Nebraskaland

Hunting the Delta Marsh The marsh and delta on the Missouri River between the mouth of the Niobrara River and Lewis and Clark lake stretches 19 miles and covers more than 20,000 acres of Missouri bottomlands. The size of the marsh, nearly all of it public, and the hunting opportunities it provides draws hundreds of waterfowl hunters from near and far each fall. Tom Curran, operations project manager with the Corps at Gavins Point Dam, has hunted the area since the 1990s and said the number of hunters using the area has increased dramatically in that time. A survey of more than 1,500 hunters using the boat ramp at Santee during the 2008 waterfowl found more than three-fourths of them were from other states. Many of the out-of-state hunters launch their boats at Santee due to diff ering regulations between the states that share this border water: South Dakota limits the number of nonresident waterfowl hunters that can use the area and Nebraska does not. The Santee ramp is one of four that hunters typically use to access the marsh from Nebraska. Another is located north of the village of Niobrara. Niobrara Confl uence WMA off ers a primitive ramp. And Game and Parks staff hopes to repair the Bazile Creek WMA access road, damaged by fl ooding in 2019, by waterfowl season so the ramp there can be used. There are several boat ramps on the South Dakota side of the river and delta between Running Water and the lake. Hunters with resident Nebraska hunting permits can use these ramps to access this border water. While most of the area is public, a large portion stretching from Niobrara to Springfi eld is managed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission as Bazile Creek and Niobrara Confl uence wildlife management areas or South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks as Running Water Game Production Area, known locally as Springfi eld Bottoms. These areas are open only to hunters licensed in the states that manage them. The remainder of the marsh, primarily the delta, is managed by the Corps and open to hunters from both states. All hunting on the river and in the delta is now fi rst come, fi rst served. A program allowing a limited number of permanent blinds was discontinued in 2019 due to compliance issues and increasing confl icts between hunters. All blinds and decoys must be removed each day. The river and delta are not for novice boaters. Constantly shifting sandbars and other hazards that lurk beneath the water can wreak havoc on boats and motors. Scouting hunting locations in the daylight and creating a trail on a GPS is recommended. Spotlights will be needed to navigate the river in the 34 Nebraskaland • October 2020 The delta at the upper end of Lewis and Clark Lake is a maze of river channels and backwaters separated by acres of bulrushes and phragmites.

• Cover