Swanson Resorvoior Hunting
Nebraska
Contributors to this thread:
Just wanted to share some good information on hunting the Swanson area in the southwest area of Nebraska. For those of you that don't know the area it is near Stratton NB. This is on the Republican River and has some great Turkey, Whitetail and Mule Deer hunting. The prices for out of state licenses can be very resonable too. There is a small town hotel that is located in Stratton that is now under new ownership. The owner is a personal friend and I thought this might be a good way of getting the word out. For those of you have stayed there the rooms have been remodled and some have kitchenettes. The name of the place is Peyton's Place Motel and the phone number is 1-308-340-2647 for reservations for your next hunt.
Some great hunting in the western part of the state, and as far as bow hunting goes, it gets more pressure from the boys in Colorado than the ones from Nebraska
I got ran out of the area I hunt this november on medicine creek. Counted 7 colorado trucks on one trail. Good for the economy, bad for me. One night I thought id visit with one fella and his son. Tried having a nice conversation but when I told him I was going to the husker game the next day he said "I hope you f****** lose". He jumped in the truck and left. I thought it was funny.
As for the Colorado hunters in this area your probably right there. We don't have the great whitetail hunting that you all are so lucky to have, and the areas that are good take forever to draw here. Turkey is a joke in Colorado. It takes 4-6 years to draw a good area here. CO Division of Wildlife is messed up! So I have to admit I love your state and the hunting is great too.
As for the football I have to say I jump for joy everytime the Huskers win. I would rather watch them then the Buffs any day. GO HUSKERS! But I'm sure there are the die hard fans from every state.
Lineman, While I can't apologize for every idiot in my state, be assured there are a lot of Colorado hunters that really appreciate hunting in NE and are thankful for the NE landowners that let us hunt on their land. And some of us really don't give a damn what CU football does! If you bump into me I'm more likely to ask you how your day is going.
I definetly don't form an opinion from one jerk. I appreciate the economic impact you guys have on us as I am sure you guys do when I go elk hunting out there. I've just got a bur in my britches cause the area I hunt has been discovered by a lot of people. That's public ground though. I would rather make friends with people that hunt the same area than enemies.
I grew up hunting that area down there. Don't make it back for hunting much anymore. Some really good deer down there but most people down east here don't want to make the drive. I like to go where I have a chance at a trophy buck. I am looking at leasing 300 acres on the Medicine Creek that looks like some good deer country.
Chris
I personally love medicine creek..........never hunted the public portion but i had a friend who gained access to some private on the medicine. Only hunted it for 4 days but it was some of the best hunting ive ever had! I never dropped the string but had deer after deer file by, my friend connected on a decent 4 by and another friend hit a limb and spooked a solid 150 at 10 yards. Ive always wanted to go back.............
I've got some relative's that live in Stratton. That's where I do most of my deer hunting now. I have never hunted out at Swanson, but I have seen some nice deer at the check station in Trenton during rifle season that have been taken out at the lake.
Had a really good buddy go to college for a couple years in mccook.. We've been out there several times after pheasents and turkey I killed a great bird w my bow. That being said I would love to go back to chase deer. I hate that ours states won't go at it anymore on the field... Stupid lil reds... :).. I love hunting NE.. My buddies always say how green it turns during deer and pheasent seasons.. Plus those dam NEans are a funny and a ball to hunt with.. Best part is when those flat landers come here and find out what a mountain is! GO BUFFS!!!
Not taking sides, because most Nebraskans go to other states if they want to hunt elk, moose, sheep, caribou, bear, etc.
But to quote part of a recent letter from the Interim Wildlife Division Administrator: "...our state has been very welcoming of nonresident hunters. A steady increase of nonresident deer hunters (1,000 per year for the past 7 or 8 years) indicates that most deer hunters like what they find in Nebraska. While this influx may impact opportunity for hunters in the future..."
So, if my math is correct, there are approx. 7,000 to 8,000 more NR deer hunters in Nebraska than there was 7 or 8 years ago.
That should come as no surprise, The G&P has been courting the nonresident for years. Low prices and extended over the counter permits. Why shouldn't the numbers go up.. Probably find a parallel rise in out of state individuals and outfitters leasing property as well.
Guys with all due respect, though I feel your pain, I would like to see how many out of staters come here to colorado (tons of rifle hunters) because of the great public land hunting.. It is what it is and unfortunately it will take your dow many years to find out they have let too many licenses out.. It did ours. Personally I would rather it take a couple more years to draw to have a quality hunt..
I hunt many states so it hasn't been a huge deal to me until this year. I saw a huge jump in nr hunters at med creek this year. Im talking probably 3 times normal years. I take the same tactic up there as I do elk hunting. I get as far away from roads as possible. Like I said above it sucks im getting pushed out of my usual spot but thats public land for ya. Until we start drawing buck tags like kansas and iowa we are the go to place. I wish nebraska had more public ground. I can't find any private to buck hunt around the cambridge area. Leasing has moved in andmy pockets aren't deep enough for that!
lineman,
Just goes to show what a little free advertising will do for you.
Earl, im a touch confused on your last post. Are you eluding to the fact that I have helped a couple people find a spot to hunt?
Big money has put more pressure on our public hunting ground in Nebraska than anything else! I have lived most of my life in the Stratton area. All of the river bottom and alot of the upland has either been leased out or sold to people with very deep pockets. Most of this land has only a small fraction of game taken that it used to have havested. As a young man I could hunt most of the whole county. Now my brother and I are down to family only hunting on our farm. Which means we have to turn down lifelong friends that ask to hunt. All of this has put alot pressure on our public hunting grounds in Nebraska. People are quiting hunting altogether. So please stop the esoteric debates on rifle,inline muzzleloaders, crossbows,ect. The Nebrasks Bowhuters is one of the best organizations in the state. We need to do more in new hunter programs and hunter education. As pressured as our lands are now it can only get worse if stand divided. Peta has deep pockets too. Rich Walter
Nebraska! The hunting's GREAT! The people are even GREATER. What more could one ask for.
The thing is Nebraska has so little public hunting area. Which means the private ground is highly sought and fought for.
I hear part of what slrich is saying--all of us "older" hunters used to be able to hunt vastly more land than we probably are able to now. I've still got some spots in the area I grew up in, but even there as landowners age or sell out, those spots are shrinking or being leased. Housing developments are chewing up the hunting ground too.
I disagree with him on the crossbow mistake. It will only make that competition for a hunting spot during bow season all the tougher, as many of the new crossbow users will be former gunhunters who could not master a real bow or were unwilling to invest the time to even try. These opportunists will make getting permission on private property all the tougher.
Slrich is right that people are quitting hunting altogether. And unfortunately, more and more young kids will never have the easy, walk-out-your-back-door opportunity to shoot bows, bb guns, .22s, etc. because rural populations are declining fast and kids are growing up in places where they will be unlikely to be exposed to hunting.
The good news was that bowhunting numbers were already healthy nationwide. Bowhunting numbers and turkey hunting permits were the healthiest sub-populations among the hunting users. So why the NGPC decides to "fix" bowhunting by adding crossbows is beyond me. Sorry to hijack this thread.
While NE is big and has a low hunter density, we also have a ton of this state that doesn't have much for hunting potential. Dodge Co., where I live, is a deer magnet along the Platte and the Elkhorn and few other streams. But the rest of it is farmed fencerow to fencerow and not even very good pheasant habitat. So while NGPC likes to brag about low hunter density, truth of the matter is even back in the east, the actual hunter density where the deer are is really fairly competitive, just as it is out west along the Republican River or Platte River or Niobrara River.