Speak Up

Digging up Dirt

Sir / Portrait of the Plains-page 62. Is the picture printed backwards, or is there a plow that turns dirt to the left? Great issue! Terrific magazine. Ex-Nebraskan K. Jensen Gahanna, Ohio

We wish there were a plow that operated as that one is, but it was an error in stripping up separations, thus reversing the image. Our hopes that it wouldn't be noticed went for naught, for several folks have pointed accusing fingers at us. Our apologies, but we were too busy looking at the gulls, I guess. (Editor)

* * * Boosting Birds

Sir / I have just read the March issue of NEBRASKAland and really enjoyed it. I have been coming to your state hunting pheasants for the past 11 years, and hope to continue for a long time. We have friends from Mississippi who live in your state and also have met some fine people there and became good friends. We certainly enjoy visiting with the people of your state each November.

I appreciate everything that is being done by your Commission to increase bird populations. I have subscribed to your magazine and hope that in some way I might help in your efforts. Thank you for what you do, your hospitality, and friendship in the past and in the years to come. Robert Logan Bruce, Miss.

* * * From on High

Sir / Received the copy of "Portrait of the Plains" last week. Just can't express the enjoyment and extreme proudness we had while thumbing (and still are) through the beautiful and truly representative pictures of our beloved state. A most hardy and sincere congratulations to those who made it possible.

Although we now live in perhaps one of the most desirable states, we, as former and native Nebraskans, shall and always will cherish, love and continue to boast that God created only one piece of land that he wanted to be exceptional to all — and that was NEBRASKAland.

Again, thanks for job well done, but really —Nebraskans always do. The World's Highest "Go Big Red Club" Leadville, Colo. (Elev. 10,102 ft.) Kenneth Rider, Wauneta Alen Hafer, Lodge Pole Gary Welch, Utica Ralph Schuster, Friend

Thanks to you, boosters (of state and our egos). With folks like you out there, it won't be long before the whole world thinks Nebraska is the greatest. (Editor)

* * * Second to None

Sir / Enclosed find subscription for 2 years to your fine magazine. We especially enjoy the fine pictures, and short stories. Am also sending a picture of my Lab hunting dog, which I consider second to none for ducks and pheasants. Harvey Schmidt Schuyler, Nebraska

All I want to know is who fetches whose pipe and slippers. (Editor)

* * * Rare Opossum

Sir / I'm a farmer, sportsman and conservationist who does a lot of fishing, hunting and live trapping in many areas of Nebraska. I caught this albino or white opossum on November 4, 1975 in my trapping operations along the Platte River between Chapman and Grand Island.

I have caught and released many opossums, raccoons, skunks and weasels, but this is my first encounter with aii albino opossum. These are very rare and have beautiful white fur to go along with their black ears and eyes.

In my live trapping, I catch these wonderful animals In traps which do not harm them. After I catch them, I photograph some and then release them back to the wild. I derive more pleasure in releasing them than I would by killing them to harvest their fur. George Stoppkotte Grand Island, Nebraska

* * * Plains Statue

Sir / I commend you on the beautiful edition, "Portrait of the Plains" tho I get nostalgic feeling when I look at the picture of Chimney Rock as it is now and as it was when I first saw it, the spring of 191 7. I really feel that it should be restored artificially as near original as possible. I feel it is "Nebraska's Statue of Liberty". Thanks again for the beautiful edition. Arthur Holten Oak View, Calif.

* * * What about cottonwood?

Sir / Your April issue is excellent; I enjoyed very much "Beauty and the Human Beast" by Dr. Foster.

However, I was dismayed after reading "Trees! Planting for the Future" that the cottonwood, that I am almost sure is the state tree of Nebraska, was not mentioned! Our Howard County farm years ago had them aplenty. It will again if I have my way. "A Nebraskan who wishes he was back," D.D. Show Charleston, S.C.*

The cottonwood tree, which is our state tree, was not omitted through oversight, but rather because the story was primarily about hardwood trees. Cotton woods are hardy and prolific, and being natives, hardly need anyone to plant them to get established. They are a tremendous tree, and are even being harvested along several Nebraska rivers for their lumber, which is tough enough to serve as crating material. (Editor)

FISHING... THE DOG DAYS

by Ken Bouc

AUGUST IS NOT one of the times of year that fishermen hold dear In fact, this eighth page on the calendar might just as well be blank as far as many anglers are concerned Fo most, it's the "dog days" a big dud; the worst of summer's dreary doldrums.

It's a time of weed-fouled lures and clouds of stinging, crawling, biting bugs. Days seem to drag on forever under the oppressive burden of sun, heat and humidity, and swarms of pesky water skiers and hotrod boaters add aggravation to misery. And, worst of all, the fish don't bite.

 

But, for someone who really loves fishing, even the tribulations of August can be made bearable, if not beaten altogether. With a little headwork and perserverance, even the lack of fish can be overcome to some extent. Some of the tricks of staying relatively comfortable on summer days are not really tricks at all. In fact, they are downright obvious.

Light clothing and headgear, sunglasses and a little suntan lotion make the midday hours more bearable, and early morning or evening trips make August angling even more agreeable. A bit of insect repellent helps during the "buggy" part of late afternoon and evening. Of course, the lotions and repellents might also serve as fish repellents, so avoid handling bait and lures until such stuff is washed off. Waders or a boat will get you beyond most of the summer weed beds that stifle bank fishing.

But that's the easy part. Overcoming the scarcity of fish is the big trick in dog-days angling. The obvious thing to do is concentrate on the fish that thrive under conditions prevailing in August. It takes no genius to figure that this means catfishing. And catfishing usually means either night fishing, river fishing or both (which automatically takes care of the problem of crowds, speedboats and skiers). Another sure-fire prescription for an angler's summertime blues is a strong dose of white bass. (See "Fishing . . . On the River," July, 1975 and "Fishing . . . White Bass Time," August, 1975, NEBRASKAland, for details on catfishing and white bass fishing.)

If you can't make it to one of western Nebraska's white bass lakes, or if catfishing isn't your cup of tea, all is not lost. You can also take a nice mess of bluegill or crappie, and maybe even an occasional walleye or bass from the same lake you worked in the spring. The crappie are generally night-time fish, as are walleye. Catching a walleye any time of the year is an accomplishment for the average fisherman. But, if you have the patience, they can be taken in the heat of summer in open spots or along the edges of weed beds at night, on worm rigs trolled deep during the day, or occasionally on jigs, spinners or minnows in deep brushpiles.

But the crappie is a more dependable fish for the angler plying the dark side of the dog days. He can usually be found in flooded brush, or on quiet, "buggy" evenings, may be located by the sounds of his surface feeding. They can also be fooled by a number of arrangements using various tricks with lights (see last month's "Fishing ... After Dark").

Bass, are also, taken in August, though not in great numbers. A few still hang out in flooded timber in 10 feet of water or less.dBut a lot of fish move to deeper waters, where the jig-and-eel fisherman or the plastic worm slinger do best.

The best potential of all, however, is offered by the bluegill. A lot of fishermen write him off in August as another dog days casualty. Some feel that he quits feeding because of the heat. Others despair when his usual haunts fill up with aquatic weeds.

There may be bluegill along the weed-choked shoreline and in the flooded timber, and they may or may not be feeding. It really doesn't matter though, because the best bluegill fishing is farther out in the lake, away from the pesky weeds and snags. This kind of fishing is simple, relaxing, and best of all, productive. All you need is a boat, a breeze, a C-ounce bell sinker, and a couple of snelled No. 8 or 10 hooks. You'll also need some bait, but we'll discuss that later.

The name of the game is drift-fishing. You just toss your rig over the side, sit back and relax. The wind does most of the work, pushing the boat around the lake until the fish are found. All you have to do is crank the bluegills aboard when you find them, and work the same area on successive drifts until the fish move out. The rig is simple. At the very end of the line, tie the bell sinker. About 14 inches above the sinker, tie in one of the snelled hooks, and place the. other about the same distance above the first. The best baits for this rig (Continued on page 44)

Birds of the Field

To know a bird, handle a bird, paint its picture is to reassess one's impressions of what it is to be a bird. They resemble butterflies; their wings are in constant, nervous motion as if they'd had to force themselves out of the air. A bird in the hand is hardly a bird at all, and one's impression of size need adjustment

by Dr. John Janovy 10 NEBRASKAland Marsh Wren

In the cattail marshes, the marsh wren constantly harangues the intruder, flitting about while the human wades thigh-deep; fluffing and scolding to the fishermen. If given the slightest opportunity they will slip beneath the cattails and satisfy their curiosity, totally silent. One senses that their real home is down low, along the half-submerged stalks of last year's growth, among the spider webs, caterpillars and snails. The marsh is different an inch above the water, from the way it is on top of the cattails. The water is warm, mosquito larvae carry protozoa on their backs, there are many, very many, insects and spiders, no wind blows, the mud stinks, and land snails live above the water on the stalks while other snails thrive in astronomical numbers just below the surface. This must be the true home of the marsh wren.

Barn Swallows

The barn swallow is a different bird altogether. As with the cliff swallow, a bird in the hand is hardly a bird at all, and one's impressions of size need adjustment when one actually holds a barn swallow. A summer traveler in Nebraska sees thousands of them. They are among our most visible birds, nesting under concrete culverts and bridges along almost every road in the state. They accomplish the same things, with their nests, as do most swallows, namely, they manage to enclose themselves and cover their backs. The barn swallow typically does this by building close to an overhang. They appear to be as solitary as the cliff swallow is colonial. In the hand they are independent, proud, a temporarily grounded thing of the air. Free they act elite. Birds fly, but few birds fly as do the swallows, and in Nebraska, few swallows fly as do the barn swallows. To know a barn swallow, handle the bird, paint its picture, is to reassess one's impressions of what it is to be a bird.

AUGUST 1976 11   Eastern Kingbird

Summer is a day away when the kingbirds return. The western version announces its presence throughout city and country alike, and used stately elms to nest in. The eastern kingbird has always seemed a country bird, of the barbed wire fences, low telephone lines, and tall weed tops. Insects are caught on the wing. Kingbirds are creatures of summer comfort and do not come north until the danger of frost has passed. There are some features of the Nebraska summer landscape that are required for completeness. Leave the interstate, turn off on the gravel or dirt road, and the Eastern Kingbird is surely there. They may sit in your car's dust, may lift bat-like, chattering, only to settle again on the wire a little farther down, still in your car's dust.

12 NEBRASKAland Rock Wren

The eye is the easiest, and I always start with the eye, not because it's the easiest but because if the eye is not the right shape—the pupil placed properly—then the bird simply does not look alive. The foot is the hardest, the least understood, and the most critical anatomical feature if the bird is to look natural. Models are very cooperative with the eye; they glare, baleful, insulting, affronted, darting and full of the emotional stuff. They are very uncooperative with the foot, and if allowed to place the foot naturally, will usually fly away. This rock wren's personality was so strong I found myself apologizing for the inconvenience of trying to paint its picture. Its feet were very gnarled as if hopping around on the Brule outcrops was the equivalent of hard manual labor. I was glad to finish the picture and rid myself of the animal that demeaned my every movement and effort.

