44 Nebraskaland • June 2026
R
eading our "Portraits From the Past"
section each month is a cathartic
experience for me. Since December
1997, more than 850 reader-submitted
photos have been published, each an important
piece of Nebraska's outdoor heritage. When
viewing these images, it's easy to get emotional.
I never get over seeing photos of smiling
young men on their last upland or big game hunt
before they were sent off to fight for our country,
never having the opportunity to walk those
same fencerows or sit in that stand again.
When an elderly woman sends in a tattered
black-and-white photograph of herself as a little
girl holding a fish with her father, it's impossible
not to think about my relationship with my own
daughter, knowing that in the future, images of
us will be shared in this same publication.
Many of these photos have also made me
smile: the excitement from a duck hunt 40 years
ago frozen in time, the sepia tones of the original
picture seemingly giving the hunter permission
to enjoy a smoke after a long day afield.
Portraits of the Past is also where pastimes
like trapping, and images of fathers and sons
and friends and neighbors proudly standing in
front of a pelt-covered barn wall, can be shown,
because "it was just different back then."
Images like these are of particular interest
to many outdoor enthusiasts, because they are
about so much more than trapping, hunting,
fishing or camping — they illustrate a time when
our moms and dads and all the others who took
us outdoors were at the center of our universe,
where time spent in nature together was the best
time spent.
The Heyday, 1969
I always tried to fish on two specific days — New
Year's Day and Super Bowl Sunday — rarely
encountering another angler.
– Leo Turner, Lisco
Looking for Pheasants, 1974
Here I am, going to look for a pheasant, shotgun in tow.
We didn't need to wear helmets in those days.
– Curt Koehler, Bee
Waterfowl Hunting, 1929
This photo was taken in Atkinson. Johnny Seger and
his dad, Donat, are shown.
– Chuck Leiningen, Atkinson
