Nebraska Antelop Hunting - First Time NR

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Jul 23, 2020
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They actually do a great job managing them. There is just very little public land.

They do a good job, but there can be better quality in that state. Limiting NR Archery might make NR firearm or muzzleloader seasons possible down the road. There is a lot of National Grassland and Sandhills where there could be more.
 
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gabedenzine
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Jun 11, 2021
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Wisconsin
This thread is a good one for myself and others who want to chase pronghorn in more states than just Wyoming (which is number one on many people's list for good reason.) I myself made a thread talking about how I want to hunt pronghorn in every state that I can DIY public land style. Asking for state rankings based on few important factors. I mentioned that I was thinking of hunting OTC Archery 🏹 pronghorn in Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado. Plus many of the draw hunts in Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado, possibly Arizona.
We saw some speed goats riding through Nebraska, once we went past Kearney heading to Wyoming then into Idaho for a deer hunt.
That's great to know! Thank you.
 

D.Blake

Lil-Rokslider
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Nebraska
They do a good job, but there can be better quality in that state. Limiting NR Archery might make NR firearm or muzzleloader seasons possible down the road. There is a lot of National Grassland and Sandhills where there could be more.

I can't imagine the outrage this would cause among residents :oops:

And yes, there is a good amount of public in a couple units - but most have 1-2 public areas, and some have almost none. A lucky resident will draw a rifle tag every 3-4 years for a unit with poor odds and battle the archery deer hunters for their chance.

The cut in NR archery tags was necessary... it doubled last year and likely would have gone up even more this year... we simply do not have the resources provide that opportunity. We offer unlimited OTC rifle deer buck tags (limit 2 per person) during the rut - so you can't call us greedy with our game.

The Panhandle of NE is some of the coolest and most unique terrain in the west. I'd encourage every nonresident to come experience it at least once.
 
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I can't imagine the outrage this would cause among residents :oops:

And yes, there is a good amount of public in a couple units - but most have 1-2 public areas, and some have almost none. A lucky resident will draw a rifle tag every 3-4 years for a unit with poor odds and battle the archery deer hunters for their chance.

The cut in NR archery tags was necessary... it doubled last year and likely would have gone up even more this year... we simply do not have the resources provide that opportunity. We offer unlimited OTC rifle deer buck tags (limit 2 per person) during the rut - so you can't call us greedy with our game.

The Panhandle of NE is some of the coolest and most unique terrain in the west. I'd encourage every nonresident to come experience it at least once.

Yeah I hope they start to limit the muley tags as well. The potential is up there. But it is hard to get big when every rock flipper gets 2 rifle tags during the rut.

Hopefully we can see a pronghorn population explosion and start to increase NR archery tags.
 

jrm02

FNG
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Mar 2, 2017
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Nebraska
Yeah I hope they start to limit the muley tags as well. The potential is up there. But it is hard to get big when every rock flipper gets 2 rifle tags during the rut.

Hopefully we can see a pronghorn population explosion and start to increase NR archery tags.
I don't know if I would count on NR rifle antelope season anytime soon. Late season rifle doe antelope permits increased by 52% this year.

They also have limited the Pine Ridge unit to one firearm permit per person that allows for the harvest of a mule deer. Still OTC, but should create more opportunity.

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I don't know if I would count on NR rifle antelope season anytime soon. Late season rifle doe antelope permits increased by 52% this year.

They also have limited the Pine Ridge unit to one firearm permit per person that allows for the harvest of a mule deer. Still OTC, but should create more opportunity.

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Baffling. So took NR opportunity away, added NR costs and gave residents more opportunity.
 

jrm02

FNG
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Nebraska
Baffling. So took NR opportunity away, added NR costs and gave residents more opportunity.
Nonresidents can purchase late season doe antelope tags. Pine Ridge rifle deer tags are limited quota OTC, no caps on resident/NR split.

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SigM1

FNG
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Apr 29, 2020
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How do you know how many tags they sold non resident archery last year? How can I find that out?
 

D.Blake

Lil-Rokslider
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Nebraska
Where did you find this information though? I've been looking all over the game and parks website trying to find out permit sales and I can't find them for archery antelope.
Luke Meduna is our Big Game Program Manager in Nebraska. He is very active and informative on one of our state hunting forums, and shared this information on that forum.

He is an extremely helpful guy and easy to get in touch with if you have any questions.
 

SigM1

FNG
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Luke Meduna is our Big Game Program Manager in Nebraska. He is very active and informative on one of our state hunting forums, and shared this information on that forum.

