Category: Nebraska

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

nebr. 01-04-2013 14:35
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What is the goose population like in Neb?

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle and North Platte river 12-26-2012 21:39
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Well I haven’t been able to hunt much but the birds are definitely on the river. There are thousands of both geese and ducks roosting in my area and we are managing to shoot some most days. We have only had two skunk days and those were on calm bluebird days. Anytime we have some wind or snow we seem to knock a few down. Patricks are starting to add up the numbers on both geese and ducks. Mike’s Lisco blind has been stacking them up again this week. We all had a lull between the first cold blast and now when the weather was very pleasant but it’s cold now and everyone in the panhandle has snow on the ground. I plan on getting the most out of my blind for the rest of the season so let’s hope we keep the birds there. I will let you know. LO

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

North Central 12-10-2012 09:29
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new ducks showed up afternoon on sunday. I hunted until noon and then had to go. Couple of guys stayed and it was worth it! Sounds like the eastern side of the state saw them before we did.

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

Platte river west of Kearney 12-09-2012 20:18
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted the river this morning expecting some new birds, no shots fired. One of those years!!! Water was slush free until 9. The birds that are around are really patterned. For the average weekend hunter its been a tough year. Good luck to all this week. Reports Are birds on the move this evening.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river valley 12-03-2012 07:53
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
I am averaging two geese a morning from my cornfield near Minitare. There are a lot of geese in the area and Mallards as well. The birds are becoming safe paterned but a weather change is on its way. Reports along the river are all similar, a few chances each day but not many limit days. All lakes and ponds are open again and big numbers of waterfowl are in the western sandhills . We hunted a corn pivot in Sheridan county last saturday and killed all thirteen geese that we decoyed. I have received reports of great goose hunts near Alliance I will be hunting my blind as much as possible from now Til the end of the season

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Panhandle 11-18-2012 21:43
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
There are great numbers of waterfowl in the North Platte river valley and everyone is reporting excellent goose hunting. Mike’s Lisco blind is already nearing their season total for last year reporting limits every day until today. I finally got my pit in and am encouraged by the bird numbers in the area. Even the larger lakes iced Over in last weeks winter blast but are now open again. The forecast for the next week is for mostly pleasant weather so wind will be important to success. I will hunt Thursday morning and report after.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North platte river valley near Minitare 11-13-2012 13:46
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Well we didn’t get the pit in yesterday for a number of reasons. There was Plenty of geese and a ton of ducks in the area. It looks promising if those birds stick around. The lisco blind reported a lot of new geese and limited out by nine. The Patrick blind isn’t ready to hunt yet but reported good numbers of geese yesterday.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North platte river valley near 11-13-2012 13:40
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Posted By:
stumper
Web Member

Grand Island, NE 11-13-2012 13:17
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 40-45 Degrees
Next week I am planning on taking a drive up into southestern So Dak from Grand Island, NE on my way back to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. I would like to do some scouting (not hunting) for the northern mallards/snows. I am in college and didn’t bring my gun with me to school, but I always enjoy watching the annual fall migration, and they say this is supposed to be an historic one. Any suggestions on where (what towns) I might want to hit in NE Nebraska and SE South Dakota? I will take I-90 back east into LaCrosse, WI.
Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-11-2012 21:51
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
Well we decided to hunt a local lake on Saturday before the storm hit our area fully expecting some serious migration from the north and was skunked for the first time in a long time. We hunted until about noon and gave it up without a single flock decoying and probably only saw about fifteen to twenty ducks migrate in, all divers. It was spitting snow when we quit and by the time I reached home some fifty miles it was snowing hard. I saw one small flock of Canadas driving home but soon after I was in Crawford I started recieving reports that a big push was beginning. Geese of all kinds migrated through the night and all day today along with great numbers of Mallards and other ducks. We returned to the same lake this morning and had a fantastic ducks shoot. One of my young friends and his rookie wife joined me both days. She was a trooper to tough out the cold temps this morning and shot her own limit without any interference from either of us. It took awhile but it was obvious that she would get as many chances as she needed. We only had five goose decoys out and had several small bunches give us a close look but never killed any. It was another of those days that drives us to the hard work to pack in some decoys and lay in the reeds. Many of the Mallards were decoying from great heights and coming right into our kill hole with no hesitation. Most of the time we were taking them ten yards out and five feet high with as many as forty or fifty in a bunch. Wish you could have been there. Too many of our buddies were deer hunting. There was seldom a moment when there wasn’t ducks or geese flying over the lake. We quit at nine but most likely would have killed some geese had we stuck it out. I have a pit to get in tommorrow so I was happy to quit early. The landowner passed along information that our field had quite a few geese over it today so maybe it will work. I think the North Platte river valley gained a ton of geese today. We will find out.

