target, running half of a
mile and shooting six more arrows. I
am an experienced archer, but this is
the first time I ever had to shoot after
running. It is much harder to shoot a
bow accurately when you can’t
breathe! The final leg of the event was
an obstacle course. Running the length
of a horizontal telephone pole, swinging
across a pit by rope and scaling a wall
were a few of the tasks involved. We
all encouraged each other during the
competition and had a great time getting
involved with the entire field of
participants.
With pride I wore my winning gold
medal to the final meal at the lodge,
which included a silent auction and a
drawing for numerous door prizes. Each
of us went home with gifts, treasures,
new friendships and stories to share.
This August I’ll be teaching beginning
bowhunting while offering solid tips on
how to win the Iron Woman competition.
I won’t be defending my title however,
as I went home with enough sore
muscles to last a lifetime. ■
Christy Christiansen is a mother of
four. She grew up in southeast
Nebraska where she developed a strong
connection with the outdoor life.
Christy and husband, Short, discovered
a marital bond in sharing their hunts,
so they traded off their motorcycle and
purchased land. She became involved
in the Women in the Outdoors program
and has been teaching outdoor skills
for eight years. She can’t imagine not
sharing her love for the outdoors with
family. “Hunting is not only something
we do, it’s who we are.”
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
39
Dog-Day Cats
And Lots of White Bass
Photos and text by Rocky Hoffmann
The fishing heats up along with the
temperature during Nebraska’s
late-summer months, but you have to
target the right species to find success.
W
hen the gray-faced dog
retreats from his customary
lie on the sun-flooded porch
to a well-sculpted dirt hole
in the shade of the maple
tree, many anglers begin to stash their
gear in the shed. It’s summertime in
western Nebraska and the fishing
outlook isn’t good for the next month
and a half. That most dependable high
plains sun is driving fish deep and
sapping their appetites all the way to
the bottom of the pond. Reservoirs
have funneled much of their water
down cornrows to the east, and streams
have slowed to a trickle. It just ain’t
fair for the fellow with three or four
Styrofoam cups full of leeches in the
garage fridge and a tackle box brimming
with colorful walleye crankbaits.
Don’t let your spirits sink like a split
shot bitten onto light line. There’s fish
to be had in this 100-degree swelter,
some of the best fishing of the year in
Not all youngsters retreat to air conditioning and video games during their summer vacation.
A wet gunnysack is the traditional catfisherman’s livewell in summer.
40 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
fact, and the reason for optimism has to
do entirely with what fish like to eat.
Along about midsummer, the spring
hatch of gizzard shad has reached a
munchable size for adult white bass,
but white bass aren’t the only fish
in the chase. In most western and
southwestern reservoirs, larger wipers
prowl for their share of the take, and
hugging the bottom are channel catfish
ready to scoop up any fallout from the
fray above.
Catfish have long been the traditional
fish of summer. Dog-day cats seem to
thrive in tepid water, and although they
enjoy the fruits of the shad hatch as
much as white bass and wipers, catfish
are ready for just about any morsel,
fresh or not so fresh, that comes their
way.
Channel cats, because they are not
the best predators in the lake, seem to
readily accept a meal anytime it is
presented. Like aquatic vultures, they
conserve energy by slowly searching
for something dead or vulnerable. If
they can slip up on something alive and
grab it, they will, but they are not into
the long chase. Bait dangling from a
hook is something that doesn’t take
much effort for a channel catfish to
catch, and it doesn’t make much
difference if that bait is alive, dead or
made of feathers and lead.
Most of Nebraska’s reservoirs have
bountiful channel catfish populations.
Those reservoirs most noted for catfish
include Harlan, Medicine Creek,
McConaughy, Sutherland and Merritt.
Although Merritt’s population of
spectacular heavyweight cats has eased
slightly, there is no lack of numbers
there. Harlan County Lake is rich with
ten-pounders, and Medicine Creek also
has some super-duty tackle busters.
