I drew an archery North Dakota tag !

[stealthycat]

So I've hunted several western states, almost exclusively archery hunter .... I applied for and drew one of the non-res either deer tags in North Dakota!

Never applied before, never hunted North Dakota so I've got an adventure at 49 years old here starting with planning a hunt when I'm 1250 miles away (I live in Arkansas)

Anyone have any info to share? I would love to tag a muley big enough to mount - 160" if I had to put a P&Y number on a goal. Was told this form might be good place to ask questions/tips

THANKS

 

[publichunter1]

Welcome to the forum from MS. I have never been up that way so I'm not much help but good luck this fall.

 

[BlakeA]

You are going to have to put in some serious time to reach your goal on public land. Good luck and enjoy your hunt!

 

[Nick28]

Lots of public land in the south west part of the state for nice mule deer. What time of year are you planning to go out? I have been taking a couple trips every year for the last 5 years in the badlands of North Dakota so might be able to help. Missed a 180 inch one this past season on public land, it was a heartbreaker.

 

[lifesupport4u]

Crap- I thought application deadline was a lot later. Blew it

 

[IEATELK]

Use a topo map and find the gnarliest breaks close to feed.. you will turn somthing up.

 

[Chad Gus]

So did i, gonna try and make it out there this spring and do a little scouting

 

[Badlandcat]

Great tag to have. Super long season, great access. If you have the patience and the ability to accurately shoot out to 60 yards, a 160 plus Muley goal is attainable.

 

[stealthycat]

You are going to have to put in some serious time to reach your goal on public land. Good luck and enjoy your hunt!

yep - that's part of the hunt / adventure !

Use a topo map and find the gnarliest breaks close to feed.. you will turn somthing up.

yep, I'm not an "app" guy which is kinda funny since I work for a big wireless company, but the ONX I'm certainly going to purchase and pour over everything I can find


I'll very likely hunt early season - my November's are normally whitetail hunting in Arkansas and Kansas if I can get a tag.

 

[stealthycat]

So did i, gonna try and make it out there this spring and do a little scouting

you have a tag too then ? have you hunted ND before ?

Great tag to have. Super long season, great access. If you have the patience and the ability to accurately shoot out to 60 yards, a 160 plus Muley goal is attainable.

160" would tickle me - I shot trad for years, I like the 15 yard shots but I took my antelope at 65 .... I shoot a Xpedition Xplorer bow

 

[Chad Gus]

I bowhunted for whitetails a few times out there bout 15 years ago. I've hunted mule deer quite a few times in south dakota.

 

[IEATELK]

Keep me posted im a local.. grew up in Belfield. PM if you want.

 

[Elkhunter24]

Good luck

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

I wish you the best of luck! If I knew anything to tell you I would have one of those on my wall myself.

 

[Buschy]

Great tag to have. Super long season, great access. If you have the patience and the ability to accurately shoot out to 60 yards, a 160 plus Muley goal is attainable.

I agree with Badlandcat 100%. Willingness to work and patience are big factors to success. Deer of the quality you are looking for are there (and plenty bigger). ND is very conservative with how they manage mulies which equals mature deer.

Good luck and let us know how your hunt goes.

 

[stealthycat]

I've done several DIY hunts ... backpacking wilderness in Colorado and hunted antelope a couple of times in SD and CO .... spot and stalk I'm not a stranger to although spending hours behind spotting scope will be different. I normally seek out places far away from roads where nobody else is, like wilderness area's in Colorado.

I'll try and do a semi-live hunt, daily updates if anyone would care to see/read. Assuming i have internet access of some kind wherever I am

 

[brushcreek]

I've done several DIY hunts ... backpacking wilderness in Colorado and hunted antelope a couple of times in SD and CO .... spot and stalk I'm not a stranger to although spending hours behind spotting scope will be different. I normally seek out places far away from roads where nobody else is, like wilderness area's in Colorado.

I'll try and do a semi-live hunt, daily updates if anyone would care to see/read. Assuming i have internet access of some kind wherever I am

looking forward to your hunt. if you need to borrow binoculars or a spotting scope let me know.

 

[stealthycat]

thank you brushcreek .... I'll just buy a really nice scope on ebay, use for 3 weeks, sell it back and maybe it costs me 5% overall .... its as good a rental as possible I've done that before

so question to all - are the badlands crisscrossed with roads, or is it easy to find miles of unspoiled virgin grasslands with no roads, atv trails etc? if those places exist, I want to go there .... I've always wanted to go to those hard to get areas, the ones fewer people go to. Walking 5 miles or 10 .... that's something that's very attractive to me and my hunting adventures

 

[BlakeA]

thank you brushcreek .... I'll just buy a really nice scope on ebay, use for 3 weeks, sell it back and maybe it costs me 5% overall .... its as good a rental as possible I've done that before

so question to all - are the badlands crisscrossed with roads, or is it easy to find miles of unspoiled virgin grasslands with no roads, atv trails etc? if those places exist, I want to go there .... I've always wanted to go to those hard to get areas, the ones fewer people go to. Walking 5 miles or 10 .... that's something that's very attractive to me and my hunting adventures

There are essentially zero places in western ND that I would consider backcountry outside of the National Park. Even "public land roadless areas" all have ranch two tracks through them that ranches use all summer and fall. You do not need to get too far back in there to find deer in ND. It's not a backcountry type of hunt. One square mile is typical for "roadless" areas. Between section lines and two tracks, ND sucks for a true "get away from the roads" hunt. You can day hunt every spot in ND. No need to pack in or try to make it a backcountry hunt. It's fun country to hunt and is very similar to the Terry badlands of eastern Montana.

 

[stealthycat]

great information to know then BlakeA - that's going to help in me planning where to go. I have a truck tent and I camp light ..... I can be as mobile as needed

THANKS everyone for the information and PM's .... much much appreciated