Volume 89, Issue 6, 2011
July 2011
- Identifier:
- nela.2011_089_06
- Title:
- Volume 89, Issue 6, 2011
- Issue Name:
- July 2011
- Date Issued:
- 2011-07-01
- year:
- 2011
- month:
- July
- Season:
- Summer
- PDF filename:
- NL_89.06_2011_Jul_Spreads_Entire.pdf
- Publisher:
- Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
- Format:
- Periodical
- volume:
- 089
- issue:
- 06
- number:
- 089.06
- Decade:
- 2010s
- Type:
- Rights Holder:
- Copyright Nebraskaland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, all rights reserved.
- Extracted Text:
-
Silhouetted by the setting sun, seed heads near Grand Island in Hall County wait for a soft
summer breeze to set them free. Photo by Luke Kathol
Volume 89, Number 6, July 2011
12 Oglala Grassland
As far northwest as you can go in Nebraska is a seemingly
endless expanse of grass and rugged badlands, spanning
more than 94,000 acres and open to the public, a glimpse of
what Nebraska once was. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JON FARRAR
20 The Value of Vervain
A photographic journal of the importance of this
oft-maligned wildflower to butterflies and other pollinators.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS HELZER
24 Beyond the Brightly Lit Circle
What else one might see if they look beyond the brightly lit
circle where they carry their life. BY LISA KNOPP
26 Old-time Fourth of July
Independence Day celebrations were once homegrown; the
biggest celebration of the year in small towns. BY JON FARRAR
34 The Grasshoppers – A Work of Fiction
Detasseling serves as an escape for a young girl – despite the
incessant grasshoppers in every direction. BY JODY KEISNER
26
●
40 Shooting Complex Opens With a Bang
The Outdoor Heritage Education Complex, with 60-yard
rimfire and archery ranges and an indoor air-gun range, is
now open at Platte River State Park near Louisville.
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ERIC FOWLER
Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Mixed Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Outdoor Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Nature Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
In the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Portraits from the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
20
●
24
●
34
●
Cover: The Oglala National Grassland in far northwestern Nebraska had its
beginning in the drought of the 1930s. Photo by Jon Farrar.
Opposite: Dew-soaked foxtail barley glistens in the morning sun along the
North Platte River valley near Lewellen. Photo by Eric Fowler.
NEBRASKAland (VOL. 89 / NO. 6, 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.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 3
An Unusual Happening
One morning this spring my wife and
grandson were in our yard and heard a
big crash. They looked toward our
woods, saw that a large tree limb had
fallen, then left for school and work.
That evening we took a closer look
at the limb and found a dead deer
underneath! It must have been bedded
there and didn’t have time to react.
George Moon
Omaha, Nebraska
Pheasant Girl
We now have answers to our who,
when and where questions last month
regarding the young lady wearing a
pheasant costume in our “Nebland
Flashbacks.”
Les O’Donnell of North Platte
informed us that the lady in the photo
was none other than his wife of 49
years, Deanna (Nicholson) O’Donnell,
whom he married soon after the photo
was taken.
Les reports that the dress was truly a
“labor of love” – it took a long time
and a lot of pheasant pelts that were
donated by hunters in the Benkelman
4 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
area to make the costume, which
was worn at a 1961 hairdresser’s
convention in Omaha.
The O’Donnells heard about the
photo appearing in our magazine
through an old friend in Battle Creek,
who recognized Deanna and the dress.
Oddly enough, just a day before the
friend’s e-mail, Deanna’s cousin in El
Paso had sent her a copy of a recent
“50 Years Ago” column in the
Benkelman Post and News Chronicle
that had mentioned Deanna wearing
her costume at the convention.
“It was really an amazing timing
thing,” said Les O’Donnell. “That
photo brought back a lot of memories.
I kidded my wife that she hadn’t
changed much.”
Deanna’s reaction to seeing the old
photograph? “Oh my goodness!”
-Editor
Larson Fan
I wait for my NEBRASKAland
Magazine expectantly each month, but
THIS month’s blew me away!
Thank you so much for highlighting
Gary Larson! He is my all-time favorite
cartoonist and teacher. Anyone who
reads his work is drawn into his world;
the world of insects, animals and
ourselves!
If we could all see the world as it is
from his perspective, maybe we would
be a little more concerned about getting
along with it instead of trying to
remake it.
I believe God did an excellent job
when He created it – it doesn’t need to
be changed!
Thank you for this awesome article!
Donna L. Decker/Gibson
Hazel Green, Alabama
Nebraska Test Question #12
I enjoyed Roger Welsch’s Nebraska
quiz in the June 2011 issue. However, I
believe the answer to question 12 is in
error. (I am probably one of 1,000 to
tell you this, so feel free to delete).
The question concerned what town in
Nebraska was bombed in World War II.
His answer was Dix, as it was bombed
by dummy bombs from a nearby airbase.
Another answer is Omaha: A balloon
bomb released by the Japanese off the
Pacific coast floated all the way to
Dundee, where it exploded. There is a
small sign around 50th and Underwood
which documents the event. I remember
this was a trivia question during one of
my high school history tests.
There was a story about the “Omaha
bombing” on KETV. Here is the link:
http://www.ketv.com/station/3528737/
detail.html.
Bruce Esser
Omaha, Nebraska
I believe the correct answer is
Tarnov. On a night practice bombing
mission to the Stanton range, just south
of Stanton, the bombardier or navigator
was off on his timing and navigation
and dropped his practice bombs on the
small town of Tarnov. They managed to
hit one of the occupied homes in town
and the bomb, which had a small
charge of powder in it to mark the hits
or misses, went off in the living room
of the unfortunate home owner, who
was sitting in his easy chair reading the
paper. He was startled, but uninjured. I
don’t think the lads were tipsy, just off
in their navigation and timing.
PJ Eddy
Norfolk, Nebraska
Fishing the Weeds
In the May issue of NEBRASKAland
in the “Old Angler’s Almanac,” Daryl
Bauer mentions several state areas that
he would consider fishing in the months
of May/June. One of these was WolfWildcat. I have found this area to have
its ups and downs over the years, but
weed growth has been an increasing
problem to the point that I had not
visited the site for some time. His
comments encouraged me to return,
but upon arrival I found the lake more
infested with weeds than ever to the
point of 50- to 75-percent choked. I
wonder if Daryl was misquoted or, if
not, does he have some special technique
that allows fishing this type of water.
Jim Heater
Omaha, Nebraska
Our field crews found an excellent
population of largemouth bass in WolfWildcat last year and that is why I
would rate it as one of the best places
in southeast Nebraska for bass fishing
this year. I realize the aquatic vegetation
may make the fishing more challenging,
but that vegetation is excellent bass
habitat and is no small part of the
reason the bass population there is
excellent. I hear reports from bass
anglers that do quite well at WolfWildcat. Most of them fish from boats
or float tubes, and of course use a
variety of weedless presentations to fish
in and around the aquatic vegetation.
Weedless rubber worms and other
rubber baits, spinnerbaits and
weedless jigs should work. Later this
summer I would be sure to try some
surface presentations, especially a
variety of the weedless “scum frogs”
that are on the market.
Those are some quick ideas. Let me
know if you have any other questions I
can help you with.
Daryl Bauer
Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Clouded plant bug (Neurocolpus
nubilus) adults are just under ½" long
and mottled brown to yellowish brown
in color. Their first antennal segment
is noticeably thicker than the rest of
the segments, and covered with short
dark hairs. Immature plant bugs,
called nymphs, are yellowish to green
in color, with striped antennae. The
clouded plant bug overwinters in the
egg stage, having
been oviposited within
plant tissue by the
female. Nymphs hatch in
spring, and begin to feed
on plants. They will
molt several times
before reaching full
adult size a month or
www.bugguide.net
so after hatching.
is a good site for
identification
– Julie Van Meter,
State Entomologist,
Nebraska Department of Agriculture.
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.
COMMISSION
CONSERV
CONSERVATION OFFICERS
Director Rex Amack
Deputy Director Jim Douglas
Commissioners
Chairman - Mick Jensen, Blair
Vice Chairman - Ron Stave, Waterloo
2nd Vice Chairman - Norris Marshall, Kearney
Jerrod Burke, Curtis
Dr. Mark Pinkerton, Wilber
Dr. Kent Forney, Lincoln
Lynn Berggren, Broken Bow
Rex Fisher, Omaha
Mark Spurgin, Paxton
NORTHWEST
Officer
City
Jim Zimmerman (S) Gering
MAGAZINE
MAGAZINE STAFF
STAFF
Editor Doug Carroll
Associate Editor Jeff Kurrus
Art Director Tim Reigert
Senior Editor Jon Farrar
Regional Editor Eric Fowler
Contributing Editor Michael Forsberg
Regular Contributors Bill Hager, Chris Helzer,
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
For advertising information contact
Larson Enterprises
e-mail dave@larsonent.com
or call (515) 440-2810
NEBRASKAland Magazine Copyright 2011, 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.
COMMISSION OFFICES
Headquarters/Southeast District Office
2200 N. 33rd Street Lincoln, NE 68503
Phone (402) 471-0641
Northeast District Office
2201 N. 13th St. Norfolk, NE 68701
Phone (402) 370-3374
Southwest District Office
301 E. State Farm Rd. North Platte, NE 69101
Phone (308) 535-8025
Northwest District Office
East Hwy. 2, Box 725 Alliance, NE 69301
Phone (308) 763-2940
Bassett Office
524 Panzer St., Box 508 Bassett, NE 68714
Phone (402) 684-2921
Kearney Office
1617 First Ave. Kearney, NE 68847
Phone (308) 865-5310
Scott Brandt
Heath Packett
Frank Miller
Dan Kling
Phone (308)
(office) 763-2940
(cell) 641-6138
Gering
631-0663
Gordon
360-0682
Valentine (402) 389-0444
Harrison
430-0572
SOUTHWEST
Officer
City
Phone (308)
Roger Thompson (S) N. Platte (office) 535-8025
(cell) 530-3097
Ray Dierking
Brkn. Bow
870-0322
George Sund
Cambridge
655-0028
Michael Thome
Cozad
529-8146
Terry Brentzel
Doniphan (402) 469-5795
Matt Andrews
Elwood
746-2418
Dirk Greene
Imperial
882-0015
Jerry Pecha (Sup.) Kearney (office) 865-5327
(cell) 293-3551
Dale Johnson
Kearney
440-3847
Dudley Sorensen
N. Platte
530-0016
Nicholas Fix
Ogallala
289-0427
Dennis Thompson
Ogallala
289-0755
Rich Routh
Rep. City
920-0367
NORTHEAST
Officer
Tom Zimmer (Sup.)
Dale Davis
Steve Oberg
Daniel Roberts
Randy Pomplun
Jeff Jones
Jon Reeves
Pat George
Doug Pollard
Tim Williams
Cory Krause
Phone (402)
(office) 370-3374
(cell) 649-8053
Bassett
760-0712
Columbus
910-3366
Fremont
719-1108
Fullerton
550-0489
Hartington
762-5022
Kennard
889-8508
O’Neill
340-0787
Ord
778-7101
Neligh
929-0051
West Point
380-6410
SOUTHEAST
Officer
Duane Arp (Sup.)
City
Gretna
Sean McKeehan
William Krause
Mike Luben
Dan Zuehlke
Darin Gress
Douglas Kramer
Dina Barta
Stacey Lewton
Levi Krause
Robert Finke
Russell Mort
Dan Evasco
Jeff Clauson
City
Norfolk
Phone (402)
(office) 332-2965
(cell) 521-0194
Ashland
521-0159
Auburn
274-8063
Colon
443-6392
Cortland
806-9084
Hebron
768-8665
Lincoln
890-6465
Lincoln
890-6463
Lincoln
890-7140
Louisville
949-0593
Milford
947-1363
Nebr. City
209-1506
Papillion
616-5961
Waterloo
658-7057
ADMINISTRATION
Officer
City
Ted Blume (Adm.)
Lincoln
Craig Stover (Asst.) Lincoln
Phone (402)
471-5531
471-5532
Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers 1-800-742-7627
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
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).
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 5
Pronghorn Numbers Highest
in 30 years
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.
July 2-3
The spines that cover prickly pear are actually modified leaves designed to protect the
plant from being eaten.
Who Needs Leaves?
6 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
July 2-4
• Ft. Kearny Living History Days
Visit Ft. Kearny SHP for living
history days, and view what life was
like in the 1860's civilian and soldier
camps. There will be a cannon firing
each day at 2 p.m. for public viewing.
Contact: Ft. Kearny SHP
(308) 865-5305
ngpc.fort.kearny@nebraska.gov
Nebland Flashbacks
be harvested,
far from the
record
657
set in
1969,
but easily the
highest since 2002.
The health of the
herd should bode well
for youngsters taking
advantage of the new $6
Youth Archery Pronghorn
Permits. Archery permits
are unlimited and valid
statewide, but the
application periods
have already
passed for this
year’s
muzzleloader
and firearm
permits.
Peregrine Chicks Hatch
At least two of the three peregrine falcon eggs at the Nebraska State Capitol nest
box hatched this spring and the chicks were expected to be banded in early June.
