Hey Guys, Next year I plan on taking my 12 year old son after what I hope will be his first mule deer. The question I have is where is the best public land to try. I have hunted the west slope at Freemont Resovoir and seen some decent deer but just looking for some input from others
I live in Georgia and we will be driving dont want to take horses but will if we have too. We are both in good shape so long hikes in are no problem. Thanks alot in advance!

You can try public land but I would suggest a call to Mark Young on AR and see what he can come up with. You will spend a bunch of time and money looking for a place and may be better off using a guided or semi-guided hunting outfit. There are several father/son hunts that a suprisingly cheap and you will kill a deer.

Western South Dakota has alot of great public that is as easy or as hard to hunt as you want and you will see many deer. The price for tags is reasonable and with a little satalite recon on the interweb you can plan for several areas. Look at Butte County north of Newell and the Black Hills area. I took my 13 year old daughter this year and she can't wait to go back.

There are some great areas in Kansas that are walk in, but the mule deer tags are extremely limited and strictly on lottery, no preference points. I have drawn twice, killed one mulie (the other year I shot a giant whitetail I couldn't pass up).

Another option - Depending on what size of buck you are after there are a few states that have decent public access. Colorado has some good areas for public access in the mountains, I know of a few areas where you may only see a hand full of hunters if you get in far enough. Probably need horses to get into the areas I know because you need to be in about 8-10 miles. PM me and I'll see what I can do. I can set you guys up with a great outfitted hunt as well, anything from Texas, Colorado, Montana, etc. Just let me know.

Greg

Application time is coming up in many western states. Some you have to have points to draw.

Thanks guys for the input, Never looked at South Dakota as a choice. I dont care about size as long as its legal, Bigger is better but would like to see him connect none the less. Thanks again.