Nebraska Drone Laws: Trespass, Privacy & Wildlife Rules

Nebraska has no single, dedicated drone-privacy statute, but two general criminal laws, on trespass and unlawful intrusion, were amended to name drones explicitly, and a 2025 law now restricts which drones state agencies can buy.

This guide is part of our Drone Laws by State series; for the broader rules on recording people and property in Nebraska, see our surveillance camera laws guide.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses Nebraska law governing private drone surveillance under Neb. Rev. Stat. sections 28-521 and 28-311.08, government drone procurement under the Secure Drone Purchasing Act, and wildlife-interference rules under sections 37-509 and 37-516. It does not address FAA registration, Remote ID, or Part 107 pilot certification, which apply the same way nationwide regardless of state law.

How Federal and Nebraska Law Divide Drone Authority

The FAA regulates where a drone may fly. Under 49 U.S.C. section 40102, it treats any unmanned aircraft as an "aircraft," pulling it into the national airspace system regardless of size. A commercial or government flight generally needs a Remote Pilot Certificate under 14 C.F.R. Part 107, and a hobbyist flight falls under the separate statutory exception at 49 U.S.C. section 44809. Most registrable drones must also broadcast Remote ID.

None of that answers what a Nebraska drone operator may record, or whether Nebraska police need a warrant. Those questions sit in state criminal, trespass, and wildlife law, and unlike states with a single comprehensive drone-privacy act, Nebraska has folded its drone rules into a handful of existing statutes rather than writing one dedicated drone-privacy chapter.

Can a Private Citizen Legally Fly a Drone Over My Property in Nebraska?

Merely flying a drone across the airspace above someone else's land is not, by itself, a crime in Nebraska. What the state criminalizes is using a drone to watch or record someone without consent in a place they have kept private. Neb. Rev. Stat. section 28-521, Nebraska's second degree criminal trespass statute, covers physical intrusions generally, and subsection (2) extends it to a person who, knowing they are not licensed or privileged to do so, intentionally causes an electronic device, including an unmanned aircraft, to enter into, upon, or above another person's property with intent to observe them without consent in a place of solitude or seclusion. A first violation is a Class III misdemeanor; if the operator then defies a personal order to leave, or to stop, the offense rises to a Class II misdemeanor.

A second, separate statute reaches a narrower but more serious scenario. Neb. Rev. Stat. section 28-311.08, the unlawful intrusion law, makes it unlawful to knowingly intrude on another person, without consent, in a place of solitude or seclusion. Its definition of "intrude" expressly covers viewing a person in a state of undress as it is occurring, or recording them by video, photographic, digital, or other electronic means, and specifically lists "unmanned aircraft" (defined to include a drone) as a covered method. A first offense is a Class I misdemeanor; a second is a Class IV felony. The same chapter separately criminalizes photographing someone's intimate areas without consent and distributing such images, with penalties that escalate to a felony.

Outside those two statutes, a Nebraska property owner bothered by a drone that does not rise to unlawful observation or intrusion is generally left to ordinary trespass, nuisance, or harassment law, the same as in states with no drone-specific statute at all.

Does Police Need a Warrant to Fly a Drone Over My Property in Nebraska?

No dedicated statute answers this. Nebraska has not enacted a law requiring a warrant before a law enforcement agency uses a drone to gather evidence or conduct surveillance, and it has not adopted an exclusionary rule specific to drone-gathered evidence. That leaves ordinary Fourth Amendment doctrine, as interpreted by federal and Nebraska courts, to govern when a warrantless drone flight crosses into an unreasonable search, along with each department's own internal policy.

The one recent Nebraska drone law that does touch government use, the Secure Drone Purchasing Act (LB 660, signed May 20, 2025, and codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. sections 73-1001 to 73-1005), does not regulate conduct at all. It responds to concerns about foreign-made drones by directing the Department of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics, working with the Nebraska State Patrol, to build and maintain a list of drones cleared under the U.S. Department of Defense's Blue UAS program or otherwise meeting the state's cybersecurity standard. Starting January 1, 2027, state agencies spending state funds may generally only buy drones on that list. It says nothing about when or how a Nebraska agency, once it owns a compliant drone, may fly it over private property.

Nebraska's Ban on Using Drones to Hunt or Harass Wildlife

Nebraska's Game and Parks Commission applies two older aircraft statutes to drones. Neb. Rev. Stat. section 37-509 makes it unlawful to shoot or attempt to kill a bird, fish, or other animal while airborne, to use an aircraft to harass wildlife, or to knowingly help someone do either, without a permit issued under section 37-458; a violation is a Class II misdemeanor. Section 37-516 separately bars using an aircraft, vessel, vehicle, or similar conveyance to molest, chase, drive, or harass a game animal or game bird, or to cause it to leave its habitat.

Game and Parks has publicly confirmed it treats a drone as an aircraft for purposes of both statutes: a hunter may not use a drone to spot, locate, or drive game, and no one may use a drone to flush or harass wildlife, including protected species such as whooping cranes, piping plovers, and bald eagles, the last of which also carries separate federal protection under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Drones are also barred from Nebraska state parks, state historical parks, state recreation areas, and wildlife management areas without a special-use permit.

Watch out: Nebraska's two drone-specific criminal statutes are narrower than a general privacy law. Section 28-521(2) requires intent to observe someone without consent in a place of solitude or seclusion, and section 28-311.08 is aimed at viewing or recording a person undressing. A drone that merely photographs a fenced backyard or a parked car, without capturing a person in either scenario, may not fit either statute, and a property owner in that situation is generally limited to a civil trespass or nuisance claim rather than a criminal complaint.

Can I Shoot Down a Drone Over My Nebraska Property?

No. Federal law makes it a serious crime to damage, destroy, or disable any drone, including one hovering low over your own yard. 18 U.S.C. section 32, the Aircraft Sabotage Act, criminalizes willfully damaging an "aircraft," a category the FAA has applied to drones since 2012. A conviction carries up to 20 years in federal prison, a fine up to $250,000, and the permanent loss of Second Amendment rights that follows any federal felony. The FAA's position is that it controls the national airspace, not the landowner below, so owning the ground does not create a right to fire on what is above it. No Nebraska statute authorizes a landowner to shoot down or disable a drone as a matter of right, regardless of what the drone was doing.

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