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

11-05-2012 08:32
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Sat morning was bad. very little seen. Sat in the blind listened to the end of the game. Some birds started showing up around 4. Sun the birds had stuck. Good numbers of ducks. Not many geese seen.

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

NC NE 10-29-2012 10:26
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Sat was a bust. very few birds seen. Sun had lots of birds around but nothing played. Very few geese around.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 10-29-2012 08:23
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Well there’s been a push of birds through the area. I haven’t seen many geese but some fresh ducks are obvious with good numbers of Mallards in the area. I shot a nice drake while hunting pheasants that turned out to be banded. He was a Saskatchewan duck. We are still waiting for the corn to be harvested from the field that I leased so we can put the pit in. Hopefully the nice weather will allow the harvest to move along and we can do our work before it gets cold and the geese get here. If they get here.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm Pond Near Valley, NE 10-28-2012 08:26
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 45-50 Degrees
Made it to the blind Sat morn. Still trying to get enough water pumped to cover the piping. No ducks (and I mean ‘nothing’). Figured that the 1st day of pheasant season would get some birds moving around — nope. We had a decent early teal season, with scads of woodies working the pond. It seems that all of the local birds pushed out with the high winds a couple of weeks back. Nothing has made its way into the area to take their place.

Sunday morning, with a ill kid, I stayed home and have heard a lot of shooting on the Elkhorn near Gretna. Unfortunately, that could mean a decent number of ducks or just a couple of birds that keep swinging past every blind on the river … hard telling.

Posted By:
Doug-Miller
Field Editor

Tekamah 10-19-2012 06:50
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 40-45 Degrees
Hunting on the bottoms up tell yesterday has been hit and miss. It has been so dry that most of the action has been at first light with the birds that are getting kicked off of the flooded ponds. Yesterday there was a push of new birds into the area and several blinds shot ducks. Harvest is 95% complete and a lot of fields have been plowed.

Its all about Ducks, Dogs, and Kids

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

NW panhandle 10-15-2012 08:38
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Water conditions here in the northwest corner of Nebraska continued to deteriorate many small streams and ponds have dried up. I drove around and checked six or seven ponds yesterday and found no birds on them. A few reports I have from opening weekend report for poor to fair success. Corn harvest is just getting underway here in the West

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

NW panhandle 10-15-2012 08:38
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Water conditions here in the northwest corner of Nebraska continued to deteriorate many small streams and ponds have dried up. I drove around and checked six or seven ponds yesterday and found no birds on them. A few reports I have from opening weekend report for poor to fair success. Corn harvest is just getting underway here in the West

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

NW panhandle 10-15-2012 08:38
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Water conditions here in the northwest corner of Nebraska continued to deteriorate many small streams and ponds have dried up. I drove around and checked six or seven ponds yesterday and found no birds on them. A few reports I have from opening weekend report for poor to fair success. Corn harvest is just getting underway here in the West

Posted By:
Brian-Peters
Web Member

central panhandle 10-12-2012 23:26
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Seeing some greenheads and divers. My dad inlaw heard some cranes last evening, first l have heard of so far. Sounds like we have some good #s this year. Maybe the birds will hang more by the river since the sandhills are so dry. One week and counting. Good luck all. Brian

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

09-18-2012 13:02
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People who have water are shooting some teal. Still very dry, what little rain we have had has done little to nothing to fill anything up.

Posted By:
Bill Puncher
Field Editor

09-11-2012 05:11
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whats going on for early season here?

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northwest Panhandle 08-07-2012 08:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – Over 70 Degrees
Like john said this is the worst drought I have ever seen. Luckily we started with good water conditions But they are fast deteriorating. The white and Niobrara rivers are down to trickle Here near there origin. There were good numbers of ducks here in the spring But they are no longer to b e found. Local Canada geese seem to have weathered it quite well. there is practically no grass in the pastures. As John said if you have water you should do well this fall Especially on push days. I am picking up a neey
w lease this year it should be good time will tell. LO

[Edited By Larry-Olson on 2012-08-07 08:33]

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

07-24-2012 15:55
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How things can change in one year. Very dry across the state, Platte west of Colubus dry or almost dried. Basins getting ugly as well as sandhills. Some people thing that if you have a spot on the river with water your going to be ok. You might on a push day but after that I think its going to be slim pickings on ducks. Crops that are not irrigated are looking really bad.