AUGUST 1976 13   Janovy paints primarily birds, occasionally landscapes, but always in watercolors. Many of his subjects are retrieved from roadsides, their feathers meticulously rearranged, and hurriedly sketched. Some birds are captured for scientific studies at Cedar Point Biological Station. For lanovy, each of the birds and even some of the rocks or plants used for backgrounds, become memorable; fondly etched in his mind as well as preserved on paper 14 NEBRASKAland Cliff Swallows

There is no such thing as a "single" cliff swallow. The individual is subordinate to the colony, and it is the cliff swallow colony that grows, occupies the available space, reproduces new colonies. Beneath the ledges of the Lake McConaughy spillway is a large cliff swallow colony built of local soil. The swallows collect at sandy puddles after spring rains and gather their mud. The basic, airborne nature of a cliff swallow is strongly manifest as these birds collect nest materials. They resemble butterflies; their wings are in constant, nervous motion as if they'd had to force themselves down out of the air to the puddle. A swallow in the hand weighs nothing, reveals no personality of its own. The colony reproduces and new colonies are formed around the drain spouts of the bridge north of Paxton. I first stood in the middle of the Big Mac colony in May, 1975, and have thought about this colony every day since. I sense that the spillway colony is an ancient one that moved from the bluffs into man-made quarters when Kingsley Dam was completed. The colony-organism may be a thousand years old.

Magpie

This magpie is a fledgling, with a mature mouth but weak wings. The mouth is used with great skill as a device for alternately complaining and pecking. In the latter endeavor, the fledgling is still a cut below an adult blue jay, but nevertheless powerful. This insolent adolescent flew from the nest before quite understanding the ways of the world. It sat in a juniper on the high ledge overlooking Lake Ogallala. The parent was long gone, careening up the wooded canyons. In a flash the model was captured in an insect net. The bird could have sat still in some interesting position, with a look of intelligence for the 15 minutes it took to do the pencil sketch but instead it chose to sulk, droop the wing, complain, look around the room and peck my hand. An hour later, the colors added, we'd both had enough, and the bird stumbled its way back to the junipers to sulk and call back the parent.

DR. JOHN JANOVY is Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Though trained as a parasitologist, he has admired and painted birds since childhood. During his college years at the University of Oklahoma, he was inspired by George Sutton, a student of acclaimed wildlife artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Janovy paints regularly as time permits, and only from live or recently dead models. Even though his field of study is parasites, he has successfully combined his vocation with his avocation. His doctoral research explored the occurrence of malaria in birds, specifically starlings and meadowlarks. During the summer months he teaches and conducts research at the Cedar Point Biological Station on the bluffs south of Lake Ogallala below McConaughy. Janovy's watercolors presented here depict native birds of Cedar Point.

AUGUST 1976 15

THE VIPER'S DEN

RATTLESNAKE! There, coiled under the child's stuffed toy, was a mottled, dust-colored reptile, head and tail poised as he watched the young girl being carried quickly by her mother into the nearby house. The next thing to attract the snake's attention was the metal hoe blade. It's eyes moved upward as the child's father raised the garden implement for the kill.

Rattlesnakes are not commonly considered a threat to the livelihood and well being of Nebraskans, and news of someone having been bitten is rare but not uncommon. For a number of Panhandle families in the Mitchell area, the threat is real, the possibility of encountering rattlers in the yard and around outbuildings—even in the ranch home—is very real indeed.

It was Tom Eads' young daughter who nearly picked up a prairie rattlesnake along with her stuffed toy bear just a few steps from the front porch. His neighbors have 16

lost valuable livestock, even a family pet dog, and the stuffed toy incident was only one of many times when his children closely escaped contact with the buzzing reptiles.

Tom's neighbor, Ozzie Randall, never steps into a shed or building on his ranch without first throwing the door open and carefully checking for snakes. He has also encountered prairie rattlers around his home.

Tom and Ozzie live north of Mitchell, a western Panhandle community of approximately 2,000 population just 9 miles west of Scottsbluff. Their land lies at the northern edge of the wide Platte Valley where fertile farm ground meets the rocky escarpments and short-grass pasture of southern Sioux County.

It is in the mix of rocky badlands and sun-browned grass that the prairie rattlesnake thrives to abundant numbers, and where both Tom Eads, Ozzie Randall and NEBRASKAland a select group of friends hunt each fall as the rattlesnakes gather prior to denning for the winter.

Prairie rattlesnakes, Crotalus viridis, are found in prairie, prairie canyons and other grasslands, and commonly reach a length of three feet, with recorded individuals to five feet in length. The prairie rattler overwinters in underground cavities and caves, sometimes joining several hundred others lying dormant in a large, intertwined mass as the outside temperatures drop to their lows.

Just prior to entering dens for winter, the snakes move great distances to the den site, and during this period it is not uncommon to count over a hundred stretched out near the cavern entrance soaking in the last warmth of fall before winter's icy approach. It is during this period when the Mitchell men feel that they have the best opportunity to thin the snake numbers near their ranch homes.

Steve Morgan of Ogallala, a close friend of Tom since school days, Ozzie, and Tom make up the nucleus of the hunting group, with Barry Carlson and Randy Ohlson, both of Ogallala, and others joining in the hunt as time and schedules permit.

AUGUST 1976

'The denning season usually arrives after the first major cold spell of the year," Tom says as he and the others discuss snake hunting with a newcomer, prior to climbing into Ozzie's 4-wheel-drive rig to look for snake dens. 'They start moving to the dens after the first major cold snap, and we usually find the following cold spell, if it is real severe, dens about half of the snakes. The following cold, and they are all in the ground."

The men use shotguns when snake hunting, finding rifles and long-handled hoes or shovels cannot be used fast enough to prevent a large number of snakes moving out of reach into the dens.

The snake hunt does offer a challenge, but the men are quick to point out the reason they spend long hours each fall seeking out new den sites, and take more than a few chances to kill as many rattlers as possible.

"When I first moved to the Mitchell area, I killed 147 snakes that year, all on my ranch," Ozzie said.

"The following year I found only 30. Add this to the experience of the other fellows, and this indicates to me that the pressure did thin the number of rattlesnakes on my ranch."

"Quite a few neighbors have asked us over to help them thin snakes on their land," Tom adds.

"At first they felt that there was little that could be done, but after they saw the reduction on areas where we hunt, we've had invitations from ranchers over quite a large area that have rattlesnakes.

The men hunt for new dens every year, usually finding one or two each year. At these, they find good hunting for only the first several years.

"We have taken off half days for seven days in a row looking at good areas without finding a new den," Ozzie said. "One thing that seems to hold true: the dens for the most part are usually found to the north of a grassy slope, and they usually face toward the south."

Steve, Berry, Tom and Ozzie have hunted several times together, and the usual procedure involves driving with a 4-wheel-drive vehicle to the den area, then walking cautiously to the den itself, ever aware that snakes can be found in large concentrations in a broad area around the den, depending on weather conditions.

"We have several basic rules that apply when we snake hunt," Morgan said. "First, we never hunt alone. Second, always have a snake-bite kit available, and third, always wear leggings. We hunt extremely slow and cautious—you can look at the ground and look again and never really see a snake untii you are about to step on him."

For leggings, the men wear a canvas-covered, padded arrangement that covers the leg from ankle to knee. Commercial snake-proof boots are available, as well as fiberglass and metal leggings.

The drive to the den site provides time to retell many of the numerous snake incidents that have occurred in the southern Sioux County area. Like most critical events in someone's life, the stories seem larger than real, but each man is deadly serious when he tells of the time his wife or mother found a (Continued on page 48)

17

The Southwest Wildlife Lands

Much has transpired in the way of water development in southwest Nebraska since the flood of 1935 wrought its terrible havoc in the Republican River Valley. That portion of the state is primarily served by the Frenchman, Republican and Platte rivers, and each of those is now harnessed.

Many people were involved over the years in efforts to solve the problems of alternate flooding and drought, with such men as Harry Strunk of McCook, Charles McConaughy of Holdrege, and George Kingsley of Minden, doing much of the spearheading.

The 1940's were a time of major transformation in that part of the state, with the drought of the 1930's and the flood of 1935 adding considerable impetus to the movement. Once interest of the people of the areas involved was generally supportive, it was only a matter of crossing political and financial hurdles before the idealistic dreams of a few men became reality.

Whereas irrigation water was the primary factor for creation of the Lake McConaughy and Central Nebraska system, most of the Republican River dams were for flood control. Enders, the only dam located on the Frenchman River, is the primary reservoir in the far southwest region that supplies irrigation water. Harlan County Reservoir also provides irrigation water, but it is considerably east of the cluster of impoundments in the southwest corner.

Although the Platte and Republican systems are separated by distance and also by main objectives, the recreation aspects are very similar. Fish species are also somewhat different, as the Platte water is generally cooler, enabling Lake McConaughy to maintain a rainbow trout population. It also excels in walleye, white bass, smallmouth bass and more recently, striper, fishing.

Harlan County Reservoir is about half the 18 size of McConaughy, at about 14,000 surface acres, and the other southwest waters are smaller, with Swanson Reservoir next at 5,000; Sutherland at 3,000; Johnson Lake at 2,800; Medicine Creek, 1,850; Enders, 1,700; Lake Maloney, 1,650; and Red Willow, 1,630.

All these reservoirs were built in recent times, providing water-oriented fun and sport where before there was only river fishing. Now, catfish, white bass, walleye, crappie, large-mouth bass, northern pike and the ever-present carp are available to great numbers of anglers yearly. Boating evolved from a few duck boats and rowboats for river travel, to large pontoons, sailboats and water skiing craft.

There can probably be no measure of the benefits of these reservoirs in holding potential flood runoff, plus the irrigation benefits, which would figure into the billions of dollars over the years. Although the trend in recent years has been to deep wells, surface irrigation developed at a time when pumps and power were not yet available, and it continues as an important method.

What lies ahead for the reservoir system in southwest Nebraska cannot be imagined, but every impoundment has a life expectancy, determined by siltation and many other factors. Ultimately even these sizable bodies of water will require renovation, especially those with a role in irrigation. Loss of water storage would diminish their usefulness more than a dam used primarily for flood prevention.

Water is critical to all life, and even the recreation aspects are known to be important to the wellbeing of a harried population. It is hoped that these facilities in southwest Nebraska continue to serve their important roles for many years to come. Their contributions to man and wildlife have been immeasurable, as they opened up opportunities that didn't exist before.

NEBRASKAland   The Southwest Wildlife Lands

A GROUP OF scrub-tailed horses grazes the bunchgrasses on an arid tableland. White-faced Herefords scatter across the mesa. Canyons, filled with a choke of buckbrush, finger into the pastures, breaking the smooth brown-green of dormant grass.

Summer is far advanced and the grasses have sent up their flowering stalks, seeded, and browned. Three mule bucks browse the canyon floor, their antlers sheathed in velvet. The biggest one, a four pointer, must be old, for he's gray—almost white. A scar runs diagonally across his shoulder.

Southwest Nebraska is grazing and croplands; it's tough blue gramma grass and yucca. It's short-grass prairie. It is also giant reservoirs; valuable water for irrigation and recreation.

Storage of water for irrigation has created some benefits for wildlife and the sportsman as well. Here are areas where wildlife can find all the requirements for life—water and plants and living space. The large reservoirs of the southwest have provided basins of public land for hunting and fishing, for wildlife observation and for water sports. Recreation in all its forms is focused on the big waters.

Wildlife areas are part of that complex; lands where more primitive outdoor experiences can be found. Vegetation is permitted to grow wild in all its natural diversity, and a variety of wildlife species populates the areas where life needs are met.

