Nebraska State of Game & Parks Commission

As an avid pheasant hunter stuck in a state with a very small pheasant population, I have to travel to hunt. This year my husband and I selected Nebraska for our fall hunting trip because of relatively good bird numbers (as compared with neighboring states). $ 80 for a nonresident license plus $ 20 for a habitat stamp only to discover that — there is no habitat to hunt. I have never hunted a state with so little public land, or with such unfriendly landowners. Most of the CRP had been turned back over to emergency hay and crop production and grazing, leaving hunters nothing but stubble to walk over. In the northern part of the state (where there were plenty of birds to be found), we found NO public land to hunt. So where, I must ask, are my license fees (especially that $ 20 habitat stamp) going, exactly? When I called the local Game and Parks office I was told to «ask landowners» if we could hunt on their property. Good luck with that. Needless to say, we were horribly disappointed and will not be spending our hunter dollars in this state ever again. Better to keep driving north to the Dakotas or stop in Colorado.