Special elk season gets mixed reaction in Nebraska

A special elk depredation season set by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for July 1-31 on private land in specific parts of Perkins, Lincoln, Keith, Deuel and Garden counties, is getting a lot of attention. While some farmers, hunters and elected representatives believe the details of the season were not well thought out, the season is going forward with more than 60 permits sold the first day, according to the Game and Parks Commission.

According to the Game and Parks, the goal of the season is to help landowners deal with small herds of elk that started showing up in 2018 during the summer and stayed until crops were harvested, causing excessive damage.

The geographic area designated in this season is mostly cropland with many center pivot irrigation systems and a few interspersed pastures.

When elk are present near center pivot systems, they can cause extensive damage by trampling, wallowing and eating crops. The damage can occur at any time during the growing season but becomes much worse when the crops start to dry out before harvest.

The depredation order allows hunters to kill as many animals as possible in the designated area.

However, because the parameters of the hunt allow residents and nonresidents an unlimited quantity of permits for a fee of just $20 for general resident and $40 for nonresident, area landowners have been bombarded with phone calls from hunters near and far since the announcement of the season last week.

“Unlimited tags and bag limits with no restrictions. For as protected as the elk are in Nebraska, where a resident can only draw a once-in-a-lifetime tag, and then they open it up like this, it is a pretty drastic measure,” Perkins County farmer Dave Jantzen said.

Jantzen sympathizes with the landowners who are affected but said the way this hunt was set up probably wasn’t the way to do it.

Permits for the season went on sale June 27 and were available for purchase at the Game and Parks office in North Platte, Nebraska. More information can be obtained at outdoornebraska.gov/dep redation.

Game and Parks exercised its authority granted under Nebraska Revised Statute 37-448 to designate a special elk depredation season. In June 2021, Game and Parks adopted regulations for the special depredation season that was passed during the 2021 legislative session.