40 Nebraskaland • November 2024
ebraskaland contributor and avid waterfowler
Todd Mills's hunting season seems to have as much
windshield time as blind time. After spending his
mornings in early September hunting teal in the
Rainwater Basin, the Gretna resident begins road tripping for
ducks on the Missouri River near Santee.
By season's end, he will have hunted ducks and geese at a
few locations in eastern Nebraska, the Missouri River in South
Dakota and Nebraska, the Platte River near Grand Island, the
North Platte River near Paxton and in the Hastings area. And,
if weather allows, reservoirs in Missouri and Kansas.
He makes these trips out of necessity. One, it feeds the
constant burn that is duck season for Mills. This yearly
tradition is his fall and winter Super Bowl. Secondly, he does
so because Nebraska has some of the most diverse waterfowl
habitat of any state within the Central Flyway.
The Platte River, unlike nearly any other river, off ers
exceptional waterfowl hunting opportunities throughout the
season and across the entire state. The Loup River system
spans the Sandhills and can provide open water through
early January, while shallow Sandhills lakes and wetlands
might be frozen over by Thanksgiving in most years.
To accommodate these varying hunting circumstances,
Nebraska has four hunting zones, providing early- or late-
season opportunities, or both. Mills hunted three of them last
year with high river water levels forcing him from hunting all
N
Story and photos by Jeff Kurrus
Waterfowl Zones
