Nebraska 2012 Hunt??

Vids · Dec 23, 2011

I am looking to get my dad out on a mulie hunt, thinking NE is a good place for us to try. (Good meeting point since I live in CO and he lives in MN) He is 70 and can't hike very much, which also rules out mountain hunting here in CO. Anyways, there are a few public areas in NE, NFs and NWRs in NE. Valentine NWR, McKelvie and Nebraska NFs are a few of them. Have any of you folks tried these, what could we expect in terms of animals, hunter pressure, size of bucks, etc. I am also open to hearing about other states such as WY, SD, ND, MT, KS.

Thank you, I really appreciate any input!!

plainsman08 · Dec 23, 2011

I wouldn't expect much for size unless you can get on private ground. I have hunted here my whole life and killed some pretty good bucks for here, but I also hunt my own ground. IF you can get on some private ranches in the Sandhills unit you should have a fun hunt. I don't know much about the public up north other than it gets hunted hard and they kill a few decent deer up there. The management MIGHT be taking a turn for the better in certain areas and will help greatly. Kansas is AWESOME if you can get a tag. I have hunted it twice and will go back. I hunted central Wyoming years ago and had a blast, though ended up punching my tag with a whitetail doe. It was alot of glassing and I think we weren't looking in the right type of terrain.

"In the breast of every meat hunter there beats the heart of a secret, frustrated trophy hunter."

treedagain · Dec 23, 2011

look into the PINE RIDGE unit, lots of public ground, no to rough, look hard enough and you will find a good mulie

booner76 · Dec 23, 2011

I have hunted the public in northwest NE a fair amount and the south central for whitetails.
My advice....Find some private or dont go to NE for mule deer.

Vids · Dec 29, 2011

Thanks for the feedback guys, I appreciate it!!

justr_86 · Dec 29, 2011

Muley numbers sucked this year IMO.....

Cornhusker · Dec 29, 2011

I'm still hunting deer with archery and we've had some really nice muley's and whitetail killed this year. I have always hunted private ground and until the last couple years have had a free run of land. Wyoming outfitters have been renting up everything in my area with much quality. I just found out yesterday I lost another ranch I have hunted for 30 years to a Wyoming outfitter. I wish I could help you but I think I'll struggle to end up with good land to hunt in the next two years.

Zeke · Dec 30, 2011

I just got back, a couple weeks ago, from 4 days of hunting pheasants and ducks north of Ogalalla. We saw tons of Mule deer but they were all on private land. We saw a couple around the <160" class (these were the top bucks we saw).

My daughter and son-in-law live there and they said the locals are pretty possessive of the Mule deer. It sounds like a NR hunter couldn't even pay a trespass fee to gain access. They were fun to look at though.

Aside from that, I'm a Nebraska Mule deer dummy.

Zeke