Has anyone seen Eastern Nebraska

Upland4Ever

Upland4Ever

New member
So I was out dove hunt this morning. Also drove from Omaha to Wahoo and then south to Beatrice the over the Nebraska City just scouting and looking at hunting places. And it seems if its not mowed or thrimmed down it corn. And I saw little to none areas with good habitat. Is Nebraska doing anything for its uplands or is that focus gone. Its getting to the point of making you think about hunting ducks. Give me your input if you hunt here or cone here to hunt. Thanks
 
I do hunt Nebraska and enjoy the walking very much. It seems like EVERYTHING is planted in corn from the edge of the road to the edge of the next road. There doesn't seem to be much habitat for the pheasants anymore and the low numbers are proof. The local farmers even say there are very FEW birds left now. Just saying...
 
Bilbo Baggins said:
I do hunt Nebraska and enjoy the walking very much. It seems like EVERYTHING is planted in corn from the edge of the road to the edge of the next road. There doesn't seem to be much habitat for the pheasants anymore and the low numbers are proof. The local farmers even say there are very FEW birds left now. Just saying...
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i grew up there as a kid and hunted every weekend, it is now a virtual wasteland for upland game, unlikely to recover as they farm the hell out of everything....there are no longer any stewards of the land. :mad:
 
Hunter94, that thought already passed my mind and I think you are correct. Like I said, I will enjoy walking in Nebraska:) My expectations are low. Last time out we only ran into a couple groups and they were all from Texas, just like me. I guess they didn't get the memo.

Already bought my NE license and habitat stamp for 2014 with motel reservations for opening weekend. I noticed it is only another 200 miles to South Dakota so I may run over there for five days.

All the local farmers said to try the NE Panhandle area, so that may be an option this year.

I guess since the Nebraska forum is so quiet it is probably a good indication of very poor bird numbers again this year.

Good luck to everyone.
 
Growing up in South Dakota and moving to Eastern Nebraska has been a big disappointment for me in the last 3-4 years. The habitat has steadily been removed and taking off for a day and finding a rooster is a real challenge you better be ready to burn up gas, rubber, and shoe leather to find one. I have found a few places that will hold a bird or two and stumble on a covey of quail rarely. The price of corn has forced the CRP to come out and taken away nesting habitat to the max. The state of Nebraska sent out a tweet/facebook announcement about there new public hunting and fishing public land access book coming out and seemed to be excited about it and promoting it. I replied to them that it was really pathetic and got my post deleted. It is always a debate about getting my general hunting license or not.

Once again working on moving back to South Dakota, but it has been tough there that last few years too.
 
Bilbo Baggins said:
I guess since the Nebraska forum is so quiet it is probably a good indication of very poor bird numbers again this year.

Good luck to everyone.
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I was just in NE this past weekend hunting grouse. In 3 days I saw 1 hen pheasant. Didn't hear any crowing either. Lots of coyote though. Not trying to be a buzz kill, there's some around. Just saying calibrate your expectations.

I'll make a trip or two there in the late season but I think I'm going to try to hit MT more often this year.

Good luck wherever you go!
 
Hobie1026 said:
I was just in NE this past weekend hunting grouse. In 3 days I saw 1 hen pheasant. Didn't hear any crowing either. Lots of coyote though. Not trying to be a buzz kill, there's some around. Just saying calibrate your expectations.

I'll make a trip or two there in the late season but I think I'm going to try to hit MT more often this year.

Good luck wherever you go!
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Yeah we hit a lot of travel and boot leather, but I think dad is in denial. I even kept track of how many birds we see and shot and he thought I was wring when I told him after all the traveling he had only shot one rooster last year. People say give them time they'll come back. Well here in Nebraska I'll never be convinced they will. I'm not going to sugar coat it but my wife is from Louisiana and after chasing roosters my whole life and Nebraska not really doing a whole lot to get them back the idea the wife bringing up about moving back to Louisiana does sound so bad cheaper living great fishing and I have to lab so I think shooting some ducks would make them happy.
 
Hobie I was keeping an eye on different grouse reports for NE and haven't seen one yet that says they are up. That's why I haven't gotten excited about making the trip up there. I'm hunting chickens here Saturday. Been out twice and got in to birds once.

