Volume 94, Issue 1, 2016
January-February 2016
- Identifier:
- nela.2016_094_01
- Title:
- Volume 94, Issue 1, 2016
- Issue Name:
- January-February 2016
- Date Issued:
- 2016-01-01
- year:
- 2016
- Season:
- Winter
- PDF filename:
- NL_94.01_2016_Jan_Feb_Spreads_Entire.pdf
- Publisher:
- Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
- Format:
- Periodical
- volume:
- 094
- issue:
- 01
- number:
- 094.01
- Decade:
- 2010s
- Type:
- Rights Holder:
- Copyright Nebraskaland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, all rights reserved.
- Extracted Text:
-
P ubl i s hed by the Nebras k a Game and Park s C o mmi s s i o n s in c e 1 9 2 6
NEBRASKAland
January-February 2016
An Eastern bluebird eats berries from a burning bush in Hall County.
Photo by Rick Rasmussen.
NebraskalandMagazine.com
$4.95
INSIDE
Adams Family Values ● Western White-out
Snake on the Plains ● Lover’s Leap Histories
Pressey Wildlife Management Area ● Time Well Spent
NEBRASKAland Magazine
Volume 94
●
No. 1
●
January-February 2016
F E AT U R E S . . .
20 Adams Family Values
S
P
J K
24 Western White-out
TORY AND HOTOS BY EFF
URRUS
PHOTOS AND STORY BY JUSTIN HAAG
32 Prairie Rattlers
S
P
M H
38 Love on the Rocks
B J
H
J
N
44 Hounds, Hares and 4-H
TORY AND HOTOS BY
Y USTIN
ARK
AAG AND ENNY
ARRIS
GUYEN
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ERIC FOWLER
48 Time Well Spent
What to do in January and February
BY CARA PESEK
50 A Precedent of Public Spirit
BY CARSON VAUGHAN
44
●
INSIDE THIS ISSUE...
Mixed Bag – Black-tailed Prairie Dog, Travel to O'Neill,
Turn-of-the-Century Coyote Hunts, Rooster Roundup,
Watching Wildlife, Upcoming Events and more ............6
From the Fieldbook – A Dog's Life ...................56
Page 49 – Time to Draw .............................................. 61
24
●
Portraits from the Past ..................................62
In the Kitchen – Venison Cabbage Rolls ...............64
The Last Stop – Seeing Art in Nature...................66
ON T H E W E B . . .
WHEN YOU SEE THIS SYMBOL IN THE PAGES OF
N
NEBRASKALAND MAGAZINE, VISIT
NEBRASKALANDMAGAZINE.COM AND VIEW OUR INTERACTIVE
DIGITAL EDITION FOR MORE INFORMATION.
D
6
●
38
●
Cover: The toboggan run is a wintertime favorite for kids at
Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in Saunders County. See story
on page 48. Photo by Jeff Kurrus.
NEBRASKAland (VOL. 94 / NO. 1, 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.
2 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 3
NEBRASKAland Magazine
Brad Goetsch's "A Message From Heaven" photograph won the Reader's Choice
Award for NEBRASKAland's 2015 Photo Contest.
Smiling Dog
The photo on the back cover of the
December 2015 issue is the greatest!
We decided to save that picture so that
if anyone ever needs cheering up, all
they need to do is look at that picture!
She not only looks like she is having
a great time, but also really wants
to have her picture taken. We had a
yellow Lab some years ago who we
could easily imagine in that hat with
that grin, but Abby is the best. Thanks
to her human companions for sharing
with everyone.
John Crawford
Valentine, Nebraska
Outdoor Plates
Bob Flakus of Omaha had already
been a grandpa for a few years when
he got his message plates three years
ago. He’s been getting plenty of
comments on them since, often while
he’s enjoying time in the field with his
son and two teenage grandsons hunting
dove, turkeys and deer.
If you have a unique outdoor
message plate you would like to share,
or know someone who does, e-mail a
photo (high-resolution, JPEG format
only, please) of it to Eric.Fowler@
Nebraska.gov, along with your name,
hometown and a brief description of
the interests expressed on your license
plate.
Deer hunter Evan Horak took this photo with his
iPhone through his rifle scope while in the Keya
Paha Unit near Mills during the November firearm
season. The little buck kept hanging out near the
blind where Evan and his father were sitting in.
COMMISSIONERS
CONSERVATION OFFICERS
Director Jim Douglas
Commissioners
Chairman - Dr. Kent Forney, Lincoln
Vice Chairman - Rex Fisher, Omaha
2nd Vice Chairman - Mark Spurgin, Paxton
Robert Allen, Eustis
Dick Bell, Omaha
Lynn Berggren, Broken Bow
Mick Jensen, Blair
Norris Marshall, Kearney
Dr. Mark Pinkerton, Wilber
ADMINISTRATION (Lincoln)
Craig Stover (Administrator)
Duane Arp (Asst. Administrator)
Jeff Clauson (Asst. Administrator)
MAGAZINE STAFF
Communications Director Christy Rasmussen
Editor Jeff Kurrus
Art Director Tim Reigert
Associate Editor Jenny Nguyen
Regional Editors Eric Fowler, Julie Geiser,
Justin Haag
Contributing Editor Michael Forsberg
Regular Contributors Chris Helzer, Gerry
Steinauer
Photo Librarian Jaclyn Cruikshank Vogt
Circulation Donna Robinson
For address changes and questions about
your subscription, e-mail donna.robinson@
nebraska.gov or call 800-632-5263
Advertising Sales Manager
For advertising information contact
Shane G. Gilster, 402-742-0125
Email: shanegilster@gmail.com
NEBRASKAland Magazine Copyright 2016, all rights reserved.
NEBRASKAland is available in audio 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
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com.
COMMISSION
C
CO
COM
OM
OMMIS
MIS
SSIO
S ON O
OFFICES
FF CES
FFI
FF
S
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
Creigh, her husband
husband, and
Brenda Creigh
granddaughter enjoyed this sunset at
Eagle Scout Lake in Grand Island.
Count Lilly In
This is a picture of my 10-year-old niece, Lilly Counts, whom I took up in the
Sandhills in Cherry County north of Halsey on private land of some friends that
we have been going on for many years. At a time when many lands in Nebraska
are increasingly being attached to “for payment/lease hunts,” there are still many
Nebraska farmers and ranchers that like to let folks hunt, with permission, who
they know have a love for the land and Nebraska and hunting.
Lilly is an adventurous young lady from Plano, Texas, and has talked about
wanting to come along on one of our hunts for the last couple of years. She waited
patiently with her .410 shotgun in 25 degrees and snow, and with one shot had her
first turkey.
A memory that she will always have and another young hunter for future years
of Nebraska hunting!
Tim Counts
Temple, Texas
4 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
Send your comments to:
Jeff Kurrus, Editor
NEBRASKAland Magazine
P.O. Box 30370
Lincoln, NE 68503
or e-mail Jeff.Kurrus@Nebraska.gov
Please include your postal address and telephone number. Letters may be condensed
and edited. Photographs are also welcome.
Any program that receives federal funding from the National Park
Service, or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service prohibits unlawful
discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, marital
status, national origin, age, disability or political affiliation. Any person
who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program,
activity, facility, or service, should contact the Nebraska Game and
Parks Commission, Lincoln, NE 402-471-0641, the Equal Opportunity
Commission, Lincoln, NE 402-471-2024, TTY/TDD 402-471-4693;
United States Fish Wildlife Service, Civil Rights Coordinator, 4401
N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203; Director, Equal Opportunity
Program, U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, 1849 C
Street NW, Mail Code 0008, Washington, D.C. 20240-0001.
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
Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium
21502 W. Highway 31 Gretna, NE 68028
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Omaha Office
8495 Frederick Street, Omaha, NE 68124
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NORTHWEST (Includes counties covered)
Jim Zimmerman (District Supt.)
308-641-6138
Sean McKeehan
(Cheyenne, Morrill, Box Butte)
308-279-9133
Scott Brandt
(Kimball, Banner, Scotts Bluff)
308-631-0663
308-760-3647
Greg Hesse (Sheridan, Dawes)
308-430-0572
Dan Kling (Sioux, Dawes)
Terry Brentzel (Deuel, Garden, Grant) 308-458-7650
402-389-0444
Frank Miller (Cherry, Hooker)
NORTHEAST (Includes counties covered)
Tom Zimmer (District Supt.)
402-649-8053
402-760-0712
Dale Davis (Keya Paha, Brown, Rock)
402-340-3981
Jonathan Andreasen (Holt, Boyd)
Mitch Johnson (Knox, Antelope, Pierce) 402-613-8612
402-762-5022
Jeff Jones (Knox, Cedar)
Alex Thomas
(Dixon, Dakota, N 1/2 Thurston)
402-241-7615
Jon Reeves
(S 1/2 Thurston, Burt, Washington)
402-889-8508
402-719-1108
Dan Roberts (Dodge, Colfax)
Cory Krause
(Cuming, Wayne, Stanton, Dodge)
402-380-6410
Steve Oberg
(Colfax, Platte, Madison, Stanton)
402-910-3366
Randy Pomplun
(Nance, Greeley, Wheeler, Boone)
308-550-0489
308-730-7050
Doug Pollard (Loup, Garfield, Valley)
SOUTHWEST (Includes counties covered)
Roger Thompson (District Supt.)
308-530-3097
308-202-0819
Matt Brandt (Sherman, Howard)
308-380-7331
Tim Williams (Hall, Hamilton, Merrick)
Pat George
(Clay, Adams, Nuckolls, Webster)
402-705-9989
308-920-0367
Rich Routh (Franklin, Harlan, Phelps)
Matt Andrews
(Gosper, Furnas, Frontier, Red Willow)
308-746-2418
Andrew Heyer (Dawson, Gosper, Phelps) 402-613-2241
Brian Piernicky
(Red Willow, Frontier, Hayes, Hitchcock)
308-340-6627
308-289-0427
Nicholas Fix (Keith, Perkins)
308-289-1169
Bryce Streger (Keith, Arthur)
Brandon O’Neal
(Lincoln, McPherson, Logan)
308-530-3157
Alex Hasenauer
(Lincoln, McPherson, Logan)
308-660-4671
308-440-3847
Dale Johnson (Kearney, Buffalo)
308-529-8146
Mike Thome (Dawson)
Ray Dierking (Custer, Thomas, Blaine) 308-870-0322
SOUTHEAST (Includes counties covered)
Levi Krause (District Supt.)
402-949-0593
402-619-1355
Rich Berggren (Douglas)
402-616-5961
Dan Evasco (Sarpy)
402-210-0888
Heath Packett (Cass)
402-209-1506
Russell Mort (Otoe, Johnson)
William Krause
(Nemaha, Richardson, Pawnee)
402-274-8063
402-806-9084
Dan Zuehlke (Gage, Saline)
402-890-6463
Dina Barta (Lancaster)
402-890-6465
Doug Kramer (Lancaster)
402-937-3422
Dudley Sorensen (Lancaster, York)
402-613-2312
Travis Shepler (Lancaster)
402-890-7140
Stacey Lewton (Lancaster, Seward)
402-443-6392
Mike Luben (Saunders, Butler, Polk)
Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers
1-800-742-7627
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 5
A Mammal Brief
Black tip
Black
on tai
taill
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
By Lindsay Rogers
Cynomys ludovicianus
6 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
PHOT
OTO
OB
BY
Y JUS
JUSTIN
JU
TIN HAAG
AG
In NEBRASKAland's December 2015 story, "Prairie Dog
Town Tenants," author Kristal Stoner detailed some
of the animals that live in these towns, except the
black-tailed prairie dogs itself.
As its name suggests, the black-tailed
prairie dog can be distinguished
from North America’s three other
Lind
Li
nd
dssa
ay Ro
oge
gers
rs is
rs
prairie dog species by the
a outtdoor
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door educa
do
duca
du
cati
ati
tion
ion
n
black-tip on its tail.
spec
sp
ecciia
aliist
s wit
ith
h th
the
e
All four species are found in
Nebr
Ne
b asska
k Gam
me and
and
an
the western United States with the black-tailed
P rk
Pa
rkss Co
Comm
mm
mis
ssi
sion
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o
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prairie dog having the largest range, including Nebraska.