Here are fertile loess hills and broad valleys surrounding the mighty Republican and its tributaries, with their series of reservoirs. And to the west are sandhills, the southwestern tip of the great sand-dune formations.

Southwest Nebraska was an area where the farmer Indians of east and central Nebraska hunted buffalo. It was where the nomadic hunting tribes followed the monstrous beasts. Cattle kings followed the Indians, replacing the buffalo with beef cattle. Later, other white men came and built their sod shanties, only to be driven out by drought. But some of them hung on and others then came to replace those driven out. And finally, they learned the methods of dryland farming and introduced new crops, and they thrived.

There are 21 wildlife areas in southwest Nebraska. They include portions of four major reservoirs, and access points on a number of others. There are two small lakes and several diversions held under lease from irrigation districts for fishing access. There is Clear Creek, a controlled hunting area, and Sacramento in the rainwater basin, where the Commission breeds Canada geese for stocking, administers waterfowl hunting, and provides good habitat for upland game birds along with many non-game species.

There are also three small prairie-cropland parcels where upland hunting is available on public land.

Primitive outdoor experiences of all sorts are available in the southwest.

Area Name Location Water Area (acres) Land Area (acres) Riverfront (miles) Hunting Fishing Other Activities Waterfowl Upland Deer Small Game Lake River Primitive Camping Hiking Canoe Access River Lake Ash Grove 5 S, 1.5 W, Franklin 77 Bartley Diversion 3 E, Indianoia 53 1/4 Boxelder Canyon 3 S, VA W, Maxwell 11 9.2 Camhridgp Diversion 21/4 E, Cambridge 21 1/4 Clear Creelc 4 SE , Lewellen 300 4,000 3 Cottonwood Carwftn 41/2 S, Maxwell 15 Enders 5 E, 41/2 S of Imperial 1,707 2,892 Hansen Memorial 6 N, Curtis 1 79 Hayes Center lake 12 NE, Hayes Center 40 78.6 Jeffrey Canyon Lake 5 S, 3 W, Brady 525 35 Limestone Bluffs 6 S. 21/2 E. Franklin 1 479 Medicine Creek 7 NW, Cambridge 1,768 5,526 Midway 6 S. 2 W. Cozad 38 Red Willow Diversion 5 N, 4 E, McCook 56 1/4 Red Willow Lake 10 N, McCook 1,628 2,962 Sacramento-Wilcox* 2.5 W. Wilcox 700 2,314 Sutherland 1 ake 2 S, Sutherland 3,000 36 Swanson Lake 2.5 W, Trenton 4,974 2,800 Wanamaker 1 W, Imperial 160 Welifleet 1 W, Welifleet 60 *Includes four satlite sites

There are no facilities on the areas, to speak of. There are no modern restrooms, no camping pads, no playground equipment, no firegrates, no electrical hookups for streamlined, jet-age motorhomes and campers. There are rainwater puddles where waterfowl rest as they migrate across thousands of miles of country. There are brush-filled canyons where deer browse. There are upland prairies where rabbits and doves nest, and river valleys and croplands where pheasant and quail, and myriad other birds, nest and roost and loaf.

A guide to the southwest wildlife areas follows. It includes a chart of all areas, a description of the flora and fauna of the region, a look at management philosophy and recreation. It is merely a taste of vast portions of Nebraska. It is up to the individual visitor to the wiidlife lands to fill in the details that are most meaningful to him.

That is the real value of these lands —not having programmed adventures.

AN INDIAN SUMMER sun flashed off yellowing cotton wood leaves on one of those hot afternoons that is often sandwiched between frosty mornings and cool evenings. The lake was down, and two youngsters were busy caving off a sand ledge along the beach.

Rolled-up blue jeans were drenched anyway; it seemed no child has the restraint to stay in the shallows where he wouldn't get wet. The younger boy, a tousel-haired blond, would stop periodically to pull up his weighted, sagging jeans.

A man and a woman had just moved to the west end of the ledge where they could watch without peering into the sun's glare and its reflection on the waves. The faint sound of a guitar and a woman's voice drifted across from a boat, cruising the center of the reservoir and flashing red from its sides now and then as it turned. Earlier in the season, the smell of sizzling bacon had drifted on the breeze. Sweatshirt-clad youngsters had waited around campstoves, sniffing the aroma and waiting for eggs and pancakes to be added.

Sometimes a reel along the shoreline would whine and kids would be diverted from their chow-watching or sand-building to join some adult who had been tending their gear for them "just for a minute, please".

Excited shrieks and frenzied grabbing of dipping rods were not uncommon, and a freckle-faced girl might occasionally be found running between campsite and shoreline, telling about the "huge" walleye she had landed.

As fall turns to winter and waterfowl begin moving south, a man and his son might be found building a blind somewhere in a marshy cove. And the day the season opens may find dad, a few seasons already behind him, dragging wearily downstairs to find the boy, already dressed, munching last night's bisquits as he waits on the bottom  

step. I've been up since 4:30, dad' he explains.

A cold, crisp day, punctuated by dry leaves crackling underfoot, could find brothers watchfully walking a row of plum and sunflower. "Hey, look at this," one calls, distracted from his pheasant hunting. "Looks like something's been bedding here."

These scenes and many others are repeated year after year on the four big southwest reservoirs. It is on these waters that fishermen troll and jig and try their luck at bait-casting. They dangle every conceivable bait before the fish, from artificials to worms and minnows to doughballs and corn to chicken entrails. It seems at times that the most repulsive is the most productive—or at least the most popular.

All sorts of boats find their way into service as fishing rigs, from cabin cruisers to pontoons to small rowboats, and all manner of fish are there for the taking, including catfish, bluegill, crappie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye and carp.

All around the lake perimeters there are acres and acres of land dedicated to the production of wildlife cover, held in trust by the Game and Parks Commission through leases with the controlling agencies. In all instances, the reservoirs were created with other purposes than recreation in mind. That means that irrigation comes first and the lakes are drawn down each year to water downstream land. Fishing comes second, and while the fishing is good, it is limited in practical terms by the lowest point each of the lakes reaches during a season.

Clumps of trees line the draws, combined with brush where quail whistle-call back and forth each spring. Deer browse the shrubs, drinking from the upper reaches of the lakes.

The big waters offer rest for waterfowl during spring and fall, and concentrations reach into the tens of thousands. Canada geese and mallards are the most common stop-overs.

 

Parts of the lake perimeters are set aside as recreation areas, and facilities are available for many outdoor activities. It is there that boat ramps can be found, and picnic tables, water wells, and rest rooms. Some outdoorsmen use those areas as a jumping-off point for hunting and fishing and outdoor study; camping in the recreation area and tramping the wildlife lands during the daytime.

Rugged hills break down to the shore, dunes of sand, frozen with grass. It's big country with big waters, but it's thrifty country. Plants and animals struggle with it throughout the seasons, taking only what they need to survive without extravagance.

There's no spectacular beauty; no mountains or waterfalls on the southwest reservoirs. Yet there is a rich tapestry of life that has muted grandeur—like expensive brocades.

This sandy beach is one thread. There are no blazing flashes of color, but here a bit of foam rides gentle wavelets. Along the beaches, wildlife leave their tracks in the sand, a record of their passing. A painted turtle has dragged his house from shoreline to brush, his trail a smooth path punctuated on either side with the marks of steady claws that pulled him along. Deer leave quotation marks where they come to drink.

The yucca is still green, clumps of its sharp spears topped with dry, brown stalks, the seed pods still hanging on their withered sides. Peering between blades of grass will expose tiny prairie flowers; the poppy mallow and sand cherry in their seasons. Pitcher sage, goat's beard, daisy fleabane all occupy their respective places in the hills and along the shore.

The Southwest Wildlife Lands are set in big country with big waters. It is a dry land where those waters are a welcome relief and a gathering place for mankind as well as wildlife. They meet the need for water and of man's need for recreation.

A COOT SITS quietly on her rainwater-basin nest while another leads her ugly, reddish brood through the rushes. Nearby, a pair of mallards dabble for insect larvae and underwater vegetation. The marshes on Sacramento are silent except for the occasional, ringing quack of a duck.

Sacramento-Wilcox Game Management Area is a series of tracts in the south-central Nebraska rainwater basin area. It is surrounded by cropland —corn, milo, and wheat—where waterfowl and pheasants can feed. It is an area of refuge from the hazards of farming operations where nesting and brooding cover is not disturbed.

It is a controlled hunting area, a center of Canada goose production for the Game and Parks Commission's stocking program, and an open area for hunting upland game.

Pit blinds edge the marshes at Sacramento. And in fall, thousands of Canada geese rest on the ponds there. Area managers manipulate water levels and

  crop patterns to provide hunting as well as a stopping-off point for the migrating waterfowl.

Sacramento meets the needs of pheasants and quail, too. Water levels fluctuate dramatically from year to year on the rainwater basins, tn high-water years, waterfowl crowd into the marshes. In dry years, upland game uses the resulting weed patches. A windbreak of cottonwoods and elm, along with its edge of shrubs, attracts quail to the area. Croplands and prairie draw pheasants.

There is much to be learned there, much to be observed about game and hunting. Sitting on his heels with a hot thermos of coffee, his dog alert beside him, a hunter might muse about his sport.

"I guess I'm a snob about hunting. It takes a long time to become a good hunter, a lot of trial and error and knowing your game and how to shoot. You can't just buy a gun and a permit and presto, be a hunter. ... At Sacramento I find a variety of game species, and I can study their habits; what they eat, where they loaf, what sort of nesting cover they need. I've learned to respect and appreciate my quarry."

Every spring, a group of egg-stealing men rob the captive Canadas' nests, substituting dummy eggs for those taken. They incubate the eggs and rear goslings to be released, mainly in the Sand Hills, where the Commission is attempting to restore the giant Canadas to their former range.

Artificial nesting tubs are scattered throughout the area, left over from an attempt to attract free-flying geese that have been released on the area. Nesting boxes, too, can be found on Sacramento where wood ducks are being encouraged to settle. A captive flock of the colorful birds provides ducklings for stocking elsewhere.

A killdeer flops along the shoreline, playing its very serious "broken wing" game whereby it distracts attention from its nest.

In summer, Sacramento is splashes of yellow coreopsis scattered around the water's edge, and fields of damp smartweed-expanses of pink that border the sky-reflecting water.

But it's in fall, when water and sky turn to steel, that flocks of geese speckle the sky. A quiet, empty marsh suddenly becomes a bedlam of wings and honking geese, rising in wave after wave of living bodies.

Amid the resting waterfowl are scattered dozens of domed muskrat houses, sitting on the surface of the water like regular hulks of debris, piles of dead twigs and cattails.

Sacramento is also prairie, and a prairie dog town on one of the satellite Was seems almost an echo of the past when buffalo roamed the grasslands instead of beef cattle. In fact, it is theorized that the lagoon area was an immense buffalo wallow. A prairie dog town, with its complexity of animal dependencies, harbors such "critters" as rattlesnakes sometimes, and burrowing owls. Sightings of black-footed ferrets have been reported.

Sacramento, like any wildlife area, is a place where a full variety of plants and animals is encouraged to grow. At Sac, that variety is the special inter-mixture of rainwater basin, prairie-cropland species.

ISN'T THAT just beautiful," a big, rough-looking man remarked almost religiously, "just beautiful." He was stroking the feathers of a large Canada goose he had just bagged at Clear Creek.

