Volume 87, Issue 8, 2009
October 2009
- Identifier:
- nela.2009_087_08
- Title:
- Volume 87, Issue 8, 2009
- Issue Name:
- October 2009
- Date Issued:
- 2009-10-01
- year:
- 2009
- month:
- October
- Season:
- Autumn
- PDF filename:
- NL_87.08_2009_Oct_Spreads_Entire.pdf
- Publisher:
- Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
- Format:
- Periodical
- volume:
- 087
- issue:
- 08
- number:
- 087.08
- Decade:
- 2000s
- Type:
- Rights Holder:
- Copyright Nebraskaland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, all rights reserved.
- Extracted Text:
-
Autumn’s diminishing light illuminates a cottonwood leaf at Bazile Creek Wildlife Management Area in
Knox County. Photo by Michael Forsberg.
Published by the
NebraskalandMagazine.com
OutdoorNebraska.org
Volume 87, Number 8, October 2009
12 America’s Lingering Wild
Lincoln-based photographer Michael Forsberg traveled roughly
100,000 miles over the past fours years while documenting the
wild that still survives in the heart of our continent. The result
is his latest book, Great Plains – America's Lingering Wild.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL FORSBERG
20 Why I Hunt
There are numerous reasons why people hunt – exercise,
recreation, family time, relaxation, nutritious table fare – but
the main reason they hunt is because someone once asked
them to go. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ERIC FOWLER
24 The State Fair Says Goodbye to Lincoln
The 2009 Nebraska State Fair bid a “fair”-thee-well to
Lincoln this year when it wrapped up its century-long run in
our Capitol City. These photos capture a bit of this year’s fun
before the fair moves to Grand Island next year.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DOUG CARROLL
30 Gnomes of the Night – Ord’s Kangaroo Rat
Specialized to prosper without having a drink of water, these
appealing mouse-like creatures are found in grasslands on
sandy soils. They emerge from their elaborate underground
burrows only in the dark of night.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JON FARRAR
24
●
36 A Nebraska Pheasant Hunt
The sights, smells and sounds of a Nebraska pheasant hunt is
what sets it apart from any other type of hunting. Toss in
good company, good stories and good food, and any birds
harvested during the hunt are purely gravy.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JEFF KURRUS
Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Mixed Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Wilderness Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Parks & Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Portraits from the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
30
●
36
●
Cover: Near sunset, a bobcat moves along a creek drainage at Audubon's Spring Creek Prairie
near Denton. See story beginning on page 12. Photo by Michael Forsberg.
Opposite: Wind has created a small sand dune area around a windmill and stock tank near
Steer Creek Campground at McKelvie National Forest in Cherry County. Photo by Bill Hager.
NEBRASKAland (VOL. 87 / NO. 8, ISSN 0028-1964) is published monthly, except for the
combined Jan./Feb. and Aug./Sept. issues, by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission,
2200 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, NE. Periodicals postage paid at Lincoln, Nebraska, and additional
mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NEBRASKAland, P.O. Box 30370,
Lincoln, NE 68503-0370.
20
●
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 3
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:
James Ziebarth, Wilcox
Vice Chairman:
Jerrod Burke, Curtis
2nd Vice Chairman:
Mick Jensen, Blair
Dr. Mark Pinkerton, Wilber
Ron Stave, Waterloo
Dr. Kent Forney, Lincoln
Lynn Berggren, Broken Bow
Rex Fisher, Omaha
Mark Spurgin, Paxton
Magazine Staff
Editor: Doug Carroll
Associate Editor: Jeff Kurrus
Art Director: Tim Reigert
Senior Editor: Jon Farrar
Regional Editors:
Eric Fowler, Bob Grier
Photo Librarian: Sarah Johnson
Circulation: Donna Robinson
For address changes and questions about
your subscription, e-mail
donna.robinson@nebraska.gov
or call (800) 632-5263
Marketing/Advertising: Jane Gustafson
For advertising information e-mail
ngpc.advertising@nebraska.gov
or call (402) 471-5481
NEBRASKAland Magazine
Copyright 2009, all rights reserved.
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. NEBRASKAland Magazine and the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission reserve the right to reject
any advertising not in keeping with the agency mission.
Rates: $18 for one year; $33 for two years; $44 for
three years. Nebraska recipients must add
appropriate sales tax.
To subscribe call 1-800-NEBLAND (632-5263),
or go online to: NebraskalandMagazine.com.
4 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
First Turkey
My 12-year-old grandson, Charles
Hales, shot his first turkey April 25,
2009, while on a National Wild Turkey
Federation mentor hunt in the Battle
Creek area with his father, Joe, and
friend, Roy Swoboda. He used a
20-gauge shotgun and, needless to say,
was very excited.
Georgia Hales
Via e-mail
Snipe Hunting
I very much enjoyed Jon Farrar’s
piece in the latest issue regarding
“Snipe Hunting History.” One can
never read too much about this wily
(and tasty) shorebird. I would offer that
the species we enjoy here in “the
States” is now accepted to be the
Wilson’s snipe (instead of the
“common snipe” found in Eurasia).
And I’d agree with Jon’s
recommendation of using No. 71/2 or
No. 8 shot. I would just remind fellow
snipers that non-toxic shot must be
used while pursuing this majestic game
bird. “Pass the snipe salt, please!”
Brad McKinney, President
Snipe Unlimited
Goose Lake Rebuttal
The Upper Elkhorn
NRD was disappointed
with the “Goose Lake
Rebound” article in the
July 2009
NEBRASKAland. The
Upper Elkhorn NRD has
a good working
relationship with the Nebraska Game
and Parks Commission on programs
such as Wild
Nebraska, various
studies on the Platte
River and, contrary
to the article, even on
Goose Lake. The
article seemed to
focus on the negative
rather than the
positive aspects that
were achieved during
our partnership of
maintaining the lake
for all recreational
purposes. The Upper
Elkhorn NRD
testified in front of
the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission with the district’s position,
concerns and observations of making it
a 5 mph lake in October 2006. This
testimony can be found on the UENRD
website at www.uenrd.org.
The Upper Elkhorn NRD is funded
by all property owners within its
boundaries. The Upper Elkhorn NRD
attempts not to distinguish these funds
for specific uses and the district
attempted to accommodate all
recreational enthusiasts in the district.
These property owners include water
enthusiasts that enjoy fishing from the
shoreline or from a boat, wildlife,
hunting and recreational use that
exceeds the 5 mph limit.
Many comments in the article
criticized the Upper Elkhorn NRD and
the operation of the irrigation well and
the districts intentions; the district
encourages anyone to read the
testimony mentioned earlier regarding
the district’s opinion. The article fails
to comment that the Nebraska Game
and Parks was involved in the decision
process of when to pump the well. Due
to budget constraints or spending limits
set either by
the Upper
Elkhorn NRD
or Nebraska
Game and
Parks, the
irrigation well
was pumped
to provide
the most
beneficial uses.
It is true, the Nebraska Game and
Parks Commission and the Upper
Elkhorn NRD did not agree on the
5 mph restriction and the district
ultimately sold the well and pumping
equipment and received payment from
the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission in 2007. However, it is
disappointing to see an article that
criticized the Upper Elkhorn NRD for
concerns regarding aquatic vegetation
as it impacts all boating, winter
fishkills and depth of the lake and then
later stated in the article that those
were or are concerns of the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission.
The partnership between the Upper
Elkhorn NRD and the Nebraska Game
Parks is much more than the negativity
written regarding Goose Lake and
ultimately the District and lake
deserved better.
On behalf of the Upper Elkhorn
NRD Board of Directors
Statement of ownership and monthly circulation of
NEBRASKAland Magazine
Owner and publisher: Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission
Editor: Doug Carroll
Headquarters of Publisher and Publication:
2200 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, NE 68503
Stockholders, Bondholders, Mortgage and
Security Holders: None
Average number of copies
of each issue during
preceding 12 months
Single issue
nearest to
filing date
A. Total Copies Printed
(net press run) ........................31,341 ............29,951
B. Paid Circulation
1. Single-copy sales..................2,752 ..............2,567
2. Mail subscriptions ..............23,953 ............22,853
C. Total Paid Circulation ..............26,762 ............25,473
D. Free Distribution
by Mail ......................................2,992 ..............2,783
E. Free Distribution
Outside the Mail ..........................411 ................411
F. Total Free Distribution................3,403 ..............3,194
G. Total Distribution ....................30,165 ............28,667
H. Copies Not Distributed ............1,176 ..............1,284
I. Total..........................................31,341 ............29,951
J. Percent Paid and/or
Requested Circulation ....................89%................89%
Send your comments to:
Doug Carroll, Editor
NEBRASKAland Magazine
P.O. Box 30370
Lincoln, NE 68503
or e-mail doug.carroll@nebraska.gov
Please include your postal address and
telephone number.
Letters may be condensed and edited
for clarity. Photographs are
welcome and will be returned.
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).
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
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
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:
www.OutdoorNebraska.org
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
Lemoyne
355-2024
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
Terry Brentzel
City
Phone (308)
Kearney
865-5327
Clay Center(402)762-3124
Doniphan (402)845-2021
Randy Pomplun
Darin Gress
Dale Johnson
Mark Reeves
Robert Finke
Fullerton
536-2987
Hebron (402) 768-2287
Kearney
237-1079
Loup City
745-0662
Milford (402) 761-3537
Northeast
Officer
Tom Zimmer (Sup.)
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
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
Mike Luben
Douglas Kramer
Dina Barta
Stacey Lewton
Levi Krause
Russell Mort
Dan Evasco
Jeff Clauson
City
Gretna
Ashland
Auburn
Colon
Lincoln
Lincoln
Lincoln
Louisville
Nebr. City
Papillion
Waterloo
Phone (402)
332-2965
944-4174
274-3789
443-4278
466-9001
483-2358
476-0436
234-2212
873-5684
592-6733
359-5301
Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers 1-800-742-7627
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 5
State Fair Photo Winner
A foggy morning photo of sandhill
cranes on the Platte River won this
year’s Wild and Scenic category of the
Nebraska State Fair photo contest. The
winning photographer, Linda Graham
of Greenwood, had this to say about
her winning entry:
“The picture of the sandhill cranes
was taken on an extremely foggy
morning in March from a blind on the
Platte River at Rowe Sanctuary. I had
been taking pictures into the fog where
I could hear the birds and caught this
picture just as the sun peeked over the
horizon and the fog very slowly began
to disseminate. The cranes were things
of beauty to behold and I was glad to
be able to capture a bit of the morning
with a lens.”
Graham’s entry was one of 18 photos
entered in the Wild and Scenic class.
Overall, almost 2,000 photos were
entered in this year’s state fair photo
contest.