The nest box can be seen through FalconCam – a video camera mounted on top of
the Capitol building that provides streaming video to a television in the rotunda
and to OutdoorNebraska.org.
July 16
• First Shots Event – Platte River
State Park
The biggest challenge for new
shooters is getting started, but First
Shots makes that easy, and best of
all it's free! At this First Shots seminar
you will receive an educational
introduction to the safe and
recreational use of firearms.
Contact: Christy Christiansen
(402) 471-5547
Christy.Christiansen@nebraska.gov
See You Out There ... But Where?
July 22-23
• BO-W Kayaking – Niobrara State
Park
This is a great opportunity to have
fun kayaking with other women.
Participants will take a trip down the
Niobrara and Missouri rivers and
camp overnight at Niobrara State Park.
Contact: Juie Geiser at (308) 5306722 or Suzanne Ridder at (402) 4711623. There is a registration fee for
the workshop.
July 30
• 22nd Annual Kites & Castles – Lake
McConaughy
Check out the sand castle and kite
flying contest at Martin Bay.
Contact: Stacie Coomes
(308) 289-1036
No doubt this January 1962 cover
was one of the most captivating
covers in Outdoor Nebraska’s
history (predecessor to
NEBRASKAland Magazine until
1964). The caption reads “Artist
Frank Holub’s Giganticus rears his
head out of normally placid
Walgren Lake.”
Frank Holub was a staff artist with
the Commission and had rendered
many illustrations for the magazine.
To see and read the article “The
Monster of Walgren Lake” by Jane
Sprague, visit
NebraskalandMagazine.com and
click on “Nebland Flashback.”
Do you know where this Nebraska photograph was taken?
See answer at the bottom of page 11.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 7
PHOTO BY ERIC FOWLER
Jon Farrar
Nebraska has three species of prickly
pears. Call them prickly pear cacti if
you want, although botanists do not,
even though they are members of the
cactus family.
Bigroot prickly pear can be found
statewide on sites to their liking, but
are most common in sandy soils and so
most abundant in the Sandhills region.
Plains prickly pear have more thorns
and in Nebraska are most common in
the Panhandle. Little prickly pear –
also called jumping cactus because
segments easily break away from the
plant and seem to jump and stick to
pant legs or the hides of cattle and wild
mammals – is found in central and
western Nebraska. It is smaller than the
other two, often hidden away in grasses,
and so less conspicuous.
Pages could be written about the
interesting characteristics of prickly
pears. For starters, the green pads or
segments – the most conspicuous parts
of the plant, at least until it erupts into
yellow blossoms – are not leaves but
enlarged stems. Photosynthesis, the
process by which green plants create
carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and
water using sunlight as an energy
source, is accomplished in these much
enlarged flattened or rounded stems.
The spines that cover prickly pears are
actually modified leaves. The spines
are of two types, both emerging from
areoles on the stems – large, smooth
spines firmly attached to the plant, and
hairlike prickles called glochids that
easily detach and are what one usually
finds embedded in fingers if the plant
is touched.
The purpose of the spines is rather
obvious – to protect the plant from
becoming a meal for herbivores. The
fleshy stems are water-storage organs
and quite palatable, not just to fourlegged browsers but to two-legged
browsers as well – prickly pears were
food for American Indians. Spines were
removed by rolling the segments over a
bed of coals to burn them off and make
peeling the skin easier; or by boiling so
the skin and spines could be peeled
away. The flesh of prickly pear pads
was eaten raw and said to taste like
cucumbers. Despined stems remain a
common food item in southwestern
states and Mexico.
The mature, seed-filled fruits of
bigroot and plains prickly pears have
long been a food for indigenous people
and Euroamerican settlers. They are
spineless, may be eaten raw, and were
once commonly used to make wine and
preserves. Both the stems and leaves of
prickly pears are rich in vitamins and
minerals, and the compounds they
contain are proven to have legitimate
medicinal uses.
• Ft. Atkinson Living History Days
Watch and learn as volunteers
portray life at an 1820s military fort.
Living history days are the first
weekend of the month from May-Oct,
with interpretive hours at the center
open from 10am-5pm each day.
Contact: Ft. Atkinson SHP
(402) 468-5611
ngpc.fort.atkinson@nebraska.gov
Eric Fowler
Following five years of restricted
buck harvest and nearly a decade of
limited doe harvest, Nebraska’s
pronghorn herd appears to be as healthy
as it’s been since the early 1970s.
Hunters harvested 767 bucks in 2010,
the most since 1976. The population
was at its peak then, but a harsh winter
in 1978-79 claimed half of the herd,
and for a variety of reasons, recovery
has been slow.
“Pronghorn herds are probably
within 80 to 90 percent of what the
best statewide population was (in the
late-1960s and early 1970s),” said
Kit Hams, big game program manager
for the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission. “It’s looking good.”
Limited buck harvest has improved
the age structure of bucks, with only
11 percent of the bucks harvested last
year being yearlings, compared to 25
percent in 2005. Additionally, new
trophy records have been set for
archery, muzzleloader and firearm the
past three seasons.
But as herds have increased, so have
complaints from landowners about crop
damage. In response, muzzleloader and
most firearm units will offer either-sex
permits this season rather than the
buck-only permits that have been in
place since at least 2003. An additional
47 firearm and muzzleloader permits
will also be issued. Late-season
doe/fawn permits, offered in the Cherry
unit in 2010, will also be offered in
Box Butte East, Dismal and North
Sioux units this year, with a combined
177 permits available for the four units.
Hams expects 110 does and fawns to
This photo was taken with a 1½ minute exposure, during which time the
crazy photographer dashed into the tent, zipped the door shut, shone a
flashlight around the interior, and then dashed back to close the camera
shutter. Before attempting this, it’s important to clear the path between
tent and camera of any obstacles. Camera settings: ISO 500, aperture f4, shutter speed - 91 seconds.
Star Photography
Chris Helzer
Taking star photos is easy. You only
need three things – a camera, a tripod
and a spectacular nighttime display.
Fortunately, Nebraska provides plenty
of opportunities for the latter, especially
in the western half of the state where
the lights from cities and traffic don’t
interfere.
Start by setting your camera’s ISO or
ASA (film speed) setting on your camera
to at least 400 and use a wide open
aperture (low f-stop number) so your
camera can capture sufficient light for
stars to appear in the photo. Next, set
your camera on a sturdy tripod or other
platform where it won’t be jiggled
around while you’re photographing.
Choose a foreground for your photo,
remembering that you’ll only see the
silhouette of anything that sticks up
above the horizon (unless you light it
separately – discussed below). When
you’re all set up (and it’s dark), simply
open the shutter of the camera and
leave it open for a few seconds or a few
hours, depending upon whether you
want pinpoint stars or long star trails.
8 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
photography much more user friendly
It’s a good idea to check your battery
than the old days of film cameras. A
power before starting a really long
exposure. A cable shutter release, or the couple of test photos can help you hone
in on the right length of time to leave
use of your camera’s automatic timer,
the shutter open, and also help you see
can help prevent the camera from
moving (resulting a blurry photo) when whether the overall scene works.
Most importantly, get out and enjoy
you press the shutter.
the night sky. Just be sure to schedule
If you want to play around a little,
some nap time the next day.
use a flashlight or other light source to
“paint” portions of the
foreground with light
while the camera shutter
is open. Just make sure
you’re in an isolated
area, or you might end
up trying to explain what
you’re doing to a
skeptical uniformed
officer.
You can find additional
information on taking
star photos from
numerous sources on the
internet (and in oldfashioned paper books),
but a little experimentation
The Milky Way shows up nicely in the Sandhills sky, far
can be just as useful.
from urban light pollution. In this photo, a flashlight was
The ability to check the
used to “paint” the tree and fence with light while the
LCD display of digital
camera shutter was open. Camera settings: ISO 500,
aperture f-4, shutter speed - 61 seconds.
cameras makes star
Think Skink
Dan Fogell, Biology Instructor, Southeast Community College–Lincoln
They look like torpedoes … torpedoes with little legs, a tail, eyes and powerful
jaws. They are called skinks, and they’re lizards with shiny scales that often have
ridiculously short legs in comparison to the body. In fact, some skinks have only
remnants of what used to be legs, while others have no legs at all. Skinks have
long tails and most can abandon their tails if they feel threatened by a predator – a
behavior called “caudal autotomy” – allowing them to get away while providing a
distraction. Skinks are found all over the world in tropical and temperate climates
and demonstrate a diverse collection of sizes, colors, patterns and behaviors. The
skink body design is actually described as cylindrical, but torpedo-like may be
somewhat appropriate considering their locomotion. When not alarmed, skinks
usually move around using only their front legs while their hind legs sort of just
dangle. When they are distressed, however, they use all four legs and their body
to wriggle from side to side, spastically plowing through ground cover like a
terrestrial torpedo until they feel safe.
Just like birds, male skinks take on breeding colors each spring when their chins
and heads turn bright orange. By mid-summer, however, their normal colors have
returned. Female skinks actually provide maternal care by staying with their eggs
throughout incubation and protecting them from predators. They will even move
the eggs if environmental conditions become too extreme, and if a single egg goes
bad they will actually eat it to prevent the other eggs from rotting. Skinks prefer to
eat insects and other arthropods but will eat nearly anything they can catch.
Nebraska is home to four different skink species. In eastern Nebraska you might
see the northern prairie skink, a brown lizard with gray to white longitudinal
stripes down its back. The northern prairie skink is a tallgrass prairie species, but
it also thrives in junk piles, along railroad tracks and in other disturbed areas.
Throughout western Nebraska is the many-lined skink, which looks similar to the
prairie skink but has a wide, white stripe down the middle of the back and has a
slightly longer tail. Also a prairie species, the many-lined skink prefers short and
mixed grass prairies but can also be found in the Sandhills. At the southern edge
of the state along the Kansas border lives another prairie species – the Great
Plains skink. Measuring up to 13 inches from nose to tail, it is the largest skink
in the United States. They are gray to light brown with a black fleck on each of
their scales, and they have very robust bodies with comically small legs. Their
exceptionally strong jaws can deliver a healthy bite if provoked.
Finally, in the extreme southeastern corner is the rarest skink found in Nebraska
– a woodland species called the five-lined skink. Much more common in the
eastern United States, this skink prefers deciduous woodlands to prairies and will
actually climb trees to forage or escape from predators. Young five-lined skinks
are jet black with five bright white stripes down the back and an electric blue tail,
but they lose these bright colors as they get older.
No matter where you are in Nebraska, chances are you are not too far from
some kind of skink. Just look down on the ground for a living torpedo crashing
through the vegetation.
Great Nebraska Duck Hunt
Nebraska Ducks Unlimited chapters
across the state are starting to embark
on the Great Nebraska Duck Hunt,
an expanded outdoor-skills
program whose goal is to equip
youth with the skills and
knowledge needed to become
successful waterfowl hunters
and conservationists.
Northern prairie skink
Many-lined skink
Great Plains skink
Five-lined skink
Open to Hunter Education graduates who are 12- to
15-years-old, the programs will get started this summer as
participants prepare for the fall waterfowl seasons by honing
wing-shooting skills, practicing on the duck call, prepping
hunting gear and working their dogs.
If interested in this program, either as an aspiring young
waterfowl hunter or as an adult volunteer, contact your
local Ducks Unlimited chapter or DU staff at either
(308) 380-1711 (Grand Island and west) or (402) 499-5515
(east of Grand Island).
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 9
Top Hunting and Shooting
Equipment Brands
BY DA RYL L. BAU E R
to, and release them
July and August can be the “dog days” of summer as soon as possible.
Calamus will offer up
when fishing gets a little bit tougher. The warm
some big wipers along
water temperatures have nothing to do with a
with white bass, as will
tougher bite – fish are “cold blooded” creatures
Minatare, Elwood and
whose temperature and metabolism are the same
McConaughy.
as the water. During the middle of the summer a
fish’s metabolism is actually at its peak and fish are
• Trying Something New
feeding as much or more as they do at any other
Staying with the white bass theme, a person can
time of year. Fishing gets tougher in the summer
catch a bunch of white bass and predator fish by
because there is an abundance of natural prey
fishing after dark using lights. There are a number
available to them at that time. Anglers can still
of submersible lights for sale that can be hung
catch fish by staying versatile and fishing a variety underneath the boat or from dock after dock to
of waters for a variety of species. Expect feeding
attract zooplankton, which then attract YOY shad
periods to be short but intense.
and other baitfish, which in turn attract white bass
Mid-summer is white bass time! White bass in
Nebraska reservoirs will be chasing young-of-theyear (YOY) gizzard shad all summer long. Anglers
often can find these feeding frenzies by looking for
gulls taking advantage of white bass pushing the
shad to the surface. This often happens early and
late in the day, but at times it can last throughout
the day. Some of the best reservoirs for white bass
this summer should be Davis Creek, Swanson,
Calamus, Jeffrey and, of course, Harlan.
and other predators. Light fishing usually works
best on reservoirs with good water clarity that
allows the light to penetrate. Anglers have caught a
lot of white bass at Harlan using this technique, but
it will work on other Nebraska reservoirs as well.