Posted By:
webmaster
root

03-09-2012 11:08
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Don’t pack it in just yet. They are shooting good numbers of snows in Mound City, MO today. Fights of juveniles are still moving through in good numbers.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

03-05-2012 22:19
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I think we have seen the peak of the snow goose chase here. More cranes than waterfowl . We went from a few, then thick, then few again in one weeks time. Mike Gorset and friends, glad you came . You fellas have a quality waterfowl setup for sure.

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

Kearney Area 03-04-2012 22:02
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted a field near Giddon saturday morning, brought a trailer with 650 full body snows as well as 600 rags. The field we hunted was 3 miles or so off the river and only a couple of flocks made it out that far to give us some looks (we managed to get a solo to commit to the spread). Picked up and headed to Elm Creek and a field owned by Nebraska field editor Art Marshall the field was directly in the path of the roost and feeding fields that over a half million birds were using. During the couple hours satuday night and sunday mornign that we hunted was managed to take another 6 from that field. Not what we were hoping for number of birds in the bag but the sheer sight of all those birds as well as ducks, dark geese and cranes was a sight to see in itself (we had a couple of specklebelly geese that wanted to join us in the blind, why cant you see that during the season???). Spoke to a DNR officer that checked our license on sunday and he said that decoying the geese in the area have been very tough due to the geese being in the area for over two weeks and becoming very decoy shy. All in all it was a fun trip for four friends just trying to keep their waterfowl itch going.

Art Marshall, thank you very much for your hospitality and taking time out of your weekend to help a couple of fellow waterfowl hunters have a succesful hunt!! Due to your kindness I was able to talk two of the hunters into joining waterfowler.com. I think most hunters dont want to give up the best spots or the best kept secrets but after your help this weekend four guys have changed their thougths and will go out of our ways to help others have a succesfull hunt!!! Thank you again I hope our paths cross again!!

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

02-28-2012 12:40
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Mike send a p.m. I think everyone knows by now that we have alot of snows here. Tonight I drove down the gravel road near my house saw a feeding flock about every mile. Our field was covered.I would guess there are 200,000 within 5 miles. Update; Our local weatherman on NTV news Kent Boughton, said someone found 17 dead snow geese out in a pasture that had been hit by lightning. What are the chances of lightning in February,,,,,,and then killing 17 snow geese? It takes me several years to kill that many.

[Edited By Art-Marshall on 2012-02-28 22:54]

Posted By:
Mike-Gorsett
Field Editor

02-28-2012 11:12
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Art-Marshall,

Heading to the Kearney area this weekend to hunt snows, how are the birds in that area? SD has not seen much for snows so far! we are expecting 12 inches of snow in some places so I dont ecpect anthing coming through this area for at least another week or so.

any help would be great. This is the first time hunting NE for our group so any help from a fellow Waterfowler would be great! Thanks!

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

south central, Oregon Trail 02-22-2012 21:10
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Snows are here in huntable numbers.

[Edited By Art-Marshall on 2012-02-22 21:13]

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

western sandhills and North Platte river valley 02-12-2012 21:22
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Well here’s my dark goose season finale report. I had to run to Utah for a week after hunting at Bayard and then Scottsbluff the last Tuesday of season. Bayard was slow but we decoyed a single and a bunch of seven. The blind boss was out of the blind both times so it was up to me and a friend from Chadron. He shot the single and we really sucked it up on the seven. The closest two were at about five yards and six inches off the ground and the back bird was twenty,,,,,,,we killed two. I shot at the farthest bird first and missed then missed one of the front two killing it on my last shot. My partner only shot twice killing the other close one. Oh well. At Patricks the next day I took two guys who I had never hunted with but will again and we saw a ton of birds but no players. There was two big geese in the decoys when we got there and they stayed until around nine when the guys decided they might be all they got and flushed them killing both. One of the birds had a bright yellow marker band on it’s leg. It’s the second time in twenty years that I have been witness to a yellow leg band on a bird with wild Canadas. hmmmm Most blinds in the valley had a miserable season but I never went when we didn’t shoot at least one. The Patrick’s scraped together a fair season for geese but poor for ducks. We all had some fantastic shoots. I was in on several which is something considering that I had to work six day weeks. It is all about timing and scouting and giving yourself the best chance to be successful. We shot 38 geese in three days the last week of season up here. That’s more than many pits had all season on the North Platte. We shot limits of ducks on two Sundays off a spring creek in Sheridan county taking two beautiful drake Canvasbacks and a quick limit of Mallards the following week out of hole we chopped in the ice. We just needed ten more shooters as we decoyed hundreds more waiting for our “other” ducks one of which was a marvelous Pintail drake. Rick had a great day on the final day of ducks season tornadoing mallards into their little pond. It’s why we go, so we can do it again even if it’s not perfect every day. I don’t know if I will go east this year for the CO season but I will keep my eyes to the sky. LO

