Nebraska hunters- I have a question about hunting Nebraska

[azhunter]

I live in Arizona and a friend of mine says his new neighbor from Nebraska has given us an invitation to go to Nebraska and hunt deer on the family farm. They are not big hunters but like to have people stay with them and hunt their farm. I looked online and it appears the out of state fees are $209. It looks like the application for deer is May 16- June 3. Is it hard to get drawn? Are there usually any over the counter tags? We are checking to see what landowner tags they may recieve or that we can purchase. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark

[K2]

AZhunter,

If you are bowhunting it is over-the-counter.  I hunted NE last year for Whitetail deer.  You are lucky to get on private land.  I hunted state wildlefe areas and they were packed.  Ken

[azhunter]

Thanks Ken, We will be bowhunting. That is great sounds like we just need to pay for out of state lecense and buy an over the counter tag.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I would like to hear more on this. My uncle lives in Scotts Bluff area. I would have to hunt public land. Sound kind of busy out there. Don't mean to hijack, just hoping to share the info.

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

Jerry, Lots of good public ground around Scott's Bluff and I would bet you see more Colorado trucks than Nebraska..(Hard to imagine it would be an issue during bow season) Most residence hunt the eastern 1/3 of the state and seldom venture out west.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Interesting. Thanks

[Mike Most]

You can also get online and buy your archery license over the internet, print it out at home... only thing I remember is all non resident hunters are required to buy a habitat stamp in addition to the license fee.

[K2]

Like Mike stated, you can buy them online on the Nebraska Game and Parks website.  You do have to buy both the habitat stamp and the deer license at the same time.  

I agree with Earl-E-November as I hunted the State Wildlife areas on the SW part of the state and there was definitely more out of state vehicle licenses than NE license plates and most of them were from CO including me.  Ken

[Wary Buck]

Residents and non-residents are required to buy habitat stamp in addition to archery deer permit.  On-line is easiest way to get permit; this way you can wait until you're sure your going and get it right before you head out the door and you do not have to find a NGPC office to stop in during business hours once you're here.  Next year, for the first time ever, the standard archery license will be good through the nine-day firearm season as well.  But during that time you'll need to wear blaze orange so be aware of that.  

My brother lives in the SW part of the state and says the same thing others have here:  in that part of NE during the bow season you're likely to see more NR plates than resident plates and most will be from CO.  

NE does NOT have an abundance of public ground, but I'm not sure what is available is hammered much during most of the early archery season.  If anything, I'd guess most spots are underutilized until right before rifle season.  During rifle season?  I'd not step foot anywhere near public ground in this state.

[ArrowAtomik]

What part of the state azhunter?

Nebraska has had this beautiful idea of printing tags off the internet for many years now.  I think there is usually not a drawing of any kind in most areas for archery.

It depends from year to year, but lately there has been a bonus antlerless tag added to a buck tag for many areas and, where available, additional "season choice" antlerless tags are very reasonable for out of staters if you are like me and want the meat more than the bones.

Nebraska has long been a wide-open rifle state and you can really have areas to yourself if you hunt in October.  Bowhunting gets a bit heavy in the prime areas the two weeks prior to rifle as it is normally heavy pre-rut/rut timing (Nebraska is famous for having a very strong rut).  In my experience the majority of the guys out there those two weeks prior to rifle are out-of-state.  Most of the locals do it the easy way opening morning of rifle season.

I grew up in the SE corner and make it back once in awhile.  Nice to have family still around to get me into private ground.

[azhunter]

Thanks for the information everyone. Arrow Atomik. I am not sure what area. My friend is getting all the information to me shortly. His new neighbors family has a big farm or I guess a couple of farms back in Nebraska and said there is some good deer hunting on the farm. They said for him to bring a friend and come out during archery season and they would put us up and feed us. When I get the location I will post it and would like to hear from you guys as to how good the area really is.
Thanks

[Mike Most]

I bet your going to like it either way. as those bucks, take a while to walk past, (big as freight trains)....