(Lincoln, NE) -- Firearm deer season is underway across Nebraska, and the harvest as been plentiful, despite less available permits.
"We did cut the number of permits this past year," said Luke Meduna, Big Game Program Manager with Nebraska Game and Parks. He says even with less deer, the amount of participation is on track with last year.
"Our deer numbers are down across a fair amount of the state," Meduna said, "and so this past year we had reduced deer permits to try to help reduce harvest and increase deer numbers across a lot of the state, but that always takes a couple years."
Game and Parks has been looking for signs of chronic wasting disease, and were able to collect around 1,000 samples last weekend. More details about case numbers will be known in the coming weeks.
"We don't know any of the results just yet, but that will be coming in the next month or so," Meduna said.
Meduna says taking part in the survey is voluntary. Testing took place at several sites across six regions of the state, and testing options are still available, including at the University of Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center.
He says a few permits are left for firearm deer season, and if you don't have a chance to get one, other hunting options are still open for this year.