Harlan provides fine midsummer
fishing action, but go there at night for
the best fishing and drift the flats with
bait shrimp. Talk to the locals too,
because most folks who fish for catfish
love to talk about their sport.
Sutherland Reservoir has proven to
be a good bet for the summer angler. It
too has a good nighttime fishery, but
midday anglers fare well in the draft of
the “bubble” – a term used by local
anglers to describe an area of the
reservoir where water returns from a
cooling basin after flowing through a
coal-burning power plant. Shad entrails
and nightcrawlers have long proven
their worth at Sutherland for summer
anglers.
Lake McConaughy’s catfish legacy
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
41
was largely founded in the reservoir’s
infancy during the ice-clearing winds
of March. On the heels of winter,
diehard anglers cast shad entrails next
to the ice shelf at the west end of the
reservoir to catfish expecting to find
winter-killed shad releasing from
thawing ice. Although early season
fishing for catfish is still popular at
Lake McConaughy, the summer crowd
of anglers is picking up. Channel
catfish may be found from dam to
mudflat at McConaughy these days,
and they are caught not only in the
early spring and late fall, but under the
blazing sun of July and August as well.
All of the big southwestern reservoirs
support good populations of flathead
catfish too. These are the true predators
of deep water that chase down their
dinner. In order to bulk up to that 30,
40, even 60-pound class that they are
Jim Hand of North Platte dons a straw hat to catch a nice mess of summertime white bass.
42 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
famous for, they chase and eat a lot.
Deep-trolled baits and vertically fished
slab spoons are the artificial solution
for hooking one of these giants, but big
flatheads seem to prefer big swimming
live bait.
The canals that connect the Platte
River chain of reservoirs are famous
for big flatheads, and summer heat
tends to bring out their aggression. The
canals run full with irrigation water in
July and August, and the big yellow
catfish actively hunt at night next to
riprap-lined canal banks. Suckers,
chubs and bluegills are excellent bait
for flatheads, but anglers must make
sure they match their tackle to the size
of fish that may be encountered in this
system of canals.
Almost all of the fish species that
populate the Platte River reservoirs
populate the canals as well. In the
lower reaches of the Tri-County Canal,
a few canyon lakes are formed when
canal water reaches an elevation that
allows it to spill into the canyons. At
the mouth of such breaches, white bass
gather to feed on shad, and observant
anglers capitalize on the event. Small
spinners, doll flies or minnow-tipped
jigs provide a lot of action when hunting
parties of white bass attempt to intercept
schools of shad moving in and out of
these temporary canyon lakes.
The large reservoirs, however, produce
the best white bass fishing of the year.
The return of strong populations of
white bass to Lake McConaughy and
other Platte Valley reservoirs is a
welcome summer fishery for a large
number of anglers. White bass are the
bread-and-butter fish of the big lakes
at the time of year when most of the
butter is dripping off the bread.
Young of the year shad have
schooled and are found suspended in
deep open water preferred by species
like white bass. White bass have also
schooled and conduct raids on the
clouds of shad. In doing so, their tactic
is to drive the shad to the surface or
shoreline, which in either case closes
one door of their escape route. Astute
anglers keep a keen eye searching for
surface activity. Consistent and rapid
swirls in a small area often indicate the
presence of white bass feeding on shad
Laid-back barge fishing is a perfect approach to Lake McConaughy catfish this summer.
that they have forced to the surface.
Anglers often prefer “chasing” the
gulls, a term that describes watching
for large flocks of gulls diving onto the
surface of the water. When such activity
is observed, anglers race to that area to
fish. Gulls have very keen eyesight and
can spot shad that are being chased for
great distances. Sometimes white bass
are able to confine the school of shad
for a long time, but they can also
disperse them very quickly. The longer
the fray between bass, shad, and gull
continues, the more opportunity anglers
have to cash in on the activity.
Drifting through the feeding area or
employing an electric motor on the
perimeter of the area is the best route
to success. Rushing into the center of
the activity with an outboard motor
running is usually not the best
approach, as the angler’s boat and
motor may disperse both baitfish and
predators. Cast far-reaching spoons
or jigs and retrieve them at a depth
consistent with the feeding activity.