Idea is a six-part series that will begin
Sunday, September 27 at 5 p.m. CT on
NET1 and in high definition on NETHD. For details about the series, visit
netNebraska.org/nationalparks.
The series will repeat on NET1/NETHD on the “National Parks Weekend
Marathon,” Saturday, October 3, from
12:30 to 7 p.m. CT (the first three
episodes), and on Sunday, October 4,
from 1 to 7 p.m. CT (the last three
episodes).
Grand Reopening Sept. 26
The public is invited to come help
celebrate the opening of the Nebraska
Nature & Visitor Center (formerly
the Crane Meadows Nature Center),
located south of Interstate 80 Exit 305
near Alda.
The open house will be held
September 26 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
and features display booths, food,
music, trail hikes, hayrack rides and a
photo exhibit by Joel Sartore, a native
Nebraskan whose work often appears
in National Geographic.
For more information about the
center or its grand reopening, go to
www.nebraskanature.org or call
(308) 382-1820.
Burns Film on National Parks
Filmed in nature’s most spectacular
locales – from Acadia to Yosemite,
Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, and
the Everglades of Florida to the Arctic
of Alaska – The National Parks:
America’s Best Idea, a new film by
Ken Burns, is an epic story that’s a
century long and a continent wide.
Step into our nation’s most beautiful
and sacred places and discover how
they came to be preserved not for
royalty or the rich, but for everyone.
You’ll meet extraordinary people from
every background, who devoted
themselves to saving the lands they
loved, and in doing so, reminded their
fellow citizens of the full meaning of
democracy.
The National Parks: America’s Best
6 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
Outdoor Message Plates
Nate Deminski of Ashland doesn’t
impose limits on himself when it
comes to bird hunting, making time to
pursue dove, pheasants, quail, turkey,
ducks and geese. His love for all bird
hunting shows on his message plate.
If you have a unique message plate
you would like to share, or know
someone who does, e-mail a photo
(high-resolution jpg format only, please)
of it to Eric.Fowler@Nebraska.gov,
along with your name, hometown and
a brief description of the interests
expressed on your license plate.
From the Kitchen
By this point in the season, odds are
you’ve shot a few squirrels.
Now what do you do?
Squirrels are often one
of hunters’ least popular
dinner choices, but can
be easy to cook for
even the novice
chef. The
following is
a squirrel
recipe taken
from the
NEBRASKAland
Wild Game Cookbook,
currently available at
Outdoor.Nebraska.org.
Roast Squirrel
Ingredients:
3 squirrels
¾-cup cooking oil
¼-cup lemon juice
2-cups bread crumbs
½-cup cream
1-cup sliced mushrooms, sautéed
½-tsp salt
1
/8-tsp pepper
½-tsp onion juice
4-tbl olive oil or bacon fat
Dress and clean squirrel. Wash in
several water baths and dry. Cover with
cooking oil mixed with lemon juice
and let stand for one hour. Moisten
crumbs with cream and combine with
mushrooms, salt, pepper and onion
juice. Stuff squirrels with this mixture,
sew and truss. Place squirrels in a
8 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
roaster. Brush with olive oil or bacon
fat. Roast uncovered at 325 degrees
until tender, 1½ to 1¾ hours, basting
every 15 minutes. Serve with pan
gravy. Serves six.
– Maudia Coldiron, Norfolk,
Nebraska
Animal Names
Jon Farrar
If you are interested in animals, and
amused by words, go to the Internet,
select a search engine like Google, type
in “names groups animals” and be
prepared to smile. A good site to start
with is: http://www.writers-freereference.com/172groupnames.htm.
There are plenty of expected names
for groups of animals – like a herd of
deer, colony of ants, swarm of bees and
covey of quail – but also many creative
and archaic word choices that seem to
fit just that group.
Animals presumed wise, such as
owls, gather in parliament. Magpies,
also intelligent birds that reportedly
can be trained to speak some of our
words, occur in tidings. Nattilydressed and pious birds like plovers
are found in congregations, and eagles
in convocations.
Many names for groups of certain
animals seem prejudicial – like a murder
of crows, a scold of jays, a mischief of
mice, a skulk of foxes or a sneak of
weasels. Locusts come in plagues and
grasshoppers in swarms. Similarly,
gatherings of domestic cats have earned
rather disparaging labels such as a clutter,
glaring, destruction and even a nuisance
of cats. A company of badgers, a most
unlikely situation, is called a cete. That
word is derived from Latin and, well,
look it up in your dictionary if you are
curious. Bats at their communal roosts
are at their colony but a swarm of them
in the air is termed a cloud.
Group names for animals admired or
held in high esteem fare better. Larks
issue their sweet territorial calls while
on the wing, and so a gathering of them
becomes an ascension or exaltation.
Finches and hummingbirds gather in
charms.
Some names of animal groups are
descriptive of where they live. A
gathering of bitterns, cranes or herons
is called a sedge or siege. I prefer
sedge, and as wetlands are often lined
with plants called sedges, that would be
an appropriate place to find a gathering
of these long-legged water birds. A
flock of teal may also be referred to as
a spring, which perfectly describes how
they leap from the water when alarmed.
Otters, as might be expected, are found
in rafts. A group of butterflies is called
a flutter, a swarm of buzzards is termed
a wake, caterpillars come as an army,
cockroaches as an intrusion, cormorants
in a gulp, gulls in a screech, coots in a
fleet, opossum in a grin and porcupines
in a prickle.
Other terms for groups of animals
describe their social organization or
flock formations, such as a coterie of
prairie dogs; a skein or wedge of geese;
Here is a list of
upcoming outdoor
events across
Nebraska.
For more
information
about
these and
other events, click on
the calendar at
www.OutdoorNebraska.org.
Map showing
black squirrel
sightings sent in
by readers.
September 19-20
or a kettle of hawks swirling in circles
during migration.
The names for some animal groups
seem somewhat inexplicable, like a
bale of turtles, a knot of toads, a dray
of squirrels, a husk of rabbits or a
rhumba of rattlesnakes.
My personal favorite is a wisp of
snipe, which I assume refers the bird’s
wispy body, not a swirling smoke-like
flight, as they are seldom seen in flocks.
Squirrel Sightings
Jeff Kurrus
In the July 2009 issue of
NEBRASKAland, I sent out a request
for black squirrel sightings. My request
was answered – the map above lists the
black squirrel sightings sent in by
readers. Populations are very sporadic,
much like what was stated in the original
October 2007 article on black squirrels.
Rumors run rampant regarding how
populations landed where they have,
and stories about squirrels hitching
rides on cars and trains, being trapped
and transferred, or simply migrating
have been submitted.
What also runs rampant among these
readers and others is the large amount
of observing that people do when they
come across these squirrels. I’ve
never seen a creature garner so many
opinionated voices regarding a
squirrel’s day-to-day activities. Carl
Throckmorton of Hastings said, “We
feed half a dozen fox squirrels animal
crackers in a box with a hinged top that
they must lift with their noses to reach
the crackers. The fox squirrels are more
adept than the black ones at doing
this.”
Elaine Umstead of Osceola, however,
has seen black squirrels for several
years and has a different opinion:
“They seem to be a little smaller than
the others and smarter,” said Umstead.
“I have a bird feeder that is supposed
to be squirrel proof, but he or she
manages to get their paw through
enough to get some of the seed out,
and then down to the ground they go
to pick up their treasure. I have also
seen a hybrid.”
The “hybrid” question comes up
quite often, either directly or indirectly.
“I have seen squirrels that had a
traditional fox squirrel coloration,”
said Dan Dibbern of Fremont, “however
the face and underbody were black. Is
it possible that the red and black variety
mated?”
Ron Mortensen of Omaha, claims
that his wife recently noted to him that
a black squirrel appeared to be mating
with a gray squirrel, while Mark
Brohman of the Nebraska
Environmental Trust stated, “What I
like about them is that when they are in
bright sunlight, you can see a hint of
red, and the squirrel almost appears
maroon in color.”
• Missouri River Outdoor Expo –
Ponca SP
September 20
• Arbor Lodge and Nebraska City
Apple Jack Festival
October 2-4
• Becoming an Outdoors-Woman
Workshop – 4-H Camp, Halsey
October 3-4
• Pioneer Longrifle Rendezvous,
Indian Cave SP
• Fort Atkinson SHP Living History
Demonsrations
• Autumn Harvest Art Show 2009 –
Eugene T. Mahoney SP
October 4
• Arbor Lodge SHP Living History
(also October 11, 18)
October 9-10
• Indian Cave SP Haunted Hollow
Hayrack Rides (also October 16, 17)
• Indian Cave Campground
Decorating Contest (also October 24)
October 10
• Ponca SP's Hallowfest
October 11-12
• NECTRA Competitive Horse Trail
Ride – Indian Cave SP
October 17
• Ponca SP's Hallowfest
October 16-17
• Indian Cave SP Haunted Hollow
Hayrack Rides
October 18-19
• Youth – Cock Pheasant, Quail, and
Partridge Hunting begins Statewide
October 23-25
• Holiday Craft Show / Old West
Cookout – Eugene T. Mahoney SP
October 24
• Indian Cave Campground
Decorating Contest
October 25
• Cock Pheasant, Quail, and
Partridge Hunting begins Statewide
November 2
• Fort Robinson Christmas Dinner
Reservations – (308) 665-2900
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 9
Dead Floorboard
A few years back I was patrolling east of Geneva along the Turkey
Creek drainage when I came upon an elderly couple dressed in
hunter orange and stopped at an intersection. Noticing a deer in the
back of their vehicle, I had stopped and was checking on their permits
when a brand new Ford pickup approached the intersection from the
east. Finished looking over their paperwork, I said my goodbyes to
the couple and decided to check the approaching truck, which I could
now tell contained two gentlemen in hunting clothes.
Suddenly the new Ford came to an upbrupt stop just short of the
intersection and a young man came piling out of the driver’s door,
screaming and hollering profanities.
That’s odd, I thought – they usually don’t start cussing and screaming
until after I’ve checked them and started writing tickets. The young
man went to the front of the truck and opened the hood, still hollering
profanities.
As I got closer, I could see an older gentleman still sitting in the
truck, so bypassing the still-agitated driver, I poked my head in the
driver’s side of the truck and asked, “What happened – did you kill
the truck?”
The older man turned green and muttered something that I couldn’t
make out. I noticed the smell of fresh gunpowder in the truck’s cab
and remembered that as the truck approached, I’d thought I’d heard
what sounded like a muffled gunshot but passed it off as my
imagination. From the man’s look and gun powder smell, I realized
a rifle had been discharged in the truck.
