36 2022 Annual Report
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Management
S p e c i a l e l k d e p r e d a t i o n s e a s o n a s u c c e s s
Eight elk were harvested during Nebraska's first special elk depredation season in July 2022.
Five bulls and three cows were taken during the season on private land in parts of Lincoln,
Perkins, Keith, Deuel and Garden counties. Game and Parks considered the season a success as
it achieved its intended goals.
This one-month season was designed to allow for as many potential hunters as possible in
the geographic area — roughly 873 square miles. The season drew 178 hunters, 152 residents
of Nebraska and 26 nonresidents. They purchased 208 permits, usable once they gained
landowner access to private property.
Game and Parks has worked with landowners in this area for several years to lower elk herds
to reduce damage to the cropland, including trampling, wallowing and consumption of crops.
The small herds that cause damage stay through harvest, then disperse, making it difficult for
hunters to take elk during the general season. Generally, only five or six elk are harvested in the
unit that comprises this geographic area each season.
S t o c k i n g f i s h , m u s s e l s
e n h a n c e a q u a t i c r e s o u r c e s
One of Nebraska's strengths is its diversity of sportfishing.
It serves anglers well by producing a variety of species of fish.
Nebraska Game and Parks in 2022 stocked more than 65 million
fish into 275 waters in 71 counties. These stockings consisted of
20 species of fish, including hybrids.
The spring and fall stocking of trout in water bodies across the
state, including at Trout Lake at Two Rivers State Recreation
Area, continues to be popular with anglers of all ages. Trout also
are supplied for the waters hosting community fishing events.
In 2022, more than 260,000 trout were stocked at dozens of
water bodies.
Staff also continue to make strides propagating freshwater
mussels, which have been in decline naturally over time in the
state's streams and rivers. Since 2014, Game and Parks has
propagated and stocked threatened mussels in select areas to
successfully establish populations.
Plain pocketbook
mussel research