The black-tailed prairie dog can be found throughout most of western
and central Nebraska in open grasslands. The highly social species communicates through a
series of barks and yips; this species has 12 distinct calls. They also communicate through touch such
as nuzzling, grooming and playing. They form large colonies with well over 100 individuals living
within one small burrow. Often considered a nuisance species, black-tailed prairie dogs are ecologically
important as they are a prey species for many prairie predators including hawks, coyotes, snakes and
eagles. Their construction of burrows is also important in aerating the soil and providing homes to other
burrowing animals. ■
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 7
Background photo: Waterfowl fly over Goose Lake
Wildlife Management Area in northern Nebraska.
Travelogue Sponsors
URTESY
PHOTOS CO
By Jenny Nguyen
ts paint the town green in O’Neill every
e
esiden
M
March. Known as the “Irish Capital of Nebraska,” this
n
northeastern Nebraska city’s claim to fame is its allSt. Patrick’s Day celebrations, scheduled March 16-18
out St
this year. In 2009, Smithsonian Magazine named O’Neill,
Nebraska, the third best “unusual” place to celebrate this
Irish holiday in the nation, and the city made CNN’s list
of “quirky” St. Patrick’s Day destinations in 2011. On this
weekend, the town of 4,000 doubles its population with
visitors every year.
on
Visitors flock to O'Neill to see the world’s largest shamrock
Douglas
and
4th
of
blacktop, prominently displayed at the intersection
e for the
prepar
but
und,
streets. Visitors can view the shamrock year-ro
clover
giant
the
ng
watchi
by
weekend’s celebrations that Wednesday
paint.
refreshed with a new coat of emerald
on the
Saturday festivities include a morning fun run, Irish Dancers
tors
specta
where
p.m.,
1
at
parade
a
shamrock at noon, followed by
fun
Past
.
streets
l’s
O’Neil
gracing
will see the famous green horse
and games at the local high school included donkey basketball
and husker hoops. In the evening, enjoy live music in various
establishments.
Stay the entire weekend and explore O’Neill’s many charms.
For nourishment and libations, dine at the Blarney Stone for
Guinness on tap, La Herradura for authentic Mexican food or
Chesterfield West for classic bar food. Looking for lodging?
The Historic Golden Hotel is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places and has
been “the jewel of the
plains in O’Neill since
1913.” RV campers will
find ample amenities and comfort at
Carney Park.
For public fishing and
hunting opportunities
nearby, check out
Goose Lake Wildlife
Management Area
(27 miles south).
Atkinson Lake State
st)
Recreation Area (20 miles west)
life
wildlife
ing,
picnick
,
fishing
offers
ps
hooku
al
electric
g,
viewin
and primitive camping.
For more information,
visit Cityofoneillnebraska.
com or Oneillchamber.
org.
VRANEK
OF LAURI HA
O'Neill
St. Patrick's Day Parade
Don ba
sketb
O'Nekielyl H
igh Saclhloaotl
largest
s
'
d
l
r
o
w
the
Repairnoctk.
sham
8 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
O'Neill
Reuben and sweet
potato fries at the
Blarney Stone.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 9
NSHS, RG3367-3-23
Hunters exhibit their trophies following a hunt in Franklin County in Jan. 1914.
A Brief History
Fire and Accident a
Friend to Coyotes
By Patricia C. Gaster,
Nebraska State Historical Society
O
10 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
Visit the Nebraska State Historical Society’s website at
Nebraskahistory.org.
NSHS, RG3384-3-5
rganized hunts for “wolves” (what we now call
coyotes) were a frequent part of the winter sporting
scene in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. Hundreds
of hunters frequently joined in, but despite all
the manpower, the wiley coyote was not always bagged.
Sometimes he seems to have been amply revenged on his
hunters.
In a hunt covering 117 square miles held in March 1900
in Rock and Brown counties, a ring of hunters on foot,
horseback, and in vehicles was formed to trap their prey
within an ever-tightening circle. However, the hunters were
foiled and many coyotes escaped due to a prairie fire. The
Omaha Bee reported on March 22: “A lighted match dropped
accidentally by one of the riders ignited the grass and in a
moment the prairie was in flames. The lines being broken to
fight the fire, at least twenty-five wolves escaped, but after
all five were killed within the ring.”
More than 500 men participated in a hunt in Jan. 1913
near Elmwood, with 11 coyotes killed. The editor of the
Elmwood Leader-Echo, who took part, noted on Jan. 31 the
shooting mishaps that occurred: “During the hunt two or
three men were shot as a result of carelessness,
but no one was hurt seriously. A shot from a heavily loaded
shot gun entered the mouth of one of the hunters through
the cheek, and it is said the fellow spat it out, seemingly
unconcerned over the incident.”
A large hunt in Franklin County in Jan. 1914 by
200-300 men and boys resulted in the shooting of
six coyotes and a wild dog. No mishaps with fire or
firearms were reported, but the Franklin County News
said on Jan. 17 that “some of the boys who were not
used to trudging from eight to twelve miles, were about
all in the next day.” ■
After a hunt south of Elmwood in 1913.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 11
Paid Advertisement
Bluegill Through the Ice
By Nebraska Outdoor U
luegill are the classic schooling
fish, so when you find some
B
bluegill under the ice, get a variety of
lures in front of them and you’ll pull
out a good amount of fish. The larger
bluegill will hang out toward the
bottom of the schools, and they tend
to nibble instead of attacking your
bait. So be patient and set the hook at
the right time.
But do so safely. Only fish on water
that has at least four inches of clear,
solid ice before walking on it with
cramp-ons to prevent slipping. ■
Visit OutdoorU.org and start
your own pathway to exciting and
memorable experiences in the
outdoors. Get outside and see what
the Nebraska Outdoors has for you.
12 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
SKILL LEVEL:
Beginner
Intermediate ✔
Advanced
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 13
PHOTO BY JENNY NGUYEN
Rooster
Roundup
By Julie Geiser
Good pheasant and quail hunting in
Nebraska shouldn’t be a thing of the
past. Knowing that quality habitat will
mean increased numbers in pheasants,
quail and other wildlife, Nebraska
Game and Parks Commissioner Lynn
Berggren is a strong proponent of
grassland habitat improvements.
This hunting season, Berggren and
other commissioners have planned trips
to experience firsthand the quality of
hunting on Nebraska’s public lands.
Nebraska Bird Library
Over November and December, they
bagged several pheasants and quail and
saw great numbers of birds on wildlife
management areas (WMA) that have
undergone habitat improvements.
Hunts have taken place at Sherman
Reservoir WMA near Loup City, the
Ducks Unlimited Verona Wetlands
Complex near Aurora, Davis
Creek WMA near North Loup, on
conservation reserve program property
and Grove Lake WMA by Royal, and
also Elk Point Bend WMA near Ponca.
“We see a good number of birds,”
Berggren said. “The opportunity in
Nebraska to hunt pheasants is not dead.
It’s out there.” ■
Black-capped Chickadee
PHOTO BY ALLAN MORTENSEN
14 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
what seemed like an eternity, the bull started moving from
behind the cedars toward the cow decoy. The bull stepped
into view only 20 yards from Mortensen. Just as planned the
big bull was in the clearing, giving Ivan the perfect shot with
his open sights. Using a rifle with no scope worked perfectly
in this situation; Mortensen squeezed the trigger and the bull
ran back up the canyon through the cedars before finally
dropping about 50 yards from the shot sight.
After finding the downed elk, the celebrating began with
congratulations, hugs, phone calls, photos and memories
es of a
hunt that will last for several lifetimes for all that
helped Ivan in this journey.
Allan Mortensen said, “Dad has walked on cloud
nine since this hunt. He would tell his story at
the coffee shop to everyone that walked through the
door, time and time again.” Allen continued, “He even
en
made elk stew for all the residents of the Senior Living
ing
Choice in Curtis. He was so ecstatic.” ■
PHOTO BY ROCKY HOFFMANN
Song or calls: Rapid, nasal “chickadee-deedee.” Song is slow “fee-beee; beee” at lower
pitch.
Description: Sexes similar. Black throat
and cap; white cheeks; gray above; creamy
below, with buffy flanks. Wing coverts and
secondaries are broadly edged in white.
Behavior: Black-capped chickadees are
primary cavity nesters, which means they
excavate their own hole, usually in soft, rotting
tree stumps.
Habitat: Deciduous and coniferous forests,
as well as orchards, woodlots, and urban areas.
Nesting often occurs in edge situations or open
areas of forest.
Where in Nebraska: Common permanent
resident across the state. The population
increases during winter months with the arrival
of migrants from farther north.
Fun Facts: Each autumn, black-capped
chickadees allow old neuron cells to die and
new ones to grow in order to adapt to social
and environmental changes. ■
To learn about more birds visit:
NebraskaBirdLibrary.org.
Bagging the Big One
By Julie Geiser as told by Zac Brashears
At 90 years old, Ivan Mortensen finally drew and filled
the coveted landowner bull elk tag in the Box Elder Elk
Management Unit. Mortensen had applied for an elk tag
several times before finally drawing a tag this year.
Only four bull tags are available to landowners owning
320 acres or leasing 640 in the Box Elder Unit, criteria that
Ivan met for the month-long season running Sept. 26 through
Oct. 25.
Mortensen scouted and hunted multiple times throughout
the season catching glimpses of a few elk; he had a couple
close opportunities and several adventures with family
members and close friends with elk hunting experience
who tried to help him fill his tag. Ivan ventured out on his
own in search of a nice bull on several occasions with no
luck, which, as any elk hunter will tell you, happens quite
frequently.
Finally on Oct. 24 hopes of bagging a bull came to light.
Accompanied by his grandson Quenton Mortensen; son,
Allan Mortensen; and friends Marvin Hanes, Robert and Zac
Brashears, the group set out into a crisp 28-degree morning
with little wind. Everyone had a great feeling about this
particular morning. Just as it was getting light enough to see
Robert spotted a bull elk working a ridge toward the bottom
of a canyon.
Quickly formulating a game plan the hunters dropped into
the bottom of the canyon to get in front of the bull to try and
call him in. A cow decoy was placed in an opening of the
canyon bottom and Zac Brashears started cow calling to lure
the bull in for a shot.
Several minutes passed with no response from the big
bull, so Zac tried bugling to see if they could get a response.
Sure enough, the bull had moved in close, bugling back
at the hunters. Looking in the direction of the bugle, Zac
caught movement of the bull’s legs through the cedar trees.
He whispered to Ivan to cock the hammer of his Browning
Lever Action .30-06 so he would be ready for a shot when
the bull walked out into the opening in front of them. After
Presented by
y
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 15
from NEBRASKAland‛s Trail Tales magazine for kids
Bug Banter
What Lives in Your
Firewood?
firewood, they can inadvertently move
pests hundreds of miles.
Think of firewood as a shipping
container. When a tree is cut down
and made into firewood, any pests in
or on that tree can be moved with the
firewood. Once the firewood gets to
a new destination, insects can emerge
from the firewood to infest new
trees. Spores or other disease-causing
organisms may be released from the
firewood and find a new home on
nearby trees.
Some pests, including fungal spores
or insect eggs, are nearly impossible to
see with the naked eye. It is never safe
to assume the wood is free of pests.
There are a few simple steps that you
can take to protect Nebraska’s trees
from invasive pests.
Buy locally harvested firewood.
Ask the firewood seller where they
harvest the firewood to confirm it is
local.
When you travel, leave your
firewood at home. Instead, check with
the local campground or park office for
•
information
on where
to purchase
local firewood.
Don’t bring firewood back home
with you when you finish camping;
leave it for the next camper.
Finally, be aware of firewood
regulations. State and federal
regulations exist that impact the
movement of firewood. Before you
travel, visit Dontmovefirewood.org for
state specific firewood information.
Taking these simple steps will go a
long way toward protecting Nebraska’s
trees, whether they are in your favorite
campground, in natural areas or right in
your own backyard. ■
•
•
Emerald Ash Borer
•
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 17
DAVID CAPPAERT, MICHIGAN STATE
UNIVERSITY, BUGWOOD.ORG
By Julie Van Meter
State Entomologist, Nebraska
Department of Agriculture
Invasive pests threaten the plants
and animals in the state of Nebraska
and can do great damage to our
environment. One way we can all work
together to help protect the trees in our
state from invasive pests is to think
about the firewood we use.
Many damaging insects and diseases
can be transported from infested
to non-infested areas through the
movement of firewood. These new
infestations can cause tremendous
damage to forests and street trees,
and are very expensive to manage and
control.
Tree pests known to be transported
in firewood include emerald ash borer,
Gypsy moth, Asian longhorn beetle and
thousand cankers disease of walnut.