"I drew a blind site this year," he said, "and it was no easy trick to get that blind in there, either," he continued. 'That channel is tricky. Some days during the season, the guys from the Commission told us, it was too dangerous to even cross.

"I came out every time I could, though," he said. "There weren't many geese during most of the season this year, weather was just too good. But I'd watch a few of them flying over every now and then. Too high to shoot. Just black against the sky and honking. You kind of want to be up there with them.

"I'll have this one mounted so I can just look at him."

Despite the controversy that the controlled hunting area caused when it was created in 1972, it provides an almost unique hunting experience for Nebraskans. Although most goose

  hunters don't often discuss their feelings about geese and goose hunting, Clear Creek offers a chance for some hunting that obviously means a lot to a great number of people.

Clear Creek Waterfowl Management Area is divided into three areas: a refuge, a controlled hunting area, and a public hunting area.

On the refuge, geese find almost any kind of Nebraska river-bottom terrain. There are riparian woodlands, wet meadows, river channel and sandbars, along with croplands and hay fields. Bald eagles share the area with them, using dead trees for roosting. Squirrels steal corn that Commission personnel store there for use in baiting waterfowl during winter banding efforts. Wheat offers geese green expanses, and alfalfa and corn take over when the wheat's gone.

"Bunny's Point", just inside the southeast corner of the controlled hunting area, is accessible on foot. It offers an overview of the refuge, and binoculars will pick out hundreds of geese. It is estimated that as many as 7,000 Canada geese winter there.

On the controlled hunting area, the Commission takes pains to accommodate both geese and goose hunters.

A controlled burn in the spring of 1975 cleared some areas for loafing. In addition, personnel seeded wheat and alfalfa for green feed.

Originally, the area was a wet meadow. High water earlier in the reservoir's history drowned the vegetation, however, and when the water receded, cottonwood and willow seedlings began to take over.

The burn was aimed at setting back the growth of those trees and bringing about the return of grasses. The burn is not expected to affect other wildlife using Clear Creek. It covered only 40 acres, a minute area.

Some 25 blind sites at the controlled hunting area are allocated by yearly drawing. Site holders must then build their own blinds. On days when they are not present, however, the blinds are allocated to other hunters on the basis of a daily drawing.

A dangerous channel makes entry to some of the blind sites almost impossible in some years. In 1975, however, the Commission began installing a cable across that channel and providing a boat to make the crossing safer. Even with this aid, ice and winter weather still create hazards that haven't been entirely overcome.

On the Lake McConaughy public hunting area, there is much less competition for blind sites. Permits from the Commission are necessary there, too, and the blinds must be kept a reasonable distance from public use facilities such as boat docks and picnic areas.

The common denominator at Clear Creek is geese. From the public hunting area on the east to the refuge at the west, geese pass over the area, moving from nearby feeding areas where they pick up waste grain to loafing areas near the water.

The Clear Creek area also provides some of the best catfishing opportunity in the state during the spring. The upstream migration of catfish from massive Lake McConaughy to the North Platte River offers uncommon opportunity to catfish enthusiasts.

 

YOU CAN MEET almost anybody on the ice. Ice fishermen come in all sizes and shapes. An old man sits quietly on a camp stool, a stubble of white on his chin. Blue eyes glint as he exchanges good-natured greetings with other regulars on the ice.

Each expects to ace the others out with that granddaddy northern that waits in the depths-but mostly they're all satisfied to take home a nice mess of crappie.

Conversations are a mixture of studies read on fish populations and philosophy on the therapy offered tired minds by fishing, along with a bit of one-up-manship.

". . . Why, the wind was so bad in them days, you couldn't leave your horse tied to the hitchin' rail while you went into the saloon for a beer. When you came out, he'd be strangled to death cuz the wind'ud blow the ground right out from under him and he'd be hanging from the rail."

Youngsters skate on their boots as they wait for a nibble, and, with all their boisterousness, they probably miss the bites they do get.

In summertime, the same camp stools may be resting on the lake shore, along with the same fishermen, the same philosophy. Fish studies may be new, and new inventions are sure to be coming from fertile minds still vying to tell the real show-stopper.

The kids are likely to be chasing frogs in the shallows or wading in a tiny cove out of the fishermen's way.

Local residents still call the area Camp Hayes or the Duke Alexis area. According to Nebraska history, William F. Cody, Buffalo Bill, and Grand Duke Alexis of Russia camped on or near the spot in 1872 during the celebrated buffalo hunt.

 

Hayes Center Lake is important to the small community 12 miles distant. Important enough, in fact, that the community club donated their labor to rebuilding the old earthen dam there in 1975. Members of the club secured materials at cost, and engineering plans were contributed by the Soil Conservation Service. The Commission funded the project at approximately $800.

The new dam is expected to improve the walleye fishery there by giving the fish a good spawning bed. The large rocks and slabs used to reinforce the dam face are a necessary component to walleye reproduction. Hayes Center Lake is a community project in a very real sense of the word, and it is a family gathering place where picnicking facilities are available. A camping site on the area also hosts a few hunters each year. The sportsmen set up a base camp at Hayes Center to hunt surrounding private lands.

Too small to be a great hunting center, the area still supports a few quail and pheasants. Both white-tailed and mule deer are sighted there, along with fox squirrel and cottontail rabbit. For an area so small, Hayes Center Lake offers a rich variety of outdoor experiences.

AS FALL QUICKLY turns to winter, Nebraska's well-known winds whip across the state, carrying a cargo of tumbleweeds. A deep, roadside ditch gathers these and holds them until it is brimming with the prickly pompons, each distinguishable from the others by its slightly different shade of buff and brown, or perhaps even a reddish cast.

And across the ditch is Limestone Bluffs, one of several smaller wildlife areas in southwest Nebraska. Combining the three which are in fact scattered throughout the region would bring thick shelterbelt, creek bottom and short-grass prairie together with an old rock quarry.

These small patches are permitted to grow up wild to native grasses and shrubs. Though not large enough to support extensive recreation opportunity, they do provide "henhouses" for wildlife production. Here are places for pheasant and quail to find cover, to nest and bring off broods undisturbed by surrounding farming operations.

In addition, they are a small trust for the future. It's hard telling in 1976 what just 5 years will bring in terms of recreation needs. Any one of these small areas might support some sporting possibility that has been over-looked previously.

Careful observation of any one of these patches of public land could turn up a microcosm of wildlife habitat. The casual observer is likely to discover occasional deer, a rabbit or two, some interesting species of songbirds. A walk through the grass might be interrupted by the startling movement of

a blue racer disturbed from his resting place just underfoot.

On those areas that include creek bottom or marsh, the visitor is likely to hear the scattered "plops" of a dozen frogs heading for cover underwater. Coon tracks might be discovered along the water's edge. Deer may come to drink and browse on scrubby growth.

Predators, too, may sometimes be found wandering through or soaring over the tracts in search of food. Perhaps coyotes visit occasionally to hunt mice or rabbits, perhaps they bed atop one or another of the hills. A hawk may be seen hovering over a place where prey has been spotted. Or an owl may roost there, waiting for darkness to return so that he can get on with his hunting.

Though small, these spots are alive with things to be seen and experienced, from the progression of leaves turning in the fall to wild plum blooming in spring.

SOME OF THE finest fishing in the state is found in the irrigation and power canal system in southwest Nebraska. To provide fishermen with access to the canals, the Game and Parks Commission leases a number of small areas throughout the system.

Some fishermen haunt the canals exclusively, taking channel and flathead catfish, walleye and a few small-mouth bass and trout.

In fall, when the power companies drain the canals, there are crayfish by the thousands to be taken from shallow pools remaining as the system dries. As crawdads can damage canal walls with their burrowing, it is to the benefit of the system, too, that they be removed.

In addition to the canals, and the major reservoirs, there are small, Commission-leased areas on many of the lakes, including Jeffrey Canyon, Johnson and Sutherland. Again, these small areas provide access for fishermen as well as waterfowl hunters.

Two spill areas in Boxelder and Cottonwood canyons near North Platte have turned partially to marsh as flash-flood erosion carries silt down the escarpments and onto the canyon floors. Rushes and sedge and cattails make hiding places for waterfowl hunters, and the small lakes draw waterfowl.

Later in the winter, the lakes are sheltered from blustery winds, and freeze smooth for ice skating opportunities. Some 6 to 10 feet of water offer at least marginal ice fishing.

Although they are not large, the diversions and canal access points are gathering points for local sportsmen. They provide entrance to many acres of water where fishing and waterfowl hunting is readily available.

Text by Faye Musii "Your Wildlife Lands: The Southwest" was funded by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, project W-17-D, and by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Box 30370, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503. Additional copies can be obtained free at any district Game Commission office or by writing the above address.

THE BOATING BOOM

From a landlocked state of cornfields and grazing cows, Nebraska has experienced a major transition to a water-oriented population. Now, sailboats and sportfishermen abound on scenic reservoirs amid the hills

by Pat Foote

The first time I saw a boat cruising over my cornfield at top speed, I figured it was just the heat—one of those hot, steamy July afternoons when you can hear the corn grow. But, who would be cruising a Nebraska cornfield?

By standing on the wagon which held our irrigation equipment, I could barely see the top of the pickup truck which was pulling the boat and trailer west from Minden on U.S. Highway No. 6.

Nebraska is a farming state; landlocked and formerly blessed only with a few scenic rivers. Yet, by 1964 I was sailing my own little sailboat in the first of Mel Steen's 1-80 Chain-of-lakes as if it were the most natural thing to do on a summer afternoon. I had earlier laughed with the cracker barrel philosophers of Dawson County as some of the locals began selling boats or taking them in trade on hard-to-get tractors. Pleasure boating was something for a vacation trip, not a weekend excursion to a neighboring Nebraska county.

But the combination of earlier flood control and irrigation reservoir development, the building of the Interstate system and the addition of the Salt Valley reservoirs served to put boating into the reach of thousands of Nebraskans.

By 1960, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission was in the boat registration business for the first time, to the tune of 14,800 powerboats. This figure was nearly doubled by 1971. And by 1975, there were 38,517 powerboats registered; an increase of 160% in 15 years.

Translated into outings and numbers of persons involved by the 1973 SCORP Survey (State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, it is found that 20.3 percent of the state's population went power boating during the 1972 season, with a total of nearly 2,450,000 occasions. Nearly 22% took place on waters in Recreation Planning Region V. This same area, which includes the Southwest Resen/oirs and the Tri-County storage facilities, accounts for only 13% of the powerboat registrations.

Additionally, nearly 9% percent of Nebraska's population went canoeing, sailing, rowing, floating or kayaking according to the 1972 SCORP survey, averaging 5 activity days each and totaling some 771,000 occasions during the summer. This figure was projected to increase to over a million days by 1990, and power boating to increase by 44.5%.

Canoeing is an experience which is attracting increasing numbers of enthusiasts every year. In fact, there is reason AUGUST 1976 to feel that canoeing has increased faster than the projected rate as word gets out on canoeable streams in Nebraska. One dealer reported selling more canoes in the first half of 1976 than during all of 1975.

The increasing popularity of this activity may be attributable to several factors; the energy situation is one. Another factor might be the increasing awareness of and interest in nature and the natural world. Yet another reason may be that rivers and canoeing have been brought to the forefront in news articles over the past several years, beginning with the Mid-State project and currently centering on the O'Neil and North Loup projects. The attributes of free-flowing rivers have been widely proclaimed, and maybe people just want to go out and see for themselves what this resource is like.

