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