These pests cannot move very far
on their own, but when people move
Presented by
The Fishes of
Nebraska
by Jerry Kane
Nearly every state in the United States has a publishedd
book covering the natural history and distribution of
fishes. Nebraska has been one of those states that have
never had such a book. This was corrected this fall
with the publication of The Fishes of Nebraska. Useful
to naturalists, scientists, students and the layperson,
Fishes will aide anyone wanting to identify a fish using
a key through the meticulous illustrations of each of
Nebraska’s native and non-native fishes (more than 100
species). The guide also includes an insert of color plates of the fishes, distributional
maps, species accounts and a description of the stream networks in the state
and how geography, geology and human impacts have influenced fish species
composition.
The book sells for $39.99 and is available for purchase from the Nebraska Maps
and More Store on the first floor of Hardin Hall at 33rd and Holdrege streets in
Lincoln or by calling 402-472-3471. The book is also available at Amazon.com
and Go.unl.edu/fishesofnebraska. ■
Contact the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission at 402471-0641 or visit OutdoorNebraska.org for more information.
Visit HuntSafeNebraska.org for a list of hunter education
classes and BoatSafeNebraska.org for a list of boating
safety classes.
January 1
January 6-27
January 19
February 7
First Day Hike/Hiking
Marathon, Ponca State Park
(SP), Ponca
Duck and coot hunting
seasons in Zones 2 and 3,
High Plains Unit
Special Public Health Hazard
Order crow hunting closes
January 1
January 7
Crow hunting season opens
statewide
Shootout at Salt Creek,
Nebraska Game and Parks
Outdoor Education Center,
Lincoln
First Day Hike, Platte River SP, Explore Hunting, Nebraska
Louisville
Game and Parks Outdoor
Education Center, Lincoln
January 1
January 2
Yule Log Quest, Platte River
SP, Louisville
January 2
Rifle Fun Shoot, Nebraska
Game and Parks Outdoor
Education Center, Lincoln
January 2
January 7
January 23
Archery Fun Shoot, Nebraska
Game and Parks Outdoor
Education Center, Lincoln
Explore Archery for
January 23
Beginners, Nebraska Game
and Parks Outdoor Education Cold Days, Warm Hearts
and Family Fun, Eugene T.
Center, Lincoln
Mahoney SP, Ashland
January 7
Hiking Marathon, Ponca SP,
Ponca
Dark goose hunting season
closes in East, Platte River,
Panhandle and Niobrara units
February 10
Light Goose Conservation
Order hunting begins
.22 Pistol League for Ages
January 23-February 9
Statewide light goose hunting February 12-15
12 and Up, Nebraska Game
Valentine’s Special, Eugene T.
and Parks Outdoor Education season
Mahoney SP, Ashland
Center, Lincoln
January 9
Ice Bowl Disc Golf
Tournament, Eugene T.
Mahoney SP, Ashland
February 13
Discover Ice Fishing, Eugene
T. Mahoney SP, Ashland
January 9, 16, 23, 30
January 30-February 9
February 13-14
Hiking Marathon, Ponca SP,
Ponca
White-fronted goose hunting
season
Valentine’s Dinner, Platte
River SP, Louisville
January 3
January 11
January 31
February 13-14
Introduction to Competitive
Archery, Nebraska Game and
Parks Outdoor Education
Center, Lincoln
First day of spring turkey
hunting permit sales
Hunting seasons close for
November late doe/fawn
antelope, fall turkey, pheasant,
quail, partridge, grouse and
squirrel
Birds and Breakfast, hike
and identification workshop,
Ponca SP, Ponca
January 15
Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission meeting, Lincoln
Duck and coot hunting
seasons close in Zone 3, Low January 15
Plains and High Plains Units Youth, Landowner, Season
Choice and River Antlerless,
and Gifford Point WMA deer
January 5
Best Shot Rifle Marksmanship hunting seasons close
for ages 10-16, Nebraska
January 15
Game and Parks Outdoor
Dark goose hunting season
Education Center, Lincoln
closes in North Central Unit
February 2, 16
January 5, 14
February 6-7
Ladies Day at the Range,
Nebraska Game and Parks
Outdoor Education Center,
Lincoln
•
January 30
January 3
January 5
By Paula Hoppe
Shortened daylight, a scarcity
of resources and cold Nebraska
temperatures have sent many birds
flocking south, and it may seem the
world has tucked itself in for winter. But
step outside on a still evening and the
quintessential “hoot” of the common
great horned owl is easily heard.
Found statewide, great horned owls
are one of our largest owls; they get
their name from two feathered tufts on
top of their heads.
These owls are nocturnal, but are
readily seen and heard at dusk perched
in open areas with large trees, from city
February 9
Winterfest, Ponca SP, Ponca
Shootout at Salt Creek,
Nebraska Game and Parks
Outdoor Education Center,
Lincoln
Watching Great Horned Owls
February 6, 13, 20
January 15-17
Women’s Wellness Weekend,
Ponca SP, Ponca
18 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
Ladies Day at the Range,
Nebraska Game and Parks
Outdoor Education Center,
Lincoln
Pheasants Forever State
Habitat Meeting Kearney
•
February 24
Introduction to Gun Safety
and Technique for Young
Shooters, Nebraska Game
and Parks Outdoor Education
Center, Lincoln
February 29
February 6
Cottontail and jackrabbit
Birds and Binoculars, Eugene hunting seasons close
T. Mahoney SP, Ashland
February 29
Super Bowl Sunday MiniLodge Package, Ponca SP,
Ponca
Bobcat, raccoon, Virginia
opossum, long-tailed weasel,
mink, red fox, gray fox and
badger hunting and trapping
seasons close
PHOTO BY JUSTIN HAAG
New Year’s Day Game and
Parks offices closed
January 20
NEBRASKAland
and
Visitor
parks to country shelterbelts statewide.
Listen for their calls to one
another, the male with his typically
deeper voice answered by the higherpitched hooting of the larger female, as
they establish or strengthen pair bonds
and set up territories in January.
Nesting begins in February. Great
horned owls do not build their own
nests but use tree cavities, the nests of
other large birds and even abandoned
buildings, normally laying 2-3 eggs.
If you regularly hear duetting
Great horned owls near your home,
take advantage of the leafless trees and
you just may spot a nest near you. ■
•
•
•
Last issue’s winner of
the Visitor drawing was
John Lewis of Mason City,
Nebraska, who found the ailanthus
webworm on page 56.
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 critter
found in Nebraska. We will then
gather the correct entries and draw
one to win a NEBRASKAland 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
pages 11, 17, or 19.
This colorful orange, black
and cream moth is the Ailanthus
webworm (Atteva aurea), native to
Central and South America. It is
often mistaken for a beetle, due to
the way it wraps its wings along its
body when at rest. The moth likely
doesn’t overwinter in Nebraska,
but rather adults migrate up from
the south in the summer. Watch
for these moths in the late summer
and fall around flowers such as
goldenrod. Female moths lay eggs
on Ailanthus trees, (Ailanthus
altissima), also known as Treeof-Heaven. The caterpillars live
and feed in groups inside loose
webs they make around Ailanthus
foliage, similar to webs made
by eastern tent caterpillars. The
damage caused by this insect is
particularly
since
not significant,
g f
, particu
p
tree,
the Ailanthus
Ailla
introduced
to the
introd
d
U.S. from
Asia, is
considered
to be
cons
si
nuisance
tree.
a nu
ui
Special thanks to
o Julie Van Meter,
State Entomologist, Nebrask
Nebraska Department of
Agriculture. Photo by Eric Fowler.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 19
Adams Family Values
“So through the years I didn’t buy a new truck, and I
didn’t buy a new house. I bought land.” — Rex Adams
Keeping a hunting heritage alive
Story and photos by Jeff Kurrus
“I
t’s my tag,” Wymore landowner Rex Adams will tell you when he’s talking
to hunters about deer. “I’ll choose what I choose to shoot, and you’ll choose
what you choose.” It’s a pretty good concept to live by, and one that Rex
has advocated for as long as he can remember. It eliminates the comparisons of
one deer to the next, for they’re all trophies and to be congratulated when big
antlers aren’t the most important thing to consider. What is important to Rex,
however, is family – something that has been valued more than anything else in
the Adams home for years.
For nearly 20 years, Rex owned Adams Bottles & Bows in Wymore, a
convenience store/bow shooting range/seasonal deer check-in station that
welcomed thousands of visitors, including hunters in every season. It was
there that his son Frosty, just 4 years old when Rex opened the store, became
mesmerized by deer and deer hunters. “I also took Frosty hunting from the time
The Adams family “tree house” has become not only a great deer hunting spot but
also a place to spend time with family of all ages.
20 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
In November 2011, Rex Adams (right) organized a firearm hunt on his land in Gage County for young Cayden McConnell, who was
suffering from cancer. After a day and a half of hunting, Cayden’s dream of killing his first buck came true.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 21
Rex and his family’s passion is deer hunting, and they learn as much as they can about the behavior of whitetails throughout the
year, including their use of deer decoys (above) and trail camera photos (below). The trail cameras on his property often garner the
most attention throughout the year, as his wife Jodi usually babysits these and reports back to the Adams hunters.
he was a little kid,” Rex said, “he wasn’t more than 3 or 5
years old. His sister Camille would sit with him as well.”
It was with this attention that Frosty, now 30 years old,
continued to learn about deer hunting, a passion that he
inherited and passed on to his own family.
“My three older kids, ages 7, 4, and 2,” said Frosty, “and
they all have their
own bows. We
go out once a
week and play.
We shoot stumps,
balls, anything
to make it fun.”
Frosty’s desire,
like his father’s
when Frosty
was a boy, is to
keep his kids
involved. This
has led to his
daughter turkey
hunting last
spring and duck
hunting this
fall. “I don’t
know if it’s
second nature,
but I always
remember
going with
my dad doing
22 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
something,” Frosty said. “I just think it’s easy to take
them.”
Easy until, as Frosty began to reminisce, he is forced to
referee a WWE-style wrestling match between a laughing
grandpa and grandson in a turkey blind. But that’s what has
always been the biggest bond for this family through the
years, all the more strengthened by Rex’s decision in 1990
to protect his family’s outdoor heritage. That was the first
year Rex bought land of his own.
“I never had land growing up,” said Rex, “and I was
saying then that my generation was going to be the last one
that didn’t pay to hunt, and I think it’s coming true now.
If you didn’t own a place to hunt, then you weren’t going
to have a place. So through the years I didn’t buy a new
truck, and I didn’t buy a new house, I bought land. And I’ve
bought here and there for many years.”
Here and there has totaled to about 200 acres – cedar
thickets, forests and fields – that doesn’t earn a single dollar
of income, as Rex has never been interested in making
money from this property. “The land is pure habitat,” he
said, “this year we planted beans, wheat, alfalfa, milo and
other food plots. But we have a tractor, a Gator UTV, and
that’s about all we need.”
By having their own land, the family’s deer passion can be
nurtured all year instead of just during the hunting seasons.
Land management is a lot of work, Rex admitted, but he and
Frosty bring along the kids as much as they can, even when
there’s tractor work to be done, and it definitely becomes a
family affair when it comes to trail cameras.
It starts with setting up and then periodically checking the
cameras. Currently there are nine on the property. “It starts
with me and dad going to check cams,” said Frosty, “and
then we all go. We’ve seen deer at 20 yards and a lot of
turkey feathers. On these trips, the kids start walking and the
next thing you know, you’re a hundred yards from the truck
explaining something about an acorn.”
But even if you’re not on a Gator, it doesn’t mean you’re
not fully vested in deer. Spend any amount of time with the
Adams family around the dinner table, where all strategy,
conjecture and field notes come together, and you’re bound
to hear Rex’s wife Jodi ask “Anything nice?” as she prepares
food for the family.
“Maybe,” Rex will say, scrolling through a series of trail
cam photos. “How about this one?” he asked one night last
winter shortly after firing up the laptop and putting his card
in the reader.
“Nice,” she said, taking a look at a photo of a buck
any hunter would proudly show off to his friends, then
making her way back toward the kitchen counter. But her
nonchalance should be no indication of her interest, Rex
shared, as she will interrupt her own dinner prep if any sight
comes along that Rex finds interesting.
“Jodi enjoys running trail cams more than any of us,” Rex
shared. “They are kind of her babies. She used to shoot deer,
but she’d rather watch them now.” It’s a sentiment that Rex
is starting to have himself, especially when he spends as
much time now taking young hunters afield as he does trying
to shoot deer himself.
