Is Nebraska worth the drive?

[Carlos Bersabe]

I've been stationed in Nebraska for the last 3 years. Unless you go further west, public land is hard to come by. The further west you go, it seems like the less whitetails you see. Maybe just me.

 

[Tradguy]

Did several trips to the Nebraska national forest near Halsey and Valentine. Always went during the December muzzleloader season. Had a great time, fun hunt seen a bunch of deer and was successful every trip. Nothing you could consider a trophy but still put meat in the freezer and enjoyed the hunt. If antler size is important, I would look elsewhere but if just wanting to get out in a very beautiful place and have a chance at a deer it is a worthwhile hunt.


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[String&stick]

Just to throw a wrinkle into things, Nebraska is 1 vote away from having a landowner only rifle season for the weekend before regular rifle (think early November) there is 100% uncertainty as to how this will effect archery season or how the game and parks will handle things as this is being legislated and not a game and parks proposal.

 

[Titan_Bow]

I hunt public land in Nebraska, it’s not a terribly long drive for me from Colorado. The spot we hunt has been good but the age structure is young. I shoot a deer for the freezer every year. My son shot his first deer, his first turkey and his first archery deer out there. It does surprise me where I hunt to see so many out of state people, who likely drive through a lot better deer hunting to get to Nebraska. I’ve seen guys from Washington state, California, New York, Pennsylvania, etc. We do see a lot of deer, and the last week of archery is usually the best. While you’ll see a lot of bucks, I’d say 80% of them are 1.5 year olds.
If the weather is nice, opening day of gun season will be an absolute zoo, if you are going to gun hunt, pray for frigid cold and snow or cold and rainy!!


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[NebraskaStickHunter]

Public land isn’t terrible if you can scout and pick smaller spots rather than larger ones. You do need to temper your expectations like I had to when moving to the state from South Dakota. Then again I have seen a 150+” whitetail on public land next to I-80. So if you do decide to head this way, pm me and I will give a few ideas for Nebraska our South Dakota if interested in either

 

[Jtay561]

I’ve had some pretty good luck on a couple different small chunks of public land as a diy out of stater. The spots i picked were based on three main factors; travel corridors, pinch points, and proximity to private good habitat.

Shot a real nice non typical and decent 5x5 out of the same tree 200 yards from some private on a 600 acre public chuck. Saw a couple more giants in that tree and on camera.

It sure is possible. I was/am blown away at how few folks I have ever encountered out there while bow hunting right before gun season. Once that rolls around, definitely more trucks and jack wagons walking through the woods