Nebraska Duck Hunt

[Black Dog]

Just got back late last night from a three-day duck-hunting trip to Nebraska. Timed it perfectly with the weather. Snow and high winds the day before we got there pushed some new ducks in and got the ones that were already there moving. The first morning was a little slow and each hunt was better than the day before. Last day we were finished by 8:30 with 10 mallards and two teal.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Nice! Looks like a great hunt! Congratulations!

 

[RUGER]

Awesome!

 

[WilcoKen]

If a man is a TN duck hunter, I think this is about the only way he will be able to have any semblance of success anymore. Congrats on your hunt!

 

[Ridgeline300]

Nice trip, congrats!

 

[wildside]

way to go...now send them down our way

 

[Union Co. Boy]

Now that looks like a good time! Congratulations!

 

[thirdwilliam]

congrats

 

[Westtnduckhtr]

Waterfowl hunting up north is such a great experience. Congratulations on your successful hunt in Nebraska. My hunts there and North Dakota make it hard to hunt in TN, you sure do get spoiled!

 

[Black Dog]

Waterfowl hunting up north is such a great experience. Congratulations on your successful hunt in Nebraska. My hunts there and North Dakota make it hard to hunt in TN, you sure do get spoiled!

This is the third year we have gone up to hunt there. We hunted last year in Ark and it was not the same and not looking to go back to Ark anytime soon.

 

[WilcoKen]

Waterfowl hunting up north is such a great experience. Congratulations on your successful hunt in Nebraska. My hunts there and North Dakota make it hard to hunt in TN, you sure do get spoiled!

This is the third year we have gone up to hunt there. We hunted last year in Ark and it was not the same and not looking to go back to Ark anytime soon.

Any tips you can give related to hunting Nebraska/Dakotas? Is it better to freelance or better to go with an outfitter? Also the best time to go etc? License expectations etc. Thank you.

 

[poorhunter]

Any tips you can give related to hunting Nebraska/Dakotas? Is it better to freelance or better to go with an outfitter? Also the best time to go etc? License expectations etc. Thank you.

I used to go to North Dakota and Canada in the 90's and early 2000's and we freelanced. It was easy to find birds and get permission back then. I'd say it's still easy to find birds but getting permission is probably more difficult nowadays. Most of the farmers were pretty resistant to leasing their property back then and mostly ran them out or made sure they were blackballed. I would guess that because of the money involved that most of the good land is now leased to outfitters. It was an amazing time to the point I quit all waterfowl hunting except for the trip up there.
I would suggest an outfitter would be the best option, but that's just my guess based on the way things go.

Edited to add that we always went last of October/beginning of November. That's pretty late and we did run into some COLD weather and snow, but we liked it. Most of the years the weather was in the 30's for highs.

 

[Westtnduckhtr]

I have always gone with an outfitter. The reason is it is a long way and unless you know where you are going, X or someone, a local is helping you, I did not want to go on a 18 hour drive for a Waterfowl Easter Egg hunt.
North Dakota we always went around Halloween, spent many there at that time as it freezes up early. When it does the sky's can go from a wonderland to barren overnight and you are done.
Nebraska is more of a timing thing as the Platte River and secondary streams are/can be spring fed. You can always hunt greater and lessers, outstanding hunting.
In closing here is a picture of a pit that had several Jeff Foiles goose videos filmed from it. It is a family owned property and our guide/son of owner landed the geese on the lid, before calling the shot. He said before hand let me show you how we do it here.

 

[Westtnduckhtr]

The hunt above was a 45 minute hunt, you can kill 5 each. Jumping the geese off the pit lid and letting them fly off to GET in range was some easy shooting. I chose to only shoot the lessers and shot my five for five.
Photo of closed pit lid.

 

[Black Dog]

Any tips you can give related to hunting Nebraska/Dakotas? Is it better to freelance or better to go with an outfitter? Also the best time to go etc? License expectations etc. Thank you.

For Nebraska, it is better to go with an outfitter. There is little to no public land around the Platte River where I hunt. Also, the water & land laws are very different and you could end up trespassing without realizing it. I also go the week between Christmas and New Year. My son is a CPA and that is his last free week before the busy season. We are also hunting warm water springs that do not freeze up and there is always an open hole for the ducks to land. Shots are anywhere from 10 yds to 30 yds at most. We have found there are plenty of birds there and the weather is right for hunting and moving birds around. I have never hunted North or South Dakota so can't give any info on them.

 

[Joe2Kool]

Looks like a great hunt. Congrats! And thanks for sharing the info! I've hunted Nebraska for turkey, deer, and snows, but never ducks. I've seen the areas and signs along the Platte river in the SW part of the state and often thought I should add it to my A-List of hunts. It's on there now!