Nebraska Extends Grouse Season, Focus on Pheasant

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Game and Parks Board of Commissioners on Friday voted to expand the grouse-hunting season starting in 2011.

This year’s grouse season will be Sept. 1 through Jan. 31, 2012. Regulations previously called for the season to open on the Saturday nearest Sept. 15.

By making the change, Game and Parks is providing more hunting opportunity for a lightly hunted species and is aligning the dove and grouse season openers on a common date.

The board also approved a revised Focus on Pheasants plan. The plan seeks to create new focus areas and incentive programs to promote habitat improvements and to work with biologists to maximize effectiveness of habitat program delivery within those areas. Also, the plan hopes to continue researching the amount of habitat needed to establish and maintain a huntable pheasant population, and it will try to secure more pheasant habitat through U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs.

Commissioners also approved the funding of $254,383.60 for eight grants through the State Wildlife Grant (SWG) program, which addresses the needs of declining fish and wildlife populations. Game and Parks allocates part of its annual SWG funding, distributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to other conservation entities on a competitive basis, with awardees required to provide a one-to-one match. The awarded projects must be deemed a priority in assisting Game and Parks in implementing the Nebraska Natural Legacy Plan.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Activities

© 2011 Scott Croner and
Nebraska Hunting Company™

LINCOLN, Neb. – The following is a listing of Nebraska Game and Parks Commission events and activities in January:


Jan. 1 – New Year’s Day Buffet, Eugene T. Mahoney State Park

Jan. 2 – Duck hunting season closes in Low Plains Late Unit

Jan. 2 – First segment of light goose hunting season closes

Jan. 8-9 – DeSoto muzzleloader deer hunting season

Jan. 10 – Spring turkey hunting permits available for purchase beginning at 1 p.m. Central Time

Jan. 10 – Youth fishing instructor training, Alliance

Jan. 12 – Duck hunting season closes in High Plains Unit

Jan. 12 – Venison sausage-making workshop, Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium

Jan. 13 – Youth fishing instructor training, Fullerton

Jan. 14 – Beyond Becoming an Outdoors-Woman scuba workshop, Lincoln

Jan. 16 – First segment of dark goose hunting season closes in Platte River and Panhandle units

Jan. 18 – Season Choice, landowner and youth deer hunting seasons close

Jan. 19 – Special crow hunting season closes

Jan. 20 – Regular crow hunting season opens

Jan. 21 – Nebraska Game and Parks Board of Commissioners meeting, Lincoln

Jan. 21 – Dark goose hunting season closes in North Central Unit

Jan. 21-23 – River City Hunting and Fishing Expo, Mid-America Center, Council Bluffs, Iowa

Jan. 21-23 – Beyond Becoming and Outdoors-Woman small game hunt, Keith County

Jan. 22 – Second segment of light goose hunting season opens

Jan. 22 – Second segment of dark goose hunting season opens in Platte River and Panhandle units

Jan. 22 – Youth fishing instructor training, Denton

Jan. 26 – Dark goose hunting season closes in East Unit

Jan. 28-30 – Pheasant Fest trade show, Qwest Center, Omaha

Jan. 31 – Squirrel hunting season closes

Jan. 31 – Grouse hunting season closes

Jan. 31 – Pheasant, quail and partridge seasons close

For more information, contact Game and Parks at (402) 471-0641 or visit OutdoorNebraska.org.

Best to you,
Scott Croner
Nebraska Hunting Company

Ellis Scores On A Big 8 With Scott Croner And The Nebraska Hunting Company

After going Merriam's turkey hunting with Scott Croner in May and tagging out I knew I had to go on a deer hunt with him when the opportunity came up. I booked my deer hunt for muzzleloader season the second week in December. After talking to Scott several times on the phone before I arrived I was very excited about what he was telling me he had been seeing. I arrived in Nebraska City mid afternoon and was greeted by Scott. He took me to a spot on the edge of a soybean field and said he had been seeing a 140-150 class buck in the area along with some 130 class bucks. Two hours later I caught a glimpse of a big buck walking a ridge across from me. I grunted and he turned and walked right towards me. I guess buck fever set in because I made a bad shot and hit him in the gut. Scott and I blood trailed him for a little while that evening but decided to back out when we ran out of blood and lost light. The next morning I was happy to see Scott had two other people with him to help us find the deer. It took us about an hour and we found him the biggest buck I've ever taken a 144" 8-pointer. I've hunted with 6 different outfitters in my life and Scott Croner is the best I have hunted with. I already have a deer hunt booked for next deer season and plan on booking many more.

