Volume 87, Issue 9, 2009
November 2009
- Identifier:
- nela.2009_087_09
- Title:
- Volume 87, Issue 9, 2009
- Issue Name:
- November 2009
- Date Issued:
- 2009-11-01
- year:
- 2009
- month:
- November
- Season:
- Autumn
- PDF filename:
- NL_87.09_2009_Nov_Spreads_Entire.pdf
- Publisher:
- Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
- Format:
- Periodical
- volume:
- 087
- issue:
- 09
- number:
- 087.09
- Decade:
- 2000s
- Type:
- Rights Holder:
- Copyright Nebraskaland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, all rights reserved.
- Extracted Text:
-
Autumn means harvest in Nebraska, as seen by this combine and soybeans in Sarpy County.
Photo by Jeff Kurrus.
Published by the
NebraskalandMagazine.com
OutdoorNebraska.org
Volume 87, Number 9, November 2009
12 A Glimpse of November
Despite the increasingly brown landscapes, nature is still alive
and well this time of the year. PHOTOS AND TEXT BY BILL HAGER
20 Father’s Barn
An old barn leads to a trip back in time. BY MARGIE LUKAS
24 Trophy Roundup
Stories of recent all-time record animals taken in Nebraska.
BY ERIC FOWLER
26 Decoy Miniatures
Since the late-1880s, carvers who fashioned full-sized,
working decoys for sale have made miniatures for collectors.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JON FARRAR
28 A Sense of Purpose
Five boy scouts from Chadron rebuild a water catchment for
wildlife in the Pine Ridge. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY BOB GRIER
32 Pigeons
– The Most Misunderstood Bird
Reviled by some, loved by others and ignored by most – the
story behind this fascinating bird. BY ELIZABETH MACK
36 Habitat Partners
12
●
Improving wildlife habitat through partnerships and landowner
cooperation is this organization’s goal. BY EMILY MUNTER
38 Fulfilling the Vision
Through hard work and the efforts of many volunteers, a
son fulfills his father’s dying wish by creating youth hunting
opportunties on the family farm. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DOUG CARROLL
Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Mixed Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
In the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
In the Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Portraits from the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Gift Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
32
●
26
●
Cover: Scott Miller of Lincoln walks a buckbrush thicket in Hitchcock County in search of
pheasants. Photo by Jeff Kurrus.
Opposite: A glimpse into a Sarpy County barn reveals hints to the memories contained within.
See related story on page 20. Photo by Jeff Kurrus.
NEBRASKAland (VOL. 87 / NO. 9, 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
●
NOVEMBER 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
Bobcat Cross?
We just recently received our
NEBRASKAland Magazine. The front
cover picture of a bobcat really jumped
out at me! The first thing I thought of
was a domestic cat. I imagine the two
cats could cross breed. I thought this
was a good way to find the answer.
Thanks ahead of time for your help.
Irv Reiter
via E-mail
Magazine Staff
I believe it is possible for them to
breed, but it would be extremely rare.
Bobcats typically kill housecats on
sight, so it doesn’t leave a lot of
chances for love. I should also say that
I check in all of the bobcats that get
hunted and trapped in the
Lincoln/southeastern Nebraska area
and I have never seen a cross or heard
of one being trapped.
Sam Wilson,
NGPC Furbearer Program Manager
Editor: Doug Carroll
Associate Editor: Jeff Kurrus
Art Director: Tim Reigert
Senior Editor: Jon Farrar
Regional Editors:
Eric Fowler, Bob Grier
Contributing Editor:
Michael Forsberg
Regular Contributors:
Bill Hager, Chris Helzer, and
Lisa Knopp
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 • NOVEMBER 2009
Hunting with Claire
Attached is a photo from my daughter
Claire’s first deer hunt last November.
I am hopeful you can use it to help
promote getting children in the field –
specifically young ladies. Of my three
kids, two are daughters that love to
hunt, which seems somewhat unusual
for girls growing up in Lincoln (of
course, my son does as well, but that is
not uncommon). Claire, our oldest
daughter and now a senior at Lincoln
Southeast High School, is a straight
"A" student, a varsity cheerleader and is
involved in many activities. She is not
at all bashful of her outdoor acumen,
yet it shocks many people since she
does not look or act like what is depicted
as the stereotypical hunter, and she
loves breaking that perception! Claire
has always enjoyed the outdoors and
going hunting with Dad. The frequency
has dropped over the past several years
due to her busy schedule, but she is
always a treat to have along, for she
sees the world differently than me. The
sunrises and sunsets are more brilliant
and fascinating to her, the clouds in the
sky tell her stories, the branches hanging
from a tree make amazing shapes … I
see things with her that my ignorance
would not allow me to see if she were
not present. Anyway, several months
before last year’s deer season, she made
a comment about wanting to shoot a
deer and a turkey, two hunts she had
never attended. Of course I was thrilled
to see her interest and proceeded to
purchase a permit for the upcoming
deer season. Close friends Rod Kriz
and Wes Reed invited us to the Pine
Ridge for their annual deer hunt and
we took them up on the offer. On the
way to Crawford, we decided to stop at
our place in Lisco to duck hunt and she
was able to shoot her first greenhead (a
drake mallard). As a matter of fact, she
shot four greenheads.
The next morning found us walking
through the Pine Ridge with her rifle
slung across her shoulder. Claire passed
up a nice mulie at first light, for she
simply did not want the hunt to end so
quickly: “If I shoot it I’ll be done, and
what will we do the rest of the trip?”
Later that morning we saw and stalked
a herd of mulies from about a mile
away but ended up spooking them
toward some nearby hills. Using a rise
as cover, Claire and I took off across
the field, hoping to find them at the
base of the hills when we came over
the top. When we poked our heads over
the top, the deer were there and Claire
was able to take a shot. The buck ran
about 50 yards and dropped.
Many thanks to Rod, Adam, Wes, Tyler
and Seth – their inclusion of Claire in
deer camp made her feel comfortable
and right at home. It was their company
that provided the most memorable trip
I’ve ever had with my daughter. Thank
to them!
Bill Eckstrom
Lincoln, Nebraska
Corrections
The October issue of NEBRASKAland
incorrectly listed the dates of the 2009
pheasant, quail and partridge seasons.
The 2009 general season for those
species opens Oct. 31, and the youth
season is Oct. 24-25. We regret the
errors.
– Editor
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.
Claire Eckstrom with the buck she shot
last November – her first deer.
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
Harrison
668-9456
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
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 5
PHOTO BY JEFF KURRUS
Bullfrog Bugs
Jeff Kurrus
I had viewed the pictures hundreds of
times, and each time the brown spots
on the bullfrog’s face in the August/
September NEBRASKAland article
“Survivor” were, well, spots. That was
until Commission biologist Jeff Blaser
commented that several of those brown
spots were, in fact, insects.
I then learned from University of
Nebraska-Lincoln entomologist James
Kalisch that these insects were actually
waterlily aphids, a common pest of
both waterlilies and duckweed.
That left only one question: For a
species of frog that is so consumptive,
as stated in the article, why was he
letting these insects reside on his face?
“I suspect that while the cost of energy
of moving the tongue to capture these
insects might seem negligible,” said
biologist Tom Jones, “the energy
garnered from aphids is much less. Larger
prey provide more bang for the buck.”
Open Fields and Waters
Eric Fowler
Hunters and anglers gained access to
23,379 acres of private land, 25 ponds
covering 426 acres and 78.2 miles of
11 rivers and streams September 1
thanks to the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission’s new Open Fields and
Waters Program.
Both groups took full advantage of
the program its first month, with reports
ranging from successful archery
pronghorn hunts in Sioux County to
6 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
successful fishing trips in Nemaha County.
“Some of our folks are pretty proud
of the land they got signed up,” said
Steve Riley, head of the Commission’s
habitat partners section. “I think we’ll
have a number of these properties that
turn out to be really sweet places to
hunt and fish.”
Landowners are paid up to $12 per
acre for enrolling high quality woodlands
or wetlands for walk-in hunting in the
program’s target area, which includes
population centers in eastern Nebraska
and counties along the Platte and North
Platte rivers, where the lack of access
has been cited as one barrier keeping
Nebraskans from hunting and fishing.
Land outside the target area can be
enrolled at a lower rate, and landowners
can accept a lower payment and retain
hunting rights during the November
firearm deer season.
The payment for fishing access is
$250 for lakes and ponds up to one
acre and an additional $40 per acre for
larger waters, $750 per mile for access
to cold water trout streams, and $500
per mile for warm water river access.
Land enrolled in the Open Fields and
Waters and CRP-MAP programs, as
well as land owned by the Commission,
federal agencies or Natural Resources
Districts that is open to hunting, is
detailed in the 2009 Nebraska Public
Access Atlas, available from Commission
offices and permit vendors across the
state and online at OutdoorNebraska.org.
Landowners interested in enrolling in
either program can also find information
on the web site or by contacting their
nearest Commission office.
PHOTO BY JEFF KURRUS
Busy Beavers
Elizabeth Mack
Fall is an active time for the beaver,
whose condition and survival depends
upon the quantity and quality of their
pre-winter harvest. According to Sam
Wilson, Nongame Mammal/Furbearer
Program Manager with the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission, a
beaver’s work is no small task: “It’s
incredible what they can do. Beavers
sometimes chop down trees so big they
burrows are the most common den
structure for beavers, dug from six to
twenty feet into the bank. On sandysoil rivers like the Platte where
excavation is difficult, beavers construct
their dens using the root systems from
trees and shrubs.
Beavers mate for life and reproduce
once a year, with mating beginning in
January. Three or four young are then
born in May. The kits are fully furred,
with open eyes and already visible
incisor teeth. Although seldom seen,
the newborn beaver can swim at birth.
The young will remain with the colony
for up to 2 years before leaving to start
a colony of their own.
Beavers live in the wild for an average
of 3 to 4 years, although there has been
the rare 15-year-old. According to
Wilson, beaver populations are not
tracked, but last year’s Nebraska
harvest was 11,600, down from an
average of 14,000 over the last five
years and their population across North
America is strong.
Beavers remain an important
component to the management of river
and wetland habitats. Their construction
of dams and surrounding water pools
create habitat for a large number of
wildlife species. Beavers also maintain
water levels, stabilize stream flow and
prevent streambed erosion. And
according to Wilson, beavers are
considered one of the best meats of any
of the furbearer species, although I find
no recipes in my wild game cookbook.
I’ll have to take his word for it.
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.
PHOTO BY JEFF KURRUS
have to crawl into the middle to gnaw
the wood away.”
Beavers are strictly vegetarian, eating
the inner bark of cottonwood, willow,
maple, aspen and other trees. Their
winter caches are made up of limbs and
branches of up to 5 inches in diameter
from felled trees, which are placed
under the winter ice where the food
must last until spring.
The beaver is North America’s
largest rodent and second largest on the
planet, weighing from 40 to 60 pounds
and reaching up to 4 feet in length.
Although slow and awkward on land,
the beaver is an agile swimmer; its
large flat tail and webbed hind feet aid
to propel them through the water. The
distinctive pistol-slap sound of their tail
on water acts as a warning to other
beavers when danger is near.
Beavers can remain submerged in
water for up to 20 minutes by
slowing their heart rates and using
oxygen stored in their large livers.
Their waterproof fur provides
protection as well as buoyancy for their
underwater activities.
The beaver’s large front incisors
allow them to cut and girdle trees up to
3 feet in diameter. Their upper and
lower incisors, which grow continuously,
are ground against each other, keeping
them chisel sharp. The lips can be
closed behind the incisors, allowing
them to gnaw while under water.
Beavers build lodges, large structures
made from wood and mud with at least
one deep-water exit. In Nebraska, bank
October 23-25
• Holiday Craft Show / Old West
Cookout – Eugene T. Mahoney SP
October 24
• Indian Cave SP Campground
Decorating Contest
Nebraska’s Prettiest Roads
While Nebraska is often known to
those passing through as the “I-80
state,” those who know this region best
also know it has some of the most
scenic spots in the entire country.
With that in mind, we want to know
what you think this state’s prettiest
highways and byways are, so please
send your nominations, along with the
reason why this area is to special, to
Jeff.Kurrus@Nebraska.gov. If possible,
include a photo of this scenic hotspot
(high-resolution .jpg format only,
please) in your e-mail.
In the upcoming months,
NEBRASKAland will feature your
thoughts on the Cornhusker state’s
prettiest scenery, as well as photographs
from these locations.
Deer and Elk Hides Needed
The Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks, known as the local Elks Lodge
in most small towns, is accepting
donated deer and elk hides from the
beginning of the November firearm
deer season through the end of the
January antlerless deer season.
Donated hides will be shipped to a
tannery to be turned into soft leather
and made into either gloves for
wheel-chair bound veterans or used for
craft kits that are distributed to veterans
at VA Medical Centers across the
world. According to Rodney Nelson of
Winside, just over 2,450 hides were
8 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
donated last year in Nebraska, up from
1,750 in 2007.
Not much is required of the hunters
that wish to donate their deer hides,
said Nelson. Before the hides can be
shipped, they have to have all excess
fat, flesh and tails removed, then fine
table salt must be rubbed into all fleshy
surfaces. Volunteers at the drop-off
locations do most of this work, but
hunters are more than welcome to
scrape and salt the hides themselves,
said Nelson. Care must be taken,
however, in the skinning process as
even small holes in a hide can result in
it being ruined during the tanning
process.
Nelson suggested hunters call their
local Elks lodge to find out about dropoff points.
Last year nearly 80,000 deer were
harvested in the state, meaning only a
small percentage of their hides were
donated to this program.
October 31
• Cock Pheasant, Quail, and
Partridge Hunting Begins Statewide
November 2
• Fort Robinson SP Annual Historical
Christmas Dinner Reservations On
Sale – (308) 665-2900
November 2-4
• Fall Craft Show / Old West Cookout
– Eugene T. Mahoney SP
November 22
• Fort Robinson SP Annual
Longhorn & Buffalo Sale
November 26
• Thanksgiving Day Adults / Kids
Buffet – Eugene T. Mahoney SP
Adults $13.95; Children $6.95
Breakfast: 7:30 a.m.-10 a.m.
Lunch / Dinner 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Park
entry permit required.
