Contact: Kent Keene, Lower Midwestern States Coordinator
For the second year, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC), in association with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, has announced the 2019-2020 Upland Slam challenge.
The Upland Slam encourages hunters to pursue Nebraska’s four iconic upland bird species: ring-necked pheasant, northern bobwhite quail, sharp-tailed grouse, and greater prairie chicken. The Upland Slam officially opened on September 1, 2019 with the opening of the seasons for greater prairie chicken and sharp-tailed grouse, and it will continue through the close of the upland bird seasons on January 31, 2020.
To enter, hunters first need to purchase a Nebraska hunting license for the 2019-2020 hunting seasons. Once a hunter harvests one of the species included in the Upland Slam, they should visit the official entry page and upload a photo and additional information about the harvest. Once all four species have been harvested and uploaded to their Upland Slam account, hunters will receive a certificate, a commemorative pin, and entry into a series of drawings.
While anti-hunting legislators in other states are actively attempting to ban any form of hunting tournaments or challenges, Nebraska is using the Upland Slam as a way to highlight the outstanding hunting opportunities that exist across the state. The Upland Slam is also an opportunity to encourage hunters of all skill levels to pursue a variety of species and is a great example of initiatives designed to increase hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3).
“Nebraska’s Upland Slam has been a very successful partnership with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and has created a new excitement among upland hunters,” said Pheasants Forever’s Nebraska State Coordinator Kelsi Wehrman. “Pheasants Forever and NGPC work together to provide high quality habitat resulting in high quality upland hunting experiences through the Open Fields and Waters Program. This new challenge offers an incentive to try a new species and explore a new area. Seeing family generations, women, and youth successfully complete the Slam has been the most rewarding.”
More information on the Upland Slam can be found on the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Website, and the official rules can be found here.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
