LINCOLN, Neb. - Come Saturday morning, deer hunters across Nebraska will trek out for their first rifle hunts of the season.

As deer season takes on another level, Nebraska Game and Parks discussed expectations and overview with NCN.

“I would say overall, once the season’s all said and done, we’re expecting our overall harvest numbers to be down, which is partially our goal.”

Luke Meduna is Big Game Program Manager for Game and Parks and notes they lowered available permit numbers for the 2024 season. In doing this, Game and Parks hopes to grow its population that’s been severely impacted by disease, winter kill and above all else, recent droughts.

“The drought impacts in a number of ways - it reduces the available amount of habitat for deer across the state, food, hiding areas for swan, so your fawn survival is going to be lower,” Meduna said. “On the disease aspect, when you have droughts it creates good breeding grounds for hemorrhagic disease.”

While harvest numbers may lower by virtue of less permits being available, Meduna does believe success rates will be similar to that of recent years, but will vary locally. Todd Noreen is Big Game Disease Manager for Game and Parks, and says Chronic Waste Disease testing will be done in Northeast and Southeast Nebraska hunt units.

“We encourage hunters who want their animal tested for Chronic Waste Disease to come to one of those check stations,” Noreen said. “We’ll get those samples submitted and let the hunters know the result.”