Category: Nebraska

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Corn Field tween Valley&Waterloo 11-25-2010 13:08
– – –
Hunted 0700-1000. Had 48 decoys out 12 shells and 36 bigfoots and still could’nt get any to decoy. Not sure what is up, but there are plenty of geese right now.

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Corn Field tween Valley&Waterloo 11-25-2010 11:31
– – –
Hunted 0700-1000. Had 48 decoys out 12 shells and 36 bigfoots and still could’nt get any to decoy. Not sure what is up, but there are plenty of geese right now.

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Ne. City 11-24-2010 22:31
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Weather turned and vis. dropped considerably, but had mallards with muddy feet and bills try to land in the pond. Four of us got 2 limits shoulda been 3. Huntin cans tommorrow. Hit me with an e-mail Drew.

Posted By:
Brian-Peters
Web Member

central panhandle 11-24-2010 20:06
– – –
hunted the meadow with corey and gary today good succes on canadians done by 830 thanks to a good wind gary flagging and corey calling saw alot of waterfowl moving also brian

Posted By:
Drew Goaley
Guest

Waterloo 11-24-2010 18:52
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Great day today. Morning full of canadas and as the winds switched in the afternoon to the NW the ducks started to move. If we were better shots, we would have had close to 3 limits….same old story. Tomorrow looks to be good with early NW winds. Left for a couple of hours in the late morning. Saw thousands of ducks, cans and S&B’s on big waters. These are all new birds. Again, saw a good push of S&B’s late in the afternoon. We are finally seeing the birds we have been waiting for. Good luck to all.

BHerr…were you hunting today. During my break I noticed a few guys hunting in the area you described. The ones I saw were hunting a fenceline with can decoys in both the corn and about a dozen in the beans. You??? We should team up for a hunt!

Good Luck to All!

TRRGC

[Edited By Drew Goaley on 2010-11-24 18:54]

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm pond near Valley, Ne 11-24-2010 16:08
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Ice
Had my doubts about hitting the blind this morning with last night’s full moon. Glad I did. Managed to catch 30 S/B’s loafing on the ice. About the time I saw them, they saw me and decided to git. I managed to drop 8as they were densely packed in a small group. The next 5 mins was spent dispatching the cripples. First time we’ve had s/b’s on the pond. Dad says they are seeing high numbers north of Fremont.

Only a quick fly by from 2 mallards all morning. Where are the ducks?

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern panhandle 11-23-2010 18:23
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Well it was as I expected, all water is mostly frozen. Even the larger reservoirs such as Whitney and Box Butte are 99.5 percent iced over. There seems to be a few geese lagging on all the larger lakes but the -4 low predicted for tommorrow will most likely take care of them. I did shoot my five mallards off of the Niobrara river this morning and there was plenty of ducks around there. There seemed to be alot of Goldeneyes in the area but I don’t like to clean or eat them so I don’t shoot them. That’s all I know tonight. LO

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

Valley Co 11-23-2010 08:37
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Very good migration of ducks and geese sat sun and mon. Lots of little geese kept pushing but a good amount of mids and bigs stuck around.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-23-2010 07:40
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 10-20 Degrees – Open Water
I believe boat hunting is most likely done up here for the season. I will be leaving shortly to assess the situation but temps here are currently -9 and no wind. We have 1- 4 inches of snow on the ground now. The north country continued to empty of big geese yesterday as there was a regular flow of migraters over Chadron all day. It really bodes well for our North Platte river operations since they are not supposed to get so cold. The Lisco blind shot five geese Sunday and reported good numbers but very dense fog early on made hunting tough. No report from Scottsbluff, I think they don’t want to talk to me. I will check in later. LO

Posted By:
Doug-Miller
Field Editor

Tekamah 11-22-2010 07:44
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Saw good numbers of birds pushing down the river Saturday mostly ducks. Couple bunches of Canada’s but few S&B’s. Most pits in the area got into several bunches of Mallards.

Sunday was slow with little if any migration and few working birds.

I think this will be the week to be in the pits. With the weather up north and the calander, birds will push.