The Adams family has also been active in their local
chapter of Whitetails Unlimited, and Rex funded the
inception of Big Indian Archers Club. Community is
Frosty Adams climbs a ladder stand with his bow. He is
what Rex is concerned with, both the rural community
trying to pass along his archery passion to his kids.
of Wymore and Blue Springs as well as the hunting
community overall. “The outdoors
is something we all have to protect,
and I want to protect and preserve
as much as I can, which is why I
do what I do,” he said. “Anyone
that says an outdoorsman is there to
rape and pillage doesn’t know a true
outdoorsman.”
A true outdoorsman knows better,
a notion that can be witnessed each
year on opening weekend of the
firearm season in the Adams house.
“I bring my kids down and my
brother-in-law also comes,” said
Frosty. “Even dad, a lifelong
bowhunter, is starting to rifle hunt
a little because everyone is together.
It’s the family for the entire weekend,
and mom’s always got food ready.”
Community, family and deer
hunting. They are the cornerstones
to the Adams family. And watching
Frosty’s involvement with his own
kids, they will be for generations to
Buck or doe, every white-tailed deer brings excitement to the Adams family, as they
come. ■
follow their passion for deer hunting every day of the year.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 23
Western White-out
Photos and story by Justin Haag
With a little snow on the ground, the area burned by the
1989 wildfires at Fort Robinson State Park take on a
special beauty in the evening light.
24 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 25
The natural camouflage of sharp-tailed grouse, above, and wild
turkey, below, is usually quite effective in the shortgrass prairies and
agricultural fields of western Nebraska. It doesn’t provide the same
level of safety on fields of white, however.
White isn’t the only color in winter, of course. When sunset comes at Crow Butte, Mother Nature often
selects other paints from the palette.
The white rumps of pronghorn
serve as a warning signal to
others in the herd when danger
looms. In this case, the white fur
matches nicely with the ground
beneath their speedy legs.
26 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 27
The hooves of bighorn sheep lambs not only work for climbing, but also
for finding nutrition through the snow cover.
Wildlife managers welcome a layer of snow to help aerial surveys of deer and other species, as the white
backdrop makes spotting the animals much easier.
Golden eagles don’t seem
to mind a little snow on
the ground. It helps them
find their prey.
28 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
While snow may be
a bane of livestock
producers, it adds
contrast and visual
interest to the
normally plainlooking black
Angus.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 29
In a scene far removed from the picnics of summer, the Soapweed Shelter at Chadron State Park takes on
special beauty as the sun breaks after a day-long snowstorm.
Ice anglers at Box Butte
Reservoir State Recreation
Area don’t let a little snow stop
their pursuit of northern pike
and panfish. For it’s the winter
weather that they crave.
The winds and white stuff of winter
can interrupt the routine of birds both
big and small, including this dark-eyed
junco on Christmas day.
30 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 31
Prairie Rattlers
Story and photos by Mark Harris
M
y son spotted his first
rattlesnake at age 5.
Proud he could finally
keep up on a hike,
he was streaming
with enthusiastic chatter when he
halted. The tenor of his voice changed,
warning, “Snake!” Suspending motion
came instinctively to him as it has
in snake encounters since hominids
walked the savannas. Ahead on the
grassy trail a large rattlesnake stretched
full length. As rattlesnake sightings go,
this one was perfect – no danger, no
fright – a learning opportunity. I took
Colton onto my hip and approached the
snake. At that moment I could not have
imagined the rattlesnake encounters
yet to come with my boy. He’s a snake
magnet, and no rattler encounter would
be so peaceful again. In a decade of
close calls, Colton acquired a deep and
broad catalog of swear words way too
young.
I spoke to my wide-eyed son as we
closed to a safe distance. He needed
to see what made this a rattlesnake.
“Do you see the rattle on the end of its
tail? Do you see that its head is shaped
like a triangle? See those blotchy
marks along its body?” Colton nodded
silently, stiffly. “This one is greener
than most. Did you know that their
colors are a little different depending
on where they live? If he lived up in
the rocks he might be grayer.” The
rattler moved toward higher grass, not
panicking like other snakes might. “See
how he just wants to be away from us?
They aren’t looking to hurt us, but they
sure can. That’s why we always keep
our eyes on the ground out here, right?
Just like you were doing! Great job
spotting him, buddy, you saved us!”
Colton tried restraining a grin; he knew
this would be a heroic story to tell.
Rattlesnakes give nearly everyone
the heebie-jeebies, but most folks
have only an abstract idea of what
rattler encounters are like. Remember
that intense feeling after narrowly
avoiding a car accident? It’s much
the same emotion. The body floods
with chemicals and the brain flashes
code red. I always curse – loudly.
It’s uncontrollable. Swearing helps
counter the intense adrenaline surge.
And then for some people, once
all is well, in sets fascination. This
fascination borders
on obsession
for a few, like
Lincoln’s Dan
Fogell, professor
of biology
at Southeast
Community
College. Fogell
DAN FOGELL
loves rattlesnakes.
He keeps them in his lab and at home
for education and outreach – a lot of
them. He talks to them like naughty
beloved dogs. They hate his guts.
Fogell speaks of rattlesnakes like a
botanist would of orchids – their varied
colors and patterns, their personalities.
He is captivated by their behaviors,
by a rattlesnake mother’s protective
nature, by the sound of their rattles,
and that they do the same things other
animals do but without arms and legs.
He is interested in their venom, which
is a collection of enzymes that help
digest large prey rapidly. “Because
of this venom, rattlers don’t need to
lie around immobile with this giant
lump in their gut,” said Fogell. But
The prairie rattlesnake’s daunting defensive stance is a rare display among wild
creatures and has fostered fear and misinterpretation for centuries.
32 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 33
Nebraska’s Venomous Four
Nebraska has four venomous snakes, including three species of rattlesnakes.
Massasauga
Rattlesnake
NEBRASKALAND PHOTO LIBRARY
Rare and only found
in small pockets
of southeastern
Nebraska, the
massasauga primarily
lives in wet tallgrass
prairies or near
wetlands.
Timber Rattlesnake
PHOTO BY MICHAEL FORSBERG
Timber rattlesnakes are
very rare and can only
be found in southeastern
Nebraska. They are
woodland residents that
rely on camouflage to
remain safe and to find
prey.
Copperhead Snake
PHOTO BY ERIC FOWLER
Copperheads are the
rarest venomous snake
in Nebraska, living only
along the Big Blue River
in southern Gage County.
Prairie Rattlesnake
34 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
PHOTO BY JON FARRAR
Prairie rattlesnakes are the most
common venomous snake in
Nebraska, ranging primarily
west of a north/south line
around Kearney. They hibernate
in prairie dog towns or in rocky
outcrops.
it’s this venom combined with their
startling, menacing, hunkering-down
behavior which makes them notorious
– firmly fixing them into the running as
Nebraskans’ least liked animal.
Fogell maintains a live collection
of Nebraska’s four native venomous
snake species, but fear not
Nebraskans, three of these are rare.
The massasauga rattlesnake and
the timber rattlesnake can be found
in small pockets in far southeastern
Nebraska and some copperheads live
in Gage County south of Beatrice,
but in western regions the prairie
rattlesnake reigns. Habitats in eastern
Nebraska don’t suit them. There
is a north/south line which prairie
rattlesnakes generally don’t cross near
Kearney. They like shortgrass regions;
thank the tallgrass, easterners.
Rattlesnake encounters were
common around McCook where I
grew up. Today, Fogell confirms
that southwestern Nebraska is still a
hotspot for rattlesnakes as are areas in
the Panhandle. We killed rattlesnakes
back in those days. Like slaying
a dragon, it came with bragging
rights. Unfortunately this mentality
still exists. “People fear them,” said
Fogell. “People don’t understand them
and disrespect them. Some believe
that they are doing the world a huge
favor by killing rattlesnakes, thus
removing more potential for bites.” But
rattlesnakes serve an important role just
like all predators do. “Rattlesnakes are
voracious vermin eaters that keep mice,
rats, rabbits and other small mammals
from reproducing to unmanageable
numbers,” Fogell said. “And they want
no part of humans. Just leave them
alone and nobody gets hurt – including
the snake.”
A rattlesnake’s alarming behavior
throws people. This noisy, intimidating
animal implies malevolence, starkly
contrasting behaviors we are used to
seeing in all other wild animals. It’s
a mean looking creature bold enough
to stand its ground as if daring you to
approach and it will bite you if you do.
Many people misinterpret this scary
mannerism as aggression, but it is pure
defense.
Be comforted that they give warning.
As much as this sudden, forceful
buzzing scares the bejeezus out of
When a rattlesnake strikes (like this one in Dan Fogell’s laboratory), its hollow fangs
unfold from the roof of its mouth to target enemy or prey. Not all rattler bites deliver
venom, but this one did to the camera’s lens.
people, there is a newer phenomenon
developing that is even more terrifying:
rattlesnakes that remain silent.
No unexpected rattling noise
compares to the primitive fear in
spotting a coiled, quiet, strike-ready
rattler where your foot will next
fall. Though not typical rattlesnake
behavior, I have experienced more of
this stealth in recent years and so have
scientists. Nearly unheard of decades
ago, it is becoming a phenomenon.
“It’s the foundation of Darwinian
evolution,” said Fogell. “This variation
in the choice to rattle when approached
by a threat is allowing some of these
well-camouflaged snakes to remain
unseen by predators that might kill
them.”
Researchers have even noted
atrophied tail muscles in some
rattlesnakes, where tail ends are
so weak that loud rattling is not
possible. Many say that quiet rattlers
have ascended as a result of human
encroachment. Theoretically, as
mankind invades habitat, noisy rattles
bring death from fearful humans.
Remain unnoticed, remain alive, and
the silent, limp-tailed snakes pass on
genetics while their louder neighbors
might be killed.
Heard or not, there is no standard
rattlesnake encounter; assorted natural
factors come into play. Warm weather
makes a more active snake, quicker
to agitate. On chilly days, they are
lethargic. The less notice a snake has
of human approach the more sudden
and robust their reaction will likely
be. Snakes are deaf, but they feel us
coming; vibrations from the ground
announce our advance. The heavier the
footfall, the more notice they have to
move away. Keep your kids behind you
in rattlesnake country.
Rattlesnakes rank fairly low on
the venom lethality scale worldwide.
According to Fogell, “Severity of a
prairie rattlesnake bite depends on
where the bite is, the amount of venom
injected, the size and health of the
person being bitten and what the victim
does after the bite.” Only one remedy
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 35
“Rattlesnakes are voracious vermin eaters that
keep mice, rats, rabbits, and other small mammals
from reproducing to unmanageable numbers.”
— Dan Fogell
works: medical attention and perhaps a
few vials of antivenin. Old, unhelpful
concepts that can actually cause more
harm are tying off the limb with a
tourniquet, using ice or cutting the skin
to suck out the venom. Says Fogell,
“A person can and likely will survive a
bite with medical care. But it will hurt
. . . a lot.”
The main principle of avoiding a
bite is simple: watch where you are
going. Easy as it sounds, that doesn’t
come naturally to those not used to
rattlesnake environments. A rattler-
Rattlesnakes silently writhe at the edge of their wintering den on a warm October afternoon.
They have come from several miles in all directions, and here they will spend Nebraska’s cold months beneath the earth’s frost line.
My son, Colton, eyes a snake we have shooed off the road. Tightly-coiled in protective
mode, the snake becomes as small as possible and covers the back of its head.
36 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
savvy person moves differently through
rattlesnake territory and they do so
with diligence. Where the feet will
land, the eyes must always scan.
Common rattlesnake hangouts can
be avoided, but this shouldn’t be
misinterpreted; they can be anywhere.
They like warm, southerly-facing
rocky hillsides, and in spring and fall
they congregate around prairie dog
towns where many pass Nebraska
winters deep below the frost line. They
hibernate in communities and any deep
hole or rock fissure will do. There
is a small, peculiar window of time
either side of winter where snake-pit
entryways become writhing masses on
warm days as they prepare to transition
away from or into the dens.
One den I often visit sits high
on a hilltop. Its limestone mouth is
surrounded by grass and brush. In
the summer it lies abandoned but in
October, as temperatures drop, prairie
rattlesnakes migrate there from several
miles in all directions.
One fall day, I warily approached
through high grass and a subdued
chorus arose: “Titititititit.” The volume
increased as I neared, but then they
quieted while I observed. They saw me
there, but as they wound among a large
pile of their own I didn’t warrant much
alarm. They didn’t flee or coil, and
only a few rattled halfheartedly off and
on when I moved. They came and went
from the pit’s entrance, which left an
unanswered question: how many more
were below? It could have been 10
times the 40 up above.