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

01-31-2012 07:36
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More geese here. Monday from 10-12 a.m. saw 8 flocks of cacklers and 4 flocks of snow geese. All came out of the south.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

south central 01-29-2012 20:24
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Observed more birds over the weekend, although our blind didn’t shoot any . Saw two other blinds get three flocks each Saturday. Hoping for more birds from the south tomorrow . SEVEN DAYS LEFT

[Edited By Art-Marshall on 2012-01-29 20:25]

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river 01-28-2012 21:46
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
I hunted the Lisco blind this morning and we decoyed a pair in the wind that the boss called as they were coming by with the wind at about 10 yds. By the time we were out of the hole he had shot the first one and the second one was sixty yards. He suprised everyone. Oh well, it was all that we had work. There continues to be great numbers of geese and ducks in that area of the Garden county refuge but they are well patterned and mostly unhunted. I thought I may have heard a couple shots up river but that’s a big maybe. The Scottsbluff blind shot four by one this afternoon but reported alot of geese moving. My friend that hunts near Bayard shot three today but said the geese were decoy shy. I will be hunting there Monday. That’s all I know. OUr DU banquet is two weeks from today. If you want tickets let me know. LO

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

01-27-2012 19:30
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Still slow, the number of geese has alot to do with the weather. Next week it is suppose to be warm every day. I’m guessing thats what we need, plus a south wind. Remember , its just the opposite of the fall migration. The warm weather makes it better. Hope for sunny days.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

south central 01-24-2012 19:20
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Just starting

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

western sandhills and North Platte river valley 01-23-2012 22:55
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
My son and several of his friends went south of Rushville for the last day of season Friday and killed 13 more big geese. Some were pass shot while others were decoyed on the ice. My friend who hunts near Bayard reported a great hunt Saturday with their blind limiting out before ten and alot of geese in the area. The blind near Scottsbluff has been slow most days but Rick shot his limit on a windy day last week. The Bridgeport meadow reports good hunting continuing. Mike’s Lisco blind has been killing some geese every day but no limits and alot of geese on the Garden county refuge near the blind. We have all been seeing big geese moving north the past few days even with the snow and wind lately. This seems to be right in line with the past few years. Hopefully this last couple weeks will be good on the river. LO

Posted By:
Zach Mayhew
Field Editor

n/a 01-23-2012 22:22
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Could start seeing a reverse migration this week. Have the last ten days of the season off should be better than the last few years…so I hope.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

01-17-2012 22:24
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half inch of snow, lots of slush ice in the river, a few geese around but still very slow

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

western sandhills 01-16-2012 22:10
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Well yesterday I was accompanied by my son, my youngest daughter plus two other buddies to my friends ranch South of Rushville. We hunted a pivot of corn that he has cattle on. He had told me that he was seeing several hundred there every day for a couple weeks. I believe most of these geese are coming off of Smith Lake WMA but they came from other directions too. We had trouble getting them to finish yesterday and mostly shot flaring geese at about thirty yards but did decoy some and shot some on the first pass over the blinds at about forty yards. We killed five out of a flock like that. The geese didn’t fly very well until around ten. In fact I was about to call the hunt a bust but then they started trickling out. We were done by 11:30 Since most of our decoys are either at the river or at my friend Mike’s place we hunted over what we had here. 2.5 dozen shells and 250 sillohuetes that we made about ten years ago. Yesterday was not as nice as was forecast as we had a stiff wind out of the west most of the day. We were suprised to see the highs in the fifties when we quit. Today it was frigid with NE wind about ten mph and temps in the low teens. Ty and I started out alone today and decided that we would leave before daybreak again so we could do a better job of camoflauging our layout blinds It was a good thing we did cuz the geese flew early and in big flocks. We had trouble with the local cow herd being extremely attracted to our calling. The big flocks of geese would lock up turn into the wind and slide off as soon as they were over our audience ringing our decoys. We even shot over the top of them hoping to shoo them off but they didn’t hardly flinch. It wasn’t until the hand brought them breakfast that they left us alone and we started decoying geese. All but two of the nine geese we shot today were feet down in your face. Ty and I were done by 9:15 and waited for our friend, Trent to get there. He limited in about thirty minutes after he arrived and we packed up. It was a great two day hunt and a fine way to end the season up here. Many of the big flocks passed us by this morning and went on west towards Mirage Flats. We never saw them return. I did think we saw a couple flocks that might be migrating from the north. Most of the geese we shot this weekend were big 10 to 12 pounds. I wonder if they aren’t all sandhills giant canadas that stay there as long as they can. Several of the birds looked to be stressed with atrophic breast muscles and little fat. I am not sure why that would be but they didn’t look to be in top physical shape. I haven’t heard a word from the valley so that’s all I have today. LO

