A Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit staff member surveys a hunter near Culbertson, NE. (photo provided)
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) wants to get a better idea of which hunters are using public lands.
Responses to the fall hunting survey should give policymakers more information to help expand NGPC’s Open Fields and Waters Program. That gives hunters access to private property.
Lindsey Messinger, hunter survey specialist with the Nebraska Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, says NGPC has a lot of flexibility as far as what properties to enroll.
“They’re really looking for some baseline data about who hunters are in Nebraska, what kinds of properties they like to use, what species they’re hunting for on them,” Messinger tells Nebraska Radio Network. “If we can get an idea of that information, then NGPC can really use that to tailor the program.”
Messinger says hunters will be surveyed through January 31, 2017, at specific sites after their hunt.
“Roughly, it takes five or ten minutes of a hunter’s time, and we ask these survey questions at the end of their hunt, so we really get an idea of their experience on a specific site on a specific day.”
Non-hunters will be surveyed as well, if they are at the hunting spot.
This is the third and final year of the survey program.
AUDIO: Mike Loizzo reports [:42]