Nebraska Coverage
Panhandle Duck Migration Forecast
Scottsbluff, Kimball and the Pine Ridge. High plains farm country hunted on irrigation reservoirs, the driest ground DuckCast scores after the Cheyenne breaks.
See today’s live scoreAll of NE
Season dates: Nebraska duck season 2026-27, dates and migration timing
Where Panhandle is
Panhandle is drawn from 9 counties in Nebraska: Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Kimball, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan and Sioux. Those are the counties its shape on the DuckCast map is built from, so a hunter in any of them reads this region’s score.
When Panhandle peaks
DuckCast’s season model puts the mallard peak here around mid November. This follows the statewide mallard curve. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year. The actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the state wildlife agency, linked below.
What DuckCast watches upstream of Panhandle
2 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Hot Springs, SD, about 105 miles north and Belle Fourche, SD, about 195 miles north. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.
Radar over Panhandle
Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KCYS, the National Weather Service radar at Cheyenne, about 90 miles southwest of the region’s weather point. That is well outside the region, so treat the radar reading as area context rather than a measurement of this ground. Radar sees every bird in the air, not only ducks, so it confirms or questions the score rather than moving it.
Locations stay generalized
Hunter reports for Panhandle are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.
Also covered in Nebraska
Nearest first. Distances run between the regions’ weather points.
- Sandhills Lakes, about 115 miles east
- North Platte and McConaughy, about 120 miles southeast
- Niobrara Country, about 230 miles east
- Republican Valley, about 245 miles southeast
- Central Platte, about 245 miles east
- Rainwater Basin, about 305 miles east
- Lower Platte and Salt Valley, about 360 miles east
- Missouri River, about 360 miles east
Season dates and regulations change. Always verify with Nebraska Game and Parks. DuckCast forecasts conditions, not legal seasons.