North Dakota Whitetail hunt

[Ethan Gurganus]

planning to head to ND late this year in hopes to explore some new land and hunt whitetails. having some trouble understanding all the regs so any help is much appreciated!
Im a non resident working with an OTC tag i hope to get at the end of june. i realize some of the prime western units are only draw units....i think.
id prefer not to hunt ag fields exclusively, and would love an area/unit with some terrain to it. any suggestions what units to look in. ive been doing alot of research, but it can be overwhelming to narrow it down. not asking for spots, just unit suggestions! thanks guys!

 

[Wild Bill]

What have you concluded through your research? I’d imagine it’d be firstly simple to look at aerial imagery of a unit and be able to determine if you’d be hunting ag fields or open country.
Also, I would advice contacting ND game and fish for any uncertainties in regulations.

 

[Ethan Gurganus]

What have you concluded through your research? I’d imagine it’d be firstly simple to look at aerial imagery of a unit and be able to determine if you’d be hunting ag fields or open country.
Also, I would advice contacting ND game and fish for any uncertainties in regulations.

its just hard to determine what units i can and cant hunt as a non resident with a rifle. after making this post i did conclude that i should just call them instead of asking others. i appreciate your response though!

 

[Mallardsx2]

Just don't plan on shooting a mule deer. They really cherish those. lol

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Contact the ND game and fish....that is the best advise I can give you.

 

[Blackcats06]

its just hard to determine what units i can and cant hunt as a non resident with a rifle. after making this post i did conclude that i should just call them instead of asking others. i appreciate your response though!

You can't use a rifle with an OTC tag Otc whitetail tags are archery only

 

[chevyman181]

All ND rifle tags have a specific unit and are draw only for residents and non residents. Might wanna talk with G&F about the tag you have. If you're hunting white tails, the east side of the state has more of them.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Yeah, you're not rifle hunting Deer OTC with a rifle and I believe parts of western ND are draw only even with a bow. Application deadline was June 4th. Dont worry, your odds at drawing a rifle tag would have been terrible anyway.

As far as hunting ag fields goes, good news is a lot of the publicly available land isn't ag fields. There isn't a ton of cover in the eastern part of the state but there are woodlots, CRP (often in PLOTS), wetlands, river bottoms that are available to the public to hunt.

 

[Jamen]

There are no OTC rifle tags here in ND. And all rifle tags are unit specific. Living on the eastern side of the state the deer numbers are lower. I work in the country all year and have not seen many deer. Not trying to discourage you, there are deer here just need to work for them. one other thing to mention ND has electronic posting of land so ONX would be very helpful at looking at what is posted. They can post with signs as well.

 

[alwayshunting]

I believe the exception would be whitetail tags if you have an outfitter. Otherwise as stated above nonresident rifle deer tags are extremely limited. There may also be an option to pickup a nonresident rifle license with the leftover tags when they become first come-first served. Typically only doe tags at this point and this has been extremely limited in the last few years. With tag reduction this year I would expect even worse.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

It might take years for a ND resident to draw a gun tag because they need to limit tags enough to protect the herd. But at least when they do draw they get to hunt them during the rut over bait!