When surface action ceases, try
“slabbing” off the bottom in the
same location by vertically jigging slab
spoons. White bass may be in the area
for some time following surface activity,
and there is also the chance of picking
up a few catfish that have gathered on
the bottom to clean up chase casualties.
When the surface strikes under the
gulls appear more violent and throw
more water into the air, chances are
the predators causing this roil are
wipers, a hatchery-developed cross
between white bass and striped bass.
The product is an aggressive, hardhitting, mean fighting fish that can
weigh up to 20 pounds and can strip
line from a reel as fast as the most
vicious side of their notorious ancestry
– the striped bass.
Although wipers seem to “stay up”
for shorter durations, wiper anglers
have good success by finding
concentrated schools of shad on their
electronic locators and looking for big
fish in the proximity of the school.
Experienced anglers can generally
tell by looking at the image of the
shad school on their screens if wipers
or other predators are nearby or
harassing the school. If nervous, the
school is often very compact … safety
in numbers.
As in most times of the year, summer
fishing success rests primarily on the
whereabouts of baitfish. Where the
feed is, so too are the game fish. The
culmination of a successful shad
hatch and their midsummer schooling
preference in open water is exactly
what white bass, wipers and, for that
matter, catfish depend on to make a
living. Anglers who place themselves
strategically between predator and prey
will fare well, especially in the dog
days of summer. ■
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
43
NIOBRARA
A PARK OF TWO PLACES
Photos and text by Jon Farrar
First established on an island at the mouth of the
Niobrara River in 1927, Niobrara State Park was
moved to higher ground in the late-1980s because of
rising groundwater and flooding.
A
lthough not designated a state
historical park, Niobrara State
Park is steeped in history.
Located just west of Niobrara
in northern Knox County, on
land once occupied by the Ponca tribe,
today’s park sits on a bluff that was the
campsite of Lewis and Clark when they
visited a nearby Ponca village in 1804.
Expect wildlife up close and personal,
from cottontails to turkeys and deer.
44 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
In the winter of 1846-47, a party of
65 Mormon families en route to their
promised land in Utah established
winter quarters at the mouth of the
Niobrara River. During their short stay,
they are purported to have dug a canal
to divert a channel of water just above
the Niobrara River’s mouth to power
two mill burrs. The land between the
river’s natural channel and the
Mormon’s canal became an island and
later the location of Niobrara State
Park.
The U.S. Department of the Interior
gave the 800-acre island to the city
of Niobrara in the 1890s with the
stipulation it be used “all time entirely
as a public park.” In 1927, the city of
Niobrara gave Niobrara Island Park to
the state of Nebraska, to be managed
by the Game, Forestation and Parks
Commission. During its early years, the
area was known both as the Niobrara
Island Game Reserve and Park and as
the Niobrara State Park and Game
Preserve. By 1934, its designation had
been changed to Niobrara Island State
Park, and by 1936, its name was
changed for a final time to Niobrara
State Park, although it was commonly
known by previous names for many
years. A state game farm was established
adjacent to the park in 1939 to rear
pheasants and other game birds for
stocking across the state.
The Biennial Report of the Game,
Forestation and Parks Commission for
1932-1933 noted that the park had just
been “enlarged and a considerable
Bob and Rebecca Classen and their family of young anglers from Humphrey rig for panfish on a park lake.
portion of it opened to the public
through the clearing out of
undergrowth.” Not until the mid-1930s,
though, when the Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC) extended the interior road,
repaired picnic buildings and made
other improvements did Niobrara State
Park really begin looking like a state
park of its day. The CCC was a work
relief program for young men from
unemployed families during the Great
Depression. The men were stationed in
quasi army-style camps of about 200
men each for six-month periods and
paid to do outdoor construction work.
By 1938, Works Progress Administration
workers, another federal New Deal
employment program of the 1930s, had
completed six cabins at the park.
