56 Nebraskaland • March 2024
PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST
Send contributions to: Portraits from the Past, Nebraskaland Magazine, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370. Or e-mail to Tim.Reigert@Nebraska.gov.
Photos should show people enjoying Nebraska outdoor activities, such as camping, boating, hunting or fishing, and must have been taken before 2000. We will give
priority to unusual photos or activities. When possible, please include a story about the photograph and identify the people, places and approximate date it was
taken. Text may be edited and photos adjusted for reproduction. All photos will be returned.
Deer hunting near Lisco, 1985
Pictured is me and my son, Chad, taken on
Chad's first deer hunt in November 1985 on
Don and LaDonna Loxterkamp's farm, eight
miles north of Lisco. Chad died on
July 18, 2022.
– Leo Gusman, Bridgeport
Crappie fishing near Columbus, 1963
My older cousin Mark Schelby from Merced, California,
(right) and me (left) with a nice stringer of crappie. This
was in 1963 on one of his family trips to Nebraska. We
were fishing in Wagner's Lake in Columbus. My mother,
Pat Lemke, cooked them in cracker crumbs as
she always did.
Of course, my dad "Buzz" helped us catch them, clean
them and took the picture. My dad had us put our bait
on, and if our lines got tangled up, he always made us fix
them. He also taught us how to tie the correct knots and
to throw back some of the fish.
– Mike Lemke, Garden City, Kansas
Canada goose hunting near Alliance
My cousin Pete Stout of Kearney and I, from Lincoln,
embarked on a Sandhills goose hunt southeast of Alliance
after Christmas 1998 when we were both 12. A large flock
had gathered on an open sandhills alkali lake. Pete's dad,
Bob Stout, scared the flock up from the other side, while
Pete and I hid among the frozen cattails. We successfully
downed these two geese, which led to an exciting retrieval
on the frozen marsh ground surrounding the pond. The
local, three-legged ranch dog helped us locate our geese,
but that didn't prevent us from breaking through thin ice
and pulling the ranch dog out of knee-deep water more
than a few times. This photo was taken when we made it
back to the pickup. Pete and I grew up hunting together and
continue an avid passion for hunting to this day.
– Mike Manning, Lincoln
