Check out the video: The Braids The Braids Right off the bat, if you like river itself, love hunting it for ducks and geese, and thats specifically what youre looking for, you likely wont find a better chunk of flatwater than The Braids. Furthermore, even if you dont have a desire to hunt right on it, you still wont find many private hunting lands possessing pieces of Western Nebraskas famed North Platte River any more suitable for roosting waterfowl particularly Canada geese! This is due to its character. A locally-raised person who worked years ago for a large cattle operation, and had to run an airboat up and down the river as part of his duties, said that it was always difficult to get through this particular section of the North Platte. Why? Because it was so spread into different channels and therefore; very shallow sandbars everywhere. Perfect!!! If you are already a river hunter...
Check out the video: The Braids The Braids Right off the bat, if you like river itself, love hunting it for ducks and geese, and thats specifically what youre looking for, you likely wont find a better chunk of flatwater than The Braids. Furthermore, even if you dont have a desire to hunt right on it, you still wont find many private hunting lands possessing pieces of Western Nebraskas famed North Platte River any more suitable for roosting waterfowl particularly Canada geese! This is due to its character. A locally-raised person who worked years ago for a large cattle operation, and had to run an airboat up and down the river as part of his duties, said that it was always difficult to get through this particular section of the North Platte. Why? Because it was so spread into different channels and therefore; very shallow sandbars everywhere. Perfect!!! If you are already a river hunter, you know what you look for shallow and slower decoy water its gold! Years ago, there was far more of this as the Platte system made its way across the plains. However, as time has passed, and flows have changed, this spreading out has decreased and is harder to find. But the Braids epitomizes it still. With two larger main channels, plus multiple smaller ones, it offers not only the perfect decoy water, but also great diversity and meander that can provide protection from winds of many directions. Corn: In addition to tremendous river qualities, The Braids has approx. 284 of its acres irrigated under 3 center pivots! This is significant because there has been a moratorium on new wells in the North Platte River Valley since 2002. Currently planted in corn, to ask any locals who drive by, these circles have geese on them almost every day during December, January, and into February, and a HUGE amount at that! Of course, whitetail deer, ringneck pheasants, and Merriams turkeys respond to the magnetism of high carbohydrates as well! So, if you like field hunting, or want crops for income, or just a food source to draw game, its hard to beat corn, everything loves it, and The Braids has plenty! Grass: CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) was one of the biggest booms to game species in the last century. We can literally thank its seas of grass for the increased bag limits of mallards and other puddle ducks that came about in the early 90s, shortly into CRPs existence. With its nesting habitat to thermal cover; pheasants, upland birds, waterfowl, deer, and multiple non-game species absolutely exploded! CRP means wildlife! CRP means game! And though The Braids only has 15.12 acres officially enrolled in CRP, there are plenty of other tall-grass acres that might as well be. Therefore, The Braids has good bedding cover for deer and also supports a surprisingly fair amount of pheasants! River Control: Unlike the protection provided in Garden County, where you have ensured sanctuary, and also many potential problems between neighbors already solved due to the river being set aside by law as Game Refuge if anything needs to be said about owning Nebraska river ground outside of it is that the best situation is to own both sides. And there are few places that do. The current owner first purchased the acres on the north side, but was somehow by the grace of God, able to then make the tremendous move of purchasing the south. Halleluiah! This immediately made both sides stronger as a collective. First, you are not competing for a spot to hunt with a neighbor across the river, who might argue that the spot is actually his Been hunting it for years! And it can simply help ensure more distance between hunting setups minimizing interference and birds that skyrocket just before finishing into your decoys because another nearby hunter gets his shot simultaneously. But perhaps most of all, it allows you to manage your stretch or river as you like. If you want to hunt it, so be it. If you want to leave it for sanctuary, you can. Or a smart thing to do, is to set aside a portion as a roost/sanctuary, then hunt the rest. River control is huge!!! Game Species Good whitetails, quite a few pheasants, and some turkeys yes, but Waterfowl would be this propertys calling card Geese for sure! And to pursue greenheads and honkers, The Braids could provide river hunting, field hunting, warm water creek hunting, and with some investment of development, slough or other shallow water wetland hunting. Geese: Regarding Canada geese, The Braids has a zillion!!! Nobody knows what a zillion is, but you get the point. I mean with The Braids, youve got geese in the bag (or should I say you will have). There are plenty of roosts up and down the river, huge too, but this one is Mondo! From one end to the other, and in all channels, there are geese swimming and resting every day and night once they arrive on to winter. Beyond this property also upstream and down; the same. It is one gigantic roost!!! I have seen plenty of plenty, but this one is one of the most impressive! Ducks: Thousands of ducks fly the North Platte every year. And the river itself will succeed