An advertisment for the park in the
Spring 1938 issue of Outdoor Nebraska
boasted: “A rest haven in pleasant
surroundings. Rates of cabins are
reasonable. Fish, splendid shade and
interesting scenery in the heart of
famous Indian country. All cabins are
rustically designed and brand new.” An
advertisement later that year promoted
the park as a headquarters for duck and
pheasant hunters, stating there was
“good pheasant shooting close by” and
that waterfowlers would be near both
the Niobrara and Missouri rivers.
Most early day improvements at the
park were accomplished with federal
aid workers. The Winter 1940 issue of
Outdoor Nebraska listed the
improvements: “…construction of
cabins, swimming pool facilities, tennis
courts, outdoor theater, baseball
diamond, picnic facilities, improvement
of golf course, roads and trails and
development of a sub-station to the
State Game Farm for the rearing of
pheasants.” By 1949 there were five
small cabins and four large cabins
available for rent, at $4 and $5 per day,
respectively. By the 1950s, Niobrara
State Park looked much as it would for
the next 40 years.
In 1976, Niobrara State Park had
15 modern cabins, a nine-hole golf
course, swimming pool, trail rides,
group camp buildings, camping sites
★
Niobrara State Park is located at the
confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri
rivers, north of State Highway 12 and just
west of Niobrara in Knox County. The
1,314-acre park is open year-round,
cabins and activities seasonally. Contact:
Niobrara State Park, 8926 522 Ave., P.O.
Box 226, Niobrara, NE 68760-0226;
(402) 857-3373; niobrara@ngpc.ne.gov
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
45
There is also a 2.1-mile wheelchairaccessible hike-bike trail and a Saturday
night buffalo meat cookout. The park
grounds are open year-round but the
swimming pool and other activities
operate from Memorial Day weekend
through Labor Day.
Niobrara State Park is a secluded
getaway for those wanting quiet days at
the doorstep of a natural landscape. It
also is the perfect headquarters for day
trips. Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical
Park north of Orchard and Royal is a
short and scenic drive south of Niobrara.
At Ashfall visitors will see the partially
excavated remains of animals entombed
in volcanic ash nearly 12 million years
ago. Grove Lake and a trout rearing
station are near Ashfall. At the lower
end of Lewis and Clark Lake is Gavins
Point Dam where visitors can take tours
of the huge hydroelectric power plant,
visitor center, federal fish hatchery and
aquarium. With boat ramps nearby,
Niobrara State Park is also the perfect
launch site for hunting and fishing on
Nineteen housekeeping cabins with either two or three bedrooms
are available at Niobrara State Park.
the Missouri River. A boat launch site
is located just northeast of the town of
Niobrara and on Bazile Creek Wildlife
Management Area east of town. ■
For more information or reservations
at Niobrara State Park, go to
www.OutdoorNebraska.org and click on
“state parks,” or call (402) 857-3373.
Some information in this article is
courtesy of Connie Kemp, and appeared
in Niobrara – 1856-2006, a book
celebrating Niobrara’s sesquicentennial
anniversary that was published in 2007.
Assistant park superintendent Mark Rettig tells Ellen Freeman’s kindergarten class from Bloomfield about the
nesting habits of eastern bluebirds and tree swallows in nest boxes sprinkled throughout the park.
and a park store selling supplies to
campers, anglers and hunters. By the
early 1970s, though, a huge change
loomed on the horizon for the town of
Niobrara and its nearby park. Flooding
during periods of high runoff in the
Missouri and Niobrara rivers was
nothing new to the town or the park,
but by the 1970s, high-water problems
had become chronic. Both the town and
the park are located at the upper end of
Lewis and Clark Reservoir on the
Missouri River. As the reservoir aged,
more and more silt was deposited at its
upper end, where the river’s velocity
slowed, and at the mouth of the Niobrara
River. As a result, the groundwater
continued to creep closer to the surface.
In 1973, land was acquired to move the
town of Niobrara to higher ground
south of its old site. The new Niobrara
was dedicated in a ceremony on July 4,
1977. The old townsite was razed and
46 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
covered with a golf course.