You also might want to try “vampire” fishing this
summer. In July many Nebraska catfish will still be
spawning and tough to catch, but by mid- to lateAugust those cats will be back on the prowl looking
for food. Blood baits are one of the best ways to
catch late-summer channel cats.
• Catching Numbers - Small Water
• Not Caring What You Catch
• Catching Numbers - Big Water
Panfish, especially big bluegills and crappies, tend
to move off-shore during the summer. Anglers have
to look deeper to find those fish, but drifting live bait
rigs, small jigs or even flies can dredge up some of
the biggest panfish of the year. Smaller bodies of
water tend to be our best panfish habitats throughout Nebraska. Try some Interstate lakes, Summit,
Maskenthine, or even Wehrspann for some nice
bluegills. Whitney, Island or Wehrspann should be
good places for some 10-inch+ crappies.
Anytime the discussion turns to just catching fish,
regardless of species, Merritt Reservoir comes to
mind. Merritt is one of the best multi-species fishing
spots in all of Nebraska. By late-summer there is
usually a good panfish bite, a person could drift
blood for some big channel cats or try trolling
crankbaits for walleyes and maybe some largemouth or smallmouth bass, pike and even a
muskie.
• Catching Big Fish
Anglers can find wipers, some of them big, chasing
shad the same as the white bass in mid-summer. In
fact, on waters where both exist they may be
caught during the same feeding frenzy. Special
care needs to be taken to catch and release big
wipers during the warm water of mid-summer – try
to land them as quickly as possible, keep them in
the water, handle them only as much as you have
Grab some Chug-Bugs, Pop-Rs, KastMasters, a
variety of jigs and swimbaits and head for some
white bass/wiper action. Calamus would be near
the top of my list this summer, and if I was out in
the Nebraska Panhandle I would be sure to fish
Minatare. Fish hard early and late in the day, find a
sandy beach and chill-out during the hot afternoons.
Stay tuned for Bauer’s Fall Fishing Tips in the
October edition of NEBRASKAland.
• Best Bet
“The best time to fish is when you have time to fish.” — D.L.B.
Southwick Associates has announced
the brands that hunters and shooters
purchased most frequently in 2010.
This list has been compiled from the
41,923 internet-based surveys completed
by hunters and target shooters who
participated in HunterSurvey.com and
ShooterSurvey.com polls in 2010.
• Top rifle brand:
Remington (17.5%
of all purchases)
• Top shotgun
brand: Remington,
Mossberg (virtual
tie with 21.5% of
all purchases)
• Top
muzzleloader
brand: Thompson
Center (31.9% of
all purchases)
• Top handgun
brand: Sturm Ruger
(16.7% of all
purchases)
• Top scope for
firearms: Bushnell
(17.1% of all
purchases)
• Top rifle
ammunition brand:
Remington (25.3%
of all purchases)
• Top shotgun
ammunition brand:
Winchester (31.9%
of all purchases)
• Top handgun
ammunition brand:
Winchester (22.0%
of all purchases)
• Top
blackpowder brand:
Pyrodex (38.7% of
all purchases)
• Top balls,
bullets, or shot
brand: Hornady
(28.4% of all
purchases)
• Top bow brand:
Matthews (17.5% of
all purchases)
• Top arrow
brand: Carbon
Express (27.6% of
all purchases)
• Top fletching
brand: Blazer
(15.8% of all
purchases)
• Top broadhead
brand: Muzzy
(20.3% of all
purchases)
• Top decoy
brand: Mojo (12.9%
of all purchases)
• Top game call
brand: Primos
(33.5% of all
purchases)
• Top reloading
bullet brand:
Hornady (31.7% of
all purchases)
• Top reloading
powder brand:
Hodgdon (37.8%
of all purchases)
• Top binocular
brand: Bushnell
(33.6% of all
purchases)
• Top holster
brand: Uncle Mike’s
(19.0% of all
purchases)
• Top knife
brand: Gerber
(15.0% of all
purchases)
• Top scent or
scent covering
brand: Scent-AWay, Scent Shield
(virtual tie with
14.7% of all
purchases)
• Top shooting
target brand: ShootN-C (31.3% of all
purchases)
Group Hiking Back East
Erica Hengelfelt
In last month’s NEBRASKAland, Tom
Scheimo offered tips about finding
public hiking opportunities in his article
“Hiking with my Friends.” Here are a
few more group hiking opportunities
in the Omaha area available for our
eastern readers.
Backwoods, an outdoor retailer located
in Omaha, hosts “Real Chicks Hike,” an
event exclusively for women, on the
third Saturday of every month.
Participants only pay applicable park
entrance fees. Please visit
backwoods.com/stores-and-events.html
for a current schedule, list of trails and
carpooling information.
In addition, the Omaha Hiking Club
organizes excursions for adults over the
age of 21, and all skill levels are
welcome. For more information regarding
the club and its events, visit
members.cox.net/omahahikingclub/
Schedule.htm.
NEBRASKAland Visitor
Winner and Hint
Last issue’s winner of
the NEBRASKAland
Visitor drawing was
Scott Cooper of Stillwater,
Oklahoma, who found the clouded
plant bug on page 27.
Readers are encouraged to contact
NEBRASKAland within 10 days
after this issue’s publication with the
correct page number and name of
this issue’s “Visitor” – a bug found
in Nebraska that just happened to
find its way onto one of the pages of
our publication.
We will then gather the correct
entries and draw one to win a
NEBRASKAland Magazine mug.
To enter each month, write:
NEBRASKAland Visitor
2200 North 33rd Street,
Lincoln, NE 68503.
Or e-mail:
Tim.Reigert@Nebraska.gov
with “Visitor” in the subject line of
the message.
HINT: This issue’s visitor is not on
page 3, 5, 20, 21, 22, 23, 34, or 35.
Outdoor Heritage Education Complex at Platte River State Park
10 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 11
Not designated the Oglala National
Grassland until 1960, the land was
acquired during the drought and depression
of the 1930s. Its 94,400-acre expanse is a
glimpse of what Nebraska once was.
at a better-than-fair price for the depth
of the Depression – in most cases from
desperate sellers who were going to
lose their ranches. Under this act, land
for the Oglala National Grassland was
acquired and assigned to the National
Forest Service to administer and
manage. The drought of the 1930s, and
unwise use of the land before and during
it, resulted in nearly incomprehensible
erosion of fragile lands and so, in
addition to financially aiding ranchers,
the program was designed to keep
vegetative cover on the land.
Some Great Plains ranchers sold
their land to the government and
moved away. For some it was not only
salvation, it was a good deal. Ranchers
decided what land they would sell to
the government, and in the northwestern
corner of Nebraska it was usually dry
rangeland. The rancher kept the better
adjoining land with creeks and flats
where small fields of alfalfa or other
crops could be grown. After they sold
their land to the federal government,
they rented back their old pastureland
at bargain-basement rates.
It was Land Utilization Project
Number One of the Bankhead-Jones
Farm Tenant Act that created what
would ultimately become the Oglala
National Grassland. The area was
assigned National Grassland status in
1960 and named for the tribe of Sioux
Indians that once lived in the area.
ost who vacation in the
far northwestern corner
of Nebraska spend their
time at places like
Fort Robinson State Park.
Many make daytrips to places like
Toadstool Geologic Park northwest of
Crawford. It is worth the trip – the road
to it is good, and the rugged eroded
M
12 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
badlands there are a miniature version
of the even more rugged badlands of
South Dakota. Visitors who only walk
the trails, snap a few photographs and
then drive back south to civilization,
however, miss the more subtle rawness
and vast expanse of the Oglala National
Grassland just to the north. Spanning
94,400 acres, the Grassland, like the
Sandhills, is a good place to imagine
what Nebraska once was.
The Oglala National Grassland
history is recent, its birth during the
drought and depression of the 1930s
when the market for cattle crashed
because most people could no longer
afford to buy beef for their dinner
tables. Northwestern Nebraska was,
and is, cattle country. During the
Depression there was no market for
beef and so no profit in raising cattle.
Loan payments could not be met and
banks foreclosed on ranches and farms.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
initiated a number of programs – such
as the Civilian Conservation Corps and
the Public Works Administration – to
put the jobless back to work. Under the
Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of
1937, the federal government also
began buying private land, usually land
marginal for farming, or rangeland
abused by overgrazing because of the
drought, in an attempt to keep as many
ranchers as possible afloat. Rangeland
was only purchased from willing sellers
The Grassland’s raw landscape tells
a geologic story of the rise and fall of
the Rocky Mountains, the retreat of an
inland sea and the persistent erosive
power of wind and running water. Just
as the human history of the Oglala
National Grassland is recent, so too is
its geologic history relative to the
history of the Earth.
About 110 to 70 million years ago
during the Cretaceous time – the socalled Age of Reptiles – much of what
today is the North American continent
was under a vast inland sea geologists
call the Western Interior Seaway, which
extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Arctic Ocean. As the Rocky Mountains
began to rise about 38 million years ago,
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 13
erosion began carrying gravel, sand
and silt eastward, sediment that settled
to the bottom of the inland sea, filling
it from west to east.
Another rising of the Earth’s crust
some 75 to 50 million years ago created
the Laramie Mountains of Wyoming, the
Black Hills of South Dakota and the
Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Even while the land was rising, wind,
water and ice again began wearing it
down. New rivers flowed from west to
east across western Nebraska, depositing
sediments that would solidify as shale,
siltstone, sandstone and claystone
formations exposed today in Nebraska’s
Panhandle.
Until about two million years ago
most of Nebraska was grassland, a
savanna not unlike that found in Africa
Montrose Church, a landmark on the grasslands of northwestern Nebraska, was built in 1887 and is still in use today.
Banks and bluffs of red-soiled clays exposed today on the Grassland reflect
the color of ancient soils deposited by wind and running water.
14 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
today, with herds of seemingly
uncountable numbers of grazing
animals, most of which are now extinct.
Ice sheets pushed south, reworking
the surface of the land until about
10,000 years ago, leaving behind a
landscape not significantly different than
that of today. Still newer rivers flowed
from west to east across western
Nebraska, carving out valleys, their
feeder streams cutting down and
exposing long-buried siltstone,
sandstones and shale formations.
Geologists call these deposits, from
oldest and most deeply buried to more
recent and higher, the White River
Group, the Arikaree Group and the
Ogallala Group. This chapter of geologic
history is exposed like an open book at
Scotts Bluff National Monument. In
the little badlands of northwestern
Nebraska and the Oglala Grassland, the
White River Group is exposed, the more
recent deposits once residing above
them having long ago been carried away
by water and wind.
Much of the exposed rock on the
Grassland is whitish, but here and there
are colorful exposures – bluffs and
hillsides of bright red-brown clays,
colors more expected in New Mexico
than Nebraska. The colors of the
exposed White River formation are as
varied as the colors of the ancient,
water-deposited soils from which they
formed. Deposits were fashioned from
particles of all sizes, from microscopic
forming clays to coarser materials.
Running water from ancient rivers
sorted the material by size, the largest
particles falling out first as the stream’s
velocity and slope diminished, and the
finest particles being carried away
downstream to the east. That, though,
does not explain the now exposed beds
of gravel, coarse sand and silt in
relatively close proximity to each
other. The explanation is evident in
today’s prairie rivers, where coarser
material is found in the stream channel,
finer sand to the sides deposited during
high-water flows, and even finer
material deposited on the margins of
the floodplain.
And it is in the White River deposits
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 15
Gumbo-lily, a member of the evening primrose family, might be found in flower from early-May into August, its time
of blossoming seemingly more attuned to available soil moisture than a particular time during the growing season.
where fossils of ancient plains animals
are found – camels, small rhinos, giant
pigs, three-toed horses, saber-toothed
cats and land tortoises with shells up to
two feet long. Removing fossils from
either Toadstool National Monument or
the Oglala Grassland is prohibited. It is
better to see them at the University of
Nebraska Trailside Museum at Fort
Robinson State Park or the State
Museum in Lincoln.
Gumbo, perhaps the slipperiest,
slimiest, gummiest of materials on the
face of the Earth, is abundantly offered
up for inspection after a rainstorm on
16 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
the Grassland. Gumbo soils formed
from the weathering of volcanic ash
deposited over western Nebraska some
10 million years ago. The main roads
through the Grassland, though, are
raised and graveled today, providing
safe passage for car-window geologists.
Precipitation from rain and snow
is sparse in northwestern Nebraska,
averaging about 16 inches a year, so
vegetation suited to dry and infertile
soils claim the Grassland. Most have a
strategy for survival – grow short,
expose little leaf area to drying winds,
send roots deep or wide, or both; and
flower and set seed early in the season
when moisture is usually most abundant.
Botanists call this wonderfully
eroded landscape of raw rock and grass
northwestern mixed-grass prairie. In
Nebraska it is found only in the
drainage basins of Hat Creek and the
White River in Dawes, Sheridan and
Sioux counties. The Grassland’s soils
are poorly drained, silty-clay loams
and clay loams; the dominant grasses
are blue grama, needle-and-thread,
green needlegrass and western wheat
grass. Threadleaf sedge, a grass-like
plant in appearance, is also abundant.
