Special landowner deer season, ahead of firearm, gets nod

    A Special Landowner Deer Season has been approved by the NE Game and Parks Commission, and allowed the purchase of a bonus or a preference point with regard to big game hunting at its Jan. 13 meeting in Lincoln.
    The Special Landowner Deer Season and purchase of a bonus or a preference point were created by the passage of LB 126 and LB 287, respectively, in the Nebraska Legislature’s 2020 session.
    The special landowner season will allow a qualifying landowner as many as four permits to designate themselves or immediate family to hunt deer on his or her property on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the opening of the November firearm deer season.
    No more than two permits will be issued to persons older than age 19 and two permits to persons younger than 19.
    Points are awarded when hunters are unsuccessful in several of Nebraska’s big game drawings. Preference point based drawings allow hunters with the most points the best chance at drawing permits.
    Bonus point drawings, on the other hand, give hunters an additional entry in the drawing for each point or year that they were unsuccessful in drawing. Allowing the purchase of a bonus or a preference point will allow hunters to accumulate points in years that they do not want to draw.
    Additional wildlife regulations adopted at the Jan. 13 meeting clarify draw units, how forfeited permits may be handled, staggering the sale of over-the-counter permits  and altering the residency qualifications for one auction elk permit.
    In other business, the commissioners approved the following grant awards for the Land and Water Conservation Fund Stateside Assistance Program:
    • City of Lincoln, $400,000 for Irvingdale-Rudge Park campus improvements;
    • Village of Chambers, $80,200 for a splash pad;
    • City of Waverly, $400,000 for the Waverly Aquatic Center;
    • City of West Point, $166,175.92, for City of West Point Trails and Pathway;
    • Village of Hemingford, $57,000 for a splash pad;
    • Village of Lynch, $75,870.50 for a splash pad; and
    • Village of Malcolm, $340,000 for the Malcolm ball field expansion.