By Senator Tom Brewer
As I wrap my time in the legislature, I think about things I wish I would have gotten done for the people of Nebraska and my district. One of those things is predator control to protect Nebraska’s game bird population.
When I was growing up, the fur of coyotes, racoons and muskrats was very valuable. Using inflation-adjusted dollars back to 1977 when I graduated high school, a good coyote pelt should be worth about $500 today. Unfortunately, the anti-fur people have destroyed the market for predator hides. Consequently, everyone goes to South Dakota and Kansas to pheasant hunt because we feed our pheasant population to the skunks, coyotes and racoons of Nebraska.
In a typical season, it is estimated by wildlife biologists that Nebraska’s uncontrolled predators, mainly skunks, are the primary cause of nest failures in game birds, and are responsible for all adult bird mortality before hunting season. Every land owner I have ever spoken to about this agrees that predators are the primary negative factor impacting game bird populations.
A typical adult coyote with a den full of pups to feed will kill about twenty fawns a year, so the deer hunters are also face declining deer populations due to predators. Deer populations often face disease out-breaks like blue tongue or chronic wasting disease also. I know a lot of ranchers that supplement their income by inviting paid hunters to the ranch for deer season.
The USDA has a program where counties pay a matching amount to have a federal government trapper deal with their predator problems. These are part-time federal positions without benefits so they are hard to fill. The government trapper in my part of the state killed over 1,000 coyotes from an airplane last year. A neighboring state crashed their predator control airplane, so now Nebraska has lost theirs. There is no federal predator control in Western Nebraska, despite the fact the counties have paid their share of the matching funds. I hope to make Congressman Smith aware of this very soon.
Controlling predators is only half of the problem. Growing habitat is another important piece of the puzzle. I introduced a bill a few years ago that would have created a wildlife habitat property tax credit for the corners of the field with a center pivot irrigation system. The farmer makes nothing from the land in a pivot corner. He shouldn’t have to pay property taxes on ground he can’t make productive use of. These corners increase pheasant habitat. This bill would have also put a ten dollar state bounty on predators.
The third part of the solution comes with bird releases. Almost 100% of pen-raised birds that are released are dead before the end of the season. That being said, Nebraska has a program where youth hunters get to go out the day before opening day and shoot in areas where Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has released birds. The excitement of a young person shooting their first pheasant is what this program pays for. The most important aspect of wildlife in Nebraska is getting young people involved so we always have future hunters to pay the fees and permits and licenses that fund the part of our state government.
Please contact my office with any comments, questions, or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1423, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at (402) 471-2628.