Especially in the Grassland’s western
pastures, several species of sagebrush
are common, along with greasewood
and rabbit-brush – woody shrubs more
common west of Nebraska. The plant
communities reflect the characteristics
of soils and moisture availability, and
how the land has been treated by man
over the last hundred years or so.
Overgrazed or formerly farmed tracts
are often dominated by invasive and
poor-forage plants such as Japanese
brome, cheatgrass, crested wheatgrass
and, as appealing as their sweet scent
is on a dewy summer morning, yellow
and white sweetclovers.
But it is the showy native forbs, the
wildflowers, that most draw the eye on
the Grassland. Most bloom and set seed dice, gambling it is better to risk an
early in the spring while soil moisture is early frost than a spring so short or so
still adequate. Wildflowers, particularly dry they cannot complete flowering,
those drawn to the harsh rocky outcrops, and setting and spreading their seeds.
Among the earliest wildflowers is
have evolved strategies to endure the
the townsendia, a ground-hugging tuft
worst of conditions – infertile soils,
scant water, frigid winters and scalding covered over with daisy-like blossoms,
often early enough they were used to
summer heat with desiccating winds.
Many hunker down close to the ground. decorate pioneer churches at Easter,
hence their better known name, Easter
They conserve moisture by having
daisy. Mountain lily, also called
narrow leaves, often with gray-green
Star-of-Bethlehem or star lily, is even
foliage or minute hairs to reflect the
earlier, often flowering in late-April, its
sun’s rays and maintain humidity,
unopened white blossoms standing like
thereby preserving precious cell
moisture. Some have deep taproots that small candles before spreading into
star-like flowers rising from a whorl of
siphon up subsurface water; others
grass-like leaves. And the procession of
depend on a spreading network of
fibrous roots to
quickly absorb water
from an April or
May cloudburst
before it evaporates.
They are, by and
large, tough plants,
some even toxic
if consumed in
quantity, making
them somewhat
unpalatable to all
but starving
browsers. Their
existence is miserly,
their needs minimal.
Self-taught botanist
Claude A. Barr, in
Jewels of the Plains,
wrote of Hood’s
phlox, a plant found
on the Grassland:
“There it is subject
to all the winds that
blow, to intense
direct and reflected
light, and to all the
heat the rock can
absorb; to whatever
winter cold may
come; to the naked
situation with snow Short-eared owls might be seen on the Oglala Grassland any
cover removed
month of the year. They prefer ungrazed and undisturbed
grasslands and nest on the ground.
by wind; and to a
moisture supply
measured by the capacity of the narrow blossoms continues – Nuttall’s violet,
crevices.” Barr might have added: “And leafy musineon, yellow wild parsley,
plains phlox, alkali milk-vetch, plains
yet it prospers.”
Compared to other parts of the state, prickly pear, draba milk-vetch, sandwort,
miner’s candle, standing milk-vetch,
spring comes late to the Grassland. On
soapweed and many more; some that
May 15 there is still a 70-percent
might be found elsewhere in the state,
chance of a late-spring freeze. But
but many not adapted to compete in
plants are not adverse to rolling the
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 17
more moist prairies to the east.
The flowering of some wildflowers
seems more attuned to adequate soil
moisture than to the calendar, and so
gumbo evening primrose might be
found in flower from May into August.
The abundance and lushness of some
wildflowers almost maps soil moisture.
Prairie buckbean, with its deep yellow,
pea-like blossoms, is sparsely spaced
on dry-soiled sites but gathers in
green, knee-high cool-season grasses –
needle-and-thread, western wheat and
Junegrass.
There are animals found on the
Grassland not found in prairies to the
east – short-horned lizards, desert
cottontails and nesting McCown’s
longspurs. But most of the animal life
of the Oglala Grassland is what would
be expected on a high-quality western
Desert cottontails are likely to be seen on the Grassland. They are slightly smaller in
size than eastern cottontails, are paler in color and have larger ears. Both are
characteristic of cottontails and jackrabbits of more arid regions.
dense patches where soil moisture is
abundant, turning dry washes into
blankets of gold after the runoff of
milky-colored water from spring
downpours has receded.
Others, such as red false mallow,
seem oblivious to soil moisture or
fertility and flower through spring
and summer regardless of how
unpromising their chances, their
only concession being, perhaps, an
adjustment in the lustiness of their
growth or number of flowers. In wet
springs, the Grassland is lush, belying
its true, semi-arid nature, transformed
into a horizon-to-horizon sweep of
18 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
Nebraska grassland. There are buck
pronghorns still tending does, even
though they are heavy with fawns,
mule deer on the uplands, badgers,
white-tailed jackrabbits that might
weigh 10 pounds in their fat season
and black-tailed prairie dogs. Cock
sharp-tailed grouse stomp and drum
the hard ground with their feathered
feet, with tails raised and wings spread,
running parallel along imaginary
boundaries separating their little part
of the lek from that claimed by the
neighboring cock, both hoping they are
the most desirable when hens come
calling to mate. Golden eagles soar
overhead with eyes downturned in
search of rabbits or inattentive young
prairie dogs. Ferruginous hawks, the
largest of North America’s buteos, a
raptor diagnostic of the American west,
nest here.
With perches at a premium – once
no more than a pile of bison dung for
a horned lark – fence posts seem
appreciated by short-eared owls and
long-billed curlews. Upland sandpipers
alight on them, holding their wings
arched over their backs like the
trailing feathers of an Indian headdress,
perhaps out of agitation, perhaps
flashing caution to others of their kind.
Seemingly sedated nighthawks doze
through the daylight hours atop fence
posts, too. Somewhere nearby their
mate is nestled over mottled eggs
resting in gravelly scrapes. Burrowing
owls are on the Grassland, rearing their
young underground in abandoned
prairie dog or badger burrows. And
there are prairie rattlesnakes, most
likely to be seen soaking up the
warmth of gravel or asphalt on roads
at night or in the early morning, much
to their peril. But the vegetation is so
open, the rattlesnakes now so
uncommon and more inclined to
escape man than bite him, they should
not discourage walking the land.
For a parched landscape, storm
clouds rear up with unexpected
frequency in late-spring and summer;
sweeping in under spreading shelves
from the southwest or bubbling up in
towers to the east, racing so quickly
across the land they leave little more
than pockmarks in dust.
It is nearly impossible to walk the
Oglala Grassland without thinking of
the Sioux who once claimed this land.
More than anywhere else it was in
northwestern Nebraska that the Oglala
were subdued, often brutally by a
government far to the east and bent on
westward expansion, the safety of
white settlers, and passage to the gold
fields of southwestern South Dakota.
Sometimes, alone in this vast sweep of
rocky grassland, the wind seems
melancholy, perhaps the lamenting of
those who once knew it so well. ■
Soft rock is exposed everywhere on the
Grassland, and usually sparsely
colonized by plants that have evolved to
subsist in the most spartan of conditions.
The Value of
Vervain
Often seen as a weed, hoary vervain is actually a very
beneficial plant and common native wildflower.
Text and photos by Chris Helzer
H
oary vervain (Verbena stricta) is a common native
wildflower in many Nebraska pastures. Because cattle
won’t eat it and it moves easily into intensively
grazed areas, it’s widely seen as a weed. Its numbers can
swell quickly enough that I usually get several calls a year
from concerned landowners wondering what to do about it.
However, it doesn’t compete well with perennial grasses and
other large prairie plants, and a year or two of lighter grazing
pressure will usually reduce even very large patches of
vervain to a few scattered plants. In other words, while it
may be fair to call it “weedy,” it only acts like a weed when
the vigor of dominant plants in a prairie or pasture is greatly
suppressed. It certainly isn’t threatening to take over the
world.
20 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
In fact, when you look at hoary vervain without bias, it’s
really an attractive plant. More importantly, it’s an incredibly
valuable plant to Nebraska pollinators. Because it’s abundant
across the state, has multiple blossoms on its long flower
heads and blooms for a relatively long time – individual
plants commonly bloom for more than a month – it’s one
of the most widely used pollinator plants in the state. In
fact, in many Nebraska grasslands it appears to almost
single-handedly support the populations of a myriad of
butterfly species through the middle of the summer.
One of the butterfly species that feeds heavily on vervain
in central Nebraska is the regal fritillary – a prairie species
that is extremely rare in much of the tallgrass prairie region
of the U.S., but is still abundant in the eastern one-third of
Nebraska. As a photographer
who is known, at least in part,
for photos of prairie insects,
I’m expected to have lots of
regal fritillary photos, but
Sulphur butterfly
captured by crab spider
even though they’re one of
the more common butterflies
on the prairies I manage for
The Nature Conservancy, my
photo collection of them has
been pitifully small. I set out
to remedy that situation one
July afternoon by heading to
one of our prairies that had a
large patch of hoary vervain.
I knew that a fair number of
regal fritillaries and other
butterflies had been nectaring
in the patch, but I wasn’t
prepared for the staggering
diversity and abundance
of butterflies and other
pollinator insects I saw
during the hour and a half I
spent crawling around a
stand of flowers about the
size of my house.
Female fritillary butterfly feeding on
a hoary vervain blossom
Abundant Subjects
Orange sulphur
A Butterfly Nursery
The numerous regal fritillaries in my patch of vervain were there only partially
because of the flowers themselves – the real draw was the abundance of violets
in that part of the prairie. When tiny regal caterpillars hatch from eggs in the
fall, they crawl through the grass until they either find a violet to feed on (their
sole food source) or they die trying. The caterpillars feed and grow until winter,
at which point they presumably find what shelter they can beneath insulating
layers of grass litter until spring. My patch of hoary vervain was in the middle
of a large section of prairie that had both abundant violets and plenty of thatch –
essentially it was functioning as a nursery for fritillaries. Male fritillaries had
emerged as adults in mid-June, and spent their next several weeks coursing back
and forth over the same portion of prairie, waiting for females to appear – which
usually happens in early July. The males fed very little during those weeks of
waiting, because their most important job was to be the first to find, and mate
with, freshly emerged female fritillaries. Those females had finally started to
appear on the scene the previous week, and the males (and females) were now
starting to feed – although they still chased each other around quite a bit
between flowers.
22 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
I waded into the patch of vervain and
began stalking regal fritillaries on my
knees, camera in hand, and grateful
that the flower patch was far from any
public road where someone I knew
might pass by. Most of the butterflies
left the flower they were feeding on
just as I got within photo range, but
their sheer numbers – and dumb luck –
led to quite a few good photos within
the first half hour. Most of what I saw
were males, ragged-winged and faded
from weeks of patrolling for females
and chasing each other around. Now
and then, however, I’d recognize a
female from its darker wing tips and
more abundant white spots. The most
striking characteristic of the females,
though, was their deep beautiful colors:
Most had emerged from their pupae
only a few days previous and were so
fresh they almost looked wet.
After I started feeling confident that I
had some good fritillary photos, I began
paying attention to other butterflies
using the same patch. The second most
abundant butterfly species was the
orange sulphur which, notwithstanding
their name, are primarily bright yellow
or white butterflies with black markings
on the edges of their wings. Other
species at the party included the
variegated fritillary, the pearl crescent,
and several species of skippers, only
a couple of which I could get near
enough to identify. While butterflies
were the flashiest in color, there were
numerous other pollinators around as
well, mainly bees and flies. One of the
flies was particularly noisy, emitting a
high-pitched buzz like a dentist’s drill
as it hovered before each flower. About
the time my knees and back were
getting tired of photography, I spotted
one more sulphur butterfly that
appeared to be in an odd position on
a flower, and didn’t move as I
approached. When I got close enough
to see it clearly, the reason become
obvious – it was caught by a crab spider
that had been lurking on a vervain
flower, waiting like a crocodile at a
watering hole for one of the abundant
visitors to venture too close. Feeling
good about having captured the whole
circle of life in a vervain patch, I stood
up, stretched my weary legs and back,
and headed for home. ■
Sachem
butterfly
Variegated fritillary
Common
checkered
skipper
Hover fly
Chris Helzer lives
in Aurora and is the
Eastern Nebraska
Program Director
for The Nature
Conservancy. He
has been a
contributor to
NEBRASKAland
since 1994.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 23
Beyond the
Brightly Lit Circle
By Lisa Knopp
n hot summer days I often wait
till sundown before taking my
daily ramble. Besides the
cooler temperatures, there are many
other pleasures in evening walks:
Hummingbird hawk moths sip nectar at
curbside flower beds; moon flowers
unfurl their generous white petals and
fragrance in the dimmer light; and on
cloudless nights I can pick out a swan,
scorpion, lyre, archer, eagle, bears and
dippers in the sky. But best of all, the
bats come out.
I feel a surge of joy and fear whenever
I see bats. What thrills me is knowing
that something usually hidden from me
has suddenly been revealed. The bats
shoot out from their roosts in a flutter,
rising, diving, weaving, hovering,
abruptly changing directions and
disappearing into the darkness of the
trees. Rather than the forward gliding
or undulating motion of birds, bats
move through the air in a more up and
down pattern like that of a swimmer or
a person rowing a boat, so it’s easy to
distinguish them from other night fliers.