Its all about Ducks, Dogs, and Kids

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-21-2010 22:42
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Well we took the boat to the lake I mentioned and found the boat ramp so icy before sunrise that I slid backwards the last ten feet into the water with my Wolverines on. After carefully considering the options and consequences of a extremely icy and steep boat ramp, coupled with the multitude of waterfowl that was trading from the water to the nearby cornfields, I decided to just pack a bag of duck decoys and the mojo to the most protected shore where we could reach open water with waders. It was a half mile hike but sure was worth it. My buddy and I quickly shot a limit of ducks even though we had to chase some cripples around for awhile. We waited for my son and one of my adopted sons to give up deer hunting and get there to enjoy the show. When they did show up a hour or so later, they accused me of being nuts backed the boat in and picked us up for a chance at the many geese migrating through. We would end up with five geese and six more ducks before we quit about a hour before sunset. It was cold and some moderate snow flurries at times. There was a TON of mallards migrating today along with good numbers of Canadas and lesser numbers of snows and other waterfowl. The ice was nearly a inch thick along the leeward shoreline and creeping out whenever it got a chance. I think we will need some wind to keep all but the largest of lakes open through this arctic blast for the next few days. I had reports from a couple other groups and all reported excellent success on ducks with lesser luck killing geese. it was definitley a waterfowlers day. LO

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Corn Field tween Valley&Waterloo 11-21-2010 15:20
– – –
Drew, I hunt south of West Shores, just across Pacific. And you?

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Norfolk 11-21-2010 14:18
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Post-script. A buddy of mine is hunting the Elkhorn near Norfolk. He said they were finally seeing/getting some ducks/geese working their area. They got five green-heads and a lesser Canadian on sat morn.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm pond near Valley, Ne 11-21-2010 14:15
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted Sat morning and late afternoon. Had one decoy able duck. Saw a small flock of bills that were flying higher than normal and had the after-burners on. A couple of groups of canadas passed close and looked like some might decoy, but the lead birds were not having any of it.

Sunday morning, only out for an how before church. A constantly ringing cell phone spoiled an opportunity for a small group of Canadas that I got to swing four times while I was out of the blind. My dad was wanting to know if it was ok to make his way down to the blind. “Might as well, the micro-flock of Canadas that were working got tired of the phone ringing” (sigh). On a positive note, my dad is still game enough to get out and hunt with me — I’ll count my blessings on that basis.

Posted By:
Drew Goaley
Guest

Waterloo 11-21-2010 08:36
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Will agree with bherb. Saw ALOT of decoyable cans this Saturday. All seems to want in, but wouldn’t commit. Hunted til approx 11 and watched S&B’s migrate all morning. Managed to bag 3 ducks. Bherb what area are you hunting? We seem to be close.

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Corn field tween Valley&Waterloo 11-21-2010 07:55
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Hunted Saturday till 1000am saw a ton of geese, but the wind was out of the east and could not get any to commit near my tree line. Talked to a friend who hunted Ne. City and he said there were plenty of mallards to shoot and that he saw wave after wave of migrating mallards more than 10,000. Hear that Missourri?

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle, North Platte river 11-20-2010 22:38
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
As predicted, the guys that were able and willing to go out today did well. There was spitting snow and fog and low clouds all day propelled by a stiff south wind. My son and one of his friends shot a limit of ducks and five geese off a sandhill lake. The Scottsbluff blind shot 7 ducks and five geese. Reports were all the same, alot of new birds arriving and massing on area wetlands. Protected bays, weedy areas and shallow ponds are all frozen. We are going to try a smaller public lake in the morning. It can be good but conditions have to be right, I think they will be tommorrow. LO

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-20-2010 18:28
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 35-40 Degrees
There continues a major push of all waterfowl today. I haven’t yet heard final reports but the guys at Scottsbluff had some luck this morning shooting 8 ducks and four geese. I found all small ponds froze this morning but witnessed a flock of several hundred lessers put in on a larger impounment just south of the highway. I went by a lake near my house and found several thousand geese there as well as a bunch of mallards right at dark on my way home. I think we will try this in the morning as it is only ten miles from here and the forecast is for freezing fog tonight. Lows are forecast below zero by midweek next week so this may be it for us up here. I will update as I get more info. LO

Posted By:
Brian-Peters
Web Member

central panhandle 11-20-2010 14:42
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gary and i shot our limit of mallards this mourn i missed a sprig with my single shot uncleaned missfiring semi auto cant believe i still have to have something like this happen to make me clean my weapon alot of diff birds this mourning i think a push of sandhills birds east wind and big groups were hard to work with some singles sitting on the end of the barrell before we knew they were there good to have a good hunt with the trucker Brian

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-19-2010 23:46
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
There was a big push of little geese into the NW corner of the state today. I recieved numerous reports of huge flocks of Canadas migrating. I witnessed several small flocks as I carried the mail but they looked like the medium sized birds. Some college students jumped some mallards at a public lake near here and managed a six pound Canada out of a flock that flew too close. They reported ALOT of birds on the main lake just rafting and all kinds. They said there was quite a few snows mixed in with them. Some of the boys will try hunting the sandhills in the morning. I wish I didn’t have to work. All the ponds on the way to work this morning were mostly iced over and no birds on them so the larger lakes and streams are most likely to hold any good numbers. Predicted lows below zero early next week with highs in the twenties might put an end to the small water success around here. one of my contacts in Saskatchewan just told me that all the geese moved out two days ago. It could be a great season if we can hold them in the state. LO

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Corn field tween Valley&Waterloo 11-19-2010 09:54
– – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted on Thursday 0630-1500 saw about 8 flights of huntable geese only got one set to give a close look, but they got spooked right before final decision. Seems to be a good number of geese around though. The morning was the best time till about 1030-1100 then it went dead, the evening flight was after legal shooting hours.

