Best whitetail state

[Doublecluck]

Any state but Montana

 

[rjthehunter]

Ease of getting a tag: Minnesota & Wisconsin
Trophy potential: Iowa
ND & SD have some nice bucks, but harder to get tags like Iowa.

If you archery hunt, there is less pressure most areas. If you rifle hunt, you'll run in to other hunters almost anywhere.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

For sure this response. If you start out by answering those questions it will become very easy to direct you to the best state to go to

WI in archery season to shoot a 120" buck on public land that you will have mostly to yourself hunting out of a tree stand is very possible with an extremely high chance of filling the free doe tag you get with your buck tag. It's also dirt cheap at only $99.75 if you have not hunted in WI over the last 10 years. Otherwise its still only $200. You can also use a crossbow in the archery season.

Can you explain the price, so they offer a first year non resident hunter discount or something?

 

[seeth07]

Can you explain the price, so they offer a first year non resident hunter discount or something?

 

[Wind Gypsy]

A buddy just invited me for late season archery in WI (I live close in MN), didn't know it was that dang cheap!

I dont like the idea of firearm deer hunting on public in most of the midwest.. But most states let folks use crossguns in the archery season now anyway so a gun hunter doesn't have to go through the agony of spending a few hours learning how to shoot a compound well enough for whitetails inside 30 yards anymore.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

View attachment 392994

Thanks for sharing. Never heard of such a thing. This sounds like something Montana would do.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Thanks for sharing. Never heard of such a thing. This sounds like something Montana would do.

Whitetails are treated like varmints in most eastern states. The more they can promote killing them the better. They are hated more than MT hates it's mule deer..

 

[Forkyfinder]

View attachment 392994

Makes me want to gun down a whitetail forky

 

[seeth07]

Whitetails are treated like varmints in most eastern states. The more they can promote killing them the better. They are hated more than MT hates it's mule deer..

Our hunting population is drastically declining and hunters can't kill enough of them to maintain the populations that are desired in a bulk of the state. The northern forest counties in WI are a bit of an exception but there are other factors in play there such as unmanaged predators (wolves) and other various factors that go into the herd quality/quantity being below the mark of where they would like that herd to be.

 

[rjthehunter]

Our hunting population is drastically declining and hunters can't kill enough of them to maintain the populations that are desired in a bulk of the state. The northern forest counties in WI are a bit of an exception but there are other factors in play there such as unmanaged predators (wolves) and other various factors that go into the herd quality/quantity being below the mark of where they would like that herd to be.

Same situation in MN. Northern half of the state is at wits end with wolves, and the southern half generally has better populations.

I wonder when we'll get a wolf season back in MN & WI. We have a disgusting amount of wolves. Estimates over 3,000 in MN alone. Almost 3x what WI has.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Same situation in MN. Northern half of the state is at wits end with wolves, and the southern half generally has better populations.

I wonder when we'll get a wolf season back in MN & WI. We have a disgusting amount of wolves. Estimates over 3,000 in MN alone. Almost 3x what WI has.

Swimming against the current to get a wolf season anytime soon in MN with the state politics. Wolf population has actually been declining in portions of MN the last couple years because there's not food (deer) to sustain it. There have been reports on that from the voyageur wolf project recently.

Where there are deer we will increasingly see less access to them from private landowners. DNR/Legislature/technology keeps making it easier and easier to kill deer and those with money/land who want to see bucks get to maturity are going to continue to gobble up more and more acres and restrict access as that's the way to have bucks actually make it to maturity.

I'm covered up in does/fawns/1.5 YO bucks on my land. Probably too many deer for the habitat. But 3+ YO bucks are rare. Funny thing is I cant get doe tags or I would shoot some.

 

[brymoore]

Per B&C: WI, IL, IA, MN and OH are the top five states based on antler scores. Obviously a bunch of other considerations should be considered.

 

[TexanSam]

Where there are deer we will increasingly see less access to them from private landowners. DNR/Legislature/technology keeps making it easier and easier to kill deer and those with money/land who want to see bucks get to maturity are going to continue to gobble up more and more acres and restrict access as that's the way to have bucks actually make it to maturity.

This seems to be the biggest reason why access is getting so hard. I think Kansas has the right idea on limiting it to one buck per person, per year as this prevents a small number of folks from locking up more land for more bucks. Still though, people act like having more than one hunter per quarter section is going to ruin the deer herd.

 

[rogerthat]

Southern Ohio. No brainer

 

[Nick87]

If I was gonna plan a mule deer hunt, do it yourself.It wouldn't be to the midwest.

 

[TheGreek]

These are all public land whitetails from a single midwestern state.

 

[wvhunter304]

I think tradition with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Midwest is best for quality though.

West Virginia has lots of opportunity in its northern half if you want a quantity experience on public land.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

This seems to be the biggest reason why access is getting so hard. I think Kansas has the right idea on limiting it to one buck per person, per year as this prevents a small number of folks from locking up more land for more bucks. Still though, people act like having more than one hunter per quarter section is going to ruin the deer herd.

Times are a changin or have changed.. A quarter section in the middle of a sea of hard hunted 20-80 acre parcels where I have land is probably going to mean tough luck getting bucks to maturity even if that quarter section isn't hunted at all.

I think bygone days of higher pressure and folks shooting the first legal deer they saw was probably better for the age class overall than current times where all of these small parcels have cell cams and people waiting to whack one of the high potential 2 year olds or 8 pt+ 3 YOs.

 

[Treeshark]

I never really thought of it that way @Wind Gypsy, that’s a good point though.

 

[rjthehunter]

Swimming against the current to get a wolf season anytime soon in MN with the state politics. Wolf population has actually been declining in portions of MN the last couple years because there's not food (deer) to sustain it. There have been reports on that from the voyageur wolf project recently.

Where there are deer we will increasingly see less access to them from private landowners. DNR/Legislature/technology keeps making it easier and easier to kill deer and those with money/land who want to see bucks get to maturity are going to continue to gobble up more and more acres and restrict access as that's the way to have bucks actually make it to maturity.

I'm covered up in does/fawns/1.5 YO bucks on my land. Probably too many deer for the habitat. But 3+ YO bucks are rare. Funny thing is I cant get doe tags or I would shoot some.

I have 3-4 bucks hanging around that are 3.5 or older. We do have private land, but I've seen the same on some public right by my house. We have land in the central part of the state and some about an hour north. The northern stuff certainly has bigger bucks. I've killed a few over 130" in the past 5 years. We have a lot of swamp around which helps smart bucks hide until maturity.

We have an absurd amount of deer at the central MN property. I sat for 3 hours last weekend and watched 35 does/fawns and only 3 bucks. I should shoot the 3 does they allow there to try and start balancing the scales out a bit. For some reason, these bucks down there are quite a bit smaller, even when old. They have a lot better forage down there too with plenty of corn fields, beat fields, alfalfa, etc.

I wish MN would adjust gun season so it doesn't fall right in the middle of the peak rut.