Sorry but I'm skeptical about what your claiming. I lived in Nebraska for many years and the NGP has no reason to withhold any information on the deer population. Deer populations are down all over the west mainly because of the intense drought that has been going on for sometime. EHD has claimed some of the population but not to the extent your claiming. Another factor added to Nebraska recently is the recurrence of the mountain lion in the state added to the coyote predication on the deer. But the NGP lying about the deer population? Just ain't so.
I understand your skepticism about my claims. When you lived there, their were probably great populations of deer. I have hunted Nebraska in 08, 10, 11, 12 and 2013 and I've seen great numbers of deer. More than I thought were possible. I'm talking scenes like some of the original Monster Bucks video series put out in the late 90s. In those videos there would be 50-100 deer in some of those alfalfa fields of Montana. I never thought I would see anything close to that. I hunted public land the first year and it was just as I expected, you had to walk a lot and really hunt hard just to find deer. I earned my first mule deer buck and I mean EARNED! Over 1 1/2 mile drag out on my own. Nebraska didn't allow quartering deer at that time (changed the next year in 09). I met some great people and became great friends with a nice family and have had great private land to hunt ever since. In 2010 I hunted wheat fields surrounded by rough sandhills pasture land on 3 sides and cornfields on the other. I would see 20-40 mule deer and 10-15 whitetails on these fields daily! It was a deer hunters paradise. In 2011 corn harvest was late and I would see 10-20 mule deer and 5-10 whitetails on these same fields. Deer numbers weren't down, there was just more cover. The private ground I was hunting had an annual harvest of about 30-40 deer and the population was still growing. In 2012 there were noticeably less deer, and the landowner said they had found quite a few mule deer of all age classes dead around their stock tanks. Those same fields I had hunted previously showed about 30 mule deer and 7 whitetails. Only problem was that was in a whole week of hunting. Corn harvest was not late and the deer should have been visible. This year was worse as far as numbers, on a 7 day hunt I saw 0 whitetails not even roadkill. I saw 3-7 mule deer on those fields the days I hunted there but I concentrated on winter pastureland that had not been grazed a few miles away. Overall I would say that mule deer numbers are down 40- 60% on the ranch that I hunt and the surrounding area. 80% or more for the whitetails. There were more deer found dead this summer around stock tanks and even a few antelope were also found dead or dying. The rancher and a local biologist said they had never seen 2 years in a row like this. The numbers affected weren't as great this year but still are bad to an already down population.
While I understand that his trend can be localized, it seems as if it has effected every unit in the state except the Frenchmen unit. If this is the case then it looks like the Ne Game and Parks would not only cut antlerless but regular Nov firearm permits. They have given a 4% loss in the Frenchmen unit to 45% loss in Loup West unit for whitetails. No loss maps or figures for Mule deer except for a 20% success reduction over 3 years ago due to brainworm disease. I talked to 2 biologist and 1 game warden about the losses and they said they are more severe than NE game and parks is saying. They estimated 40-50% mule deer losses and 50-60% whitetail losses for the eastern half of the plains unit (the area that they work).
As for the comment about the NE game and parks not lying about the deer population, take the blinders off. This is a government organization! It is filled with biologist and wardens who love game and would love to see our wildlife populations thrive and hunters have successful seasons. But it is also filled with people who manage budgets and must meet these budgets with mostly higher priced non resident license sales. These are the people who must make decisions based not solely on the benefit of wildlife but must make sure there is enough money to make sure that the biologist and wardens that protect the wildlife are paid. It is unenviable job. When more wardens are needed to protect down populations, biologist are telling you to cut permit numbers. I applaud their efforts of cutting season choice antlerless permits and bonus tags. With that said don't forget the politicians who influence such decisions. They are bombarded with lobbyist of huge farm operations who want deer numbers down because of crop loss but won't let hunters step foot on these same lands. Also vehicle insurance companies lobby in every state for expanded seasons (especially for antlerless) to reduce deer populations so that there are less deer/vehicle collisions and therefore their profits are greater. I agree with coyote predation, it does affect deer populations but there hasn't been an explosion of coyotes to cause losses even close to this. As for mountain lions, they may hurt a Very loacalized population but we are talking about an almost statewide trend.
If you don't think that money influences decisions then think about this. MDCA (mule deer conservation area) no does can be harvested, statewide muzzleloader permits are not valid for mule deer, residents must apply and draw one of the permits that are valid for the unit and can harvest 1 mule deer buck if drawn. They cannot harvest a mule deer buck with the statewide buck tag. Great rules to have a controlled harvest of mule deer and help populations recover. But as a non resident I can harvest a mule deer buck every year with a statewide buck tag in the mule deer conservation area. IT costs $521. I can't do it with a muzzleloader tag $209 or a unit tag $209, but for $521 I can. So I guess non residents with a $521 tag don't hurt the population when they harvest a mule deer.
