Ag & Range

6Aug. 26, 2021 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Ag Range&

State’s big-game seasons open with few changes

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

Because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, the 2020 big-game hunting seasons saw a decrease in out-of-state hunters and an increase in Nebraskan hunters. But with those restrictions now lifted, the influx of out-of-state hunters is increasing, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

With the seasons opening Aug. 1, Game and Parks also updated its resources and regulations.

Nebraska’s Hunters Helping the Hungry (HHH), which operates through Game and Parks and which is affiliated with the National Farmers and Hunters Helping the Hungry, noted that nine meat processors are expected to accept donated deer carcasses only starting Sept. 1.

Those processors are Belschner Custom Meats, Amherst; Diller Locker, Diller; Franklin Locker, Franklin; Nielsen’s Processing, Grand Island; Melcher’s Locker, Lindsey; Kelley’s Custom Pack, North Platte; Bernt’s Custom Processing, Spalding; Den’s Country Meats, Table Rock; and The Butchery, Ulysses.

Another two processors, Pelican’s Processing, Johnson, and North Bend Locker, North Bend, will start accepting donations on Nov. 13. Meat that is donated will be processed, then distributed to charitable organizations.

If hunters don’t need the meat they harvest, they can join the deer exchange database and share it with someone looking for meat. The database is open from Sept. 1 to March 1, 2022. Recipients can choose whether they would like a whole, field-dressed deer, skinned-and-boned or frozen-and-wrapped meat.

The hunter harvesting the animal is responsible for field dressing it and taking the animal through a check station or using Telecheck if required.

The hunter will have to provide contact information, a permit number, species, an estimated weight of the carcass or meat and the harvest date into the database.

The link to join the database is: https://maps.outdoornebraska.gov/DeerExchange/index.html.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Nebraska began using an online check station called Telecheck for all big game seasons except Deer November Firearm and Pronghorn firearm, which used in-person check in stations.

The state will use the same check-in methods again for the upcoming seasons.

During check ins, the minimum antler measurement is 11 inches and horn measurement is 9.5 inches, according to Game and Parks’ website.

The application deadline for the Platte River Recreation Area access deer lottery is 5 p.m. Aug. 31. On its website, Game and Parks only lists its Kearney office as the location for submitting those applications.

The deer lottery will have 47 permits for the Platter River Recreation Area. ‘Buddy’ permits are being accepted, allowing two hunters to apply for the same area together, the Game and Parks website states.

Winners will be notified Sept. 31 and the hunt takes place Nov. 16-21.

In antelope management areas for 2021 there are 34 additional permits for any gender and 390 doe-and-fawn permits. There are also an additional 78 bull and 267 antlerless elk permits, according to Game and Parks.

There was one bighorn sheep permit drawn for the 2021 hunting season. The lottery winner earns a nice package – one bighorn sheep permit; four days of guided service from Game and Parks; and boarding at Fort Robinson State Park. The application deadline was Aug. 6, and the hunters had to be Nebraska residents.

Money generated by the bighorn sheep lottery is used solely for the conservation of bighorn sheep populations. Since it launched its that lottery, Game and Parks has raised $1.4 million. A whitetail deer buck crosses an open field. Archery, Nebraska’s first deer season, opens Sept. 1.

Photo courtesy Scott Bauer, USDA

Big-game season dates

Deer

Archery - Sept. 1-Dec. 31 Youth - Sept. 1-Jan. 16, 2022 October river antlerless - Oct. 1-15 Special landowner - Nov. 6-8 November firearm - Nov. 13-21 Muzzleloader - Dec. 1-31 Late antlerless - Jan. 1-16, 2022 Late river antlerless - Jan. 1-31, 2022

Elk

Early antlerless - Aug. 1-Oct. 31 Antlerless - Aug. 1-Jan. 31 Private antlerless - Aug. 1-Sept. 20 Archery bull - Sept. 1-Oct. 31 Firearm bull - Sept. 21-Oct. 31 Late antlerless - Nov. 1-Jan. 31

Pronghorn

Archery - Aug. 20- Dec. 31 Muzzleloader - Sept. 18- Oct. 3 Firearm - Oct. 9-24 Late doe/fawn - Nov. 1- Jan. 31, 2022

Ag Range&

Kozisek’s catch-and-release Don’t let fear of the unknown stop you

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

Our world is so diverse, full of different cultures, plant systems, climates and agriculture but, diversity in the Midwest is hard to come by.