And additional benefits may be found in canoeing, to quote an experienced outfitter: "A canoe is still a romantic conveyance, and no couple should marry until they've been on a canoe camping trip! A rainstorm, a tiring headwind or a capsizing reveals more about how two people pull in double harness than months of city-bound dating."

The Republican River provides some good floating at certain times of the summer. The section between Harlan County Dam and the Guide Rock Diversion provides an enjoyable, scenic float during certain months. Releases from Harlan Reservoir to the river are dependent on irrigation needs. Adequate canoeing water can be expected from late June or early July until August or early September during most years. During the remaining months water is generally being stored for the next irrigation season.

This portion of the Republican is equal to Nebraska's other rivers in terms of providing solitude, scenery and atmosphere. Access is simplified by the presence of seven road bridges between Harlan County Dam and Guide Rock, allowing convenient put-in and take-out points.

Thus, it may be concluded that boating is here to stay. There will need to be many adjustments made to get the most benefit from our scarce Nebraska waters. Potential conflicts increase with numbers and kinds of boats and boaters, and good experiences will be increasingly dependent upon good manners. Perhaps increased use of one-way boating patterns or zoning can help. But the boats have given Nebraska an unofficial navy to be reckoned with wherever they are docked, poised and waiting anxiously for the next outing. Anchors aweigh, matey!

35

TOURNAMENT BASS

The friendly but competitive angling for largemouths is but one phase of clubs' activities

by Tim Hergenrader

BASS FISHING, by all indications, is growing in popularity each year in Nebraska. The fact is, fishing is growing in popularity; however, bass are rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after species in the state.

If anyone doubts this statement, all he needs to do is take a trip to the Salt Valley lakes that surround Lincoln, and on any given summer weekend, he will find more people than the lakes can support, a vast majority of whom are bass fishermen. How, the doubter asks, can one tell a bass fisherman from any other kind?

Suffice it to say, the serious bass fisherman is, more often than not, easily recognizable by his dress, his equipment, his sunburned face and that faraway look in his eyes.

In April of 1975 I saw 52 of these stereotypes at Red Willow Reservoir during Nebraska's first annual Bass Anglers Sportsmen's Society (BASS) tournament. The only problem is that the stereotype doesn't hold true. Farmers often have similar suntans or sunburns, stopping just above the eyes. Also, other anglers who seek out different species such as catfish have that faraway look in their eyes. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is a trait shared by all fishermen.

Another truism given to bass fishermen and tournaments, that they take too many fish and thus hurt bass fishing for the rest of us, was (as is the case with many truisms) also proven false at Red Willow. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself; let me start this fishing story all over again.

The wind that had blown furiously the day before had subsided shortly after sunup and the lake was calm. Normally in Nebraska the opposite is true, and many of us took this as a good omen; perhaps the fishing would be good.

The 26 bass boats lolled gently in a kind of disorganized/organized holding pattern, their idling motors purring softly. Splashes of brilliant color caught the bright morning sun. Everything was in order now; all the anglers had spent hours and probably days getting their gear ready, and now was the time to practice what most had been dreaming about since qualifying for the tournament the previous year.

The starter's flag waved and the roar of full-throttle engines broke the stillness. The first annual Bass Angler's Sportsmen's Society tournament was underway.

36

Now we have an unconventional and a conventional beginning to a NEBRASKAland fishing story and I will get down to business and tell what this madness is all about.

And madness it is. Not a demented or deranged type of madness, but a mania nonetheless; one that drives grown men to leave their families on most spring, summer and fall weekends, with an occasional two-week winter jaunt to the warmer south just to keep the head straight, to compete with other like-kinds to garner dust-collecting trophies (the wife spends her weekends cleaning them), prizes that most of the members already have, and that title "number one"; a title that seems to "possess" most Nebraskans.

They came from Omaha and Lincoln, North Platte and McCook, Columbus and Minden in search of bass, and when it was all over and done, they had a great time, they caught some beautiful fish, I caught a cold, the "greatest" were crowned and, most importantly, some of the most beautiful bass I have seen caught were returned to the waters of Red Willow to hopefully reproduce and contribute once again to the fishing there.

BASS is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Nebraska chapter has been in existence for only two years. In the first year, however, the members had already done as much for the resource they seek as most other sportsmen's organizations have ever done for their pet species. For example, in addition to paying their way, clubs from Omaha and North Platte actively participated in fish habitat improvement projects the first winter and more of the same is planned. BASS members understand that habitat is the key to good bass fishing as it is for all species of wildlife.

Bob Sorenson, president of the Nebraska Chapter of BASS, says, "The purpose of BASS here in Nebraska encompasses more than just fishing. We will work with the Game and Parks Commission and other responsible state agencies to improve and preserve good water quality."

He feels that this is important for everyone including bass fishermen, for without good water quality, there won't be any water-related activities. The national organization has, in the past, filed lawsuits against water pollutors; in fact, BASS was formed initially to fight for clean water in Alabama.

Sorensen also says that the state chapter is more like a fraternity than a competitive organization. The different clubs do have considerable rapport and freely exchange new ideas and bass fishing tips.

"The state tournament brings together men from all over the state and we will all try to broaden our horizons in bass fishing," Sorensen says.

The group also wants to volunteer its help to the Game and Parks Commission. From what I saw and from talking to many of the members, most of them are more than willing to work on a voluntary basis to improve all kinds of fishing: habitat improvement projects, population sampling and clean-ups following renovation.

Sorensen feels that the bad image (alluded to previously) that bass tournaments have aren't justified now because of some new rules and regulations recently implemented by BASS.

Probably the most important BASS rule applies to handling of the catch. Many things have been tried in the past to keep the fish alive both during the actual competition and after. This year, 68 bass were caught and 46 of them were returned to the water alive.

All boats participating in BASS tournaments must be equipped with either live wells or some similar device for holding the fish. At Red Willow, when the boats returned to the weigh-in area each day, the fish were transferred from the live wells to plastic bags containing water. The fish were weighed in the bags. This was done as rapidly as possible, and then the fish were released into a live box in the lake.

Monte Madsen, fisheries biologist from North Platte, was in charge of this phase of the operation. Madsen took scale samples and measured each fish for his records. Madsen said the samples he took during the competition helped him because the anglers did some of the work he would normally do with gill-nets and shocking devices.

Madsen was impressed with the techniques that BASS has developed for handling the catch. He reported that three fish died in the live box during the two-day competition. The 19 other fish that weren't returned to the water were either kept for trophy purposes or for the skillet. Five or six fish also died when one boat's live well malfunctioned. Sorensen (Continued on page 50)

NEBRASKAland

the General's Horses

By Bill Moore

IN 1877, Ulysses Grant finished a dismal second term as President; a term ridden by scandal. The scandals involved Congress and never touched the extremely popular Grant, but confidence in Government had hit bottom and so did his morale.

The world tour following this second term was an attempt to rebuild that morale. The homage paid him did much in that regard even though Grant preferred to avoid the pomp and walk the streets alone meeting the common people. It was during the only enjoyable part of his visit to Turkey that he viewed the Sultan's Royal Stable in Constantinople. It was March, 1878. During the tour the Sultan asked which horse Grant considered the best.

Grant was not a scholar, graduating 21st in a class of 39 at West Point, but he was an excellent horseman, with an expert eye for horses. Carefully, he selected a grey stallion named Leopard. The Sultan then selected what he considered the next best horse, named Linden Tree, and announced they were both Grant's.

Astonished and embarrassed, Grant attempted to decline the magnanimous gifts, to no avail. There has never existed a nationality which put the ownership of a horse so far above any other materialistic wealth. To refuse the gifts would have caused great offense. Six months later, on May 30, 1879, two grey stallions stepped from the steamer Norman Monarch onto the shores of New Haven, Connecticut. Those two horses later became the oldest registered horses in the American Arabian Stud Books.

Arabian horses were not new to American soil, having been imported by serious horse breeders prior to the American Revolution to improve the popular breeds. They also had come as gifts to several presidents and other officials, but the breed's purity had been lost by crossbreeding.

Even though Arabians had played 38 an important role in American horse breeding, the two grey stallions barely set their hooves upon solid ground than the press launched a scathing attack at them. Strangly, these journalists had never seen an Arabian horse, including the Sultan's gifts. Yet, according to the June 3, 1879 New York Times:

"This is not the first time that pure horses 'of the breed called the winged,' as Sir Walter Scott calls them have arrived in the country, but heretofore every effort to improve the home-born breed with these Oriental coursers has proved a signal and complete failure. The same is true of all similar attempts in England." Great Britain, France and Russia had long expounded the value of the Arabian in their breeding programs. In America they had already laid the foundations of the Morgan and quarter horse, but America's general horse was of poor quality. Though Grant felt "shackled" with the Sultan's gifts, others around the ex-President earnestly sought to use the greys to make improvements. Of these men was one of America's foremost horse breeders, Randolph Huntington of Rochester, New York:

"When I . . . look at our inferior coach-horses and know the difficulty in obtaining even an ordinarily good pair I must say that our horses have degenerated, while our mechanical ingenuity towards increased speed has agumented. England, Scotland, France, and Russia have each a typical horse capable of reproducing its type with excellence in any land to which it may be exported. They are the Thoroughbred race-horse, the Clyde and the Percheron draught-horses, and the Orloff trotting-horse. Everyone of these types is a Thoroughbred in its country, based upon the Arabian; and, exported to any land, will reproduce itself physically and instinctively, which our time-standard bred horses will not do at present."

Three years after Grant's death his family sold Linden Tree, youngest of the two horses. The man who purchased the 15-year-old wanted to try improving his own breeding program. That man was Leonard W. Colby of Beatrice. But as Linden Tree moved to Nebraska, he was greeted by another barrage from a hostile press, including:

"Some people will go a long distance to admire this wonderful piece of horse flesh, but we think he looked much better on paper, that is, his pedigree or history, without which he would not attract the attention of a lover of horse flesh any more than an ordinary horse would."

'The Arabian stallion which General Colby purchased of U.S. Grant Jr. is fifteen years old and he pays therefore the sum of $2,500."

"Were it not for his name the horse would have no marketable value. Who said the rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Born in Cherry Valley, Ohio in 1848, moving to Freeport several years later, Leonard Colby was, like Ulysses Grant, the son of farmers and an excellent soldier with keen eyes for horses.

The Colby family traced its history from the days of William the Conqueror and the Norman Conquest and the call of military service was strong. At the age of 14 he enlisted as a private in the 8th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry after two unsuccessful attempts, but the year was 1861 and America was tearing at its own throat. The boy sensed well and was recommended for a commission by his company officers for gallant service at the siege of Mobile.

Returning to Freeport after the war, Colby was graduated from high school in 1867. Three years later he was graduated from the University of Wisconsin with highest honors, entered the law department there and graduated a year later, again with highest honors. At 23 he was admitted to practice in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but in August on (Continued on page 44)

NEBRASKAland AUGUST 1976 39

Adventures with Whiskers

the prairie vole

Whiskers designed by Neal Anderson

Hi! Most of you folks don't know me but we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming months. Scientists call me Microtias ochrogaster. I'm usually called a prairie vole. But, please don't confuse me with moles, which dig those funny ruts in lawns and meadows. Once we get to be better friends, you can just call me Whiskers.