Few natural settings elicit more
respect than does a heap of rattlesnakes
eyeballing you, but there was
majesty as well. I envisioned snake
congregations like this occurring
simultaneously over a wide expanse of
western states, and then I imagined this
scene unfolding backward through time
long before humans set foot there. And
in that moment it was clearer yet that
they, the prairie rattlesnake, belong on
earth no less than do we. ■
Mark Harris is an author and the
associate director of the University of
Nebraska State Museum.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 37
Love on the
Rocks
By Justin Haag and Jenny Nguyen
At least five rocks in Nebraska have
names derived from a common
theme: Lovers meeting their demise.
W
convinced, when tales
associated with
definite local sites
are told of Indian
courtships with
tragic outcome.”
Why all the
stories involve
Native Americans
may merely be for
effect, she wrote.
She surmised that
legends are told
about history, and
the Native Americans
of course preceded the
Euroamerican storytellers – the
explorers, hunters, trappers and
soldiers who were relaying the tales.
So, in celebration of Valentine’s
Day, here are the legends of the
Lover’s Leaps in Nebraska. Regardless
of their historical authenticity, we can’t
help but be intrigued by the tales.
Banner County
Nebraska’s westernmost Lover’s
Leap is in the Panhandle, near
Harrisburg. Legend has it the young
daughter of a Sioux Indian chief was
in love with a young brave of her
own tribe, but was ordered by her
father to marry an Oglala brave who
offered his finest ponies for her hand in
matrimony. On the eve of the marriage,
the young maiden and her sweetheart
escaped with two of the horses. After
the two were seen and captured, the
angry chief had his daughter whipped
and her
lover killed.
The next day, the young
maiden appeared to be taking things
well, however – dressed in her wedding
attire and humming throughout the
village. She sang her way up to the
top of the escarpment, her tune turning
increasingly sad along the way. As all
watched and listened to the weird, yet
sweet, singing, she stood at the eastern
edge of the cliff and raised her arms to
the sun. “A dozen braves rushed after
her, but before they could reach her,
she threw aside her blanket and stood
for a moment as a statue of bronze in
the morning sun. Then with a cry to
her dead lover, she leaped over the cliff
and was crushed to death on the rocks
below.”
Lover’s Leap butte on private property south of Harrisburg in Banner County. Photo by Justin Haag.
38 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 39
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM REIGERT
hen one looks up at the
steep-faced sentinels, it’s
not hard to surmise how
they got their names.
Perhaps it’s our fear of
falling that makes the observer’s mind
imagine a body jumping from the ridge
above hundreds of feet to the hard
ground below. The alliterated toponym
Lover’s Leap has been used throughout
the ages, capturing the imaginations
of those who marvel at the natural
wonders.
An Internet list names 25 Lover’s
Leaps from coast to coast and many more
throughout the world. The Cornhusker
State is overlooked on the list but it
is home to at least five topographical
features named in such fashion – three in
the west, two in the east.
In 1949, University of Nebraska
professor Louise Pound gave recognition
to Nebraska’s rocks in the scholarly
journal Western Folklore. In the article
“Nebraska Legends of Lovers’ Leaps,”
she writes about four such geological
formations, one each in Banner, Dawes,
Knox and Nance counties.
In the essay she tells of the romantic
tragedies associated with each precipice,
all of which involve Native Americans.
“With monotonous sameness the
beautiful maiden, daughter of a stern
chief, leaps to death from some steep
cliff,” Pound wrote. “More rarely,
her suitor leaps also. These legends
of suicide purport to be of Indian
derivation and Indian tradition; as a
rule they are vigorously championed as
such. But skepticism is in order, I am
Above: Lover’s Leap Butte, Dawes County. Photo by Justin Haag.
Dawes County
Perhaps the most familiar Lover’s
Leap in the state features a cliff wall
overlooking Crawford at Fort Robinson
State Park. While most agree that
it’s one of the region’s most familiar
landmarks, not all agree on which tale
about the butte is “the right one.”
One story, an account from a 1936
article in the Northwest Nebraska
News, has young Sioux chief Eagle
Feather instantly falling in love with
Crimson Cloud of the then rival
Cheyennes while on a reconnaissance
mission in preparations for attack. He
was so taken by her that he decided
to not raid the tribe, but rather to
come alone and capture the maiden.
He arrived with two horses, literally
swept her off her feet while she was
alone at a nearby creek and carried her
off with her consent. The two tribes
soon realized the pair’s forbidden
relationship and began pursuit. “The
lovers, caught between the two
opposing forces, were driven to the
highest point in the hills. Seeing no
40 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
chance of escape, with their arms about
each other they leaped from the high
cliff and were crushed to death.” The
bright side, according to the tale: “The
Sioux and Cheyenne did not continue
their fight but became united against
their common enemies and were
henceforth as one people.”
Pound wrote of another account she
learned from a nearby resident. The
woman, who claimed to have verified
her story with a member of the Sioux
while on a bus ride, said the battle was
instead between the Crows and Sioux.
After the Crows killed a noble Sioux
warrior who was engaged to the chief’s
daughter, the brokenhearted maiden
jumped off the butte to “rejoin her
lover in spirit land.”
Knox County
The Maiden’s Leap in Knox County
is located east of Niobrara, easily
viewed on the south side of Highway
12. The legend that surrounds the area
is credited to Santee Indian origin.
After an uprising in 1862, the Sioux
i
i the person iin white
i
A lithograph
postcard off the same butte ffrom 1908. Notice
standing at the base. Also, the chalk rock formation at the far left is referred to as
“The Giant’s Thumb.”
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 41
Above: Lover’s Leap in Fullerton at the Broken Arrow Wilderness park in Nance County.
Opposite: Maiden’s Leap by Niobrara in Knox County. Photos by Jenny Nguyen.
were transferred from Minnesota and
Dakota Territory to live on the bank
of the Missouri River beyond the town
of Niobrara. There, they created the
Santee settlement.
In Santee lived an Indian girl
betrothed to her hard-nosed father,
though she loved another brave. Unable
to marry the handsome warrior of her
choice, she rode one of her father’s
horses over the cliff and ended her life.
The outlaw Jesse James also had
connection to this cliff, wrote Pound
in Nebraska Folklore. When pursued
by Indians, legend has him leaping on
horseback from the cliff and swimming
across the Missouri River to safety.
Nance County
Every year newlyweds, picnickers
and family reunions gather under the
shade of the Lover’s Leap in Fullerton,
but it is the owners Douglas and Darla
Russell who keep Broken Arrow
Wilderness’s rich history alive.
In 1857, Illinois settlers John
Edgington, his wife, and daughter
42 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
Nellie, and two brothers, Frank and
John Wickland, camped along the
Cedar River, which then ran almost
directly beneath the leap. Frank and
Nellie were engaged and would have
married sooner if Mr. Edgington had
not insisted that Frank gain “a start
in life” first – homesteading offered a
fitting challenge.
After dark, Pawnee Indians attacked
the camp and captured the small
party; the livestock and wagons were
burned. The Indians indicated that
the settlers would die, however Nellie
would be spared to become the chief’s
“squaw” wife. At this, Frank protested
and Nellie begged for death with
the rest of the prisoners. Angry, the
chief challenged Frank to prove his
love by riding “down the bank.” If he
succeeded, he could have Nellie.
The leap, or bank, had a 283-foot
drop and the constant cutting from the
Cedar River ensured that it remained
steep and sharp. Frank agreed without
hesitation, bewildering the Indian
chief. Despite the outcries from his
companions, Frank climbed onto an
Dawes
Knox
Banner
Nance
Indian pony and was led to the top
of the hill. He rode over the fringe
and leaped to his death, in full view
of the party. The Indians silently
released their prisoners, and Frank
was buried on-site. Other settlers have
immortalized this tale, which was
rumored confirmed by survivors who
returned to the area years later.
Another ill-fated story is referenced
in a poem by Mrs. A.P. Jarvis, found
in Collection of Nebraska Pioneer
Reminiscences, which told of a Pawnee
Indian maiden, the chieftain’s only
child, who fell in love with a “pale-face
lad.” You can guess what happened
next. ■
We hope your Valentine’s Day is
full of love and laughter – and no cliffjumping.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 43
Hounds, Hares and 4-H
Shooting Stars Club members finish project following a
beagle on a mentored rabbit hunt.
Shane Krause takes a rabbit from Calin Ortiz, who dispatched the bunny when it was flushed from a wood pile at Wagon Train SRA
and WMA near Hickman. Krause organized the hunt for members of the Shooting Stars 4-H Club in Lincoln to give kids in the
Hunting and Wildlife Project a chance to experience rabbit hunting with a beagle.
44 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
Story and photos
by Eric Fowler
C
alin Ortiz had hunted rabbits
before. But never with beagles.
So last winter, on a hunt
organized by his Lincoln Shooting
Stars 4-H Club, the look on his face
the first time Bella struck a rabbit’s
trail and let out a series of bellowing
yips and yelps and howls, was about as
predictable as sunrise.
“What the …?” the 7th grader’s face
said.
“It was very, very loud,” Ortiz said.
“And strange.”
That first bawl didn’t come as soon
as Shane Krause, who led the hunt at
Wagon Train Lake State Recreation
Area near Hickman, would have
expected. After rendezvousing in the
parking lot, Krause, his daughter,
Emma, 4-H coach Rachel Carlson,
Ortiz and Kolton Davis, another firsttimer behind beagles, headed through
a grassland recently cleared of eastern
red cedars and other invasive trees.
Bella sniffed her way around one of
the many piles of trees left behind,
seemingly perfect rabbit cover, but said
nothing.
In the adjacent wooded draw, she
zigged and zagged and burrowed her
way through the thickest cover, letting
out a few yips, but not enough to
signal a trail. The hunters and mentors
shadowed the dog, some in the woods
and some on the edge, waiting patiently
for a bunny to bolt, but Bella found
none.
So the hunt moved back out to the
tree piles. She said nothing at the
second tree pile, but lit up on the third.
Tail wagging, she crawled atop the
tangled mess of limbs and trunks and
then into them as far as she could,
trying to pinpoint the source of the
rabbit scent wafting out of the tangle.
The joy of hunting bunnies with
beagles is the chase. When spooked
from whatever cover they are hiding in,
a rabbit will run from the dogs, but not
wanting to leave its home range, almost
always circles back to from whence it
came. In the midst of the chase, hunters
Emma Krause smiles as she watches the
beagle named Bella root around a wood
pile for a bunny.
are treated to the intermittent bursts of
bellowing from the dog, announcing it
has picked up a scent trail it may have
briefly lost.
There was no chase at this tree pile.
When Bella got too close for comfort
Wagon Train SRA/WMA
Wagon Train is a 315-acre watershed
impoundment with 746 acres of land. This
area offers electrical camp pads, primitive
camping, boating, fishing, picnicking and
a swimming beach.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 45
Kolton Davis walks next to grass covered deadfall along the upper end of Wagon Train Lake hoping to flush a cottontail.
Bella, a beagle borrowed by Krause for the hunt,
roots through the undergrowth at Wagon Train in
search of rabbits.
46 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
and the bunny bolted, Ortiz
was ready and dispensed it
with a single shot from his
20-gauge, bolt action shotgun.
“Yes!” he exclaimed.
Krause has been hunting
rabbits since he was a boy.
He picked it up from his
father, Stan Krause, who
had started hunting them as
a youngster. For most of that
time, the elder Krause hunted
sans dogs. That changed
when he moved to Lincoln in
the 1970s, met other rabbit
hunters who ran beagles and
picked up one of his own.
Stan had several beagles
through the years, the last of
which died a few years ago.
Shane has one at home, but
managed to pick the dog that
every litter has one of: the dog
that won’t hunt.
Bella’s owners had much
better luck. He met them
through his son’s Cub Scout
pack. They were bewildered
by the dog’s behavior whenever they
ran across a rabbit on their walks.
When they were telling Krause about it,
he knew exactly what it was they were
describing, and has been borrowing the
dog ever since. “It’s kind of like having
grandkids from what I hear,” Krause
said. “You get them for the fun part,
and then you send them home.”
The Shooting Stars 4-H Club
has been serving youths age 8 to
18 in Lancaster County off and on
for 30 or so years. It got a boost
when the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission’s Outdoor Education
Center opened in 2014. It meets at the
indoor shooting range weekly, offering
BB gun, air rifle and pistol, .22-cal.
rifle and pistol, shotgun, muzzleloading
and archery.