As it turned out, the older gentleman was the driver’s father-in-law,
and when he saw me at the intersection, he hurriedly tried to unload
his son-in-law’s rifle, which was sitting between them with the muzzle
pointed down. Trying to get the shells out of the bolt-action, he must
have had a finger on the trigger when he chambered a round and the
gun had gone off. Needless to say, the driver was not pleased.
– Jerry Pecha, Conservation Officer, Kearney
Questions will always be raised
about this curious creature. And many
people, such as Donna Necas of
Lincoln, will always remember where
and when they first saw them.
“I grew up in Hastings in the 1960s
and 70s. We thought we were special
when I was growing up because we had
black squirrels in our yard but never
saw them anywhere else. I moved to
Lincoln in 1977, but did not see black
squirrels until the late 1980s and then it
was only in the middle of town. Now I
see them regularly in my neighborhood
in Havelock.”
If your hometown is not represented
on the map, continue to send in your
sightings to jeff.kurrus@nebraska.gov.
10 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
Telecheck Available
This year, for the first time, many
Nebraska deer hunters won’t have to
haul their harvested game to a check
station before taking it home or dropping
it off at a meat locker – they’ll be able
to either check the animal by going
online or by calling a toll-free telephone
number.
While traditional check stations will
still be available for all deer seasons
this year, beginning September 15 all
deer harvested outside of the November
firearm season can also be checked in
any time day or night by calling
(800) 405-7700 or by going online to
www.nedeercheck.com. The successful
hunter will be asked to provide their
deer unit and permit numbers, the
species, sex and age of the animal
harvested, and the date and county of
kill. Hunters will then be given a seal
number and security code to write on
their permit. The permit must be kept
with the deer until it is taken home or
delivered to a meat locker.
According to Kit Hams, big game
program manager for the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission, this
change is a classic win-win situation:
“This is good for hunters in that it
should save a lot of time and fuel costs,
and it’s good for us in that we will get
our data sooner and cheaper.”
While the traditional check stations
will still be open for all deer seasons
this year, in 2010 the manned check
stations will operate only during the
November firearm season. This change
is expected to save the Commission
$10,000 this year and $30,000 next
year, according to Hams.
Hunters having problems using either
telecheck system can call (800) 418-4400
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST Monday
through Friday for customer service
and will still be able to take their deer
to a traditional check station.
October Antlerless Deer Season
Eric Fowler
Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission biologists hope lastminute changes to a new antlerless deer
season set for October 9-11 in eastern
Nebraska will make meeting the goal
of that season – harvesting 3,500 more
white-tailed does – even more attainable.
As initially established in March,
hunters needed to purchase a special
permit for the three-day season that
allows center-fire rifles to be used in
Season Choice Areas (SCA) 18 and 21,
which cover the eastern end of the state
from South Sioux City to Kansas, as
well as land within three miles of the
banks of the Platte River east of
Central City. Changes made in August
now allow hunters with landowner,
youth and SCA 18 or SCA 21 permits
to also use firearms to harvest antlerless
deer in those areas during that time.
Big Game Program Manager Kit
Hams said the Commission had heard
from many hunters who purchased
A Look Back - October 2001
Jeff Kurrus
“How Nebraska Has Changed,”
by James Stubbendieck, featured
both historical photos and
rephotographed scenes of
Nebraska’s
landscape
during the
past 100
years.
Images of
the loess
hills in
Gosper
County, the
long-since
developed
tract of land named Roger’s Woods
in Lancaster County, and
Hackberry Lake in Cherry County
are some of those included in the
collection. Rocky Hoffmann’s
“Pike on the Ice” told of six
women, all recent graduates of a
Becoming an Outdoors-Woman
(BOW) session, and their first battles
with northerns at Pelican Lake.
Bob Grier’s “Longhorns” states
that this animal’s story “twists and
weaves through American history –
from its European roots, to tales of
long drives across the plains, to near
extinction.” And NEBRASKAland,
like it did every issue of 2001,
replaced “Portraits of the Past”
with “100 Years of Game and Parks,”
tracking the history of the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission’s
involvement in the preservation of
this state’s natural resources.
those permits who thought they would
be able to hunt during the new October
season. “Our goal is to increase antlerless
deer harvest in those areas and we
certainly didn’t want to end up in a
situation where we were writing people
tickets for harvesting deer on SCA 18
or 21 permits,” Hams said.
Thanks to the liberal issuance of
bonus tags, a record 32,387 antlerless
white-tailed deer were harvested in
Nebraska last season, 9,700 more than
in 2007. Yet while nearly half of the
antlerless harvest came from the eastern
fourth of the state, Commission
biologists felt harvest needed to be even
higher along the Missouri and Platte
rivers to reduce the herd size and number
of crop damage complaints, so the
October season was created.
Most hunters are expected to use
centerfire rifles during this season, but
harvest is also allowed with bow and
arrow, crossbows and muzzleloaders.
The Commission is encouraging
landowners who have experienced crop
damage to open their land to anyone
who asks permission to hunt.
“If they’ve got too many deer, it’s
another opportunity when the does are
very vulnerable,” Hams said. “They
haven’t been shot at yet. When you get
into the January antlerless season, if
they hear a truck they’re crawling
under the first bush they can find.”
HIP
Migratory bird hunters are reminded
that they must register with the Harvest
Information Program (HIP) before
taking to the field this year. With the
exception of residents under the age of
16 years old, anyone hunting dove,
duck, goose, snipe, rail, coot and
woodcock in Nebraska must register
with the program and carry their HIP
number with them while in the field. To
register, call 1-877-634-8687 or go
online to OutdoorNebraska.org and
look at the Hunting portion of the web
site. Information gathered from HIP
registrants is used to help set season
dates and bag limits for future years.
Turpin Time
Dick Turpin
I’ve got three
poles … the
rods are fine
but the reels are
bad … I ’m
going to re-do
that line and
I’ve got to take
it off … my
wife had the
egg beater
sitting here so this is ideal to use. It’ll
take that line right off there and I can
do that in just a matter of minutes. Try
this, it works. ■
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 11
America’s
Lingering Wild
Text and photos by Michael Forsberg
E
arly March 2009 found me on a
tallgrass prairie near Denton,
Nebraska, looking hard at the image
shown on the viewing screen of a digital
camera and not believing what I saw. I had
been tending to a remote “camera trap”
system I had set up along a game trail in a
creek drainage, trying in vain to capture an
image of a creature that had eluded me the
last five months. With a book deadline fast
approaching, I had no more chances.
It wasn’t until I got home and pulled
the image up on the
computer
Michael Forsberg’s new
book, Great Plains - America's
Lingering Wild, will be released
in October by University of Chicago press.
12 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
that I actually
believed it was
real – a bobcat
had finally
materialized
out of the
tallgrass and
taken its own
picture before
vanishing back
into the prairie.
Somehow
this image
made only
15 minutes
from my home
in Lincoln
seemed a
fitting way to end a book project that had
taken me on a roughly 100,000-mile journey
the last four years, criss-crossing the heart
of a continent and trying to document the
wild that still survives in North America’s
Great Plains.
The idea for the book took shape nearly a
decade ago when I spent several weeks
throughout the summer in western South
Dakota photographing the lives of burrowing
owls in sprawling prairie dog towns. I will
never forget the first time I came eye to eye
Near sunset, a bobcat moves along a creek drainage at Audubon's Spring Creek Prairie near Denton.
with the piercing gaze of one these fierce
little owls up close through the viewfinder.
Nor will I forget photographing two blackfooted ferret kits in almost the exact same
location two years later – one of the
continent’s most endangered mammals,
brought back from the brink of extinction –
as they paused outside their burrow just
before dawn.
What struck me most during those prairie
summers was the number and incredible
diversity of prairie wildlife I encountered –
ferruginous hawks, pronghorn, swift foxes,
long-billed curlews, Great Plains toads,
ornate box turtles, dung beetles, harvester
ants, dragonflies and many others. Yet I
knew that to the vast majority of people
speeding down the highway that sliced
through the prairie off in the distance, the
landscape appeared as if there was nothing
there at all.
That perception can be a tough one to
shake. We’ve all heard the remarks about
these Plains we call home – “it’s flyover
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 13
country,” “one big flat cornfield,” “a place
you drive through, not to.”
To be fair, it’s not a landscape that wins
you over at first glance like the majesty of
the Rocky Mountains or the rugged coastline
of the Pacific Northwest. You can’t appreciate
it after a five-minute stop at a roadside
pullout – to see the true beauty of the
Plains you must linger. Before you know it,
the big sky wins you over, the prairie pulls
you in, and you realize it can be every bit
as remarkable.
14 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
At roughly a million square miles, the
Great Plains stretches from the prairie
provinces of Canada to the arid grasslands
of northern Mexico. It is the second largest
of all temperate grasslands on earth. It is
so vast that if it were its own country, it
would be the tenth largest in the world.
Although its foundation was laid millions
of years ago, the modern day Great Plains
contains a relatively young ecosystem
where grass began to rule over trees after
the end of the last ice age. Shaped by a
In central Nebraska, white-tailed
deer pause on a sandbar while trying
to cross the Platte River through a
roost of migrating sandhill cranes.
The White Cliffs, famously noted in
the journals of Lewis and Clark, are
reflected in the waters of the Upper
Missouri River in eastern Montana.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 15
A rainbow arches over butterfly milkweed in a tallgrass prairie during a
morning thundershower in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
lost on the prairie.
Between the fall of 2005 and the winter of 2008-09, I
traveled six months a year from Montana to Iowa, Canada
to Mexico, to try and make pictures that would help put a
face on the lingering wild that survives here, to shed light on
the conservation challenges at hand and why they matter.
Over the course of the project, I was able to experience
things I never thought I would in my life: I witnessed
migrating herds of pronghorn traveling hundreds of miles
between Canada and Montana, placed my hand in the
muddy paw print of a grizzly bear on the shortgrass
prairie near the Rocky Mountain Front, swam alongside a
feeding shoal of native minnows shimmering with all the
Jill Morrison, rancher and community organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, rides the range on her family's land
near Sheridan, Wyoming.
harsh continental climate, hundreds of
diverse natural communities and tens of
thousands of species have evolved here. Most
of them are broadly adapted, wide-ranging
species that have been engineered to move
on or hunker down in response to the
region’s natural cycles of drought and
flood, extreme heat and cold, fire and grazing.
Less than 200 years ago, the Great Plains
was one of the greatest grassland ecosystems
on earth – at least 30 million bison, a
16 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
billion or more prairie dogs, huge herds
of elk, pronghorn and deer, plains grizzlies,
wolves, unimaginable bird life and a rich
collective of indigenous cultures that lived
and moved with the rhythms of the seasons.