No matter where you live in Nebraska, there is a pretty good chance that one of my relatives lives right next door. We're out and about most of the day. We keep busy gathering seeds and plants to eat. All of us voles have tunnels in the grass that we use like highways to get from one place to another. Sometime when you're out in a meadow or walking along a grassy roadside, get down on your hands and knees and look for our trails. I'll be easier to find than my relatives, however. Just look for me on these same pages each month.

Life is pretty hectic for us little animals, but we still have some spare time. Before I had a family I used to travel all over the state. Over the years I've made a lot of animal friends. They've told me how they live and a lot of stories about things that have happened to them. 40 In the coming months I'm going to retell some of those stories and show you scrapbook pictures of my friends and the places I've been. First, I'm going to tell you a story that my great, great, great, great Grandpa vole told me about how Nebraska got to be the way it is today.

The way great, great, great, great Grandpa told it, there was a lot going on about 135,000,000 years ago. The last of the dinosaurs were just dying, and that made walking around a lot safer for us little mammals. Actually, there probably weren't any voles back then. Mammals were just getting started. Nebraska wouldn't have been a very good place for a vole to live anyway. Most of the state was covered with water. Serpents and giant sharks were swimming in a sea over what is now Nebraska. After many years, rock and soil washed into that sea and made it smaller.

About that same time, strong forces deep in the earth began pushing the land up and created the Rocky Mountains. Western Nebraska, out around where Crawford and Scottsbluff are today, sort of got pushed up, too. See if you can find these towns on a map. After that, Nebraska was dry land and living got NEBRASKAland

41   better for us voles. There were still a lot of big lakes around and the land was pretty rugged. Walking over those big hills and deep valleys was hard work, especially if you had short legs. Grandpa vole said they didn't venture far from home back then.

As if water pouring over Nebraska and rising mountains tugging at the western border wasn't enough, big sheets of glaciers started pushing into the east. They scraped the land nearly flat. Over thousands of years, four of them came into Nebraska. Some of the glaciers stopped in the northeast and dumped big piles of rock and soil. If you live in northeast Nebraska

42 NEBRASKAland you can probably find rocks or boulders that the glaciers brought from South Dakota or Minnesota. Sometimes the climate would get really dry and the glaciers would melt back north. Rivers like the Platte, that were carrying sand and soil from the Rocky Mountains, dried up. The wind blew the sand around and that is how the Nebraska Sandhills were created.

Great, great, great, great Grandpa vole said that there were a lot of strange animals in Nebraska when the glaciers were coming and going. Huge mammoths, that looked like hairy elephants, were all over the place. There were even camels and horses in Nebraska. We voles probably spent a lot of time underground just trying to stay out from under foot.

Only 200 years ago there were herds of buffalo in Nebraska. Grandpa said some mornings he would look out of his nest in the grass and all he could see for miles and miles were buffalo legs. They used to eat the very grass we lived in. They'd paw the ground and roll on their backs until there were big dusty holes. That wasn't all bad, though. Weeds would grow after they left and we'd have plenty of AUGUST 1976 seeds to store away for the winter. Sometimes we would have six or eight quarts of seeds hidden in our underground tunnels.

Nebraska looked a lot different before it was farmed. Almost the entire state was covered with grass. Grandpa vole told me that that was because prairie fires wouid burn any trees that started growing. The grass was shorter out west because there wasn't as much rain to make it grow.

There were prairie dog towns that covered miles of country, too. We never had much to do with them. They ate about the same thing we did but a lot more of it. They aways chewed the plants right down to the ground so that they could watch for coyotes or wolves sneaking up on them. They whistled and barked most of the day and it was hard for a vole to catch a nap.

I could tell you a lot more stories about Nebraska but I could use one of those naps myself. Next month I'll meet you here and we can talk some more. I might even think up a puzzle to see how much you know about Nebraska. See you then. Ω

43

FISHING ... DOG DAYS

(Continued from page 9)

require a little advance planning, but the good ol' earthworm also works fairly well and is easy to come by. A 1/2-inc;h section of worm or nightcrawler on each hook is all it takes to entice all but the most finicky of bluegills.

Some other baits work even better, however, especially when the common worm fails. One old-timer swears by the same bait he uses in ice fishing-grub-type worms. His particular favorite is the wax-worm, winter and summer. He says, with some degree of credibility, that his bait more closely resembles a piece of natural food, and the grub-worm's small stature is bite-size to bluegill.

Other ingenious fishermen have found a way to let Mother Nature provide their bait. Bluegill are almost exclusively acquatic insect eaters, so these fishermen cater to their taste by offering some juicy mayflies as bait.

The fishermen gather their bait along the lake early in the morning, concentrating on areas that are lighted at night. The light draws adult mayflies by the thousands, and hundreds can be picked up off the ground in minutes by ambitious bait scroungers. Prime areas include lighted boat ramps, concession areas, camping areas, and anywhere else with light that draws bugs at night.

This bait-gathering safari must be undertaken at the crack of dawn, however, or swarms of hungry birds will beat the angler to the harvest.

Using this bait dictates some refinement in the basic drift-fishing tackle, however. In order to get one or two of the delicate mayflies to stay on, the hook must be very thin, fine wire. Otherwise, everything works the same.

The sinker takes the bait clear to the bottom in as much as 25 feet of water. You just let the weight bump along the bottom as you drift. Most of the time, bluegill bite so enthusiastically that they hook themselves. All you do is winch them aboard.

While summertime fish such as the white bass, catfish, and bluegill are not as popular as some of the "glamour" fish, they do keep the "dog days" from being a complete bust. At least, they provide an excuse to be on the water enjoying yourself, even if you are not exactly loading the stringer. After all, there's more to fishing than just catching fish. Ω

THE GENERAL'S HORSES

(Continued from page 38)

1872 Colby and his wife of 14 months moved to Beatrice where he began practicing law.

While living in Beatrice he joined a company of militia located there, receiving the commission of first lieutenant. Five years later, Colby was elected to the State Senate and introduced a bill authorizing the formation of enough companies of militia to form a regiment. When the 12 companies were finally organized in 1881, he was elected the first colonel of the Nebraska National Guard and was placed in command of the state military force.

Those were troubled times, and Colby's guardsmen saw action eight months later

NEBRASKAland Wind Powered Electrical Generator

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$339.50 Shpg. wt 150 lbs. • ( ION-086-WPG ) - - Ideal for remote and isolated areas where standard electrical power is not available. Useful as a standby source of power for lights, radios, etc. in case of power brown-outs. • Wind driven generator keeps 12-volt battery in fully charged condition. ( Battery not furnished. 100-amp. size recommended ). Starts charging in 7 MPH breeze. 200-watts, 15-volts, 14-amps. Complete with 10 ft. steel tower. Easy to install. Instructions furnished. Portable Power Plant 2500 Watts, 11 5-Volts, 60-Cycles, AC $319.95

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( Shpg. wt. 95 lbs. ) • ( #0N 086 PPP ) - - Excellent plant for standby use. Useful as portable AC power for contractors, utilities, campers, formers, etc. Will handle electric motors up to 3/4 HP. Operate lights, tools, appliances, radios, etc. • Output 2500-watts, 115-volts, 60-cycles, AC, 1-phase, 21.8-amps. Latest design alternator type with silicon diode circuitry. No commutators or DC brushes to wear out. Briggs-Stratton 5-HP, 4-cycle gas engine. Ball bearing direct drive generator. Duplex plug-in outlets on generator. 21" x 16" x 14" MAIL ORDER CUSTOMERS PLEASE READ • Be sure to include enough money for postage and insurance to avoid collection fees. This saves you at least 85 cents. We refund any excess immediately. If you request C.O.D. shipment, you of your total order, must include the must remit at least 30% NEBRASKA CUSTOMERS NEBRASKA SALES TAX! • To expedite your mail order be sure to include the item number. When you visit Lincoln, we are at 1000 West "0" St. ( Phone 435-4366 ). AIRGUIDE Automotive Instruments • AIRGUIDE instruments are built in the U.S.A. by Airguide Instruments Co., one of the world's largest builders of navigation compasses, weather instruments and automotive instruments. AIRGUIDE instruments have been long noted for dependability, accuracy and styling. Marine-Mobile Home "Road Crusier" Compass ( Shpg. wt. 4 lbs. )

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$15.88 • ( #0N 086 RCC ) - - AIRGUIDE Model 1616 gimbal mounted compass is a king size ( 5'/4" x 4V4" ) compass with jeweled movement, oil damped for smooth action and precision aircraft type compensators to cancel out stray magnetic fields in vehicle. Illuminated type wires to your dash lights. Has tilting shade to block sun-glare. Deluxe Auto Compass

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$6.88 • ( #0N 086-DAC ) - - Beautifully styled. Powerful ainico directional magnets, aircraft type compensators. Self-contained pushbutton battery illumination. Mounts almost anywhere. 3-3/8" x 2-1/2". ( 1-1/2 lbs. ) Deluxe Electric Clock

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$21.88 • ( ION-086-AEC ) - - Precision movement. Wires directly to 12-volt system. No batteries to replace, no winding. Illuminated for easy night reading. White hands, gray face, red sweep second hand. IV*" x 2Va" x 3'/.". ( 2 lbs. ) Deluxe Altimeter

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$11.88 • ( #0N 086-DAA ) - - Gives readings from sea level to 15,000 ft. Red indicator hand, gray meter face. Easy to read, reliable. 3V4" x 2Vt" x3'/4". ( 2 lbs. ) Car Comfort Meter

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• ( ION-086-CCM ) - - Dual meter gives exact temperature inside car. Range -20° F TO +130° F. Also indicates relative humidity. Comfort zones tor both readings are indicated. 3 1/4" x 2 1/2" x 3 1/4". ( 2 lbs. ) Theft- Proof CB Mobile Transceiver

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$189.95 HY-GAIN Mod. 2679-PR • ( ION-086-TPR ) - - A new concept in CB radios. You can mount the transceiver in a protected spot such as under the cowl or locked away in the trunk. The antenna installs in place of most auto radio antennas and makes inconspicuous installation without that giveaway "CB Radio" look. Serves your CB rig and your car radio. • CB controls ore all in the hand held mike which can be unplugged and carried away with you or locked up. Transceiver operates on all 23 channels with full legal power. Channels indicated by digital display. PLL system generates all 23 channels. No crystals to buy. ( Shpg. wt. 8 lbs. ) Trunk Mount, 13 ft. Cable (Shpg. wt. 3 lbs. ) $19.95 • ( ION-086-TAC ) - - Connecting cable with fittings, 13 ft. length. Enables you to mount the transceiver in the trunk and operate the rig from the hand held mike/control unit. Hand Held 5-Watt, 6 Ch. CB Transceiver

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Citizen's Two-Way Unit Goes Anywhere You Go. Gives Reliable Crystal-Clear Communications $89.95 HY-GAIN Mod. 1292 • ( #0N 086-HHT ) - - All-solid state portable, hand held transceiver operates at full legal power. Has 6-channel capacity. Comes with Ch. 11 crystals installed. Crystals for any of the 23 CB channels can be installed at modest cost. • Operates on AA batteries or Ni-Cad battery pack, built-in speaker/mike. 57" telescoping antenna. Top panel controls include on/off switch, volume, squelch, channel selector, signal-battery-RF combination meter and external mike jack. ( 3 lbs. ) ben pearson Mustang" Hunting Set

