North Dakota or South Dakota Archery?

[Bergy-Bowsmith]

well im going to go against the grain here, Ive hunted SD Public Land Archery for 5 years among other states, looking to go to ND this year for the first time because I didnt get a SD tag this year. I have hunted many states and many Biome and as a MN resident not having time to go physically scout an area I rely heavily on my E-Scouting.

For years, I used to come to these forums to try to learn and find information but it seems that is a thing of the past everyone's home state has *insert one of the following* (too much pressure, no big deer, to many non residents, deer herd is down, nothing but forkies, the public land sucks hunt the private, blah blah blah).

So I stopped looking and just started going on hunts, and honestly my take on it is that there are PLENTY of big bucks to be had. Ive seen more Big Mule Deer on public land in states that people are always saying are garbage, SD,NE,ID,MT, ETC ETC.

Just get after it and learn the strategy and you WILL find good deer. I am always open to trade information about states with like minded hunters, but the hunting community for mulies its seems is just a woah is me and my state. "its not like the glory days" well obviously. Times change, mulies adapt and overcome, you have to hunt big bucks where big bucks live, which will vary biome to biome.

good luck with your hunt.

 

[NDGuy]

Times change, mulies adapt and overcome, you have to hunt big bucks where big bucks live, which will vary biome to biome.

Can't hunt them if they are dead and/or on private ground (which makes up like 93% of ND btw)

 

[Bergy-Bowsmith]

Can't hunt them if they are dead and/or on private ground (which makes up like 93% of ND btw)

Good thing they arnt all dead or on private I have no issues locating good bucks .

 

[KurtR]

Can't hunt them if they are dead and/or on private ground (which makes up like 93% of ND btw)

He averages 160" mulies on public ground archery hunts in Sodak the last 5 years. Not talking to your average hunter.........

 

[Bergy-Bowsmith]

He averages 160" mulies on public ground archery hunts in Sodak the last 5 years. Not talking to your average hunter.........

im an above average archer , and below average hunter, i just work hard and learn an area and hone in on mature buck habitat. no my fault if people are lazy.

 

[Fatcamp]

He averages 160" mulies on public ground archery hunts in Sodak the last 5 years. Not talking to your average hunter.........

I need better friends.

 

[KurtR]

im an above average archer , and below average hunter, i just work hard and learn an area and hone in on mature buck habitat. no my fault if people are lazy.

I know people that have lived on the same ranch for 50 years that are not that good

 

[WCB]

well im going to go against the grain here, Ive hunted SD Public Land Archery for 5 years among other states, looking to go to ND this year for the first time because I didnt get a SD tag this year. I have hunted many states and many Biome and as a MN resident not having time to go physically scout an area I rely heavily on my E-Scouting.

For years, I used to come to these forums to try to learn and find information but it seems that is a thing of the past everyone's home state has *insert one of the following* (too much pressure, no big deer, to many non residents, deer herd is down, nothing but forkies, the public land sucks hunt the private, blah blah blah).

So I stopped looking and just started going on hunts, and honestly my take on it is that there are PLENTY of big bucks to be had. Ive seen more Big Mule Deer on public land in states that people are always saying are garbage, SD,NE,ID,MT, ETC ETC.

Just get after it and learn the strategy and you WILL find good deer. I am always open to trade information about states with like minded hunters, but the hunting community for mulies its seems is just a woah is me and my state. "its not like the glory days" well obviously. Times change, mulies adapt and overcome, you have to hunt big bucks where big bucks live, which will vary biome to biome.

good luck with your hunt.

I think you are looking at it a bit negatively. The problem with most guys looking for advice on states is they are jumping at the chance for when someone says. "hunt X state and area because there are big deer every where and it is super easy to find them".

I have hunted ND (not exclusively mule deer) for over 20years and hunted SD 8 or 9 times. Most guys comments are right on the money. In the last 3-4 years the quality of the deer on average has taken a nose dive in numbers and quality of bucks. Yes, guys that figure out areas and are experienced can find good bucks. And guys that have never hunted Mule Deer will think a 140 is a giant and those aren't hard to find. The area I hunt in ND mostly took a huge hit the last 2 years and went from seeing 30-40 deer a night 1/3 or more being bucks and seeing multiple 150"+ whitetails a sit was normal (and different 150+ thorughout the hunt). This past fall 3-4 deer a night and in 9 days (2) guys that hunt it saw 2 bucks over that 150" mark. Would it be wrong to say the hunting is no where near as good and very few big bucks around...no.

My point is both can be true at the same time. In general deer numbers in the toilet, mostly little bucks running around, very few mature bucks comparatively. But, there are still big deer around if you really search for them, and for most gusy if they see 20-30 mule deer a day they will be besides themselves by how many deer they saw.

 

[spur60]

When well managed and low pressure ranches are cutting back their paid and family hunts from 5-10 muleys to 1-2, you know the numbers are suffering. A ranch owner I know has put a moratorium on harvesting any mule deer, and from an east river guy like myself, casual observation would have you think his deer numbers are great and has some really nice shooters. Just goes to show how bad things are if there was 10x as many numbers and shooters 5 years ago. I still think SD is an OK state for a non resident to come enjoy, even though I'm no fan of our NR license structures; but anybody who's spent enough time west river knows that the mule deer numbers are definitely suffering.

 

[KurtR]

When well managed and low pressure ranches are cutting back their paid and family hunts from 5-10 muleys to 1-2, you know the numbers are suffering. A ranch owner I know has put a moratorium on harvesting any mule deer, and from an east river guy like myself, casual observation would have you think his deer numbers are great and has some really nice shooters. Just goes to show how bad things are if there was 10x as many numbers and shooters 5 years ago. I still think SD is an OK state for a non resident to come enjoy, even though I'm no fan of our NR license structures; but anybody who's spent enough time west river knows that the mule deer numbers are definitely suffering.