He is an extremely helpful guy and easy to get in touch with if you have any questions.
That's good to know. Thanks for sharing. I'm a Ne resident and have been doing the archery antelope hunt for the last three years. Last year was absolute bonkers on the amount of nonresident hunters to the point where multiple people were going after one antelope at the same time so I think implementing this will be a good program.
 
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gabedenzine
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That's good to know. Thanks for sharing. I'm a Ne resident and have been doing the archery antelope hunt for the last three years. Last year was absolute bonkers on the amount of nonresident hunters to the point where multiple people were going after one antelope at the same time so I think implementing this will be a good program.
Oh Gosh, that's not really what I want to hear. Can you find these animals in the southern part of the state in the frenchman unit? I'm just wondering where else you can find these animals, maybe not quite in great numbers, but if the numbers are lower in an area, I would assume most people would rule that out, leaving it open to a possible opportunity.
 

SigM1

FNG
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Oh Gosh, that's not really what I want to hear. Can you find these animals in the southern part of the state in the frenchman unit? I'm just wondering where else you can find these animals, maybe not quite in great numbers, but if the numbers are lower in an area, I would assume most people would rule that out, leaving it open to a possible opportunity.
Yes there are. They’re all over the western half of the state in low numbers. But you have to remember that Nebraska is one of the states with the least amount of public land in the country. It’s less than 3%. In comparison Idaho is 61%, colorado is about 40%. People think nebraksa is some insane out of state place to hunt but EVERY SINGLE public piece gets hit by out of state hunters and there’s very very little public land to hunt. As a Nebraska resident if I ever moved I wouldn’t consider it to be a place worth a trip because of the low public land %. It just is too small to spread out hunters. If you want a legitimate antelope hunt just go to Wyoming. I’ve done both Nebraska can’t compare to Wyoming.
 

Covee

FNG
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Jun 15, 2021
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CT
I would advise that they should raise the price. With all the YouTuber's out there advertising these sports, the number of hunters in these western states is going to keep increasing.
 

SigM1

FNG
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I would advise that they should raise the price. With all the YouTuber's out there advertising these sports, the number of hunters in these western states is going to keep increasing.
It’s not about raising the price and making hunting less accessible for the everyday working class American. It’s about making more public lands available and more habitat available for the animals. It’s about improving herd numbers and increasing opportunity across the states for the average everyday working hunter. Yes it’s good more people are interested in hunting, but it’s more important that the states and federal government are able to improve public land across the country and preserve our hunting tradition and opportunities for years to come. Hunting has never been a rich mans sport until recently, and we don’t need to make it any more elitist.
 
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Yes there are. They’re all over the western half of the state in low numbers. But you have to remember that Nebraska is one of the states with the least amount of public land in the country. It’s less than 3%. In comparison Idaho is 61%, colorado is about 40%. People think nebraksa is some insane out of state place to hunt but EVERY SINGLE public piece gets hit by out of state hunters and there’s very very little public land to hunt. As a Nebraska resident if I ever moved I wouldn’t consider it to be a place worth a trip because of the low public land %. It just is too small to spread out hunters. If you want a legitimate antelope hunt just go to Wyoming. I’ve done both Nebraska can’t compare to Wyoming.

I've never seen one in Frenchman in 3+ years of hunting mule deer. I've never seen them south of Ogala
 

SigM1

FNG
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Apr 29, 2020
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They are more in the north west half of the state for sure. I’ve seen them as Far East as valentine. The numbers are so low out there though. I’ve seen them around ogallala. I’ve never hunted Frenchman so I don’t know anything about the population of antelope there. The point is the population is so low, and there’s no public land it’s not even worth hunting them out there unless you’re a landowner with known antelope on your land.
 

KHNC

WKR
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Yes there are. They’re all over the western half of the state in low numbers. But you have to remember that Nebraska is one of the states with the least amount of public land in the country. It’s less than 3%. In comparison Idaho is 61%, colorado is about 40%. People think nebraksa is some insane out of state place to hunt but EVERY SINGLE public piece gets hit by out of state hunters and there’s very very little public land to hunt. As a Nebraska resident if I ever moved I wouldn’t consider it to be a place worth a trip because of the low public land %. It just is too small to spread out hunters. If you want a legitimate antelope hunt just go to Wyoming. I’ve done both Nebraska can’t compare to Wyoming.
Go check out the public ground near Leadore Idaho. Lots of antelope in that area. Sure as hell arent many elk on the public, but the goats are around for sure.
 
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