Taking a quick dip to Nebraska

mstand

Member
Dont worry men, you dont have to guard your secrets from me.

I would like to know what shot to use if I may encounter quail, pheasant and sharptail. I shoot a 12 and 20 depending on weather conditions.
Are most places lead friendly or is it like here, may aswell use steel?
what does the snow look like in the SE?

Thanks for your time
 
Dont worry men, you dont have to guard your secrets from me.

I would like to know what shot to use if I may encounter quail, pheasant and sharptail. I shoot a 12 and 20 depending on weather conditions.
Are most places lead friendly or is it like here, may aswell use steel?
what does the snow look like in the SE?

Thanks for your time

Great questions! I was just in Nebraska doing the same thing. There are places that are non-toxic shot only, so be prepared. I carried 4 and 5 shot depending on the terrain and what we would encounter. I was in an area not known for quail, so my focus was on sharps and pheasants. It was a great trip and there's no doubt Nebraska is a special place.
 
In SE Nebraska it is hit or miss. If you are looking at the Public Land Atlas the OFW CRP (red) and Open Land (yellow) you can use lead. I thought that the WMA's (green) were hit or miss but the online atlas does not list them as non-toxic only so maybe you can use lead. NE is great at posting properties and regulations so just read the signs in the parking lot. WPA (pink) are non-toxic only. Depending on what properties you are going to hunt you can bring accordingly. I usually am targeting pheasants and use 4 shot for steel and 5 for lead. They work for quail and grouse. I have not seen sharptail in SE Nebraska, but they may be there. Prairie chickens in that part of the state are permit only.

We just received a few inches of snow on Monday. The further south you go the less snow. I snuck out yesterday (more south central than SE) and the pheasants cooperated nicely. With the new snow I could track them and they held great and I went three for three. Not sure why the pic is rotated.

View attachment 8032
 
Thank you both for the information. Especially the info on chicken by permit only! Now I will be afraid to shoot any grouse!! LMAO
Are the water areas frozen solid? Thursday I will be going solo and it makes me nervous hunting the dogs near semi solid water.

I will end up using 12 3inch 4 and 20 g 5 lead or 3 steel.

I think it is going to be fun either way. The dogs will get one more run!

Again, thanks so much for the info
 
The water that I was near was not very deep, but the ice was solid. No cracking or even breaking along the edges. Today was pretty warm and a lot of snow melted but I wouldn't be too worried. Careful on some of the roads that are not maintained. SE NE roads can be a mess when they are wet. I think it is all of the clay in the soil but it is not hard to get stuck.

Good luck and keep us updated. The quail population is reportedly doing well in SE Nebraska.

Nathan
 
How did you do?

I snuck out tonight to give it one last shot. Hunted one field and saw five hens and one rooster. Not shot on the rooster. Was wishing we had snow so I could track them, but will have to wait for next year.
 
Terrible.... 32 miles on 1 dog, 24 on another and 17 on another.
First day I got there, the "tips" that were given to me were probably pay back for something I did wrong in my life. So i struck out on my own and learned quickly that when they say the gravel had ended and it is 50 degrees out.....you dont go any further.
I barely got up this road and found an opening and parked. I was pretty mad, so I was just going to run the dogs that had been in the truck since 8am.....it was now 4.

Suited the dogs up and I headed out with no gun etc. The cover didnt look like that habitat for quail I have been told to look for. I figured we would get into coons,possums ans squarils. Bu 10 yards in I hit Milo!! A quck return the the truck to get my gun.....Whole if going to hunt a milo field un armed?

50 yards in and max slams on point, I wasnt ready as the pup busted up the covey!! I didnt even attempt to shoot as a bob went right to left in front of expressing his displeasure with me disturbing his feast!
I did what everyone said to do. I chased the ones that split. I did this for about 20 minutes before my mind drifted back to the time and the greesy road I was going to have to back through. With my friends coming in later this evening, I decide to locate the little feets prints of the quail so they would believe me.
As I was bent over doing this, I caught a covey erupt just 40 yards away....and then go back down!
I call the dogs in and decide to work around where I saw them ecause of the sun would be in my eyes.
I get to this brush and both my girls are dialed in, steady as rocks..... I took 2 steps around the corner and the birds erupt. I take a shot and connect with a nice bob!
So now I was ok leaving. The raod was worry sum and I still had a 40 minute drive to the hotel.

I was able to get out ok and made it to the hotel.

Next day despite hitting 5 different ihaps(walk ins), we were able to shoot 1 quail. We were leap frogging with a dude from Tenn. and SD.

at our last stop we got a look at a sharptail. SHe was laying by the road...about 5-10 yards or so. We couldnt find a cause of death and figured it must have been road kill. SHe was very much intact besides her neck looked broken.

3 day same luck..... it seemed that if we were not hunting behind 1 of those guys, then we were getting cut off by level b roads, or cattle grazing in the walk in fields.
it was about 1 pm and being tired and discouraged I told my buddy that I was going to nap while she hit this small piece. I knew right away it was a mistake. She was gome for about 30 minuted when my thoughts were confirmed when I heard he gun go off! I didnt hear a second shot so I figured she toasted a quail!

She comes back to the truck with no bird. She told me that she had 4 to 5 sharptails get up about 20 yards in front of her. SHe shot once and the follow up shot wouldnt come for some reason....Miss fire?

so we gather up and hunt the field across the road thinking if they were over there than they can be over there too. No, we walked the whole field and never saw a bird........except the 10 sharptails we saw across the road where she had been hunting. SO we traverse about a mile to get around them and get the dogs in good wind......those little bastards gave us the slip!!LMAO

So besides the funny stuff that always happens when we get together, it wasnt much fun.

I think we will look for a place where we can hunt sharpies and chickens next year.
 
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