26 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015
The homemade blind of garden fence, zip
ties, camo material and native vegetation
is a favorite today. It's fast, light and
inexpensive. I fashioned one on a prairie
slough next to the Platte River channel
to photograph wintering mallard ducks
at Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary. I was also
rewarded with a small band of deer that
would play regularly in front of the blind,
chasing ducks and each other like dogs
do.
thick plastic doesn't breathe
and condensation built up
on the ceiling from my
breath in the humid cold
and dripped on me all night,
freezing my clothes to my
sleeping bag and forming a
thin coating of ice over my
camera and lens. It was the
coldest night I ever spent.
Finally, I remembered my