Call: (402) 944-2523, ext 7127
E-mail: ngpc.mahoney@nebraska.gov
December 5
• Fort Robinson SP Annual
Historical Christmas Dinner 6 p.m.,
Cost: $18
Caroling begins at 6 p.m. followed by
dinner and entertainment. After the
dinner, guests enjoy turning the
Christmas lights on for the first time.
Reservations are required for this
event.
December 6
• Christmas at the Bowring –
Bowring Ranch SHP 5 p.m.
Bowring SHP is hosting a fundraiser
for the Cody Youth Group. A sit down
meal and entertainment will be
provided. Reservations are required.
Call Bowring for more information
and reservations at (308) 684-3428.
Program / meal starts at 5:00 p.m. Park
entry permit required.
Call: (308) 684-3428
E-mail: ngpc.bowring@nebraska.gov
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 9
PHOTO BY BILL HAGER
Birds on Powerlines
Elizabeth Mack
“It is almost impossible to estimate
the number of birds killed each year
from run-ins with power lines,
especially in rural areas” states Jeff
Hanson, Public Information Manager
with Omaha Public Power District
(OPPD). Small birds who perch atop
one single power line are relatively
safe, but larger birds with wingspans
wide enough to touch two parallel lines
when landing or taking off can be
electrocuted. OPPD, Nebraska Public
Power District (NPPD) and other
utilities across the region are working
to decrease wildlife loss by reducing
these fatal incidents.
Utility companies have begun to
employ squirrel guards, wire coverings
and line markers to deter birds from
perching on top of utility poles. In
some areas, utilities have also begun
using brightly colored coil diverters on
10 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
transmission lines designed to spin in
the wind, discouraging birds from
landing. In central Nebraska along the
Platte River, diverters have been used
recently to deter whooping cranes and
other migratory birds away from
dangerous power lines. Researchers are
studying the effectiveness of these
measures.
Other problems arise when nature
and progress meet, including the
interference of utility distribution systems
from other wildlife that can cause
widespread power outages. Hanson
reports that, from 2007 to today, that
squirrels were responsible for the most
outages in the state at 2,280, and birds
were responsible for 1,458 outages.
Raccoons, snakes and rabbits have also
been known to cause outages in
distribution boxes, but they are minimal.
Utility companies continue to monitor
the delicate situation and work to prevent
loss of wildlife. Most recently, Hanson
says, OPPD worked closely with an
arborist and bird specialist during
recent construction of new transmission
from Nebraska City to Lincoln.
Since implementing the power line
diverters near the migratory bird path
in central Nebraska, bird fatalities seem
to be down. For endangered whooping
cranes, even the loss of a few could
significantly effect the population.
“Our entire mode of operation related
to forestry takes bird activity into
consideration,” Hanson says.
Fortunately, for Nebraska’s wildlife, it
seems to be working.
Deer Hunting Safety
Jeff Kurrus
It is quite common this time of year
while hunting for the eyes to turn a
twig, clump of grass or tree stump into
something resembling a deer.
Newcomers would assume these
moments would only be possible near
sunrise or sunset, but veterans know
how often shadows change throughout
a hunt, and how often these shadows
can create mirages.
A pair of binoculars, as opposed to a
rifle scope, is the easiest and safest way
to evaluate these unidentified objects.
There is no reason to point a gun at
something you do not intend to shoot.
Not everyone wears orange in the
Electronic Permits for 2010
woods,
even during
firearm season. Hikers,
bikers and geocachers
should, but that doesn’t mean they
always do.
Keep your hunt safe by adding
binoculars to your list of supplies.
Because the life you save might not be
your own.
Deer Antler Options
Jeff Kurrus
“You should bring that rack in,” I
recently told a co-worker after his latest
deer hunting tale, “I’d love to see it.”
“I don’t have it,” he said. “I didn’t
even get it from the deer.”
That surprised me, for I thought that
most people did something with their
deer antlers. So here’s my quick rant.
One, you should be keeping them. Two,
when you do keep them, do more than
store them in a box. I won’t reinvent
the wheel here, giving you a lengthy
list of antler ideas, but what I will do is
preach that you use them, in some
shape or fashion. European, full-head,
and collage mounts for big-antlered
deer. Knife handles,
letter openers, or a door
handle for a smaller
selections.
Some hunters make
rattling antlers from
their bucks, and others
create a powder measure
for muzzleloader hunting.
Bottom line: do
something creative with
them. And when you do,
whether you come up with
the idea yourself or borrow it
from another source, send a
photo of your creation to
Jeff.Kurrus@Nebraska.gov. If you
can’t think of a way to use the antlers,
give them to a kid. I’m sure they’ll
be able to use them in some form
or fashion.
Since 2002, hunters and anglers have
had the option of purchasing all of their
permits online through the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission’s web site.
In 2010, that will be their only option.
The Commission has sold some deer
and turkey permits electronically since
2001, and offered all hunting and
fishing permits, as well as habitat and
aquatic habitat stamps, since 2002. In
2008, 63 percent of all hunting and
fishing permits were processed
electronically. This includes sales at
OutdoorNebraska.org, Commission
permitting offices and vendors that had
converted to the electronic system.
Benefits of the system are as
follows:
A Look Back - November 2003
Jeff Kurrus
In the November 2003 issue of
NEBRASKAland, Bob Grier’s
“Youths Afield” focused on a
youth-mentored pheasant hunt
attempting
to
accomplish
the same
goal as the
mentors in
this month’s
“Fulfilling
the Vision”
by Doug
Carroll.
Also that
November, Eric Fowler’s “A Cold
Bite at Merritt Reservoir” gave us
tips and tactics from angler Steve
Isom on a Nebraska water body
that remained one of the state’s
best fisheries in 2009.
A North Platte River duck hunt
and a photo essay by Russian
photographer George Burba were
also included, showing two very
different pictorial sides of Nebraska.
Finally, the article “Fifty Years
Hunting and Deer Horn Lodge”
provided the perfect book end for
what youth hunts could turn into
for participants introduced to this
outdoor passion at an early age.
• A single purchase of a stamp ensures
the stamp will be displayed on any
other permits purchased the remainder
of the calendar year.
• Lost or damaged permits can be
replaced at any time, from anywhere.
• Landowners need to enter legal
descriptions of land only once and
update only as needed.
• Multiple online purchases can be
made for multiple individuals with a
single transaction.
The move to electronic permitting
also eliminates the need for permit
books to be reviewed manually to
confirm quantities sold and it captures
data of permit buyers for later analysis.
E-mail addresses of permit buyers can
also be collected, as a customer option,
and used for Commission surveys,
notifications and deliveries.
One exception to online-only permits
will be annual/duplicate park permits
and, on a limited basis, daily park
permits. Adhesive-backed park permits
still will be provided at the time of sale
or mailed if purchased online. Other
limited exceptions to electronic
permitting include special permits that
require review, such as fur buyer,
taxidermist and commercial fishing.
The Commission will begin selling
2010 permits November 1. Customers
may go to OutdoorNebraska.org to buy
and print out a permit at any time.
Permits will also be available at
Commission permitting offices or
participating permit vendors.
Turpin Time
Dick Turpin
I’m looking
forward to some
ice fishing but I
suffer from ice
elbow … like
tennis elbow …
anytime I slip
on the ice and
fall. I got cleats
and everything
else … but
here’s another little addition. I fill an
old coffee can with sand … then when
I’m on the ice I’ll scatter this around
those areas where I walk a lot and that
gives me more traction to keep me
from falling. ■
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 11
Previous pages: A young white-tailed buck
emerges from a Blaine County bedding area
onto the edge of a meadow in late afternoon.
Above left: The bright orange light of the
morning sun paints the sky above a ridge along
the Niobrara River on the Brown and Keya
Paha county line.
Left: A grizzled porcupine feeds on yucca plants
near Merritt Reservoir.
Above right: Late afternoon sun lights up the
grass on Cherry County’s Samuel R. McKelvie
National Forest.
Right: Canada geese fly from the Snake River
en route to an evening feeding in Cherry County.
14 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 15
Left: A bald eagle keeps a watchful eye
on a flock of ducks as it leaves its perch
overlooking a small lake on the
Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in
Cherry County.
Above: Two trusty ranch hands – a dog
and a cat – guard hay and soak up the
warmth from the morning sun in Holt
County.
Right: A lone mule deer buck peers
through a clump of grass while feeding
in a Loup County field.
16 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 17
Father’s Barn
By Margie Lukas
Old barns. Looking at, thinking about, even
dreaming of the barns of yesteryear and
their lofts full of memories takes us back to
another time and place.
Y
18 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
have seen piglets no bigger than baked
potatoes walking through or under the
gates, traveling from stall to stall and
taking advantage of any sow on her
side where a place at the trough could
be fought for and secured.
By the time I entered high school,
having graduated from egg gathering in
the hen house, I was herding milk cows
in, securing them in stanchions and
doing the milking on a perch generously
called a stool: A board six inches wide
and six inches long, with an eight-inch
peg leg. The stool’s other two legs were
my own, and getting the
hang of balancing took
almost as much practice
as learning how to fill my
bucket without needing the
whole morning to do so.
With the cow’s heat wafting
over my face, my head
within inches of her
scruffy side, milk
squirting rhythmically
into the pail and the
sway of the stool under
me, milking was a sort of barn dance.
My parents met at a very different
caliber of barn dance in 1938. My
father played the accordion and this
dance, like most barn dances back then,
wasn’t planned or accompanied by flyers
and ticket sales. Young people gathered
in local barns whenever they had the
time and the evening was fair enough
for walking. If you owned an instrument
– an accordion, harpsichord, violin or
you played the spoons on the knee of
your faded overalls – you stepped up
front and joined the other musicians.
I suspect my father played the
accordion so he never had to dance. He
never milked either; he’d have needed
PHOTO BY DOUG CARROLL
ou see them all over the state,
off dusty roads and two-lane
highways, old, abandoned
barns, their crumbling roofs and walls
falling down in a succession of seasons,
listing, sagging, the wind through sides
that might be the ribs of abandoned
ships, owls and swallows nesting in the
rafters.
My father’s barn is gone completely
now, the once red building faded to the
color of bone and then “cleared” by the
man who bought the home place and
would have nothing sitting in the way
of his shiny new planter
and picker. I can stand on
the nearest gravel road,
look over that man’s
cornfield and pick out the
exact place where the barn
stood. Standing there, I
can smell it still – not
just manure, but a loft
full of hay, grain in the
mouse-proof, cinder-block
room in the corner and
Red Dot cigars, the brand
of cigar that in my father’s younger
days had a permanent place between
his teeth.
The barn was massive to a kid, and
being in the hayloft where the halfdozen momma cats had their litters
every spring and leaning out of the
wide, swung-open double doors – your
stomach falling away as you looked
down on the world – was a whole
world in itself.
On nights too cold for them to
survive outside, calves were born in
our barn, as well as litters of pigs.
The sows were kept apart by wood
partitions, but had Charlotte looked
down from a corner cobweb, she’d
to send for a kitchen chair and Bossy
would never have tolerated the cigar
between his teeth so dangerously
close to her tender bag. I’ve seen my
grandfather, a chewer, milk cows
though. His barn cats came running
at the tinny ring of milk striking the
bottom of his bucket, and they lined
up a few feet away from the cow’s
hoofs. Grandpa, his hands having
grown large on plow handles, the
plow pulled by a team of horses he had
shod himself, could tug a cow teat and
aim a stream of creamy milk at the
cats, who would open their mouths at
the arc coming through the air. Nary a
drop was wasted.
We were in the barn, his accordion
long gone, when my father told me the
story of a farmer whose cow began
coming home at night without a drop
of milk in her. One day the farmer
followed the cow to the field and spent
the day watching her. Toward evening,
when he’d all but given up on catching
the thief and Bossy’s bag was full and
growing uncomfortable, she strolled
under a cottonwood and a huge bull
snake lifted up out of the grass.
“Lifted about this high,” my father
said, bending down, one of his
oil-stained hands indicating a couple of
feet off the barn floor, “and that snake
latched onto the farmer’s cow and
drunk her dry.”
“Really?” I asked. “Is that a true
story or a tale as tall as Pecos Bill?”
“Well,” he said, one brow arching,
“that’s the way I heard it told.” From
the side of his mouth, the Red Dot
flickered. ■
Margie Lukas is a writer and teacher
living in Omaha.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 19
Trophy Roundup
By Eric Fowler
Since 1962, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Big Game
Trophy Records Program has been awarding certificates to hunters who
harvest outstanding deer, elk, pronghorn and bighorn sheep. Following
is a look at the top five submissions since 2000 and the all-time records,
including four new ones set since 2004.
Elk
Dana Foster, Nebraska Record
Non-Typical Elk, 4097/8
There are still plenty of people,
including many life-long residents, who
have no idea there are elk in Nebraska.
To those folks, the significance of a
new state record non-typical elk might
be on par with talk of Nebraska’s
highest mountain.
But the significance of the elk Dana
Foster of Ogallala harvested in 2008 in
Garden County is not lost among those
who know elk. The 7-by-10 point bull
had a net score of 4097/8 inches under
the Boone and Crockett Club’s scoring
system, topping the 400-class
benchmark – somewhat of a holy grail
for elk hunters – and the state’s old
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANA FOSTER
Dana Foster and her record non-typical elk. Scoring highlights: Points - Right 7, Left 10; Net typical - 3783/8; Abnormal points: 314/8;
Non-typical score: 409 7/8; Main beam - Right 503/8, Left 516/8; Inside spread - 491/8; Circumference between 1st and 2nd points - Right
111/8, Left 125/8; G-3 - Right 186/8, Left 193/8.
20 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
record of 3864/8 held since 2005 by
DeWayne Hollibaugh of Chadron.
“Even in the areas that are notorious
for big bulls, like Utah or the Indian
reservations in the Southwest, that 400
mark is a fairly amazing trophy by
anybody’s standards,” said Justin
Spring, assistant director of big game
records for the Boone and Crockett Club.
That elk are now found in the North
Platte River Valley and other places in
Nebraska, where the majestic animals
were once common but few thought
they’d ever find them again, is amazing.
So is the fact that Foster, a first-time
elk hunter, harvested the animal a
half-hour’s drive from her home.
