Upland4Ever
New member
Going hunting tomorrow eastern Neb all welcome to go.
Going hunting
- Thread starter Upland4Ever
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double trigger
Member
Let us know how you do. I am interested in what's going on in Nebraska but this forum is really dead most of the time
Upland4Ever
New member
Let us know how you do. I am interested in what's going on in Nebraska but this forum is really dead most of the time
3 hens of course didn't shot saw to coveys also. Only shot one rooster.
kansasbrittany
Banned
Seeing 2 coveys and getting a rooster is a pretty good day IMO!
Did you lay off the quail b/c of the covey #'s or did they hit the ground runnin'?
Upland4Ever
New member
Just shoot at the phasant
Went out last Wednesday hunted around Tecumseh and Burchard. There was two of us and two pretty good dogs we walked all day long and only got up two pheasants so far away we couldn't even tell if they were roosters our hens. The areas that we hunted had very good looking habitat but absolutely no wildlife. we didn't even see any rabbit tracks it was almost as if all the wild life parished in a nuclear aftermath. Very troubling, I can understand no birds and no habitat but there ought to be birds with good habitat but there wasn't.
Upland4Ever
New member
Any Quail at all?
Vammy
Member
Went out last Wednesday hunted around Tecumseh and Burchard. There was two of us and two pretty good dogs we walked all day long and only got up two pheasants so far away we couldn't even tell if they were roosters our hens. The areas that we hunted had very good looking habitat but absolutely no wildlife. we didn't even see any rabbit tracks it was almost as if all the wild life parished in a nuclear aftermath. Very troubling, I can understand no birds and no habitat but there ought to be birds with good habitat but there wasn't.
Wow. I'm from NE (live in OK now), and my family is from the Tecumseh-Sterling area...used to be worth a bird or two most trips down there "way back when". Have great memories of Burchard Lake, both summer and on the ice. I'm headed back for Christmas, but thinking of rolling west for a couple days...maybe northeast. Then, in January my buddies and I get together for a little duck and goose hunt out west near Scottsbluff...good times, I miss home...
To be honest we did not expect very many pheasants but we did expect to bust a few coveys of quail. Southeast NE has traditionally been better for quail than pheasant, so we loaded up with some 71/2 shot and went for it but didn't see anything. Were not lazy hunters either, we walk until we cant walk any longer and then we walk some more. There was about 3 inches of fairly fresh snow on the ground as well, the wind was about 15 to 20 mph out of the North, pretty much ideal conditions didn't see anything to speak of, not even tracks! I have been hunting in Nebraska for over 50 years and have never came across landscape so void of wildlife. We did see some deer and one really nice shooter buck that was about the highlight of the trip. Wish I had a better report, next trip will be up to the Northeast part of the state up by Bloomfield and Coleridge hope I have a better report after the next hunt.
Vammy
Member
In the late 90's we'd head northeast, Stanton and Colfax counties, and do OK. Most farmers would allow access with a simple knock on the door. Per the norm, when the CRP vanished, so did the birds...and we started heading to SD for our annual pheasant hunt. I do come back to NE for rifle deer season every year; 2012 was not good with the drought, etc...every deer I had on camera at the family farm had vanished, except for 3 does, and 2 of those still had fawns with them. They all lived. I didn't make it back this year (decided to stay extra days in SD instead :thumbsup but my buddies all had dire reports...don't think anyone hung a real shooter buck, and several said they would be eating their licenses instead of venison this year.
If I hear any good news from my buddies re: birds, I'll post it up.
but my buddies all had dire reports...don't think anyone hung a real shooter buck, and several said they would be eating their licenses instead of venison this year.If I hear any good news from my buddies re: birds, I'll post it up.
double trigger
Member
Good to hear you got a little action at least - thanks for the report
HighBrass68
Banned
I grew up in Omaha, attended Central High and UNL. Hunted all over southeast NE during the late 70's, 80's and early 90's.
Quail numbers were often very good and pheasants good as well. It was not uncommon to flush 5-10 coveys per day or more. When CRP began in the mid 80's pheasant numbers in southeast NE really improved. We used to hunt several farms near Humboldt and Auburn and I remember seeing hundreds of pheasants during the late 80's. Dewitt and Wymore were also good areas.