Niobrara State Park continued to
experience problems with the rising
water table through the 1970s. In the
1980s, with the help of federal funding,
the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission authorized the purchase of
four tracts of land, today totaling 1,314
acres, to relocate the park on high bluffs
immediately west of the confluence of
the Niobrara and Missouri rivers. The
new park’s grand opening was July 11,
1987, but construction continued into
the early 1990s. The transition from
park-of-the-past to park-of-the-future
was gradual, with old facilities such as
the swimming pool, maintainence
buildings, staff housing, and cabins at
the old park being used until the new
park was completed. Eventually the old
park was abandoned and most structures
removed, although an intrepid hiker
can still find remnants of the small
cabins rotting away in dense stands of
willows on the bottomland.
Today, Niobrara State Park is a
showplace retreat for outdoor recreation
in northeastern Nebraska, with 19
modern, two- and three-bedroom
housekeeping cabins, a modern
campground with 76 pads, and tent
camping sites with fire rings and
Adirondack shelters. Cabins are open
from mid-April through mid-November,
are air conditioned and heated, and have
kitchenettes. A lodge accommodating
up to 110 people is available for
conferences, retreats and reunions. It
has a fully equipped kitchen and
restrooms. Outdoor activities include
more than 12 miles of hiking trails,
fishing from the old railroad bridge
over the Niobrara River and in a small
lake, horseback riding, swimming in
the park’s pool and guided motor-raft
excursions on the Missouri River.
Trees reflect the park’s serene tranquility on the mirrored surface of a small lake, a moment of solitude in nature.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
47
Parks & Places
Classifieds
PLUM CREEK KENNEL. German Shorthairs, stud
service, puppies and started dogs. Training for all
pointing breeds. Specialize in training the handler as
well as the dog. Wayne Clark, Percival, Iowa 51648
(close to Omaha) (712) 529-4238, e-mail
wclark@heartland.net.
WILDERNESS KENNELS. Gun dog training – over
60 years combined experience. Training all sporting
breeds – retrievers, flushing and pointing dogs. All
dogs worked on pen-raised birds and wild game.
Training program also includes obedience training –
heel, sit, stay, down and come when called. Pups,
started dogs and fully trained dogs for sale. Hunting
dogs trained by hunters. Henry Sader, Wilderness
Kennels, Roca, NE (402) 423-4212. Since 1968.
DUCKDAWG RETRIEVERS - Raising exceptional
field-bred yellow and black Labradors. Hunting,
family and competition companions. Puppies raised in
our home. Written health guarantee. Stud service
available. Home of GRHRCH DuckDawg’s Eba Roll
The Dice - first and only Grand Hunting Retriever
Champion in Nebraska. www.duckdawg.com, Ron
Green DVM and Libby Milroy, North Platte, NE
(308) 534-3659.
BRITISH LABRADOR PUPPIES, AKC/UKC,
O.F.A./CERF. Guarantees. “Wildrose” Dam and Sire.
Exceptional British field trial lines. Free training.
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48 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
PRAIRIE DOG KENNELS, INC. specializes in
retrievers and versatile pointers. Dogs worked in
water, grass and timber on upland birds and waterfowl. Brian Moreland. Bennet, NE (402) 782-2075.
FISH/FISHING
FISH FOR SALE. Catfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, perch, crappies, bluegills, walleyes, rainbow trout, grass carp, minnows, bullheads. Consulting
available. Pleasant Valley Fish Farm, 27851 U.S.
Highway 83, McCook, NE 69001. (308) 345-6599.
NEBRASKA LAKE MANAGEMENT – Biological
lake surveys, fish stocking, rough fish control, lake
aeration, algae control, shorewall construction.
Rob Hofpar, Aquatic Biologist, licensed, insured and
qualified. Phone (402) 784-6005 (Lincoln), or
toll-free (888) 850-2460.
BUZZ’S MARINE, YOUR FISHING and recreational
boat super store, www.buzzsmarine.com and family
watersports dealer, www.buzzswatersports.com.