Somewhat of a hunting novice with a
deer and a few other game animals to
her credit, Dana had plenty of help
from her husband, Trevor, before and
during the hunt. Trevor had drawn his
once-in-a-lifetime Nebraska bull elk
tag in 1996 and arrowed a bull in
Sheridan County that scored 3306/8. It
was the first entry in the Nebraska Big
Game Trophy Records Program for an
elk harvested with a bow and arrow.
The Fosters began scouting the area
they hunted along the North Platte
River west of Lewellen long before
Dana drew her permit. Trevor began
watching and listening to bulls there
soon after he moved to Ogallala from
Indianola in 2003. On their first date in
the fall of 2004, Trevor stopped there
on the way back from Scottsbluff. “It
was dark and I couldn’t even see them,
but boy you could hear them bugling
like crazy,” Dana said. “Then I was
like, ‘Man, we’ve got to go back up
there in the daylight when we can see
them.’”
Married a year later, they returned
many times, video and still camera in
hand, and obtained permission to hunt,
contingent on Dana drawing a tag.
When she did, in the second year she
applied, no less, the serious scouting
began. Most was done through a
spotting scope from atop a bluff on the
south side of the riverbottom. From
there they watched bulls spend most of
the summer in the cornfields between
the bluffs and the cottonwood/willow
forest bordering the river.
During more than three months of
scouting they spotted several mature
bulls, two of them monsters. Dana’s
bull was one of the latter, but he wasn’t
ELK (NON-TYPICAL)
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 220, Muzzleloader 265, Firearm 310
7 entries, Oldest entry: 2005. * Denotes current state record
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (F)
409 /8
Dana Foster, Ogallala*
2008
Garden
2 (F)
3864/8
DeWayne Hollibaugh, Chadron
2005
Dawes
3 (F)
364 /8
Stacey Anderson, Curtis
2007
Lincoln
7
2
4 (F)
333
Bruce Luehrs, Ogallala
2008
Scotts Bluff
5 (F)
3296/8
Ed Larson, Dalton
2008
Sheridan
the boss of the local elk herd. That
honor went to a long-tined 7-by-8 that
Trevor, a taxidermist in his spare time,
thought might also gross 400 inches,
but would take many deductions for
irregular tines. When the rut started, the
7-by-8 stayed busy tending his herd of
eight cows. They spotted that bull often
but only saw her bull twice, the last
time crossing a meadow between the
corn and the river two weeks before the
September 27 season opener as they
watched from a quarter mile away.
They dubbed him the Meadow Bull and
knew that was the animal they would
set their sights on. Four days into the
season, however, they began to wonder
if they’d ever see him again.
In the first four days of hunting,
Dana passed on several chances to
harvest mature trophy bulls, including a
340-inch or better bull that Trevor
called in. That was on the second day
of the hunt with a Cabela’s television
crew in tow. “One of the guys looked at
me and said, ‘This is your hunt, but
you’re crazy to pass on these bulls,’”
Dana said.
She didn’t necessarily disagree. “I
kept saying to Trevor, ‘Should I shoot
that one?’” Dana recalled. “And he
would say, ‘No, he’s not big enough.’
And I’d say, ‘Well, he looks big to me.’”
The couple had agreed, however, that
they would do everything they could to
get one of the two monster bulls they
had seen before settling for something
smaller. Most elk hunters don’t have
that luxury. They head to the mountain
states to an area they haven’t scouted
hoping to simply see a mature bull and
don’t hesitate to pull the trigger when
given the chance. But with an intimate
knowledge of the bulls in the
neighborhood, the Fosters could afford
to be selective.
Time was running short, however,
with the couple needing to leave for a
moose hunt in British Columbia in a
few days. Having all but given up on
ever seeing the Meadow Bull again,
they made yet another attempt to get
close to the 7-by-8. He wasn’t hard to
locate. Holed up in the thick of the
riverbottom forest with his cows, and
surrounded by smaller satellite bulls,
all they had to do was follow the nearconstant bugling. “But every time we’d
get close to him … they’d come out
and bust us and they’d start hollering
and he’d take off,” Dana said. Often,
the elk would move onto the Garden
County Game Refuge, leaving the
Fosters to sit and wait, hoping the elk
would cross the unmarked boundary
110 yards from the riverbank.
On the fifth morning, they followed
the bugling into the riverbottom and
Trevor cow-called the herd bull to
within 30 yards. But he wouldn’t move
from behind a Russian olive tree, and
all they could see were the tips of his
antlers.
“Every breath, he would just grunt
and scream at us,” Trevor said. Dana
climbed a tree to try to get a clear shot,
but couldn’t. Finally, they decided to
try and circle the bull, hoping he’d
stand his ground and allow them to get
into position. He didn’t.
That turned out to be fortunate. Later
that morning, while following the
bugling in hopes of getting another
chance, a soft squeal answered one of
Trevor’s cow calls. He assumed it was
a spike, but had Dana get her shooting
sticks ready just in case. When antler
tips appeared over the willows 50 yards
away, they knew it wasn’t a spike, but
still weren’t certain which bull it was.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 21
Bob Marsteller and his record typical elk. Scoring highlights: Points. - Right 6, Left 7;
Gross - 3991/8; Net - 3903/8; Main beam - Right 58, Left 57; Inside spread - 501/8;
Circumference between 1st and 2nd points - Right 94/8, Left 92/8; G-4 - Right 225/8, Left 233/8.
Trevor did know it was a good one and
told Dana he was going to make another
cow call and to take a shot if the bull
stepped into the open. Before he could,
the bull stepped out and Dana’s first
shot from her .270 found its mark. The
bull ran, but stopped again after covering
about 30 yards, and a second shot
finished the job.
As they approached the fallen giant,
Dana knew why Trevor had her pass on
other bulls. “When you’re looking at it
through a scope and you’ve got your
crosshairs on it, it looks big. But it was
my first time elk hunting, so I couldn’t
judge size. I hadn’t been around them
enough to know – they all looked big
to me. But when I shot this one and
walked up on it, then I could see the
difference.”
Still, she had no idea of the
significance of her trophy as the couple
ELK (TYPICAL)
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 210, Muzzleloader 255, Firearm 300
36 entries, 28 since 2000, Oldest entry: 1986. * Denotes current state record
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (F)
3903/8
Bob Marsteller, Alliance*
2004
Sioux
3 (F)
371 /8
Jeff Schlictemeier, Ogallala
2006
Garden
5 (F)
3657/8
Brian Pankonin, Imperial
2006
Dawes
6 (F)
363 /8
Rosemary Hollibaugh, Hay Springs
2006
Sheridan
7 (F)
3602/8
John Pankowski, Bridgeport
2008
Morrill
3
7
22 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
Bob Marsteller, Nebraska Record
Typical Elk, 3903/8
Late-September is a good time to be
in the Pine Ridge, especially if you
have a bull-elk permit in your pocket,
you’re listening to bulls bugle
incessantly in the pre-dawn darkness
and you’ve let your son skip school to
come along on the hunt.
That’s where Bob Marsteller and his
son, Ryan, found themselves on the
third day of the 2004 elk season. As
dawn broke northwest of Harrison, they
could finally see the source of the
racket: 25 to 30 head of elk feeding in
an oat field about a mile from the edge
of the timber, including the massive
6-by-7 bull Marsteller would later
harvest with his landowner permit that
had a Boone and Crockett score of
3903/8 inches, a new Nebraska record
for typical elk.
“There were 10 other bulls out there
along with his bunch of cows, calves
and spikes,” Marsteller said. “He was
busy keeping them away from the other
bulls. The bugling that was going on
was amazing.”
As dawn broke, the satellite bulls
began moving across the rolling
grassland and back to the timber in
twos and threes. The Marstellers got in
front of the first group of three bulls,
thinking the others would take the
same route. That didn’t happen. Each
band of bulls took a different route,
keeping the hunters running until shortly
after sunup. “It was like antelope
hunting for elk,” Marsteller said.
Bob had been on five unsuccessful elk
hunts in Colorado and Wyoming, had
filled his first Nebraska permit – a cow
tag – a year earlier, and had watched
elk on his Pine Ridge land for several
years. That experience, and seeing his
bull on a video made by the landowner
the day before, was enough to tell him
the bull was special, and that he should
pass on other chances he had that
morning, including one at another
trophy. “The other bulls were big, but
he was huge,” Marsteller said.
“This big bull and his cows came off
the field last, and on a totally different
path to the timber. We were lucky to be
able to get close enough for a shot.
“After the bull was down and we
were really close to him for the first
time, all we could do was walk circles
around him and shake our heads,” he
Pronghorn
said. “He came oh so close to making it
back to the trees and some really steep
rough country.”
Marsteller’s bull topped the old
record of 377 for a bull harvested by
John Walker of Bayard in Dawes
County in 1998. While seven Nebraska
typical elk have scored 360 or more to
qualify for the Boone and Crockett
Club’s awards program, only
Marsteller’s and Walker’s have exceeded
the 375 minimum required to make the
club’s all-time record book, which
includes 934 entries dating to 1850. ■
PRONGHORN
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 60, Muzzleloader 65, Firearm 73
676 entries, 156 since 2000, Oldest entry: 1953. * Denotes current state record
PHOTO COURTESY OF DARYL SCHERBARTH
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB MARSTELLER
sat with it and listened to bulls
continue to bugle for 10 minutes before
starting the task of getting it home. She
began to get an inkling when they got
back into cell phone range after their
unsuccessful moose hunt and got a call
from her father, who told her, “You
have no idea how famous you are.”
Her story had been splashed all over
newspapers in Nebraska and beyond.
And the ink was justified. Barring any
additional new entries, Dana’s bull will
rank 59th in the next edition of the
Boone and Crockett Club’s Records of
North American Big Game, which will
include trophies scored from 1899
through the end of 2009, and it might
be the second largest ever harvested by
a woman. While thousands of elk are
harvested each year in North America,
only 273 non-typical North American
Elk are in the club’s all-time record
book. Of those, 140 scored 400 or
higher, including a new world-record
taken in Utah in 2008 that scored 4785/8.
“I had no idea,” Foster said of the
significance of her trophy. ■
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (A)
882/8
Daryl Scherbarth, Bayard*
2008
Morrill
3 (F)
85
Scott Dietrich, Alliance
2002
Box Butte
1 (M)
83
Jon Osterhaus, Hickman
2000
Box Butte
11 (F) 83
Jeff Miller, LaVista
2006
Sioux
11 (F) 83
Corey Greckel, Scottsbluff
2006
Sioux
15 (F) 82 /8
Tom Zimmer, Norfolk
2007
Banner
6
Daryl Scherbarth and his record
pronghorn: Gross - 886/8; Net - 882/8; Length
of horn - Right 17, Left 17; Base -Right 74/8,
Left 72/8; Prong - Right 53/8, Left 53/8.
Daryl Scherbarth, Nebraska Record
Pronghorn, 882/8
When Daryl Scherbarth harvested a
pronghorn with a bow for the first time
last fall, he had no idea he’d taken the
biggest buck ever in Nebraska, scoring
882/8 inches Boone and Crockett. He
was just happy to finally meet success
after trying to fill an archery tag, off
and on, for 11 years.
“I’d shot an 80-incher with my rifle
in 2005, so I thought I knew what a big
antelope was,” said Scherbarth.
The Bayard man was hunting in the
“middle of the boonies” of northern
Morrill County when he came across
the buck and nine does. He attempted a
spot and stalk approach, but it turned
into “scare and ambush,” Scherbarth
said. “I screwed it up and they figured
out where I was.” When the herd split,
with the buck heading east with two of
the does and the rest heading west,
Scherbarth took a stand at a fence
crossing near a stock tank. “I went and
laid in the grass and waited,” he said.
“They started circling and sure enough,
after about 35 minutes, here he came.”
To that point, Scherbarth had taken
only six shots at pronghorn with his
bow, missing his mark with each one.
But a year’s worth of practice leading
up to this hunt paid off, even though he
hadn’t practiced every aspect of the
57-yard shot he took. “I got lucky,” he
said. “I’ve never practiced shooting off
my butt before.
“I might never have that scenario
again. Just getting shots at them is
tough enough.”
Scherbarth’s pronghorn topped the
previous Nebraska record of 862/8, held
by Ben Claxton of Scottsbluff since
1970. Claxton also harvested his
pronghorn with a bow. Scott Dietrich
of Alliance harvested an 85-inch buck
with a rifle in 2002 that was less than
an inch off the Nebraska firearm record
set in 1962. Of the 74 pronghorn entered
in the Nebraska Trophy Records
Program that scored 80 or more, 22
have been harvested since 2000.
If entered and accepted, Scherbarth’s
buck will rank 8th in the all-time
records program of the Pope and Young
Club, which tracks trophies harvested
with bow and arrow. It falls just outside
the top 100 of the Boone and Crockett
Club’s all-time records, for which a
minimum score of 82 is required. The
B&C world record is 95 inches and the
P&Y is 914/8. Both records were set in
Arizona. ■
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 23
Deer
Trophy Records Program includes 5,000 entries
MULE (TYPICAL)
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 140, Muzzleloader 145, Firearm 150
1,358 entries, 305 since 2000, Oldest entry: 1948. * Denotes current state record
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (M)
200 /8
Miles Lemley, Lyman*
2007
Scotts Bluff
5 (F)
1907/8
Robert Furniss, Stratton
2005
Hitchcock
20 (F) 184 /8
Alan Estergard, Callaway
2000
Custer
38 (F) 180 /8
Anthony Chambers, Norfolk
2000
Hitchcock
53 (F) 1782/8
Timothy Quinn, Lincoln
2001
Hitchcock
3
6
1
MULE (NON-TYPICAL)
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 155, Muzzleloader 160, Firearm 170
233 entries, 58 since 2000, Oldest entry: 1945. * Denotes current state record
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (F)
265 /8
Leo Dwyer, Elgin*
1959
Wheeler
7 (F)
2302/8
Owen Madden, Wauneta
2005
Chase
1 (M)
2126/8
Paul Mecouch, Ocean View, NJ
2007
Sioux
26 (F) 2121/8
Kitricia Steinfeldt, Houston, MN
2008
Dawes
27 (F) 2104/8
Nathan Simonson, Lincoln
2005
Cherry
2
Wyatt Ladely, Valentine
2008
Hooker
PHOTO COURTESY OF MILES LEMLEY
33 (F) 207
Miles Lemley and his record typical mule deer. Scoring highlights: Points - Right 5, Left 5;
Gross - 2024/8; Net - 2003/8; Main beam - Right 284/8, Left 28; Inside spread - 283/8;
Circumference between burr and 1st point - Right 46/8, Left 46/8; G-2 - Right 175/8, Left 181/8.
