The Cornhusker state offers a wide variety of high-quality deer hunting experiences for both white-tailed deer and mule deer, including over-the-counter tags, long seasons, and the opportunity to harvest a velvet antlered buck in early September! From east to west, Nebraska has a diverse and varied landscape. Hunters can enjoy anything from rolling hardwood timber in the East, to river corridors and shelter-belts, the sprawling prairies of the Sandhills, to the rugged Pine Ridge forests in the West. Whitetails are found across the entire state, with the highest populations in the East and along river corridors. Mule deer are found primarily in the western two-thirds of the state. There are many areas where the two species overlap. Habitat and soil along riparian corridors is more conducive to growing larger-antlered bucks, but quality deer can be found across the entire state. According to Nebraska Game and Parks data: “Buck age structure is at or near all-time highs with 50% of mule-deer and 39% of whitetails aged at 3.5 years or older during the 2019 November firearm season.”
PUBLIC LAND OPPORTUNITIES
Only 3% of the state is open to public hunting. Nebraska ranks almost at the bottom of the list nationally in terms of access. The majority of public land is located in the western half of the state. In the eastern half, where I grew up, public land opportunities are few and far between, although some of it can be very good. Nebraska established the Open Fields and Waters Program, which has opened up 346,000 acres of private land to access opportunities. If you truly want to “get away from the crowd” there’s only a few places in Nebraska where public land is vast enough to do so, and almost all of it is in the western half of the state.
Here's a video of Greg's Nebraska buck from the 2020 Deer Tour
For archers and muzzleloader hunters, deer permits are unlimited and sold over the counter. Archery season opens September 1st, allowing bowhunters the opportunity to harvest a velvet-antlered buck. Bow season runs continuously through December 31st, meaning archers can hunt during the November rifle season, but are required to wear orange. If a velvet buck is on your list, hunting the first week of the bow season is going to be your best chance. That’s also when there will be a rush of hunters looking to accomplish the same goal. If you don’t care about shooting a velvet buck, hunting mid-September can be a great time as bucks are laying down easy-to-read fresh sign, acorns are likely to be falling, and less out of state hunters are in the woods. Late October and early November is also a great time to bowhunt Nebraska, as most out-of-state archers choose to hunt the rut during the week leading up the rifle season. November firearm season permits are issued on a quota management unit basis. Application dates for these permits is usually in mid-June. Obviously, hunting pressure is heaviest during the firearms season in mid-November.
Despite the low amount of public access, Nebraska has a long archery season, quality age structure of bucks, and the opportunity to hunt velvet bucks and both white-tailed deer and mule deer. Hunters can find good success if they are willing to put in the work and think creatively. We love hunting Nebraska, and someone from our crew has harvested a buck on public land there every year since we started The Hunting Public.
