Where are you located?
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Not going to be the most popular suggestion and not sure it'll be worth your time but you asked... CA still has OTC tags available in the northern foothills of the sierras and some in the lower sierras that hold mule deer.
Expensive for non-res and low success rates but it's an option
Rifle becomes more challenging. You can hunt the entire month of December with a muzzleloader in Nebraska. North of I-80 you can shoot either species all month long. The public gets hit fairly hard but some decent bucks are taken every year. Your chances at private permission go up in December as well. I will say though that your best chance at a good buck would be archery.Thanks guys, I'll definitely look into these. I would prefer rifle, but beggars can't be choosers right lol
Rifle becomes more challenging. You can hunt the entire month of December with a muzzleloader in Nebraska. North of I-80 you can shoot either species all month long. The public gets hit fairly hard but some decent bucks are taken every year. Your chances at private permission go up in December as well. I will say though that your best chance at a good buck would be archery.
There is some public land north of Amarillo, Texas. I hear it’s very high pressure during rifle but the bow isn’t too bad. I’m actually giving it a shit this year during bow.
I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but you could consider switching species and get an elk OTC tag in CO or maybe an antelope doe tag or two in one of the tough access units in WY (if there are any left at this point). I second the California option too. It's TOUGH hunting on public, but the bucks are there!