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

11-19-2010 09:06
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Well guys, with the forecasted weather for North and South Dakota we should be getting a push of both ducks and geese for Thanksgiving. Good Luck to all!

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

northern panhandle 11-18-2010 08:29
Cloudy, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
migration continues to trickle down thus goose and mallard numbers slowly increase. most small ponds have ice on the edges and even larger lakes have ice in protected areas especially in the morning. boat access is possible on all lakes in this area. have not heard of much hunting pressure and success has been poor to fair for most. one exception would be a friend who hunts near Lisco. He reported a limit of geese last saturday and five greenheads the next. He said goose numbers were increasing on the Garden county refuge but many were lessers. They tend to move in larger flocks and can be harder to decoy in the many meadow blinds along the river. Hunting pressure on the
river around Scottsbluff has increased especially on the weekends and success is poor to fair. I am going to give our renovated blind there a shot Sunday. Until then, keep your powder dry! LO

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Ne. City 11-17-2010 18:36
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Thought the ducks would be out and about today but it was not to be. Hunted from 0630-1000am shot one shoveler who flew over my head and landed in the decoys. Was uber slow saw almost nothing. Ducks I saw as I was entering into Iowa were on the middle of bigger ponds, by Missourri bridge. Did see 100 Mallards on little big lake though. Did the ducks peal off any opinions guys? Looks like Mallards could be entering in numbers at the top of state.

Posted By:
Drew Goaley
Guest

Waterloo 11-15-2010 20:19
Cloudy, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted both sat and sun morning. Still a little slow. Saw some new birds/migration on saturday, but nothing too promising. Thought Sunday would be good, but hunted the morning and didn’t see anything but a small high flock of teal around 10:00. Managed to kill 2 pounds of bacon in the blind. Bama hunted Monday and same report as Sunday.

-“Kill em all and let the dogs sort them out” – TRRGC

Good luck to all and keep the posts up!

Posted By:
Brian-Peters
Web Member

central panhandle 11-15-2010 18:58
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hunted sat with good success three of us shot 13 mallards decoyed fair also saw a couple wigeons woodducks are gone i think very cold with ice creeping into the decoys on sun not many birds working but we got almost all that did inc a stray goose corey called in and shot seems like we have good hunts on sats after the birds move in and relax all week and we must shoot them out i bet this is the trend till we get another good push of birds brian

Posted By:
Doug-Miller
Field Editor

Tekamah 11-15-2010 11:35
– – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Hunting in the Tekamah area is on and off. Friday saw a good push of ducks and S&B geese. No Canada’s. Sat their was a few ducks working the area. Sunday was very slow. Only a few working birds and no migration.
If you have birds staying in your area you get some shooting. But they aren’t moving around a lot.
Drove through Desoto Sat. evening. It looks as ducky as I have ever seen in the last 30 years. The new manager is heading it back to the old ways. It might take a year or so but it looks great. It is holding a good number of ducks also.

Its all about Ducks, Dogs, and Kids

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

Kearney 11-15-2010 11:07
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Saturday – Went to finish working on the goose pit in the cornfield blind and only heard two flocks of cranes flying. Brother-in-law heard a large flock of canada geese flying over the Kearney landfil.

Posted By:
Jon-Barta
Field Editor

Valley Co 11-15-2010 09:41
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Sat morning was really slow. Very few ducks seen and one bunch of geese. Sun picked up a little bit, shot some birds but didnt see much. Took a drive sat afternoon and found good numbers of mallards all on shallow ponds and dug outs. There are good numbers of birds around right now, they just are not using the river.

Posted By:
IR1SH
Web Member

N of Ashland 11-15-2010 08:41
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Sat: Birds moving early, lots of really high fliers. What was low would work the spread.

Sun: Drank too much watching the game Sat night. Slept in and went to the blind at noon. Saw nothing until dark.

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Corn Field tween Valley&Waterloo 11-15-2010 00:57
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
There was pleny of geese but they have a little refuge, should eat it out in a couple of days. Saw a tornado of mallards over same, looked at us but pretty high. Heard shootin early over the Platte, and later over the Elkhorn.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm pond near Valley, Ne 11-14-2010 13:27
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 30-34 Degrees – Ice
Wandered-out to the blind this morning. Glad that I did! Finally started to see some activity. Had a pair of gaddies working a creek nearby. Had a pair of mallards work the pond well (thanks to a misfire shell, I didn’t get them). Had a really high (guessing 150 yards up) flock of 30 or so mallards work the pond. Circling multiple times – just couldn’t get them in before they lost interest. Worked my tail-off to get a triple of blue-bills in ( I took my two). Had a woodie drop in to sit with the teal decoys. He decided to stay, too. Saddened about the mallards, but thrilled to finally see some ducks again.

