Nebraska public land mulies

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  • 42769vette

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    I just finalized dates and details on this hunt. Ill be in Nebraska with the Vortex crew from December 11th-16th. The only thing we havnt finalized is the exact location.

    Does anyone have any recent intel. We will either be in Chadron, or Valentine.
     

    roscott

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    I don’t have any intel, but I’d love to hear more! How’d you get hooked up with the Vortex gang? Did you have to put in for a drawing? Have you gone before?
     

    42769vette

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    I've been with Vortex longer than most the employees, so over the years I've become friends with a lot of them. I just sent a text, and we started working on details.

    This will be my first big game hunt with them. Me and a few of the guys share a snow goose blind every February/March, but it will be our first put west trip together.

    This is a muzzleloader hunt do its OTC tags
     

    Tactically Fat

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    I'm jealous!!!

    Is it as rigorous a hunt as Elk is? Or is more like how we hunt deer here in IN? Kind of a sit in a good spot and wait?
     

    42769vette

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    I'm jealous!!!

    Is it as rigorous a hunt as Elk is? Or is more like how we hunt deer here in IN? Kind of a sit in a good spot and wait?

    It will not be as rigorous as an elk hunt as the terrain is not as rough, but it will be nothing like we hunt deer here sitting and waiting.

    Basic day will be

    Wake up in time to hike 3-4 miles before the sun comes up.

    Find the highest spot in that area, and walk to it.

    Glass until you find animal you can make a play on (wind/terrain, etc)

    GO GET IT, PACK IT OUT.

    This will not be the type hunt where we kill 200 inch mulies. It will be where we kill the mulie equivalent of a 6 point basket rack. Most of the area we are looking at will have more, and better whitetail than mulies, but to be honest, I can kill whitetail here, so if its not a whitetail north of 160, Im not wasting my tag on it. I want a mulie, I don't thing the others are as picky.

    Ive read that a lot of Nebraska was flooded enough to make it un accessible during bow, and early rifle season. If we can find those area's that is probably where we will start.
     

    42769vette

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    Sounds pretty dang awesome. So your tag is good for mulie or white tail? How much was it?

    Yes out there, you buy a "deer tag". I have not bought the tag yet, but I looked a couple months ago, and they ran just south of 250 bucks. The reason we chose Nebraska, is

    A. Amount of public land out there
    B. We could make a last minute decision on it, and still go with the OTC tags.
     

    roscott

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    Sounds like a blast! Let us know how it goes!

    My hunting buddies and I usually take a trip out west every year, and it is quickly becoming more about the style of hunt than the trophy level of the animal.

    Spot and stalk > trophies
     

    two70

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    I did a muzzleloader mule deer hunt the week before Christmas in Nebraska about 8 years ago. I hunted the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge near Valentine and the McKelvie National Forest a little farther west. Fort Niobrara had some nice whitetails(a guy from Michigan killed a 160" buck while I was there) but the muleys were pretty much non-existent. I think they require you to apply for a permit in advance now, though they are free.

    If you are serious about muleys I wouldn't hunt east of the Mckelvie and preferably farther west to Chadron and the Nebraska National Forest. Also, don't be afraid to give the Oglala National Grasslands a go, I've seen some good mule deer in that area while hunting pronghorn, though almost entirely on private ground. Get good maps with property boundaries well marked, as a lot of the public land is a checkerboard of mixed public and private. Fortunately the Nebraska Game and Parks website has a lot of resources including free downloadable Google Earth Map files of all public lands and private lands open to public access. You can also order detailed paper maps of the McKelvie NF and Oglala NG for a reasonable fee as a backup if you want. I also found the biologists and forest rangers pretty helpful in answering questions about hunting over the phone and via email.

    If you decide to hunt west of Chadron, make sure to either have your hotel booked in advance as they are very scarce in that area or be prepared to camp during some serious winter weather. The week I was there, temperatures frequently dipped into negative territory at night, with a couple of nights approaching 10 below. Also expect it to be windy, snow to be likely and the roads not to be in very good shape. From my experience on this hunt and other winter trips to Nebraska, they don't use salt on roads at all no matter how icy they get and they only seem to plow in the vicinity of towns.
     

    two70

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    It will not be as rigorous as an elk hunt as the terrain is not as rough, but it will be nothing like we hunt deer here sitting and waiting.