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

southcentral 01-14-2012 17:31
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no changes here ,,,slow

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

NE 01-11-2012 18:47
Arctic Blast – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Well winter arrived up here again today. We had about four inches of snow accompanied by high winds. We were planning on heading to the sandhills to try for geese Sunday but will make sure they are still there before we go to such pains. I did recieve some reports of good hunting from the meadow blind near Bridgeport. They have been successful every day they hunted recently and report alot of geese in their area. Mike’s Lisco blind reports alot of geese on the Garden county refuge but they are very patterned and not decoying well. LO

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river 01-11-2012 13:33
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Well Rick talked to me this morning. He was alone in his blind and was decoying ducks constantly and had been since daylight. He is not one to exaggerate and thought he decoyed one flock that was over a thousand birds. He said it was most likely the best day he has had in five years or so. It is days like this that make the boring ones quickly dissapear. On another note, Shooter attended the meeting on rezoning our seasons last night and strongly suggests getting to one near you. It sounds as if there are some MAJOR changes in the wind. Lo

Posted By:
Zach Mayhew
Field Editor

01-09-2012 10:07
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Not to many geese around. I would love to see a push of geese from any direction. Anybody ever heard of a full moon migration from the north in January.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

south central 01-09-2012 06:51
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S.D. goose count is almost 200,000 dark geese…… S.D. duck count is 185,000…..S.D. snow goose count is 3000 Thats why we have seen much fewer birds in Nebraska in 2011 . All counts done the first week of January.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

01-08-2012 20:30
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Have talked to people who actually know and found out there are alot of birds left in the dakota’s right now . Its just a guess on the numbers, but it appears that about a third to one half the geese are still up there. The other half migrated through during the full-moon week of rifle deer season ( 12th of Nov). Thanks to the guys who helped figure this out .

[Edited By Art-Marshall on 2012-01-08 20:33]

Posted By:
John-Donelon
Field Editor

NW Mo. 01-08-2012 09:47
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ART-Marshall
Giving you a straight answer,which is my way of reporting.There are very few geese here in my area of the state.Very low counts at Swan Lake a Natl. Refuge and also same story near you ,the Squaw Creek Natl. Wildlife rfefuge.I go to my lease two days each week.My last two trips hunting for geese have been terible.One day no birds,next day two birds,another trip one small flock of some 20 birds flying high and heading north. We are in the flyway of three refuges.This is my first year on this lease,the owner said this is worst he has seen for geese as well as ducks for several years.I live in Columbia Mo. which is central Mo. I am out every day near lakes where normally I see large numbers of geese,this year has been zip,none.I don’t have a clue as to where the geese are or where the ducks were this past duck season.

Posted By:
Kevin-Stallard
Field Editor

S/W IIllinois 01-07-2012 05:01
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Hey Art I was reading some of the states reports north of us and I saw you are waiting for the birds to return from the south. We have been waiting all year for the birds to get down here from the north… We have been in the 50-60’s for a good while and there is no blast headed our way, so hopefully they will soon come back from the south and get here from the north????? What a year…..

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

south central near platte 01-05-2012 22:00
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Very slow, most guys are not hunting. May see a flock of geese about every other day. Waiting for birds to come back from the south . Nothing yet.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river 01-05-2012 21:35
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Record highs today……I talked to my longtime friend Donny last night and he said that the Patricks and him are not hunting geese after this weekend until the weather changes. IT IS THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE THING I HAVE HEARD IN MY WATERFOWLING LIFE!! Hunting must be horrible for these guys to give up. They are simply the most diehard bunch you will ever find. Donny said there is ALOT of ducks west of Scottsbluff but only on high wind days do they do very good. On those days they limit on Mallards with ease. Geese are another story. They believe that the numbers have dropped continuously as the weather remains far above average. I believe they are right. LO

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river valley/western sandhills 01-04-2012 07:36
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Well the heat wave continues and hunting pressure has waned because of it. I have recieved very few reports but those that have reported are all the same… SLOW. I think the birds have spread out again. I have seen small flocks of mallards on several of our small creeks around here and must believe that’s the case everywhere in this area. There are still reports of good numbers of geese south of Rushville in the sandhills. They are flying quite a ways west to feed. There are still good numbers of mallards on the Garden county refuge but I haven’t heard any great success stories.I will try to get out again soon. LO

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

southcentral 12-29-2011 22:07
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Some duck shooting on the river. We average about 4 flocks per morning. Very few geese. Hoping someone would post that they have seen some geese coming from the south in to nebraska. Anyone see anything happening around Harlan County Resovoir. ?

