Nebraska Nonresident Mule deer help

[Gilfilian]

Me and my friend are planning a trip to Nebraska to see family and hunt. I know we are out siders to the area but are hoping for some go advise on where to hunt at .I got the book with all the state land on it and have been looking it over to figure the best areas to hunt. My friend has not ever shot a Muley deer and would like to try for one ,I am more interested in the whitetail in the state. If anyone has some suggestions they would be greatly appreciated .Thank you for your time .

 

[Lytro]

This gets asked a lot on here. You'll likely find more information by utilizing your search bar than hoping for responses to this thread.

 

[Gilfilian]

This gets asked a lot on here. You'll likely find more information by utilizing your search bar than hoping for responses to this thread.

Thought it was worth a shot ,I usual go to my friends ranch in Montana but didn’t get drawn this year

 

[2ski]

I've never seen anyone ask about hunting mule deer in Nebraska. And I have a lot more posts than him and have been on Rokslide a lot longer. So I would say ask away. I assume he's talking about people asking about mule deer habitat. But if you've hunting them in MT you know. I assume your question is more NE help? Now you want specific areas, you're SOL. People aren't going to tell you where to hunt. You want some general help and advice on muleys in NE, ask away.

 

[Lytro]

I've never seen anyone ask about hunting mule deer in Nebraska. And I have a lot more posts than him and have been on Rokslide a lot longer.

Umm... Okay?
Take a look within the mule deer forum and get back to me on that one

 

[DunnCoHunter]

I was pretty shocked at how crowded NE public land was during archery last September. Can’t imagine what rifle season would be like. Not sure what info you are looking for but feel free to PM me if you have specific questions


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[Gilfilian]

We are traveling from NY (I live in dairy country not the city)to hunt in Nebraska ,just hoping it’s a good place to hunt ,I see they shoot some nice ones out there and tags are easy to get.

 

[William Sublette]

Unlimited over the counter tags.

Essentially zero public land.


You can do the math.


Nebraskans with options don't hunt nebraska.

 

[180splitg3]

I hunted SD last year - mule deer archery - for many of the same reasons people hunt NE - cheap tags, easy to get tags etc. I think SD has a lot more public than NE and it was super crowded on the public. I'm guessing you would find the same problem in NE unless you have private access...

 

[TSAMP]

Yep x2. Early season archery there were more mule deer hunters last year than antelope hunters. Probably twice as many honestly. If your visiting family in NE I'd start askin them jf they know anyone with land. Use the public as a backup.

 

[eaglebowhunter]

I have 2 spots in western Nebraska open for archery muledeer on our ranch in the sandhills. We keep our archery hunts pretty reasonably priced compared to rifle hunts and have great deer. PM me if you’re interested in going the outfitter route.


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[lemmerjj]

Yep x2. Early season archery there were more mule deer hunters last year than antelope hunters. Probably twice as many honestly. If your visiting family in NE I'd start askin them jf they know anyone with land. Use the public as a backup.

Being from Nebraska I will echo this response. Start with family to get insight and go from there. The only other thing I will throw in there is depending where you are going to see family mule deer could be difficult to find as they are typically more in the western half of the state.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

I was pretty shocked at how crowded NE public land was during archery last September. Can’t imagine what rifle season would be like. Not sure what info you are looking for but feel free to PM me if you have specific questions


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you don't have to imagine, I will tell you it was a straight up zoo, a clusterfuck if you will

 

[DunnCoHunter]

you don't have to imagine, I will tell you it was a straight up zoo, a clusterfuck if you will

Lol! You’re not the only person I’ve talked to that used that type of colorful description

 

[MallardMaster]

I was there for the archery opener. We had a lot of fun learning the ins/outs of things. We didn't have a lot of success, but the success that we had was in the time spent with each other camping and the laughs shared. It isn't easy work at all, but I am sure that if you work hard at it, you might be able to find success out there.

 

[Southern Heritage]

I went 2019 rifle season. Sand hills region and Oh my gosh. I saw deer get shot at from 1000 yds. I saw a spike get shot from 5 guys all shooting at it.
I saw guys throwing beer cans out of truck windows. I saw a buck get shot at from a moving vehicle.
I hunted 7 days I could have wrote a minimum 50 violations if I was a officer.
I never saw a officer the entire trip.
We killed a 10 point whitetail that scored 154”s. I pasted on another whitetail around 125-130”s that was with the one we killed.
I saw two other shooters I couldn’t get a shot at and dozens 100” whitetails.
Only saw two mule deer bucks. A spike and 3x2. Both died in front me.
The buck we shot was with a hot doe and 2 other bucks. We where 4 miles in.
After a 20 hr drive home I wrote off nebraska. Actually day 3 I was ready to head to ND and duck hunt.

However about 4 months Later I thought about the positives. Pretty country and one particular buck I saw. So me and my buddy loaded up and went in December during muzzloader season hoping to hit a second rut.
We still saw hunters but not near as many. But litterslly no mater how far back in you go I could find a pumpkin.
It blew hard every day and was in the 60’s and one day low 70’s.
I saw one mule deer buck that was a spike.
I saw only 2 whitetail bucks. One was a giant but we spotted it over a mile away right before dark. I would think this deer would be 150+
I probably saw 100 deer which was surprising to only see two bucks.

Over all I’m glad I did it. There is the potential to kill a giant. However you have to have a great attitude because people make it so discouraging.
I’m sure no one has been shot but I will never go there during rifle season again for safety reasons. It was the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been hunting in my life.

 

[TSAMP]

I spent an evening chatting with a Warden my last night hunting. Unsurprisingly they stay very busy catching people shooting deer and antelope on the private land just outside of the public.

 

[Flatlander5]

The problem with Nebraska public land is, well there isn't much. The other problem is, there isn't away to get away from the pumpkin army very well. There are roads and trails to pretty much every piece of public. If youre rifle hunting public in Nebraska you are taking your life into your own hands.

I would venture out there for muzzleloader and knock on some doors. Access to private can still be had for a case of beer and a handshake.

 

[RidgeNinja91]

Well, this is all very discouraging. I was hoping to make a solo trip to the McKelvie National Forest during archery season. I live in the heart of the Shawnee NF in Illinois so I'm used to people, but with muley hunting being such a mobile activity it's just a different ball game. Is the road density high enough that it's physically impossible to walk far enough to get away from the crowds?

 

[Southern Heritage]

Negative. Everytime i thought id get far enough someone thought the same thing coming in the other direction. We hit each other probably both thing the same thing.
most roads are closed but they don't inforce it. So people just drive the cattle roads.
As for the management area. I saw one mule deer in 7 days hunting dawn to dusk. New areas each time. Alot of whitetails.
I still tell people go do it. Some people get lucky. But from a guy who put 14 all day hunts. Hardly in the truck. I aint going back as i was there to hunt muleys not whitetail.
i also drove 21 hrs. I can be in Colorado in the same time.