Challenge rewarded: Upland Slam grand prizes awarded

Tom Leininger participated in the 2023 Nebraska Upland Slam with the shotgun he bought in 1980. After winning the grand prize in this annual challenge, he is looking forward to future hunts.

The Aurora hunter, who has never used another shotgun, now owns a Franchi 12-gauge shotgun, the grand prize in the Upland Slam.

“The Franchi will definitely be used next year,” said Leininger, 61.

The Upland Slam challenges hunters to harvest a ring-necked pheasant, sharp-tailed grouse, greater prairie-chicken and northern bobwhite quail in Nebraska during the season. The slam is a partnership between the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever of Nebraska.

The sixth year of the Upland Slam gave 134 hunters, including three youth, a reason to take advantage of the state’s excellent opportunities and growing availability of publicly accessible land. In the slam, hunters upload photos of their harvest to a website and share information about their hunting experience. The 75 finishers of the slam, which also came from six other states, became eligible for the prize drawings and received an official certificate and pin. Visit OutdoorNebraska.gov and search “Upland Slam” to find the names of all hunters who successfully completed the slam.

“The Upland Slam is something I would encourage all hunters to participate in,” said Leininger, who has completed five slams with Cocoa, his German Shorthair.

Leininger is an advocate for public lands. “I would estimate over 95% of my hunting is on public land,” he said. “It is great to have so much good public land to hunt. Without the public land, pheasant hunting, in Nebraska, would be very slim.”

Other prize winners are Patrick Lechner of Syracuse, who won a Pheasants Forever print, and Nick Muller of Blair, who won a Quail Forever Solo stove.

One hunter, Ross Oberg, of Minden, completed the slam in one day in December. He shot his sharptail and prairie chicken on Open Fields and Waters land in the Sandhills, then harvested a pheasant and quail on a wildlife management area after heading back toward home.

“We’ve completed the Upland Slam before, but usually over the course of several hunts throughout the season,” said Oberg, who’d bagged his first two birds by 10 a.m. “It will be hard to top this late season hunt.”

Said Kelsi Wehrman, state coordinator for Nebraska Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever: “The Upland Slam has brought many new faces to the state and created an awareness to hunt a new species, such as grouse, for many Nebraska hunters. Congrats to all the finishers and their four-legged friends that helped make it happen.”