Posted By:
davehunter03
Web Member

Platte River? 12-28-2011 08:25
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I’m hearing there are a ‘ton’ on Mallards on the Platte? Can anyone chime in with their reports…it’s a long drive from Ill.
Sr.

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

Platte River West of Kearney 12-27-2011 23:51
– – 40-45 Degrees
Pretty slow. Can’t believe this warm weather. Goose numbers are horrible. Never had to break ice on the river this year duck hunting. That’s a first! Looks like we should break out the sticks and play a round of golf!

Some ducks around, actually not bad until 9am

Posted By:
Zach Mayhew
Field Editor

Grand Island 12-24-2011 13:14
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Not to much going on around Grand Island have heard some reports of people getting into some ducks this week not to many geese around.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

12-24-2011 05:36
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Just saw the weather forcast for the week following christmas. Heat wave. I’m guessing were going to be seeing some geese from the south early this season. That will improve things as the reverse migrations have been the best part of the goose season for us the last 6 years .I’m optimstic.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river valley 12-18-2011 20:33
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 50-60 Degrees
Went back to Bayard this morning and only decoyed two singles. One was about four pounds and the other ten. We witnessed alot more geese in the area today but they are very patterned. No flaring from the blind, decoys or calling, just wary birds with little or no wind. The little goose that decoyed did so while we were all out draining our morning beverages. It landed between the blind and Wayne after Terry and I had hopped back in the pit. Wayne had to kick it out of the decoys so Terry could shoot it. Go figure. There was VERY little shooting on the river or anywhere around us. Mike hunted Lisco yesterday and killed one before noon. He said there was big numbers of both geese and ducks there now but no players. Brian told me they didn’t shoot any today. Patricks killed two today and ten yesterday. They killed all that they shot at yesterday decoying a bunch of six and putting them all down. There was some big flocks around Scottsbluff when we were driving out so there’s some around, we just need some weather to help out. LO

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm Pond Near Valley, NE 12-18-2011 15:37
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Well, it’s more famine than feast. However, during 30 minutes this morning, we had 20 Canadians work the blind with two that were definitely shootable. I was back at the truck and my shooting company was unsure of the distance or whether they should shoot. It was painful to was them fly off with no shots after the third pass. Likewise, we had a couple of drake mallards work the deems well. We scratched one …

Not a stellar day for shooting, but it was nice to see some birds finally work the dekes!

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm pond near Valley, NE 12-16-2011 12:03
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Swung by the pond a few times this week. Tuesday, we had a handful of canadians loafing mid-day — took two. There were a few working the fields east of Fremont, but very light. Yesterday, I had a hundred mallards on the pond and took two drakes. Today, nothing is really flying.

Anybody getting anything on the lakes south of lincoln? I’m hearing there are some geese workin Branched Oak.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

elmcreek 12-13-2011 18:10
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Slow here, lots of ducks at johnsons lake area, but patterned. I agree kpsriverdice, lots of birds up north yet.

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

12-13-2011 16:11
– – –
From the sound of things, duck numbers are still great in the Dakotas.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

North Platte river valley 12-11-2011 21:44
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Well I hooked up with a high school classmate to hunt out of their pit near Bayard. It wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t tooo good either. We shot five between three of us. We could have probably shot our limit out of non-finishing birds but that’s ok with me. There wasn’t ALOt of birds there and I didn’t think there was ALOT all the way to Patrick’s west of Scottsbluff. We quit hunting before noon and looked at some property for a potential pit next season then I headed off to Patrick’s to drop some stuff off and finally look at the blinds. They only had two geese when I left there after one but there was few trading around. Marty and I agree that there isn’t nearly the numbers there that there has been by this time the past two years. There are enough to hunt for sure but not massive flocks yet. They decoyed a speck yesterday and killed it. They had to check the regs before sending the dog to kick it out of the decoys. Their duck numbers are much behind last year due to the filling of their pond by the flood deposits. It sure did change things. My son was near Smith south of Rushville Thursday and saw some big numbers of geese there. LO

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

Platte River west of Kearney 12-07-2011 19:32
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 10-20 Degrees – Ice
Today we went to the blind thinking we would see all kinds of ducks and geese from what we observed on Sunday, not the case. One flock of geese and about 25 ducks seen. Hunted until 2PM.