24 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
Miles Lemley, Nebraska Record
Typical Mule Deer, 2003/8
Miles Lemley knows a big mule deer
when he sees one. Prior to the 2007
deer season, he’d harvested three that
qualified for a Nebraska Big Game
Trophy Records Program citation and
hunted with his brother, Matt, and
daughter, Ashlee, when they also
harvested trophy bucks. But the buck
he had in his sights on the eighth day
of the 2007 muzzleloader season was
different: It was really big, and would
end up measuring 2003/8 inches, a new
Nebraska all-weapon record and the
state’s first typical mule-deer to top
200 inches.
“I was shaking so bad I had a hard
time keeping on the deer,” Lemley
admitted.
Lemley hadn’t planned on hunting
that day. Ashlee was to play in a
basketball tournament in Bridgeport.
“It was almost blizzard-like
conditions,” he said. “When we got the
call that the tournament was cancelled,
I said ‘Let’s go hunting.’”
Roads were still slick as Lemley,
Ashlee and Matt headed north from
Lyman to the hills on the edge of the
North Platte River Valley in northern
Scotts Bluff County, but the snow had
let up as they began to glass pastures
that butted against crop ground. While
they were glassing a group of 20 or 25
does, Ashlee said, “There’s a big one.”
Not far from the herd, Lemley saw his
trophy browsing with a small buck and
a doe. When the deer walked into a
draw, Lemley left his companions
behind and began a stalk though the
crunchy snow, closing the gap to 100
yards before peering over a sagebrush
plant and spotting the deer feeding in
the bottom.
“The smaller buck saw me and
bounded up the hill a bit,” Lemley said.
“That’s when I got excited. I was
extremely nervous. That’s a good
distance.”
As he took aim through the 1-power
scope on his in-line muzzleloader,
Lemley was talking to himself, trying
to calm down and quit shaking, and
reminding himself to squeeze the trigger.
Since 1962, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has awarded citations to hunters who harvest bighorn sheep, elk,
pronghorn and mule and white-tailed deer with exceptional antler or horn length and symmetry. More than 5,000 trophies
have been entered into the program, including four since 2004 that have set new state records, regardless of weapon.
Trophies are scored using the system developed in 1950 by the Boone and Crockett Club, a national organization that
began maintaining records of all North American big game species in 1891 to track species that members, including
co-founder Theodore Roosevelt, feared were going extinct. The scores now track conservation achievements.
Nebraska’s program has categories for each species for animals harvested with modern center-fire rifle, muzzleloading
rifle or bow-and-arrow. Minimum scores to qualify are less than those of national clubs that track trophies harvested with
those weapons: Boone and Crockett, Longhunter Society and Pope and Young Club, respectively.
As is the case with the records kept by the national organizations, Nebraska’s trophy database is not all-inclusive. Entry
into any of the records programs is voluntary, and while some people are proud to be included, some are indifferent.
Case in point: While there are currently no bighorn sheep in the state database, two bighorns harvested in Nebraska
qualified for B&C Awards, including one that scored 1807/8 to make their all-time record book.
For more on the program, including a searchable trophy database and instructions on how to get a trophy scored, go to
OutdoorNebraska.org.
“I fired a shot and he went about 25 or
30 yards, stopped, weaved and fell
over. That’s when I about did the same
thing,” Lemley said.
The 5-by-5 buck had a 28-inch inside
spread, deep forks measuring 106/8
inches or more in both the front and
back, and was nearly perfectly
symmetrical, losing only 21/8 inches to
deductions. It topped the previous
all-weapon record of 1962/8, taken with
a firearm in 1968 by Terry Sandstrom
of Casper, Wyoming, by 41/8 inches,
and scored 17 inches more than the
previous muzzleloader record.
Lemley’s buck is the sixth typical
mule deer entered in Nebraska’s
Trophy Records Program that scored
190 or more, the minimum required to
make the Boone and Crockett’s all-time
records program. Of those, all but the
1907/8 buck harvested by Robert Furniss
of Stratton in 2005 were harvested
prior to 1985. Lemley’s buck ranks in
the top 300 in Boone and Crockett’s
all-time records and, if entered, would
be fourth in the records of the
Longhunter Society, which tracks
trophies harvested with muzzleloaders.
While he’s happy the basketball
tournament was cancelled, Lemley
does have one regret from the hunt: In
the excitement and rush to get the buck
to the taxidermist, he didn’t take the
time to get good field photos of his
trophy. “I got to shoot this absolutely
wonderful deer and didn’t spend much
time with him,” he said. “If I would
give one word advice to anybody, it
would be to make sure you take the
time to get good field photos. It would
be well worth it. I didn’t and made
myself sick. The photos we took just
didn’t do him justice and it’s nobody’s
fault but my own.”
But he did score another coup: The
buck was big enough that, unlike his
other trophies, his wife allowed him to
display it in the living room. “With a
deer like that, she didn’t put up a fight
at all,” Lemley laughed. ■
WHITETAIL (TYPICAL)
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 125, Muzzleloader 140, Firearm 150
2291 entries, 699 since 2000, Oldest entry: 1949. * Denotes current state record
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (F)
1992/8
Vernon Virka, Morse Bluff*
1983
Saunders
4 (F)
1917/8
Frosty Adams, Blue Springs
2000
Gage
9 (F)
1872/8
Mike Hansmire, Fairbury
2006
Jefferson
1 (M)
1817/8
Shannon Heyden, Newport
2006
Rock
19 (F) 181 /8
Mark Christensen, Lincoln
2008
Lincoln
3 (A)
1784/8
Trampis Kasten, McCook
2008
Frontier
2 (M)
1781/8
Brandon Wilkie, Paxton
2005
Keith
2
WHITETAIL (NON-TYPICAL)
Minimum Score for State Citation: Archery 150, Muzzleloader: 155, Firearm 160
617 entries, 224 since 2000, Oldest entry: 1949. * Denotes current state record
Rank
Score
Name, Town
Year
County
1 (A)
2797/8
Del Austin, Hastings*
1962
Hall
4 (F)
236 /8
Gary Hubbard, Elm Creek
2006
Buffalo
2 (A)
223
Jeff Moody, Hickman
2003
Lancaster
12 (F) 2217/8
Gus Shy, Pleasant Dale
2006
Seward
15 (F) 2176/8
Gary Winans, Omaha
2008
Douglas
16 (F) 2172/8
Kenny Dillon, Plattsmouth
2000
Otoe
3
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 25
Decoy Miniatures
By Jon Farrar
Since the late-1880s, carvers who fashioned full-sized working decoys
for sale have made miniatures for collectors. The advantage for
the carver was that they could be made in less time; the advantage for the
collector was that miniatures took up less space.
rcheological and anthropological
evidence suggests that the use
of decoys to lure birds close
enough to capture or kill is uniquely
North American in origin. Some Native
American tribes turned up lumps of
marsh muck to simulate gatherings of
waterfowl in shallow waters, or used
roots shaped like the heads and necks
of waterfowl to lure wild birds close
enough to capture.
The first known lures readily
recognizable as decoys were excavated
from Lovelock Cave in Nevada in the
1920s – 11 canvasback decoys fashioned
from split tule rushes. The long, sloping
bills were unmistakably shaped to
imitate canvasbacks, and eight
of the decoys had red ochre
coloring on the heads,
blackened breasts and
white canvasback
feathers inserted
on the sides
to imitate
drake
canvasbacks.
Dating
indicates
these
decoys
are about
2,100
years old.
It is believed the
decoys were used to
draw live birds into
traps or nets, where they
became entangled.
Finely-crafted wooden decoys
apparently first became common in
the mid-1800s, and flourished in the
late-1800s and into the early-1900s,
particularly on the East Coast. Most
were produced by wildfowl hunters and
baymen with idle time in the winter,
A
26 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
self-taught artisans possessing the skill
to shape and paint imitations suggestive
of live birds. Even after less expensive
factory-made decoys became readily
available in the early-1900s, men in
backyard sheds continued to fashion
their own impressions of water
birds with drawknives, rasps and
pocketknives.
Hand-crafted decoys for hunting,
particular for waterfowl and shorebirds,
is said to be the first form of American
folk art.
“Of all our folk arts, none is more
strikingly
American
than the decoy,” author Adele Earnest
wrote in her 1970 book – The Art of
the Decoy: American Bird Carvings.
“Indigenous to this country, popular in
use, created out of native woods and
natural formations – what could be
more expressive of the people, their
need, and their individuality?”
The first recognition of decoys as
folk art came in 1931, when the
Newark Museum in New Jersey
sponsored an exhibition of American
folk sculpture. Included in the exhibit,
along with cigar store Indians and
sailing ship figureheads, was a group of
old handmade decoys. The publication
of Joel
Barber’s
book,
Wild Fowl
Decoys, in 1934 was
perhaps the turning point in
recognizing these wooden counterfeits
had value beyond the utilitarian purpose
for which they were originally crafted.
During the last 30 years the best of
these handmade decoys have
unquestionably achieved the status of
an art form, and their value has shot
through the roof. The most desirable
wooden decoys now sell for hundreds
of thousands of dollars at fine-art
auction houses; some have sold for
more than $1 million.
The work of the best of these decoy
makers was much in demand during
the years they were producing them –
not just by hunters, but also people
drawn to the elegantly shaped and
painted imitations, people who had no
intention of ever allowing them to
touch water or a sandy beach. To meet
the demand for their wooden birds
many, if not most, of the best-known
East Coast carvers produced miniatures
– scaled down replicas of their fullsized decoys – and painted them as
detailed and meticulously as their
small size would allow.
Elmer Crowell (1862-1951)
of East Harwich,
Massachusetts, produced
full-sized decoys that fetch
incredibly high prices from
collectors today. He was,
perhaps, one of the most
prolific makers of
miniatures of his
time,
not
just of
waterfowl and
shorebirds, for
which he was best
known, but also
songbirds and upland
game birds. As wildfowl
declined in abundance during the
late-1920s and the 1930s and hunting
regulations became evermore restrictive,
the demand for working decoys declined
so Crowell began producing more
full-sized decoys in elegant postures,
decoys obviously not intended for use
in the field, and more miniatures. In
1927, Crowell sold his miniatures for
$2 each; inexpensive enough that
schools purchased sets for classroom
bird identification. Decorative wooden
birds such as these probably mark the
beginning of contemporary decoy
carving. Such mantle piece decorations
or desktop paperweights (some
miniatures actually had lead bottoms
for that purpose) produced by Crowell
and others were sold directly by the
maker, through local stores, and, in
some instances, by prominent sporting
goods houses.
In recent decades, the miniatures of
the best of these decoy makers have
become highly collectible, in part
because a collection requires far less
space than
full-sized
decoys and
because
they can
be
purchased for less than
full-sized decoys. Because they were
never used in the field, even the oldest
miniatures are usually in excellent
condition. Crowell’s miniatures today
sell for $3,000 to $6,000 and up.
Miniature decoys by some of Crowell’s
contemporaries fetch comparable
prices. Earlier this year, a miniature
blue-winged teal by Charlie Perdew, an
early-day carver from Henry, Illinois,
sold for $5,940 at auction. Miniatures
by such sought-after carvers of old
represent the high end of the market.
There is a long history of miniature
artwork including painted portraits,
sailing ships, toy soldiers, steam
engines and furnishings for doll
houses. The quality of the work, of
course, varies with the skill and
experience of the maker. And in the
world of art and antiques, provenance –
place of origin, artist or maker, and
authenticity or past ownership – adds
greatly to the piece’s value.
The miniature mallard decoys,
hunter, the box he is seated on and his
shotgun shown on these pages fall
within the realm of folk art – carvings
produced by someone unschooled in
art and work probably not produced
for sale or profit. Such pieces have a
wonderfully organic, even appealing
crudeness, that works by professionals
often lack. These miniatures were
acquired by Lincoln antique collector
Bill McClurg, and little is known of
their origin beyond what was
written in pencil on the
shoebox in which they
were stored – “Made
about 1926. Ducks &
Little Man Hunting.
Made by W.A. Owen.” It
is believed they came
from the
North Platte River
region in the Nebraska
Panhandle.
During the tough economic times of
the late-1920s and the Depression of
the 1930s, it was more common than
today for fathers to whittle toys for
their children – toy guns, dollhouse
furniture and farm animals. It is likely
that the little wooden man hunting over
his little wooden decoys were whittled
by a waterfowl hunter for a son, perhaps
a Christmas gift when there was no
money for a store-bought gift. ■
Editor’s Note: If you have information
about the miniatures shown, contact
Jon Farrar at jon.farrar@nebraska.gov
or (402) 471-5492.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 27
A Sense of
Purpose
Text and photos by Bob Grier
Spurred by a trip to New Mexico, last year a group of
Boy Scouts volunteered their time to repair a water
catchment structure on Metcalf Wildife Management
Area that will provide much needed water for wildlife.
L
ike small streams feeding into a
larger river, there was a real
sense of purpose that carried
five Chadron-area Boy Scouts
all the way to New Mexico and
back to Nebraska’s Pine Ridge in July
2008. While no one noticed at the time,
the highways, gravel roads, hiking
destinations, primitive campsites and
wildlife habitat development and
restoration projects that the scouts
visited on their trip to the Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation’s (RMEF)
Double H Ranch southwest of
Albuquerque included the building
blocks for an Eagle Scout project that
would later become a valuable addition
to Metcalf Wildlife Management Area
near Crawford for many years to come.
“One of the largest impressions we
brought away from the Double H
Ranch was that water in the New
Mexico mountains, just like our Pine
Ridge in drought, is a really limited
resource for wildlife,” said Jake
Cleveland, then a 15-year-old member
Members of Scout Troop 201 out of Chadron replace parts of a water catchment structure on Metcalf Wildlife Management Area.
