Nebraska’s Firearm Deer Harvest Down 21 Percent from 2012
Total firearm deer harvest for the nine-day 2013 November firearm season was 36,882, a 21 percent decline from 2012.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission eliminated approximately 87,000 permits and bonus tags in 2013 in response to the epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) outbreak of 2012. A significant reduction in harvest was expected.
Harvest totals by Game and Parks district are: Northeast, 9,290; Northwest, 5,705; Southeast, 7,457; and Southwest, 14,430.
Details of harvest by sex, species and unit are not yet available, but check station data reveals the largest harvest declines occurred in southeast Nebraska, where nearly all bonus antlerless tags had been eliminated. The area least affected by EHD and permit reductions was the western half of southwest Nebraska, where a 6 percent decline in harvest occurred.
Total harvest for 2013 is expected to be approximately 50,000 deer. Archers have had better success in 2013, with more than 2,400 whitetail bucks harvested compared to 1,843 whitetail bucks taken during the same time span in 2012.
Deer season remains open through Jan. 18, 2014.