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$49.50 Reg. Sale $54.95 • ( ION-086-AHS ) - - Archery hunting set by BEN PEARSON consists of 58" Mustang recurve bow, four 29" cedar hunting arrows, bow quiver, arm guard, leather tab, leopard target and instruction book. • Mustang bow is a full working recurve type with black Pearsonite fiberglass limbs, draw weight 45/50 lbs., brace height 8" to8'/2", 58" length. ( Shpg. wt. complete outfit, 6 lbs. ) Deluxe, Electric Garage Door Opener

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Open and Close Door From Your Automobile

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Electro Lift $139.95 ( Shpg. wt. 50 lbs. ) • ( ION-086-GDO ) - - Automatic 1/3 HP garage door opener is designed to open the heaviest residential garage doors. Easy to install with ordinary tools. Complete with all hardware, parts, controls and very clear instructions for installation that make it simple for anyone. • Heavy duty construction. Solid state controls use UHF multi-wave AM-FM signals to assure accurate, positive, trouble-free operation. Door opens on signal from control unit in your car. • Safety feature stops door and reverses it if it strikes any obstruction. Can also be reversed with control unit. Door can also be operated manually by pulling emergency release handle. Lights turn on automatically when door opens, turn off after 1 xh to 2 minutes, automatically. Vacation security switch shuts out all radio signals. Std. Model Auto. Garage Opener

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$119.50 • ( #ON-086-SDO ) - - Similar to above unit except for lighter or smaller garage doors. Will handle doors up to 160 lbs. Uses 1 /4 HP motor. Most features the same except not equipped with vacation switch. ( Shpg. wt. 45 lbs. ) Auto Gun Carrier

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$4.99 Reg. Price $6.95 • ( #ON-086-AGC ) - - Adjustable gun carrier for two guns, mounts in the rear window of pickup, side window of panel truck, station wagon or auto. No holes necessary, no screws. Installs in minutes, dismounts in seconds. Fits between window seals and glass. Keeps guns off the floor and seats. The safe way to carry your rifles and shotguns. Will not harm their fine finishes. ( Shpg. wt. 2 lbs. ) BY MAIL- OR IN OUR STORE Use Your Master Charge or BankAmericard. • Your authorizing signature on your order plus your BAC or MC account number and "Good Thru" date and address is all we need for mail orders. SURPLUS CENTER Dept. ON-086 Lincoln, Ne. 68501   AMERICAN BICENTENNIAL "NEBRASKA" Commemorative Plate We take great pride in offering our original Bicentennial "NEBRASKA" Commemorative plate. Pewter was originally utilized in colonial days. Our present day pewter finish plates are made using the same sand casting method of that by-gone era. Each plate is sand cast from our custom pattern, each individual mold is then destroyed to remove its prize. Each plate is different! The surface marks are never the same. This is on purpose . . . which makes your plate actually one-of-a-kind, an original! It is designed to be used and enjoyed by you and your decendants for years to come! This 103/4" plate is a limited edition and serially numbered, thereby enhancing its value. A certificate of authenticity numbered and signed by the Secretary of State documents the originality of your plate. Excellent gift idea. Plate #1 on permanent display in the State Capitol Building. Plate #2 was Nebraska's gift to Queen Margarethe II of Denmark. Plate #38 was Nebraska's gift to our country's 38th President, Gerald Ford.

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SINGLE PURCHASE PRICE $19.76 (Plus $1.50 to cover postage and sales tax -payment with order please) Quantity Discount Available Order from: HASTINGS ADVERTISING AGENCY, Box 429, Hastings, Nebr. 68901 NAME Quan @ $19.76 ADDRESS POSTAGE & SALES TAX $1.50 CITY TOTAL ENCLOSED J'S OTTER CREEK MARINA NORTH SIDE LAKE McCONAUGHY HWY. 92-OPEN YEAR AROUND

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ALL MODERN MOTEL CAFE BAIT TACKLE GAS BOAT RENTALS HUNTING & FISHING LICENSES CHRYSLER BOATS MOTORS SALES SERVICE ON & OFF SALE BEER PHONE LEMOYNE 308-355-2341 P.O. LEWELLEN, NEBR. 69147 JAY & JULIE PETERSON INLAND SHORES MARINAS, INC. Located on the North Shore of Branched Oak Lake-One-Stop Service Restaurant - Ice - Groceries - Fishing Tackle -Live Bait-Boat Rentals-Public Boat Ramp-Slip Rentals-Public Docking- Bank Storage-Boating Equipment -Gas-Oil-Light Marine Service - Jobber - Wholesale - Retail Off-Sale Beer FINE LAKESIDE FACILITIES FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

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P.O. Box 80806 Lincoln, NB. 68501 Phone: 783-3311 The Commonwealth now pays even higher interest rates! 6.25% Passbook Savings 6.54% Annual Yield Comp. Daily 6.75% 1 Yr. Cert. 7.08% Annual Yield Comp. Daily 7.00% 2 Yr. Cert. 7.35% Annual Yield Comp. Daily 7.25% 3 Yr. Cert. 7.62% Annual Yield Comp. Daily 8.00% 4 Yr. Cert. 8.45% Annual Yield Comp. Daily A substantial interest penalty, as required by law, will be imposed for early withdrawal.

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THE COMMONWEALTH COMPANY

126 North 11th Street / Lincoln, NE 68508 / 402-432-2746 Chartered and Supervised by the Nebraska State Department of Banking 46 NEBRASKAland

when a labor strike hit Omaha. Commanding the guards and 6 companies of U.S. regulars totaling over 500 men, Col. Colby, astride his white stallion, brought the strike to a close with minimal loss of property and only one death.

As the Guard expanded to two regiments he was commissioned the first Brigadier General, serving nine years in that capacity. It was during" this time that he and his brigade went to the Northwest frontier during the Indian War of 1890-91, serving under Gen. Nelson A. Miles.

In later years, President McKinley commissioned Colby Brigadier General of tf^e U.S. Volunteers and sent him to Cuba on a special, confidental mission. Still later he was appointed First Assistant Attorney General of the United States, then Adjutant General of the State of Nebraska, and finally, judge of the 18th Judicial District of Nebraska.

All during the time he owned the stallion, Gen. Colby cross-bred him with his tough Nebraska ranch horses to accomplish what Huntington and other leading breeders were attempting-the improvement of the American horse. Along with the use of Leopard for one season, Colby developed a fast, hard and intelligent line known as "The Colby Horse".

So successful had the breeding program become that some Colorado ranchers bought a number of his horses. These became the foundation of America's third distinctive horse breed, The Rangerbred. While rare photographs of Linden Tree were discovered in the Nebaska State Historical Society files, only two drawings have been found of Leopard as testimony to that horse's grandeur.

Randolph Huntington did continue Leopard's line by breeding him to one purebred Arabian mare, so a few of today's "Proud Breed" can trace back to the "Father of the American purebred Arabian." Together the two stallions that Grant nearly refused left an indelible mark on American horses. Ω

AUGUST 1976

THE VIPER'S DEN

(Continued from page 17)

rattler on the cellar steps, or of one of their children being attracted to the buzzing sound near the swing set.

"My dad was windrowing and baling hay one summer," Tom began, "when the baler ran out of wire. He took a good look around the machine before he crawled underneath to rethread another spool, but. he didn't know that a rattlesnake had been caught up and pulled into the bale chamber."

"He was under the machine when he felt something tapping his straw hat. The snake couldn't reach more than three inches out from the machinery, which was the only reason dad wasn't bitten."

Ozzie cautioned that the haying operation seems to have more than it's fair share of snake incidents.

"When the machine operator lifts the bales for stacking, we always tilt the bales up so the stackers can see under them. There have been several times when a snake was caught between the bale and the teeth. If he doesn't tilt the bales, he'll have a hard time keeping stackers in this country."

Once in the den area, the men load the shotguns and place several boxes of shells in their coat pockets, along with a snake-bite kit and other necessities. Then, positioned to provide a safe field of fire, they move slowly forward into the den, and the usual depression or sunning area nearby, are revealed.

"Year in and year out, Ozzie and I kill between 200 and 300 rattlesnakes, many of them within a mile or so of our homes," Tom said.

"We once killed 126 during a half-day period, and 102 the next day in the same area. The year we killed 176 rattlers at one den, we had a total of 510 for the year," Tom added.

"When I was young, we wouldn't hunt snakes, and although we didn't know it at the time, we had two major dens within a quarter-mile of the house. I remember Mom would see snakes when she would hang the clothes on the line, and Dad killed quite a few each year in the yard."

NEBRASKAland Trading Post Acceptance of advertising implies no endorsement of products or services. Classified Ads: 20 cents a word, minimum order $4.00. November 1976 closing date, September 8. Send classified ads to: Trading Post, NEBRASKAland, 2200 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, P.O. Box 30370. DOGS AKC German Shorthairs, finest breeding. D. M. Kennels, Gretna, Nebr. 68028. Phone (402) 332-3237. ENGLISH SETTERS, 9 months old, well started, beautiful and sensible. Darrell Yentes, 1118 McMillan St., Holdrege, NE 68949, (308) 995-8570. MISCELLANEOUS COTURNIX QUAIL eggs 10 cents each, chicks 35 cents each, breeders $1.50 each. No shipping. Cain-Funk Game Farm, Waterloo, Nebr. 68069. Hwy 92 at Platte River. Phone (402) 359-5781. SAVE GODS LITTLE CREATURES. New. Squirrel or Bird Log Feeder. Make in 10 minutes for less than a dime. Easy to trace plan. $1.00 & S.A.S.E. to Car Lite Hi, Inc. Box 3885-F Omaha, NE 68108 WANTED: 410 or 28 gauge side by side shotgun or Winchester 410 or 28 gauge pump. All letters answered. Box 14353, Omaha, NE 68124 FISH FOR SALE: Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Rainbow Trout and minnows for pond and lake stocking. Contact the Pleasant Valley Fish Farm, Route 1, McCook, Nebraska 69001. Phone 308-345-6599. FISHING EQUIPMENT-High quality goods at discount prices. Items especially designed for this area. Free catalog. Write: Dawn, Box 2313, Lincoln, NE 68512. SUEDE LEATHER drycleaned. Write for mailing instructions Fur & Leather Cleaning, P.O. Box 427, Bloomfield, Nebr. 68718. CANOE THE NIOBRARA! Daily tours, overnight canoe, camping, backpacking, trailriding. Ecology trips available. Scoutmasters, class sponsors, businessmen, outdoorsmen write: Niobrara Canyon Canoe Tours, 841 Candice, Valentine, NE 69201. Guns-Browning, Winchester, Remington, others, Hi-powers, shotguns, new, used, antiques. Want Pre-1964 Winchesters. Buy-Sell-Trade. Ph. (402) 729-2888. Bedland's Sporting Goods, Fairbury, NE 68352 CENTRAL Ontario-Choice 640 acre sportsmen's paradise still available-$20.00 plus $6.50 taxes yearly. Maps, pictures, $2.00 (refundable). Information Bureau Norval 70, Ontario, Canada. TAXIDERMY BIG Bear Taxidermy, Rt. 2, Mitchell, Nebraska 69357. We specialize in all big game from Alaska to Nebraska, also birds and fish. Hair on and hair off tanning. 4V2 miles west of Scottsbluff on Highway 26. Phone (308) 635-3013. CREATIVE Taxidermy. Modern methods and life-like workmanship on all fish and game since 1935, also tanning, rugs, and deerskin products. Joe Voges, Naturecrafts and Gift Shop. 925 4th Corso, Nebraska City Nebraska 68410. Phone (402) 873-5491. TAXIDERMY work-big game heads, fish-and-bird mounting; rug making, hide tanning, 36 years experience. Visitors welcome. Floyd Houser. Sutherland, Nebraska 69165 Phone (308) 386-4780. KARL Schwarz Master Taxidermists. Mounting of game heads-birds-fish-animals-fur rugs-robes-tanning buckskin. Since 1910. 42424 South 13th Street, Dept. A., Omaha, Nebraska 68102. AUTHORS WANTED BY NEW YORK PUBLISHER Leading book publisher seeks manuscripts of all types: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scholarly and juvenile works, etc. New authors welcomed. For complete information, send for free booklet R-70. Vantage Press, 516 W. 34 St., New York 10001 HELF WANTED Help promote National Hunting and Fishing Day, scheduled this year for September 25, by using the official NHF Day stickers on your mail, packages, etc. The bright, colorfast stickers are only $4.00 per 1,000 from NHF Day Headquarters, 1075 Post Road, Riverside, Conn. 06878. National Hunting & Fishing