Ellis, Villa Rica, Georgia

Merriam's Turkey Hunting: 2010 Spring Turkey - Biggest Season Ever

©2010 Scott Croner and
Nebraska Hunting Company™

Get ready for the
2011 Spring Merriam's Turkey Season!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to remind everyone about the awesome 2010 Spring Turkey season we had hunting Merriam's Turkey. This was as close to a guaranteed hunt as we can offer! We scout year-round, providing our clients with the best opportunity to bag their Merriam's Turkey!

Merriam's Turkey Hunting: 2010 Spring Turkey - Biggest Season Ever

Best to you,
Scott Croner
Nebraska Hunting Company

Nebraska Telechek Out of Service

Scott Croner and
Nebraska Hunting Company™

Nebraska Telecheck Will Be Out of Service December 18

LINCOLN, Neb. - Deer and antelope hunters will be unable to electronically check their game for a period of time on December 18, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The company that provides the Telecheck electronic checking service to Game and Parks is taking the system down for maintenance from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on that day.

"We suggest hunters wait until later in the day, like after 6 p.m., or wait until the next day to check their game," said Kit Hams, big game program manager with Game and Parks.

Best to you,
Scott Croner
Nebraska Hunting Company

Record Whitetail Harvest in Nebraska!

LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska’s November firearm deer harvest set a record this fall, rising 18 percent over last year, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The 2010 November firearm deer harvest was 63,300, compared to 53,767 in 2009. Most of the increase is from antlerless white-tailed deer harvest, as 21,000 bonus antlerless white-tailed deer tags were added this year.

Good weather benefited hunters and farmers as the corn harvest was nearly complete at the start of the November firearm season, compared to 2009 when more than half of the crop was still in the field at the start of the season.

The following are harvest figures for each region of the state, with the percentage increase from 2009:

Panhandle (District I) – 6,580, 9 percent; north-central (District II) – 11,885, 13 percent; northeast (District III) – 13,791, 32 percent; southwest (District IV) – 7,042, 20 percent; southeast (District V) – 13,709, 11 percent; and south-central (District VI) – 10,325, 13 percent.

“This is a good step toward our goal of a 25-percent reduction in the deer herd in eastern Nebraska over the next 3 years,” said Kit Hams, big game program manager for Game and Parks. “The use of Earn-a-Buck rules on Elkhorn and Wahoo permits and the October firearm antlerless season (3,000 deer harvested) in 2010 have both been successful in increasing doe harvest.”

Earn-a-Buck rules required hunters to check in an antlerless deer before or at the same time they checked a buck.

Assuming normal harvest rates during archery, muzzleloader and January antlerless seasons, hunters should harvest about 90,000 deer in Nebraska for the 2010 seasons, compared to the previous record of 80,400 in 2008 and 78,000 last year.

Nebraska has enjoyed excellent deer hunting the past three years, with record harvest numbers and record deer. A state record nontypical white-tailed deer was taken last year in Richardson County. A potential state record typical white-tailed deer was harvested this November north of Seward.

Best to you,
Scott Croner
Nebraska Hunting Company




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The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: After the Shot, Tracking and Trailing

© 2010 Scott Croner and
Nebraska Hunting Company™

So you have taken your shot, waited the as long as you could, went to where your sure your Whitetail fell, and he's not there! What do you do?

Our friend and fellow sportsman, Albert A Rasch, has an instructive post on his blog The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles on tracking and trailing.

His post, The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: After the Shot, Tracking and Trailing is a great primer and sure to get you off on the right track... so to speak!

Albert has told me that he is working on an updated post on tracking animals, and is looking forward to putting the finishing touches on it and sharing it with us.

See Albert Rasch at:

Best to you,
Scott Croner
Nebraska Hunting Company


Albert A Rasch
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