I want to shoot a sharpie in a bad way but I guess I'll wait and see what next year brings. It got awful hot there for a while as well.
 
duckn66 said:
Hobie I was keeping an eye on different grouse reports for NE and haven't seen one yet that says they are up. That's why I haven't gotten excited about making the trip up there. I'm hunting chickens here Saturday. Been out twice and got in to birds once.

I want to shoot a sharpie in a bad way but I guess I'll wait and see what next year brings. It got awful hot there for a while as well.
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I was going to ping you. They may not be up but I'm seeing more this year than last. Could be I'm getting better at knowing where to look. I've been out there twice so far. First time went to one of my honeyholes and only saw 1 sharptail that flushed waaaaaay out there. The new den of coyotes I saw on the hillside where the covey usually hung out might have something to do with it.

Second time was last weekend. Got sharptails where I expected to find them. Then got lost trying to find a walk in area, tried a new place where I was going to turn around. 1/4 mile from the truck Gus flushed a big covey of prairie chickens. More than 20 birds. Compare that to the covey's of sharptails I was seeing where the biggest covey was 5 birds so maybe sharptails are down.

All the birds I shot had crops full of grasshoppers and red berries, and there were plenty of both so I think conditions are good for prairie grouse although I didn't see many sharpies. Just too dang hot for me to hunt more than a couple hours in the morning.

Obligatory birds on barbed-wire fence picture:

guspchicks9-27_zps7a141878.jpg
 
hunter94 said:
i grew up there as a kid and hunted every weekend, it is now a virtual wasteland for upland game, unlikely to recover as they farm the hell out of everything....there are no longer any stewards of the land. :mad:
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I agree with the statement there are very few stewards of the land left in Nebraska, it seems. Folks need to make a living but come on, is it going to break the bank to leave a little cover for the birds? Sad to see the upland tradition fading in yet another state. :mad:
 
Habitat and pheasant habitat specifically is a "We the People" thing. Soil Bank and CRP - we the people. NEVER expect the private sector to contribute in a significantly meaningful way to the habitat that we know is needed. The private sector does a lot of good things but it CANNOT do this.

We the People have to purchase 60 million acres for $200 billion, put it permanently to grass, and be done with this problem.

Private sector control of land is WAY, WAY, WAY out of wack and balance.

Our ancestors fought and died for the land then we handed it over to the private sector. Well enough for the majority of land but 10-15% has to be put back for other purposes besides $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!

Our NATIONAL HUNTING HERITAGE is at tremendous risk without it. It's evaporating like a mirage in the desert. That's been happening for 50+ years and is blatantly obvious.

I could almost care less what the private sector does with its 85% but this NEVER should have been done with 99.99999999% of it. NO WAY. Just plain old bad planning.
 
RK Special K said:
Habitat and pheasant habitat specifically is a "We the People" thing. Soil Bank and CRP - we the people. NEVER expect the private sector to contribute in a significantly meaningful way to the habitat that we know is needed. The private sector does a lot of good things but it CANNOT do this.

We the People have to purchase 60 million acres for $200 billion, put it permanently to grass, and be done with this problem.

Private sector control of land is WAY, WAY, WAY out of wack and balance.

Our ancestors fought and died for the land then we handed it over to the private sector. Well enough for the majority of land but 10-15% has to be put back for other purposes besides $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!

Our NATIONAL HUNTING HERITAGE is at tremendous risk without it. It's evaporating like a mirage in the desert. That's been happening for 50+ years and is blatantly obvious.

I could almost care less what the private sector does with its 85% but this NEVER should have been done with 99.99999999% of it. NO WAY. Just plain old bad planning.
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RK - I think you have got it right (mostly) and I agree with you. If there were a way to purchase 60 million acres and set it aside permanently to grass I would be behind that. But how can this be done? There is a private foundation doing this in Montana called the American Prairie Foundation. So that is one way to do it, but like you said when this is done by the private sector you don't know the long-term viability or public access to hunt this land.

