Is Nebraska worth the drive?

[schafsne]

A buddy and I are planning an out of state DIY whitetail hunt next year (late October early November). How is the hunting in central/western Nebraska? Any advice? Doing public land.

Thanks!

 

[WoolyBugger]

A buddy and I are planning an out of state DIY whitetail hunt next year (late October early November). How is the hunting in central/western Nebraska? Any advice? Doing public land.

Thanks!

Honestly, if I was doing an out of state whitetail hunt living in Michigan I would drive over to Wisconsin, your first deer tag as a non resident is like $85. That being said there is the Nebraska National forest on the western side by Chadron but I think thats the only sizable public piece. I believe they have a public land atlas on their fish and game website

 

[William Sublette]

If NE was an outfitter, it would be the type of outfitter that had one shooter buck, on 800 acres, and would still go ahead and sell 60 hunts on those 800 acres.

93% private land, unlimited OTC tags, rifle season centered on the rut.



If you have private access, you should be good.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

If you're willing to drive that far, you'd be better off drawing a kansas deer tag (almost a certainty) and hunting WIA's down there.

 

[MallardSX2]

Short answer. No.

 

[bozeman]

+1 backcountry_hunter

 

[Skerhunter]

Depends on what your expectations are for size of deer/densities. Guys do it all the time and are successful with mule deer/whitetail for archery/rifle/muzzleloader. Like others have stated though, the rifle hunt during the rut puts a damper on the quality of bucks here compared to the surrounding states. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

 

[EastMT]

I lived in NE for a year. I got permission on a 40 acre chunk of timber surrounded by crops with a river on one side. Pulled and 11x7 whitey out of there. The public land was pretty rough. If you can find a long hike in you might have a chance, most western style hunters hunt other states. I know eastern NE got slammed with blue tongue and couple years back, not sure about out west.


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[FURMAN]

If you are willing to drive that far you might as well drive a little farther to a state that has more public land. I would say South Dakota would be better than Nebraska. Kansas has very little public.

 

[NEhunter]

Lived here in Nebraska my whole life, if you can gain access to some private river ground then yes, there is great deer to be had. Hunting public, I wouldnt waste my time in Nebraska from out of state.


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[sneaky]

I would drive to Missouri or Kansas. Missouri is OTC, and affordable for out of state.

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[KHNC]

If NE was an outfitter, it would be the type of outfitter that had one shooter buck, on 800 acres, and would still go ahead and sell 60 hunts on those 800 acres.

93% private land, unlimited OTC tags, rifle season centered on the rut.



If you have private access, you should be good.

HOLY SHIT, this is accurate to say the least!

 

[Runningwater]

To be more precise, NE has unlimited archery and muzzleloader tags, the rifle tags are limited. There are very nice mule and whitetail deer in Nebraska - but like most states east of the Rockies public ground is limited. You say late October/early November - so I assume you are talking archery since that is the only season open then. I think if you are willing to put your time in scouting and get in a ways there are excellent opportunities for bow hunting (I would not recommend rifle at all!) on public land in NE - especially in the Western part (Chadron, Fort Robinson, Cresent Lake, of the state or more central around the refuge outside of Valentine or Nenzel/Halsey. You also have a "chance" of getting on some private ground archery hunting - or at least a heck of a lot better chance than during rifle. Just my 2 cents.

 

[KJH]

Short answer and long answer is No.

You're much better of just about anywhere else. Sure, there are some big deer in NE, but the state is 97.73% private land. Very little chances of getting on private ground (could happen, but unlikely unless you already have a plan). I know plenty of folks who have killed nice bucks on public land in the western portion of the state, but its because they own/hunt the adjacent private properties and can get to the back sides of the land away from the roads. I'm sure its like any hunt and if you put your time in you could be successful, but basically its a "lesser" hunt than going somewhere that has more access to hunt-able acres.

If it were me, I'd pick any other state that borders NE before I picked NE.

 

[Ironmerganser]

Valentine National grassland is about the only public spot where you can "sorta" get away from the roads/crowds. Even then....you will see other hunters.
There is actually a lot of public / walk in ground that you can hunt, but you have to be smart. The masses push and trudge through all the big spots and push deer.
I have seen some nice bucks while bird hunting smaller spots during bird season that deer hunters overlook. Bucks are smart.....
Will you see a monster....maybe...but probably not. However..if you are willing to drive and check out the smaller spots other hunters would skip, you may just find a shooter
Heavy switch grass cover and other thickets are prime spots for bucks to bed down in and not move until season is over.

 

[schafsne]

Everyone,

Thanks so much for the well thought out replies and recommendations. We’re still considering NE as a possibility for our hunt but have yet to lock it down as our only option. Again thanks for the insight, im sure I’ll be back with more questions soon.

 

[baz77]

You’d be driving by a lot of better hunting on your way to Nebraska that’s for sure.

 

[william schmaltz]

My wife is from Nebraska. This sums up Nebraska......

 

[NEhunter]

My wife is from Nebraska. This sums up Nebraska......

Lol, yep...


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[Mike308]

Probably not worth your time on public land, especially with a rifle. High pressure with low numbers in my experience