Hendee: Check on duck, goose unit maps - Omaha World-Herald

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Hendee: Check on duck, goose unit maps - Omaha World-Herald Posted: Duck and goose hunters, speak up now or forever keep your powder dry — at least for five years, anyway. Time is running out for Nebraska waterfowl hunters to chime in on possible changes to duck zones and dark goose units. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is tweaking boundaries of some of the state's designated duck and goose hunting areas. It's an exercise that happens every five years. The proposals won't affect the majority of waterfowl hunters across Nebraska. If you hunt primarily in Clay and Fillmore counties, you have nothing to worry about. But if you hunt in Blaine, Custer or Loup counties, the changes might concern you. New boundaries could mean that hunters accustomed to certain dates for opening day shooting might find themselves in their blinds before hunting season officially opens, said Mark Vrtiska, Game and Parks waterfowl manager. For example, the Niobrara and North Central dark goose units in northeast Nebraska grow southeasterly into Knox and Antelope counties. The Low Plains Late duck zone across the southern part of Harlan and Franklin counties along U.S. 136 between Alma and Franklin jumps northward to Nebraska 4. Maps of the proposals and a downloadable form for submitting comments can be found at http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/hunting/guides/waterfowl/Proposed-unit-changes.asp. Comment forms must be returned to Game and Parks by Friday. Seven changes are proposed for duck zone boundaries. They include Harlan County near Alma; Nuckolls, Thayer, Jefferson and Gage counties along U.S. 136; eastern Saunders and western Sarpy and Douglas counties; Cedar, Dixon, and Knox counties along the Missouri River; Loup, Blaine and Custer counties; Hall, Hamilton and Merrick counties; and Butler County near Dwight and David City. Two changes are proposed for dark goose units. They include the Niobrara and North Central units near O'Neill and the Platte River and East units, where the proposed change would move the current Platte River Unit boundary eastward to U.S. 81. The proposals are a result of public comments received by Game and Parks in January and February. "Duck and goose hunters need to be aware that changes may be coming in the areas where they hunt," Vrtiska said. "We need to know if these changes are what hunters want in those areas." Once approved by the Game and Parks commissioners and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the changes would be in effect for the 2011 to 2015 hunting seasons. Boundaries were last adjusted in 2006. Bowhunters' meet draws 700 to Kearney About 700 members of the Nebraska Bowhunters Association wrapped up their annual convention Saturday in Kearney. The two-day event featured a trade show, trophy display, an awards banquet and seminars on everything from food plots and high country bowhunting gear to how to book a hunt and memories of Nebraska hunts with Fred Bear and Glenn St. Charles. The scheduled guest speaker was Nathan Andersohn, a Broomfield, Colo., attorney and bowhunter. Andersohn is the first person to shoot the Grand Slam with a longbow and is on his way to be the first to shoot the Super Slam with a longbow. The Grand Slam is one each of the four North American wild sheep: the Dall, Stone, bighorn and desert bighorn. The Super Slam is a list of 29 bear, cougar, deer, elk, caribou, moose, bison, mountain goat, pronghorn antelope and wild sheep. Andersohn has hunted exclusively with longbows since 1988. The Nebraska Bowhunters Association has about 1,000 members, said Kirk Sharp of Valentine. There are an estimated 18,000 bowhunters in Nebraska. Contact the writer: 402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com Copyright ©2011 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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