The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District manages 24,000 acres of wetland and associated grassland habitat that. Within this area of south-central Nebraska, 60 Waterfowl Production Areas are scattered across 13 counties that vary in size from 38 to 2,000 acres, and are open to the public for hunting, trapping, photography, nature study, and wildlife watching. The wetland areas are managed to support spring migrating waterfowl and upland sites are managed to mimic grassland conditions that existed historically. Additionally, wetlands are ephemeral in nature and ponded areas can vary dramatically between years. For these reasons, hunting opportunities can vary based on current management and weather events. Upland birds and waterfowl are the most commonly perused game species with a few larger areas support huntable numbers of white-tailed deer. In wet years, waterfowl hunting can be good in these shallow depressional wetlands, in dry years upland species should be more abundant. Late-winter can also provide excellent opportunities to harvest light geese during the Conservation Order.