North/South Dakota mule deer

[muley7]

Was looking into hunting one of the Dakota's in 2007 and was wondering if anyone can give me some advice. How are the cahnces of drawing for a non-resident? How is the Mule Deer hunting? Season dates? public land situation and where to put in for a tag? I have hunted Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana for Muley's but wanted to try the Dakota's so any informaion on Hunting there would be great. Thanks in advance, Muley7

 

[wapiti11]

If you are a bowhunter ND has some great muley hunting in the rut for non-residents.

 

[nebo]

I would say that both states are hidden treasures for muley's.

 

[goldhunter]

I live and hunt in SD. If you can get access to private land that has limited hunting you can find some decent bucks. The Cheyenne River breaks are probably the best, but expect to pay.

Overall the State gives way to many buck(either sex) tags out in an effort to control the doe numbers. As a resident you can probably legally shoot 30-40 deer per yer. The public land in the prairie units will be overrun by hunters. This is no way to grow big bucks.

Having said that, archery hunters can have a very enjoyable hunt on public land. In some places you can see several hundred deer in a day. A 170 class buck would be about as good as you could expect on public land. The SD deer almost never have the mass of the mountain state deer.

Some of the tribes have good hunting in some great deer country, but again don't expect anything over 180.

 

[Gator]

West River and Big walk-in area those are the keys to killing a good muley in South Dakota.