What is the most states and the most bucks you have hunted in one year? Trying to find leases for mid-west deer.

[Mojave]

I am trying to put together a 5 state hunt for 2027.

3 mid-west states and I will hunt my normal two western ones.

Doing all the mid-west states in one 10-12 day period.

Anyone got any tips? I have 3 locations lined up for the mid-west.

I have 6 week days of time off per year, so that's not the issue.

How do I contend with the meat?

I am guessing if I shoot something the same CWD laws probably apply as they do int he west where you can't cross state lines with the skulls.

This would be Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

 

[Mojave]

6 weeks of 30 days off. Not 6 days off.

 

[Brian Fahs]

Hunt meat at home.

Hunt antlers on the road. Donate the meat or ask a local, someone will take it.

 

[dtrkyman]

Skulls and spinal column most places, we always just debone everything.

Only times I hunted multiple states I basically had a home base so no worry about meat storage.

I also grew up in Illinois so I did minimal travel for whitetail!

If prior to gun seasons a processor May store meat for a short period of time, once gun starts they get overwhelmed!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brian Fahs]

10-12 days in 3 states in the midwest is not enough time to trophy hunt. Unless you are on unbelievably good ground with someone giving you tons of recent information. I would rather do 3 trips of 12 days each midwest state.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Illinois has very strict rules about meat transportation through the state. But the answer to your question for me is 3, all successful one year. Montana, Wyoming and Missouri.

 

[Traindriver]

Michigan has Hunters against Hunger program, where processors will accept donated deer.
Lots of state land and a lot of deer.
I’m not familiar with tags and limits for NR but you should for sure be able to fill a buck tag in a week or less depending on how picky you want to be.
Good luck

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I do this every year with deer and elk. Usually 5 states minimum. Having friends or family at the locations, willing to assist and potentially hold and ship meat is the way.

 

[satchamo]

10-12 days in 3 states in the midwest is not enough time to trophy hunt. Unless you are on unbelievably good ground with someone giving you tons of recent information. I would rather do 3 trips of 12 days each midwest state.

Your math ain’t mathin… he said 10-12 days, not 36

 

[Brian Fahs]

Second post says 6 weeks or 30 days off......

 

[Mojave]

It will happen over 12-13 days.

I have 6 weeks worth of week days off in a year.

 

[wind gypsy]

Should just have to boil the skulls?

Say you kill a deer in state 1 and want to get on your way to state 2 - break down deer in a manner that allows travel across state lines. I'd look for a meat processor that at least get your meat packaged/frozen in state 2. I think you can bring it across in some instances as long as you get it to a processer/taxidermist within a given time period.

I did have a bit of a scare last year related to this. Shot a CO muley and didn't get the skull fully cleaned up but brought it directly to a taxidermist in my home state of MN. 2 minutes behind me a game warden pulls into the taxidermists driveway and sees my not cleaned skull on the shop floor. I was fine due to having 24 hrs or something like that to get it to a taxidermist after getting into state but i wasn't sure about that at the time.

 

[wildwilderness]

Donated meat, skull cap deer

 

[Pilsner]

We travel with a small chest freezer. Weighs something like 48#. Runs off of the inverter in the bed of my truck.
Debone meat, vac pack, freeze, travel to next state. Drop off skull for taxidermist to euro and ship to you when done.
Easy Peasy

 

[Boarmaster]

I hunt out if State in Alabama for up to 21 days during rut no access presently to a freezer.
If I kill a buck in the first week I start eating it. About ten days after my first kill I start looking to give what is left of the meat away. Especially if I kill another one. The second buck starts to get ate just like the first.
Whats left goes home. My freezer is pretty full of does by the rut hunt.
If I was needing to keep all my meat I would have freezer and a generator with me. Bone everything out and put it in the freezer. Run it long enough to keep the meat frozen If I had a enclosed trailer I would put the freezer in it. If not in the bed of my truck.
It’s very likely you will find somewhere to plug in the freezer everyday or overnight.

I have kept deer on ice for 12 days with no issues. I kept the cooler draining and ice fresh.

 

[Predator_SD]

Hunting IL, WI, and Minn in 10-12 days doesn’t seem very doable if you factor in travel time imo. Unless you’re just looking to kill any class of buck or does.

IL and WI get tons of pressure on public, IL being worse. There are nice deer in both states, better in WI, but they are NOT easy to locate and hunt down on public land which is why i think 10-12 days isn’t enough time to do these three states.

If i had 10-12 days i’d spend it all in the best of those three states by far, so WI. Then i’d narrow it down to one or two sorta overlooked areas far away from population centers and focus on speed counting those to locate and then hunt down the best buck in that area over those 10-12 days.

Thats how i’d do it, good luck.

 

[fulldraw1972]

I am assuming this is archery season.
I don’t think 10 to 12 days is enough time for 3 states. I would want to allot at a minimum a week for each state.
Not sure what your goals are but hunting anything with some maturity and it’s going to get difficult very quickly to be successful with harvesting anything let alone 3 animals.
Any scouting going to be done before the trip?
You mentioned leases in the title. You would be better off going guided than trying to lock in 3 leases and hunt with zero scouting.

I hunt states I have never been in before but I try to allot at least a day or two for scouting before I even start hunting.

 

[KHNC]

Very unrealistic expectations without a doubt. 2 states max with that amount of time to hunt and drive. 2 will be pushing it to kill a good buck.