The rabbit hunt was a final exam of
sorts for another club offering: Hunting
and Wildlife. Part of the National 4-H
Shooting Sports program curriculum,
hunting and wildlife teaches kids about
wildlife, their behavior and habitat
needs before they set out on a hunt.
“It’s basically trying to incorporate
outdoor and science education and
hunting,” Carlson said. “We have a
lot of kids in our 4-H group that are
city kids and we’re trying to introduce
and expand their horizons to more
opportunities that are not in town.”
Krause, who volunteers both as a
Hunter Education instructor and as a
coach for the 4-H Shooting Stars, said
the club wants to cover every aspect
of the shooting sports, and hunting is
one of them. Only a few clubs offer the
Hunting and Wildlife Project.
This hunt was the second Krause
organized. The first was a dove hunt in
Sept. 2014, something they did again in
2015. He had another rabbit hunt and
a squirrel hunt planned for this winter,
and hoped to organize a pheasant hunt.
“They’re really good about practicing
for their competitions and learning
how to use their BB guns and air guns
and .22s,” Krause said. “But there’s
something else when you go outside
to shoot trap and skeet and sporting
clays. It’s like the kids come alive.
They can move around, they can talk,
they give each other a bunch of guff.
Then when we go hunting, it’s once
again something different and they
seem to really latch onto it. Nobody is
concerned whether they got something
or they didn’t. They all seem to work
together and they have fun and that’s
the goal. To go out and learn in the
outdoors and have fun while you’re
doing it.”
On this hunt, Calin’s rabbit was the
only one bagged. There were other
chances, but they were fleeting at best.
Bella ran a bunny right back to Emma
Krause. “It was right in front of me,”
she said. “As soon as I got my gun up
and got the safety off and was ready to
shoot, it ducked in the grass. And as I
was waiting for it, it never came out.”
Davis didn’t mind. “It’s hunting,” he
said. “I enjoy all of it.”
The next day, the same group with
a few substitutes brought home three
rabbits for the pot. Stan brought several
pots to a Shooting Stars meeting and
prepared a variety of rabbit dishes for
the young hunters.
“It’s not any fun if you’re just
shooting,” Krause said. “You’ve got to
eat them, right?” ■
4-H Shooting
Sports
W
hen many people
think of 4-H, they think about farm
kids showing their calf at the county fair. But
for many youths, 4-H means guns and bows thanks
to the organization’s shooting sports program.
4-H Shooting Sports is one of 150 projects offered by
4-H through clubs, camps, after-school groups, school
enrichment and other programs and events to youth age 5-18
in every county in Nebraska, helping them develop leadership,
citizenship and life skills with a learn-by-doing approach. Other
projects include everything from robotics to clothing care to
theatre, far from “the days of cows and cookies,” said Steve
Pritchard, University of Nebraska extension educator in
Boone and Nance counties and head of 4-H shooting sports
in Nebraska.
The program offers instruction and competitive shoots in archery,
muzzleloading, shotgun, BB, air and .22-cal. rifle, and air and .22cal. pistol, as well as a hunting and wildlife project that teaches
youths about wildlife and their habitat. All are taught by certified
volunteer instructors from a standardized curriculum used by 4-H
programs across the country.
“The rifle, the bow, the pistol are just tools to work with kids,
developing youth, that’s number one,” Pritchard said.
In Nebraska, 4,724 youths participated in a 4-H shooting sports
program in Nebraska in 2015. Counting some enrolled in multiple
disciplines more than once and adding others exposed to shooting at
camps, fairs and other events, more than 22,000 youths participated
in a shooting sports program in 2014, the fourth highest total in
the nation. Pritchard said that is a testament to the more than 700
instructors who volunteered 40,000 hours to teaching the youths.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is a partner with 4-H
in several Outdoor Skills and Shooting Skills summer camps that
teach shooting. 4-H volunteers also often help teach shooting at the
Outdoor Discovery Program events the Commission holds around
the state each spring. And many clubs send teams to the annual
Cornhusker Trap Shoot in Doniphan each spring, where a 4-H
division was established long ago to give youths in rural counties
that may not be able to field a high school team the chance to
compete.
Pritchard said the shooting sports projects are life-long pursuits
4-Hers can enjoy with their families, making them a perfect fit for
the organization. “They can enjoy that outdoor experience as good
Lord’s willing and they have an interest in it,” he said.
As the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension
System of land-grant universities, including the University of
Nebraska, dating back to the Morrill acts of 1962 and 1890, 4-H is
the nation’s largest youth development organization, with six million
young members in all 3,007 counties in the United States.
For more on the 4-H Shooting Sports Program, go to 4h.unl.edu/
ShootingSports.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 47
Time Well Spent
What to do these winter months
By Cara Pesek
J
PHOTO BY JEFF KURRUS
anuary and February should not be waiting room months for the outdoor enthusiast
looking forward to spring. It’s the time to put on one more layer of clothing and
venture into the great, snowy world. Following are five great things happening these
months. More information on these and many other events is available on the outdoor
calendar on our website, OutdoorNebraska.gov. ■
Learn to Ice Fish
First Day Hikes
Jan. 9
Eugene T. Mahoney State Park
Celebrate the first day of the new year by taking in the quiet beauty of Nebraska’s winter landscape. Parks across the state
including Ash Hollow State Historical Park, Chadron State Park, Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, Platte River State Park,
Ponca State Park and Eugene T. Mahoney State Park will offer guided first day hikes to celebrate the new year.
Jan. 16
Yanney Heritage Park, Kearney
Game and Parks staff and volunteers will
teach youth and adults the basics during
two free events on Jan. 9 at CenturyLink
Lake at Mahoney State Park and on Jan. 16
at Yanney Heritage Park in Kearney. The
Mahoney clinic will run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.,
and the Kearney clinic will take place from
noon to 4 p.m., with an optional classroom
clinic beforehand. Equipment, bait and hot
cocoa will be available at both events on a
first-come, first-served basis.
PHOTO BY JEFF KURRUS
Jan. 1 Parks Across the State
Ponca Snowman Contest
Mahoney Ice Skating
All Month Long
Before Mar. 20
Eugene T. Mahoney State Park
Ponca State Park
Bring the family to Eugene T. Mahoney State Park
for old-fashioned winter fun in the park’s ice skating
pavilion.
Build a snowman at Ponca State Park before March 20 and you
could win a stay in one of the park’s beautiful mini-lodges. Bring
your sleds, binoculars and cross country skis and take advantage
of the park’s sledding hills, birding opportunities and groomed
cross-country skiing trails while you’re at it.
Hunting Bunnies
Until Feb.
Feb 28
28
Statewide
PHOTO BY JEFF KURRUS
PHOTO BY KELLY WOOCKMAN
48 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
PHOTO BY JON FARRAR
With or without beagles, a late-season
rabbit hunt can be the icing on a
memorable hunting season. Due to
limited pressure statewide, public
accessible areas in both east and west
offer chances at hunting bunnies. The
season remains open until Feb. 28,
and on most days you’ll have the fields
completely to yourself.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 49
A Precedent of
Public Spirit
The Continuing Legacy of H.E. Pressey
By Carson Vaughan
Pressey Wildlife
Management Area
Pressey is located 5 miles north of Oconto on Nebraska
Highway 21 in Custer County. The area consists of 1,700 acres
of land, including hills and steep canyons mostly covered
by grasslands of the South Loup Valley. Diverse habitat
types include riparian woodland, wetlands, native prairie and
agricultural areas. Land management activities such as grazing
rotations and prescribed fire are used to control the spread of
invasive plants and to maintain wildlife habitat. Hiking trails and
a campground are also available.
50 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
before we had company.
So captured we all were by our fondest memories we
often forget the backdrop. As I grow older I find myself
daydreaming more often, chewing on scenes from a grainy
past. So many of them, I’ve come to realize, spawn from
the Pressey Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Custer
County. Different stories, all of them connected by a single
park, beautiful and unassuming, split sideways by what
early Custer County resident and sometimes-poet George
B. Mair repeatedly called “the laughing South Loup River.”
Boy Scout campouts. Elementary school field trips. Family
reunions. Pressey blooms behind them all like a lesserknown Bierstadt painting, slanted sunrays and muddy banks.
Few of us ever pictured a time when the picnic grounds
weren’t maintained, or when a clean gravel road didn’t usher
us into the valley. We never questioned the land’s public
use. Nor did we ask perhaps the most obvious question:
Who is Pressey?
A Celebration
You’re not likely to find Pressey WMA on a top-ten list
anytime soon, but when it first opened on May 6, 1930 –
the country still on edge just months after the Wall Street
Crash of ‘29 – nearly 4,000 people attended the dedication
ceremony for Nebraska’s newest state park. They started
trickling in around 11:30 that morning, toting toddlers and
picnic baskets, checker-boarding their blankets and autocushions along the river. The church ladies set up lunch
stands, and the men cobbled together a speaker’s platform
beneath the trees. Cardinals chirped. Hammers cracked.
Later, a concert band from nearby Broken Bow filled the
air with brass and woodwinds, and a group of enterprising
locals staged a cowboy parade, complete with horseback
acrobatics and re-enactments of the cattle days of yore – all
of it a primer for the main event. In the midst of a Great
Depression, good news swelled quickly.
Directing the whole affair was local luminary Emerson
R. Purcell, editor of the Custer County Chief and a member
of what was then called the State Game, Forestation &
Parks Commission (NGFPC). Just months before, he’d been
approached by a man – a farmer with a mustache like steel-
PHOTO COURTESY OF CUSTER COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
B
ack then, of course, none of us gave a second
thought to its namesake. To a bunch of 16-yearold boys, Pressey wasn’t a man with a history or
a mission or a gift to bestow – Pressey was an
escape. Pressey was 17 miles from school, from
parents, from our summer jobs. Pressey was 17 miles south
of responsibility. Pressey was a bonfire and too many hot
dogs; a forgotten beach ball floating downstream; a stolen
can of Old Milwaukee split five ways. And at the moment,
Pressey was four pretty girls on the far side of the South
Loup River, tan skin and coy smiles, laughter whispering
across the water.
We’d found this spot – our spot – the summer before.
We followed the river well past the bridge, crawled up the
bank, cut through a clearing in the trees, and there it was: a
full campsite completely hidden from view, inaccessible by
vehicle, the only road in or out blocked by a hundred yards
of downed trees and undergrowth. A rusty old fire pit lay in
the center, the iron grill rack still attached. Sunlight filtered
through a canopy of cottonwoods and northern catalpa. As if
forgotten from time: our secret, teenage Eden – and that was
Nebraska Gov. A.J. Weaver (right) reads a statement of thanks to benefactor H.E. Pressey (left) at the opening ceremony of the
Pressey State WMA. Between them sits Emerson R. Purcell, editor of the Custer County Chief, who helped facilitate the donation.
wool – who held in his hand a deed
conveying to the State of Nebraska
80 acres of land straddling the South
Loup River: 17 acres to the east of
Highway 21, the remainder to the
west. Prime real estate. According
to an article published in the April
1930 issue of Outdoor Nebraska, a
precursor to NEBRASKAland, “This
is one of the most highly developed
and beautiful tracts of land on
this scenic river, and Nature
has designed it for a delightful
recreation ground.”
Now early afternoon, Purcell, standing atop the wooden
platform, sharply dressed in a three-piece suit, called
the gathering to order. Following a short string of guest
speakers, Purcell introduced the man with the deed, the
benefactor whose name would forever be attached to the
park they were gathered in now: Henry E. Pressey. Some
called him “H.E.,” others “Harry.” Either way, he looked
uncomfortable on stage, standing next to Purcell and Gov.
A.J. Weaver, neck craned and shoulders slouched, cap in
one hand and his cane in the other. He leaned heavily on his
right leg, for his left was solid hackberry below the knee. He
whittled the appendage himself.
“In a few well-chosen words,” wrote the Custer County
Chief, “he [Pressey] stated that it was a great pleasure
for him to give this property to the state, expressing the
hope that it would be of lasting benefit to the public as a
recreation ground.”
After a brief exchange, Weaver placed in Pressey’s grip
a gold watch engraved for the occasion, “as a token of the
love and esteem of his Nebraska friends.” Turning to face
the audience, the governor, a much larger man than Pressey
– more at ease before a crowd of thousands – delivered a
half-hour speech, praising the mission of the one-year-old
parks commission. When it began, just four state-owned
recreation areas were available for public use. Today, he
said, there are more than 40. But only one of them was
donated outright to the people of Nebraska, and they were
standing in it now. More than the land’s intrinsic value,
Pressey’s gift, the governor proclaimed, has “established a
precedent of public spirit with a high regard to the welfare of
rotating generations.”
