Guys,

Thinking of a fall vacation with the whole family in tow through your pretty state towards Wyoming.

This won't be a big game hunting trip. I've been west several times, always with my dad, but the wife and kids have never been. So we're taking them with us, in October - and skipping the hunting this fall, so they can see the west and get a taste of why dad and I love it. Hopefully that'll spark return trips to hunt.

My oldest killed her first game animal this year - a turkey gobbler - and she has expressed an interest in wingshooting. She has her own shotgun and we're progressing there. To that end, I have considered working a day or two of upland hunting into our fall trip. We'd be a crew of six, with two or three hunters, probably. Would be interested in doves, waterfowl (ducks are my main interest overall - I've been through NE in the fall and seen the roadside pits full of birds), possibly quail/pheasant/grouse. But ducks would be the main attraction, and an afternoon dove shoot would be a huge bonus if that's even an option.

The kicker: I would prefer to find a farm where the landowners did their own guiding (or semi-guided hunts were offered). If that isn't possible, I have no problem working with an outfitter on land he leases, but my most enjoyable hunts over the years have been with the people who live and sweat and work the land themselves.

The other kicker - I'd like to find a place that also offers good spring Merriam's Turkey hunting. I'd love to kill a Merriam's, and I think both of my girls would also. Hopefully the whole family would, too, eventually. So what I'd really like is to find a farm where doves, ducks, and turkeys are available, and build a relationship over the years. But I recognize that you don't stumble into such things every day. So I'm just seeing what's out there.

(Wouldn't turn down a place where deer hunts were an option, either....it just isn't in view this year)

I'm going to do a similar search in Wyoming, and already know some places in CO where I might be able to pull off a day of bird shooting on public land there. But NE looks attractive, too.

We made alternate plans for this fall.

I'm still looking for a spring Merriam's turkey hunt for her and I.

Anyone got anything?

I could guide you out my back door and about 200 yds north for a turkey or two in the spring.
Just kidding, not much of a hunt.
My FIL leases almost all his farm/pasture ground on yearly leases.
Probably a third of the leases are out of state.
A large majority renew every year.
You have access year round unless being worked [planting season, fertilizing, harvest, cattle grazing].
Deer, coyote, some ducks if you happen to have water on your lease, some quail, some prairie chicken at a very few leases, and turkeys and pheasants.
Leases are advertised in some publication that has a fairly wide distribution.
Hunters from Michigan and Virginia are some of the regulars.

You ever been to Oglala nat'l grassland or the Pine Ridge area?

I think a guy could probably DIY a turkey hunt in Pine Ridge and could probably scare up some ducks or sharptail grouse in the Oglala grasslands.

It has the wheels in my head turning. I could see doing a DIY hunt some day. Or leasing a farm and just visiting to hunt it.

I grew up hunting with and leasing directly from a big farmer, and enjoyed that relationship. It's hard to find that now; most farms lease through a middleman.

My FIL uses a local guy to advertise and collect payments.  Nearly everyone of the leases stops in to say hello when in town.  
He has probably met everyone at least once.
The regular leases that renew every year typically stop by when in town.

I’ve been out west.  The Pine Ridge area is not unlike other parts of the state.
Beautiful.
I have been to the Ogalala area but not the grasslands.
Western Nebraska is a well kept secret I think.
Get an Antelope permit.

A drive through Nebraska on either Highway 20 or 2 will give you a much more realistic view of our state. (Just please don't tell anyone what you see!)