Youth pheasant season includes special youth hunts

The Oct. 23 and 24 statewide youth pheasant, quail and partridge season, for hunters ages 15 and younger, provides an opportunity to mentor new hunters.

“Each fall, the youth season provides a great opportunity to get young family members and friends out hunting in a more controlled environment,” said John Laux, upland game program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Resident youth, age 15 or younger, do not need a permit to hunt small game, but nonresident youth must have a hunt permit and habitat stamp. Only youth are allowed to hunt during the youth season, except at designated special youth hunt locations, where accompanying adults are also allowed to hunt.

Game and Parks will release rooster pheasants at the following special youth hunt locations/ wildlife management areas (with county):

Arrowhead (Gage), Kirkpatrick Basin North (York), Cornhusker (Hall), George Syas (Nance), Wilkinson (Platte), Oak Valley (Madison), Powder Creek (Dixon), Randall W. Schilling (Cass), Rakes Creek (Cass), Peru Bottoms (Nemaha), Twin Oaks (Johnson), Hickory Ridge (Johnson), Yankee Hill (Lancaster), Branched Oak (Lancaster), Sherman Reservoir (Sherman), Pressey (Custer), Arnold Trupp (Morrill), Bordeaux (Dawes) and N-CORPE east tract (Lincoln).

At special youth hunt locations, the daily bag limit is two rooster pheasants for youth and one rooster pheasant for the accompanying adult. The accompanying adult must be a licensed hunter age 19 or older and only one adult per youth will be allowed to hunt. Non-toxic shot is required at Kirkpatrick Basin North, Peru Bottoms, Randall W. Schilling and Wilkinson, but otherwise all other hunting regulations apply.

For more information about the youth season and a map of the special youth hunt locations, visit OutdoorNebraska.gov/Upland (under “Youth Hunts” tab), or contact Game and Parks at 402-471-0641.

Those who participate are encouraged to submit a photo of their hunt to the Game and Parks’ Take ’em Hunting Challenge. In its third year, the challenge motivates hunters to introduce someone new to hunting, according to Game and Parks’ officials, as recruiting new hunters is vital to maintaining our strong hunting traditions in Nebraska.

Learn more about Take ’em Hunting at OutdoorNebraska.gov/takeemhunting.