LINCOLN, Neb. – Hunters and landowners are encouraged to offer their feedback on big game issues during the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s public informational meetings this winter. Meetings are scheduled in each Game and Parks district. Biologists will discuss big game harvest results and season structure and take questions on several topics, including big game management, depredation, permits, antlerless harvest, trophy management and diseases, among others. All meetings begin at 7 p.m. local time. The schedule is: Jan. 7 …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Outdoor Education Center in Lincoln will host a two-session National Rifle Association (NRA) Certified Range Safety Officer Training this month. Participants must attend both sessions, Dec. 12 and Dec. 17, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This training develops NRA Certified Range Safety Officers (RSO) with the attitude, skills and knowledge essential to organizing, conducting, and supervising safe shooting activities and range operations. Candidates will learn RSO roles and responsibilities, Range Standard …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Deer harvest during the 2019 November firearm season in Nebraska is 2% ahead last year’s pace. During the nine-day season, there were 43,346 deer taken, compared to 42,466 in 2018. Mule deer buck harvest decreased 9%, with 7,172 taken, compared to 7,925 in 2018. The average age of mule deer bucks is very good, with 50% of bucks at age 3 or older; the all-time high was 52% in 2018. Only 11% percent of the bucks were …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Join Nebraska Game and Parks Commission professionals and local hunting experts to learn the basics of turkey hunting at a Southeast Community College course. Held at the college’s Hebron campus, the non-credit course, Learn to Hunt – Turkey, will be held Feb. 3, 10, 17 and 24 from 6-8 p.m., and is presented by Nebraska Game and Parks in partnership with Southeast Community College. Instructors will cover turkey habitat, equipment, what to wear, how to call birds …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Guests to Schramm Education Center will soon have the opportunity to attend the Schramm Sunday Speaker Series, a monthly program featuring experts on the natural and cultural history of Nebraska. The series is free and open to the public, and is designed to encourage lifelong learning for all ages and to promote conversations that facilitate scientific literacy. The spring schedule is: — Birding by Ear, Jan. 19: Jason St. Sauver, director of education and outreach at Audubon …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Hazardous weather conditions forced the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to alter slightly its Thanksgiving pheasant release schedule. Rooster pheasants were released in time for Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, at 13 wildlife management areas (WMAs). Pheasants were not released at Pressey WMA in Custer County. Instead, those birds were redistributed to remaining release sites. Pheasants were released at: Powder Creek, (Dixon County), Oak Valley (Madison County), Wilkinson (Platte County), George Syas (Nance County), Sherman Reservoir (Sherman County), Cornhusker …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Make a difference on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3, by supporting Hunters Helping the Hungry and the Wildlife Conservation Fund. These two Nebraska Game and Parks projects focus on helping Nebraska’s most vulnerable and are not-for-profit. Hunters Helping the Hungry is a program that allows hunters to donate whole field-dressed deer at participating processors to be distributed by charitable organizations and food pantries statewide. Over 650,000 meals have been distributed to those in need since the program began …

LINCOLN, Neb. – A woman was severely injured in an incident with a mule deer buck on a farm near Guide Rock on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The woman was doing chores alone when she apparently was attacked by the deer. She was discovered some time later and transported to a Lincoln hospital. “This was a tragic encounter, and my sympathy is with the injured woman and her family,” said Alicia Hardin, wildlife administrator for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The deadline to submit public input to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission on potential changes to duck zone and goose unit boundaries for 2021-2022 is Nov. 30. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) allows changes to duck zone boundaries every five years, and Game and Parks has paired this with dark (Canada) goose unit boundary changes. Duck zones and goose units provide an opportunity to coordinate duck and goose migration patterns and hunter preferences with …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will release rooster pheasants at 14 wildlife management areas in time for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The 14 areas are: Powder Creek, (Dixon County), Oak Valley (Madison County), Wilkinson (Platte County), George Syas (Nance County), Sherman Reservoir (Sherman County), Pressey (Custer County), Cornhusker (Hall County), Kirkpatrick Basin North (York County), Branched Oak (Lancaster County), Yankee Hill (Lancaster County), Arrowhead (Gage County), Hickory Ridge (Johnson County), Twin Oaks (Johnson County), and Rakes …