Last Sunday the duck numbers were in the thousands flying east and west at the third level. The snow, full moon and bitter cold temps pushed the ducks right on south.

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

North Central 12-07-2011 14:02
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Ducks are spotty at best. Goose numbers have jumped but feeding patterns are not predictable.

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

exit 257, elmcreek 12-06-2011 04:58
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Sunday morning,, many flocks of geese moving, still looking for a new roost with open water to replace the frozen local basin . Sunday afternoon was disappointing as few geese went out to feed. River is moving lots of slush ice, water level is still low enough to allow hunting. Most of the geese are cacklers and whitefronts. Fewer ducks .

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

Platte River west of Kearney 12-05-2011 11:59
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 0-10 Degrees – Open Water
Hunted Sunday – Lots up ducks flying at the 3rd Level heading East & West. Local geese moving all morning. River was open with some slush. Had a great time!

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Valley NE farm pond 12-05-2011 10:15
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Jumped the blind yesterday at noon and hit it this morning for a couple of hours. Still a fair number of snow geese moving through. Had one small (25) flock of Canadas that I should have pass shot at when they hit the 45 yard mark. Instead, I tried to be “Hunter Grounds” by talking them down and into the pond. After the second pass, they lost interest. Not one of my better waterfowling decisions.

Again, no ducks. This really amazes me. We are not known for geese in my neck of the woods, but we’ve had many more chances at geese than ducks.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Valley, ne farm pond 12-03-2011 10:06
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Hit the blind yesterday mooning and this morning hoping for a good push of birds … Nope. Nothing flying. The sandpit lakes around Valley appear to be very lightly used by a few ducks and Canadas. There was a little shooting off the Platte, but not what you would expect for the conditions. Going to try tonight to see if the evening hunting is equally slow …

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

elmcreek, 20 miles west of keaney 12-03-2011 08:16
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Need to be in the blind today and tomorrow if your a goose hunter . Yesterday,,,,,, geese who were froze off basins and shallow ponds started flying . They haven’t left, but relocated to a sandpit nearby. I observed several new geese coming from the north, just a guess, but probably off some sandhill lakes. We’re going to hunt the cornfield til the weather clears, and then will go the river on the first sunny day.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Valley, NE 11-30-2011 06:46
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Finally, started to see a few flocks of puddle ducks late in the day. Managed to scratch drake mallard right at sundown. Observed some teal and gaddies on a lake north of Fremont. Hoping Wednesday through Friday is solid. We sure are due …

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-29-2011 22:45
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
Well Sunday found me freelancing on my own. I decided to give Box Butte Reservoir a go. I had not been there for a month or two but thought I might be able to make something work. I found the west end mostly frozen but about 80 percent of the lake open. There was ice all along the edges except nearer the darn. There was a fair number of mallards, plenty of golden eye and buffleheads and more common Mergansers than I have ever seen in one place before. I saw a couple guys hunting the river below the dam so I found a spot along the north shore where some mallards seemed to like and threw out a couple dozen decoys. I never decoyed a duck! I could have shot a limit of divers…….but I don’t like cleaning them and I don’t really like eating them sooo I didn’t. I could have shot a ton of Mergansers but the fore said feelings are even more strong with these birds. It would have made a great picture but no thanks. It looked like there was some mallards moving up and down the river below the dam but I never saw a duck upstream from there. Everyone says there are plenty of birds around but they have quickly become patterned. It won’t take much to freeze this water up here so the colder forecast should move some more birds south. Rick’s blind near Scottsbluff just keeps plugging away with double digit duck numbers and a few geese each day. I think they will be alright even with the flood damage. The North Platte river remains VERY dangerous. The flooding knocked down many trees and some of the large cottonwoods have created nasty snags. Extreme care should be taken. Mike’s Lisco blind has been killing a few geese most days but Mike has just went once and was skunked.I don’t know when I will get out again but I will tell you what I know.LO

Posted By:
Doug-Miller
Field Editor

Tekamah 11-28-2011 07:44
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
The holiday weekend found a few birds working the river bottoms. Friday was slow with a south wind and record temps birds didn’t move tell just before dark. Saturday and the big wind pushed a bunch more Canada’s through, and a few S&B and very few ducks. The Decatur area is holding good numbers of ducks but they don’t travel far to feed. Sunday morning their were still a few Canada’s moving in the morning and a few S&B’s real high but very few ducks. Really could you some moisture to get things a little mudding and change things up.

