Birds of Nebraska: Newspaper Accounts, 1854-1923

November 3, 1912. Omaha Sunday Bee 42(20): 4-S.

Hunters Find Poor Picking

Weather Has Been Altogether Too Pleasant to Bag Water Fowl.

Quail Season is Now Open

For Fifteen Days Nimrods May Scour the Fields of Nebraska for Bob White - Many Hunters Go to the Fields.

In spites of all sorts of promises from the weather man, the weather, up to the present time has remained unfavorable for the duck hunters, and most of them now despair of any further very great sport on the elusive quackers. Once or twice the sings were good, but just when it looked certain that we were going to have a little rough weather, out would come the sun again and it would becomes as summerish as ever.Impatient at the delay many parties have been out during the last week, but with one or two exceptions, no one has met with anything but indifferent success. One the rivers there has been next to no flight at all, and it has been little better on the sandhill marshes.

However, it begins to savor of a change again, and if it comes there may be tolerably good shooting for a day or two yet. But there can be nothing extraordinary, as it is a sure thing that the bulk of the birds have already hiked to the south, all but those old winter mallards and the hardy greenwings.

Sportsmen, nevertheless, are extracting some solace from the fact that the open season for quail is now on, and the most of them are looking to the brush and stubble for their remaining fall sport. The season begins November 1 and will be on until November 15. So those who are counting on a day with Bob White had better not defer their outing too long or they will get cheated all together. As was noted in these columns last Sunday, quail are scarce at their best, but reports from different points up along the Elkhorn road show that they are in some places quite plentiful. Along the brushy creek ways about Stanton, they are said to be about as plentiful as ever and some fair bags have always been made by the shooters in that vicinity. There are lots of birds said t be found along the hedges and in the thickets near Oxford and west of Fairmont and Geneva and several left for the latter grounds friday evening.

Along the Niobrara.

There are slathers of birds it is said up in the rocky and almost inaccessible canyons along the Niobrara, where the cover is always fine, but the shooting is so different, all being on the same order, that even the best shots find it a hard thing to make anything like a satisfactory bag.

One thing that seems to be troubling the sportsman this fall is the uncommon scarcity of geese. There has been but few Hutchins and wild geese along either the Missouri, Platte of Loup and absolutely no Canadas. The latter bird, however, is about the last of all to come down from the north and the present month may bring them in goodly numbers, although the day of the Canada in this section of the land is about over.

Quite a number of white geese passed over the city and suburbs last Tuesday night ahead of an imitation squall, but they were all high up in the heavens and bound for the south.

Ralph Crandall of Chapman was on the river Wednesday evening and bagged one Canada and two speckled fronts. He reports a good many ducks traveling south.

Kenneth Reed, one of Dundee's most enthusiastic nimrods, journeyed Saturday out to the wilds around Gretna for a few days' whang at quail, and webfoots. Reed returned a short time ago from quite a lengthy stay at Dewey and Hackberry lakes, about thirty miles out of Woodlake, but had only fair success owing to the almost sultry weather.

Captain and W.D. Townsend go to Atkinson this evening by automobile for a week's quail hunting. Birds are always found in that section if anywhere. With the recovery of Billy's prize pointer they should have little trouble in securing a good bag.

The albino pintail in Townsend's window, which was killed on the Elkhorn a few weeks ago, is creating a great deal of comment from passersby. The bird is absolutely pure white, and although it bears little resemblance to the domestic fowl, is probably the result of interbreeding.

A red fox was killed Thursday morning by Chris Nelson in the low timber north of Bancroft. This is the second fox killed in that neighborhood this fall.

Nels Updike and party are beating up the towheads out along the river near Brady Island, where quail are always to be found. They intend being gone several days and are counting on bringing home a good mess.

Theo Wiseman brought in eleven quail from the Big Pappio flats last evening. he reports the birds to be very scarce and secured his bag under the most trying conditions.