    Basic day will be

    Wake up in time to hike 3-4 miles before the sun comes up.

    Find the highest spot in that area, and walk to it.

    Glass until you find animal you can make a play on (wind/terrain, etc)

    GO GET IT, PACK IT OUT.

    This will not be the type hunt where we kill 200 inch mulies. It will be where we kill the mulie equivalent of a 6 point basket rack. Most of the area we are looking at will have more, and better whitetail than mulies, but to be honest, I can kill whitetail here, so if its not a whitetail north of 160, Im not wasting my tag on it. I want a mulie, I don't thing the others are as picky.

    Ive read that a lot of Nebraska was flooded enough to make it un accessible during bow, and early rifle season. If we can find those area's that is probably where we will start.

    I'll pass along some advice I received before my hunt which I largely ignored, to the detriment of my success. You will find the mule deer in and around the trees most of the time so hunt the trees. I had visions of the classic prairie mule deer hunt as you described so I ignored that advice for a long time and I ended up only seeing one group of six muley does. I think the strategy you describe is still sound, if applied correctly by setting up on vantage points to spot and intercept travel routes from food sources(most likely on private land) to bedding cover(trees, river bottoms) on public land. Despite being called a National Forest, McKelvie doesn't really have all that many trees on the approximately 100K acres so that kind of narrows down the places to look and concentrates the deer. Most of the locals also tend to hunt close to the roads via trucks and atvs so hiking into areas not easily accessed by vehicle will up your odds, especially of finding bigger deer, of which there are definitely some to be found.

    The Oglala NG, as you might expect from the title, has even fewer trees so you will probably want to concentrate on river bottoms and riparian cover belts if you hunt there. Note I've heard the far NW corner of the Oglala can be really good hunting if you can find the travel routes deer from Wyoming and South Dakota use to migrate into and out of Nebraska during the rut but I've only hunted pronghorn in that area not mule deer. I haven't hunted the Nebraska National Forest but have heard that it has a bit more actual forest than McKelvie.

    Good luck and be sure to post some photos when you return. If you are successful, keep in mind that all of western Nebraska is a CWD area and that by Indiana law you are required to to remove all bones from any cervid meat before bringing it into Indiana and are only allowed to bring a cleaned skull cap and antlers into the state, not the entire head.
     

    42769vette

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    Thanks for the posts 270.

    I believe we intend to concentrate on the area where Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota meet. I probably shouldn't say concentrate, but that's the first area we are hitting.
     

    two70

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    You're welcome! I wish I had more specific or recent info to share, though I doubt things have changed a whole lot. The area where the three states meet is basically the Oglala National Grasslands and yes it is a big area. I've hunted pronghorn in parts of it twice including the pretty far into the NW corner. The road coverage is decent enough to let you get to some good jumping off points but be aware that some roads shown on the map are more accurately described as drive able trails and some of the dead end into private ranch roads with little warning. Unfortunately, though I saw a fair number of mule deer while hunting out there, I was focused on antelope and not really looking for trees or riparian cover.
     

    two70

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    Here's an example of the quality of mule deer you might be able to find in the area. I took this photo on my first trip to hunt pronghorn and this one on a bit of private land surrounded by the Oglala NG. Certainly not giants but two pretty good bucks.


    WdZhBdY.jpg
     

    42769vette

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    You're welcome! I wish I had more specific or recent info to share, though I doubt things have changed a whole lot. The area where the three states meet is basically the Oglala National Grasslands and yes it is a big area. I've hunted pronghorn in parts of it twice including the pretty far into the NW corner. The road coverage is decent enough to let you get to some good jumping off points but be aware that some roads shown on the map are more accurately described as drive able trails and some of the dead end into private ranch roads with little warning. Unfortunately, though I saw a fair number of mule deer while hunting out there, I was focused on antelope and not really looking for trees or riparian cover.

    I think we are going to try and make this an annual trip. After we do some scouting this year, I may take my ATV never year.
     

    42769vette

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    Here's an example of the quality of mule deer you might be able to find in the area. I took this photo on my first trip to hunt pronghorn and this one on a bit of private land surrounded by the Oglala NG. Certainly not giants but two pretty good bucks.


