Nebraska Governor’s Pheasant Hunt By Gary Howey
As I sat on the porch at Big Blue Lodge, a full moon appeared on the horizon adding it’s illumination to the light being dispersed by the millions of stars in the sky that night.
It was a stargazers dream, one that’s quite common in Nebraska and one that few people living in the large cities on either coast had ever had the opportunity to gaze upon.
As daybreak finally arrived and the sun popped up over the horizon, we were greeted by 50-degree temperatures with an afternoon forecast predicted to reach up into the 70’s.
And what’s so great about that? Well, we were about to head into the field to hunt pheasants at the Nebraska Governor’s Hunt in November, the time of the year when folks up north are usually wearing stocking caps, gloves and long johns were in order, not the short sleeve shirts and tee shirts that we were wearing.
It was a beautiful day to be outdoors, and the hunting only made it better. It was one of those perfect days in the outdoors, one of those days you’ve always dreamed about.
The Governor’s Pheasant Hunt is a team event with five members on a team. It’s a one-box hunt, which means that each team receives 25 shells in order to bag their 15-bird limit.
Shells can be divided up amongst the team members any way that they wish and the team that checks in with the most birds shot using the least shells is declared the winner.
Teams are assigned a guide, scorer and are allowed to have two dogs on the ground at one time.
The hunt headquarters was Beatrice, NE. with the 12 teams scattered throughout a 2-County area. In this competition, there are two divisions; one for wild birds and another for preserve birds.
Our five-man Media team consisted of myself, P.J. Perea, Sr. Editor Turkey Country Magazine, Edgefield, S.C., outdoor writer Dave Zumbaugh, Mission, KS as well as Sam Sidner, & Kirk Nelson Assistant Directors of the Nebraska Game & Parks.
Nebraska Tourism was hosting our team Tourism’s Tom Tabor being our host. He along with Scott Bonertz, Nebraska Game & Parks who would act as my cameraman would accompany us on the hunt.
Our guide and score keeper would be Greg Thomas and his son Covey Rise Outfitters (www.coveyriseoutfitters.net) and we’d be hunting several excellent CRP fields near Liberty, NE.
Like much of Nebraska this year, there was an abundance of crops still in the field, so the birds had numerous places to hide which meant we’d have put on a few miles if we were to have a chance at winning this competition.
We were hunting large thick heavy CRP, ideal habitat for all types of wildlife as it gave them not only roosting cover, it gave them nesting and loafing cover as well as a close by food source.
Our first push through the filed yielded several hens, but none of the gaudy colored roosters we were searching for. About halfway back, a rooster blew out of the cover off to my right; I managed to rock him, not hitting him hard enough to put him down for good. Fortunately, Greg marked where it dropped and we were able to go through the area later to retrieve the bird.
A short while later, another bird rumbled skyward into the sun and once again, I rocked him, but was unable to put him in the bag.
At that point, it wasn’t looking good and I was wishing that I’d saved some of my better shooting I’d displayed the day before when we shot trap at the Beatrice Gun Club.
Several other birds got up well out of range before Kirk finally added the first bird to our bag.
Well, as I always say, the first bird is the toughest to bag and now we were well on our way to our limits.
We managed to bag five birds with 15 shells before running out of time in order to make it back to Beatrice in order to make the final weigh in.
While hunting pheasants, we busted several large coveys of quail and after talking with other groups of hunters; it looks like the quail population in the area is on the rise as all teams put birds in the air.
At the banquet in Beatrice that evening, top honors were given out; unfortunately our team didn’t pick up any prizes. Being the eternal optimist, I figure we’ll get them next year.
If you’re looking for a great area to hunt and some good old fashion competition, give the Nebraska’s Governor’s hunt a try as it’s one of those events that anyone whose an outdoorsmen or women would truly enjoy.
For more information on the Nebraska Governor’s hunt contact Main Street Beatrice at 402-223-3244.