Nebraska meat run

[Forkieslayer]

Depending on how the rest of my season goes as far as adding to my freezer I have thought about make making a run up to eastern Nebraska during the January doe hunt. I’m trying to finally acquire enough meat for the year. I have driven through the area a good bit and even hunted the area during October as far as public land. It would seem like during January there wouldn’t be very much pressure and it would be somewhat simple to take a few does in the open fields and water agriculture land. The tags have increased this year but is still $80 bucks. I know there’s cheaper ways but it would be a fun/cold trip. Has anyone tried this or have any information? Like I said, I doubt there would be very much pressure but i don’t know.

 

[Plainsman79]

You’ll need access to private that meets the requirements of the river antlerless tags for January. It’s a PLO tag. EHD is hitting the whitetails, not for sure how bad but could potentially limit tags and or hunting opportunities.

 

[D.Blake]

You’ll need access to private that meets the requirements of the river antlerless tags for January. It’s a PLO tag. EHD is hitting the whitetails, not for sure how bad but could potentially limit tags and or hunting opportunities.

What you are referring to is the River Antlerless Private land only tag. This tag does require a hunter to be on private land within the River Antlerless corridor.

What you can do is purchase a Antlerless only season choice tag. This would allow you to hunt public in January for antlerless deer.

A few things to keep in mind:
- The Antlerless only season choice tag season is open from Jan 1st - Jan 16th. Do not get this confused with the River Antlerless Private land only tag which remains open until the end of January.
- The Antlerless only season choice tag is a unit specific limited quota tag and many units do sell out. So pick your spot and purchase your tag sooner than later.
- I'm not sure where you are coming from, but be aware that NE in January can be extremely cold.. So dress accordingly. NE in January can also be the sloppiest/muddiest mess you have ever experienced.. So watch the forecast and think about where you are driving and be aware that a frozen road in the morning may be an impassible mud hole by noon.

- Finally (and most importantly) Be aware that by this time of year, many of our bucks have dropped their antlers. My friends and I do this trip every year and have for years.. and the amount of dead bucks we find is shocking. Two years ago we saw 3 on one property alone dead and butchered - and all 3 were bucks. I understand that for many, this is a meat hunt, but shooting the biggest deer in the herd this time of year usually means you are shooting a buck. So pick the third or fourth biggest in the bunch and let that buck go.

 

[The_Jim]

Its usually pretty tough hunting public by January, I have filled tags before but its not something I would bank on.

If you can find permission on private that the deer are bunched up on January is a really fun hunt though.