32 Nebraskaland • October 2020
he gets in trouble, which isn't hard to
do considering the river is changing
constantly. "Every year you get out in
the river and you just erase all of your
marks and trails from the year before
because everything's diff erent. You've
got to start all over, learn the river."
Wise hunters pick several spots,
knowing that some will be better
than others depending on the wind.
They also know that early risers
might beat them to their fi rst choice,
or even second or third, especially
on a November weekend in the peak
of the migration. All of this marsh is
public land. It was a hidden gem until
it appeared on hunting shows and
videos in the 1980s. Since then, on
prime weekends, hunters can expect
to see long lines of rigs with license
plates from across Nebraska and the
Midwest and overfl owing parking lots
at the boat ramps. Kostinec has seen
hunters from as far away as South
Carolina and Louisiana.
Most of the locals would rather not
talk about hunting the area, worried
that even more people might come.
But Kostinec doesn't blame them for
coming, and thanks many of them he
sees at the Ducks Unlimited banquet
in Niobrara in mid-November, where
roughly 80 percent of the attendees
are from elsewhere.
"It's harder to get permission these
days in a lot of areas, and public water
just draws people," he said.
Kostinec still chooses to wake
up well before the rooster on some
mornings to beat the rush and up the
odds of getting his preferred spot. But
he and others have found sleeping in
and heading out at fi rst light can lead
to an equally successful hunt. The
direction of the wind often determines
which side of the river bottom birds fl y
when moving between their roost, be
it in a pocket on the marsh or rafted
Kostinec and Blue wait for the next flight of ducks to come from Lewis and Clark Lake while hunting the tip of the delta.
