Any midwest whitetail hunting?

[duckhead59]

I've noticed seems a majority of the folks in here live out west ( you lucky dogs! )
I was curious if many of you hunt here in the midwest some for whitetail or anything? I hunt Nebraska and have a farm down in north central Missouri...have a lot of nice whitetail around.

 

[schmalts]

I live in WI. I have a few around here...

 

[TLC]

hunt in illinois. if you look at the pictures I posted, have a few around here.

 

[ashersdad]

I try to hunt Kansas or Nebraska every year. Love hunting whitetails in the late season.

 

[cornfed]

Duckhead,you will have to dig up Randys post on his trip to the midwest from last year.Its a good read.Don't know if he filmed it or not but I think I saw a midwest deer hunt on the show schedule.Got a few deer up by me just not the monsters so I think I may be headed down your way to look for some bigger ones in the Loes hills.

 

[jmslowik]

NE Whitetail hunting

I Live and hunt NE for whitetail and have yet to take a monster but have seen many taken by friends.

 

[Wapiti23]

I live and hunt in North Dakota. We have some big ones up here but go figure, when i find a place i really want to hunt i don't get drawn. I shot a 174 in 06 and haven't shot a deer since.

 

[duckhead59]

Wapiti23...heck a 174...congrats...that's a dandy anywhere.
Not having to draw in Missouri is nice...you can buy 1 statewide rifle any deer...(that's your buck tag and you can only get 1)...then depending on unit there are anterless tags availble over the counter. In my unit in north central there are an abundance of deer and the anterless tags are unlimited over the counter...$7 each (res or nonres)...all tages good for rifle or muzzleloader seasons. Makes it nice...I buy my buck...and a couple of antlerless. We have had a 4 point on 1 side restriction for 3 or 4 years now...it's really helping with seeing more mid and mature bucks. The only thing that kills me is since moving to Nebraska I have to buy nonresident tags even though I have a farm in MO....and I hear they are going up from $175 to $250 this fall.

 

[duckhead59]

cornfed...thanks I'll have to look up the post. Yeah the Loes hills have some nice deer in both IA and nw MO.

 

[Wapiti23]

The best thing about my 174 is that it was all PUBLIC LAND. My dad actually fell asleep on a monster non-typical there a few years before and never did get him. I have to admit that it was dumb luck cause he came in down wind at 1:17 on opening day at 64 yards. I'll take lucky over good any day! A lot of people hunt this area and every year a big deer like that comes out of there. Glad it was me this time. What i thought was funny was that i got it back to the truck when some people where just getting there to start the afternoon hunt! I just drove by with this big pig smiling! It was a great feeling.

 

[duckhead59]

Wapiti23...that even makes it more special...I'd sure continue to hunt that area with results like those.
I'm with you on the luck over good!...but I will say I think luck favors the prepared...like gettin enough sleep or drinkin enough coffee in the am so not to fall asleep!...LOL! I think we've probably all snoozed thru an opportunity at some time or another.

 

[Medicine Water]

I grew up hunting whitetails in Dodge County on the Platte, now I live in southwest NE and hunt down there for whitetails...mainly on the Republican River (Frenchman Unit). We also have a decent muley population.

I can personally attest to many Colorado hunters that come to Nebraska to hunt whitetails every year. They find that permits are easily attainable, good WT numbers, decent age structure and they speak highly of our game commission.

I drew a North Sioux muzzleloader pronghorn tag, and plan on harassing some muleys as well with my bow on public land while I'm up there. Also considering taking my son to the Keya Paha Unit for a rifle hunt - this will be his first deer season as he just turned legal age (10).

What Nebraska units do you hunt?

 

[Grizzley]

Like Wapiti 23, I too am from North Dakota. All my deer hunting adventures have been on public land. I have not had the luck that Wapiti has had but the my friends and I always have success (Not Trophy Success) and better yet we have a great time! Until this year when I went to listen to one of Buschy's (Hunttalk Name) Mule Deer Presentations I was a Whitetail only hunter. I am now banking points for a Mule Deer gun hunt but will be chasing Mule Deer with my bow. Buschy also told me I was supposed to take better pictures of my deer in the field and skip the back of the pickup and garage shots...unfortunately this is all I have...Here are some deer we have taken in 2004 and 2008 from ND public lands.

 

[duckhead59]

griz...nice deer in anybody's book there...thanks for sharing....looks like you've got some great public land to hunt.

 

[duckhead59]

medicine water....nice to meet another fellow nebraskan. I hunt NE with muzzle loader only due to my farm in north MO which the rifle season runs same as NE's (interestingly my farm in MO is bordered on the east by medice creek). I usually hunt se NE or nw of omaha...have had some decent luck w/muzzleloader and love the fact that it's the whole month of dec here. my next goal is to get out west in the sandhills or further and hunt an area that has mule deer here in NE.
look forward to talking more with you.

 

[duckhead59]

jmslowik...again, nice to meet another fellow nebraskan. you keep after the deer here and you'll cross paths with a nice one...there are a lot of them around...on both private and public land here in NE. 2 years ago I saw a huge buck...probabably in the 150-160+ class on public land while tracking coyotes/bobcats in a heavy snow...got to within about 35 yds of him...watched for probably 15 min. it was muzzleloader season and I had my high power in hand and the muzzleloader in truck. I like to still hunt in the snow during muzzleloader season on public land here...very effective.
look forward to talking more with you.

 

[Southwind]

A Kansas hunter and resident. I'm getting tuned up the season starts next month!!!

 

[brian]

I live & hunt mid-Mo. Never shot anything like the pictures on this thread.

 

[Medicine Water]

Duckhead, be sure to contact me if you ever make it down to the Frenchman Unit. I'm very familiar with the public land of southwest Nebraska, as well as a fair number of landowners. The age structure of our muleys isn't quite as nice as the Sandhills, but it is moving in the right direction. Cool about Medicine Creek in MO...I live about 1/8 mile from the Medicine Creek in Furnas Co.

So are you a cornhusker or a tiger?

 

[duckhead59]

medicine water....lol...I'm a cornhusker...tigers a distant 2nd...(like to see the tigers beat ku, ks, the ok 's and any tx team)
funnything about that...when I moved up here 10+ yrs ago was in the eric crouch era...huskers had a longterm tradition of winning, respect and power football...mu hadn't fielded a good football team in forever. I enjoyed a couple of good years and then, well, the pederson/callahan error....and mu program builds out of nowhere and kills ne! dont think I havent taken a lot of manure from my huntin buddies in MO! but Ive stayed with NE and I think they are on the way back to a strong, respectible program. how about you?