The water catchment structure at Metcalf WMA captures rainwater and snow melt and
provides additional water for wildlife to use when traditional sources dry up.
28 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
of Scout Troop 201 of Chadron. “The
water supply on the ranch came from a
pipeline and solar-powered tanks –
everything we did required that we make
daily plans to ensure that we could filter
and carry enough water for the activities
we were doing in temperatures ranging
from over 100 degrees at mid-day to
40 degree nights, and at elevations
from 7,000 to 9,000 feet.”
RMEF’s Torstenson Wildlife Center,
named for Illinois businessman Bob
Torstenson, who willed the 95,000-acre
Double H Ranch and a $4 million
endowment to RMEF before his death
in 2002, is a conservation education
laboratory providing outdoor experiences
for Boy Scouts and other youth that
also serves as a research center for
scientists, wildlife professionals and
graduate-level students.
Steve Cleveland, Jake’s father, said
the scarcity of water left a lasting
impression, and as the group drove
home from New Mexico, the scouts
and their leaders discussed potential
Eagle Scout projects that could include
wildlife and possibly the RMEF in
appreciation of its work with the troop.
The group also thought about the outside
chance that there might be a water
development project the scouts could
work on for Jake’s Eagle Scout award
and to complete their 50-miler
requirements – the scouts had completed
three hours toward the award in New
Mexico and each would need an
additional seven hours of work once
they returned home.
The scouts didn’t see any elk on their
New Mexico trip, but after they returned
they and other wildlife enthusiasts had
that opportunity when a large elk herd
totaling about 55 cows, calves and
younger bulls spent several afternoons
and evenings on the western edge of
the Bordeaux Creek WMA several
miles east of Chadron. The RMEF was
instrumental in the purchase of ranch
land that formed that WMA, and the
elk observations there were yet
another step leading the scouts to seek
projects on U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
and Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission WMA lands in the Pine
Ridge area.
★
Metcalf WMA is located 12 miles north of
Hay Springs in Sheridan County and has
3,236 acres open to public hunting. The
area holds elk, deer, dove, rabbit,
squirrel and turkey.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 29
The pictures above came from a trail camera and show just some of the many species of
wildlife that started using the water catchment structure soon after it was repaired.
“The Eagle Scout award requires that
a scout complete at least 21 merit
badge projects, including 12 required
projects,” said Jake. “We contacted Greg
Schenbeck and Steve Masek with the
Nebraska Game and Parks to see if there
were projects that might fit into our water
development, elk and RMEF plans.”
Both Schenbeck and Masek retired
from the USFS but continue their
work for Pine Ridge wildlife with the
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
30 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
and are based at the Commission’s
Ponderosa WMA field office southeast
of Crawford. Both wildlife professionals
were well acquainted with both RMEF
national and regional members and the
foundation’s on-going projects in the
Pine Ridge. Masek served as the RMEF
Pine Ridge chapter’s first director for
four years beginning with its formation
in 1995.
“All of the experiences that the scouts
received on the Double H Ranch, their
interest in big game, including elk, and
the possibility of water developments
to provide water sources for all species
of wildlife came together quickly,”
said Masek. “We’ve seen the critical
importance of water sources on both
public and private land in the Pine Ridge,
and some of the regional water projects
we use include opening and clearing
spring sources and the construction of
water catchment structures that utilize
large panels to direct snow melt and
rainwater into large tanks that feed
ground level seeps and smaller tanks
accessible to wildlife. One of the early
water catchment structures, in a remote
canyon on the far southwest corner of
the 3,236-acre Metcalf WMA, had
become nearly unusable over the years.
The final brick in a solid, extremely
beneficial Boy Scout project fell in
place just that quickly.”
So on August 1, 2008, both
Clevelands, Riley Stack, Gavin and
Garrett Frederick, and Nate Abegglen
of Troop 201 joined RMEF members
Kirby Bridge of Alliance and Richard
Bridge of Hay Springs, as well as
Masek and Schenbeck, at Metcalf’s
south parking lot. With permission
from the neighboring landowner, the
crew was able to drive to the water
catchment on existing trail roads.
The water catchment structure
included two large plywood and tin
panels, each tilted to drain water into a
central pipe feeding a standard livestock
tank under the panel’s support timbers.
A smaller pipe from the large tank then
fed water to a ground-level tank located
below the structure. A float valve in the
lower tank causes the tank to refill as
wildlife use and evaporation lowers its
water level.
“The sloping panels feed runoff from
melting snow and rainwater into the
shaded holding tank, but nearly all of
the structure’s support beams, as well
as the water runway, holding tank and
float valve system, needed to be rebuilt
or replaced,” said Jake. “There was a
lot of work needed to repair and rebuild
the structure, so the tin roof panels
were moved to the side as we cut and
replaced broken or rotted support beams.
Everything needed to be accurately
sloped to feed water into the stock tank.”
After the support structure was repaired, the final thing needed to be done was to put the tin roof back on.
The structure’s location on the upper
edge of an incline and canyon made the
site easily accessible and also provided
shade throughout most of the daylong
project. During the mid-day lunch break,
other requirements for the 50-miler
award were covered by the scouts and
scout leaders.
“It worked out great,” Jake said.
“By the end of the day, we were able
to complete everyone’s 50-miler
requirements and completely rebuild
the water catchment for my Eagle
Scout project. The support framework
of the catchment was rebuilt, the tin
roof panels re-attached and, with Steve
Masek’s help, we remounted and
adjusted the float valve.
“The water catchments are heavily
used by wildlife during the hot, dry
months of the summer, in July, August
and even into early-September,” said
Jake. “A hunter pre-scouting for the
2008 fall hunting seasons placed a trail
camera on the water catchment and I
was really glad to see his photos of elk,
white-tailed and mule deer, as well as
wild turkey, using the small tank.”
Jake finished up his Eagle Scout
project with the required report and
verbal interview with a member of the
Boy Scout’s regional board of review,
and received his coveted Eagle Scout
Award last fall. He is now a high school
junior and hopes to find a career in the
future that provides the opportunity to
work outdoors with wildlife. “I actually
want to be part of the USFS or similar
outdoors work,” he said. “I like being
away from town and the city.”
With an Eagle Scout award and the
experience of completing a valuable,
long-lasting wildlife project like the
water catchment structure at Metcalf
WMA already on his resume, this
Chadron teenager may be well on
his way. ■
Chadron-area Boy Scouts (left to right) Riley Stack, Jake Cleveland, Nate Abegglen,
Gavin Frederick and Garrett Frederick all helped repair a broken water catchment
structure on Metcalf Wildlife Management Area near Hay Springs last year.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 31
Pigeons
The Most Misunderstood Bird
By Elizabeth Mack
O
n a recent spring walk through
downtown Omaha, I watched
a small flock of pigeons roam
about the city sidewalk. As I approached,
they toddled across my path, pecking at
scraps of stale bread and other trash,
seemingly unaware of my presence. I
enjoyed watching the cooing meanderers
go about their daily routine, but other
walkers winced at their presence and
A common enough sight in cities that
they usually go unseen or ignored by
most people, the rock pigeon (aka rock
dove) is an ancient and amazing species.
In the past pigeons have been used as
everything from messengers to important
sources of protein for the hungry.
32 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
PHOTO BY BILL HAGER
PHOTO BY BILL HAGER
shooed them away. I have often heard
pigeons described as “rats with wings,”
but I’ve never understood why they’re
held in such low esteem.
When I told my husband we had
pigeons roosting in our backyard, he
informed me they were doves and
offered to shoot them. “Good eating,”
he promised. I passed on the offer.
Depending on who is asked, the
distinction between pigeons
and doves is imprecise.
“Pigeon” is a French
translation of the English
word “dove,” but a hunter
will tell you doves make a
good meal while pigeons are
meant to be exterminated.
The old adage that all
pigeons are doves but not all
doves are pigeons is correct –
both come from the same
family of birds, Columbidae,
which in turn forms the order
Columbiformes. There are
some 300 species in this
order, most of which live
tropically, and only 16 of
which inhabit Europe, Asia
and North America. The only
wild pigeon species found in
Nebraska is the Columba
livia or rock pigeon,
sometimes called the rock
dove. Very loosely translated,
the Latin name means “leadencolored bird that bobs its
head.” The rock pigeon’s
coloring is extremely variable,
but is usually distinguished
from other pigeon species by
its short tail, black-barred
long wings, pale to mid-grey plumage,
and white underwings. Other members
of this family include the mourning
dove, turtle dove, wood pigeon and the
now-extinct passenger pigeon. Tracing
the linage will find that rock pigeons
are related to dodo birds, also extinct.
Pigeons feed mainly on seeds and
fruits, though some species are known
to feed on invertebrates such as worms,
small snails and insect larvae. Most
city-dwelling pigeons feed on scraps of
pizza crust or bread. Few species of
pigeons migrate, but they will travel to
locate food sources. Rock pigeons are
not native to Nebraska and considered
pests by many.
Although there is a dove hunting
season in the fall, there is no pigeon
season, as pigeons are not protected
under Nebraska game law and can be
hunted throughout the year. Peregrine
falcons are natural predators of pigeons
and are now being introduced in some
cities as a natural pigeon control, but
man remains the most voracious
predator known to pigeons.
This fervent hatred of the pigeon is a
relatively new phenomenon, according
to Andrew D. Blechman, author of
Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the
World’s Most Revered and Reviled
Bird. In his book Blechman states that
“[Pigeons have] been worshipped as
fertility goddesses, representations of
the Christian Holy Ghost, and symbols
of peace.” A pigeon delivered results of
the first Olympics in 776 B.C.,
Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, and
gave Darwin insight into his theory of
evolution. Julius Caesar used pigeons
to relay messages from the battles of
Gaul, and the emperor of China used to
receive messages from his provinces by
way of pigeon. The Reuters news
agency began delivering its news via
carrier pigeon in the mid-1800s, and
the pigeon played a major role in both
World Wars: With a 98 percent success
rate, the pigeon swiftly transmitted
critical battlefield communications in
World War I. By World War II, pigeons
were trained and bred to fly faster and
twice as far, and had an uncanny ability
to identify visual patterns. Although
their use dwindled after WWII, the
American military began using pigeons
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 33
PHOTO BY BILL HAGER
Modern pigeons have readily traded the rocky ledges and cliffs their ancestors used as
nesting and roosting sites for today’s buildings of brick, steel and concrete.
34 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
are often accused of carrying bacteria
and disease. The recent scares from
West Nile virus and avian flu are also
to blame, and we are quick to point our
fingers at pigeons and their, well, poop,
which the average pigeon produces
20 pounds of a year. Some research,
however, has shown that pigeons do not
carry nor transmit West Nile virus, as
their body temperature is too high to
house the bacteria, and other research
shows that pigeons are resistant or
minimally susceptible to avian influenza.
Dave Oates, Wildlife Disease Specialist
with the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission, said that while pigeons
are known to carry some diseases, their
danger to humans is overstated and that
pigeons don’t necessarily harbor any
more diseases than any other animal.
However, Nebraska bird expert and
enthusiast Clem Klaphake, Professor of
Environmental Sociology at Bellevue
University, is more cautious and
believes that pigeons, especially in
large, confined roosting flocks, can
carry a number of bacterial and fungal
diseases. One such disease is avian
chlamydiosis, which in humans can
result in severe pneumonia, and possibly
even death.
Since feral pigeons are descendants
of cliff dwellers, tall buildings and
bridges are a natural fit for today’s
birds. As a result, apart from disease
concerns, pigeon excrement has also
been blamed in the destruction of
automobiles, buildings and monuments.
Most recently, pigeon dung is suspected
to be partially to blame for the collapse
of the large bridge in Minneapolis
in 2007 – pigeons produce slightly
acidic excrement that can dissolve
concrete and cause steel bridge beams
to rust, so the sheer amount excreted
over a long period of time could
conceivably cause such destruction.
So what would happen to our
ecosystem if pigeons suddenly
disappeared? Nothing, according to
Klaphake: “I don’t think any ecosystem
would be impacted since they primarily
live in cities and are not really part of
any bigger ecosystem. Those living in
barns and other farm outbuildings don’t
really play any significant or crucial
role in the rural scene either. If we
went back to pre-human settlement,
I’m not sure how well they would
survive since they depend on humans
A pigeon flys over a south Omaha neighborhood near 60th and L streets.
for food and shelter.”
The pigeon is not protected under the
Migratory Bird Act and is one of the
small number of bird species that are
considered a nuisance pest by the
Environmental Protection Agency.
According to Joel Jorgensen, Nongame
Bird Program Manager for the
Commission, pigeons are not protected
by either federal or state laws: “There
is not a regulated [hunting] season for
rock pigeons, so folks could collect (and
eat if they desire) the birds as they
please.” Older pigeons, anything over a
month old, are edible but require longer
cooking to soften the tough meat. Once
properly prepared, however, they make
a delicious meal, as many from the
Great Depression generation can attest.
Nonetheless, you won’t find many
PHOTO BY PASQUALE MINGARELLI
The rock pigeon has inhabited Earth
for over 30 million years, populating
every continent except Antarctica.
Fossil evidence shows the pigeon
originated in Asia, moving across
northern Africa and Europe. The
pigeon was domesticated as early as
ten thousand years ago, making it
arguably the world’s first domesticated
bird. Ancient Mesopotamian tablets
mention domesticating pigeons, as do
Egyptian hieroglyphics more than five
thousand years ago. Rock doves were
raised for their meat as far back as the
time of ancient Egyptians – the same
reason why French settlers imported
the rock pigeon to the New World in
the 1600s. Since that time the rock
pigeon has spread across almost every
country and urban city since its
introduction. As humans moved to the
cities, so followed the pigeon, as they are
well adapted to the urban environment.
Pigeons can be found in city buildings,
bridges, feed mills and farmyards. They
don’t live in trees but prefer nesting on
rocky ledges or cliffs. Pigeons are easily
trained to eat out of your hand, and so
docile and well mannered that if you
open your door, one may well walk
right in and sit down for a leftover dinner.
So why do pigeons get such a bad rap?
Some say bad press. We have become a
population of germaphobes, and pigeons
PHOTO BY PASQUALE MINGARELLI
again in the Gulf and Iraqi wars,
accompanying troops as an earlywarning sign of chemical attack.