FREE WAXWORMS & MEALWORMS – raise your
own. Thousands of waxworms and mealworms with
our breeder kits $22.95 - $24.95. New Illuminator
lighted glow jigs. Automatically light up when wet
and turn off when dry. (763) 323-9273,
www.waxwormkit.com.
FOOD/GIFTS/HOME
HOMEBREWING/BEER AND WINEMAKING.
Fermenter’s Supply, 8410 K Plaza, Suite #10, Omaha,
NE 68127. Phone orders only, (888) 655-2739.
Advice line (402) 593-9171. www.fermenterssupply.com.
VISIT THE NEBRASKA MAPS & MORE STORE
at the School of Natural Resources UNL, U.S.G.S.
Topographic maps for the entire state of Nebraska – a
great tool to enhance your outdoor adventures. More
than 4,000 titles of natural resource, geology, wildlife
and agate books and maps. Shop online 24/7
http://nebraskamaps.unl.edu, 3310 Holdrege St.
Lincoln, NE, East Campus, (402) 472-3471.
"BECOMING
AN
OUTDOORS-WOMAN"
Cookbook. 150-pages containing a variety of recipes
including traditional home cooking along with
Dutchoven and Wild game. $9.75 plus $2.50 shipping.
Proceeds will help fund future projects sponsored by
BOW. Call (402) 471-5482 or go online at
www.NebraskaBOW.com
GUIDES/OUTFITTERS
CANOE THE NIOBRARA with an affordable canoe
trip by Dryland Aquatics. One- and two-day trips...full
service, or just canoe, tube or kayak. Transportation
furnished. Your Niobrara River specialists...We do it
your way! Dryland Aquatics, Dept. N, Box 33C,
Sparks, NE 69220 or phone (800) 337-3119. www.drylandaquatics.com, info@drylandaquatics.com.
KRIPPLE DUCK ADVENTURES – Southwestern
Nebraska. Guided hunts along the Frenchman Creek
for white-tailed and mule deer, waterfowl, upland
birds and turkey. We also have a controlled-shooting
area for pheasants, quail, and chukar. New lodging
accommodations are available on site. For information please call (308) 394-5345 or (308) 280-5345.
Email at cdorn@bwtelcom.net, www.krippleduck.com.
GUNS/SHOOTING/ARCHERY
GUNS – Browning, Benelli, Winchester, Ruger, etc.
1700 guns, buy-sell-trade (402) 729-6112, Bedlan’s,
Fairbury, NE 68352. www.bedlans.com.
OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT
IS PERFORMANCE IMPORTANT? For the finest
canoes and accessories look to Great Plains Canoe Co.,
205 Main, Springfield, NE 68059. Phone (402) 253-2000.
OMAHA CANOE AND KAYAK RENTALS! Visit
website www.canfields.com, click on Rentals page for
rates, or call (800) 333-2263 for reservations.
Canfield’s Sporting Goods.
Ponca State Park
PHOTOGRAPHY
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS. Matted,
framed and signed. Go to inplainssight.homestead.com,
hathfotofreak@hotmail.com, (402) 848-2358. “The
more you buy, the quicker my wife can retire!”
The popular Missouri River Expo will be held there September 22-23.
By Doug Carroll
DIGITIZE YOUR OLD PHOTOGRAPHS – quality
scanning and retouching. Save your memories and
share with other family members. (402) 489-5009.
lready one of the state’s most
popular places to visit, this
year Ponca State Park (SP)
will be especially inviting
when it hosts the third annual
Missouri River Expo September 22-23.
Designed to inform and educate
participants about a wide-range of
outdoor skills, the free Missouri
River Expo is open to families and
individuals of all skill levels. Visitors
to the event will get the opportunity
to learn about and participate in a
variety of hands-on outdoor activities
and topics, such as fishing, hunting,
game calling, camping, cooking,
wildlife and the arts, wildlife watching
and bird dog training.
