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I�m looking to meet a friend in Nebraska for some pheasant hunting . He�s from Idaho I live in Oklahoma so that�s about midway.

Looking for a guide for a couple of days nothing fancy any suggestions?

Pheasant hunting in Nebraska has declined dramatically. The bird population both pheasant and quail seem to disappeared! I usually see more red tailed hawks and other predators. Deer and Turkey are going strong but unfortunately pheasants, not so much. Bird hunting has become so bad that I now hunt in South Dakota for pheasants. You can hunt around Lincoln Nebraska and hit the public lands (Jack Sinns) or knock on doors. You can still find a few farmers that allow you to hunt by asking permission.

Tecumseh then drive to Pawnee which are south of Omaha will have public lands that you can try also?

Though there's tons of walk on public ground down by Tecumseh/Pawnee City, I've never had much luck finding many birds down there. But your mileage may vary. I've had better luck farther west in the south central part of the state, but it's still a heckuva a lot of walking per bird, and not much public walk on ground out there, and have heard that the south western part of Nebraska is better yet, but haven't hunted out there. The biggest problem with Nebraska this year is gonna be the fact that a huge portion of the available grasslands/CRP grounds have been baled. We're going through a pretty tough drought here, and livestock owners are screaming for whatever hay they can get there hands on. We've lost three of out traditional grass fields we've walked for years already.

TDF

In my area of southwest Nebraska, most of the CRP has been cut and baled. Within 3 miles of my house there are 14 CRP fields that have been cut/baled, leaving NO cover for the birds. These are all fields that I have successfully hunted the past 8-10 years. Many CRP contracts expired last fall and most of those fields were planted to dryland corn this year due to the high price of corn. Much of the dryland corn will yield little if any grain due the extreme drought. Since early June about half of the days have had high temperatures at or over 100�...and virtually no rain. The native grass pastures are brown. They look like they usually do in late November. As mentioned above, the cattle owners are looking hard to find enough feed to maintain their herds for the balance of this year.

Other grassy areas that normally have some decent cover, thigh to waist high, are only ankle to less than knee high this year. And in my area I am seeing birds numbers about 40% of what I usually see. Also see very few pheasants on my daily early morning and evening walks/runs with my dog.

Birds numbers are down this year and places to hunt will much fewer than in past years. I already have plans in place to hunt South Dakota and Kansas this fall for pheasants. The wheat crop was pretty good in most areas due to some late spring rains. The wheat stubble will be the only good, huntable cover in many areas this fall and Kansas and South Dakota both have more wheat stubble than southwestern Nebraska where many of the dryland areas were planted to corn the last couple of years. This year a very large portion of the dryland corn has been chopped for silage, leaveing absolutely NO cover or food for any of the wild critters.

Start in Nebraska and work your way north.

Too bad the CRP is coming out, we've got that too, but with hay production well down and prices just nuts there's not much you can do. On the (sorta) up side the corn that isn't poor and being cut for silage is maturing well ahead of normal and should be out early. For public access lands I think it's going to take some scouting and extra walking this year. Can you walk road ditches in Nebraska?

Absolutely NO ditch hunting in Nebraska. Also must have land owner or renters permission to hunt, whether the land is posted or not.

Forgot to mention the crazy hay prices Nighthawk alluded to...heard of some standing CRP grass near me being sold for $300/ac...that is just for the hay. Probably 1.5-1.75 tons of hay/ac on that particular field. Five years ago one could have purchased the land for less than that!