According to Blechman, rumors
abound of Saddam Hussein’s reliance
on pigeon couriers after the U.S.
destroyed his communications. Army
personnel have reported finding flocks
of homing pigeons in abandoned Iraqi
bunkers, and insurgents are said to rely
heavily on pigeons to transport covert
communications.
The utility of the rock pigeon is of
little surprise when we understand how
they are built – pigeons are engineered
for speed and endurance, with hollow
bones housing vast supplies of oxygen,
large breast muscles that account for
one third of its body mass, and the ability
to function without sleep for long periods
of time (Researchers have found that
pigeons can make up for this lost sleep
at a later time by simply sleeping more
deeply). In short, pigeons are designed
for both speed and sustained flight –
not to flit around in backyard trees –
and their innate navigation system is as
mysterious as it is remarkable. German
scientists recently uncovered ironcontaining structures in the beaks of
homing pigeons, which may act as
sensors to enable the birds to fly long
distances without getting lost, using the
earth’s magnetic field for navigation.
Pigeon droppings pile up beneath the 10th Street bridge along the Gene Leahy Mall
in downtown Omaha. The birds like to roost in the bridge's steel beams.
hunters out for a day of pigeon hunting.
Although pigeons are loathed by
many, there are some who revere them.
Pigeon racing has millions of enthusiasts
around the world and squab, or monthold pigeon, is a delicacy to many. But
pigeon prejudice will no doubt continue.
To date, 56 pigeon species around the
world – almost 20 percent of all pigeon
species – are in danger of becoming
extinct. Of the large bird families
around the world, few have as high a
proportion of endangered species, and
although various conservation efforts
are in place to prevent extinction, the
threat remains.
Despite that, the rock pigeon –love it
or hate it – is still going strong. If you
have any doubts about that fact, the
next time you’re in any downtown city,
just look up – carefully. ■
The author would like to note the
historical and scientific information
was taken from Andrew D. Blechman’s
book, Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of
the World’s Most Revered and Reviled
Bird, and Gibbs, Barnes and Cox’s
Pigeons and Doves: A Guide to the
Pigeons and Doves of the World.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 35
’ve begun to view my land as an
extension of myself. How I leave
behind my farm and river ground,
along with raising my kids and
grandkids, is one of the most
important things I’ll do in this lifetime.”
Martin Batterman, a Morrill County
landowner, told me this one August
morning as we drove across a wet
meadow on his North Platte River
property. It looked as if a bright purple
mist hung over the entire meadow as
blazing star (Liatris lancifolia) blooms
gently swayed back and forth in the
morning breeze. In the distance I saw a
few lonely white blooming stars standing
tall in the vast sea of purple. Observing
those beautiful quirks of nature always
makes my day. I glanced
to my left and saw that
he had a smile on his
face too.
“My hard work is
always rewarded. My
time and money spent
controlling the thistle
and managing the grass
and sloughs is returned
in wildflowers and
ducks. And it is hard
work, more than I
can keep up with
sometimes, but
whenever I need a
break from reality, this
is where I come.”
I knew that his words were true and
spoken from the heart, not only because
he is one of the private landowners that
I work with, but because he also happens
to be my father. I have two distinct
honors in my position as a wildlife
biologist with the Nebraska Game and
Parks Commission. The first is the
opportunity to work with Nebraska’s
most important conservationists – its
private landowners. On request, I make
house calls to private landowners. We
often visit about many things, but the
reason I’m there is that the landowner
“I
36 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
has a natural resource concern and a
strong interest in improving habitat or
wildlife numbers on their land. In my
seven short years in this line of work
I’ve developed the suspicion that I learn
more about conservation during these
house calls than any knowledge I impart.
The second honor is the opportunity
to work with a group of passionate and
dedicated wildlife professionals called
the Habitat Partners. The Commission’s
Wildlife Division employs 22 permanent
and temporary wildlife biologists and
environmental educators in its Habitat
Partners Section. These folks are
stationed at nine locations across
the state and are responsible for
implementing the division’s private
lands and environmental
education programs.
The Partners team,
however, is much
larger than just the
professionals
employed within the
Commission’s ranks.
The Commission,
along with vitally
important partners
such as the Rocky
Mountain Bird
Observatory, Pheasants
Forever, the Natural
Resources Conservation
Service and the
Northern Prairies Land
Trust, co-host another 22 wildlife
biologist positions across the state. The
Commission provides supervision,
mentorship, infrastructure and partial
funding for these joint positions, and
because more than 97 percent of
Nebraska’s 49.4 million acres are
privately owned, these positions fill an
important manpower niche. As shown
in our name, the essence of the Habitat
Partners is partnerships – sharing ideas,
staff, and resources allows all parties
involved to better meet shared objectives.
The Habitat Partners have a mission,
PHOTOS BY BOB GRIER
By Emily Munter
Above, lance-leaf blazing star blooms fill a North Platte River meadow restored through the Wetlands Reserve Program, a Natural
Resources Conservation Service and Habitat Partners effort. Left, wildflowers bloom on another restored site in Howard County.
the roots of which lie in the philosophies
of Aldo Leopold, one of the pioneers of
wildlife management. In A Sand
County Almanac, a compilation of his
essays, Leopold wrote, “A land ethic …
reflects the existence of an ecological
conscience, and this in turn reflects a
conviction of individual responsibility
for the health of the land.” Leopold
was encouraging people to think of
themselves as a member of the ecological
community, a community dependent on
its many parts for its long-term health.
The Habitat Partners take these ideas
and strive to improve wildlife habitat
by fostering an action-oriented sense of
individual responsibility for the health
of the land. In short, we work to promote
a land ethic.
There is a myriad of ways that we
do this. Our primary clients are
Nebraska’s farmers, ranchers and
recreational landowners, and as
previously mentioned, we make house
calls. Depending on the particular
opportunities for a given piece of
property, the Habitat Partners can offer
anything from advice to planning
assistance to cost-sharing for habitat
improvements. We frequently rely on
the programs and expertise of our
conservation partners when developing
habitat improvement or management
projects. It’s important to note that the
private landowner is fully in charge of
any projects that take place on their land
and all projects are strictly voluntary.
While our primary focus is on habitat
improvement on private lands, there are
several other important facets of
wildlife conservation that the Habitat
Partners are responsible for, including
being the primary deliverers of the
Commission’s public access hunting
programs. These include such noteworthy
programs, as the Conservation Reserve
Program-Management Access Program
(CRP-MAP), the Passing Along the
Heritage program (PATH) and the
Open Fields and Waters Program.
Education and outreach are critical
factors in achieving our mission, and
the Habitat Partners employ a variety
of methods, including workshops,
training sessions and publications to
increase awareness of wildlife and
habitat for our various constituents of
all ages. Additionally the Habitat
Partners have a long history of working
closely with both public and private
government and non-government
conservation entities. These relationships
serve to influence public policy,
exchange information, stretch the
conservation dollar further, and produce
greater wildlife habitat benefits.
For more information about the
Habitat Partners Section and how they
can help you improve your land, contact
your local Commission office or go to
OudoorNebraska.org, click on “Wildlife”
and look under “Habitat Programs.” ■
Emily Munter
is the District
Manager of the
Commission’s
Habitat Partners
Section in
Alliance.
This is her first
contribution to
NEBRASKAland
Magazine.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 37
Fullfilling the Vision
“The ultimate goal of what we’re doing out here is to help stimulate others
to think about ways they could enhance youth involvement in the outdoors.”
— Bill Baxter Jr.
Text and photos by Doug Carroll
worked and what didn’t and then
teaching what he learned to others.
The farm had also been a favorite
place for family and friends to hunt, so
his son, Bill Jr., and daughters Cathy
and Kellie, always assumed that when
their father passed away, the farm
would go to them. But Dad had other
ideas.
After it became apparent that his
cancer was terminal, Bill Sr. devised a
plan that would protect the land he had
come to love while allowing others,
especially youth, to enjoy it as well. It
was an idea given to him by Phyllis, his
wife of 35 years.
Bill Sr. thought the outdoors gave
young people a lot better way to occupy
their time than many of the other
activities that they get involved in
today, so he had begun hosting hunting,
fishing and other outdoor trips at the
farm for youth. This opportunity to
introduce youth to nature, to help foster
a love of the land in them, was so
strong and heartfelt that Bill Sr. decided
not to leave his land only to his own
children, but to all youth. It was that
legacy, that vision, that Bill Sr. asked
his son to help continue.
Not long before he died, the senior
Baxter explained to his only son that
the farm both had come to love would
eventually be transferred to Pheasants
Forever so that this organization, which
the older Baxter had worked with and
admired for many years, could continue
his vision and the conservation work
that he had started. Bill Sr. wanted youth
to be able to see and learn from the
place in which he had invested so much
time and passion, and he wanted his
son to buy into the idea and help make
it happen. Jr. said he’d be honored to.
A Malcolm native and graduate of
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
Bill Jr. now lives in Raleigh, North
Carolina with his wife, Tina, and sons
Mark and Will. His older son, Justin,
lives in Lincoln.
Although it’s a long way back to
Adrian Holt of Cary, North Carolina and son, James, head out for an evening hunt during their stay at a mentored youth deer
hunting camp near Milligan last year.
arrived Friday afternoon, the day
before the first weekend hunt
started. The partly cloudy skies
and cool brisk wind didn’t seem
to lessen the enthusiasm at all.
Everyone at the camp kept busy with
all the chores that need to be done at a
typical deer camp – preparing food,
I
38 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
arranging the sleeping quarters, checking
gear, sighting in rifles, etc. But this
wasn’t a typical deer camp. This was
a special camp, one dedicated to
introducing youth to deer hunting and
the outdoors in general. More
importantly, this camp was the fulfillment
of a dying man’s vision, of a father’s
wish carried out by his son.
Bill Baxter, Sr. died of cancer in
early February 2007. He was 67, and
had dedicated 39 years of his life
working as wildlife biologist with the
Nebraska Game and Parks, protecting
and enhancing the wildlife that he
loved. Bill Sr. didn’t leave much but
fond memories when he passed away,
but he did have a 320-acre farm near
Milligan that he cherished and for
25 years had used as an outdoor
laboratory to practice the preservation
technique that he was promoting, trying
out his own theories to learn what
An evening campfire silhouettes images that the young hunters are sure to dream
about seeing from their deer stand the next morning.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 39
Trever Carroll of Lincoln carefully sights in his rifle before heading to a stand.
Bill Baxter Jr. (seated) and volunteer Ernie Rupp of Sturgis, South Dakota go over tree
stand assignments with some of last year’s hunters and mentors.
Lennie Zessin of Omaha helps son Zach clean his first ever deer as volunteer Scott
Ferguson of Sibley, Iowa lends a hand and offers advice.
40 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
Nebraska from North Carolina, Bill Jr.
makes the trek several times a year to
visit family and to continue the work
that his father started. There’s always
habitat that needs improving, there’s
70 acres of crops farmed by a local
farmer that need to be managed, and
there’s this little matter of a deer camp
that always needs work.
Started in 2007, the Baxter deer
camp is the perfect embodiment of
Bill Sr.’s vision. Each year, Bill Jr. and
a cadre of family and volunteers host a
gathering of young deer hunters and
their mentors during the November
rifle season in Nebraska. What started
out as a handful of hunters sleeping and
eating in small tents has evolved into
30 hunters and mentors split between
the first and second weekend of the
season and sleeping in wall tents
warmed by propane heaters. And if it
is finished in time, this year’s camp
participants will be able to eat in a
new building erected at the camp this
summer to serve as a cooking/dining
hall, an escape from the elements and,
perhaps ultimately, an outdoor education
center for other visitors to the farm.
“Dad was obviously real interested in
habitat conservation, but he was also
into getting kids exposed to the outdoors,
so that was kind of what spurred me on
to take things a step further,” said Bill
Jr. “We’ve always had a few kids hunt
out here, but we thought maybe we
could give them more of an experience,
you know, over a couple two or three
days.
“The vision for the youth deer camp
is to provide a memorable outdoor
experience for youth hunters and mentors
that will last a lifetime. It includes
several days in a camp atmosphere with
fellow hunters, and hopefully a chance
or two to harvest a deer. The ultimate
goal of what we’re doing out here is to
help stimulate others to think about
ways they could enhance youth
involvement in the outdoors.”
Participants in the camp are matched
with a mentor during their hunts, either
a family member or friend that they
bring along, or one of the half-dozen or
so people that volunteer their time for
the camp. Good accommodations are
provided, as well as plenty to eat and
Trever Carroll of Lincoln, Conner Anderson, Austin DuBois, and Zach Zessin, all of Omaha, Austen Shook
of Milford, and Koral Gunnerson of Lincoln share jokes and stories around the campfire.
drink. Suitable guns can often be
provided as well, so all the hunters
have to bring is some of their own
personal gear and the desire to hunt,
learn and enjoy nature.
Although not required to, participants
in the deer camp are encouraged to
shoot does and only mature bucks, thus
promoting management of the area’s
large deer population. Planted to wild
grasses and other native plant species,
the area hosts a variety of wildlife
species, both game and nongame, and
there’s almost always something for the
young hunters to watch and enjoy
between deer sightings.
To date, most of the hunt participants
have been people that Bill Jr. has found
through his work contacts or through
friends and family members. Some of
them have been kids who already have
a hunting background, but for many it’s
their first deer hunt. Eventually Bill Jr.
hopes to use the camp to reach youth
who haven’t had the chance to hunt.
“I guess the thing I’ve tried to do is
really refine the whole process first and
get the camp established. It may not
look that way, but this is like a machine
just to make it all work – feeding 28
people three meals a day, getting their
deer hung and cut up … it’s quite a
process. So we’ve been building it up,
but once we get it down, then I think it
will be the right time to go ‘Okay, now
how are we really going to do this, take
it to the next step and get kids that really
wouldn’t have the opportunity to try
hunting without something like this.’”
As the sun started to set on the eve
of the opener, people in the cook tent
busied themselves making gumbo and
the next morning’s meal. Already some
camaraderie had been established
among the young hunters and their
accompanying adults. Kids helped each
other do chores around the camp and
later shared stories around the campfire
on the chilly November night.
Eventually the realization of the early
morning to come sent everyone to their
tents and little more was heard as the
fire crackled into the night and coyotes
howled in the distance.
