Nebraskaland Magazine was published by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. I was appointed its editor after working for several years on the Leader-Post in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Between the two jobs, I took my family om a tour of western states and provinces, promoting “Saskatchewan Homecoming ‘71” with an invitation for former Saskatchewan residents to come home in 1971. Diane and I visited newspaper offices and television stations to spread the word.
We ended the tour in Lincoln where we met and became friends with the Sobotas, a Czech farm family, and I went to work.
Most of the time I edited stories written by others, but I also went out on my own and wrote about escapades after wild turkey and channel catfish. Drives along the Platte River were spectacular, especially when the sandhill cranes gathered in their natural habitat.
The commissioners were friendly and down to earth, coming through our offices to chat once in a while, even though they were high-ranking officials in an important state agency.
Our photographer was Lou Ell. He had a huge studio the size of a gym where he sometimes brought wild animals to be photographed against backdrops painted by artist Michelle Angle.
One time he brought a falcon and let it fly loose in the studio over the weekend. His strategy was to leave the bird hungry so that on Monday morning he could place bits of meat on a strategically placed post. The bird would swoop down and Lou would get his shot.
Monday morning came. He did the setup and waited for the bird to come, but it just sat in a corner. He wondered why it did not cooperate.
Turns out the caretaker felt sorry for the falcon and fed it bits of food all weekend.
My job in Nebraska ended when I was hired by the Manitoba government to edit Manitoba Moods. Nebraskaland Magazine was a bright and colourful publication that helped convince Schreyer and his assistant that I could do samething similar in my home province.