3-5 day DIY deer hunting destinations

[Greenringer]

Don't rule out PA. Specifically the Northern tier. Deer numbers area good and the age class is fantastic. The people who say there are no deer there don't get into the woods. Google Penn St. Deer Forest Blog for some interesting reading. If you want more information on areas send me a pm. Good luck!

 

[nmaggy84]

I live in IA and honestly it wouldn't be real high on my list for nonresidents because tags are expensive and relatively hard to get (draw w multiple points).

The bottom two tiers of counties in IA are often considered some of the best deer hunting.....which borders MO.

MO nonresident tags I am pretty sure are OTC and comparatively cheap (especially youth tags) and I'd have to believe there are some really good bucks there. And you can rifle hunt.

KS and WI would also be interesting for sure although I haven't looked into NR tags situations

MO, tags are very cheap for NR. I believe they are $160. A lot of people are trying to change that. MO is considering charging NR from other states what they charge MO NR to hunt. Also, MO has loads of public land and white tails are big in Northern MO, but if you're able to come south Mark Twain NF is loaded with trophy bucks.

 

[beagle001]

I used to bow hunt Ft. Riley KS quite a bit though last time I was there was ~10 years ago. At least then, it held some really big deer and there was always plenty of land open to hunting. Was a fun hunt for sure. If you ever go there on a bow hunt, make sure to also get a turkey permit too as that place was overrun with them at the time. Btw, Civilians can hunt there with a permit.

I believe they changed the way you get permits there now, or we were given/found inaccurate information. Anyway, seems they limit civilians pretty heavily now and may even need to show up in person to get an access permit

 

[Northwoods Labs]

BWCA and the UP are awesome experiences, but your odds of success would be extremely low as someone just showing up. NW Wisconsin can give you similar experience with a lot better chance of success. Look at the county forests rather than national forests. You can camp on them, most of the time with a free permit, just as you would in a national forest. There are big blocks of them with pretty good to excellent deer populations.

 

[1976]

Iowa late season muzzleloader, I went down there after the 1st of january 2018 and had the woods to myself for the most part (seen a total of 2 hunters and one set of unaccompanied man tracks) in 6 days of hunting. Only regret was not having a rimfire with me and checking out the squirrel regs, seen plenty of the tasty critters.

 

[pcox77]

Last year I made it a point to travel to a new state for a 5 day deer hunt in Nebraska and had an awesome time getting worn out on public land and camping from my truck. I decided to try and travel to a new spot for deer hunting every year and am looking to hear any input for cool places to hunt. I'm in Louisville, KY so within 15hrs of most whitetails in the country. I plan to do at least one major western hunt so this list is more looking at everything east of the Rockies. I prefer muzzle loader/rifle hunts but not too concerned about that right now. A couple places I'm considering for this year outside of weekend trips in KY/OH:

1.) OK/KS- mostly walk in areas so not sure on being able to explore much but very different place to hunt than I'm used to.
2.) VA- Probably similair to hunting SE OH and most Appalachian states?
3.) MS- seems to have a lot of deer and public land, no idea on terrain/environment
4.) Adirondacks in NY - not too sure about pressure/deer densities but I'm assuming very low deer densities
5.) UP in MI
6.) BWCA in MN
7.) Back to NE
Kansas rifle offers quite a bit of pressure, but if you can get away from the roads a little, you can get away from most hunters, as most of the locals just road hunt. I would recommend hunting the rut during archery season in Kansas, crossbows are now legal, hunting pressure is low, even on public land, we saw a bunch of nice whitetail this year from mid october - december. First couple weeks of November are my favorite to hunt, temps start to drop and deer start moving, we almost always have tons of action then, especially in the morning. If you end up coming to Kansas, shoot me a PM, plenty of great opportunities here. (also heres a few pics of bucks I encountered on public land in Kansas during the 2018 Archery season)

 

[Birddy]

Northern MN is fun. I’ll echo what others have said. Don’t get froze in. That’s the opposite of fun.

That is an incredibly cool picture!

 

[tzone]

BWCA and the UP are awesome experiences, but your odds of success would be extremely low as someone just showing up. NW Wisconsin can give you similar experience with a lot better chance of success. Look at the county forests rather than national forests. You can camp on them, most of the time with a free permit, just as you would in a national forest. There are big blocks of them with pretty good to excellent deer populations.

I would agree with every thing stated above. We don't hunt far from Danbury, on county land and do well.

 

[MO Betta]

I used to bow hunt Ft. Riley KS quite a bit though last time I was there was ~10 years ago. At least then, it held some really big deer and there was always plenty of land open to hunting. Was a fun hunt for sure. If you ever go there on a bow hunt, make sure to also get a turkey permit too as that place was overrun with them at the time. Btw, Civilians can hunt there with a permit.

Turkey numbers have seemed to be really down the last few years in the southeastern portion of the state, just from my experience - might be different up towards Riley.

I will say the OP might have a tougher time finding good public land to hunt in the eastern portion of the state but it does exist. Tags seem pretty steep to me for NR, glad I have a lifetime resident license for there. If you hunt near the eastern border be prepared for Missouri rifle hunters slipping over to poach deer as their firearms season occurs while Kansas is still under the archery only season.

 

[Trial153]

I wouldn't travel two hours to hunt the Daks ....