Hams' portrayal of the 2006 season: "outstanding, with a record-high harvest of 65,000." He added that hunter success rates and the ages of harvested bucks were higher than expected. The mule deer harvest also was a record.

The firearms season runs Nov. 10-18. There also will be a late season for antlerless deer Jan. 1-15.

"We will have a record number of antlerless permits available," Hams said. "We need increased harvest of antlerless deer to control the deer herd. Non-resident antlerless permits are only $55."

He noted that those wanting the ability to hunt deer statewide, in any management unit, can buy a premium-priced tag for the November season. And since no quotas are placed on that permit, it'll be available through the end of the season.

In Nebraska as in Kansas, Hams noted, the herd continues to grow. "Our deer herd is smaller than those in any neighboring state, and we're trying to keep it that way," he said, "but it's also the highest we have ever had." He added that the habitat along the Missouri and Platte River corridors supports the highest deer densities -- in some eastern Nebraska areas it exceeds 30 deer per square mile -- while some areas in the southern Panhandle have only a deer per square mile.

Interestingly, even though this story focuses on simply filling a tag, Hams noted that hunters out for the November firearms season stand a good chance of an encounter with an older buck. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission staff aged more than 20,000 harvested bucks last season, Hams said, and found that 54 percent of the whitetail bucks and 63 percent of the mule deer bucks were 2 or older. The percentage of older bucks continues to increase as the state rebounds from losses to epizoötic hemorrhagic disease that occurred in 2004 and 2005.

Weather cooperated with Nebraska deer over the past year, which gives Hams another reason to characterize the state's current population as "likely at a record high and increasing." When you see management units with hunter success rates exceeding 60 percent, it's easy to see how this season shapes up to be outstanding again through the Cornhusker State.

Hams added that 15 of the state's 18 management units had hunter success rates of at least 59 percent. When you take into account diversity of habitat, the spectrum of deer densities and the dynamics of hunting pressure, that number looks even better, indicating that hunters throughout the state are going to find areas whose deer numbers will afford them a good chance of filling their tags.

Here's another neat element of Nebraska deer season: Youth hunters have no permit quotas, and they can hunt the November season. If you know youngsters even a little interested in deer hunting, this would be a great season to invite them along and help them fall in love with a little piece of the Great Plains deer woods.

SOUTH DAKOTA
In reporting on South Dakota's prospects as the 2007 deer season got set to open, biologist Ted Benzon sounded a lot like his Great Plains counterparts to the north and south, describing the 2006 season as a good one. He noted that a mild winter enabled the state's deer herd to evade significant weather-related mortality through the cold months.

The management units he spotlighted for hunters wanting to fill tags this season comprise a group with success rates all at 57 percent or higher, with three of the five at 65 percent or higher. Take those numbers into consideration and factor in another mild winter, and you'll find little reason to believe that South Dakotans won't enjoy another great firearms season this fall and winter.

Season dates vary by region here, and rather more so than in any of the other Great Plains states. Here they are for 2007: Black Hills, Nov. 1-30; West River, Nov. 10 through Dec. 3, and Jan. 1-9 2008; East River, Nov. 17 through Dec. 9, and Jan. 1-9 2008.

South Dakota Highway 20 in the northwest corner of the state bisects two of the counties -- Harding and Perkins -- that Benzon pointed to as hot bets for a 2007 firearms hunt. The other three -- Brown, Spink and Edmunds -- are in east-central and northeastern South Dakota; think of them as the counties that surround the intersection in Aberdeen of U.S. highways 12 and 281. They stretch out quite a way, of course, because they're fairly large, and so provide plenty of possibility.

According to Benzon, South Dakota hunters shouldn't expect any major regulation changes from 2006. He went on to remark on a statewide deer density of more than five deer per square mile, and said that state wildlife managers are hoping for additional doe harvest this season in all regions. As has been proposed in the segments of this story covering the other Great Plains states, pockets will be found throughout South Dakota whose densities are undoubtedly either significantly higher or significantly lower than the average.

That said, those who take the time to scout, and to talk to landowners and local/regional biologists, are going to be steered towards the areas in which solid numbers of deer are available for hunting and harvest. As in the rest of the Great Plains, you'll need to do some homework, but the reward for the effort will be a real chance at taking a deer.