Nebraska Commissioners Approve Waterfowl Recommendations and Hunting Season Dates
OutdoorHub 08.30.11
LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioners approved the 2011 waterfowl season recommendations at their meeting Aug. 30 in McCook.
Waterfowl hunting seasons begin Sept. 3 with the Low Plains early teal season. High Plains teal season starts Sept. 10, a week later than in 2010.
The early nine-day September Canada goose season has been eliminated, with those nine days added to the beginning of the dark goose East Unit season in October. Recent analysis of banded geese revealed that the September season had not been more successful than regular hunting seasons in reducing the expanding population of resident Canada geese in the Omaha and Lincoln areas.
The 2011 waterfowl seasons are:
- Early Teal – Low Plains: Sept. 3-18; High Plains: Sept. 10-18
- Youth Waterfowl Season – Oct. 1-2
- Ducks and Coots – Low Plains Early: Oct. 8-Dec. 18 and Dec. 23-24
- Low Plains Late: Oct. 15-16 and Oct. 22-Jan. 1
- High Plains: Oct. 8-Jan. 11
- Dark Goose – East Unit: Oct. 8-16 and Oct. 22-Jan. 25; North Central Unit: Oct. 8-Jan. 20; Platte River Unit: Oct. 24-Feb. 5; Panhandle Unit: Nov. 12-Feb. 5; Niobrara Unit: Oct. 24-Feb. 5
- White-Fronted Geese – Oct. 8-Dec. 18 and Feb. 4-5
- Light Goose Regular Season – Oct. 8-Jan. 4 and Jan. 21-Feb. 5
- Light Goose Conservation Order – Zone 1: Feb. 6-April 15; Zone 2: Feb. 6-April 1; Zone 3: Feb. 6-April 15
- Crow – Oct. 1-Nov. 15 and Jan. 20-April 6; Special Public Health Hazard Order: Nov. 16-Jan. 19
- Falconry – Low Plains: Sept. 1-30 and concurrent with duck seasons in Low Plains Early and Late zones; High Plains: Concurrent with duck seasons in High Plains zone.
- Commissioners also approved a recommendation to raise, starting in 2012, the annual park permit fee from $20 to $25, the daily permit fee from $4 to $5 and the duplicate permit fee from $10 to $12.50.
In other business, the commissioners approved recommendations to:
- allow, during the youth pheasant season, an adult accompanying a youth hunter to harvest one rooster if hunting on a select wildlife management area where a special hunt has been declared.
- allow hunters to shoot turkeys in season on controlled shooting areas.
- amend regulations for resident deployed military hunt-fish permits to stipulate that the $5 combination hunt-fish permit includes all Nebraska-issued stamps and does not require a previous purchase. These annual permits would be available on a one-time basis to resident military members deployed out of the state within the previous 12 months.
- amend the nonresident two-day hunt permit to be valid for any two consecutive days during a calendar year.
- establish a new nonresident two-day hunt permit to be valid for any two consecutive days during a calendar year, with no restrictions on the number an individual may purchase. The previous nonresident two-day hunt permit was valid for two consecutive days between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving until the end of the year and was limited at one per person per year.
