Western NE

G

gundog870

New member
I will be in Western NE with a buddy the first weekend in February and am planning on working our way back calling coyotes. What should we expect and how is the public out there?

Is there anywhere to see a map of all of NE public Land?
 
From what I can tell, the mange has devastated the coyote populations in much of Nebraska. Tough calling. I have also found private land tough to gain permission on in prime calling areas where the locals call alot. They are good at it too.
 
There is a decent chunk of public ground out here. Mostly walk-in areas in the hills and sections of CRP. With private, if a rancher lets you hunt, he probably lets anyone that asks hunt so as you can imagine it won't be great!

Have some realistic expectations and you'll have a great time seeing some new country!!

Geoff
 
Gundog.....Where in western Nebraska are you going? I live 18 North of Alliance,NE. Calling has been ok but not great. As I have access to a lot of BoxButte county. Some Dawes, and Suixe county and some sheridan county. Just asking. There is A LOT of public hunting ground. As like the Pineridge north of me about 20 miles. Good luck...
 
Mange has been an issue here (central Nebraska), but not nearly to the point as it had been last year or a few years ago. I haven't made it out calling yet this year, but everything I've seen this year has had a good coat, including one I peppered while pheasant hunting last week. There are a lot of guys running sections (trucks) and a few guys that run greyhounds south of here, but it doesn't seem to affect calling them that much as long as you can get interior of a road or on good fenced property.
 
gundog870 - I'm not sure where you will be in western NE, but I would suggest going to the Nebraska National Forest (Bessey Ranger District) between Halsey and Thedford off of Highway 2 in the sandhills. This is more like central Nebraska, but you have to go east sometime! It's 90,000 acres with a little over 1/4 of that forest, so you can pick and choose where you want to hunt. A buddy and I used to hunt there now and then when I lived in Nebraska, and we had some decent luck. The area is big, though, so you may have to do some walking to get off the roads a bit. As far as private land around there, I think a lot of the locals run dogs, so you probably won't have much luck or even get permission. With 90,000 acres of public land to hunt, though, you should be able to call some in. Just a thought. Have fun!
 
I don't know about out west, but around Broken Bow and the Thedford area we have been having pretty good luck out of the 25 coyotes I have gotten this year only 1 has had mange so far. We have been calling them in by the pairs here lately and its been a pair every two maybe three stands. Earlier this season was a little tougher though. I talked to a buddy the other night that went out to Alliance last weekend and they called 12 coyotes in on Saturday. Not sure on how many stands they did for sure but he said they were coming out of the woodwork. Wish you the best and good luck calling!
 
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