This summer I was given the opportunity to work for the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in Hilo, Hawaii. At the same time, I was offered a similar position in Nebraska.

The safe choice was Nebraska, I was used to the culture, I know the plants and animals and I love the Midwest. I thought that I wanted to work in this area the rest of my life.

But in the end, I decided to travel to Hawaii, because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

As someone who grew up in rural Wyoming, I wasn’t sure I would like city life by the ocean. So many people

I knew tried to convince me that I would hate the humidity, that the locals would hate me and that there wasn’t enough agriculture to keep me interested.

That sparked some fear in me, a fear of change and

unknown.

After living in Hilo from May 20-Aug. 7, I can tell you that none of what Iwas told was true. The humidity was not as bad as I thought it would be and the locals were nicer than anyone I have ever met.

On the agricultural side, Hawaii is a big producer of agriculture products, specifically cattle, coffee and produce. At one time the Parker Ranch in Waimea, Hawaii was biggest cattle ranch in the U.S.

I learned more than I could’ve ever imagined and met a lot of amazing people with a true love of the land around them. Most producers I talked to wanted to treat the land right, even if it meant putting their own production on the back burner.

I learned that not everything I learn here about cattle production or about rangeland management is going to apply everywhere. And that’s okay.

The point is, we can’t let our fear of the unknown stop us from experiencing things in our lives. You can love home, but there is a whole world out there and you might not find all your answers in the same place you’ve always been.

As much as I love the mountains, I am returning to Hawaii next summer to finish out my internship and hopefully be hired with the NRCS in the Pacific Islands Area after I graduate.

A cow stands near bee boxes on a cattle ranch near Naalehu, Hawaii.

Photo by Kamryn Kozisek

Photo by Kamryn Kozisek Jonathan Spiess, assistant pofessor of agriculture & rangeland management talks with Treyvin Schlueter, 20, junior of Ainsworth, during Spiess’ Habitat Inventory and Analysis Lab, Wednesday.

Rangeland hires new professor

u By Kamryn Kozisek

Ag and Range Editor

CSC’s rangeland management program recently ‘wrangled’ in a new assistant professor.

Jonathan Spiess recently became the Agriculture & Rangeland Management Assistant Professor.

He attended Texas Tech University, earning a degree in Natural Resource Management with an emphasis in Rangeland Conservation.

After that, he worked for Fish and Wildlife in Indiana.

He then attended North Dakota State University in Fargo, SD (NDSU) for range science for his master’s degree. There he preformed research on oil field traffic and the dust that blows off of roads used by oil field workers.

He is currently working towards a doctorate in natural resource management from NDSU. His research project is on patch grazing with prescribed fire, he said.

“I stuck around NDSU” Spiess said. “To do a patch grazing project using prescribed fire to balance out livestock production and wildlife habitat type stuff.”

Spiess is originally from Texas, where his family raises a small herd of hobby cattle.

He says that his family’s cattle operation is what sparked an interest in rangeland management.

Spiess is teaching introduction to plant science and habitat inventory and analysis this semester. Both of these classes are requirements for rangeland management majors. “I want to get my office set up and get used to campus life,” Spiess said speaking about his goals for the semester. Spiess says he enjoys hiking and exploring and has made it one of his goals to get to know the

Chadron area.

“I go hiking with my dog a lot,” he said. “So we’ve been checking out a lot of the state parks and national forest areas.”

“That’s kinda how I got into range science, growing up on the families ranch and then doing some of the 4-H and FFA

Plant ID stuff - Jonathan Spiess

8Aug. 26, 2021 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Comics

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