Then, in the blink of an eye as the United
States and Canada grew westward, much
of its wild grandeur was gone. Today the
Great Plains is one of the most altered
natural landscapes and most endangered
ecosystems on the continent. But all is not
In early January, pronghorn migrating south from the Canadian prairie move through the Milk River breaks in Phillips County, Montana.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 17
Photographer and author Michael Forsberg after a muddy day of
fieldwork with amphibian biologists in northeastern Wyoming.
In early August, over a million Mexican free-tailed bats empty out of a cave and into the western Oklahoma night. Each bat can
consume more than 3,000 mosquitoes and other flying insects during a nighttime foray.
In North Dakota, a view from
the air shows a former
prairie pothole wetland
landscape now overlaid by
fields of wheat and canola in
the Missouri Coteau region,
a stronghold for breeding
ducks in the Northern
Plains.
colors of the rainbow in a Kansas Flint
Hills prairie stream, and stood for nearly
an hour underneath a steady stream of bats
filing out of a cave into the Oklahoma night.
But I certainly did not do this project alone.
Writer/rancher Dan O’Brien, geographer
David Wishart and poet Ted Kooser have
all lent their powerful, independent voices
to help shape this book. So too have hundreds
of people I met along the way – ranchers,
scientists and others – who are anchored
to the land and whose passions and
perspectives are as wide and varied as a
prairie sky. But the common bond that
stitches all these people together is their
deep love of the land itself, its natural
diversity and their commitment to
conserve it for generations to come.
The Great Plains will continue to be
an important working landscape that
helps feed the world and helps fuel our
energy needs, but can it also exist as a
functioning, dynamic ecosystem that keeps
our rich natural heritage intact? I say yes.
To be sure, the conservation challenges are
complex and time is short. Then again, the
people of the Plains have never been shy of
a challenge. ■
A regular contributor to NEBRASKAland
Magazine, Lincoln-based wildlife photographer
Michael Forsberg’s work has appeared in
publications such as Audubon, National Geographic
and National Wildlife.
For more information about this book, contact
the Michael Forsberg Gallery, 100 North 8th St.,
Suite 150, Lincoln, NE 68508, call (402) 4775030, or go online to www.michaelforsberg.com.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 19
Why I Hunt
By Eric Fowler
like to hunt. I really like to hunt. A and learned to shoot thanks to Larry
Einspahr, father of my step sister and
lot. You could say it’s who I am.
step brothers. But who would take me?
Why? The normal clichéd
I wasn’t old enough to go on my own.
answers might be that I enjoy the
Enter Larry Chandler, the husband of
recreation, exercise, spending time
a woman who worked with my stepwith friends and family, the taste of
mother, Gloria. No one remembers for
game meat, or even that I’m satisfying
sure, but I would suspect that when
primordial urges. All of these are
important, but what I enjoy most is that Gloria and Sherry’s conversation at
hunting melts the stress of everyday life work one day turned to my interest in
hunting, Sherry said she’d ask Larry if
from my body. When I hunt, whether
I’m sitting in the whitetail woods or
the goose blind, or following my dog
through a CRP field in search of a
rooster pheasant, I’m solely focused
on the task at hand. I have no worries.
That’s the only logical reason I
sometimes subject myself to extreme
wind chills and sore feet after long
walks, knowing that in many cases
the odds of success are stacked
against me.
But in truth, that’s not why I hunt.
The sole reason is simply that
someone asked me to go. Actually I
blame it on three different people who
asked me, and another who taught
me to shoot and let me borrow his
shotguns until I had my own.
You see, my dad, Dave, doesn’t
hunt. I don’t fault him for that – he
wasn’t exposed to it as a youth
growing up in Indianapolis, and it
didn’t stick with him after a few
trips in Nebraska.
I, on the other hand, was
I was a skinny 17-year-old in 1986 when Jamie
surrounded by hunters while growing Vasa guided me to my first goose near
Sutherland.
up in Ogallala. As a teen, I worked
at a gas station/bait shop/sporting
he’d take me.
goods store, and listening to the
Larry was somewhat like me in that
hunters’ stories there, and from friends
at school, sparked my interest. I knew I his dad didn’t hunt. “My grandpa took
wanted to try it, and my eyes, if not my me when I was about eight years old,”
hands, were always on the used guns in Larry said recently. “He took me duck
hunting and pheasant hunting and all
the corner of the store. “Wouldn’t it be
that stuff. And I don’t know, ever since
cool if I could own one of these?” I
then, I’ve just always wanted to help
must have asked myself a thousand
little kids go hunting.
times. Eventually, I did: my first
“I thought, well heck, it doesn’t
.22-caliber rifle and my first deer rifle.
matter to me who goes just as long as
I passed my hunter education course
I
20 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
I’ve got somebody to go with me.
Because I still, if somebody comes and
says ‘My boy wants to go hunting,’ I
say, ‘Well, load up and let’s go.’”
Most of my memories from that first
hunt in 1983 are seeing the frozen
carcasses of pheasants protruding from
snow drifts in southern Keith and
northern Perkins counties. That winter
was hard on pheasants, and losses were
high. But I shot my first pheasant that
year with a Remington 870
20-guage shotgun I borrowed from
Einspahr, and was hooked.
The following fall, thanks to some
friends who reached that all-important
milestone of age 16 a year before I
did, was spent hunting doves,
pheasants and ducks. A year later,
there were more dove hunts in
September, but I had even bigger
plans. My sister’s boyfriend, Tim
Rowley, was a hunter from Imperial
who had captivated me with his
hunting tales. When he offered to
take me deer hunting, likely to score
brownie points with sis, I jumped at
the chance.
I drove dad’s 1965 Ford pickup
through the snow from Ogallala to
Imperial on the eve of the opener. In
my billfold was a driver’s license,
hot off the presses, and in a case
next to me was the Remington 740
pump action .270 rifle I had eyed in
the corner of the bait shop for
months before I saved enough
money to buy it.
A serious case of buck fever cost
me my first chance at a deer. I missed
again on my second chance, too … sort
of. My first deer was actually standing
behind the one I was aiming at. But
that hunt still added more fuel to the
fire and was the first of many with Tim,
who soon became my brother-in-law
and took me along to hunt pheasants,
ducks and geese, and was there when I
bagged my first Nebraska pronghorn
and my first elk in Colorado.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 21
friendship. Yet I often wonder where I
would be today if Larry hadn’t offered
to take me on that first hunt. I may have
still caught the bug when someone else
did, but maybe not. I doubt my parents
would’ve let me hunt with my high
school friends had I not already hunted
with an adult. And I might have been
pulled in a different direction and my
interests in hunting would have faded.
That’s what the experts say happens if
kids don’t start early. Had that happened,
I probably wouldn’t have my dream job
working for this magazine, a job that
allows me to pursue wildlife with a
camera year-round, which is just as
good as doing so with gun in hand.
I suppose I’d watch more
football in the fall.
Maybe I would
have introduced
my step-brother,
Mike, to
something else.
But “guiding”
Larry Chandler
him to his first
deer a few years ago, and three more
since, is something I’m proud of. I’ve
introduced people who were already
hunters to goose hunting, but Mike
is one of the few greenhorns I’ve
introduced to the sport. I need to do
more of that. We all do. I can’t wait to
take one of my six-year-old son Mace’s
friends hunting, and return the favor
Larry did for me. ■
PHOTO BY DOUG CARROLL
Steve O’Hare and I have spent many fall mornings hunting geese since we began working together 10 years ago.
Invite Someone to Step Outside
Anyone who hunts and fishes knows people who don’t. Just because they don’t doesn’t mean they won’t. It could be
that the only reason they don’t is because you haven’t asked them.
That’s where all of us can help. Whether it’s a coworker who listens intently as you tell your tales from the field around
the water cooler on Monday morning, or your child’s friend, who lives with his single mom, it’s not hard to find someone
who might want to try your favorite outdoor sport.
Asking is the easy part. But there is a lot more work to be done before you go. Here are some things to keep in mind.
Let them know what to expect – Give your guest a detailed rundown of what their trip will involve.
Start with the basics – If they’ve never hunted or fished before, you will need to teach them the things that have
become automatic to you. Be patient, make it fun and don’t forget to instill safety standards, etiquette and ethics.
Gear them up – Loan your friend a gun or rod or find someone who can, and if it’s cold, make sure they have warm
clothes and boots.
Start simple – At the range, start with easy shots to instill confidence. In the field, pick a quarry suitable for a firsttimer (decoying geese are easier to shoot than wild-flushing quail). On the water, find a lake or pond chock full of fish
where success is a guarantee.
Keep them going – Continue to be a mentor until they feel comfortable going on their own.
The number of hunters and anglers is declining, and many are aging and will soon leave the ranks, not because they
want to but because they have to. Replacing those individuals is critical, because the fees hunters and anglers pay for
permits and the excise taxes they pay on equipment pay for the majority of all fish and
wildlife conservation programs in this country. If the decline continues, state and federal
conservation agencies will have two choices: raise permit fees or cut programs.
It’s up to all of us to make sure that doesn’t happen. So share the joy of the great
outdoors and ask someone to Step Outside. For more ideas, go to StepOutside.org.
22 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
That following fall, one of my summer
coworkers, Jamie Vasa, introduced me to
what has become my true love: goose
hunting. He was there, sitting in a pit
we had dug in a cornfield south of
Sutherland, when I shot my first goose.
For the next few winters, whenever he
came home from Chadron State
College for the weekend, we would lay
in a corn field between Oshkosh and
Lewellen. When I, too, went to
Chadron State, we often rode home
together on weekends, if for no other
reason than to hunt geese. Sometimes
we took Shotgun Red, Jamie’s beat-up
1980 Chevy pickup that used as much
oil as gas. Other times we would take
my 1982 Ford Escort hatchback, which
held an amazing number of decoys and
had just enough ground clearance to
deliver them to the middle of the field.
We hunted geese the morning of his
wedding and the morning after.
Most of my best friends today are the
people I hunt with. In some cases,
hunting trips actually sparked the
Even before he was old enough to come along, I involved my son Mace,
now six, in my hunts after the fact. As a three-year-old, he got a kick out of
one of my pheasants.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 23
The State Fair
Says Goodbye to Lincoln
Photos and text by Doug Carroll
The 2009 Nebraska State Fair bid a “fair”-thee-well
to Lincoln this past Labor Day when it wrapped up
its century–long run in our Capitol City. Next year,
barring any changes, the fair will have a new home in
Grand Island, but it will still feature those things that
make a state fair fun: Food too good to be healthy,
carnival games and rides too enticing to pass by
without trying, and booths and exhibits featuring
everything imaginable. Here’s to the future.
Left: Members of the Nebraska Balloon Club “glow” their balloons at the 2009
Nebraska State Fair. Above: Fairgoers enjoy a variety of plantings in the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission’s area of the fair.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 25
Above left: Antique tractors are a popular part
of parades at the state fair.
