Now Joe, don't give us a bad name!

[drolfson]

Joe, Joe;

What's this bit of poor portrayal of the fine state in which I find myself? Granted, I don't live near Hastings, nor have I found myself driving about aimlessly in the area, but due to the local bulletin board (found [url=http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi:9f375]Here[/url:9f375] ) I do know something about it.

The Pheasant hunting is quite fine. Lots of birds this last season I hear. (I hunted another area and kicked up scads of birds.)

Them 'pits' on the side of the road have produced some mighty big fish over the years.

Harlan is the favorite place for many people to fish. I would love to hit it, but there are good places closer.

Prairie Lake gets good review from some fishermen also. I think I read it is supposed to be open this summer, but I'd have to check.

At any rate, glad to hear you made it up here for the day! Also glad to hear you had a ball! Great story!

Don

Oh, and forget what I said about the Pheasants. There really are none. None I say! No quail, prairie grouse or sharp-tailed ones either. Not worth a trip. And definately do not visit the link I provided and go to the CRP-MAP program page to see the publicly available land managed for upland birds by the owners.

[Broadwing]

Hi there, I have been hanging around the site for a year or so now and finally decided to get on the board. I figure you sound like a guy in the know and I am planning a move to Lincoln in the spring. I will also be spending some time in the area of the Biobrara as my fiancee is doing her graduate thesis on the river. I am wondering what is available near Lincoln for fishing opportunities. I'm by no means one to turn down the action of 'gills but anything on a fly is good by me! Appreciate any input the people can provide.

[drolfson]

Broadwing;

There are many opportunities in the Lincoln area for fishing. Just about any water will have fish in it. If you must have Trout, then you gotta fish from late fall thru early spring where they plant some bows in some of the lakes. Otherwise, just go to the closest lake, pond or stream and give it a try! The link I posted above it to the Nebraska Gampe and Parks Bulletin Board. Lots of local info there, and even the occasional Fly Fishing post.

If you are going to be spending time on the Niobrara, I understand there are numerous possibilities for some trout along the way. Some cold spring fwed creeks feed teh river along the way, and a dam outlet or two is cold enough to support trout year round.

If you go to the local BB I linked to and find a post by Daryl, send your address to him in a PM (personal message) and upon request he will send you a booklet with all of the trout fishing available listed in it. It is very nicely done and informative.

Have fun!!

Don

[Broadwing]

Hi Don, Thanks for the info - I mostly fish warmwater anyway so It's good to know there are opportunities in the area. I will check out the links, Thanks again!
-Erik

[Joe Hyde]

Hi Don,


Re: the poor quality bird habitat I reported seeing in the Hastings area, there was no intention on my part to disparage the state of Nebraska. I don't understand how you could take that notion away from the story.

No doubt there are pockets of good habitat around Hastings, but isolated "island habitats" are not a good thing for wildlife species to deal with. (Exposes them to greater predator success, for one thing.)

What I was seeing was mile after square mile of bare dirt fields, most with corn stubble no taller than 3 inches. Any harvested fields with taller stubble, herds of grazing cattle were stomping it flat. Row cropping crowds hard against fence lines, leaving birds no grassy or weedy borders for nesting sites and hard core winter cover.

There's no need to post "No Hunting" signs around land like this; birdier habitat can be found in a Wal-Mart parking lot, or seen in NASA photos taken by the Mars rovers.

I drove the highways and county roads up there for two days and we didn't see one upland game bird the whole time, and I was looking hard for birds, and we were out during time periods when they are most active.

No state has excellent bird cover border-to-border. So if you've not yet seen with your own eyes the sterile wilderness that's created when super-intensive agricultural land practices are employed over a large area, then please don't chide me for reporting my observations and expressing my view that such areas aren't good pheasant country.

Such damaged areas aren't magically improved, either, simply by virtue of being located in Kansas, the Dakotas, or Iowa or Oklahoma. My state, Kansas -- especially western Kansas -- has got some of the most ruined game bird habitat around, due to the same pivot irrigation/clean farming/chemical heavy methods used in Nebraska. Poor bird habitat is poor bird habitat no matter where you encounter it.

As for the CRP-MAP areas in Nebraska, that's cool. Kansas has what's called "walk-in hunting". Same kind of thing: farmers enroll in the program and the public gets to hunt their land just by showing up and getting out of the car. I don't know how you and your hunting buddies feel about that, but I hope every farmer enrolled in such programs gets to go straight to Heaven immediately after they die. It's a wonderful act of generosity and trust they're showing us.