Pine Barrens to Plains
Today, it’s the name itself that rings a bell – not the man
behind it. Aside from those stalwart curators at the local
historical museum, few Custer County residents seem to
remember that before Pressey, there was a Henry Eugene.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 51
PHOTO COURTESY OF NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
H.E. Pressey purchased the homestead of Civil War veteran Ferdinand Zimmerer, pictured here with grazing horses and cattle,
in 1903. Zimmerer originally constructed a soddy along the South Loup River, and later upgraded to a framed wooden house.
There was a Harry. There was a prosperous farmer with a
botanist’s eye and a flair for the experimental. There was a
husband, and for a time, there was a father. And before all
that, there was a child born the son of a carriage maker in
the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, in a town called
Hammonton, “the liveliest looking town on this part of the
road,” wrote the eminent poet Walt Whitman in 1879.
Harry’s father, Henry True, arrived in Hammonton, New
Jersey – midway between Philadelphia and Atlantic City – in
1858. A wheelwright by trade, Henry built the house Harry
would grow up in, known locally as “the octagon house,”
or sometimes “the round house.” Named for its eight-sided
shape, it was likely the only one in Hammonton, though
strangely, it wasn’t the first Henry had lived in. Just four
52 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
years earlier, he’d built a similar eight-sided home in the
Greek Revival style on the shore of Messalonskee Lake in
Oakland, Maine. In 1977, “The Pressey House” in Oakland
was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
That creative gene seems to have cast a net over the
entire family. Harry’s uncle, George W. Pressey, also a
wheelwright in his early career, later became an inventor
of national renown, patenting – among other products – a
carriage spring known as “Pressey and Farnum’s Lever
Spring,” the widely used Pioneer Stump Puller, the Pressey
Folding Umbrella, and a bestselling chicken brooder. In
1888, he patented his most popular invention, the American
Star Bicycle, later sold and manufactured by the H.B. Smith
Company and currently on display at the Smithsonian
Museum.
“These inventions do not come as a happy inspiration to
men, but are the outcome of deep and long-sustained effort,”
according to the Biographical, Genealogical and Descriptive
History of the First Congressional District of New Jersey,
published in 1900. “It has been such qualities that have
won Mr. [George W.] Pressey prominence among the
mechanical inventors of the land and gained him a handsome
competence.”
In 1859, Henry’s wife Julia gave birth to young Henry
Eugene, whom friends later called Harry, probably to
differentiate between he and his father. Harry spent the first
two decades of his life in Hammonton. Few documents
exist to color his formative years, though census records
show he was just one of seven sons, and that a 23-yearold laborer lived with the family for an uncertain period
of time. Further, both Henry and Julia were leaders in
the local Universalist church, hosting social functions to
bolster their faith, which dismissed the Calvinist doctrine
of predestination once dominant in American culture. No
doubt Harry was exposed to Universalist beliefs at an early
age. Regardless, by the time Harry turned 21, he considered
himself a farmer, a trade he would soon follow 1,500 miles
west to Custer County in central Nebraska.
In Aug. 1881, Harry purchased the homestead of a man
named EJ Packard in the Wood River township. He plowed
the land and repaired the crumbling dugout, and by the
following September, he’d moved permanently onto the
property. On Jan. 7, 1882, he filed a homestead pre-emption
claim (entry no. 2909) with the land office in North Platte,
and spent the next five years working to “prove up” on the
land. He broke 52 acres, planting corn and oats. He built
a new stable, hen house, hog corral and a corncrib. He
upgraded from the dugout to a new sod house with a glass
door, “habitable all the year,” he testified, and in an act
of forward thinking, he planted 700 two-year-old “forest
trees” at a cost of roughly $200, nearly a third of his total
expenditures in improving the property.
History seems to have poorly documented H.E. Pressey’s
midlife. We do know, however, that in 1893, he married
a woman 10 years his junior named Hannah Katherine
Burbank. Born in Bitlis, Armenia (now eastern Turkey),
Kate was the daughter of a Presbyterian missionary and
doctor named L.T. Burbank. When they returned to America
sometime around 1881, the church sent L.T. to spread the
word in Custer County, specifically to those settlers along
the South Loup River. “As he went from one settlement to
another, preaching and encouraging the pioneers spiritually,
he also administered to their physical needs as well,”
according to W.L. Gaston’s History of Custer County,
Nebraska. When Harry first met her, Kate was the first
teacher in the history of the nearby village of Cumro.
A decade later, in 1903, Harry bought the land Pressey
State WMA sits on today, formerly the ranch of Civil
War veteran Ferdinand Zimmerer. Once the postmaster in
Tuckerville, Zimmerer prospered during his time on the
ranch, acquiring land beyond his original claim and building
a framed house next to the old soddy. All of it now belonged
to Harry. He and Kate moved into the house, and like he
had on his original homestead, Harry quickly set to work
planting a large flower garden and experimenting with nonnative trees along the South Loup River, among them more
than 5,000 pines of differing species, according to the Custer
County Chief. Though he may not have shown it, Harry
must have been excited when Kate first revealed she was
related to botanist Luther Burbank, famous for developing
more than 800 varieties of plants and flowers, the Shasta
daisy and the blight-resistant russet Burbank potato among
them. In curating the nature on his new property, Harry
frequently consulted with the famous botanist.
“He has planted almost innumerable varieties of trees and
shrubs, and has properly cared for them until they became a
stately forest,” wrote Outdoor Nebraska. “The flower garden
which he and his wife…maintained each season attracted
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 53
HISTORICAL MUSEUM
OF CUSTER COUNTY
PHOTO COURTESY
H.E. Pressey, who donated his land to the state of Nebraska,
stands next to a sign bearing his name at Pressey WMA.
Alone on the Ranch
In the summer of 1924, that optimism began to fade. Kate,
always so cheerful, grew tired. She couldn’t finish a meal,
could barely stomach a few bites. She felt nauseous. She
lost too much weight. Come fall, her symptoms unshakable,
she traveled west to Denver, where St. Joseph’s Hospital
diagnosed her with stomach cancer. She endured three
months of serum treatments before returning to her husband
on the South Loup, but the symptoms quickly resurfaced.
A few weeks later, just before Thanksgiving, she and
Harry returned to Denver. On Dec. 12, 1924, Kate passed
away, Harry at her side. Afraid of raising their adopted
54 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
A Low Profile
In the 71 years that have passed since Harry’s death, the
Pressey WMA has quietly – for the most part –established
itself as a mainstay along the river. In 1959, it crept back
into the headlines when Mel Steen, then director of the state
game commission, publicly opposed legislation mandating
the extermination of prairie dogs on all state-owned lands.
Steen noted that Pressey Park was the only park left in
Nebraska with a native prairie dog population. “We are
not opposed to prairie dog control,” Steen told the Lincoln
Evening Star. “We are opposed to their total extermination
on the only outdoor zoo in Nebraska where they are likely to
survive indefinitely.”
When a group of Harry’s heirs filed suit against the State
of Nebraska and state game commission in 1961, the park
made headlines again. The heirs – 16 in total – claimed
PHOTO BY JUSTIN HAAG
very great attention, and his garden and orchard have always
been outstanding.”
The Pressey ranch must have become fairly well known
in the years prior to Harry’s first meeting with Purcell.
In addition to raising their adopted daughter, Julia, Kate
taught weekly Sunday school classes in their home, and
Harry regularly hired out for help on the farm. Traffic on
the Pressey ranch increased even further when Harry – in
a stroke of creativity that falls squarely in line with the
eccentricities of his father and uncle – cobbled together a
makeshift gondola system for crossing the South Loup. He
strung a cable line from the east bank to the west and built a
cable car just big enough to convey himself across without
touching the water. Though ostensibly he built it for more
practical purposes, word spread fast among children in the
area, who often stopped by for a ride across the river.
“No matter what the conditions, the prospects, the
circumstances, the home of H.E. Pressey seemed to
many of us, in the old days, as an oasis in a desert of
disappointment,” wrote friend and neighbor Harvard Lomax.
“And life seemed brighter, the road less arduous, the burden
lighter from the effects of its optimistic atmosphere.”
daughter alone, Harry – in what must have been one of the
darker moments of his life – returned Julia, now 15, to the
orphanage she came from.
Back in Custer County, the old Zimmerer house must have
felt especially quiet to Harry during those next few months,
now a childless widower. Nevertheless, he continued to
work the farm, sowing seeds in the spring and harvesting in
the fall. He nursed the garden and his trees in the orchard,
orchestrating his multiple hired hands.
By the spring of 1930, he’d made up his mind to donate a
portion of his land to the state of Nebraska. Perhaps, living
alone now, he missed the activity that once surrounded his
property. Perhaps he felt the same civic duty that his family
seemed to have felt back in New Jersey, where they held
positions in municipal government. Perhaps, passing 70, he
just felt old, growing fearful of being forgotten before he
was gone.
Either way, in May 1930, before the governor and a
crowd of thousands, he deeded his first 80 acres. Thirteen
years later, in 1943, he deeded the rest of his property,
another 1,444 acres, to the NGFPC. The property included
60 acres of irrigated farmland, in addition to profitable
hay and pastureland. In total, his donation was valued at
roughly $50,000. Accounting for inflation, that’s more than
$687,000 today. Harry retained the right to live on the land
until his death, in addition to a stipend of $1,000 per year
paid for by the land’s revenue.
“Pressey park…is especially outstanding because of the
fact that the land has all been donated by one person,”
wrote the Omaha World-Herald in 1944. “For many years
his big desire in life has been to leave to Nebraska his own
picturesque land so that with each passing year thousands
and thousands of people may enjoy its scenic value as a
picnic ground and recreational center.”
His health failing, he spent the winter of 1944 with
relatives in California. He returned home in March, but like
Kate before him, his time away from the ranch didn’t seem
to help. He grew worse. He called a doctor in Eddyville,
who made a visit early in the second week of April,
recommending he go to the hospital. On Tuesday, April 13,
1944, as he waited for the ambulance to arrive, Harry passed
away. He was 85 years old.
Today, Pressey Wildlife Management Area is still an oasis attracting all manners of species of wildlife.
Pressey’s final (and largest) donation of land in 1943 was a
“pretended” document, and that the original deed had been
tampered with two months after Harry’s death. The suit was
later dismissed by the Custer County District Court, and a
motion for a new trial overruled.
For the most part, however, the park has kept a low
profile. Locals know it. Others, less so. “Thousands upon
thousands of people” may be a stretch – determining traffic
at a free park is tricky – but the New Jersey native’s impact
on central Nebraska is undeniable. In 1971, a small plaque
was installed at the entrance to the park in Harry’s memory.
And in 1978, the mayor of Oconto declared May 6 as
the annual “Harry E. Pressey Day,” “Whereas, we owe a
deep debt of gratitude to the man who made Pressey State
Wildlife Management Area available to all of us.”
A Return to Pressey WMA
On a recent trip back home to Broken Bow, I detoured
south to Pressey Park. In an hour the sun would dip below
the hills, but right then the light was perfect, the sky empty
and dark blue, the trees swaying in a dusty, yellow haze.
A host of 15 or 20 campers milled about near the picnic
shelter, their tents and camper trailers set up beside the road.
They smiled and waved as I kept past them. I drove until
I hit a sign that said “No Vehicles Beyond This Point.” I
parked the car, unleashed my dog and waded into the South
Loup River. The water was warmer than I had expected.
I pushed out into mid-stream, dug my toes into the cool
sand. The campfires and the hidden campsites and those coy
summer smiles – they’re all here, rushing past me beneath a
mid-summer sun.
Out there, on the highway and in the cities and towns
connected by it, so much has changed since Harry’s time.
But right here, in the middle of the spring-fed South Loup
River, water lapping at the cattails and the cottonwoods
guarding the banks, so much is the same. Just like Harry
envisioned, here I am, a man with his dog more than seven
decades later, enjoying his gift, reliving the memories I’ve
created here. Still today, the words of Harvard Lomax ring
true:
“And life seemed brighter, the road less arduous, the
burden lighter from the effects of its optimistic atmosphere.”
And all of it for free. ■
Carson Vaughan is a freelance writer originally from
Broken Bow. He is currently writing his way across the
lower 48 states in a renovated 1968 travel trailer. His work
has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune,
National Geographic, Travel + Leisure and more. To read
more of Carson’s work visit CarsonVaughan.com, and
follow his travels at LocalColorXC.com.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 55
From There
to Here
A dog's life across Nebraska.