Left: “They’re so cool!” said Jordan Duchesneau
of Lincoln as she holds a newly hatched chick in
the birthing pavillion.
Above right: Alicia Dierberger of Seward shears
a sheep prior to judging.
Right: Lynn and Kathy Gloystein of Henderson
check out some of the corn entries at the fair.
26 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 27
Above: The “fish tank” in the
Commission’s portion of the Lincoln
state fair has long been popular with
young and old alike.
Left: Nate Vontz of Lincoln does a
backflip as he enjoys a combination
trampoline/bungee cord offering at the
fair.
Right: Youngsters (and their parents)
enjoy a caterpillar rollercoaster ride on
the last day of the fair.
28 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 29
Gnomes of the Night
Ord’s Kangaroo Rat
Text and photos by Jon Farrar
Specialized to prosper without having a drink of water, these appealing
mouse-like creatures are found in grasslands on sandy soils.They emerge
from their elaborate underground burrows only in the dark of night.
D
espite the unappealing and inappropriate word “rat”
in their common name, it is easy to grow fond of
Ord’s kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ordii). To see them,
however, you must adopt their nocturnal habits. They shun
daylight and even bright, moonlit nights, preferring to be
above ground near a new moon or on overcast nights. Drive
a road passing through land with sandy soil – trail roads
bounded by grass and weeds are the best – and you will soon
see these long-tailed, shoe button-eyed elfins bounding down
the tire tracks in your headlights. It is the only glimpse most
will ever have of them, which is unfortunate as when viewed
close at hand they are lovely little mammals. Their appeal
grows in knowing the resourceful ways they have evolved to
eke out a living in rather inhospitable environments.
Kangaroo rats are not of the same family as the despised
Norway rat, black rat and house mouse; rather are closely
related to our native pocket mice. The name of the genus
Dipodomys is derived from the Greek di, meaning “two,”
podos, meaning “foot,” and myos meaning “mouse;” an
appropriate name for a large mouse that bounds along on
two oversized hind legs. Nineteen species of kangaroo rats
are currently recognized by the American Society of
Mammalogists. Of those, the Ord’s kangaroo rat has the
widest distribution, from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta
into Mexico, and central Nebraska westward to central
Oregon and eastern California. Ord’s kangaroo rat was
named in honor of early 19th century zoologist George Ord,
president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia when the species was first described from a
specimen collected near El Paso, Texas in 1853. It is the
only kangaroo rat species found in Nebraska, although two
races, approximately separated by the Platte River, exist
here, with the more southern race being slightly smaller.
Ord’s kangaroo rats once were found wherever there were
sandy-soiled, sparsely vegetated grasslands across central
and western Nebraska, but their distribution shrank back as
center-pivot irrigation and cropland crept over the low, rolling
terrain of the central Sandhills margins, and they virtually
vanished from similar habitat in the southwestern counties.
30 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
Long Leaps
Kangaroo rats are eight to 11 inches long, of which about
half is tail. The tail has a dark stripe on its top and bottom,
white stripes on the sides, and is tipped with a tuft of longer
hairs. The extravagant tail serves as a prop when the animals
are sitting or standing on their hind legs, as a rudder to execute
midair changes in direction, and as a counterbalance when
landing. When hurried or alarmed, they bound along in leaps
of six feet or more and two feet high. When not alarmed
they hop along on their hind legs in increments of inches.
The small forelimbs are used when walking, gathering and
handling seeds, stroking seeds from cheek pouches, grooming
and rearranging soil in burrows or at the burrow entrance.
Ord’s kangaroo rats are stocky mice, in part because of
their oversized hind limbs, in part because the head seems to
sit directly on the body, the result of compressed cervical
vertebrae. Relative to their body size, kangaroo rats have
large heads, which in part is explained by their unusually
large auditory bullae – bony, hollow chambers encasing the
inner and middle ear that enhance audio acuity. As a result,
the hearing of kangaroo rats is said to be about four times as
acute as human’s.
Ord’s kangaroo rats weigh from 1½ to 3½ ounces. Their
silky soft fur is a rich, yellowish-buff on the upper half of
the body, lightly washed with a scattering of black hairs on
the back, and white on the underside. Matched white bands
sweep across their flanks. Long whiskers radiate out from
the nose and are ancillary guidance devices, supplementing
large eyes designed to draw in light on even the darkest
nights. Proportionally, the eyes of kangaroo rats are larger
than those of a great horned owl. Like a beaver, the upper
and lower pairs of incisors grow continuously throughout
life, and so must be worn down by use.
Kangaroo rats meticulously groom their silky-soft fur, right
down to the hair tufts on the ends of their tails. Long whiskers
radiating out from the nose are tactile guidance devices
helping them negotiate the darkest of nights.
All species of North American
kangaroo rats have fur-lined, external
cheek pouches for storing and
transporting seeds, an anatomical
feature they share with pocket mice
and pocket gophers. Interestingly,
the jerboas of Asia and Africa,
rodents that evolved to fill similar
ecological niches on those continents
and much resemble kangaroo rats
in form and habits, did not evolve
pouches for transporting food,
probably because their diet is more
varied than that of kangaroo rats
and includes leaves and insects as
well as seeds. Rather, they stuff
their mouths as full as possible and
carry food to their caches.
Kangaroo rats have a specialized
oil gland between their shoulder
blades, assumed to serve in dressing
the hair and skin to keep them
from drying in arid or semi-arid
environments. They frequently
bathe by thrusting their sides and
back through dry sand, presumably
to distribute the oil. Held in captivity
without a sand substrate to rub off
excess oil, their fur soon becomes
excessively oily. Some mammalogists believe the gland’s secretion
contains scent useful in identifying
sex and even individuals, and is
used to define territories and lay
down scent markers during the
breeding seasons. Kangaroo rats are
meticulous groomers, “washing”
their heads, feet and tail many times
each day.
Kangaroo rats are aggressively
territorial, claiming and defending
enough land to support their foraging
needs, usually about 25 yards in all
directions from the burrow system,
but more or less depending on the
Kangaroo rats live in elaborate
underground burrow systems. Except
when young are present, only one
animal occupies a burrow. Each
burrow typically has more than one
entrance, often located at the base of
substantial plants such as the prickly
poppy, left. To keep the burrows cool
in summer and warm in winter the
entrances are plugged from within
when occupied. The large hind feet are
used to propel their leaping bounds
and in excavating tunnels.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 33
chambers in the cold of winter. Entrances
are plugged with sand when the burrow is
occupied. Kangaroo rats reportedly remodel
their burrow system frequently, sealing off
old chambers and tunnels, perhaps for
sanitary reasons, and excavating new ones.
Burrows in prime locations may be occupied
for decades by an uninterrupted succession
of individual kangaroo rats. Short, straight
escape tunnels are frequently dug throughout
the foraging grounds for quick escapes
from predators.
Even efficient digging predators such as
badgers, perfectly capable of excavating a
Relative to their body size, the heads of kangaroo rats are large, in part because of kangaroo rat’s burrow, find it is seldom
the hollow chambers on the back of the skull that encase the inner and middle ear, worth the effort as the occupant simply
enhancing audio acuity. Like most rodents, their incisors continue to grow and
escapes out another passage to the surface.
must be worn down by constant use.
Weasels and rodent-eating snakes that can
abundance of food. They are solitary except for mating
enter the burrow system are perhaps more successful, but the
encounters and when females are raising young. In the wild,
resourceful little mice are quick to plug tunnels or escape out
they chatter their teeth and drum their powerful hind limbs
other entrances. Unless trees are nearby, nocturnal owls, such
against the earth as a warning to trespassers; and engage in
as great horned owls, are probably not a significant predator.
physical combat if such threats fail. Individuals retreating
The two species of grassland owls native to the Sandhills
from a confrontation have been heard to utter “faint
region – short-eared and burrowing – are likewise not serious
chuckling noises and squeaky snorts.” If two kangaroo rats
threats as burrowing owls are not equipped to capture prey
are artificially confined in the same enclosure, one will kill
so large as a kangaroo rat, and short-eared owls are
the other.
crepuscular, most active at twilight and dawn when kangaroo
Courtship has been described as something of a playful
rats are rarely above ground.
dance where the male and female hop around each other, the
female rushes at the male to incite him, and the male pursues
the female. Potential mates may also engage in ritualized
sparring and mock sand bathing. If the courtship is successful,
The kangaroo rat’s principal foods the year-round are
it is consummated when the female rubs her body back
seeds from grasses and forbs, hence their preference for
and forth in the sand until occupying a shallow trench where living in disturbed sites being colonized by annuals, such as
she accepts the male. Females are in estrus for a few days
sunflowers, that produce heavy seed crops. Because of the
during the breeding seasons. An amorous male approaching
more abundant food these sites provide, kangaroo rats
an unreceptive female may be pushed, clawed, butted and
typically increase in abundance on overgrazed land. They do
pummeled.
not estivate in summer, as do some fossorial rodents, nor do
they hibernate in winter, although they are rarely active
above ground in winter at latitudes as far north as Nebraska,
so ample stores of seeds must be set aside. Researchers have
found 25 to 50 quarts of seeds and dried grass in one burrow.
Because they live in relatively hot and dry environments,
Food stores are largest in the autumn when seeds are most
particularly the desert species, kangaroo rats have evolved
abundant and a larder adequate for the winter must be set
specific survival strategies. Foremost is a largely fossorial
aside. Food gathering is an obsession of the species, and if
life; living in elaborate underground tunnel systems. Except
food is abundant they may gather far more than they can
when a female is with young, only one animal occupies a
consume before the next crop of seeds becomes available.
burrow system. Each burrow has multiple entrances, but the
Insects comprise only a small percentage of a kangaroo
primary entrance is often located at the base of a perennial
plant such as soapweed. These tunnel systems typically have rat’s diet.
Kangaroo rats have evolved to exist with no “free water.”
two, three or even four levels. Terminal and side chambers,
They can survive indefinitely on metabolic water – a
some as large as 10 to 12 inches in diameter, serve as food
caches and nests. Food caches are usually high in the burrow byproduct of the breakdown of fats and starches found in
seeds with oxygen in the air. An ounce of fat consumed by a
system where soil moisture is lower and stored seeds less
kangaroo rat can produce as much as an ounce of water.
likely to germinate or mold. Nests and sleeping quarters are
usually lined with shredded soft grass, rootlets or other plant Also, an advantage of storing seeds underground is that they
material. The kangaroo rat’s burrow system provides a moist, swell with moisture, as high as 30 percent. Furthermore,
kangaroo rats are water misers – they have no sweat glands,
cool environment through the heat of summer and warm
their nasal cavities are specialized to cool air and extract
moisture before it is exhaled, and their kidneys are extremely
efficient at retaining water and excreting salts, reportedly
about four times more efficient than human kidneys.
