The Hunting Season Is Over-Now What?

The hunting season is over, the grass is starting to green up, the trees bud out, and flowers bloom. But even though these great changes are happening, it's still half a year out until the upland bird hunting seasons start again.

So what is there to do in regards to next hunting season? Plenty. Clean guns, organize your gear, check out new boots, and work your dogs. Also, start planning your trip now. In a nutshell, the off season is as busy as the hunting season.

First, lets talk guns. Basically, you can't upland bird hunt without a shotgun. Therefore it is very important that your shotguns always get pampered after use. If you don't know how to clean your gun, visit your local gunsmith or sporting goods store so they can either show you how or do it for you. Clean the powder residue that has accumulated in the barrel, using approved cleaners and solvents. Use a silicone based lubricant for cleaning out the trigger mechanism and firing pin areas, and for wiping down the exerior of you gun barrels. After the process is complete, put the shotgun back together and store you shotgun in a safe that is secured.

Next, organize your gear bag. Sort your shells, take inventory of supplies and other necessary things that you use. Make a list of what needs replenishment and buy them. Get rid of uneccesary clutter, and reorganize your bag when done.

If you are in need of new hunting boots, buy them now! Take the summer to wear them while mowing the lawn or working with your dog to break them in. Don't wait until opening day unless you like finding out that your new boots create monster blisters and you will hunt the rest of your trip in agony!

The offseason is important to your four-legged hunting buddies too. Their conditioning and contiuned training is important to your hunting success. Not to mention the additional bonding and learning more about each other that comes out of these "play" times.

Last, if you are looking for a great place to go pheasant hunting, look at visiting us at Prairie Sands Hunting in Sutherland, NE. You will find great scenery, awesome native habitat and outstanding upland bird hunting opportunities!

Nebraska Wild Quail Hunt

On Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Matt Dancer and myself went on the last wild quail hunt of the year. The South Platte River here in Nebraska has some great bobwhite quail hunting if you can get permission. We took Max and Chance-both Labs, and Abe and Ivy-English Pointers. Before the hunt really got started we noticed Abe retrieving some thing with fur. Matt and I both looked at one another kind of puzzled as neither of us had taken a shot. To our surprise the furry thing was alive and to say the least not very happy. Abe was his usual self all happy to make a retrieve and wanting us to take it. This brings back memories as a kid seeing for the first time an opossum playing dead. After several tense minutes we were able to get the 'possum from Abe with no one getting hurt.

The one problem with hunting the Platte River system is that it has several channels instead of one main channel. In order to get the dogs to cover all the ground we had to get across those channels and hunt the small islands. Now if you have never seen an English Pointer swim it is not a pretty sight. They just do not have the pad size that a Lab has. Matt had to use the stock of his gun in places to break ice in order to get Ivy across. The weather this day was in the 20’s and Max and Chance took advantage of every opportunity they could to go swimming. This is not really a problem, but we did not bring the dog trailer and we only had kennels for the pointers. Good thing the Excursion has leather seats.

We saw several covies in the few hours we hunted but as usual the final tally was hunters ZERO and the quail way ahead. No matter what excuse I can come up with it was still the most fun a guy can have with his clothes on.

Jay Longacre-Head Guide & Hunt Coordinator
Prairie Sands Hunting-Sutherland, NE

In Memory of Uncle Donnie Jock

Don Rotert (R) with son Jim while pheasant hunting in Nebraska at Prairie Sands Hunting.

One of the great benefits of being a guide is getting to take people like Don Rotert hunting. I can only imagine what it would have been like hunting when he was young. Waterfowl that would fill the sky with beating wings, covies of quail that could be hunted all year, and pheasants that would cackle at your feet with almost every step.

I have had the pleasure of taking many great pheasant hunters hunting but none greater that Don. The first several years of hunting with Don brought back painful memories. You must first realize that Don, his son, and grandson are plumbers. Unless the weather was really bad they had work to do. On several of these hunts I really thought about going back to engineering. Sure glad I did not do that!

The only other person that I have known that had the same passion for pheasant hunting was Uncle Donnie Jock. When I was a kid growing up in Nebraska, Donnie taught me more about pheasant hunting than I could ever have learned reading a book. We would shoot more pheasants than most men with dogs. Every time we visited he took us hunting. I still see the same glimmer in Don’s eyes as I use to see in Uncle Donnie’s.

Don Rotert is slowing down but I still enjoy the time we get to spend together. I only hope that in the future I can take my son and grandchildren hunting and fishing and that they will pass the same passion on, so that one day a child looks at them and sees the glimmer in their eyes.

Some time in the future I know Don Rotert will pass on, but I only hope that he and Uncle Donnie can meet up and go on one more pheasant hunt.

Jay Longacre-Head Guide & Hunt Coordinator
Prairie Sands Hunting -Sutherland NE