By Patrick Mainelli
PHOTO BY PATRICK MAINELLI
I
n the colder reaches of January my
dog and I play this game. After the
sun’s gone down, the dinner’s dishes
scrubbed and stacked, the baby
returned quiet and dreaming to her
crib, we take a walk. The dog, Suzzy,
pulls me by leash across the quarter
mile of snow-blown pavement that leads
to the empty plain of the old Fontenelle
Golf Course in North Omaha.
When we get there I undo her leash
and she turns to me, looking up in
the oily mix of moon and street light,
waiting.
“Okay,” I tell her.
Then she’s gone, springing above
the snow, plunging half submerged a
moment later. The game is simply that
I follow where she goes, through the
empty fairway, over the gnarled and
weeded fence, onto the frozen lake,
into the island of trees. As a piece
of urban land – surrounded by gas
stations, liquor stores, pharmacies – the
failed golf course is necessarily defined
by its absence. It has become, by virtue
of its purposelessness, a wild thing.
Suzzy the dog was once Elsie the
dog. Until we came along she lived
on several hundred acres of Sandhill
ranchland in Hooker County. She
was the last of her litter to be adopted
off the ranch, excused from a life of
earnest work and the constant company
of other dogs. Though she has largely
grown accustomed to her new place
in the world, there remains, it seems,
something laying idle inside her. With
no cattle to move, no passing deer to
pursue, she can now be found, most
hours of most days, in the living
room, her nose pressed flat against the
window, steaming and unsteaming,
steaming and unsteaming her view to
the outside.
After jumping the wire fence and
onto the frozen lake, Suzzy runs from
one teacup pool of melted water to
the next, eagerly lapping up the chill.
I should stop this, I’ve tried actually,
but there she is. Though I call it a lake,
the water we walk across might more
precisely be known by its other name.
Though its quiet and bone stillness
seem real enough, the City refers to
these kinds of variously-scattered,
deliberately-engineered urban ponds
as stormwater detention basins – any
resemblance to the natural phenomenon
known as lakes is merely coincidental.
As she stops to drink, I stop too. In
the sky, the stars – arranged here in the
same pattern visible anywhere else in
this quarter of the world. Though they
compete with the surfeit energies of so
many other droning lights, I can still
make out the major players: Sirius,
Bellatrix, Regulus, Polaris. Beside the
bleeding hum of the horizon’s prolific
glow their vibrancy feels, at best, an
afterthought. Like the wasted space of
an unwanted golf course, their purpose
is unclear.
When she’s done with the water
Suzzy scales the bank of the small
island in the middle of the ice. Here
she knows her favorite trees to inspect,
her favorite shores to take watch from.
On the ground are already layers
and layers of prints pressed into the
snow. If I look closely I will see what
I already know – every paw is hers;
every boot, mine.
On the five hour drive from the
Sandhills to the city she mostly
trembled in a ball on the floor. When
we stopped in North Platte for lunch
she tongued soft-serve in a drive-thru,
peed on the white lines of a Wal-Mart
parking lot and seemed to feel a little
better.
In the following days, we gave her
shots to stay healthy and a collar to
stay found, and though those first
weeks were hard, she quickly made use
of that most profound animal ability –
she adapted.
There are times, though, when I
wonder which life she has preferred.
Was it worth it to trade nights in
the barn, piled among your many
brothers and sisters, for a cotton pad
on the living room floor? Could those
organic, grain-free, dehydrated pellets
we put in her bowl ever compare to
the scavenged viscera of a pronghorn
bleeding out beneath the tree? Did she
ever think of it? Could she?
Regardless, when we leave the ice
and the island and the immutable stars
behind she is as anxious to go home
as she is to go anywhere. Watching
her sprint full-bodied into the cold
and total white of the evening, I think
there could be nothing else, anywhere
else, more alive in the world. And if I
whistle and she returns, retracing the
postholes her legs have driven into the
snow, she will look up at me, ice in her
beard, with eyes so bright and hungry I
cannot help but follow. ■
56 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 57
58 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 59
NOVEMBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 59
Time to Draw
Drawing is a luxury I enjoy – when I have time.
By Tim Reigert
S
ince I was a child, I've loved comics and cartoons.
cartoons each issue – write the caption for the readers sortAll shapes and sizes: Newspapers – daily, Sunday
of-thing.
morning; Comic books; MAD Magazine; Peanuts;
The editor and I discussed that we probably would need
and later, Eerie, Creepy and even underground comics
a year's worth before committing to this sort of thing so I
like ZAP and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers– you
started thinking and sketching ideas at home on my own
name it.
time.
I once cut out a bunch
Ahhhh Time.
of Marmaduke single
Time was when I was
gag panels from the daily
able to devote more of my
newspaper and glued
work time to illustration
them into a homemade
for the magazine. Every
book for my grandfather.
now and then we would
He liked them and Dennis
need a new map which I
the Menace.
would render by hand (as
He said to me “Tim,
most of my illustrations).
wouldn't it be the best
And, occasionally, we
job in the world to draw
would get a story that
a newspaper comic
would benefit from
strip?” He'd see me
artwork rather than
drawing whenever we
photography – or that
visited while growing
could not be shown
up. Grandpa was always
with photography –
thinking, and he came up
something diagrammatic
with some pretty good
or a narrative that was
ideas over the years.
meditative, for example.
So while in school,
But I fear those days
and college, and at jobs I
are waning. More to do
would continue to draw
with less people – that
cartoons.
sort of thing.
A few years ago my
Other projects come
daughter Jamie wanted
down the pike and all are
a subscription to The
important.
New Yorker. She and I
On the bright side, I
would always look at
still enjoy what I do –
A quick sketch idea for a cartoon. Some possible captions I was thinking being creative for a living
the cartoons and laugh
of: "So that's what happened to Larry's leg!" or... "Maybe his uncle still
together. You see, she
is the best I can imagine
hunts?" or... "Look at the size of that leg – he must have been a big
also grew up on cartoons: man!"
– whether it's designing
Calvin and Hobbes, The
a story in the magazine,
Far Side, and more recently MAD Magazine.
a book, or illustrating with artwork. As the American
In the back of The New Yorker, each week they have a
entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker – Jim Rohn
“Cartoon Caption Contest” in which they run a cartoon
said...
without a caption. The readers are invited to write captions
“The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are
in which three finalists are chosen – then the fellow readers
better than the best days of those who don’t.”
vote on the one they like best – which is then published in
Well, I still have hope that we may
the next issue.
run out of bugs someday and we will
Here at NEBRASKAland, I was toying with the
run a cartoon caption contest. So I will
idea of starting a cartoon contest as well. You see, the
try to find time – somewhere. ■
NEBRASKAland Visitor contest has been going on now for
some time in which we hide a bug and ask the readers to
Tim grew up in Lincoln the son of
identify it. We draw from the submissions and the winner
a taxidermist and a musician. He has
receives a NEBRASKAland mug.
been NEBRASKAland's Art Director for
I thought it might be nice to vary the mug contest with
the past 20 years.
60 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 61
▲
This photo was taken in 1964 after a deer hunt on my
grandparents' farm and pastureland east of Steel City, Nebraska.
My father, Dwayne Bostelman (not pictured), got us boys
interested in deer hunting at a young age and now my father, my
son and I still enjoy harvesting mature bucks on the property.
Pictured on left: Grandpa Ed Pingel (deceased), myself and my
younger brother Bruce.
Pictured below: My father, Dwayne Bostelman, and grandpa Ed.
– Gregg Bostelman, Grand Island, Nebraska
▲
This photo was taken after a morning hunt in
October of 1960, south of Smith Lake State Wildlife
Management Area. Pictured is Clem Mannion, my
maternal grandfather, who stands behind his party's
limit of ducks. My grandfather made the annual
trek to the Sandhills every year for over 50 years.
For him, it was a pilgrimage – to leave behind the
city life of Omaha, where he worked for the REA
Express, for the beauty and serenity of the High
Plains.
Gramp's enthusiasm for this region spread
quickly. My father (John), who turns 80 this
February, my two brothers and I still make the
annual trip. Recently, I enrolled in the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln Grasslands Management
Certificate program as my experiences continue to
foster interest for all living creatures that call the
Sandhills home. And, it all started with a cribbageplaying, devoted family man named Clem.
– Michael J. Murphy, Alexandria, Virginia
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.
62 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 63
Venison
Cabbage Rolls
My version of cabbage rolls, an
homage to Nebraska's Eastern
European heritage.
By Jenny Nguyen
C
abbage rolls are common in
several cuisines, including the
Balkans, Central, Northern and
Eastern Europe, and also in
West Asia. Having never had
them prepared by no one other than
myself, I can’t claim that these are
authentic by any stretch. However, I did
choose to simmer the rolls in a tomato
sauce, which does point to an Eastern
European persuasion.
The cabbage rolls I made here are
stuffed with freshly ground venison,
bacon and long grain Jasmine rice. And
because I spent so much money on a
jar of saffron at “Whole Paycheck” for
another recipe I made awhile back, I
try to use it whenever I can. Saffron
is delicious in sauces that are tomatobased.
Servings: 4-5
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour and 30
minutes
Ingredients:
1 pound of freshly ground venison
3-4 ounces of ground bacon
1 head of cabbage
1 teaspoon of kosher salt, plus
extra
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 egg
1
⁄3 cup of uncooked long grain
white rice
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
21⁄4 cup of crushed tomatoes
1 14-ounce can of low-sodium
beef broth
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 pinch of saffron
Freshly cracked pepper
1 tablespoon of fresh Italian
parsley, chopped
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1. Preheat oven
to 350 degrees
Fahrenheit. Mix
together ground
venison, ground
bacon, chopped
parsley, 1 teaspoon
of kosher salt, garlic
powder, freshly
cracked pepper,
uncooked rice and
egg. Cover and chill.
2. Bring a large
pot of water to a
boil. Core out the
cabbage and discard
discolored or dried out outer leaves.
Place the cabbage in the boiling water,
turning it occasionally. Allow cabbage
head to cook for 2 minutes. Peel off
leaves as they become more soft and
pliable, and then run under cold water
and drain. You should end up with
12-15 leaves.
3. With a small knife, shave away
part of the protruding lower rib on each
leaf to make leaves evenly flat. Next,
place about 2 tablespoons of ground
meat mixture towards the bottom of the
cabbage leaf. Fold in the two sides, the
bottom and then roll it all up. Repeat
until you run out of ground meat.
4. In a large Dutch oven, heat 1
tablespoon of oil over medium heat.
Add the sliced onion and sauté with a
pinch of salt until translucent, about
5-7 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir
for another minute – do not burn. Add
64 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
crushed tomatoes, beef broth, thyme
sprigs and a pinch of saffron. Bring
sauce to a simmer.
5. Finally, gently lay rolls in the
sauce in one layer, seam side down.
Lightly sprinkle with more salt and
pepper. Ladle some sauce over rolls,
cover and bake in a 350 degree oven
for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check
halfway through to make sure sauce
doesn’t reduce too much. If so, add
more stock. Check to see if meat is
thoroughly cooked. Sprinkle freshly
chopped parsley on top of rolls and
serve warm with
sauce. ■
This recipe
and photograph
originally appeared
on Jenny's Food
for Hunters blog at
Foodforhunters.com.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 65
Nature's Beauty Through Photography
N
ature abounds in beauty, both subtle and sublime. I credit photography with helping me
see and appreciate the former. Over 15 years ago, I bought a used Nikon camera from
then NEBRASKAland staff photographer Mike Forsberg, and under his patient tutelage,
began my journey with photography.
Through the lens, I viewed familiar landscapes in ways I had not before. The hues of
tallgrass prairie and the shape and lines of Sandhills dunes became more profound. Wildflowers
were scrutinized from all angles seeking their perfect form.
Intrigued by the intricate feather patterns and colors, harvested game birds were no longer just
table fare, but an artistic opportunity. For several springs, I photographed wild turkeys in the
dappled shade of our backyard maple, finding that just the right angle and intensity of sunlight
flashed brilliant reds and silvers among their seemingly all black breast
feathers. On fall and winter days, prairie chickens (photo above), sharptailed grouse and rooster pheasants were laid on our front porch where the
rays of the low afternoon sun warmed the feathers’ colors and shadows
brought forth rich textures to capture.
Viewed with new eyes, nature continues to surprise me.
Gerry Steinauer, Botanist
December 11, 2015
66 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 67
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