DIY Mule Deer

[Trenton G.]

Hi guys,

My buddy and I both graduate from college this year and have been talking for the past few years about wanting to do an archery mule deer hunt. We figured this fall as opposed to just talking about it we are going to do it so we’ve started setting things in motion. We’ve been looking at either Nebraska or South Dakota mostly based on the availability of non-resident tags.

Was just curious if anyone had any input as to one state over the other, or even another state entirely that we haven’t considered. We’re pretty much restricted to public land at this point, so having public land available is also a big one. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! The current plan would be to go around the end of September or early October. I’ve read non-residents can’t hunt public land in SD until October 1st so that would also dictate our plans a little bit. We’re also not opposed to trying for antelope as well if they’re available, although I feel that it would be best to focus on one species as opposed to trying to divide attention between two.

Thanks for any help!

[last arrow]

That’s exactly what I did after graduating from Tech and before starting graduate school at State.  Only advice I have is to do it and have fun. I went to Colorado and was able to take my first mule deer.  That was 1984 so any info I have is probably out of date.

[kennym]

We've went to the Oglalla Grasslands twice in the NW corner of NE

First trip my son killed one, after my bro talked him into sitting his treestand (yeah I know, sposed to stalk em) , second trip not so good, things had changed a bit on where cattle were and food sources.

Need to take all supplies you think you will need, quite a ways to a town.

Beautiful country , not too populated. The quiet and lack of light pollution is amazing , stars are almost in reach it looks.

If you made a pre trip , you might visit some landowners and get a good spot, folks were friendly when we went out.

[kennym]

[Kelly]

Pretty sure South Dakota doesn't let non residents hunt the month of Sept.

[Trenton G.]

Last arrow, Colorado would be a great trip as well! We have looked at it a bit and will continue to do some digging!

Kenny, thanks for the advice! We have been focusing mainly on the NW corner of the state so it's nice to know that there are some deer there! That's a great buck that your son took! We will definitely bring everything with us that we think we'll need to avoid having to make trips to town. We're already used to pinching pennies here at school so living on PB&J for a while won't be too out of the ordinary haha! It would be really great to be able to make a preseason scouting trip if possible. I don't know if that would be possible but we'll look into it! If I can knock on a few doors that would be really nice as well!

Yeah, non-residents can't start hunting SD until October. That's also factoring into our decisions a bit as well. SD also requires us to apply by April in order to hunt public land.

[kennym]

The cool part on that buck was I passed him and 2 others at ten yards because he was headed toward my son's stand , praying he would get the shot because he had 2 days to hunt and we had a week. Prayer answered! 

We camped across the road from a church , think it was Montrose Church. There is a monument near there to a spot where Buffalo Bill shot an Indian chief also.

[Trenton G.]

That's awesome that it worked out that way!

I'll look for the monument if we end up in that area! Thanks for the advice!

[kennym]

I googled Montrose , NE and there are pics of both of the monuments and church. The monument on the hill is great to glass from !
LOL

[Trenton G.]

Haha good to know! I guess I'll bring some tourist clothes as well just to blend in a little!

[kennym]

LOL not many tourists out there!!

[STICKBENDER98]

Trenton, you may want to check with Nebraska DNR before you make plans there, my brother and I have hunted the central part of the state for several years in December during muzzle loader season.  Supposedly they had an EHD outbreak this summer, and the deer numbers were way down, we saw very few whitetail, and not many mule deer this past December, not sure if it was just isolated to the central part of the state, or if it were more wide spread.  I had heard that Kansas, and Iowa were hit with it as well, not sure if is factual or just here say.  Good luck with your planning, and hope you can make things come together somewhere.


Jason

[Trenton G.]

Jason, I plan to call and talk to a wildlife biologist or two and try to get some information from them so I will ask about EHD as well! I heard that they got hit with it as well which is unfortunate.

[Trenton G.]

For those of you that have hunted NE, did any of you have any luck knocking on doors to get access to some private ground? I'm thinking it would definitely be a good idea to set aside a some money for trespass fees and was just curious how open people seemed to that. Around here I think I would get shot if I tried something like that.