I'm sorry that the bird numbers are so low now. I am sure that habitat loss due to high grain prices and removal of CRP contracts is a leading cause of the low numbers.
Vammy.....yes the farmers were very friendly and gaining access was usually easy. I miss those days and wonder if any of my old friends are still around.....?
GBR!!!
Quail numbers were often very good and pheasants good as well. It was not uncommon to flush 5-10 coveys per day or more. When CRP began in the mid 80's pheasant numbers in southeast NE really improved. We used to hunt several farms near Humboldt and Auburn and I remember seeing hundreds of pheasants during the late 80's. Dewitt and Wymore were also good areas.
I'm sorry that the bird numbers are so low now. I am sure that habitat loss due to high grain prices and removal of CRP contracts is a leading cause of the low numbers.
Vammy.....yes the farmers were very friendly and gaining access was usually easy. I miss those days and wonder if any of my old friends are still around.....?
GBR!!!
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It's been my experience that the farmers in northeast Nebraska are very willing to give one permission to hunt ,but Southeast NE is a whole other story especially if you have license plates that start with a 1 or a 2. If it wasn't for the public land down there I wouldn't even waste my time trying to get permission in that part of NE, having a little kid go up to the door with you doesn't even work. Definitely a difference in attitudes from one area to the next.
Report from the Southwest
Well, the southwest part of the state isn't much better. The drought has just about ruined it. I went out Tue thru Fri and the first three fields I hit not so much as a field mouse. CRP that used to be thigh high in red grass was not even ankle deep. I walked it anyway just to get the dog some work.
Went all over from Bruce through the Ogallala area, down towards McCook, east to Holdredge, and down to Alma. Areas I have hunted for 20 years. I saw three roosters. Didn't shoot at a single one. Two coveys of quail, and again, I just didn't have the heart to shoot. The good news was I saw maybe 20 hens with those roosters, so the "seed" is there to repopulate if conditions improve.
Lots of CRP was cut for hay two years ago, and a bunch was not renewed. And I saw ground that has been fallow for decades plowed up and planted with winter wheat.
I don't know what the future holds for pheasant and quail. I may be heading to the northwoods of Minnesota and Michigan to chase ruffed grouse in the future.
Well, the southwest part of the state isn't much better. The drought has just about ruined it. I went out Tue thru Fri and the first three fields I hit not so much as a field mouse. CRP that used to be thigh high in red grass was not even ankle deep. I walked it anyway just to get the dog some work.
Went all over from Bruce through the Ogallala area, down towards McCook, east to Holdredge, and down to Alma. Areas I have hunted for 20 years. I saw three roosters. Didn't shoot at a single one. Two coveys of quail, and again, I just didn't have the heart to shoot. The good news was I saw maybe 20 hens with those roosters, so the "seed" is there to repopulate if conditions improve.
Lots of CRP was cut for hay two years ago, and a bunch was not renewed. And I saw ground that has been fallow for decades plowed up and planted with winter wheat.
I don't know what the future holds for pheasant and quail. I may be heading to the northwoods of Minnesota and Michigan to chase ruffed grouse in the future.
Not good! Especially when one thinks about the years that Nebraska had just as many pheasants as South Dakota! Very sad maybe things will change in the future but its not looking good. They tell me that there are some pretty good pockets of birds out by Alliance NE, clear out in the panhandle.
ksduckhntr
Member
I am heading to the Sargent are this weekend and hope to get out for a couple half days. Maybe I will see something, if not it'll be like back home in KS. But the scenery will be much different. I love those sand hills!
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
I can tell you when I was growing up in ND in the late 70s and early 80s - we dreamed about going to Nebraska. We killed many birds, but dreamed of fields of plenty in Nebraska. Then CRP came to ND and birds took off.
Minnesota has a solid base pheasant population and while not necessarily a destination spot for Nonresident pheasant hunters, the hunting is consistant even in down years. Really find it hard to believe NE is simply that bad off.
but it is........NE. is the shits. sure there are isolated areas where you will run into a few birds, but by and large, it is farmed fence row to row....the Sandhills holds a few birds around the hay fields and center pivots, but elsewhere there is not enough cover to sustain a decent population....i remember the 70's, never to return.