I have a friend that I haven't hunted with in almost 5 years now and we were talking about putting something together, unfortunately he's not able to get much time off. So we were talking about doing an upland bird hunt in Nebraska (which would be kind of a middle meet point for both of us geographically) I'm familiar with Nebraska parks over view map that shows public land and private land open to public, and my research kind of leads me to South Central Nebraska. My question is there good numbers of Pheasants, Quail, and Grouse around McCook on the reservoir land? Or on the CRP, and OFW land between McCook and Orleans? Just looking to make sure were in a descent area. I have been around the Red Cloud area years ago and seen a fair amount of upland birds there, but there's almost no open land there to hunt, which why I'm looking West of that area. Thanks for an in site!
South Central Nebraska question
- Thread starter go_deep
- Start date
NE69
Active Member
Lot of pheasants, some quail, few grouse. The crp and public ground is hunted a lot, but I still see hunters picking up a few birds there. Knock on doors and ask permission and you will do better on private. If you time your hunt away from the holidays you will have areas to yourself. I see everyone hunt the same areas, brush patches, weedy pockets etc. If you will hunt away from the road and not the easy access spots, you will find more birds that haven't been pressured much. Two guys hunting together will get permission where a larger group gets turned down. Game and Parks are doing a lot more than ever improving bird hunting in southwest Nebraska. I see their tracking truck out daily and they have game cameras out on many of the walkin areas gathering info on hunter numbers and bird harvest.
Appreciate the info! We're looking at December/January time line, and we'd stay away from Christmas. We like to get after it so we'd definitely walk in as far as we could. Good info on possibly gaining access too. Thanks again!
wy-tex
Veteran member
I found out looking for turkey hunting access that Nebraska ranchers and farmers are great folks and access for hunting was not hard to find. For sure knock on some doors.We have seen good numbers of pheasants and few quail as well as prairie chickens and sharptailed grouse while chasing turkeys.