Early stages of DIY Whitetail Hunt - What State?

[wolfpup]

I seriously want to tag a whitetail buck. I know antlers don't eat, but i want the whitetail rack on my wall. I want to do it on public land and I am not interested in a trespass fee. I live in Colorado which has whitetails, but all the access I know about is in private property along river bottoms. Could somebody help point me in the direction of a good state to start my research. I am leaning towards border states of CO, but not sure about whitetail densities vs muleys so this is where I am needing some advice. At this point I don't want to go to any of the eastern states like Illinois because I would like to go every few years during years I don't get a tag for muley's here. The closer proximity to CO the better. I can do all the research as far as pinpointing lands but general descriptions / forests / grasslands / State Lands would be helpful. I am also wanting to do a rifle hunt, love archery and muzzleloader, but also more room for error and I can work on more technical hunts later. Not looking for those record book bucks like they show on TV, but I just want to have a comparison on my wall to tell stories to my kids. As well as good eats! Thanks in advance!

 

[Crumb]

North east Wyoming would be worth looking into, a good number of whitetail on national forest land.

 

[WildWill]

You should look into Oklahoma we have plenty of deer and OTC tags for non-residents. While we don't have a ton of public land there are some descent WMA's. There's optima and beaver river wma's in the panhandle and pack saddle wma in the NW corner that would be worth looking into the terrain is a mix of large agricultural feilds, native grassland, and thickly wooded creek and river bottoms. You could also look into SE Oklahoma it has the two largest WMA's in the state three rivers and honobia. I would avoid hunting on public land in Oklahoma during the first week of rifle season every wma will be extremely over crowded. On the flip side during archery and Muzzleloader seasons you will usually have the place to yourself our archery season runs from Oct. 1st -Jan. 15th and muzzleloader season is usually the last to weeks of October sometimes running into the first few days of November. If you have any questions about hunting Oklahoma feel free to send me a pm I'll do my best to answer any questions.

 

[Trigger50]

Idaho or Montana.

 

[mplane72]

I'd take a look at Nebraska.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Western Kansas, Western Nebraska would be high on my list. NE Wyoming in the Blackhills has a lot of whitetails medium to small whitetails, is an easy tag to get "WY Region A" compared to an SD blackhill tag which is a few years of PP's to get at the least.

To me all of the Western Midwest states offer a lot more in terms of whitetail hunting quality experience than any Illinois or Iowa tag really. Illinois is all but impossible to get a worthwhile non resident public land site specific permit as you can only draw in the second lottery when everything worthwhile is already gone. Iowa is a multiyear wait and I believe the early muzzleloader tags go only to residents at least on public land so you are left with archery or a late shotgun hunt. You are closer to the lower pressure deer areas of KS or NE than a lot of residents as those states don't really have any population beyond their eastern fractions of each state.

 

[krshntr81]

Kansas! they have an abundance of walk in area's that hold good whitetails. Look at a few of the OYOA episodes that were done on the Kansas rifle hunts. I don't know where you live in Colorado but it shouldn't be to bad of a drive either. Check out the Kansas department of wildlife website they have an atlas of all the public ground available. It is a draw tag but many of the units out west have left over tags that are available after the draw. Good luck!

 

[Mthuntinfool]

There are plenty in Montana.

 

[Chad Gus]

Kansas, nebraska and south dakota have good whitetail hunting with more than enough public land and tags that pretty easy to draw.

 

[wolfpup]

Wyoming and Montana really interest me. How far north / east / west do i need to get to run into concentrations of whitetails? Same question for Nebraska?

 

[Werfavrd]

If you are looking at Wyoming or Mantana, Eastern Wyoming has decent whitetail and some good numbers. Mantana has good numbers and decent bucks around the powder river. Kansas has great bucks, but finding them on public land is tough.

 

[7mm08mo]

Missouri has the mark twain national forest south of where I live it is 1,491,840 acres, and has i belive 8 wilderness areas. Within 30 miles of my house are 3 different state owned conservation areas open to public hunting that total about 10 thousand acres. Tags are available over the counter for $225 for an either sex tag, you can also buy a antlerless tag for $25. Food for thought. Denver is a ten hour drive from my house.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Western Kansas, Western Nebraska would be high on my list. NE Wyoming in the Blackhills has a lot of whitetails medium to small whitetails, is an easy tag to get "WY Region A" compared to an SD blackhill tag which is a few years of PP's to get at the least.

To me all of the Western Midwest states offer a lot more in terms of whitetail hunting quality experience than any Illinois or Iowa tag really. Illinois is all but impossible to get a worthwhile non resident public land site specific permit as you can only draw in the second lottery when everything worthwhile is already gone. Iowa is a multiyear wait and I believe the early muzzleloader tags go only to residents at least on public land so you are left with archery or a late shotgun hunt. You are closer to the lower pressure deer areas of KS or NE than a lot of residents as those states don't really have any population beyond their eastern fractions of each state.

You can get an Illinois archery tag over the counter. That's the best time to hunt it anyway.

 

[wolfpup]

When you guys are saying eastern Wyoming .. Just looking at a unit map, would region B near Douglas have decent white tail numbers or do I need to be thinking around the black hills region in the northeast corner ?

 

[JonathonJEB]

Good info

 

[Dougfirtree]

I'll just throw out a completely different thought for your consideration: If you're up for a big challenge, that will test your skills as a hunter and your will/determination, maybe think about a trip to the northeast to hunt big northern whitetails in the large, mountainous tracts of wilderness that still exist here. I'm talking about places like northern Maine, the Adirondacks, the Northeast Kingdom of VT... In these areas, you'll find big, old bucks and you'll also find some of the toughest hunting anywhere. Guys like me (I live in the Adirondacks), should go out west at some point, and glass for elk, pack meat out on horseback and marvel at the vast and beautiful open spaces. Guys like you, should experience tromping around in wool, following the tracks of a really big buck over hardwood ridges and up ancient, spruce-covered mountains, an old lever or pump gun in their hand. Something to think about anyway! Good luck whatever you choose!

 

[7Remmy]

Dougfirtree makes a good point. I'd love to get up in there and hunt the north country. Looked into it a little last year,but fell short of executing it.

 

[std7mag]

Wait... You live in Colorado, and can't find a place to hunt trophy white tail????
I thought there were hundreds of thousands of public access areas in Colorado....
Time to get some game cameras, and put some miles on the boots...

 

[wolfpup]

Std7mag .. That is not really an option .. I have put plenty of miles on the boots but the whitetail concentrations are majority of private ground in the eastern portion of the state.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Unless I am mistaken, region B in wyoming is gonna have most of its whitetails on private land. Not all but most. In the black hills region of Wy, and SD, you will find higher deer densities. Id also take a good hard look at NE. I'm not sure how MT compares to these for pulic access so I defer to others. Mo may be worth the drive but I fear you will be overwhelmed by the number of hunters. A big woods hunt in new england is awesome but success rates are low and learning curves are steep. There is something magical about the place though. Good luck.