All the activities at this event are
free to the public, but a valid
Nebraska Park Entry Permit is
required to get into the park. Prize
drawings and special discounts will
be offered to participants, including
30 half-price Nebraska Youth
Lifetime Hunting/Fishing Permits.
Expo hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on
Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on
Sunday.
A
REAL ESTATE
HUNTER'S PARADISE IN WESTERN NEBRASKA,
Geese/Ducks/Deer/Pheasant/Turkey, 204 +/- Acres,
½ mile frontage on North Platte River. Contact:
Morrow
Realty,
LLC
(308)
262-1207,
jb.morrow@charter.net.
11/2 MILES OF SOUTH PLATTE RIVER frontage
near Ogallala, Nebraska, with two privately stocked
ponds. Good hunting and fishing. (308) 284-2130 or
(307) 864-9424
VACATIONS/RESORTS
FOR FISHING AND HUNTING accommodations.
Guided pheasant hunts. Jefco Inn, Gordon, NE 69343.
South Cornell, (308) 282-2935.
THE OLDE MAIN STREET INN. A historic bed and
breakfast listed in the National Register of Historic
Places. Beautiful dining room with fireplace.
Featuring prime rib, buffalo, seafood, homemade
soups, chilis and desserts. 115 Main Street, Chadron
NE 69337 (308) 432-3380. www.chadron.com/oldemain.
LORD RANCH RESORT. Hunters, fishermen, family
vacations, family reunions. Deluxe cabins, complete
cooking facilities & TV. Quiet and peaceful in the
middle of the Sandhills. Three miles north of
Valentine Wildlife Refuge, open all year. Aubrey and
Dorothy Lord, HC 37, Box 41, Valentine, NE 69201.
Call (800) 270-0181. www.lordranchresort.com.
DIAMOND B TROUT RESORT & RESTAURANT,
Orchard, Nebraska. Restaurant, lodge, cabins, springfed lakes, playground equipment, paddleboats. Great
for families, groups, hunters. Book your cabin now!
Call for brochure (800) 974-3002. www.diamondbtroutresort.com.
MILL IRON V LODGING is modern cabins for your
vacation pleasure. We are located near Vedigre, NE in
turkey country. Each cabin offers privacy, view and a
birdwatcher’s paradise. Stay with us for a COUNTRY
EXPERIENCE. (402) 668-7488. www.milliron-vlodging.com, jpeinrem@gpcom.net.
DELUXE NIOBRARA RIVER CABIN: Private,
fully furnished. Kids’ adventure or adult getaway.
Also Biggest Tubes on the Niobrara! www.nolasupertubes.com, (800) 799-9929.
THE WAGNER BUNKHOUSE: A peaceful, rural
setting close to Calamus Reservoir and the North
Loup River. A full kitchen, living room, three bedrooms, two baths. Call for reservations or brochure at
(308) 346-4931, or e-mail Wagnerbunkhouse@
hotmail.com.
BIG ALKALI Wildlife Management Area-OPEN
YEAR ROUND-fishing, hunting, bird watching and
star gazing. The perfect family vacation spot.
Lakeside cabins, RV pads and primitive campsites.
Located just 20 miles South of Valentine, NE near the
National Wildlife Refuge. Our small store includes,
bait, tackle, ice, licenses, and snacks. Call 402-3761523 or www.bigalkalifishcamp.com
VISIT NEBRASKA STATE PARKS this summer and
enjoy activities such as fishing, swimming, camping
and hiking. Call (402) 471-1414 or go online at
OutdoorNebraska.org and follow the Parks link.
Classified Rates: 75¢ per word, minimum $15.
Closing: First business day two months before
issue date. Classified ads are accepted on a
first-come, first-served, space-available basis.
Classified Ads, NEBRASKAland Magazine, P.O.
Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370.
Telephone (402) 471-5473. Fax: (402) 471-1984.
E-mail: classifieds@ngpc.ne.gov. Ads are
posted online at NebraskalandMagazine.com at
no additional charge.
This deck at Ponca State Park offers a
panoramic view of the Missouri River.
