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Going river tubing? Here’s what you need to know

Ahhh … Leisurely floating on one of Nebraska’s many scenic rivers or streams in an inflated inner tube is a cool, refreshing, relaxing, way to enjoy a hot summer day with family and friends, isn’t it? A small group of tubers take a rest break on their float trip amid the beautiful scenery of the Calamus River near Burwell in the Nebraska Sandhills. Photo courtesy of NEBRASKAland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Oh, yeah! Tubing on a Nebraska river or …

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Major Changes to Getting Landowner Permits

Okay, here’s the scenario. Say you’re a deer hunter and you hunt on your mom’s land. Your mom owns 160 acres of farm land in southeast Nebraska. Therefore, she is what is called the “qualifying landowner,” a.k.a. the QLO of the property. She does not hunt, has never held a landowner deer hunting permit and does not purchase landowner deer permits herself. However, with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s (NGPC) new permit system, she must have an account established …

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Mulberries!

Maybe it’s just the kid in me, but I love to pick and eat mulberries! Your blogger enjoys eating ripe mulberries right off of the tree! Photo by Katie Stacey/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Growing up on the rural western edge of Gretna, NE, my buddies and I would always bug the area neighbors and farmers for permission to pick and eat ripe mulberries along their woodland edges and fencelines this time of year. It marked the start of summer …

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Float Nebraska Water Trails

Eager to get on the water? Yeah, me, too. Summer (Post-Memorial Day) is a perfect time to float Nebraska’s many miles of water trails. There are many reasons to take a float trip on continuously flowing water. You can do it for the openness and space that it offers and the adventure of going somewhere you have never been. You can do it to make connections and memories with people and nature, re-trace history, experience wetlands, see a variety of …

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How to Avoid the Crowds When Going Camping

It’s camping season and my neighbors told me the other day they were thinking of heading out on a Friday night to camp at a popular state recreation area in order to “get away from it all” on a nice weekend. Hmmm … I wanted to tell them that most likely, they were heading to an area to where it all will be happening with quite a few people there. Admittedly, I don’t want to be around big crowds when …

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Going Fishing? Don’t Let The Big One Get Away!

All of us who love to fish have a story or two about the one that got away, don’t we? Invariably, the tale involves hooking the fish of a lifetime and losing it to unforeseen circumstances or mistakes. Trust me, I have made my share of mistakes when it comes to large, prized game fish. Your blogger mishandling a nice-sized channel catfish. Photo by Rich Berggren/Conservation Officer with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Without question, these stories, however embellished, …

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There’s no excuse for not wearing a life jacket on the water!

With the assistance of an adult relative, a youth greatly anticipates catching another bluegill from a boat in a Midwestern lake on a summer day. Photo by Rich Wynne. It bothers me to no end that people have such cavalier excuses regarding why they don’t want to wear life jackets on the water in a boat. In my 44 years at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, I have seen my share of boating tragedies. I have seen the victims …

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Stalking Nebraska’s Wild Asparagus

The apple blossoms have emerged. Why is that important, you say? Well, it is a reliable indicator that tells me I now will find one of my most valued vegetables in Nebraska’s rural landscape — wild asparagus. The wild asparagus harvest season almost always overlaps with the emergence of apple blossoms in my eastern Nebraska area. Apple blossoms. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Sure enough, I was right! Wild asparagus emerging in early May in eastern Nebraska. …

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Strategies for Spring Wild Turkey Hunting in Foul Weather

Nebraska weather. Don’t like it? Wait a short while. It’ll change, maybe. Reality is rarely so kind. The Cornhusker State’s spring archery wild turkey hunting season is in full swing and soon the spring shotgun wild turkey hunting seasons will be getting underway (Youth – April 6 and Regular Shotgun – April 13). These seasons for turkey take place in the spring amid the ever-changing, ever-fluctuating, sometimes unpredictable weather patterns and conditions we deal with here in Nebraska.  But one …

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The Plants Growing In Your Yard That You Can Eat (No Kidding!)

You have just read the title to this blog and you’re thinking ‘Whoa, Wagner is way off base with this one!’ PL-EASE … Allow me to explain. Now that spring has sprung, some of the more prolific, more accessible wild edible foods will soon begin to make their initial appearances … in your yard! No kidding! This is the time of year when when edible wild plants emerge and they are their most tender, tastiest stage. Know that your own …

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