I know of two different places that are not having any does killed and very selective buck harvest. These are places that should be crawling with deer good habitat and low pressure

 

[NDGuy]

I think you are looking at it a bit negatively. The problem with most guys looking for advice on states is they are jumping at the chance for when someone says. "hunt X state and area because there are big deer every where and it is super easy to find them".

I have hunted ND (not exclusively mule deer) for over 20years and hunted SD 8 or 9 times. Most guys comments are right on the money. In the last 3-4 years the quality of the deer on average has taken a nose dive in numbers and quality of bucks. Yes, guys that figure out areas and are experienced can find good bucks. And guys that have never hunted Mule Deer will think a 140 is a giant and those aren't hard to find. The area I hunt in ND mostly took a huge hit the last 2 years and went from seeing 30-40 deer a night 1/3 or more being bucks and seeing multiple 150"+ whitetails a sit was normal (and different 150+ thorughout the hunt). This past fall 3-4 deer a night and in 9 days (2) guys that hunt it saw 2 bucks over that 150" mark. Would it be wrong to say the hunting is no where near as good and very few big bucks around...no.

My point is both can be true at the same time. In general deer numbers in the toilet, mostly little bucks running around, very few mature bucks comparatively. But, there are still big deer around if you really search for them, and for most gusy if they see 20-30 mule deer a day they will be besides themselves by how many deer they saw.

No no we are all wrong, just gotta work harder. Habitat and populations are just fine.

#keephammerin

 

[NDGuy]

These are places that should be crawling with deer good habitat and low pressure

Same, I hunt east of Bismarck a lot and populations are way down from bad winters+blue tongue.

The area I'm around out west a ton of whitetail caught it and died 2 years ago. Obviously you can still find them but it's gotten tough and some areas in particular took huge hits like the above mentioned used to seeing dozens of deer now is a ghost town.

 

[KurtR]

Same, I hunt east of Bismarck a lot and populations are way down from bad winters+blue tongue.

The area I'm around out west a ton of whitetail caught it and died 2 years ago. Obviously you can still find them but it's gotten tough and some areas in particular took huge hits like the above mentioned used to seeing dozens of deer now is a ghost town.

Both east and west river areas i hunt are 10 minutes from my house so i spend alot of time out there between work and helping friends with cows. The numbers are bad my friends dad said he has not seen deer numbers like this since the early 70's. I have two friends on the east side of the river who own big ranches one had the state record mule deer taken off it and they are not shooting any does. Its about the best habitat you could ask for with river hills and agg with good winter cover. Last year one whitetail was shot off either one of those just because how bad numbers are.

 

[NDGuy]

Both east and west river areas i hunt are 10 minutes from my house so i spend alot of time out there between work and helping friends with cows. The numbers are bad my friends dad said he has not seen deer numbers like this since the early 70's.

Kurt out by you did EHD hit bad? Or just poor winters in 21-23?

 

[WCB]

Same, I hunt east of Bismarck a lot and populations are way down from bad winters+blue tongue.

The area I'm around out west a ton of whitetail caught it and died 2 years ago. Obviously you can still find them but it's gotten tough and some areas in particular took huge hits like the above mentioned used to seeing dozens of deer now is a ghost town.

Where I hunt is NE of Bismark and funny thing is the Mule Deer population has blown up in tiny pockets. Right around our hunting shack/house we have seen a doe or two here and there since the early 2000s...with an odd buck spotted. Last 4-5 years We've county 30-40 just within a couple miles of our place and I saw a wintering herd about 30minutes away that had 70 MD in it. Seen some basic 4x4s 130s type deer but there were two absolute shooters 160-170 bucks running around that we saw last year after rifle season.

No idea how they didn't get shot as the zone is an "any antlered buck" zone and they were pretty visible.

 

[NDGuy]

Where I hunt is NE of Bismark and funny thing is the Mule Deer population has blown up in tiny pockets. Right around our hunting shack/house we have seen a doe or two here and there since the early 2000s...with an odd buck spotted. Last 4-5 years We've county 30-40 just within a couple miles of our place and I saw a wintering herd about 30minutes away that had 70 MD in it. Seen some basic 4x4s 130s type deer but there were two absolute shooters 160-170 bucks running around that we saw last year after rifle season.

No idea how they didn't get shot as the zone is an "any antlered buck" zone and they were pretty visible.

Yep makes sense if the Whities got wiped out from blue tongue MD would thrive.

 

[KurtR]

Kurt out by you did EHD hit bad? Or just poor winters in 21-23?

It was mainly ehd and blue tongue our winters were not really that hard. The lack of moisture and then getting really dry in the fall just knocked the hell out of them. For a while the doe harvest was over the top also. Handing triple tags out like candy

 

[WCB]

Yep makes sense if the Whities got wiped out from blue tongue MD would thrive.

We didn't really get EHD or Blue Tongue. Two winters ago nocked the crap out of the whitetails. MD were gaining steam in spite of the previous white tail populations 3-4 years before the 2022-23 winter.

 

[NDGuy]

We didn't really get EHD or Blue Tongue. Two winters ago nocked the crap out of the whitetails. MD were gaining steam in spite of the previous white tail populations 3-4 years before the 2022-23 winter.

Ya my buddy farms near Bis and they found 100+ dead deer in their corn fields the year my area got hit by blue tongue, crazy how localized it can be.

 

[Lytro]

I don't think anyone is denying that there aren't some good deer still around. There has been a noticeable population decline in the last couple years though. If I were paying NR prices to hunt muleys, I would be trying for a 0-1 point or even a leftover CO hunt while those opportunities still exist.