Kangaroo rat urine is concentrated and viscous, quickly
crystallizing when exposed to air.
Good-Time Babies
The peak breeding period for kangaroo rats in Nebraska is
probably during May and June, with a second litter possible
in late summer, although the breeding habits in the wild are
poorly understood for obvious reasons. There are fewer
litters per year in the species’ northern range because the
growing season is shorter. The gestation period is about
30 days. The young, an average of three, are born pink, with
eyes closed and nearly naked, typical of most small rodents.
The small litter size compared to other small rodents
suggests survival is good, even though individuals probably
rarely live longer than two years in the wild. Within a week
sparse hair appears over the young kangaroo rats’ bodies,
and their eyes open at about two weeks of age. By two
months they are almost adult sized and self sufficient. In
regions more arid than Nebraska, as the desert Southwest,
reproduction is correlated with precipitation and swelling
food sources, hence more young are produced when rainfall
is abundant. Studies suggest consumption of green vegetation
initiates hormonal changes, stimulating mating.
Kangaroo rats are a harmless but important component of
the food chain. They do not create disturbed rangeland; they
only take advantage of it. As do all burrowing animals, they
play a role in adding organic matter to deeper layers of
sandy soil and recycling nutrients. In the larger scheme of
life, though, the existance of no animal should be justified
solely on its usefulness to man, certainly not a creature so
appealing to the eye as Ord’s kangaroo rats. ■
Never Want a Drink of Water
Underground Labyrinth
34 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
Weedy plants on disturbed land produce large quantities of seeds that are the kangaroo rat’s principal food.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 35
A Nebraska
Pheasant Hunt
Text and photos by Jeff Kurrus
A
s soon as I met him, I knew
the old man was my gauge.
He had pulled up in the Soo
Paw Motel parking lot, dressed
in referee stripes, and was
asking about the next day’s pheasant hunt
on his farm outside of Trenton. It was
to be the last hunt on that farm while he
still lived there. Keith Miller, now 67
years old, and his wife, Sandy, were
moving east to Omaha. She had given
over 21 years to the farm and now he
would give the rest of his years to the city.
It was his genuine smile that pulled
me in, that obvious joy that emerged
when he began a conversation with
Sterling Chapman, one of the hunters.
“How’s everyone?” Mr. Miller asked.
“Really well,” said Sterling. “You?”
“Doing fine.”
“You calling a game tonight?”
“Yeah, up near North Platte.”
“You calling it fair?” Sterling asked,
smiling.
“The athletic director usually slips
me $50 beforehand to make sure I do.”
“That’s good,” Sterling laughed,
turning back as Russ Schellpeper,
another one of the hunters, emerged
from his motel room. What followed
was a sarcastic barrage from Sterling to
Russ, and then from Russ back to
Sterling, the kind of remarks that
repeatedly reveal men as nothing more
than boys who can now legally drive.
As the old man laughed at their dialogue,
my nerves calmed immediately.
To that point I had been cursed by
the other hunters as soon as we had
first met, as if we had known each
other for years instead of the 30 minutes
that we had actually spoken. A native
Tennesseean, I was in McCook with
Lincoln resident Scott Miller and his
friends in search of the traditional
“Nebraska” pheasant hunt. To the locals
that participate each year, the hunt is
friends, family, food, and definitely
folktales. To the nonnative, however, a
pheasant hunt on the plains of Nebraska
carries so much more: rolling hills and
old fence rows, orange morning light
shining off of prairie grass and a pointing
dog’s face.
Pheasant farms can be found across
the nation, where customers can be fed
breakfast while their quarry is released
from its pens and their final bill may
depend in part on the weight of their
game bag. But even the people who
spend at least a few days a year in this
part of the world still search for those
same images I longed for, those sights,
smells and sounds that were just as
important, if not more important, than
birds on the tailgate by lunchtime: the
aroma of an expired shell; the rustling
of pant legs on prairie grass; the distant
sound of a cackling bird. To make the
trip truly memorable, however, there
also had to be characters whose words
would resonate for the next 30 years.
“We would drive by that one bar
toward Trenton, and the shaking flag
pole outside always let us know there
was dancing going on inside and it was
time to stop,” said Russ. “But that was
during our younger days.”
For this group of aging hunters, the
nights before the opening morning now
consisted of dinner at Nebraska Sports
Café in Trenton, a couple beers at
Frank’s, and in bed around midnight.
Men who started this hunt in their teens,
twenties and thirties were now in their
forties and fifties. Their honkytonk
memories still came up, but much more
often their dialogue now consisted of
past hunts and the potential to cramp
after a long day of walking. And
through all of it has been Mr. Miller.
“The Great White Hunter has been
here since 1942,” Scott said of his
father while a jukebox echoed Johnny
Cash behind us. “We call him that
because no one has ever seen him kill a
bird. He’ll pull the trigger here and
there, but no one thinks he even shoots
in a bird’s general direction.” Mr.
Miller couldn’t speak for himself. He
was already home asleep, away from
the sound of billiard balls and bottles
on bar. It would only be a short matter
of time before these same hunters
exaggerating old war stories on wooden
stools would be settling in before the
Late Show themselves.
There was also a young contingency
with them that weekend, but it was small.
Sterling’s son Nick, Wes Dalrymple, and
Jerry Hosfelt were there, all attending
their first opening day hunt on Mr.
Miller’s farm. Scott’s sons, 13-year-old
Jacob and 10-year-old Trenton, had
joined us as well, but they were back at
the farm. Seeing the next generation on
a hunt always begs the question: Will the
young ones continue to travel multiple
hours for the chance to shoot a pheasant
when they can shoot all they want with
a BB gun only minutes from their own
homes? I had watched the two young
boys shooting their BB guns earlier
that afternoon, and could already
LEFT: Keith Miller shows a harvested
pheasant to grandson Trenton last
October in western Nebraska.
OPPOSITE: With orange hat and vest,
Sterling Chapman safely flanks the
buckbrush thicket on the Miller farm.
38 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
“The birds have always been here,” Scott Miller (third from the left) said before the hunters began walking his father’s farm near Trenton. With the
right combination of habitat, it was clear how good Nebraska’s pheasant hunting can be.
Jacob Miller takes a quick midday break while he watches his dad’s friends and family
hunt. He shot his first pheasant shortly after this break, hopefully the first of many for him.
40 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
guarantee that they had shot more that
day than they probably would the next
one. So was the hunt I was looking for
destined for retirement?
The following morning the Miller
farm looked just as large as the fields
in my mind. Milo was encircled by
CRP grass on the uplands, and one of
the longest buckbrush thickets I had
ever seen was the starting point.
Minutes before shooting time, Scott
pointed at the thicket. “The birds have
always been here. Dad counted over
100 birds getting up the first time Russ
and Sterling hunted here, which was in
1994. Russ didn’t even shoot on the
first rise because he was so surprised at
how many got up. There are more
pheasants here than you could imagine.”
As Scott and I spoke, the other hunters
compared over-and-unders with pumps
and automatics. Browning was
represented, as was Remington. During
times like these one wonders why
companies would pay actors for
television commercials that speak of
hunting’s lore and nostalgia. Show up at
an opening day pheasant hunt and they
could attain all the footage they desired.
Separate conversations regarding bird
counts, estimates as to when flannel
button-downs would change to short
sleeves, and a cell phone call to a friend
unable to make the trip slowly ended as
positions were called out for the first
walk. Two hunters and a dog would work
the thicket while others flanked both
hillsides. One hunter stayed back to
catch birds coming the other direction.
A blocker stood on the far end. And
then they walked.
Mr. Miller’s gun rested comfortably
in the crook of his arm. Sterling, Russ,
Scott and the rest of the hunters held
their shotguns in a ready position. Jacob while getting a glass of water, then
walked close to his dad. He had started walked by us without saying a word
and went back to bed.
this annual hunt a few years prior,
These are the times we still laugh
carrying his BB gun before graduating
about, regardless of how little our
to a pellet gun, and now holding a
single-shot 20-gauge. Trenton followed non-hunting wives understand, and they
will be the same types of memories
close behind, a plastic gun in tow for
that bring these boys back, much like
the first year of his apprenticeship.
they have for their older counterparts.
This method of introducing young
By lunch of opening day, past stories
ones to hunting is not far from what
were briefly interrupted by new ones.
many experienced hunters do with
The group sat again at the café in
newcomers, but there continues to be
that overarching problem: “Not a lot of Trenton, the only orange hats in the
room while the Nebraska game played
kids hunt that I go to school with,” 8th
grader Jacob said a few days before the in the background.
The older guard compared shots
hunt. “Maybe three, four at the most.”
It’s a problem often heard among outdoor made, shots not made, and new
circles, as those who have hunted
for years try to figure out why
young ones often do not.
You have to have someone
take you – it takes nearly too
much initiative to start hunting
or fishing by one’s self. Plus,
watching an hour of outdoor
television programming makes
hunting seem as if you need a
loan application to begin. An
experienced hunter can cut
through the excess and pinpoint
the necessities. It is only then
that newcomers can see all of
hunting’s attractors. For me, as a
10-year old, it was early morning
breakfasts at local restaurants
whose doors opened during the
4 o’clock hour; being called
“sir” by adults; and having my
hands swallowed by the hands
of adults when shaken.
I saw that in Jacob and his
brother that weekend. Making
the traditional stop at Cabela’s
in Kearney; riding a golf cart on
granddad’s farm; staying up late
in the basement, lying in sleeping
bags and laughing yourself to
No Nebraska pheasant hunt is complete without
sleep with your brother; or
proper companions in the field.
pretending to sleep until the first
injuries. They then thought about naps,
old-man snoring begins.
but discussed afternoon plans. It was
While their age, my best friend Rob
warming up – t-shirt time – and there
and I were on one of these trips in
were more volunteers wanting to block.
southern Mississippi. Once the snoring
That afternoon, more walking led to
began, we snuck a Playboy from one of
the bunks and tip-toed to the kitchen to more shots. Jacob downed his first
pheasant of the year, and Mr. Miller
‘read.’ Five minutes later, entranced
shot what the group believed was his
with each turn of the page, one of the
first pheasant ever. They paused as
older hunters walked in. We quickly
Sterling and Russ shook his hand, and
shut the magazine and watched him.
Scott hugged him. With the farm in the
He scratched himself a couple of times
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 41
Strict scientific measurements are required when judging the longest tailfeather contest.
Sterling accepts his longest tailfeather award from host Keith Miller as Russ looks on.
