NE Public land Muleys

[milunchbox]

I am putting together a trip to NE and trying to figure out where we would like to go. I have limited it down to to areas, Imperial( central western) and Scottsbluff( north western). Was wondering if anyone has ever had boots on the ground around these areas. This is an archery first week hunt. They both seem to have some good water sources and agg around. Any info would be appreciated, not looking for hand outs.

James

 

[String&stick]

Hello lunchbox,

I'm a Nebraska native and might be able to help. I grew up west of North Platte NE so kind of between your two areas.
Are you setting up permission on private or hoping for a public land hunt?

Archery or rifle?

I can answer on here or shoot me a PM. I have a friend that hunts around Benkleman every year which would be just south of imperial.

 

[String&stick]

Sorry had a brain loss moment I see you are wanting public land.

Shoot me a PM!

 

[vanish]

Rifle, Muzzleloader or Archery?

 

[archp625]

Hope you don't mind me tagging along this post.

 

[bowtech840]

I went out to the Scottsbluff area a few years back. Spent most of our time around wildcat hills. Pretty cool country but a lot of hunters. Rifle hunted 3 days, seen a lot of does but never seen a rack. Did see the local herd of bighorns so that was neat. I would suggest somewhere closer to the northwest corner of the state. Good luck


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[rwurdeman]

Hey James sent you a pm.

 

[milunchbox]

I will be going first week archery.


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[milunchbox]

So I've looked at that sandhills area a ton on google earth. I'm guess first week I would want to look for food and water and find the path theytake to get it. McKelvie is nice due to being able to camp there. Also closee to Valentine so could split up and scout both. Also looked at pine ridge but from what I have read they just don't have a ton of deer. Any advice would be great.

 

[cocky84]

You looking at going next year? First week was September 1 I thought?

 

[cocky84]

Went antelope hunting up by scottsbluff few years ago. Seen several good size bycks. All were on private at the time but if you are going first week they might still be on public.

 

[milunchbox]

Went antelope hunting up by scottsbluff few years ago. Seen several good size bycks. All were on private at the time but if you are going first week they might still be on public.

Yes next year. I plan on knocking on doors if time permits.


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[Skyhigh]

Shoot me a pm. I am from Sidney, grew up and hunted in that area a bunch.

 

[William Sublette]

So I've looked at that sandhills area a ton on google earth. I'm guess first week I would want to look for food and water and find the path theytake to get it. McKelvie is nice due to being able to camp there. Also closee to Valentine so could split up and scout both. Also looked at pine ridge but from what I have read they just don't have a ton of deer. Any advice would be great.

No, you want to hunt the escape routes from public to the private sanctuaries.

And go opening day if you want to see much at all on public.


I've counted 32 different states license plates already this year hunting on the public tracts.

 

[Thunder head]

You need to talk to a state biologist or someone who has info on the specific are you decide to hunt. I have an area in the NW that I have visited several times over the years. 10 years ago we saw a 100 different bucks in the first week. I went 2 years ago after I arrowed an elk on the first day. There were very few deer in the area. I only saw two bucks. I stopped by and talked to a farmer ive met before. He said EHD had hit them hard in that area.

 

[vanish]

I have an NE archery tag this year. It is planned to be used on a whitetail trip with my father first week of November. He's big on river bottom whitetail hunting, but I'd really love to learn to hunt open country, so I've been making short trips when I can.

I made it out for a day this past weekend to scout some area I hadn't been before. Only spent half a day in sandhill type terrain, the evening checking out "new" traditional whitetail terrain and then headed back to Colorado for a turkey this morning. I did around 8 miles in the sandhill terrain and turned up 4 mule deer does. There was a big whitetail buck on nearby private land, but I couldn't get a photo of him as it was ~a mile from me.

Not seeing any bucks in the the sandhill terrain, I don't have high confidence that this spot is worth continuing to investigate, but I honestly don't know what I'm doing and could just suck at finding the deer here. Essentially, I'd get to a high spot, scan the area for ~20 minutes with 12x binos on a tripod. Also had my spotter with me which I used in certain areas where I felt I could see farther. Move 1/2 mile and repeat.

I also tried to find a bedded buck in some more broken terrain, but I didn't find any sign of deer there either.

 

[KHNC]

You need to talk to a state biologist or someone who has info on the specific are you decide to hunt. I have an area in the NW that I have visited several times over the years. 10 years ago we saw a 100 different bucks in the first week. I went 2 years ago after I arrowed an elk on the first day. There were very few deer in the area. I only saw two bucks. I stopped by and talked to a farmer ive met before. He said EHD had hit them hard in that area.

You must be referring to Chadron area. I have hunted around there since 2006. Its NOTHING like it used to be. EHD has taken a large toll on the whitetail population from there to Valentine.

 

[Shmedium5835]

Hello lunchbox,

I'm a Nebraska native and might be able to help. I grew up west of North Platte NE so kind of between your two areas.
Are you setting up permission on private or hoping for a public land hunt?

Archery or rifle?

I can answer on here or shoot me a PM. I have a friend that hunts around Benkleman every year which would be just south of imperial.

Can you shoot me a PM please, I was one of the fellas on this hunt. I am looking for some native info if I can get any.