What makes me uneasy isn’t the
silly, dangerous stories about bats
attacking people, sucking their blood,
becoming entangled in their hair or
passing rabies through their bites. Nor
is it their canine-like faces and weird,
leathery wings. Nor am I frightened by
our similarities: they’re warm-blooded;
they’re hair-covered; the female gives
birth to one, perhaps two, offspring per
season, which she suckles from her two
(in most species) mammary glands;
they have fleshy lips, 32 teeth, and
four-chambered hearts; the bones in
their wings are like those in my arms
and hands, though the bat’s “fingers”
are greatly elongated and connected by
a soft, elastic membrane.
What unsettles me is also that which
delights me – their hiddeness suddenly
revealed. While I was jumping out of
the way of children racing their bikes
on the sidewalk, these bats, hanging
upside down in trees, chimneys, attics
O
24 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
and eaves, were stirring. As I was
thinking about all that I needed to do
once I arrived home, bats were opening
their bright, black eyes, yawning widely
enough to reveal their pointed teeth,
and stretching their draped and folded
wings until they looked like silk pulled
tight upon the ribs of an open parasol.
Perhaps at the very moment that I was
looking up at the stars, these gentle bats
fell into flight and became airborne,
traveling at speeds of up to 20 or so
miles per hour for little brown bats and
up to 40 or so miles per hour for big
brown bats.
So, it’s with both pleasure and
uneasiness that I watch bats feed on
the wing, using their mouths, the skin
around their tails and their wings to
catch beetles, flies, moths, wasps and
mosquitoes in flight. From beginning
to end, the process of detecting and
locating their prey through ultra-sonic
sounds we humans can’t hear, then
pursuing and capturing the insects,
takes about one second. Each night,
each bat catches thousands of insects,
mostly mosquitoes. Around midnight
the bats return to their roosts; before
dawn, they emerge once more to hunt
and feed.
We could live our entire lives without
ever seeing or thinking about bats. If
we observe indirect evidence of their
presence – say if we find dark brown
stains flecked with shiny, undigested
bits of insect legs, wings and shells
beneath the eaves or in the attic; if we
hear squeaks, clicks and chirps coming
from overhead places; if we notice that
the cat seems more alert than usual
around dusk – we ignore or explain it
away. But then one evening, we lift our
eyes in time to see dozens of bats
emerging from our trees or spiraling
out of the neighbor’s chimney or that
broken window in our attic, just-loosed
secrets, flapping, hunting, echolocating
just above our heads. Were the bats
really there all along?
Early one spring morning when I
wheeled my garbage can to the end of
the driveway, I noticed a dark, gray
mound attached to the side of a curb.
Like spiders, snakes and other creatures
that carry a heavy burden of folklore,
superstition and misinformation, bats
frighten me only if they take me by
surprise. When I saw that this
protuberance was a bat, I gasped; then
bent down for a closer look. The creature
had silvery fur and was compact
enough that it would have fit nicely in
my cupped palm. Perhaps it was a
hoary bat, a tree-dweller. Perhaps during
the night, it had been washed out of the
pin oak by the heavy rains. From
photographs I’d seen of this bat, I knew
that its gray-brown fur is white-tipped
(“frosty”); that it has short, round ears
edged in black; a blunt nose; a ruff of
fur around its neck; and a yellow patch
on its throat. But in the dim, early
morning light and without my reading
glasses, I couldn’t make out the features
that would have identified this frosty
lump. Perhaps as I squinted to see the
bat, it was trying to discern my
identifying features – large eyes with
blue irises; a prominent nose with an
elongated tip; lobed ears; four limbs;
short and extremely dextrous, unwebbed
fingers. This bat and the several others
that I’ve found in the light of day on
sidewalks, in a shopping mall parking
lot, near the stadium on the UN-L
campus, and beneath front yard trees,
as well as the countless bats I’ve
watched zigzagging overhead, leave me
wondering what else I might see if I
look beyond the brightly lit circle
where I carry on most of my life. ■
Lisa Knopp is an
award-winning American
essayist and author of
introspective short stories,
essays and creative
nonfiction. She teaches
creative nonfiction at
UN-O and has been contributing to
NEBRASKAland since 1992.
ENTERTAINMENT WAS ONCE MOSTLY
HOMEMADE – AND PROBABLY BETTER
By Jon Farrar
W
mostly homemade, and there is probably
no better example of that than Fourth
of July celebrations, probably the
biggest social celebration of the year
in many small towns. Looking back,
celebrating the Fourth seemed more
about the origin of the holiday and
having fun a hundred years ago.
“Next Monday is Independence Day
and it will be the occasion of
unprecedented joy and patriotic
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RG3542-PH-103-2
hile not universally true
everything was better in
the old days – think about
laundry day – life did seem
to move at a more measured
and sane pace. And people were more
self-sufficient, providing for themselves.
Today, for example, entertainment is
packaged and provided – you show up,
pay your money and the entertainment
is forthcoming. Entertainment was once
Patriotic dress could be as little as a stars-and-stripes cap, or as much as a full skirt
with an American flag pattern. Having fun was the mission of celebrating the Fourth.
26 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RG3198-PH-22-6
OLD-TIME
FOURTHOFJULY
expression,” the Northern Nebraska
Journal reported in its June 30, 1898
edition. “In Ponca, if the weather is
favorable, an immense crowd promises
to be on hand to help make every feature
of the day a signal success. Let no one
stay away, but let all sidetrack work
and cares for the time and come with
their children to Ponca and mingle with
the pleasures of a splendid celebration
and thus properly remember a most
glorious event.”
“The weather was perfect on July 4th
– neither too warm nor too cold, with no
rain, wind or dust to mar the physical
pleasure of humanity,” the same
newspaper reported three days after the
celebration. “On that day Ponca was
the center of attraction in the county
and here people gathered from near
and far to celebrate the birth of our
independence. They began arriving
early in the morning and by the time
the procession formed at 10 o’clock,
Third street presented a surging,
animated mass. The profusion of
national colors met the gaze on every
hand and the spirit of patriotic joy
pervaded the atmosphere.
“The procession, headed by a gaily
decorated steam engine and comprising
a float loaded with young ladies
representing the states and comprising
the bicycle brigade and other attractive
features, came down Third street
promptly at the appointed time and
was followed to the grove by a great
concourse of people.”
The origin of the Independence Day
celebration was always in the forefront
in years gone by. The Ponca parade
described above, for example, was
followed by a program where the
speaker “made an address that was
intensely patriotic” and reviewed
“American’s achievements and
eulogizing America and her institutions,”
devoting “liberal attention to the
righteous and humane war now being
waged against Spanish tyranny.”
A basket dinner followed the morning
proceeding, followed by a balloon
ascension by a Prof. Winteringer who
went up “several hundred feet and then
soared to the northwest and made a
very successful parachute leap.” Games
and other competitions followed – a
Decorating the William
Jennings Bryan house in
Lincoln for the Fourth of
July. Date unknown.
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RG3347-PH-10-32
Small town parades were homegrown, such as this one in Snyder, composed of whatever could be mustered to walk, march
or trot. Marching bands, military and fraternal organizations and children on decorated bicycles were standard fare.
28 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
City Tribune reported, the celebration
was much improved: “If a noisy Fourth
signifies a good one, then there is not a
town on the map that surpassed Falls
City this year. The noise began early and
lasted til late – or early. There was an
immense crowd all day, large numbers
coming from surrounding towns.... The
intense heat had no effect when it came
to smothering Patriotic enthusiasm and
the crowds seemed inclined to celebrate
to the fullest extent. There were few
accidents considering the quantity of
explosives used during the day and
evening.”
Most small-town Fourth of July
celebrations included baseball games
and those in ranch country often had
rodeos. Races were popular – everything
from horse, auto, foot, sack and
wheelbarrow to spoon-and-egg races. A
greased pole or greased pig contest was
common, and some celebrations included
ladies’ nail driving contests as well as
“throwing the hammer” and “catching
the guinea hen.” Prizes or purse money
were frequently awarded. Neighboring
town volunteer fire departments would
square off in water fights where the
objective was to drive the opposing
team back across a line. Anvil firings
were popular, as all that was required
were two blacksmith anvils and some
black powder. One anvil was placed
upside-down on the ground as the
launching pad, its concave base filled
with black powder. A fuse was laid to
the powder and the second anvil gingerly
placed atop the other. When the
burning fuse reached the black powder
the top anvil was projected into the air,
often several hundred feet.
Patriotic, moral, educational and
religious oratory was standard early
day Fourth of July fare; and the
Declaration of Independence was
typically read aloud by a local man with
a booming voice, followed by choral
renditions of America the Beautiful,
God Bless America, the Star Spangled
Banner, You’re a Grand Old Flag or
Yankee Doodle. If a nearby theatrical
group was available, the celebration
often included plays and productions.
In addition to the expected fireworks,
Independence Day evenings were
typically filled with dancing, either in
local dancehalls or “on the green” with
music provided by local bands and
orchestras.
pools of water from great heights. In
1918, the town of Oakdale featured
“Burk’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company,”
billed as “A Mammoth Amusement
Enterprise – Under a Palace Pavilion
Theater” that included not only a
“Grand Spectacular Production” but
also “The Big Two Car City Show”
along with a concert band and symphony
orchestra.
Many small town celebrations began
with parades composed of whatever
could be mustered to walk, march or
trot. Marching bands composed of high
school music students were standard.
And there were military and fraternal
organizations, children with decorated
bicycles, a string of men and women
on horses led by a grand marshal,
automobiles (particularly when they were
still a novelty), local fire departments
with their equipment, and floats on
horse-drawn wagons decorated with
streamers and flowers with riders dressed
in patriotic costumes such as a pretty
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RG3335-PH-2-9
clay-bird shooting contest, a bicycle
race from Newcastle to Ponca, judging
of the “best trimmed” boys’ and girls’
bicycles, foot races, boys’ wrestling
matches, and egg and barrel races.
Not all small-town Fourth events
were as well planned as Ponca’s.
“Sometimes it is hard to speak the
truth and describe things as they really
were,” the Falls City Tribune reported
in its July 7, 1905 edition, “and still, if
the truth be adhered to, it must be said
that the celebration was not all that it
should have been. The trouble seemed
to lie in a lack of organization and of
the preliminary work necessary to
make it one continual round of pleasure.
Instead of something doing every
moment of the day, as there should have
been, there was something doing only
once in a while and the crowd spent
most of the day wandering up and
down the street amusing themselves as
best they could.” The article continued:
“Everybody looked forward to a display
of fireworks in the evening but the
crowd was forced to be satisfied with
watching the numerous private displays
in the different parts of the town.”
By the Fourth of July 1907, the Falls
Patriotism ran particularly high at
Fourth celebrations when the United
States was at war. The Oakdale Sentinel
ran a large display advertisement for the
National War Savings Committee in
its June 21, 1918 edition, tying the
celebration of Independence Day to the
World War I effort: “Will you greet the
Fourth of July with a free conscience?
Or will you spend the Fourth in shamefaced guilt.” The plea for patriotism
continued: “The pride of American
citizenship is no longer cheap. A new
hour has struck. The crash of war has
ground all semblance of cheapness out
of being an American. It is now a dearbought honor. You must pay.” Readers
were encouraged to respond to a “higher,
more chivalric summons” and pledge to
purchase War Savings Stamps.
Larger towns were able to attract
staged events for which an admission
was charged or sponsored by the
town merchants, such as carnivals,
barnstormers or men diving into small
In the early-1900s, floats were mostly horse-drawn wagons decorated with streamers and flags such as above
from Custer County. Pretty young women often rode the float, sometimes in patriotic costumes such as the Goddess of Liberty.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 29
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RG2407-PH-1-17
In some small towns, merchants passed the hat to bring in entertainment, such as this high-dive into a small tank of water
at Osceola. Carnivals, barnstormers, theatrical productions, fireworks displays and balloon ascensions were common.
young woman in a Goddess of Liberty
outfit. In small towns with only a few
streets the parade often passed along all
of them so spectators sitting on porches
could enjoy it, and finished with a
second passing down the main street.
“Thedford has at last succeeded in
having a great big booming celebration,”
the Thomas County Herald reported in
its July 8, 1915 edition. “Not only
Thedford, but Seneca, Mullen, Halsey,
and Dunning celebrated with her. The
parade formed immediately after the
train pulled out, and marched through
the main thoroughfares of our thriving
little city. The most noticeable feature
of the parade was the number of
prominent young ladies in our town
who, decorated for the occasion,
marched behind the band almost at the
head of the procession. These young
ladies immediately formed on the court
30 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
house square, for the flag drill, with
which they treated us.”
The Fourth of July celebration at the
small town of Brownlee was even bigger
and better according to the Thomas
County Herald’s July 6, 1916 account
and drew many celebrants from
Thedford.
