10,000 Nebraska turkey tags sell out in 1hr 48 minutes

[deerhunt1988]

Went on sell at 1:00PM central. Sold out at 2:48PM central.

2025 = tags sell out in ~26 hours
2024 = tags sell out in ~2 weeks
2023 = tags don't sell out til almost March

The future is grim!

[NOmad]

Yep, and there was even a hefty price increase this year to $158 per tag. Did not seem to slow many down.

A shame seeing a state with all the right ingredients for world class turkey hunting being whittled down into a shell of what it once was.

[callmakerman]

Saw that coming but all three of us in our party got the tags.

[silent tom]

I knew when I signed in 10 minutes before go time and there were 3k plus people ahead of me, the tags were gonna go fast. 

We need more hunters!!!!

[wim-dog]

Watched it happen!  Like Silent Tom I was in line more than ten minutes before the drawing started and had 3,500 people in line in front of me!  The permits went literally as fast as the website could sell them.

All three of us in our group got tags, but I do wonder whether there will be a move to a drawing.  A drawing would disenfranchise a lot of people, but then, this method certainly does as well.  Guess we'll all find out together.

[WV Flopper]

LOL, I had to do that horrible four letter word thing, was tied up and forgot about it.

Remembered 45 minutes ago, but the girl talked me into to looking. As I thought.

The Four letter word got me again! One day, I will retire and not have to worry about it.

It actually was only a contingency plan in case I didn't get a Mississippi tag. Come on Mississippi!!!

[PalmettoRon]

I bought NR permits in 2024 and 2025 after many years of not hunting Nebraska. I figured since the permits were gone last year in just over a day, I probably would need to buy early.

A group of friends and I were planning on going on a hike and just to be sure I got back early, I drove alone instead of carpooling.

I logged on at around 3:20 Eastern and felt I was in good shape as the sale had only been going  since 2:00 Eastern. To my surprise, it took me 10 minutes to get through the queue and by the time I got through the queue there were only 900 tags of the 10,000 left and I got my 2 permits.

In another 20 minutes, they were all gone.

I'm retired, so I had an advantage. I personally think a draw would be a much fairer system for those working, in school, traveling, sick, etc.

I prefer draws with a bonus point system over one using preference points, as you have a have a chance every year, albeit a better chance if you have bonus points. With preference points, you will eventually know you will draw, but there will be times, you'll pay to play with no chance to draw.

All I do know is that what NE is doing most certainly is disenfranchising many, many people through no fault of their own.

If things remain the same in NE, I'll be sitting on my computer locked and loaded for the opening bell. A draw just seems a more fair way to give everyone a chance to hunt.

Additionally, NE should at a minimum post the date and time of the sale much earlier. I'm sure some people are just finding out today that this sale has come and gone.

[bbcoach]

Unfortunately, Nebraska is one of those States where you can fill your Merriam and Rio tags, so it is a Turkey Hunters dream to hunt it.  This and other reasons make it hard on In State residents.  I feel for the In State Resident Guys!   

[HookedonHooks]

I am almost certain that next year Nebraska will see a bag limit reduction to 1 for non-residents.

[deerhunt1988]

I am almost certain that next year Nebraska will see a bag limit reduction to 1 for non-residents.

So are they going to drop the quota to 5,000 then? If not, that would make things even worse. You would then have 10,000 non-resident turkey hunters. Right now, probably at least half of those who buy a tag, buy two. Theoretically, 5,000 hunters could have the 10,000 tags.

Before the 10,000 cap and limit drop to 2, 5,000 hunters could still have been buying the ~15,000 NR tags they were selling.

Having hunted Nebraska a bunch before the cap, I went back for the first time since the cap last spring. I saw way more public land pressure with the cap in place than before the cap. So if they drop the limit to 1 and don't reduce tags, the public land will sure enough be a circus!

[HookedonHooks]

So are they going to drop the quota to 5,000 then? If not, that would make things even worse. You would then have 10,000 non-resident turkey hunters.

Maybe a small quota reduction since the Nebraska flock numbers are still trending the wrong direction, but I wouldn't expect it because that will hit the state's bottom line too hard. They will try to sell the same amount of tags while providing opportunity to more hunters, but reducing individual opportunity from 2 to 1.

The place I hunt in Nebraska was absolutely covered up in turkeys 5-6 years ago and was a very easy hunt. The farmer told me just yesterday after talking about this tag ordeal that he hasn't seen a single bird while harvesting this last fall and has had no turkeys winter on his farm that always do so. Every winter the last few years he's seen great reduction, and this year that dropped to zero.

Nebraska's turkey hunting future is grim and it's not just from a tag perspective.

[nc_hunter]

I've been hunting NE for over 20 years and it makes me absolutely sick to see what the social media heroes have done to that state. 

 

[NCSWAMPFOX]

fortunately got ours too, thanks to buddy who gave me heads up in being early and ready on computer