A uniquely beautiful hunting experience can be found in the remote areas of western Nebraska's Sandhills. This is ranch country: lots of hills, and sandy -- and, surprisingly, substantial quantities of water in the shallow water table just below the surface. The lakes there play host to some rewarding action -- if you can get permission to hunt them.

"That habitat is basically the Sandhills lakes and marshes and wetlands," said Hastings. "It is undisturbed, with a wide variety of duck species early, and there are some Canada geese. But a lot of times later on in the year, those areas will freeze up -- so then a lot of those birds will move to the Platte River system."

Most of the hunting in Nebraska is found on private lands, but some public hunting exists. To find the spots, sportsmen use the Guide to Hunting and Public Lands published by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

A uniquely beautiful hunting experience can be found in the remote areas of western Nebraska's Sandhills. The lakes there play host to some rewarding action -- if you can get permission to hunt them.

The waterfowling continues to be pretty decent when the geese migrate through the state. And Nebraska is far enough south that some of the birds end up staying the entire winter. Not a bad deal for hunters, eh?

"Quite a bit of the Canada goose hunting is done in the fields or meadows," said Hastings; that's especially true along the Platte River. So a lot of waterfowlers tend to hunt in the crop fields and meadows along the river. It doesn't even have to be right next to the river: The geese do fly quite a ways to feed. Most of it is decoy hunting; most of it is a pretty big spread. And most of it is Canada goose hunting. There is some mallard hunting in the fields, but 98 percent is Canada goose hunting."

The main thing that hunters are looking at in the fall is the weather. After a cold snap, the birds are pushed down from Canada and the Dakotas into Nebraska. "The number of birds that we have during the season all depends on the weather up north," said Hastings. "Two or three years ago it didn't get cold farther north, so we didn't see many geese -- they just stayed farther north. Last year there was some colder weather that moved some birds, but most of our fields were covered with snow, so they kept on going. When the snow covers the grain fields there is nothing for them to eat, so they keep flying south. That's what pushes them from the Dakotas and Canada: when there is snow on the ag fields, and colder weather."

KANSAS
The Sunflower State's waterfowling occurs in its big wetlands areas, at the upper end of some of the big reservoirs and rivers feeding them, and in the small farm ponds in some areas. Major public areas include the Jamestown Wildlife Area, McPherson Wetlands, and national wildlife refuges at Quivira, Flint Hills, and Cheyenne Bottoms.

The quarry birds are mostly migrants from the north, and as they stop there to rest and feed on their fall flight, Kansas often makes available some very serviceable duck action. "Mostly they are from the Canadian prairies and the Dakotas," said Faye McNew, migratory game bird coordinator with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks at Pratt. Some even arrive from Alaska on their journey to the south

"We are only a stopping point," said McNew. "Being a migration state, we depend on cold fronts up north to push the birds down, and having open water available here in Kansas. In dry years the birds will fly right over. Some birds may stay the entire winter. Some go to the Gulf Coast of Texas. It depends on how cold they get, and how much water we have, whether the birds will stay to feed and rest."

Cheyenne Bottoms is one of the old-line waterfowl hunting areas in Kansas, and is uncharacteristic of what people expect in Kansas: a wetland marsh with ducks. "Cheyenne Bottoms is in the Early Zone for ducks," said McNew. "It is mostly decoy hunting. At Cheyenne Bottoms we do have a shooting line for geese, which is mostly pass-shooting."

This hunting is more the classic style of wetlands waterfowling. "At Cheyenne Bottoms it is all marsh hunting," explained McNew. "We have permanent blinds on the area that hunters use, but more and more are bringing their own boats to hunt out of. It is traditional hunting. The soils don't allow for crops such as corn -- it just doesn't grow well there -- so we stick to traditional marsh management. We leave enough water in for marsh conditions. As the water recedes, vegetation grows. It is usually a balance of 50 percent emerging vegetation to 50 percent open water. And that seems to be what ducks prefer."

Quivira is managed in a similar fashion.

Kansas has historically enjoyed some nice teal hunting early in the season. "We have breeding mallards, blue-winged teal, northern shovelers, and some gadwall," said McNew. "During migration, it is typically mallards. Mallards are our first harvested species, followed by green-winged teal and gadwall. There is good early-season teal hunting in September. It depends on conditions as to how long it will last."

Some of the roughly 20,000 who undertake to hunt waterfowl in Kansas each year go after geese. "We have Canada geese, white-fronted geese, snow geese," said McNew. "The western portion of Kansas is most known for the goose hunting opportunities. The whitefronts, as well as snow geese, tend to stay in the western portion of the state. Canada geese are resident, so there are opportunities for them.

"They set decoys out and pass-shoot. With snow geese, it requires quite a few decoys, so I believe pass-shooting is popular with them. Canada geese require fewer decoys, so they can set out a good spread."