Eastern NE whitetail archery?

[Fullquiver]

I have wondered what an archery hunt in NE would look like in the Eastern part of the state.. Lots of competition or lonely days.. What population densities look like and if anyone has done this.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

 

[Sziggy2.0]

Not much public land in Eastern NE. Going with an outfitter?

 

[Fullquiver]

Not much public land in Eastern NE. Going with an outfitter?

Do I need to? That's kinda the question... Are there enough huntable public pieces or are they overrun during archery season.. Plus what about the COE properties along the rivers..

 

[Stocker]

Do I need to? That's kinda the question... Are there enough huntable public pieces or are they overrun during archery season.. Plus what about the COE properties along the rivers..

It depends what you are after. If you are looking to just hunt whitetails and would be happy with a 2 1/2 year old buck then there is more than enough opportunity on public. I would suggest finding a unit, doing research and calling landowners. A lot of people around here will let people hunt for free as long as they ask. But that also generally means that landowner let’s a lot of people hunt.

PM me when you narrow down which unit you want to hunt and I’ll help out as much as I can

 

[3855WIN]

If you’re going to hunt public land, keep going until you reach Missouri.

 

[bklotthor]

I live in Lincoln but grew up in the south central part of the state. I archery hunt some of the public in the eastern part of the state and over the past three years here are some of the main takeaways;
1. Most of the public land in the eastern part of NE surrounds small NRD lakes or are WMA's that are 200 acres or less.
2. The majority of the states population lives within a 75-100 mile radius surrounding Lincoln/Omaha. Compared to the publicly accessible lands in other parts of the state the stuff in the east sees a lot more traffic for activities such as fishing, hiking, dog training, etc. year round.
3. There are good deer that can be found on the public lands in the east, however I'd argue that the populations are quite a bit lower compared to other places due to habitat loss on the surrounding private lands. SE Nebraska in particular is farmed from road to road as much as possible which really cuts down on the escape cover for wildlife.
4. If you are going to hunt eastern NE public land I would try to target parcels at least two hours away from both Lincoln and Omaha.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I’ve hunted the IA side of the NE border quite a bit. If you hunt good looking public habitat, expect company, competition, and limited mature buck sightings.

4 ideas for killing a mature buck with limited company in this area:

1. Focus on 3-5 ft tall grass. pheasant hunters kick up mature bucks in this stuff all the time. Glass at twilight and identify travel corridors and beds, especially cold Oct days.

2. Identify a few dozen small private tracks with 10-15 acres of bedding habitat, and start asking for permission. These small properties can get overlooked, and can serve as buck sanctuaries.

3. Research which towns permit bow hunting in city limits. Identify all deer bedding habitat in those towns and ask all the owners for permission. If you don’t mind dogs barking, traffic noise, etc, you can find some gems of hunting spots.

4. Make a list of 10-15 long shot properties that are ideal for deer hunting. Your chance of securing permission on these cold calling is slim. However, if you build relationships with the landowners, you can sometimes eventually get permission. Offering to cull coyotes, or mentor one of their grandkids to hunt can sometime be an in. The first year I lived in SW Iowa I secured 90 acres for bow hunting, and by the time I moved 3 years later I had access to 2000. My biggest in was meeting landowners through volunteering on small town civic committees such as economic development, tourist event planning, festival hosting events, etc.