“There were probably two or three
carloads of Seneca people, but Thedford
went the limit and every car that could
be pressed into service carried the
patriots to the front. The big event
that everybody wanted to see was the
ballgame between Thedford and
Brownlee.” The newspaper reported
that “besides a local contingent of
horseback riders and teams hitched to
buggies and wagons, there were in the
neighborhood of six hundred people,
from longer or shorter distances in autos
and Fords. It was estimated that there
were right at a hundred cars ranged up
in battle line to witness the sports.”
Nebraska voters adopted the
prohibition of alcoholic beverages in
1916 but it did not become law until
May 1917, and national prohibition
was not ratified by Congress until
1919. Still, attempts to curb its abuse at
such celebrations were well along. The
Thomas County Herald reported that at
the 1916 celebration at Brownlee:
“It was worthy of remark that,
notwithstanding the large crowd, the
behavior was first class. Barney
McGuire acting as marshal of the day
put a bar on the cup that inebriates and
on other Kindred activities.” The
Thomas County Herald 1917 promotion
of the Fourth events to be held in
Thedford noted: “Bring your dinners
and enjoy the day in Thedford, we have
plenty of shade and now that Nebraska
is dry we will see that you have plenty
of good cool water to drink.”
Those preferring more sedate
celebrations did so. The same edition
of the Thomas County Herald reported:
“A party of about thirty spent the Fourth
in Archie Warner’s grove on the Dismal
[River]. After a sumptuous dinner was
served, over an hours program was
given. Different sports were indulged in
and about 7:30 in the evening the
merry folks departed for their several
homes. Everyone reports a fine time.”
The Falls City Tribune, July 7, 1905,
noted neighborhood gatherings: “One
of the most enjoyable of the private
celebrations of the Fourth was held at
the home of Chas. Heineman on North
Chase street. The parents and children
residing for several blocks around
gathered at the Heineman home in the
evening for the purpose of witnessing a
very elaborate display of fireworks.
Rev. Cronenberger of the Christian
church was present and prior to the
display addressed the company, referring
in a pleasing nature of the occasion and
addressing his remarks especially to the
children present. Then, Mr. Heineman,
J.F. Whetstine and Charlie Hargrave
took charge of the program and delighted
all with a profusion of sky-rockets,
Roman candles, pin wheels and other
pyrotechnic devices, to the great
delight of everyone.”
With the near constant barrage of
fireworks, the Fourth of July and days
preceding it were days of terror for
horses and dogs. While adults were
satisfied with nighttime aerial displays,
young boys wanted noise. Fireworks
were available everywhere, with few, if
any, restrictions on type or their use.
The most commonly advertised were
sparklers, firecrackers, torpedoes (small
firecrackers that explode when thrown
against hard objects), rockets, Roman
candles and pinwheels. The June 28,
1917, Thomas County Herald published
a patriotic illustration of a boy stretching
out to light an enormous aerial bomb
with a young girl behind holding her
ears with the following poem:
The dawn of the Fourth – the old
annual story –
The nervous man’s dread and the
small boy’s glory.
The east is yet gray when all the land
rumbles,
And the small cannon pops and the
big cannon grumbles.
And the torrid sun creeps through a
blue haze of powder,
And the torpedoes snap and the
cannons boom louder –
On the Fourth of July – The old
fashioned Fourth of July.
Not unexpectedly there were accidents:
“The celebration at Newport ended in
something bordering on a disaster,” the
Stuart Ledger reported in its July 5,
1901, edition. “The fireworks were sent
up from the band stand on Main Street
and was managed by C. P. Wiltse and
Bat Menney. In some way the entire
box got set on fire and exploded in the
box. The explosion was terrifying and
In Nebraska’s cattle country, there was typically a horse parade, often led by a grand
marshal and marshalette, as in this photo from Hyannis in about 1907.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 31
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RG3542-PH-103-1
Two young ladies from central Nebraska
appropriately dressed to celebrate the Fourth
and wow the young men.
32 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
the sound awful. Mr. Wiltse fell in a
faint from the stand and was not
revived for two hours. A rocket struck
Will Layne, a bystander, injuring him
seriously. He will probably die. Miss
Brant was hit on the arm by a rocket
and another lady slightly injured. The
bunting [cloth drapery or streamers
simulating the American flag] caught
fire, and the stand was burned; with
difficulty the Smith Bros. establishment
and Al Willerling’s store were saved
from the flames.”
The McCook Daily Gazette reported
in its July 6, 1936, edition there were
408 deaths in the United States during
that year’s Independence Day holiday.
Only seven fatalities reported were
related to fireworks. More than half
of the deaths were the result of
automobile accidents and 111 were
drownings. But injuries and deaths
related to fireworks made more
spectacular headlines, as the “...lighted
firecracker thrown by a little girl into
some oil rags in a garage” in Remsen,
Iowa that caused a $1 million fire. And
there were accidents of a nature that
were tragic only to young boys, such
as the carelessly thrown firecracker
that landed in a bushel basket of
firecrackers, setting off the whole day’s
supply in minutes.
Local businessmen typically offered
Fourth of July specials to lure customers
from farms and smaller neighboring
towns. The White House Grocery in
McCook, for example, advertised the
following specials in 1936: A onepound bag of marshmallows for 15
cents, cans of tuna fish two for 35
cents, ripe olives in jumbo pint tins at
two for 39 cents, and Maxwell House
coffee at 53 cents for two pounds. The
competing Safeway countered by
offering a pound of Hills Brothers
coffee for 28 cents a pound, two pounds
of brown sugar for 12 cents, two
pounds of peanut butter for 23 cents,
and “fresh ground 100% pure” ground
beef for 25 cents for two pounds.
Independence Day celebrants in
Superior could buy six rolls of toilet
tissue for 25 cents or a pound can of
Van Camps pork and beans for a nickel.
Fourth specials in Superior in 1936
included one pound of “grasshopper
YOUR FLAG AND MY FLAG
By Wilbur D. Nesbit, Thomas County Herald, June 29, 1916
Your Flag and my Flag! And oh, how much it holds –
Your land and my land – secure within its folds!
Your heart and my heart beat quicker at the sight;
Sun-kissed and wind-tossed, red and blue and white.
The one Flag – the great Flag – the Flag for me and you –
Glorifies all else beside – the red and white and blue!
Your Flag and my Flag! And how it flies today
In your land and my land and half a world away!
Rose-red and blood-red the stripes forever gleam;
Sky-blue and true blue, with stars to gleam aright
The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night.
Your Flag and my Flag! To every star and stripe
The drums beat as hearts beat and fifers shrilly pipe!
Your Flag and my Flag – a blessing in the sky;
Your hope and my hope – It never hid a lie!
Home land and far land and half the world around,
Old Glory hears our glad salute and ripples to the sound!
poison arsenic” for eight cents at
Fisher’s Drug Store. At the Hested
Store men’s cotton socks were only a
nickel a pair. The Ben Hill store was
selling Fritz overalls, limit two to a
customer, for only 95 cents, marked
down from $1.10. Lyman’s, which
gave Red Stamps with purchases, sold
a pair of woman’s silk, knee-length
hose for only 25 cents or “wash silk
and crepe dresses for $3.95. “Superior
merchants are offering bargains that
will make it worth your while to be
here early,” the Superior Express noted
in its July 2, 1936 edition, a paper
packed full of local advertising. As the
Fourth fell on Saturday, merchants will
“remain open as long on Friday
evening as the people wish to stay and
will be closed all day the Fourth.”
Feeding the throng drawn to towns
for the celebration was often a way for
local clubs and organizations to raise
money. Box lunches were sold by
ladies aid clubs in some towns, and in
others there were sit-down dinners. The
Brownville Advertiser of July 11, 1857
reported: “The celebration of the
Fourth at our sister town Nemaha City
was a grand affair – we say without
hesitation it was the most magnificent
affair of the kind we ever attended. The
table was four hundred feet long, and
perfectly groaned beneath the weight
of eatables placed thereon. There were
over two thousand persons present, and
after all were abundantly fed, there was
yet ‘enough and to spare.’”
There is, of course, no turning back
the clock to those more charmingly
idyllic days of watching a blacksmith’s
anvil being blown into the heavens or
cheering on youngsters in egg-in-spoon
races. One has to wonder if a small town
was to recreate a good old fashioned
Fourth of July, how could it not become
an overnight sensation, drawing hundreds
of visitors every year. Grandparents
would take their grandchildren to show
them how things used to be on
Independence Day. But, in the end, that
would just be a quaint version of how
most entertainment is today – packaged
and provided. ■
Editor’s Note: Appreciation is
extended to Linda Hein at the Nebraska
State Historical Society for locating
the photographs used in this article.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 33
The cornfield was the place she
wanted to be, where the corn was
higher than her head, maybe even
higher than her father's head, where
she imagined she could vanish into the
narrow path between the rows. Katie
thought of the leaves of corn flapping
under the sun and against her face,
arms and outstretched hands. She
wanted to be there, alone, surrounded
by the sweet smell of dirt and
vegetables. She imagined the quietness,
except for the shush of the wind and
the sound of the corn inhaling and
exhaling. If only the rows were endless,
if only she could walk away from the
rest of them, if only they would never
find her. If only.
Instead, Katie sat pressed against the
passenger door, feeling exposed and
vulnerable in the intimate space of her
father's truck. It was early morning but
humid, and her jeans stuck to her
thighs. She stared down at her shoes,
grass-stained and muddy. Empty
bottles of Miller Lite rolled around and
clinked on the truck floor as her father
drove. The bottles and sound of her
father's voice irritated her, both slicing
through her thoughts.
“This is the worst damn drought I’ve
ever seen,” her father said.
34 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
"Mmm." Katie didn't take her eyes off
her shoes.
"What?"
"I said 'yep.'"
"Nebraska is a raisin and all she can
say is 'yep.'" Her father snorted.
"I know it's bad." Katie kept her voice
even, unexcited, trying to avoid a fight.
That morning, her father had taken
one look at Katie in her worn jeans,
long-sleeves and thick socks – even
though it was already hot enough for
the wall air-conditioning unit to begin
klinkity-klanking as it ground to life –
and said, "It's about time you started
smartening up."
She had not been so smart her first
day of detasseling, almost a full month
ago, when she arrived home with tictac-toe scratches on her arms, legs
and face from the dry edges of
corn leaves. Later patches of
sunburn magnified the cuts,
making
her
skin raw.
Katie's father pulled up next to a
school bus. "You can get out now."
Katie slid out of the truck, knocking a
beer bottle onto the gravel road. "Just
leave it."
Katie closed the door on his bloodshot gaze. The beer bottle crunched
under a tire as her father drove off.
Hers was not like the families that
played board games on TV commercials.
She felt relief when she climbed into
the bus and slid into an empty seat
near the front. Outside the world was
brown and dry, a seemingly treeless
terrain full of ditches and
abandoned farm houses. Her
father had said that
summer was
like living
on the
sun. When the bus arrived at the farm,
Katie grabbed her frozen milk jug of
water and her cooler with bologna
sandwiches. She was glad to be near
the field – she'd come to life walking
down the long rows of corn, pulling
the center of the dewy tassel in one
swift motion towards the sky. There
was order to it; each plant aligned with
the next in something like harmony.
The rows of corn would surround her
so that she couldn’t see her high school
classmates, the dusty school bus with
the faded words Springfield
Mustangs on the
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 35
side, or the farmhouse. The only thing
she saw then was the silky shimmer of
the corn cob, nestled in each stalk, alone
in its shroud. She tried to imagine the
farmer and his wife waiting inside,
facing their inevitable financial ruin
and cursing the rain that never came,
even after the town’s pious praying.
“You’re not scared of a little hopper,
are you?” A boy from her class threw
a grasshopper at her as he strolled
toward the field. It was one of the few
times he had spoken to her.
Katie yelped and brushed the brown
grasshopper off. She hated grasshoppers
and the way they fluttered their two
back legs when they were airborne.
She had told her father she feared the
insects, but he usually drove with both
windows down on the long dirt road
that led to their home anyway. The
hoppers would fly through the window,
landing on her skin, sticking to her or
propelling off. She would slide off her
sandals and swat at them, pleading for
her father to roll up his window. He’d
36 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
told her, “God doesn’t love a sissy.”
When they had finally gotten home
that day, her father had made her help
him wash the truck. The windshield
was covered with dead grasshoppers.
It had been his idea, then, for her to
detassel – to toughen her up and help
her make friends.
Even before Katie approached the
field, she could see it was infested with
hoppers. Although her crew had been
told about the effects of the drought,
she hadn’t seen much of them in her
first week of detasseling. Just sickly
looking cornstalks and rows muddy
from desperate irrigation. This field
was worse, much worse. The leaves of
the plants bent down in defeat. They
were ravaged with brown spots and
holes; yet the tassels still pulsed green,
vibrant life, shooting up in defiance.
She took her first step into the rows.
Hoppers thumped against her arm and
pant leg as they jumped from the corn
leaves to the ground. She took another
step into the field. She grabbed the first
silky tassel and
felt her muscles
grow taut. The
hoppers made a
sound like when
her father would
make an “O” out
of his middle
finger and thumb
and flick a bug
off the kitchen
table. They
flicked against
her. Katie froze as
she felt one land
on her shoulder,
then her leg, her
arm, her chest.