[kennym]

We didn't try knocking on doors, there is so much public that we had plenty of places.  That said, if you see an alfalfa field , it would be worth a try, thats a deer magnet for both species. 

There is a public spot north of Harrison with a little roadside camp spot. Think name of it is Gilbert - Baker ? We hunted across the road from it one evening but we didn't try the west side, found an alfalfa field across the road from public and moved there. Deer moved back into the public at daylight to bed.


We stayed there a couple nights, elk screaming kept us awake! LOL Saw a good 6x6 raking a tree when we drove in. I wasn't even aware NE had elk at that time so kinda shocked.

[STICKBENDER98]

Trenton, don't be afraid to knock on some doors while you are out there, the people are very approachable and friendly.   I'm not sure how it will go for you since you will be bow hunting, my brother and I typically hunt during the muzzle loading season in December.  We have had good luck during that time of year since most of them are done hunting.  Last year was a bit of an exception with the deer numbers down, we didn't have as much luck getting new places to hunt.  I have the onX app on my phone and it helps with knowing who owns what, we used to use an old plat book that served us well also before smart technology.  We have also tried to do our best to utilize the local stores and establishments, we typically get our groceries at the local store even though it costs a bit more, even though we only spend a couple weeks a year out there, they always remember us and always are happy to see us and fill us in on the goings on.  We actually had one of the locals look us up at the motel we stay at and offered up some of his ground for us to hunt!!!  We got into some mule deer on his property and I saw the biggest one I've ever seen, unfortunately it is within their mule deer conservation area that time of year so all we could do is watch it walk away.  Good luck to you!!!

Jason

[Honest Jon]

Trenton,
I won’t give you specific places to hunt but I’ve been hunting Region A in WY the last few years. It’s an area requiring a draw tag but the odds are 100% so you can apply and start planning right away. There are scads of deer in Region A, many of which are whitetail, especially in the forested areas, but there are lots of mule deer west of the Wyoming Black Hills. I especially like the area because it is interspersed with stands of pines which make for a beautiful and scenic area to hunt. One hint, the area I hunt is within sight of Devils Tower and I camp on BLM land. The bow season runs the month of September so it’s generally very comfortable. Very few trophies and the buck to doe ratio is pretty poor, but lots of action and easy to draw. One more hint, get a gps program that shows public/private boundaries. State and BLM land is seldom clearly marked in the field.
Honest Jon

[Honest Jon]

Trenton,
Follow up to earlier message. On a couple occasions I have hunted the last week of September for archery deer and then caught the antelope rifle opener October 1. Buck antelope is a draw and likely requires at least one preference point. Antelope doe tags are easy to draw in WY Region A. The archery antelope season runs concurrent with archery deer.
Jon

[Trenton G.]

Thanks for all the responses!

I definitely will not rule out knocking on doors. I'm hoping that since we're archery hunting we might be able to get a bit more luck with that but I guess we'll never know until we try.

Like Kenny suggested, my current plan is to try and find agriculture that the deer are feeding in and maybe try and intercept them heading to our from food. If we're able to find some farmers that would be willing to let us hunt, that would be fantastic.

Stickbender, I have onX and have found it to be super useful around here, so I will definitely get the Nebraska maps for when we go out there. The last thing that I want to do is accidentally end up hunting somewhere that I'm not supposed to be due to not knowing where the boundaries are!

Jon, I was not aware that we could draw a tag the first year applying in Wyoming, I thought that it would take several years to accrue enough points to draw. I suppose that might be the case in some of the more desirable units. I have been to Devils Tower and was amazed and the number of deer that we saw in the surrounding fields in the evening! Like you say, it's really pretty country! It would be fun to combine an antelope hunt with the deer hunt! Antelope is definitely on my bucket list! I just worry a bit about splitting our time between two species with our limited time we have to hunt.

Thanks for everyone who has helped out and any more info that's out there would be greatly appreciated!

[BS]

Also, look for some older local hunters that travel out west to hunt.

Older guys are always looking for younger folks to carry heavy packs of meat and share expenses.

In turn, you learn where to hunt, make new friends [maybe] and see some great country.