Pheasant hunting is a way of life for Russ Schellpeper (left) and Sterling Chapman (right), as seen from an inside view of Russ’s pickup.
background, Scott hugged his dad for
much more than a point well placed.
The following year, they would still
have permission to hunt most of the
farm but Scott and the boys would be
staying in the local motel. And it wasn’t
the motel’s box elder bugs that were
the problem, it was the absence of
walking through dad’s front door the
night before opening day.
In the waning hours of light, the
group lost the two young boys. More
fun was to be had near the farm as the
men, still hunting, discussed the day’s
longfeather contest more and more.
The contest began in 1990, and gave
a prize to the hunter who shot the bird
42 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
with the longest plumage. “We’ve had
cups, crystal balls, a couple trophies,
even a metal cut-out,” Russ said,
describing past awards. “One year
Scott made a terrible-looking beer
mug, so we all pitched in a little cash
to make sure the winner wouldn’t feel
so bad about winning.”
At nightfall, it was determined that
Sterling had won for the fourth time.
No money was needed this year, the
group stated, for Scott’s choice of a
glass-cut award was deemed “very
nice” by the group.
I was on the road shortly after. As
accommodating as the group had been
to a newcomer, it was time to go. They
were hunting the next morning before
driving back east, and I imagined that
the group that had hunted such a place
for so long would want a bit of time to
themselves before leaving.
As I stopped at gas stations on the
way home, needing either a roadside
nap or a shot of caffeine, I no longer
saw trucks filled with men and orange
hats guarding dashboards. And as I
began to recount the hunt that night
and for the following days and months,
I no longer tried to compare what I
thought it would be to what it actually
was. Each time I revisited that day,
whether in a Cass County deer stand or
at a Cherry County pond, all I could
see was orange grass and vests
backdropped by a western Nebraska
sunset, all I could hear was the
mumblings of the Husker football
game from Mr. Miller’s truck radio
during a midday break, and all I could
smell was impending winter so near.
My senses very rarely take me to the
shooting itself. And if Miller and his
friends continue to make this annual
trip, those young boys will seldom
think of the shooting either. If they are
like their grandfather, they’ll remember
the men they shared their long walks
with, and always wonder why they never
did this more than one time a year. ■
From the 2008 opening weekend pheasant hunt on Keith Miller’s farm near Trenton:
(back row, left): Jerry Hosfelt, Nick Chapman, Sterling Chapman and Russ Schellpeper
(front row, left): Wes Dalrymple, Scott Miller, Jacob Miller, Trenton Miller and Keith Miller.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 43
Choosing a Deer Processor
extremely pleased with the processed
deer meat you bring home, then price
may not be a big issue. However, you
also don’t want to be paying a large
amount of money when you don’t have
to. Try to get your ground deer made
for a price you find fair, which should
be considerably less than the beef you
find in the grocery store.
4) Do they process deer only during
the season? If you decide to quarter the
deer yourself, can you take a couple
hindquarters to your processor after the
season to have it cut? At my house,
sometimes a batch of deer burger is so
good that we use up 30 pounds of meat
before fishing season begins. If this
happens, it’s nice to know you can
have more made during the off-season.
For me, not just any deer processor will do.
By Jeff Kurrus
hoosing a deer processor can be
one of the most important
decisions a hunter makes.
While some people will process
all of their own meat, many will
take most, if not all, of their deer to a
processor. Because there could be a
long list of people who will refuse to
eat the wild game that you bring home,
you need to make sure that what you
get back is something you and your
friends and family will like. But how
do you know who to trust your deer
with?
Finding a person to process deer the
way you want it is not difficult – ask a
few hunters, look in your local yellow
pages and you’ll soon have a big list,
including phone numbers, of potential
processors. Here’s what to ask once
you get them on the phone.
C
1) Will you get your own deer back?
Unfortunately, many meat lockers are
large operations. By the end of the
firearm season, a locker might have a
hundred or more deer carcasses stacked
like cordwood. While you may have
properly handled your deer while field
dressing it, other hunters might not
have been so careful with their deer.
If your processor is handling all the
deer en masse, then you may get at
least part of someone else’s deer back,
including whatever bile or excrement
they may have spilled on their meat.
2) What will the processor do and
how do they prefer the deer to be
brought in? Do they want to skin the
deer themselves, or can you take it in
quarters? Because I like to cook the
shoulders myself and I never let anyone
else touch my deer’s backstraps and
tenderloins, I need a processor that will
let me bring in just the hindquarters.
Also, does this processor just make
deer burger, or do they also provide
items such as jerky, summer sausage,
steaks, chops or other cuts?
3) Price? If you and your family are
All of this might make a processor
feel like they’re applying for a job, but
in sense they are: You’re entrusting
them to handle your deer and it should
be handled in a way that you, your
family and your friends like. Ask a lot
of questions. Even ask for a sample to
try. If they want your business, they’ll
answer your questions and make you
feel confident they are best suited for
you. If not, there’s always another
processor down the road. ■
Deer Processing DVD
Learn how to process your
own deer with this DVD – Dick
Turpin highlights proper care of
deer in the field and UNL
extension meat specialist Dennis
Burson describes how to safely
process venison. Total run time
approximately 39 minutes.
Price: $9.95. To order, go online to
NEBRASKAlandMagazine.com
and click on
“Nebraskaland
Gift
Collection,”
then “Videos
& DVDs.”
44 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
Deer Exchange Program
By Eric Fowler
Do you like to hunt deer but have to quit hunting when you’ve
harvested as many as you want to eat? Do you like to eat deer but
aren’t able to hunt? The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s
Deer Exchange program may be for you.
Launched last year, this online program matches deer hunters with
meat to give away with individuals eager to find room in their freezer
for delicious and nutritious venison. About 300 deer were donated
through the program, with 800 people requesting deer and 500
hunters offering to donate it.
“We’ve certainly got room to expand, and it’s up to the hunters to do
that,” said Kit Hams, Big Game Program Manager for the Commission.
Hams said the program was created with the hope that hunters
would utilize more of the record 66,000 bonus antlerless permits the
Commission issued to help reduce the white-tailed deer population. In
the past, many of those permits went unfilled, presumably because
hunters didn’t want to put a second deer in the freezer.
But it was also created to help provide a nutritious source of protein
for individuals who can’t, or don’t, hunt. According to nutritiondata.com,
100 grams of ground, pan-broiled venison has 187 calories, compared
to 246 for the same portion of 80-percent lean, pan-broiled ground
beef. Venison has 26.5 grams or protein, compared to beef’s 24, and
8.2 grams of total fat to beef’s 15.9. Venison is also low in sodium.
Other states offer similar programs, including Iowa’s Help Us Stop
Hunger (HUSH) program. In 2008, Iowa hunters donated more than
7,300 deer to the program, which is funded by a $1 surcharge on all
permits. Participating lockers receive $65 for each deer they skin,
bone, grind and package. The meat is distributed to the needy by local
service agencies. Nebraska’s program leaves most of the work to
those who choose to participate. Both hunters and those wanting deer
register on the Commission’s web site at OutdoorNebraska.org and
look for someone wanting deer or with deer to donate. The parties then
work out the details of when, where and how the deer is delivered.
Based on responses to a voluntary online survey conducted by
Aaron Hildreth, a University of Nebraska - Lincoln student, 45 percent
of the recipients picked up their deer from the participating hunter.
About 72 percent of the deer were only field dressed, while other
hunters handled all or part of the processing, donating skinned,
quartered, boned, ground or packaged meat. A few even donated
jerky or sausage. Approximately 64 percent of the recipients
processed the deer they received themselves, and 30 percent took
the deer to a meat processor. About 90 percent of participants said
donating or receiving meat was easy. Participating hunters donated an
average of 1.4 deer through the program, and half of the hunters said
they harvested additional deer because of the program.
Hams said he had hoped that 1,000 deer would be donated during
the program’s first year, but that he wasn’t disappointed with the lower
number. “It was a good start,” he said, adding that he expects the
program to grow in the years to come. With nearly 90,000 bonus
antlerless deer tags authorized for the 2009-2010 deer seasons, the
addition of a new October Antlerless season and a record harvest
of more than 80,000 deer expected, there will definitely be more
opportunities for hunters to participate.
“It’s a good way to help out the deer herd and help out the hungry,”
said Hams.
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 45
North Loup State Recreation Area
This little-known destination offers more than meets the eye.
By Bob Grier
t 20 total acres, including a
seven-acre pond, diminutive
North Loup State Recreation
Area (SRA) is a little-known
but popular destination for its
primitive camping, family picnic and
fishing opportunities. It’s also a relaxing
stop-over for travelers using nearby
U.S. Highway 281. This timbered SRA
is located three miles north of St. Paul
on the north shore of the historic North
Loup River in central Nebraska. It provides access to the North Loup’s banks
for wading, swimming and catfishing.
In the pond anglers will find largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish
and carp.
The North Loup SRA’s primitive
camping is free to the public on a firstcome, first-served basis and stays are
A
limited to 14 days maximum. Tent and
RV campers looking for quiet, fullyshaded camping sites have access to
10 non-pad sites, as well as nearby
mowed sites and parking areas that
provide additional camp sites. Although
no electrical hook ups are available
here, primitive restroom facilities,
picnic tables and a water source are
located on the area’s grounds.
Camp sites and picnic tables are
almost always available and the number
of campers attracted to North Loup
SRA usually peaks for major holiday
weekends during good weather
throughout the camping season.
Fall is a special season along the
North Loup River, and the SRA’s
walnut, sumac, cottonwood, mulberry
and catalpa trees, as well as other
vegetation and trees, add their cheerful
fall colors to the river valley and nearby
landscapes. Wildlife on the recreation
area includes turkey, dove, quail,
rabbit and squirrel, as well as wood
ducks and other waterfowl. Hunting is
permitted on many SRAs from the first
Tuesday following Labor Day through
the conclusion of the spring turkey
season, unless prohibited or restricted
by appropriate signs or specific area
regulations. Hunting is prohibited
within 100 yards of any public use
facility or activity area, including picnic
areas, campgrounds, private cabins
and concession areas, boat ramps and
parking lots.
Nearby public hunting access is
also available on two Nebraska Game
and Parks Commission Wildlife
Management Areas (WMA) that permit
public, walk-in hunting access in season,
including the 153-acre Marsh Wren
WMA in Howard County located
southeast of North Loup SRA (2½ east,
1 south of Elba on county roads) and
the 328-acre Leonard A. Koziol WMA
located 21/2 miles north of St. Paul on
U.S. 281, 2 miles east on a county
road, then a 1/2 mile north.
