Nebraska for fall bird and rabbit hunt?

[bawloffire]

I am looking for a destination for a fall bird and rabbit hunting vacation. Does Nebraska fit the bill? If so what part of the state should I concentrate on? Is there a better state that warrants consideration? I am not overly interested in pheasant hunting. I prefer to try and pursue prairie chicken and sharp tail. Also given the choice I would rather hunt hare than cottontail. My last preference would be to rent a house/cabin as opposed to staying at a lodge or a hotel. This is my first out of small game hunt and I am on a budget so any help is greatly appreciated.

[birddog1968]

Chicken hunting is a challenge late in the year, and there isn't a ton of public in Nebraska but there is some and a few big chunks. Unless you know someone those would be the areas to look into. Rabbits, I can't comment on.

[deseeker]

There are 2 large areas in Nebraska that will have sharptail grouse in them (not many chickens in the area because there aren't many crops around). One area is 93,000 acres by Halsey NE. It is the Nebraska National Forest(Bessy). It is a national forest, but it is mainly sand hills country. The other area is Samuel McKelvie National Forest by Valentine NE. It also has many thousand acres of ground in it. It is also mainly sand hill country, so most of the birds are sharptails and not many chickens. Season starts in Sept. and you are better off hunting them then. This time of year out there they are really wild and very hard to get in shotgun range of them. The ranchers (private land) around those areas are pretty friendly and a lot of them will let you on for sharpies if it isn't around rifle deer season. Since these areas are sandhills, you will see quite a few jack rabbits and not many cotton tails. Most of the prairie chickens in Nebraska will be around short grass hills that has some crops close that they can fly into and feed out of---which means private land---areas around Basset, NE.(the American Brittany Club runs it chicken championship in that area on wild birds)
Better areas for grouse would probably be SD around the Pierre area. I go to ND and get into mostly pheasants but we do get a few huns and sharptails. You would have to talk to people in those states to get a better idea of where to go.
As far as renting houses, you aren't going to be many in NE. ---You will have better luck renting a house in SD or ND(as long as it isn't the oil country area of ND).