But putting programs like CRP at the mercy of a highly political Farm Bill every 4 years - there has to be a better way. Like you said grassland should be purchased, set aside for the public good forever and let's be done with it. One thing I totally agree with is the private sector cannot be depended upon to preserve conservation acreage. For every landowner that voluntarily does this there at least 10 others that will not, in almost any circumstance. Just ain't gonna happen.

I'm certainly not a big fan of big government, but there are certain things that only we the people can accomplish. Large-scale purchases and set aside of land for current and future generations to enjoy and benefit from is an appropriate thing for we the people to be doing, I believe. In fact as you have pointed out this country's outdoors and hunting heritage depends on it - left only to the private sector this country will consist mainly of corn fields, strip malls and subdivisions.

BTW I do care what the private sector does with their 85% of the land (if it leads to large scale flooding problems for others, pollution like the Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone', etc.). As an example, these are the detrimental things we're seeing from the massive conversion of land to row crops, filling in wetlands, etc.
 
I wish it were 1 in 10 land owner doing the "right" thing. I believe it would be closer to 1 in 100 on average.

It's all about the almighty dollar. Those who own the most can do the most.

Setting aside land such as FDR did is great. But, if we the people were to buy up land then we would have to hand it over to the government for management and I don't know very many people who trust our government right now. A desolate (sp) person (our governement) is capable of doing some very bad things.

Would you trust buying something and giving it to someone in desperate need and expect them to do the right thing with it? Same thing with our government. It is in such a bad situation that giving land for them to manage would be like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. They would sell it to a foreign government and there would be nothing we could do about it because our elected senators and congressman would not only allow it to happen they would promote it!

Now back to your regular programming.
 
The property would be purchased with absolute deed restrictions that it NEVER be resold to ANYONE. Period.

The property would be purchased with restrictions that it be "managed" by the states or a contract with organizations like PF. But I truly question how much "management" this grass would need. The soil bank acreage was simply left fallow to the ravages of nature. Bird numbers EXPLODED. Oh, maybe some window dressing such as food plots and shelter belts could be added by state and PF type groups if so inclined and supported by sportsmen but simply having 60 million acres of fallow ground is 95%+ of the solution.

With 60 million acres of fallow ground in western pheasantland, motels in the rural pheasant belt of America would be full for the first 3 weeks of the season.

PHEASANTLAND defined:

Large parts of: MN, ND, MT, SD, IA, NE, KS. Perhaps some fringe areas of other states adjacent to these.

Forget the east. Write it off. It's not practical or worth the money to save pheasant hunting in these states. NO WAY-NO HOW. Concede them to the deer and turkey hunters.
 
And how much would you as a pheasant hunter be willing to pay for this? Special tax?

I like how you're thinking but handing over dollar bills to the government and trusting that the money will go where it's supposed to hasn't worked out real well historically.
 
There are a lot of acres in the areas mentioned that should not be farmed or grazed and just left in prairie/grassland areas. Some of the things I have seen in production is scary!
 
We just spent over $1 trillion, O N E T R I L L I O N over the last 20 years being a "nanny" in the middle east. Even more elsewhere. Who would even blink at a mere $200 billion - I suppose it's "pocket change". And it's NOT spending - it's INVESTING.

Stop the insanity. Bring OUR money home. NO NEW TAXES. It would be re-directed money to purchase a HARD ASSET - LAND, in America FOR Americans.
This is NOT an expense - it's taking cash to buy land - a good INVESTMENT.

Look in the mirror - that's the "government" under the principle: "of the people, by the people, and for the people. I know, it's gotten far from that but this would be an exception, based upon our founding fathers vision.
 
And keep in mind that the benefits to soil, air, and water quality go far beyond that of us hunters enjoying more bird numbers - FAR beyond. Rural America also gets a tremendous economic boost in the fall. This is NOT just a "special interest" issue. It's a quality of life issue for Americans.
 
RK Special K said:
And keep in mind that the benefits to soil, air, and water quality go far beyond that of us hunters enjoying more bird numbers - FAR beyond. Rural America also gets a tremendous economic boost in the fall. This is NOT just a "special interest" issue. It's a quality of life issue for Americans.
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^^Agree with this - the benefits pointed out have already been proven with programs like CRP, the improved bird hunting is really a side benefit :cheers:
 
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