The grasshoppers were a kaleidoscope
of colors, some green, some yellow,
some orange with flecks of gold and
black. Their small, black dome eyes
reminded her of aliens. As if from the
sky, they seemed to descend upon her.
Katie wondered if the hoppers left tiny
prints on her body, like insect footprints.
She felt the small moment of vibration
before they cast themselves off of her.
She hated the way they came at her
instead of jumping the other way – like
they were unafraid. For one horrible
moment, she remembered the pictures
of grasshoppers magnified in her
biology book – with names like
Redlegged, Spur-throated and Slantfaced, they sounded like gangsters. She
had paid extra attention to the hopper
named Two-striped – a Nebraska native.
It both scared and fascinated her.
She was vaguely aware that her crew
was moving away from her, walking
effortlessly through the fields, tossing
female tassels onto the ground in their
wake. She could hear a boy singing,
but his voice sounded as if it was
underwater. She shut her eyes. She saw
her father’s face, remembered how
excited he had been when she hadn’t
given up detasseling, even when her
hands grew blistered and raw from the
friction of her work gloves. She had
loathed him then and his sweaty grin.
She heard the corn inhale and then
become silent. It was holding its breath
for her. In one violent movement, she
shook the hoppers free. She took a step
forward, watched the grasshoppers
scatter, and disappeared into the middle
of the morning. ■
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 37
Opens with a Bang
Text and Photos by Eric Fowler
evin McCarville had shot a
BB gun a few years ago and
an airsoft gun more recently,
but that was the extent of the
Omaha teen’s shooting experience until
this year’s Memorial Day weekend,
when he shot a .22-caliber rifle for the
first time at the new Outdoor Heritage
Education Complex at Platte River
State Park (SP) near Lousiville
His first try at rifle shooting didn’t
start out very well. “I’m not accurate,”
he said, somewhat dejected after placing
shots everywhere but the bulls-eye, and
some even off the paper, during his first
round of shooting.
But McCarville’s experience didn’t
end on that sour note. With another
ammunition clip in hand and trading a
rifle equipped with a red-dot scope for
one with a 4-power scope, he sat back
down at the bench next to Rob Renner,
one of several park employees who
have been certified as Range Safety
Officers. After a few words of advice
from Renner, McCarville was soon
placing shots in the 10-ring and just
outside it, leaving both student and
teacher smiling.
“That was fun,” he said.
McCarville was at the range with his
dad, Steve, and friend, Ben Martin. Ben
had shot before and has aspirations of
hunting someday. Steve had hunted
when he was growing up, but hadn’t
shot a rifle for 20 years or so. But after
a few shots, he was already talking
about coming back to the shooting
range, and not just when they are staying
at the park. He even talked of buying a
.22 that he and his son can start shooting
together. “We’ll come back,” he said.
Sparking that kind of interest among
the nearly one million Nebraskans who
live within 40 miles of Platte River SP
is exactly why the Outdoor Heritage
Education Complex was built. And
K
40 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
there was plenty of interest in the range
shown on Memorial Day weekend, the
first time it was open to the general
public. And just as it had for all the
education events it hosted since work
was completed in April, the range drew
rave reviews from kids young and old,
who used adjectives like fun, great,
cool, awesome and “sweet” to describe
it.
THE NEBRASKA GAME AND
PARKS COMMISSION and others
have launched a multitude of programs
in recent years to introduce people to
the shooting sports. Logistics, however,
have often made it a challenge to
include much shooting in those
programs, and participants often lack a
place to refine their skills once class is
dismissed.
That hurdle has now been lowered
thanks to the Outdoor Heritage
Education Complex, which features
indoor air-rifle and outdoor small-bore
firearm and archery ranges. By fall it
will also include a shotgun range,
making the complex a showcase
classroom for Commission educators
and volunteers eager to pass their
knowledge on to the next generation
of hunters and shooters.
The complex hosted hundreds of
people the first day it opened in April,
when fourth- and fifth-grade students
from across eastern Nebraska were at
the park for an Outdoor Discovery
Program. Hunter Education classes,
Beyond BOW, First Shots and
Becoming an Outdoors Family
workshops have since been held at the
complex, and many more are scheduled
throughout the year.
The complex offers something for
shooters of nearly every age, starting
with its indoor, 10-meter air-gun range,
which has several unique features.
Kevin McCarville of Omaha smiles after hitting a bulls-eye with help from Ron Renner, a range safety officer at the Outdoor Heritage
Education Complex at Platte River State Park on Memorial Day weekend.
There are five shooting stations for
each of its two sections: One side is
designed for plinking and features
interactive targets, the other is used for
target shooting, with custom, automated
target holders designed by Commission
operations and engineering staff that
can be adjusted to the proper height for
standing, seated and prone shooting
positions.
On both sides of the air-gun range,
four of the shooting benches are
shelves that can be adjusted to match
the height of the shooter. A fifth
bench is wheelchair-accessible and
electronically adjustable for height.
Ballistic curtains are hung from the
wall and ceiling to stop pellets rather
than using a pellet trap. Garage doors
will provide ventilation during the
summer, but during the winter a
ventilation system will filter from the
air the small amount of lead that is
emitted by the pellet guns.
Commission staff worked with the
Crossman company, a world leader in
air-gun manufacturing, to design a
system that allows the Crossman 1077
air rifles to be hooked up to a central
CO2 tank instead of individual
cartridges.
“It’s really slick. All you do is load
them with pellets and pull the trigger.
It’s very easy and very safe,” said Jeff
Rawlinson, head of the Commission’s
Outdoor Education programs. “The
indoor air-gun range is probably one of
the nicest in the Midwest.
Safety was also paramount in the
design of the 60-yard small-bore and
archery ranges. Forty-foot-high earthen
berms provide a backstop on both
ranges and also sit on either side of
and between them. Range design
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 41
standards only call for 20-foot-high
backstops, with 8- to 10-foot-high
berms on the sides.
On the 10-bench small-bore range,
baffles create a “no blue sky” situation
that makes it virtually impossible to
fire a bullet out of the range from the
shooting benches. To escape the range,
any errant bullet would have to
penetrate three inches of wood backed
by two layers of kevlar-reinforced
rubber belting. In testing, the design
stopped both .30-06 rifle and
.44 magnum pistol loads at near
point-blank range, performing as well
as other common designs made with
gravel and metal, but at a fraction
of the cost. The instruction and
supervision at the range provided by
Commission staff at all times, with
emphasis on safe firearm handling, will
in itself reduce the likelihood of an
errant shot even hitting the baffles.
In addition, the height of the berms,
baffles and trees left standing behind
the range will all buffer sound, helping
to keep the park quiet.
A unique aspect of the archery range,
which has room for 14 shooters on the
line, is its enclosed, 16-foot-tall shooting
tower. “You’re going to be able to
shoot those angles to the ground at
15, 20, 30 or 40 yards and be able to
see what your equipment can do just as
if you were hunting from a tree stand,”
said Rawlinson. “It’s going to be a lot
of fun for a lot of archers.”
Both the archery and small-bore
target stands are built on skids,
allowing them to be easily set at the
appropriate range for the desired
audience. Small-bore targets can be set
on pads at 10, 25 and 50 yards, and
archery targets can be set at any range
from seven yards for beginning youth
programs to 60 yards for experts. The
range also has 3-D archery targets.
A 5-station, single trap shotgun range
is under construction and expected to
be completed by fall.
While it is still being finalized, the
schedule at the range will be set so
some days and times are reserved for
education programming and some for
open public shooting. A nominal fee
will be charged to use the range. That
will include use of bows, .22 rifles,
airguns and shotguns (when that range
opens), as well as any ammunition
needed. While there may be
opportunities to do so in the future,
individuals are not allowed to bring
their own firearms to the range, except
during education programs where it is
an option.
While the firearm range is fully
capable of handling muzzleloading
and high-powered rifles and handguns,
the use of those weapons there will
be limited to special educational
programming only and not to open
shooting.
“We’re just going to start small and
move our way up,” said Christy
Christiansen, the outdoor education
specialist with the Commission who
will be conducting many of the
programs at the center.
The shooting complex addresses
several needs identified in the
Commissions’ Recruitment
Development and Retention (RDR)
plan, including the fact that more
public shooting ranges and more
educational programs are needed.
Completed in 2008, the RDR plan
will guide the Commission’s efforts to
attract and retain hunters and anglers for
the next 20 years. With participation in
both sports slipping in recent years,
doing so is vital to the mission of the
Commission, because permit fees and
excise taxes paid by hunters and
Rod Badberg of Lincoln watches as his grandson, Taylor, of Damiansville, Illinois, shoot a pellet rifle in the indoor air-rifle range.
42 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
Sterling Reeves of Louisville shoots from the 16-foot-tall tower at the complex’s archery range.
anglers fund the majority of fish and
wildlife conservation work done in
Nebraska and throughout the nation.
The shooting range is but one aspect
of a grander plan in place to make
outdoor education a centerpiece of
Platte River SP. Planning is underway
for angler access and aquatic habitat
improvements at Jenny Newman Lake
that will benefit both fish and anglers.
Plans are also being developed to build
a canoe launch on Decker Creek that
will allow people to make a short
paddle down the creek, under the
Burlington Northern Railroad tracks
and into the Platte River and then head
downstream to the Commission’s boat
launch at the Highway 50 bridge north
of Louisville or, if the river channel
shifts, at Louisville State Recreation
Area on the river’s south bank. Like the
range, these improvements will benefit
both park visitors and individuals
participating in education programs.
The $162,000 shooting range and the
work to come was made possible by an
anonymous donation to the Nebraska
Game and Parks Foundation.
Jim Swenson, east regional parks
manager with the Commission, said the
education complex is the logical next
step to follow programs like Ponca
State Park’s Missouri River Outdoor
Expo, the Outdoor Discovery Program
held in three locations across the state,
Becoming an Outdoors Woman, and
others that introduce people to outdoor
skills. “When they get a taste for it,
they want to do it more, but there are
really not a lot of places for them to
go,” Swenson said. “So developing
shooting ranges is the next step in the
program. Now they’ve got an area
where they can actually go and practice
those talents and develop those skills,
which will hopefully lead them to
the outdoors to be permit buyers and
successful hunters and fishermen.”
That very well may happen with the
McCarvilles. For others with a hunting
background, its another activity to take
in while visiting the park. “It’s a nice
safe shooting environment, so you
can’t beat that,” said Kris Phillips of
Palmyra, who visited the range with his
wife and three sons while staying at the
park Memorial Weekend.
“Yea, this is fun,” said Lisa Phillips. ■
Outdoor Heritage
Education Complex
For hours of operation:
• Visit the Education page of
the Commission’s web site
at OutdoorNebraska.org
• E-mail the park at
NGPC.Platte.River@Outdoor
Nebraska.org
• Call the park at
(402) 234-2217
Activities and Cost:
• Pellet Gun: $3 per person
for 6 rounds of 12
• Archery: $3 per person for
30 minutes
• .22-caliber rimfire rifle: $3
per person for 2 rounds of
25 (participants must be 8
years old or older to use the
rimfire range).
Firearms, ammunition and
archery equipment are provided.
Visitors can bring their own
archery equipment, but no
personal firearms are allowed
except during designated
outdoor education classes.
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 43
Earn-A-Buck Expands
Deer regulations continue to target antlerless whitetails.
By Eric Fowler
trial run at Earn-A-Buck
regulations in the Elkhorn and
Wahoo management units in
eastern Nebraska went so well
in 2010 that it is being expanded
to the Blue Northwest, Blue Southeast
and Missouri units this year.
That change is one of a handful of
new deer regulations approved by the
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
in May, changes intended to increase
harvest pressure on antlerless whitetails
in eastern Nebraska and throughout
much of the state while protecting mule
deer in some areas.
Earn-A-Buck requires hunters to
check in an antlerless deer before they
can check in a buck. Antlerless
whitetail harvest more than doubled
in both the Elkhorn and Wahoo units
during the November firearm season
last year, and harvest was up 3,600 in
these units combined in all seasons.
“These numbers are on track to do
what we are trying to do, which is
PHOTO BY ERIC FOWLER
A
Pressure will continue to be applied to the
antlerless white-tailed deer population in
order to reduce the whitetail population to
more manageable levels.
44 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
reduce those herds,” said Kit Hams,
big game program manager with the
Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission.
Hams said in order to reach the
Commission’s goal of reducing
whitetail numbers by 25 percent in
eastern Nebraska, total antlerless
harvest in the five units where Earn-ABuck will be in place this year will
need to increase from the combined
23,000 taken last year and remain high
for about three years.
“In order to respond to landowner
desires to have less deer in the east,
we need to kill a lot more deer,” Hams
said. “That’s our target, and then we’ll
see if we’re getting complaints from
large numbers of hunters and landowners
about the lack of deer, but we need to
take that first step. We think maybe we
can accomplish what our goals are in
three years and then we’ll put Earn-ABuck back on the shelf.”
Earn-A-Buck, an expanded October
Antlerless Season and other changes
last year, helped boost statewide
whitetail antlerless harvest above buck
harvest, which itself was a new record.
Total deer harvest and permit sales
were also records.