in killing mallards in mild temps to slush-ice conditions. But The Braids also has a little warm water creek that never freezes, which can load up with mallards in the truly cold conditions, (some usage even in milder weather). But when really cold, tiny creeks like this can be amazing! And one very exciting aspect of The Braids, is its obvious potential for shallow water wetland improvements. There are several wonderful meandering veins, that could be made into something great opportunity for restoration! Or too, some other water features could be created. Any of which would give the property the addition of truly ducky spots, that would make it hunt puddle ducks successfully in all conditions. Then youd really have it! Deer: The North Platte River bottom has trophy-class whitetail thats known. And on The Braids, a hunter, having never hunted the area prior, took 2 very respectable whitetails in 2019 a mature buck measuring 161-5/8 (with a broken tine that might or might not have put him right at 170) and a nice deer that probably should have gone another year, but still measured 148. And though cameras have not been run prior to this listing, I was able to capture a very interesting deer in Jan of 2020. Either injured, or an odd genetic, one side was kind of laid over, but the other was huge! If both sides were like the one, maybe 170s or even high 170s? And we got another picture in Nov of 2021 (though it is terribly blurred, but can still tell). Point being, looks like there are good genetics. Pheasants: I know the area well, and the prominent game species it is known for, and though it isnt pheasants, I have been amazed at the number of ringnecks on the Braids! Dont get me wrong. You arent buying this place for the pheasants alone. You do that in South Dakota. But one time I counted 13 roosters standing together and then kicked up more as I drove towards the river. Nearly every time I am on the property, I see at least some often quite a few. Hard telling the actual amount, but by all indications, I would have no problem hunting some ringnecks on The Braids if I owned it! A cool bonus indeed! Turkeys: On the whole, not a lot of true woodlands on The Braids. However the south side does have some better roost trees and good brush. Accordingly, the majority of the propertys turkeys are there. Hard to assess how many yet, but there are at least a huntable number. The owner told me that on the south , there are about 30 or so that roost in the spring however, he killed a good tom on the north. My assumption is that The Braids is not an incredible turkey property compared to some others along the North Platte, but has enough for friends and family to take a few long beards every year. Conclusion This property feels big! And that was actually said to me by another realtor who looked at it on behalf of his client. Properties are funny that way. Some are large but dont feel it. Some are small and feel much larger for any number of reasons. But The Braids, with the fact that its still quite raw, makes me feel it is one of those properties that could be set up to hunt waterfowl in multiple places, simultaneously or in rotation, without pushing the birds off. Youd have to be careful of course, and exercise some discipline. But having hunted geese on it a few times, and even on the river itself, what we noticed, is that while shooting guns and killing birds on one spot, on one channel, we never lifted any off of anywhere else and thousands were sitting on the river channels all around us not ultra-close, but up and down the property. Didnt seem to mess up anything. And then you add on all the very large field areas. There are so many choices as to where to develop a spot, or simply set up a spread, it seems like you could easily fall prey to being a victim of over-choice where do you begin? This would allow you to create hunting sites far enough apart, and far enough from roosting birds to enjoy hunting many places and many settings, while not diminishing your chain of supply! Personally: I have developed a lot of properties for hunting. And all in all, if I were still aggressively identifying properties to own and develop for myself, this one is one that I would have already bought truly! Its very cool! Its got its own thing open and something different from others that I have loved perhaps for the opposite. This is a property you could do a hunting club, or keep it all to yourself, your family, or invite friends and business associates, and impress them all as well as yourself with a different place to hunt every day! Or you could certainly lease it for income. I love The Braids and will be excited to see who gets it. Fun to see if they take an already tremendous place, and do something even more interesting with it! I would! Total Acres: 699.11 give or take Irrigated: 284 Center Pivot Irrigated (currently in corn) Grass: 15.12 acres in CRP. Other: Approximately 64.50 Acres of other Grass, River Bottom, and other Cover River Control: Nearly 1 mile of river, both sides, multiple channels. 3 Pivots: Northwest (Quarter Circle approx.) 6 Tower Zimmatic Pivot with 20 H.P. US Electric Motor Center (Full Circle) 8 Tower Zimmatic Pivot with 50 H.P. US Electric Motor Southeast (Nearly Half Circle Approx.) 9 Tower Olson Pivot with 50 H.P. US Electric Motor 2 Pit blinds: One is quite new, well built out of steel, and very nice! The other is older, made from a tank of some sort, but not bad. It could use some TLC but absolutely worth doing. And it is located in a great spot! Projected Farm Income:$53,120 annually 2020 Taxes (estimate based on new survey): $6,616.69 Legal Description: Township 18 North, Range 46 West of the 6th P.M., Morrill County, Nebraska: Section 19: PT S1/2NE, PT SENW, E1/2SW, SE (all S of Hwy) (Exc UPRR & Tract Land Section 30: Lots 1-2 and Govt Lots 3-4 Township 18 North, Range 47 West of the 6th P.M., Morrill County, Nebraska: Section 25: ACCR to Govt Lots 1 Address:Lisco, NE 69148 County: Morrill