Its all about Ducks, Dogs, and Kids

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

southcentral 11-27-2011 22:06
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Slow here, probably not worth going to a lot of work to hunt. Need a good storm up north.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Valley, NE Farm Pond 11-26-2011 12:48
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Hmmm … lot’s of moving geese. Mainly, working the cornfields around Valley. The pond was really slow … no ducks. Saw a few flocks sitting on a couple of sandpit lakes, but they were not moving. The wind pretty much has everything sitting tight. I’m hoping that it blows a few new birds in from SD. I guess we will see …

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern sandhills 11-24-2011 22:15
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
I have recieved reports from the northern sandhills that there are a ton of geese and some spots of mallards all over. I witnessed at least a thousand Canadas feeding in wheat stubble today then roosting on a stock dam that I have never seen hold birds before. Some of the smaller lakes were wide open while some of the larger ones were 99 percent iced. I saw pictures of large numbers of waterfowl from the sandhills today and must believe that they are full of birds. Temperatures today went beyond 70 for the second day in a row and it looks nice for the foreseeable future so the birds won’t be going far for now. LO

Posted By:
Art-Marshall
Field Editor

southcentral, exit 257 11-24-2011 11:05
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Last weekend was the high point of the last 7 days. 10 geese shot out of a field blind sunday while river blind not far away killed 60 mallards in three days. Very slow now, not much moving. Local sandpits are holding about 500 dark geese that are patterned and tough to work as they have already been educated. Ducks on the local basin between overton and elmcreek are sticking around and may work on saturday when it gets windy. Not sure what direction they’ll go though. Water in the river has dropped enough , but makes retreiving a difficult. The next weather event up north will probably push alot birds who are holding up in S.D. .

Posted By:
randy01
Guest

central SD 11-23-2011 19:56
Arctic Blast – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Lots of ducks. Field hunt in morning . ducks in the decoys before we had the layout blinds set up. 20 greenheads, 3 beautiful drake pintails and one widgeon!!
Done by 9:30. A classic hunt!! One for the memory books!

[Edited By randy01 on 2011-11-23 19:59]

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Valley, NE 11-22-2011 09:01
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Made it out to the blind this morning. Not really much flying. Had to quit at 8:15. It was a bit foggy … so I’m not sure if the birds were sitting waiting for it to burn-off or what. However, the Canadian Goose push seems to be over … 🙁

Likewise, not really much in the way of ducks. Not sure if everything is still up north or what. It would be seriously wonderful if Waterfowler.com would coax some guys in ND and SD to actually start making some posts. Perhaps a couple of free subscriptions, etc… As it is, the site is losing its effectiveness as an early warning system.

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

North Central 11-21-2011 08:22
Cloudy, Light Rain & Drizzle – 40-45 Degrees
Sat was a day for the books. Sun was like nothing happened. Geese stuck, ducks not so much. Somewhere south of us should be loaded with mallards.

Posted By:
Doug-Miller
Field Editor

Tekamah 11-21-2011 06:31
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Had a major push of birds into the river bottoms starting Sat late afternoon and went all day Sunday. Most birds were in Migration mode and not a lot of lookers but enough to keep your interest. Sunday saw one of the largest Canada migrations that I have seen in several years. In the AM you couldn’t look in any direction and not see a dozen flocks. I just hope that some of the birds stay.

Its all about Ducks, Dogs, and Kids

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Panhandle 11-20-2011 23:09
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Well the mallards fell like rain before sunrise this morning. We also worked a flock of snows right at shooting time and scratched two out of it when it looked as if they would bug out. We would have to work to kill our “other duck” but picked one pintail and one wigeon along with a confused Wood duck out of the many flocks of Mallards that worked our blocks. We would limit out around 8:00 or so and waited until nine for geese but decided to pack it up. My young partners were COLD geeze! We should have waited because about twenty minutes after we started picking up our meager spread the geese started PILING through. Mostly canadas but we saw several small bunches of snows. We had to bust a hole in the half inch ice and by the time we quit about half of the 20X20 yard hole had refrozen. The mallards really worked well to the hole and if my friends would have shot better we would have been done even faster. 🙂 We watched flock after flock of weary geese heading south all the way home. My son and one of his friends found a lake with the north bank open and loaded with birds. They set up between a cornfield and the lake and pass shot their limit of big Canadas along with a bonus Whitefront. Rick’s blind shot six geese and 12 ducks today. It is THE time to be out if you don’t have to work like me. Whaaaa LO