Mule deer buck harvest was down
last year, but that was partly by design
following the creation of the Mule Deer
Conservation Area (MDCA) that includes
the Buffalo, Frenchman, Platte and
Republican units in southwestern
Nebraska. It could have been lower if
not for the number of mule deer bucks
harvested on Youth Deer Permits in the
MDCA. That unforeseen consequence
of a price cut on youth permits led to a
new restriction that limits all hunters to
one permit that allows them to harvest
a mule deer. In order to continue to
allow youths to purchase two discounted
permits, the commission created a
Youth Whitetail Permit.
In another move to improve mule
deer populations, antlerless mule deer
will now be protected on the more than
180,000 acres of heavily hunted state
Major Changes for 2011
Deer Seasons
• Earn-A-Buck requirements expanded
to include Blue Southeast, Blue
Northwest and Missouri firearm
units.
• Hunters limited to one permit that
allows them to harvest a buck in the
four management units that make up
the Mule Deer Conservation Area.
This includes Youth Deer Permits,
and led to the addition of a Youth
Whitetail Permit to allow young
hunters to purchase a second
permit.
• The harvest of antlerless mule deer
is now prohibited on all state- and
federally-owned lands in the Pine
Ridge Management Unit.
and federal land in the Pine Ridge Unit,
expanding protection that has been in
place since 2008 at Fort Robinson and
surrounding wildlife management
areas. While mule deer numbers are
stable throughout much of the region,
“There’s room for a lot more [mule]
deer there,” Hams said. “The whitetail
are holding up pretty well, but in our
opinion, we think mule deer numbers
could be higher.”
Antlerless mule deer harvest has
been prohibited in several central
Nebraska management units for 15 years
or more. “In some years it helps, and
some years it doesn’t,” Hams said.
“It depends on weather, disease and
predation issues whether the herds are
going to increase. But we’ve got more
mule deer in the Keya Paha Unit than
we’ve ever had. It should be effective
in the Pine Ridge.”
Deer permits in all but the
Republican Mule Deer, Republican
Whitetail and DeSoto December units,
which were issued during a June
drawing, go on sale at 1 p.m. CST
July 11 and are available to both
residents and nonresidents on a firstcome, first-served basis. Permits can be
purchased from any Commission
office, from select permit agents and
online at www.OutdoorNebraska.org. ■
Deer’s Ears
Monitoring Flathead Catfish
Frostbite, ticks, barbed-wire – it’s tough to be an ear.
Study intended to reveal more about this top-tier predator.
By Eric Fowler
By Jordan Katt, Fisheries Biologist
A
parts of his district.
Considering the type of habitat where
each species lives, it makes sense that
frostbite would be more common in
mule deer. Whitetails typically bed in
thick cover, where they are mostly
protected from cold, winter winds.
Mule deer, on the other hand, are more
apt to bed in the open, usually on the
downwind side of a hill, and sometimes
with a rock or soapweed at their back.
This helps keep the wind off their
bodies, but not necessarily their ears,
which are ever erect and alert for
approaching danger.
Doster said in extreme cold, mammals
will conserve heat in their body core by
sending less blood to the ears and other
extremities. That makes ears, with thin
tissue and little hair to protect them,
susceptible to frostbite.
“I don’t know about you, but I can’t
wear just a cap when it gets cold – I’ve
got to wear a stocking cap, or my ears
just really, really burn,” said Doster.
Those big, oversized ears of mule
deer are susceptible to other damage,
too, as are a whitetail’s. Biologists
across the state have seen deer with
tears in their ears, likely from barbed
wire, sticks or some other sharp object.
They have also seen bucks with ears
damaged in breeding-season battles.
Tom Welstead in Norfolk has even seen
F
A mule deer’s big ears are vulnerable to a
variety of issues, including frost-bite,
which can cause part of their ears to flop
over (above) or fall off (below), and tearing
by barbed-wire fences or bushes. (bottom
left).
holes in deer’s ears that he suspects
were made by errant rifle shots.
It’s a tough life that deer lead, living
in the heat and cold, rain and snow, not
to mention insects and parasites (I’ve
seen deer grossly infested with ticks).
But as hard as it must be to be a deer,
just be glad you’re not a deer’s ear. ■
PHOTOS BY ERIC FOWLER
46 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
isheries biologists with the
Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission are currently
conducting a study to assess the
flathead catfish population in
Branched Oak Reservoir near
Raymond. The study is designed to
gather such information as population
numbers, size and age structure, growth
rates, annual mortality and recruitment
of flathead catfish in the reservoir.
Flathead catfish at Branched Oak are
being sampled weekly this summer
from June to September at several
sampling locations throughout the lake.
These sampling locations include
several different habitat types, such as
rock riprap found on the dam and
jetties, the A-jack structures located
throughout the lake, and flooded
timber. The flatheads are collected
using an electrofishing boat. By
adjusting the controls so that a lowamperage, pulsed DC current is
emitted, biologists can target flathead
catfish specifically and avoid affecting
other fish. The electrical current
temporarily disorients nearby flathead
catfish and brings them to the surface,
where they can be captured by netters
on the front of the boat.
Each flathead catfish that the
biologists collect is measured and
weighed. In addition, a pectoral spine
is removed from a few catfish of
varying lengths. This spine is later
examined under a microscope to
determine how old the fish is and
estimate how fast it is growing. A tag
with a unique identification number is
then attached to each fish below the
dorsal spine, and the flathead is
released near where it was captured.
Anglers that catch any of these
tagged catfish at Branched Oak should
leave the tag in the fish and report their
catch to the Commission’s fisheries
division. Note the tag number, general
location of capture and, if possible, the
length and weight of the fish. Anglers
that provide their name and mailing
address will receive a copy of any
PHOTOS BY DOUG CARROLL
t first sight, I nicknamed her
Droopy. The mule deer doe
was standing in a CRP field
north of Keystone, her big,
namesake ears flopped over
about mid-way up, giving her a
cartoon-like look. Chuckling to myself,
I snapped a few photos before she
bounded off into the tall grass. A few
years later, I saw another mulie doe
missing the top half of her ears. And
then another. Which got me to
thinking: It must tough to be a deer’s
ear. And what, exactly, had happened to
make those ears look the way they did?
Frostbite, said Alan Doster and his
colleagues at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln School of Veterinary
Medicine. “We see all kinds of weird
things,” said Doster. “We see it in
calves. I think we’ve seen it in cats,
too. So it’s not unusual.”
But a quick poll of eight long-time
wildlife biologists with the Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission revealed
that damaged ears are certainly more
common in mule deer. Of the eight,
only Todd Nordeen of Alliance had
seen the malady in whitetails, and he’d
also seen it in bighorn sheep. Most of
the biologists had seen mule deer with
cropped ears, and Ben Rutten of
Bassett even went so far to say that it’s
worse in the Mullen area than other
Using a low-amperage, pulsed DC current that specifically targets flathead catfish,
biologists in an electrofishing boat cruise Branched Oak Reservoir last fall.
After weighing and measuring one of the flathead catfish that were caught, fisheries
biologists Larry Pape (right) and Jordan Katt attach a tag to its back before releasing it.
information biologists have about that
particular fish. Anglers also need to
remember that current regulations
require catch-and-release-only fishing
for flatheads at Branched Oak, so all
information should be gathered as
quickly as possible so that fish can
be released unharmed back into the
reservoir.
Biologists tagged 264 flathead catfish
of all sizes in Branched Oak in 2010,
from as little as six inches long and
weighing only an ounce to as large as
48 inches and weighing 50 lbs. The
largest numbers of flathead catfish have
been found around the jetties, A-jack
structures and along the dam. Several
of the larger flatheads have been found
in the flooded willows near the shorelines throughout the reservoir.
If you would like more information
about the study currently underway at
Branched Oak or would like to report
the capture of a tagged flathead catfish,
call (402) 471-7651, or e-mail
Jordan.katt@nebraska.gov. ■
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 47
ATTRACTIONS/EVENTS
GET YOUR HUNTING/FISHING PERMIT online today!
Don’t wait until tomorrow to go outside with the family.
Log on to www.OutdoorNebraska.org and click on
Purchase a Permit under Licenses and Fees.
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.
FOOD/GIFTS/HOME
HOMEBREWING/BEER AND WINEMAKING.
Fermenter’s Supply, 8410 K Plaza, Suite #10, Omaha, NE
68127. Phone orders only, (888) 655-2739. Advice line
(402) 593-9171. www.fermenterssupply.com.
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.
MAKES A WONDERFUL GIFT! – Published since
1926, NEBRASKAland Magazine has been a nationally
recognized, award-winning magazine of choice.
For those loved ones here and away, give the gift that
keeps giving year-round. Order a gift subscription today
– only $18 for one year (10 issues). Call 1-800-632-5263
or subscribe online at NebraskalandMagazine.com.
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, written health guarantee. Stud
service: GRHRCH UN 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.
PREMIER GUNDOGS TRAINING KENNEL, Inc:
Nebraska state licensed gundog training kennel specializing
in training programs for waterfowl and upland hunting
retrievers, spaniels, pointing Labradors and all gundog
48 NEBRASKALAND • JULY 2011
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.
pointing breeds. Dale-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.
FISH/FISHING
FISH FOR SALE. Catfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth
bass, perch, crappie, bluegill, walleye, rainbow trout,
grass carp, minnows. Pleasant Valley Fish Farm, 72645
U.S. Highway 83, McCook, NE 69001. (308) 345-6599.
NEBRASKA LAKE MANAGEMENT. Biological lake
surveys, fish stocking, rough fish control, lake aeration,
algae control, aquatic weed control. Rob Hofpar, Aquatic
Biologist, licensed, insured and qualified. (402) 784-6005
Valparaiso - (888) 850-2460 www.nelakes.net.
NIOBRARA RIVER CANOE, tube and kayak trips. We
specialize in trips through Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge
and Smith Falls State Park. www.niobrarasuper
tubes.com, 402-376-2956
OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT
IS PERFORMANCE IMPORTANT? For the finest
canoes and accessories look to Great Plains Canoe Co.,
205 Main, Springfield, NE 68059. Phone (402) 253-2000.
VACATIONS/RESORTS
THE OLDE MAIN STREET INN. A historic bed and
breakfast listed in the National Register of Historic
Places. Beautiful dining room with fireplace.
Headquarters for General Nelson Miles, Wounded Knee
Incident, 1890-91. 115 Main Street, Chadron NE 69337
(308) 432-3380. 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.
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.
PLANNING A VACATION? Why not spend it at a
Nebraska state park? With more than 80 state park and
recreation areas across Nebraska to choose from, you can
enjoy a campground or cabin and enjoy activities such as
fishing, swimming, camping and hiking. Call
(402) 471-1414 for reservations or go online at
www.OutdoorNebraska.org and follow the Parks link.
HUNTER & FISHERMAN PARADISE: Located on
Elwood Reservoir. 1,300+ acres of wildlife, trophy-size
fish – wipers, walleye, muskies, perch, catfish and crappie.
Nebraska’s best kept secret for hunting – duck, turkey,
deer and quail. Cabins, rooms, tent and camper-spot
campgrounds with full hook ups (30 amp, 50 amp). Call
(308) 440-4993 or visit www.elwoodcampground.com
PAWNEE CITY HISTORICAL SITE: east edge of
Pawnee City – 22 historical buildings, 25,000 reasons to
visit. Bring the whole family. Visit www.pawneecounty
history.com.
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.
HELP STOP POACHING!
To report a gaviolation, call the
toll-free hotline at
1-800-742-7627
JULY 2011 • NEBRASKALAND 49
▲
My father, Dan Seibold, grew up trapping and
hunting on our farm west of Papillion. The pelts
displayed later contributed to his University of
Nebraska student expenses. In this photo from
about 1917. He is holding his Stevens XL44 single
barrel shotgun. “Shep” is on faithful duty, but the cat
shows its distain.
– Danny Seibold, Papillion, Nebraska
▲
This photo was taken in 1928 in the Pleasant
Dale/Crete area. Left to right are: Joseph E. Hejl;
Ermine Klima; Josef Hejl, father of Joseph E.; and
Steve Klima, father of Ermine.
Josef J. Hejl immigrated with his family to
America in 1903 from Moravia, Austria.
He is the grandfather of Ernest and Francis Hejl,
who reside in Denton.
– Francis Hejl, Denton, Nebraska
▲
Fishing on the South Platte
River four miles west of Big
Springs, Nebraska about 1914.
From left: Alyce Wostenberg,
Agnes Wostenberg Sattler,
Herbert Sattler, Christian
Wostenberg, and wife Wilhelmina
(Minnie) Wostenberg.
The automobile is a 1912 EMF
[Studebaker] which was driven
from Omaha to Venango in 1914
by William (Bill ) Wostenberg.
– Ward Sattler,
Stony River, Alaska
Send contributions to: Portraits from the Past, NEBRASKAland Magazine, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370. Or e-mail to
tim.reigert@nebraska.gov. Photos should show people enjoying Nebraska outdoor activities, such as camping, boating, hunting or fishing,
and must have been taken before 1980. 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 • JULY 2011
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