The 2-day statewide youth pheasant, quail, and partridge season for hunters ages 15 and younger is tomorrow and Sunday, and this year Dawes County will have one of the sites where Nebraska Game and Parks is releasing rooster pheasants for it.
Only youth 15-and-younger are allowed to hunt during the youth season, except at the designated Special Youth Hunt release locations where their accompanying adults also are allowed to hunt.
The Bordeaux Creek Wildlife Management Area just 3 miles east of Chadron and the Arnold Trupp WMA in Morrill County are the only Youth Hunt release sites in the Panhandle.
The bag limit is 2 pheasants for youth and one for the accompanying adult, who must be a licensed hunter 19 or older.
Game and Parks upland game program manager John Laux says the youth season is a great opportunity to expose young family members and friends to hunting in a more controlled environment.
Laux also says it fits perfectly with the Take ’em Hunting Challenge, which motivates hunters to take a pledge to introduce someone new to hunting as recruiting new hunters is vital to maintaining strong hunting traditions in Nebraska.
Resident youth do not need a permit to hunt small game, but nonresident youth must have a hunt permit and habitat stamp.