Some farmers call them corn rats.

While Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh isn't ready to equate whitetail deer with a vector of the bubonic plague, his agricultural constituents along the Missouri River holler that deer are death on profits.

So the senator has proposed legislation allowing farmers, ranchers and family members to kill unlimited deer on their properties, without permits and without seasons.

The bill (LB836) also would require a special "depredation" season every two years to encourage even more people to whack deer.

And it would establish a bounty, in the form of a $25 state tax credit, awarded to landowners for every deer killed on their lands.

More controversially, it would allow the use of spotlights to shoot deer at night, a practice employed by poachers but reviled by ethical hunters and safety advocates.

It's just the latest indicator of how an animal once rare and revered in Nebraska has become a victim of its own adaptability.

With deer populations at historic highs, some see a whitetail less for its inherent value than its cost -- in crop losses, motor vehicle damage and more rarely, human lives.

"I don't mean to sound hard-hearted about this, but my gosh, we have so many deer in this state," Lautenbaugh said Tuesday. "I'm not out to wipe them out, but at the same time, we just have an incredible overabundance."

Others say the bill goes too far. Nebraska allowed unregulated deer killing more than a century ago, and it reduced once abundant herds to an estimated 50 animals.

It took about 50 years for the population to recover enough for regulated hunting, which uses scientific management to sustain hunted game populations.

People would be foolish to think they couldn't decimate deer again, said Aaron Marr of Lincoln, who has hunted deer for 20 years.

Deer often gather in large groups in the winter, for example, which would make it possible for a group of gunners to slaughter scores at a time.

"We could go quickly from having an overpopulation to having very few deer in areas where that takes place," Marr said.

When deer hit crops hard, game managers already allow landowners to hit back. They issue free depredation permits to kill deer or other big game causing crop losses, although the permit system carries more restrictions than Lautenbaugh's proposal.

Representatives of at least two wildlife conservation groups have said they oppose the bill.

In recent years, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has used a number of management techniques to increase the deer harvest.

For example, in some areas, for every tag hunters buy, they get a free bonus tag that allows them to kill an antlerless deer. Because male deer mate with multiple females, reducing the population requires the harvest of does.

Nebraska's deer population fluctuates annually, but in recent years, state wildlife biologists estimate it has peaked at about 375,000 animals before the start of hunting seasons.

In 2008, hunters set a modern record when they killed 80,500 deer. The numbers for 2009 have not been released, but a late corn harvest and heavy snow in December probably led to lower hunter success.

The senator did not consult with Game and Parks before writing the bill, he said, but he has since had discussions with the agency.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.