Combined the WMAs offer an additional 21/2 miles of North and Middle
Loup River frontage while providing
deer, dove, pheasant, quail, rabbit,
squirrel, turkey and waterfowl hunting
in season. The Conservation ReserveManagement Access Program (CRPMAP) offers additional hunting access,
and each year’s CRP-MAP Atlas is
available from the Nebraska Game and
Parks Commission and online at the
Commission’s web site
www.OutdoorNebraska.org.
Additional information on North
Loup SRA and other Nebraska state
parks, state recreation areas and state
historical parks, including facility
details and prices, is also available
on the Commission’s web site by
following the “State Parks” link found
on the site’s opening page. ■
★
North Loup State Recreation Area is
located three miles north of St. Paul on
U.S. 281 in Howard County.
Electric and nonpowered boats are
allowed on the area’s pond, and
access to the North Loup River is
available. This area offers camping,
fishing, picnicking, a playground and
primitive campsites.
A Nebraska State Park Entry Permit is
required to enter the area.
For more information, contact North
Loup State Recreation Area, 7425 S.
US Hwy 281, Doniphan, Nebraska, 688329526, or phone (308) 385-6211.
Although diminutive, North Loup State Recreation Area offers a variety of options for both local residents and travelers.
46 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 47
ATTRACTIONS/EVENTS
GOT PRAIRIE? We do! Prairie Plains Resource Institute
is Nebraska born and dedicated to the people and
landscape of the Great Plains. Since 1980 we’ve been
planting prairies, getting kids outside and spending time
with people on the land. For beautiful photos, calendar
of events or to become a member, visit
www.prairieplains.org or call (402) 694-5535.
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL CLASS - Start a fire with
the bow-drill method, build a survival shelter,
be introduced to primitive traps, cordage, flint
knapping, edible and medicinal plants, water
location and purification, and much more! Go to
www.greatplainstracker.com.
BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS/VIDEOS
EXPLORE NEBRASKA art, history, culture and the
great outdoors with a subscription to Nebraska Life
Magazine. One year (six issues) for $21 or two years
(12 issues) just $38. Phone (800) 777-6159, write us at
206 W Norfolk Ave, Norfolk NE 68702-0819 or visit
www.NebraskaLife.com. Makes a great gift.
DOGS
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 (near Omaha) (712)
529-4238, clarks1@iowatelecom.net.
DUCKDAWG RETRIEVERS - Raising exceptional
hunting yellow and black Labradors. Puppies raised in
our home. 30 month health guarantee. Stud service:
GRHRCH UH DuckDawg's Eba Roll The Dice and
GRHRCH UH McMac Magic Eyes A'Smilin MH - the
first Grand Hunting Retriever Champions in Nebraska.
www.duckdawg.com Ron Green DVM and Libby
Milroy, North Platte NE (308) 534-3659.
AT STUD: GRHRCH UH Platte's TNT Duckdawg Dozer
MH. First yellow Labrador in the state of Kansas to earn
his Grand, Upland and Master titles. Seventy pounds of
48 NEBRASKALAND • OCTOBER 2009
muscle, exceptional marker and blind runner Dozer
is available for breeding to approved females. Natural
breeding requires a brucellosis test on females. Chilled
semen available. Stud Fee $600. Contact owner Tom
Phillips at (785) 635-5776 or trainer/handler - Chris
Jobman at (308) 249-0707, www.flatlanderkennels.com.
PREMIER GUNDOGS TRAINING KENNEL: Gundog
training for all pointing breeds and hunting retrievers.
Labrador retriever puppies with 30-month hip and eye
guarantees. References gladly given. Dale and Kris
Taylor: (402) 787-2048, www.premiergundogs.com.
FLATLANDER KENNELS INC. Bayard, NE
Full-time retriever training facility for the serious hunter
or AKC and HRC hunt tester. Trainer of Nebraska's first
and only GRHRCH's! Super Retriever Series competitor
and a member of Avery's Team Waterdog. Training
available for all levels of hunt tests and gundogs. Chris
Jobman: (308) 249-0707, www.flatlanderkennels.com.
Campus Store gifts, gift baskets, gourmet foods, bronze
sculptures, pictures and wood creations. Shop 24/7 only
at www.finestofnebraska.com.
PHEASANT FEATHER FRAMED ARTWORK (8x10)
Beautiful designs for home, office, special occasion gift
or business. Call (402) 650-8770, www.pheathers
artistry.com.
GUIDES/OUTFITTERS
GUNS/SHOOTING/ARCHERY
DIAMOND B TROUT RESORT, Orchard, Nebraska.
Lodge, cabins, spring-fed lakes, playground equipment,
paddleboats. Great for families, groups, hunters. Book
your cabin now! Call for brochure (800) 974-3002.
www.diamondbtroutresort.com.
FISH FOR SALE. Catfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth
bass, perch, crappie, bluegill, walleye, rainbow trout,
grass carp, minnows. Pleasant Valley Fish Farm, 27851
U.S. Highway 83, McCook, NE 69001. (308) 345-6599.
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.
PHOTOGRAPHY
FOOD/GIFTS/HOME
NEBRASKA WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS.
Matted. Go to inplainssight.homestead.com. "The more
you buy, the quicker my wife can retire!"
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.
REAL ESTATE
THE FINEST NEBRASKA GIFTS and Nebraska grown
products on the Internet! Popular gifts include Nebraska
FOR FISHING AND HUNTING accommodations.
Guided pheasant hunts. Jefco Inn, South Cornell St.,
Gordon, NE 69343 (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) 4323380. www.chadron.com/oldemain.
GUNS – Browning, Benelli, Winchester, Ruger, etc. 1700
guns, buy-sell-trade (402) 729-6112, Bedlan’s, Fairbury,
NE 68352. www.bedlans.com.
CABIN/BUILDING/HOME Design and Construction.
Full-line building materials. Schreier’s Lumber Company
- Verdigre, NE. “Over 100 years experience”
schrlmbr@gpcom.net (402) 668-2624.
VACATIONS/RESORTS
CANOE - KAYAK - TUBE RENTALS on the
beautiful Niobrara River with Dryland Aquatics at
Sparks, Nebraska. Your Niobrara River Specialist. (800)
337-3119.
www.drylandaquatics.com,
info@drylandaquatics.com.
FISH/FISHING
NEBRASKA LAKE MANAGEMENT. Biological lake
surveys, fish stocking, rough fish control, lake aeration,
algae control, aquatic weed control. Rob Hofpar, Aquatic
Biologist, licensed, insured and qualified. (402) 784-6005
Valparaiso - (888) 850-2460 www.nelakes.net.
B&B SKULL CLEANING. Professional services at
affordable prices. Contact Rubin Fields in Omaha NE at
rfields.otbb@gmail.com or (402) 598-1873.
NEW ONE BEDROOM, hunting/fishing cabin, 2-car
garage - 1 blk. from MO River, boat ramp, park, $69,900
Call Sally & Terry, Lewis & Clark Realty, Inc., (605) 6605352, www.brookybottom.com.
TAXIDERMY
is slowly coming alive on the windswept prairie of
northwest Nebraska. Rejuvenate your spirit through a
wide variety of activities amongst the ruggedness and
beauty that is only limited by your imagination. Popular
activities include day family outings, bunkhouse cabin
overnight stays, hunting, birding, stargazing, fossil
hunting and the trails that are available for mountain
biking & horseback riding. Great cowboy cookin' at the
Cookshack. Visit: www.highplainshomestead.com,
Call: (888) 365-2592.
ALL HUNTING SEASONS: For rent in Crawford. three
bdrms, 2 full baths, kitchen, range, fridge, w/d, living
room. $285 a week. Walk one block to grocery store,
Post Office, restaurants. Off-street parking for horse
trailers. Call Brad, (308) 430-3749.
Classified Rates: 85¢ per word, minimum $15.
Closing: First business day six weeks 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: ngpc.classifieds
@nebraska.gov. Ads are posted online at
NebraskalandMagazine.com at no additional charge.
MILL IRON V LODGING has modern cabins for your
vacation pleasure. We are located near Verdigre, 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.
BIG BLUE RANCH & LODGE - Enjoy fishing, hunting,
hiking, birdwatching and ranch adventures on 2000+ acre
cattle ranch in southeastern Nebraska. Beautiful log
cabin, with fireplaces, kitchens & big covered porches,
overlooks 20-acre lake. www.bigblueranch.com (402)
730-3643.
ASPINWALL LODGING: Rural farmhouse located near
Nemaha among the rolling hills of southeastern
Nebraska. Three bedrooms, full kitchen, washer & dryer,
TV. Situated close to Indian Cave State Park, historic
Brownville,
Game
and
Parks
wildlife
management areas, Missouri and Nemaha rivers, and
much more. Open all year, accepting reservations,
brochure available. (402) 883-2788.
HIGH PLAINS HOMESTEAD, Home of the Drifter
Cookshack & Bunkhouse – An Old-West Cow-Town
OCTOBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 49
▲ This picture is of my dad, William F. Bolling, and
was taken in the mid-1930s. He hunted on the
Missouri River south of Bellevue and north of the
mouth of the Platte River in Sarpy County. This is
the first year he owned the Browning over-and-under
shotgun shown, which I still have.
My family enjoys your magazine. Keep up the
good work.
– Richard Bolling, Bellevue, Nebraska
▲ Pictured is my father, Kenneth Purvis, and myself.
Ken lived in the Bartley area all his life and worked
for the Bureau of Reclamation in McCook for
30 years.
We fished and hunted deer, pheasants and ducks
together until he passed away in 1999. He loved the
great outdoors of Nebraska.
Pictured are 72 crappie we caught at Medicine
Creek Reservoir while fishing from noon until 6 pm
in May of 1968.
– Gene Purvis, Bartley, Nebraska
▲ The Psikal boys – Emil, Hank and Joe – were “Bohemian farm boys” and sons of
Czech immigrants who settled in the Monroe Precinct of Saline County in the 1870s.
They lived out their lives in the old country tradition of self-sufficiency and simplicity.
At the time this photo was taken (early 1920s), hunting was not only a sport but also
an important activity for providing food and predator control. And, in lieu of Cabela’s,
matching hunting garb was evidently important, even in the good old days.
These gentlemen were cousins of my father-in-law. The immigrant elders
homesteaded in a dugout a little over a mile from where we live.
– Kathy Palky, Dorchester, Nebraska
▲
This picture is of my grandfather, Wayne Weber (right), and his fishing buddy, Ernie Syler.
It was taken near Harlan County Reservoir in July of 1955. They would fish the Republican
River south of Alma, just west of the bridge. It was not unusual for them to catch their limit
by using setlines or fishing from a small boat. Harlan County Reservoir was a special place
to my grandfather. He passed away in November 2008 at the age of 85.
– Molly Kircher, Hickman, 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 • OCTOBER 2009
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