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Nebraska's 2010 Big Game Guide Available

April 23, 2010.

Nebraska's 2010 Big Game regulations are available, and they contain all kinds of good news for hunters.

The 2010 deer season will be very focused on antlerless whitetail harvest. Goals in eastern deer units (Blue Northwest, Blue Southeast, Wahoo, Elkhorn, and Missouri) call for a 25-percent herd reduction over the next three years.

An unlimited number of $55 October antlerless permits are authorized, and 250,000 permits and bonus tags that allow the harvest of antlerless whitetail are available.

A 20-year trend of increasingly older bucks is expected to continue in 2010. In 2009, 30 percent of bucks were age 3 or older. In some units, 90 percent of harvested bucks were age 2 or older. For those who are trophy hunters and for those who are meat hunters, the possibilities have never been better.

More Opportunity For Deer Hunters

Specific new deer regulations include:

  • October antlerless season longer, includes wider area, includes $55 permit
  • "Earn-a-Buck" requires doe checked in before buck in Elkhorn and Wahoo units
  • Mule Deer Conservation Area includes Buffalo, Frenchman, Platte, Republican units. (See more on this below)
  • Restricted Statewide Buck permit not valid for mule deer in Mule Deer Conservation Area
  • Whitetail Statewide Buck permit valid in three seasons, includes antlerless-only whitetail bonus tag
  • Bonus antlerless whitetail tags added to seven firearm units
  • Five new Season Choice Area units added
  • Nine days added to January firearm antlerless season
  • Three new antlerless seasons at Boyer Chute and DeSoto Bend national wildlife refuges
  • Archery equipment valid on firearm permits
  • Minimum draw weight for archery dropped
  • Muzzleloading pistols legal
  • Archers, muzzleloaders and late season hunters must use Telecheck
  • Bonus antlerless tags may not be used at Bessey Ranger District of Nebraska National Forest at Halsey or Valentine and Fort Niobrara national wildlife refuges
  • Created $5 youth permits for residents and nonresidents

Mule Deer Conservation Area

When I first heard about this, I was dreading another system that might be similar to Kansas's widely-hated non-resident mule deer stamp approach.

My fears were unfounded - I love the Nebraska Mule Deer Conservation Area. For hunters who buy one of these permits promptly in June, there is actually more opportunity available than ever.

The "MDCA" is just a name applied to the existing Buffalo, Frenchman, Platte, Republican units. In these units, there are two types of tags offered: One that allows harvest of mule-deer only or (more typically) either species, one that is whitetail-only -- you buy the one you want before they sell out.

There's 1,000+ either-species tags available in Buffalo, Frenchman, and Platte. That's plenty of tags.

In the Republican unit, there are only 100 mule-deer-only tags.

White the Republican unit has become restrictive, the Buffalo, Frenchman, and Platte tags offer more opportunity than ever.

If you get an either-species tag in one of these three units for a bargain price of $209, you can use that one tag to hunt mulies or whitetails in the archery, rifle, and muzzleloader seasons (previously this would have required multiple $209 tags). And, they throw in a bonus tag for an antlerless whitetails.

I can't wait to buy one of these tags!

The Big Game Guide is available online.

Tags go on sale June 14.

 

 

 


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