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