FRAN KINGSBURY
FROSTY BROOKE ACRES LLC, Labradors and
Golden Retrievers - Hunt test and Field Trial bloodlines up close. Super temperament, desire and looks.
Great all-purpose Labs and Goldens, www.frostybrooke.com, (308) 783-LABS (5227), Scottsbluff
Valley, Nebraska.
Wildwind British Labradors. (402) 429-1836
steve.macdonald@davisdesign.com.
ERIC FOWLER
DOGS
Located near the entrance, this “Towers of Time” sculpture greets visitors to
Ponca State Park and represents three separate geological time periods.
Ponca SP superintendent Jeff Fields
said the park’s reserved camping spots
and 14 cabins have already been
reserved, but its first come, first served
campsites will be available until filled
and tent camping spots are basically
unlimited throughout the park.
Last year approximately 18,000
visitors attended the Expo, the only
one of its type in the area. “It’s a
pretty popular event,” said Fields.
“People around here have been
looking forward to it all summer.”
Situated astride the picturesque
Missouri River bluffs in northeastern
Nebraska, Ponca State Park
encompasses nearly 1,400 acres of
heavily forested rolling hills and
Missouri River bottomland and is the
eastern gateway to the 59-mile section
of the Missouri National
Recreational River, one of two
unchannelized stretches of the river
bordering Nebraska that provide a
glimpse of how the river looked
before modern man changed it
forever. Boat tours of the river will
be available during the expo.
With more than 20 miles of trails,
Ponca SP provides hikers and
mountain bikers many opportunities
to explore the park's backcountry.
Fields said the Missouri River Expo
is being held a couple of weeks
before the park’s traditional period
of peak foliage the first and second
weekends of October, but he expects
at least some of the trees to already
be turning colors during the Expo.
Visitors can view the park’s
spectacular fall colors by taking
advantage of the hayrack rides
available at Ponca SP during fall
weekends, including haunted
hayrack rides that are available
during the park’s popular Hallowfest
celebration, held the second weekend
of October. ■
★
Ponca State Park is located two miles
north of Ponca and encompasses nearly
1,400 acres of heavily forested rolling
hills and Missouri River bottomland.
NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
49
Portraits from the Past
My father, Martin Konopik Jr., was a great hunter and fisherman
but his favorite fun was inventing. This is his first tractor, which he
made from an old Ford car. This tractor was used for many years
until he could afford to buy a 'made' one. He scrounged parts from
farm sales and kludged them together to make things work. His
most famous invention was when he sawed a Model A engine in
half to make a 2-cylinder engine for his drag saw. Ford engineers
said it couldn’t be done and came out to see it. This picture was
taken in the early 1930s on the Konopik farm in Colfax County. He
was born on the homestead six miles north of Richland, where
Shell Creek and Taylor Creek come together.
– Marvin Konopik, Las Vegas, Nevada
My grandparents Fred and Sadie Heywood lived near the Niobrara River
southeast of Gordon. They had a huge garden and once a week they took
the produce, by wagon and a team of horses, to Gordon to sell. Grandpa
also trapped and sold furs like the ones in this picture, taken in the 1930s.
– Rebecca Yardley, Gordon, Nebraska
They called these pickerels and they were taken from either Dry Creek or the south fork of the Elkhorn River in southeastern
Holt County, sometime around 1917.
The fortunate anglers, pictured left to right, were my father, Ralph D. Stevens; my grandfather, Prince T. Stevens; and L.R.
Dillard. All were from Page, Nebraska.
– Robert T. Stevens, Valentine, Nebraska
Send contributions to: Portraits from the Past, NEBRASKAland Magazine, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370.
Photos should show people enjoying Nebraska outdoor activities, such as camping, boating, hunting or fishing, and must
have been taken before 1970. We will give priority to unusual photos or activities. When possible, please include a story
about the photograph and identify the people, places and approximate date it was taken. Photos will be returned.
50 NEBRASKAland ● August-September 2007
Position: 140 (43 views)