Joe

[drolfson]

Joe;

Didn't mean to sound like I was chiding you. I fully understand that the fields that are clear from edge to edge are pretty much a waste for birds. From what I have heard, many or even most of those are corporate farming operations.

Some areas (and farmers) are definately better than others for the birds. Where I went last year, most of the surrounding fields at least have decent 'edges' and 'corners' and when 4 adjoining fields had these features the birds seemed to even evade my poor dog. (I know they were there, they flew out too far away or in the field I was unable to hunt accross the fence.)

Teh CRP-MAP is a little more than just allowing hunters on the land. The land also has to be managed for the birds. The farmer must have cover and food plants planted in the fields, and some of these fields are quite large. I attempted to hunt one that was a full quarter section. Walked my legs off just to have the birds fly out at the edge of the fence cover 40 feet into the next field when we got close.

Anyway, hope I didn't cause any bad feelings. I was just trying to give you some friendly ribbing!

I'd love to wet a line or walk some fields with ya! Planning a hunt opening day this year with a small group (possibly just me, my son and my dad) to a couple of fields we hit last year. The cover was chest to head high on me. The fields were adjoining and covered a good 1/8th of a section.

Once more, I really enjoyed the article!

Don

[Joe Hyde]

Don,


Thanks, man. I was afraid I'd offended you and couldn't understand why.

Hey, I hunted doves once...ONCE...by invite of a co-worker who had a part-time job as live-in caretaker of a corporate farm located about 50 miles south of Kansas City, at Rich Hill. It was funny because the "hordes of doves" he'd been bragging about turned out to be killdeers. But the farm itself was anything but funny. Until then I'd never before seen a corporate farm, and was astonished that not a single weed could be found anywhere on the property. Everything was perfectly manicured, obviously bombarded with chemicals, and sterile ground for anything the owners didn't want living there.

Worst of all, this huge farm was protected from flooding by a massive levee. No doubt the wealthy corporate heads pushed for this levee to be built, and government officials approved it on that basis alone. As I explained to my caretaker buddy, the levee might protect this corporate farm, but it does so by displacing water onto adjacent unprotected farms owned by people of lesser means, resulting in greater floodwater depths there and greater damage inflicted on the neighbors.

More later, I'm getting visitors here...

Joe

[Joe Hyde]

Don,


Back again.

Anyway, I haven't hunted pheasants much since my Mom's cousin died. He farmed up north of Beattie, KS (just south of the Neb. border on K-99 Highway).

Dan let all us kin, plus his buddies around home, hunt quail and pheasants on his farm. He owned only about 1/2 section, but it was heavy with outstanding bird habitat provided by a large number of small-to-medium size cover and food patches. Dan's farming methods were very light on the land, and consequently his farm always had lots of birds every year.

When he passed away about 15 years ago, the farm was sold. The new owners couldn't wait to bulldoze out all the plum thickets, the weedy draws, cattail bogs and hedge rows so they could commence "modern ways" of farming. In one season the place went from being a productive farm/pheasant-quail jungle to being just a productive farm.

It was bad enough losing hunting privileges there due to the land ownership change, but it was much worse seeing this once-great hunting property destroyed by physical changes. I just don't understand the mindset of people who have the wealth to buy a farm but then sabotage its wildlife carrying capacity. Weren't these people farm kids themselves? Didn't they ever get taken hunting and fishing, and discover the magic and joys of those sports? I can't help thinking some are sociopaths who secretly hate and want to destroy the natural environment they live in.

Gee, I think I'm ready now to get away from it all and go fishing again, and it's only Thursday...


Joe

"Better small than not at all."

[drolfson]

Sounds like we feel about the same an the farming! I would love nothing more thatn the return of the family farmer. I keep hoping that the Health-food/Organic and no GMOs and all that catches on more so it will be more profitable for the smaller farmers. Heck, if I thought I would be able to raise my family well and still have some time to 'play', I would give it a go myself. Too bad they parceled it all up and gave it away in the 1800s.

Don

PS I have had my eye on a 100 acre chunk that has been used for grazing for the last few years, but have to figure out how to fund it's purchase.

[This message has been edited by drolfson (edited 10 February 2006).]