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AUTHORS: Matthew Gruntorad, Christopher Chizinski - University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ABSTRACT: Deer hunting is one of the most popular types of hunting activities in Nebraska. An important expectation of wildlife managers is to provide quality deer hunting experiences for hunters. Using an online survey, completed by individuals who hunted deer in Nebraska in 2015, we utilized six characteristics to compare satisfaction among deer hunters in Nebraska with their overall deer hunting experience. Satisfaction was modelled with ordinal logistic regression against residency, weapon type, land hunted, where they were from (urban or non-urban), if they harvested a deer, and the type of deer they were targeting (antlered or antlerless). Our results suggest that, overall, Nebraska deer hunters are satisfied. The greatest influence on hunter satisfaction was whether a hunter successfully harvested a deer. Firearm hunters were likely to be more satisfied than primitive weapon hunters, and private land hunters were likely to be more satisfied than public land hunters. Hunters from an urbanized origin were likely to be more satisfied than non-urbanized hunters, and non-residents were likely to be more satisfied than Nebraska residents. However, the type of deer sought had no influence on hunter satisfaction. Over recent years the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has gone through a number of measures to meet the expectations of the hunting public, including increasing: season length, bag limit, permit types, legal weapons, public land options, and youth opportunities. These measures have improved the quality of the hunting experience by sportspersons, and led to greater overall satisfaction.
