Students May Rent Hunting Equipment

LINCOLN – Students registered at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln may rent hunting equipment at the university’s Outdoor Adventure Center.

The available gear and rental rates are: pop-up blind: $3/day or $6/weekend; layout blind: $3/day or $6/weekend; jake/hen turkey decoy combination: $3/day or $6/weekend; two dozen duck decoys: $3/day or $6/weekend. Weekend rates are for three days.

The equipment is available through a grant partnership between the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and the Cabela’s Outdoor Fund.

“We had two focus groups with college students in the spring of 2018, and one of the barriers they noted to participating in hunting and shooting sports in college was gear cost and storage,” said Micaela Rahe, R3 (Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation) coordinator with NWTF and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

To rent hunting equipment, students must visit the Outdoor Adventure Center in person. Students may be part-time, full-time, undergraduate or graduate. Rahe said she hopes online rental will be available in a year.

While rentals currently are available only to UNL students, coordinators are considering options to expand availability to the public. Rahe recommends following the Collegiate Hunters of Nebraska on Facebook for more information on collegiate hunting and shooting sport opportunities.