Side note: WF.com have you thought of offering some south Dakota folks free subscriptions to get some reports? It sucks not getting some timely reports from their fine state.

Posted By:
jdgreen402
Web Member

Farm pond near Vally, NE 11-13-2010 18:53
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 35-40 Degrees
Hit the blind today expecting a lot of activity from deer hunters rousting ducks off of the river and creeks. Somewhat disappointing. We did have a couple of woodies work us repeatedly (allowing us to finally get them close enough to take). We had a flock of five mallards work us very high, but would not commit. We wereusing spinners and it makes me wonder if they were already shy to them. This evening, I did see a couple of bigger teal flocks flying high and moving fast south. Unless they held at the Platte, they would have been in Mound City in an hour with the NW tail wind. Finally looking a bit more promising.

One more note: drove to Norfolk for tractor parts this afternoon and came back via Columbus and Fremont. Didn’t see anything in the fields or creeks. Finally saw a flock of local Canadas at the Fremont State Lakes. (sigh)

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

Ne. City 11-13-2010 14:55
Cloudy, High Winds – 25-30 Degrees – Open Water
Early morning was breezy and cold, 3 sets of teal that were shootable, with some mallards, speckled, and cans higher overhead. Seemed there was more shooting on the Missourri river, but not a flurry.

Posted By:
kpsriverdice
Web Member

Central Nebraska 11-12-2010 14:42
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I just received a call from my brother-in-law and he has seen a lot of ducks and geese migrating along I-80!

Posted By:
bherb33
Web Member

columbus 11-11-2010 22:00
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Was not hunting but out of town on business, at sleep inn columbus stood outside for 10-15 minutes and listened to a constant overhead night goose migration from 9:45-10:00pm.

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-11-2010 21:46
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Well the phone has been ringing and e mails singing of flights of snows and lessers moving south over the northern panhandle tonight! The southern panhandle recieved alot more snow than we did so it might stop the birds up here for a short time. i ran around the grasslands for a couple hours before sunset tonight and quite a few ponds were holding ducks. Temperatures are supposed to drop into the lower teens tonight so it could force birds to the bigger water. I have to work every day but Sunday and I told my little brother I would help him shoot his first deer Sunday so I will just have to suck it up!! Hope some of you guys can get some while you can.LO

Posted By:
Brian-Peters
Web Member

central panhandle 11-11-2010 13:32
– – –
This mourning the snow fell right at day break went to the local sra for a drive around there were alot of divers both on the water and working the area also heard a group of small geese but could not see them this weekend could be good Brian

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Northern Panhandle 11-11-2010 11:05
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 30-34 Degrees – Open Water
Well I couldn’t find anyone to do the boat thing with me today so i made my mind up to finish some windows that I have been promising to do. But my kid texted me that he heard geese migrating over chadron before sunrise. So I ran around here jumping ponds and found a nice push of northern Mallards. (only shot two drakes) and saw a couple big bunches of geese high and heading into the snow south of here. I just cant seem to get it right this year!! I am going to try to get the windows done and get back out there, Later LO

Posted By:
Larry-Olson
Field Editor

Western Sanhills, panhandle 11-10-2010 23:21
Cloudy, Snow Flurries – 40-45 Degrees
Well I made it to the Sandhills yesterday thinking that the strong NW winds coupled with precip up north would bring those little Canadas and snows with them but it was not to be. We never saw a goose and no migrating ducks either. There was maybe a hundred ducks on the lake but most were shovelers and they avoided us like the plague. I finally slipped through some cattails on the island we were hunting and shot a drake but that was our total for the day. The reports were similar from everyone but some guys had better luck than i did,(wouldn’t be hard). We checked a couple other lakes on the way home and the pickings were pretty slim there too. We hauled most of our decoys to the North Platte river blind Sunday and tried hunting a couple hours but it was very slow there too with temps reaching the upper seventies in the afternoon. I think we probably saw a couple hundred ducks while were there but only one decoyed and we were all working at the time so she flew away.(suzzie anyway) Our channel looks good, maybe? Time will tell. I thought about taking the boat out tommorrow again but it is alot of work for one guy especially when the success is so poor and I have some windows to finish here in the house. I will get out in the morning for a couple hours anyway and it’s only ten minutes to a lake if there is any migration going on. hmmmmmmmm. LO