    WdZhBdY.jpg


    The left 2 are giant's in my book. The far right one is big enough. Im basically looking for a fork on both sides.
     

    two70

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    An atv will definitely be handy. Hunting alone with a single vehicle definitely limited the areas I could/would access since the area is very remote and I had to always be concerned with getting stranded in the middle of nowhere if I got stuck. It is a neat area, I've enjoyed every trip I've made out there to hunt and I would probably do it more often if my vehicle were in better shape or I had a buddy or two willing to drive.

    I've been mule deer hunting 3 times(2x in TX and once in NE) and the one on the far left is slightly bigger than the biggest buck I've seen while hunting. I killed a 2x2 on my first hunt after messing up an opportunity at that biggest buck earlier. On my last hunt, my buddy and I saw one similar in size to the one second from the left standing right by the front gate to the property we were hunting. We thought we were in for an incredible hunt but after 5 days my buddy had only seen one buck, a spike and I had seen two, the spike and a buck about the size of the one on the far right, lol.
     

    MRockwell

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    Note: I have never hunted in Nebraska, but have hunted prairie dogs on the grasslands in SoDak.

    One thought on using the ATV: The grasslands now have travel maps, and depending on where you go, you are only allowed to drive on designated roads certain times of the year(June-August). The travel maps are available at the Grasslands offices, so it may be helpful to check on that when you go out there this year.
    Check out this link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nebraska/recarea/?recid=71938

    edit*- you can download maps, .pdf and Avenza Maps app for use with a tablet or other device. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/nebraska/maps-pubs/?cid=stelprdb5097502



    The last couple years, I have driven home from my SoDak trip through Nebraska, and Chadron is the biggest town between the Black Hills and Sidney. The State Park and National Forest are South of town, and it is a nice change of scenery on a long drive.
     
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    mulsas

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    Really don't have any advice to offer, just posting to say let us know how it goes. I took my son to WY for our first antelope hunt, successful btw, he got his buck on day 3. I really enjoyed walking and working a little for it, rather than just sitting still in a tree all day. Interested to see what other options there are for out west hunting without running into the high pressure, high cost of some of the big time hunts. Would love to do elk, but those are either 10 years of accumulating points, or OTC tags in Colorado that sounds like they have hunters on top of each other.

    Agree with the ATV option. We did cover some single tracks in WY, thankfully it was dry all week, so no issues. I have a truck, but it is only 2wd, so I was paranoid about getting stuck.
     

    two70

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    Really don't have any advice to offer, just posting to say let us know how it goes. I took my son to WY for our first antelope hunt, successful btw, he got his buck on day 3. I really enjoyed walking and working a little for it, rather than just sitting still in a tree all day. Interested to see what other options there are for out west hunting without running into the high pressure, high cost of some of the big time hunts. Would love to do elk, but those are either 10 years of accumulating points, or OTC tags in Colorado that sounds like they have hunters on top of each other.

    Agree with the ATV option. We did cover some single tracks in WY, thankfully it was dry all week, so no issues. I have a truck, but it is only 2wd, so I was paranoid about getting stuck.

    You might look into Wyoming or Montana for elk both have some decent options that shouldn't require 10 years to draw or the use of an outfitter.

    Texas has some good public land options for whitetail, mule deer, hogs and exotics that you can draw permits for if any of those are of interest. Some are harder to draw than others but I've been drawn for 8 hunts in 15 years including a few hunts where the odds of being drawn ranged from one in several hundred to one in a couple thousand. Of course, that was with several applications per year and the mule deer hunts are among the harder ones to draw.

    If you are interested in hunting bear at all, tags are easy to draw in several western states and with some research you can find areas that work well for spot and stalk style hunting.
     

    42769vette

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    You might look into Wyoming or Montana for elk both have some decent options that shouldn't require 10 years to draw or the use of an outfitter.

    Texas has some good public land options for whitetail, mule deer, hogs and exotics that you can draw permits for if any of those are of interest. Some are harder to draw than others but I've been drawn for 8 hunts in 15 years including a few hunts where the odds of being drawn ranged from one in several hundred to one in a couple thousand. Of course, that was with several applications per year and the mule deer hunts are among the harder ones to draw.

    If you are interested in hunting bear at all, tags are easy to draw in several western states and with some research you can find areas that work well for spot and stalk style hunting.

    I know eastern washington (hells canyon area) bear tags are otc. Plenty of public, but not many roads, so plan on packing in, or hiring a local to help out with a spike camp.
     
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