The night before the opener probably
seems like Christmas Eve for almost
all deer hunters, but it’s particularly so
for young hunters. Most of camp
participants had little if any deerhunting experience before they arrived,
so they went to bed with dreams of big
Nebraska bucks dancing in their heads,
bucks that they perhaps at best had
seen only on magazine covers or
television shows. Most of the hunters,
and a few of their mentors, probably
tossed and turned most of the night,
but it’s that type of anticipation that
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 41
ready to shoot. After that it was time to
wait for a shot to present itself and for
dad to give the go sign. Or not.
“My dad was like, ‘Wait, wait,’ and
I’m like ‘No, I’m not waiting. I’m
taking this deer now.’ I didn’t even see
it fall.”
That was at about 9:05 a.m. Less
than two minutes later, here came deer
number two. Another shot later, and
Koral had two deer to field dress, a
story to tell to anyone who would listen,
and memories to last a lifetime.
Throughout last year’s deer camp, all
of the hunters had opportunities at deer,
many were able to notch a tag or two,
and all of them had fun and learned
something about nature and themselves.
It’s a neat thing that the Baxters
have done and are doing, and one can’t
help but wonder what Bill Sr. must be
thinking as he looks down from heaven
on these young hunters that get to
experience such joy and excitement on
the land he helped create, took care of,
and most importantly, left in perpetuity
for young hunters to enjoy. ■
Many, but not all, of the stands used at the deer camp are elevated box blinds, creating a much warmer environment for these young
hunters to sit in while they await the deer of their dreams.
Old antlers and a skull decorate an old barn on the farm’s property.
42 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
helps make hunting what it is.
The following days provided even
more excitement, some occasional
moments of disappointment, but lots of
memories that will be recalled and
talked about for years to come.
For 14-year-old Koral Gunnerson of
Lincoln, the weekend was largely about
spending time with her dad, Kirk, even
if it was cold time. The weekend’s cold
weather put a severe damper on the
excitement of sitting in open tree
stands, and the duo woke up one
morning to find heavy frost on both
the inside and outside of their sleeping
tent.
“It looked like it was snowing when I
unzipped the flap, and I had to leave
the windows and doors open all day
just to get all the condensation out,”
said Kirk Gunnerson.
Despite the cold weather and early
morning wake-up calls (a typical
teenager, Koral readily admits she’s
not a morning person, to the point she
was yawning and almost falling asleep
more than once), Koral ended up
connecting on her first doe from the
“Turkey Roost” blind after having shot
only bucks on previous hunts. As a
matter of fact, she shot two deer just
moments apart, but only after
experiencing a mechanical problem:
“I saw movement far off in the trees,
so I pulled the gun and loaded it, but
the action wouldn’t lock shut – it had
gotten messed up somehow,” said Koral
Gunnerson.
Father and daughter then had to fiddle
with the gun a while before she was
Editor’s Note:
The farm that Bill Sr. loved so much,
and had such great visions for, is now
placed in a trust managed by the
Baxter family. When Bill Jr. dies, all
the trust assets will be drained and the
land will be transferred to Pheasants
Forever. In the meantime, however, the
son will continue to carry out the wishes
of his father, and fulfill the vision
passed onto him.
Outside of the rifle deer season,
the Baxter farm has other youth hunting
opportunities during the weekends. For
more information on these hunting
opportunities, if you are interested in
attending one of deer camps at the
Baxter farm, or if you want to help
financially or with labor at the camp,
please contact Bill or Tina Baxter at
sunriseatcedarridge@yahoo.com.
Their smiles say it all: Zach Zessin, top,
poses with his first deer ever, Koral
Gunnerson shows off the first doe she’s
ever taken, and Trever Carroll poses with
his two does, taken only seconds apart
and his first deer ever.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 43
Hay Springs Archery Elk Hunt
A hunter’s “perfect storm” results in a trophy elk.
By Ron Stave
morning or they might not – there were Thus, we retired to the ranch house
ast year I had the great pleasure
until the afternoon hunt.
of joining Ray Pape on a hunt at no guarantees.
Unfortunately our luck hadn’t
The plan for the next day was that
the ranch that he and fellow
changed for the second hunt. We
Ray would hunt a ground blind next to
Omahan Bob Owen own north
all heard bulls bugling, but as late
a water hole that had a steep pine
of Hay Springs. Their ranch
afternoon turned to sunset, the bugles
canyon to the north, and to be in the
consists of ponderosa pine-studded
faded into the distance and no
canyons and some open prairie
elk were seen.
– perfect habitat for elk and
Sunday was different. The
mule deer – and is managed for
weather was clear when we got
the purpose of allowing all
up, and stars sparkled against
wildlife to thrive in an
the black predawn sky as Ray
unfenced, natural environment.
again settled into his blind and
As a result, many elk and mule
Marv and I reached our appointed
deer do just that.
positions.
I was hunting as a guest of
As shooting time arrived,
Ray and his son, Matt. Joining
Marv and I began seeing dark
us were Marv Kampbell, a
spots on an opposing hillside,
retired Nebraska Conservation
which Marv identified as elk.
Officer, and local rancher
Without alerting them, we were
Brandt Pieper. Ray had drawn
able to move closer and closer
a landowner’s bull elk permit
until we ultimately ended up in
and I had drawn an antlerless
a position where we had
elk permit, thus Ray and I were
Ray Pape (shooting glasses), Marv Kampbell, (left), Brandt
bugling elk on all sides of us.
after elk, Matt was after deer
Pieper (middle) and Matt Pape pose with the trophy bull elk We could see one big bull to
and Marv and Brandt would
that Ray Pape harvested last fall with archery equipment.
the southwest of us and three
serve as guides.
smaller bulls to the northeast, all within
Both ardent archery hunters, Ray and blind well before sunrise in hopes that
rifle range. Another bull could be heard
Matt planned on using bows to fill their a bull elk could be coaxed into bow
bugling in the canyon northwest of us
tags while I used a rifle to try to get my range. Meanwhile I would hunt with
and cow elk were mewing all around
Marv several miles away so that a rifle
cow elk. Wanting to hunt the morning
us, but we never saw one that I could
shot, should I get lucky, would not
of the season opener, I arrived at the
get a shot at.
spook any elk near Ray.
ranch the afternoon before and soon
Ray’s luck was different. Not long
We were up long before daybreak
Marv, Ray and I were driving out in
after sunrise he saw a big bull and
and were greeted in the field by heavy
Ray’s pickup to spot elk. They showed
dew. Ray was in his blind safely before several cows moving to the watering
up a little before sunset, as did the
hole where he was hidden, so he readied
shooting time while Marv and I took
mule deer. Since the rut was still on,
himself for a possible shot. The elk
up our designated positions. While it
piercing bugles split the air all around
were coming, but he would have to
was still dark, however, a heavy fog
us. No sound like that of a bugling elk
move himself into a different position
rolled in and we could barely see
can do as much to elevate a hunter’s
to be able to shoot. As he did so, his
25 yards. The fog hung around until
spirits, so as darkness closed in, we
bow fell from his lap onto the wood
mid-morning, so our hunt was over
drove back to the ranch house with
before it began, as the elk receded back floor of the blind. Fearful that the clatter
high hopes, the sights and sounds of
had scared the elk, he took another
into the trees before the fog lifted.
elk occupying our thoughts.
look. They were still coming and a
One of the major rules of hunting at
I want to emphasize that this was not
Ray’s ranch was that there was to be no cow presented a perfect broadside shot
a high fence hunt – this was a hunt for
stalking of elk during the day. If moving at 30 yards. If only that had been the
wild elk, elk able to roam as they
bull! Then the herd bull moved into
into position for a shot could be
pleased across the miles and miles of
view, but it was moving and quartering
canyons that weaved through Ray’s and accomplished without bothering the
away at about 35 yards. Figuring it was
adjacent ranches, or anywhere else they elk, okay, but above all else the elk
now or never, Ray drew his bow and
were to remain undisturbed in their
wanted to go on any of the thousands
released the arrow. It hit the bull right
bedding areas so they wouldn’t be run
of square miles of western Nebraska.
behind the last left rib and quartered
off the ranch by excessive activity.
These elk might show up the next
L
44 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
forward into the elk’s vitals. The elk
flinched and walked slowly away from
the watering hole, down towards the
base of the canyon, where it expired.
When we came up to the elk, we
could not believe our eyes – it was the
biggest bull I had ever seen in person!
The six-by-six had great mass and
extremely long tines. Ray had never
shot a bigger bull, and he took this one
with a bow.
After the bull was field-dressed, we
got in loaded into the back of the pickup for the trip to the Chadron check
station, where it took two tags attached
end to end to reach around the base of
the bull’s antler. This was a really big
bull, one that Ray definitely would
have mounted.
The cape and antlers were taken to
taxidermist Mike Dinges in Omaha,
who measured the bull at 402. I talked
with Mike later and he said that on the
final cleaning of the bull’s cape he
found a one inch piece of another bull’s
antler broken off in the forehead skin
of Ray’s elk. As hard as an elk antler
is, Mike’s opinion was that it to be the
result of a very vicious fight between
two dominate bulls. Ray’s bull truly
was the trophy of a lifetime, and one
that Ray, as well as everyone else
present, would always remember.
There is one more element to this
story that helps make it interesting –
Ray Pape is a paraplegic. On a bear
hunt in Idaho several years ago he fell
from a tree when the branch he had
grabbed while climbing to his tree stand
broke. The result was a severe spinal cord
injury that left him paralyzed from the
waist down, but he was still able to
harvest this trophy bull from a
wheelchair. It was the positive version
of a hunter’s “perfect storm” – the
weather cooperated, the elk were there
and cooperated, and Ray was able to
complete the shot despite his handicap.
It truly was a memorable hunt. ■
Ron Stave is
the District II
Commissioner
for the Nebraska
Game and Parks
Commission.
This is his first
submission to
NEBRASKAland.
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 45
Save the Gizzard
Back when most ducks and geese were roasted, the giblets were never wasted.
By Jon Farrar
henever I see a platter of
deep-fried chicken gizzards
delivered to a table at a cafe
and invariably put down in
front of a man, I wonder why
more hunters don’t save the gizzards,
hearts and livers from their game birds.
In my youth, if my brother or I brought
a dishpan of dressed ducks to the
kitchen without the “giblets” we were
promptly dispatched back to the burn
barrel to retrieve them, as they were
essential ingredients for a proper
dressing or gravy.
In those times, the 1960s, about the
only way a duck or goose (a rare prize)
was cooked was roasted with dressing,
and seldom on any occasion other than
Sunday dinner. Today, hunters prepare
their ducks and geese just about anyway
meat can be made edible – stir-fry,
kabobs or stuffed breast “steaks” on the
grill, ground for a sandwich spread,
W
jerky, sausage and dozens of other
ways. Most of these waterfowl recipes
call for boned-out meat, so few birds
are picked. Most often the breast meat
is filleted off the bone and the rest of
the bird discarded. Discarded along
with the giblets are the legs, arguably
the finest piece of meat on a duck.
Before my time, the down was even
saved for pillows, ticks and comforters.
Most of today’s hunters share little in
common with Great Plains Indians,
who were said to utilize all parts of a
bison except the bellow.
Gizzards are blind-pocket, grinding
organs found in birds, reptiles, some
fish and even earthworms; a specialized
“stomach” with muscular walls that
contract to break down coarse food so
it can be digested in the intestines. At
the center of this muscle is a pouch with
tough lining that in turn is lined with a
yellowish “skin” that has a rough,
2
3
4
1
Shown are gizzards being prepared for the gravy or dressing: (1) A whole snow goose
gizzard. (2) A gizzard sliced open, exposing the grit found inside the pouch. (3) A gizzard
splayed open with grit removed. (4) Muscle chunks cut into cooking size.
46 NEBRASKALAND • NOVEMBER 2009
corrugated surface. Within the pouch is
grit that functions as “stomach teeth.”
The yellowish “skin” and grit needs to
be removed, but the tough lining is quite
edible. If you order chicken gizzards in
a restaurant you are no doubt eating the
lining – it’s the chewy part.
Not knowing how to clean a gizzard
is probably one reason so few
hunters save them. I recall my mother
accomplishing this feat with a blur of
hands and paring knife in less than a
minute when we butchered chickens.
Her technique, and the traditional one,
was to slit the muscle around the rim
(the side opposite the tube into the
gizzard), spread the gizzard until it was
bi-lobed, shake out the grit, rinse under
water and peel or scrape out the yellow
lining. The gizzards of pheasants,
grouse and quail are much the same as
domestic chickens; the yellow “skin”
peels out easily. It is virtually impossible
to either peel or scrape the yellow lining
from the gizzards of a wild duck or
goose.
A basic understanding of gizzard
anatomy is useful before trying to clean
one for the first time, and the best way
to get that understanding is to cut one
in half and look at it. Gizzards from
ducks and geese are typically oblong in
shape, some a bit kidney-bean shaped.
The digestive tract tube enters the gizzard
on one side and then enlarges into the
pouch that extends to the other side of
the gizzard. Most of the tasty muscle
meat is on the ends of the gizzard.
Once the relative size and position of
the pouch is learned, a sharp fillet knife
can be used to carve the muscle off
both ends without cutting into the gritfilled pouch. Skilled gizzard butchers
feel their way around the pouch and
waste very little of the muscle.
For those just learning to process a
gizzard, the easiest way is to cut them
completely in two the long way, starting the cut along the rim opposite the
opening. If you are doing very many
while not at a sink and want to avoid
grit on the cutting board, use the three-
bowl method, the first and the largest
filled with water. Swish the split gizzard
in the water to remove most of the grit.
Back on the cutting board, either carve
out the gizzard lining, or place openside down and fillet the muscle away
from the lining. The gizzard lining on
ducks and geese is thick. Trimmings
go in the second bowl; the finished
giblets go in water in the third bowl.
When finished, rinse again thoroughly
in a colander in the sink. Cut the
gizzard muscle into the desired sized
chunks and set aside for the dressing or
gravy.
The traditional way to incorporate
gizzards into the gravy is to cook them
alongside of the bird being roasted,
then remove and cut into small pieces
for the gravy. They can also be
precooked and incorporated into the
dressing. Game bird gizzards left whole
or in large pieces can be breaded and
deep-fat-fried just like chicken gizzards.