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SEPTEMBER 25,1976 NATIONAL HUNTING & FISHING

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DAY September 25,1976 National Hunting and Fishing Day provides America's sportsmen with an unprecedented opportunity to reach the general public with word on the sportsmen's role in conservation. One of the simplest ways for all sportsmen to spread the word is to use the colorful NHF Day stickers. They are inexpensive, easy to use and they'll help tell everyone in your town that the great day is coming. TO: NHF DAY, 1075 Post Road, Riverside, Conn. 06878 Please send copies of the NHF Day Action Manual @ $2.00 per copy (same as '75 edition). NHF Day bumper stickers @ 5 for $1.00 NHF Day Aids Kits @ $3.00 per kit I enclose $ to cover the cost of my order. Name Organization Address City State Zip

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Delivered to your home or even your deserted island NEBRASKAland Subscription Rates one year $5 two years $9 (includes subscription to Afield & Afloat, the Commission's newspaper about outdoor activities) Send Subscriptions to: NEBRASKAland Magazine, P.O. Box 30370, 2200 North 33rd Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503 49  

"Both Steve and I have been hunting in this area for over 15 years now," he added. While none of the group has been bitten during the hunts, several close calls have occurred that could have gone either way. Steve mentioned stepping on a rattlesnake while checking a den, and Ozzie mentioned an episode with a snake he believed was dead. The snake had struck but was unable to reach far enough to make contact.

'This type of hunt is not for everyone," Ozzie continued. "We have had people come out that quickly turned into a bundle of nerves. One fellow that had been bitten by a rattlesnake quite a few years before went along on one trip, but refused to even get out of the car once we were close to the den."

Prairie rattlesnakes, green racers, bullsnakes and a variety of other species are sometimes found using the same den, with several hunters finding as many as three different species near the den entrance.

The prairie rattlesnake is not protected by law in Nebraska, although a close relative, the Massasauga, was recommended for inclusion in the Nongame and Endangered Species Act. The Massasauga, a smaller snake, is grey-colored or darker brown, and its range is limited to the south-eastern portion of the state.

Hunting rattlesnakes may be considered a sport by many. For the Mitchell men and their families, prairie rattlesnakes are a considerable problem. The loss of a breeding bull or family pet is serious, but with young children involved, they have little recourse other then the annual hunts when the snakes are denning. Ω

TOURNAMENT BASS

(Continued from page 37)

says that the plastic bags and live boxes are to keep as many fish alive as possible so that they may be returned to the water.

"Handling of the fish is not good for them, and the bags permit us to weigh and transport them with a minimum of actual contact with the fish. The live boxes were used to study mortality rates within the first 24 to 48 hours, which is the critical period."

He said there is no absolute requirement that each fish be returned, but it is encouraged. "If a trophy fish is caught, you can't blame a guy for taking it home for mounting. Also, most of us like to eat some of our catch," he adds.

BASS rules also specify a 13-inch minimum size as compared to the state's 12-inch minimum. The members are advised of the proper methods for grasping a live bass, and most are adept at removing hooks without damaging the fish.

Other rules apply to boating safety and pairings. All participants are required to wear life jackets during the take-off, and BASS recommends that the vests be worn at all times. At Red Willow, most member didn't need much encouragement 50 because the wind blew a gale both days of the tournament.

Prior to the tournament competition, drawings were held pairing men with boats and those without (there goes another truism out the window—not all bass fishermen have bass boats). The pair must be from different clubs and different pairings are made each day.

Also, competition time is set and strictly enforced. Anyone not in a designated area at a specified time is penalized.

Having lived in the south where bass tournaments are an everyday occurrence I, too, have viewed them as harmful to the resource. Perhaps in the past they were and perhaps not all tournaments are run as well as this one. At this tournament, the important thing, at least to me, is that the vast majority of the fish were returned to the water. Included in those returned were many four and five pounders. Compare that to the number of fish returned to the water by the typical weekend angler. I imagine not many Master Angler fish are returned. Also, judging by the arrest records over the past two years (since the minimum size limit was implemented) many undersized bass are kept by the general public.

Each time I see a modern angler decked out in his finest, roaring around a lake in several thousand dollars worth of boat with not one, but several expensive rods and reels, I also see the Norman Rockwell painting of that kid, barefoot and in overalls, toting the stringer of fish, and I wonder. But one thing is surely evident—that kid of yesteryear with the simplest of equipment is the bass fisherman of today with the depth finders, fish locators and all the other products of our technological society. Progress, I guess.

Another thing is also evident—not many of the kids of yesteryear released their catch. Today some bass fishermen do. Progress I'm sure. Hopefully, the good example set by the BASS members can be adopted by the rest of us. Ω

The 1976 BASS tournament was held at Merritt Reservoir on the May 22-23 weekend, again accompanied by somewhat difficult weather conditions, including rainy, 50-degree temperatures. Twelve clubs from across the state, including 62 fishermen, competed in the event. In all 160 plus pounds of fish were caught, with the largest being 3 pounds, 4 ounces caught by Harry Thompson of the Omaha Bassmasters Club. First place honors went to jim Hanlon of the Lincoln Bass Club with a total of 13 pounds, 10 ounces of bass. This year, after the bass were weighed, they were transferred to the state hatchery at Valentine where they will be used as spawners, with offspring used to stock various Nebraska waters.

Bookshelf

Nebraska Centennial First Ladies' Cookbook

$6.95 Centennial Press P.O. Box 80728 Lincoln, Nebr. 68501

ORIGINALLY published in 1967 for the Nebraska Centennial, this popular cookbook has been reprinted by popular demand. Over 55,000 copies were bought and used by cooks and collectors nationwide, and was acclaimed at that time.

Now, a Bicentennial edition is available at book and gift stores across the state. Nothing has been omitted from the original, although a few corrections were made. Included in this ringbound volume of 350 pages are 735 recipes of wild game cookery, pioneer family favorites, foods with a foreign flair, a section featuring "Big Red" recipes, plus a special collection of favorites of Nebraska First Ladies.

Sections are divided with beautiful full-color photos and illustrations, and there are main dishes, desserts, pickles, jams and jellies, pies, salads, vegetables and many others. The pioneer section gives a nostalgic look at Nebraska life before the turn of the century and some of the people who helped build the state.

Originally compiled by Catherine Hillegass and Maxine Morrison, this excellent cookbook brings the heritage of our state, and some mighty fine food, to life. A book to cherish, and to use.

NEBRASKAland

For a familyfun mini-vacation

THE HAROLD WRAP PIONEER VILLAGE

Stay As Many Days As You Like On One Admission Fee.* ^ Motel and meals for as little as $10 per adult (double\>ccupancy), $4 per child per day. Camping $2 per day. Write or call Pioneer Motel-3087832-2750-for reservations 12 Miles Straight South of I-80 at MINDEN, NEBR. on Nebr. 10, U.S. 6 & U.S. 34 See How America Grew at NEBRASKA'S TOP ATTRACTION SPECIAL RATES FOR TOUR GROUPS Here is the place where nearly three million people have enjoyed a stroll back through a century and a half, so arranged that you walk less than a mile. 1. Main Building: More than 10,000 items trace transportation, communications, recreation, arts, etc., through the years as they appeared. Thirteen flying machines hang overhead. 2. Elm Creek Fort: Webster County's first actual dwelling/community fort, moved to the Village and authentically furnished. 3. People's Store: Replica of a general store, completely stocked with merchandise of a bygone era. 4. Bloomington Land Office: Original building where homesteaders filed, contains early maps, old land records, etc. Moved from Franklin County, Neb. 5. Fire House: Museum of fire equipment from hand cart to modern fire truck. Also houses a typical early day jail and huge 1 cyl. 1910 Diesel electric plant. 6. Lowell Depot: During restoration, 7 worn-out floors were uncovered in this century-old depot from Kearney Co. 7. Grom School: Straight from before the turn of the century, actual schoolhouse is superbly equipped with original furnishings —including dinner buckets! 8. Sod House: Replica, painstakingly accurate, of the "little old sod shanty on the plains,'' contains actual items of home furnishings. 9. China Shop: Fascinating collections of china, pottery, cut glass, and other precious keepsakes that came west in covered wagons. 10. Church: Built in 1884, Minden's first church house retains original altar, pews, pulpit, pump organ, etc., Sunday services still held during summer months. 11. Merry-Go-Round. Rides are still 51! This steam powered carrousel is oldest in the U.S.A. 12. Pony Express Station: The original log building that was Pumpkinseed relay station to the Black Hills. 13. Pony Express Barn: Authentically reconstructed, with model horses and historic saddles. 14. Agricultural Building: Two full floors trace the development of farm implements year-by-year, actual tools that helped build our vast agricultural economy. 15. Antique Auto Building: One hundred autos (many of them early models of present makes) stand in chronological order in this two-story building, 265 feet long. 15A. Antique Auto Building #2: Houses 100 cars on 22,000 sq. ft. of floor space (new building, not shown). 16. Livery Stable: Huge old two-story barn houses sadles, harnesses, fly nets, and horse-drawn rigs galore. 17. Antique Tractor and Truck Building: Largest collection of farm tractors anywhere, as they developed over half a century. Farm and city trucks, stationary engines on second floor. 17A. Antique Farm Machinery Building: Includes seeding, cultivating, and harvesting machines —headers, threshers, corn pickers, haying equipment, horse-powers and steam engines. 18. Homes and Shops Building: Not just an "early day kitchen," but a five-generation evolution of kitchens, side by side for easy comparison! Also typical shops and offices from different periods, all carefully labeled as to era. 19. Horse Barn: Typical pioneer barn, moved from Warp homestead 9 miles south of Minden. 20. Home Appliance Building: Washboard to automatic, and every washer between! Also, stoves, refrigerators, bathtubs, past kitchen gadgets and utensils galore. 21. Hobby House: Absorbing collections of dolls, pitchers, buttons, trivets, many, many other items. 22. Snack Bar: Serving coffee, ice cream, candy, and soft drinks. 23. Pioneer Motel: Sixty-six modern units with air conditioning and TV, reasonable rates. See the Village and stay awhile. 24. Pioneer Restaurant: The fine foods you'd expect from Minden cooks, at popular prices. Seats 350. 25. Camp Grounds: Space for over 100 campers, trailers, or tents while you visit Pioneer Village. Showers, facilities.