NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1040966
30 NEBRASKAland • NOVEMBER 2018 after upland game species, pheasant populations are reliant upon proper habitat – undisturbed grasslands – and need this type of habitat on a large scale to maintain its numbers. Continued conversion of grassland to cropland and more efficient farming practices have greatly reduced the availability of pheasant habitat in many areas of the state. In recent decades, lands enrolled in CRP have become increasingly important to pheasants, especially in eastern Nebraska. Hunters should also focus on weedy pastures, unfarmed draws, and tall wheat and milo stubble fields. According to Laux, Nebraska's highest pheasant densities can be found in southwestern Nebraska and portions of the panhandle. "These landscapes have quite a bit of CRP and are very diverse in terms of other cover types," said Laux. "Crop rotations here include winter wheat, and this provides additional nesting cover for pheasants." Most public hunting opportunities within these regions occur on private lands enrolled in the Commission›s Open Fields and Waters Program (OFW). Historically, Hitchcock, Hayes, Chase, and Perkins counties have offered some of the best pheasant opportunities in the Southwest. The southern panhandle (Cheyenne, Deuel, Garden counties) also supports good pheasant numbers and public access opportunities have been expanded in this region over the past several years. Greater prairie-chicken: Sept. 1, 2018 – Jan. 31, 2019 – Prairie-chickens prefer large tracts of undisturbed grasslands often with gently rolling topography but do occur in landscapes intermixed with cropland (more so than sharpies). This species tends to avoid trees and other obstructions and is typically more abundant in diverse grasslands with a high forb content. Like quail, chickens (and grouse for that matter) also tend to avoid dense grasslands. If you find yourself struggling to pick your feet up, you likely need to look elsewhere. Hunters typically walk the "tops" of ridges and use the topography to their advantage. Although big running pointing dogs are often preferred for hunting wide open grasslands frequented by chickens and grouse, some of the most successful hunters have their dogs work close, creating more of a stalking than flushing mentality. Hunting prairie grouse early in the season is recommended as birds are more dispersed and tend to hold better for dogs. The central and eastern Sandhills represent the core of the prairie- chicken range in Nebraska, but some more isolated (and huntable) populations occur across southern Nebraska as well. In 2017, most of the Sandhills region experienced a widespread drought but prairie grouse populations are beginning to rebound following abundant precipitation throughout much of 2018. Sharp-tailed grouse: Sept. 1, 2018 – Jan. 31, 2019 – Sharptails can be found in higher, choppy dunes of the west- central Sandhills and their distribution extends out into portions of the panhandle as well. In many instances, A rooster pheasant moves through short grass near Grabel Ponds at Fort Robinson State Park. Photo by Justin Haag.