If you do not have an immediate use
for the giblets, they can be packaged
and frozen for later use.
Longtime NEBRASKAland writer and
photographer Rocky Hoffmann, who
has probably shucked as many wild
gizzards as anyone in the state, often
uses his giblets to make Gut Pudding.
He said the name for the thick soup
originated decades ago0 with now
retired Commission fisheries biologist
Paul Novak. Hoffmann said “there are
no measurements for something called
Gut Pudding,” but it requires an ample
supply of gizzards and hearts. Livers
are optional, but Hoffmann said they
tend to dry out. If working with large
gizzards and hearts, cut them into bitesized pieces. Slow cook the giblets
either on the stovetop or in a crock pot
with water (or commercial chicken
broth), barley, celery, garlic and onions
until they are tender. Add water as
needed. Salt and pepper to taste
and add a hot sauce as appropriate.
Hoffmann suggests heavy homemade
bread slathered with creamery butter
and a stout beer as appropriate side
dishes for this hearty (and gizzardy)
soup. ■
NOVEMBER 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 • NOVEMBER 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
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.
GUNS/SHOOTING/ARCHERY
FISH/FISHING
GUNS – Browning, Benelli, Winchester, Ruger, etc. 1700
guns, buy-sell-trade (402) 729-6112, Bedlan’s, Fairbury,
NE 68352. www.bedlans.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
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.
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
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.
THE FINEST NEBRASKA GIFTS and Nebraska grown
products on the Internet! Popular gifts include Nebraska
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.
RECREATIONAL LEASES. Hunting and recreational
land. Includes rivers, lakes and timbered cover. Leases
for five or more years. www.belf.state.ne.us Call (402)
471-2014.
WATERFOWL MECCA! Recently improved 30-acre
wetland located in major waterfowl flyway just 75 miles
from Lincoln. Cabin possibilities, arrangements to hunt
adjoining 300 acres. (402) 759-4653
TAXIDERMY
B&B SKULL CLEANING. Professional services at
affordable prices. Contact Rubin Fields in Omaha NE at
rfields.otbb@gmail.com or (402) 598-1873.
VACATIONS/RESORTS
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
NOVEMBER 2009 • NEBRASKALAND 49
“TURPIN TIME” DVDS
▲ Coyote hunting around 1950. Photo was taken by my mother, Caryll Shafer, with
her Kodak box camera, about three and a half miles east of Shubert near our
home.
Pictured from right to left: Loy Dettmann; Wayne “Hap” Harshbarger; Dale
Dettmann; Charles Shafer (my uncle); and Alfred Shafer (my dad), all of Richardson
County. The dogs are all what they called sight dogs.
– Lonnie Shafer, Exeter, Nebraska
Dick Turpin is Nebraska’s best-known outdoor personality.
His weekly television vignette, “Turpin Time,” celebrates fishing,
hunting and outdoor recreation. Each season contains 52 episodes.
Season One – $4.95 VID-3207 ($4 off original price!)
Season Two – $4.95 VID-3208 ($4 off original price!)
Season Three – $6.95 VID-3210 (Was $8.95 - save $2.00!)
Season Four – $6.95 VID-3218 (Was $8.95 - save $2.00!)
All four seasons – $20.00 VID-3219 (Save $3.80 on the bundle!)
▲ This is a picture of my grandfather, Frank Foster. He is holding
a fawn he found on a hillside in the Bessey Ranger District of the
Nebraska National Forest at Halsey. He is approximately 18-20
years old in this photograph. Frank was a CCC (Civilian
Conservation Corps) worker in the forest circa 1940, handplanting
trees. My grandfather was an avid outdoorsman his whole life.
– Ty Foster, North Platte, Nebraska
NEBRASKALAND
MUG
This attractive, 11-ounce,
white ceramic mug
features a dark green
handle and halo. A green
waterfowl imprint is on both
sides.
Ceramic Mug – $4.50 MUG-2005
Set of 4 – $16 MUG-2006
▲ Pheasant hunting in 1959 at Red Willow near McCook.
Left to right are my brother, Brad Schmidt; my father, Herman
Schmidt Jr.; and myself (Mike Schmidt). The dog’s name was Lady.
– Mike Schmidt, Lincoln, Nebraska
▲ I have been a NEBRASKAland subscriber for many years and
have long enjoyed this fabulous magazine!
Enclosed is a photograph (from left) of myself; my brother, Ray
Graves; and my cousins –Jerry, Dwain and Wes Schultz – during the
winter of 1952. All of these jackrabbits were shot over Christmas
vacation after a snowstorm. We sold them to a mink farmer for 25
cents each.
We hope your readers will remember “Old Times.”
– Gene Graves, Grand Island, 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 • NOVEMBER 2009
2010 NEBRASKALAND
CALENDAR
The NEBRASKAland Calendar is a lasting
reminder to friends and relatives –
whether near or far away – of you and
home. Spectacular, full-color,
all-Nebraska photos highlight every
month. A tremendous value.
$9.95 CAL-2010
NEBRASKA LIFETIME PERMITS
Get a three-year subscription to save the most!
Now you can save 70% off the cover price
of NEBRASKAland when you subscribe
for three years! Don’t miss out on this award-winning
magazine about Nebraska!
Get it for yourself and send it to the special people on
your gift list. Every issue is filled with breathtaking
photographs and informative, entertaining articles
about Nebraska’s outdoor activities, history,
parklands, people and wildlife.
$18 for one year SUB-2901
A great gift for grandchildren or graduates!
Treat someone special to the gift that lasts a lifetime . . . a Nebraska
Lifetime Permit. Available to Nebraska residents and nonresidents,
it is the ultimate gift for any hunter or angler and an investment in the
future. All funds go into escrow, with the interest used to help support wildlife
and fisheries management programs.
Lifetime Hunt
Lifetime Fish
Lifetime Hunt and Fish
Residents
Residents
Residents
(0-5 years old) $126
(6-15 years old) $186
(16-45 years old) $286
(46+ years old) $186
(0-5 years old) $276
(6-15 years old) $326
(16-45 years old) $426
(46+ years old) $326
(0-5 years old) $376
(6-15 years old) $501
(16-45 years old) $646
(46+ years old) $501
Nonresidents
Nonresidents
Nonresidents
(0-16 years old) $626
(17+ years old) $1,001
(0-16 years old) $551
(17+ years old) $851
(0-16 years old) $1,076
(17+ years old) $1,601
(Great value – 64% off the cover price – 10 issues)
Lifetime Habitat Stamp
$320
Lifetime Waterfowl Stamp
$100
The Lifetime Habitat Stamp price will go up
January 1, 2010. Buy now and save $80!
$33 for two years SUB-2902
2010 ANNUAL HUNT AND FISH PERMITS
(Better value – 66% off the cover price – 20 issues)
$44 for three years SUB-2903
Hunting for just the right gift for your
special hunter? Fishing for the perfect
present for your favorite angler?
Hunting and fishing permits are
passports to outdoor fun, and the
ideal gifts for that hard-to-buy-for
outdoor enthusiast on your list.
(Best value – 70% off the cover price – 30 issues)
The Award-Winning Outdoor Magazine
Just For Kids
Eight colorful, 16-page issues of
Trail Tales, four each year, feature
puzzles, games, drawings, photos
and interesting articles about nature,
Nebraska and the outdoors. Send Trail
Tales to a youngster, just $15 for two
school years.
Prices include agent issuing fee.
PERMIT
Resident Hunt and Fish Permit ..................$40
Resident Hunt Permit ..................................$14
Resident Fish Permit ..............................$28.50
Nonresident Hunt Permit ............................$81
Nonresident Fish Permit ........................$60.50
Permits will be mailed after November 1, 2009.
$8 for one year SUB-2920
$15 for two years SUB-2921
2010 NEBRASKA
PARK PERMIT
(4 issues each year)
Reading material for the whole family to enjoy! Get both publications shipped to one address and save!
$40 for two years SUB-2926 (you save $8.00!)
(20 issues of NEBRASKAland Magazine and 8 issues of Trail Tales Magazine - two years worth)
WILD GAME COOKBOOK
This 183-page cookbook,
bound in a durable 6-inch by
9-inch vinyl cover, includes 158
recipes sure to tantalize the
appetite of all outdoor lovers.
Also illustrated with artwork.
Bon appetit!
$2 PUB-2710 (Originally $12.95)
call toll-free
1-800-742-0056
DEER PROCESSING
DVD
From field dressing to
home processing,
make the most of
your deer with this
instructional DVD.
The first part
features field
dressing and
proper care,
the second part covers
how to safely process venison. The
DVD’s total run time is approximately 39 minutes.
$9.95 VID-3206
Visit more than 80
beautiful state park and
recreation areas across
the state.
Annual Park Permit – $20
Duplicate Park Permit – $10
2010 WILDLIFE HABITAT STAMP
Required of resident hunters and trappers
ages 16 and older and all nonresidents. Not
required for hunters age 69 and over or
veterans age 64 and older who are holders of
a valid fee-exempt permit.
Note: Printed with your annual permit - see
image above.
Habitat Stamp – $20
2010 NEBRASKA MIGRATORY
WATERFOWL STAMP
This stamp is required for all waterfowl hunters who
are nonresidents and all Nebraska waterfowlers who
are 16 years old and older. Money raised from the sale
of these stamps will be used to improve waterfowl
habitat and increase duck and goose populations in
the state.
Note: Printed with your annual permit - see image
above.
Waterfowl Stamp – $5
NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS BUCKS COUPONS
The perfect gift for all outdoor enthusiasts, these “bucks” may
be used to purchase any Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission merchandise, including subscriptions and
permits. Available only in booklets with five $5 certificates.
$25 MIS-1919
These certificates will be accepted by all Nebraska Game and Parks offices where Nebraska Game and Parks
goods and services are sold. These certificates cannot be exchanged for cash.
Order online at NebraskalandGifts.com
(more items available online - some 90% off!)
NebraskalandGifts.com
2010 Gift Collection Order Form
To order: mail this form to the address below, fax it to (402) 471-1984, call toll-free 1-800-742-0056 using your VISA or MasterCard, or go to NebraskalandGifts.com.
Charges for hunting and fishing permits will appear on credit card statements as separate transactions from other purchases.
For delivery by Christmas, orders must be received by December 18, 2009.
Your Name
Address
City/State/ZIP
Phone (8 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
Permits
Permits good for their calendar year. For example, a 2009 permit expires December 31, 2009
Please provide the following information about the people for whom any fishing and/or hunting permits
are ordered on this form or on another sheet of paper. The last four digits of a permit holder’s Social
Security Number (SSN) are required for all hunting and fishing permits.
NEBRASKA PARK PERMITS
QTY
Name
Last 4 digits SSN
Address
PARK PERMIT TYPE
FEE
Annual Park Permit`
$20
Duplicate Park Permit
$10
TOTAL AMOUNT
City/State/ZIP
Date of Birth: Month
Weight
Day
Year
Sex
Hair Color
Height
QTY
TYPE OF PERMIT(S)
Name
Last 4 digits SSN
Address
City/State/ZIP
Date of Birth: Month
Weight
HUNTING AND FISHING PERMITS
Eye Color
Day
Year
Sex
Hair Color
Height
Eye Color
PERMITS & STAMPS
2009
2010
Resident Hunt and Fish Permit ......................$37.50 ❏
$40.00 ❏
Resident Hunt Permit ....................................$14.00 ❏
$14.00 ❏
Resident Fish Permit ......................................$26.00 ❏
$28.50 ❏
Resident Fur Harvest Permit ........................$16.00 ❏
$16.00 ❏
Nonresident Fish Permit ................................$58.00 ❏
$60.50 ❏
Nonresident Hunt Permit ..............................$81.00 ❏
$81.00 ❏
Migratory Waterfowl Stamp ............................$5.00 ❏
$5.00 ❏
Habitat Stamp (required with all hunting permits) ......$16.00 ❏
$20.00 ❏
TOTALS
Lifetime Hunt Permit (resident) ...........................see previous page
TYPE OF PERMIT(S)
Lifetime Hunt Permit (nonresident) ....................see previous page
Lifetime Fish Permit (resident) ............................see previous page
Lifetime Fish Permit (nonresident) ......................see previous page
NEBRASKAland Magazine Subscriptions
Lifetime Hunt and Fish Permit (resident) ..........see previous page
For subscriptions to NEBRASKAland Magazine,
please call toll-free 1-800-632-5263
or go online to
NebraskalandMagazine.com
Lifetime Habitat Stamp ................................$320.00 ❏ $400.00 ❏
Lifetime Hunt and Fish Permit (nonresident) ....see previous page
Lifetime Nebraska Waterfowl Stamp ..........$100.00 ❏ $100.00 ❏
Prices include agent issuing fee where applicable. No sales tax on permits and stamps.
TOTAL PERMIT ORDER $
Enter this total on the PERMITS and STAMPS line below.
Gift Items
Enter totals for gift items below on line A
Nebraska residents please add state and local sales tax on the following items.
QUANTITY
ITEM NUMBER
ITEM DESCRIPTION
Mail order form with your payment to:
NEBRASKAland Gifts
P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370
PAYMENT METHOD
❏ Check
❏ Money Order
❏ VISA
Credit Card Number
Security code (3 digits on back of card)
Expiration Date
Daytime Phone
❏ MasterCard
Shipping and Handling Charges
for Mail and Fax Orders
$0.00 – 10.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3.95
10.01 – 25.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.95
25.01 – 50.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7.95
50.01 – 75.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.15
75.01 – 100.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.95
100.01 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FREE
Shipping and handling not required for
subscriptions. S/H fee for permits, stamps
and parks bucks is $2.
For overseas shipping please call about
extra mailing fees that may apply.
COLOR
UNIT PRICE
TOTAL AMOUNT
(A) GIFT ITEMS $
SHIPPING & HANDLING CHARGES $
See accompanying text box
SUBSCRIPTIONS $
SALES TAX $
PERMITS & STAMPS $
TOTAL ALL ITEMS $
For additional orders provide information on another sheet of paper. Please provide complete mailing information for items to be sent to additional addresses.
Order online at NebraskalandGifts.com (more items available online - some 90% off!)
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