Fellas, I am doing some research for a Mule Deer hunt next fall (or possibly the year after). In my research across the internet, I have found a few references to Nebraska, specifically the Pine Ridge region and the Sandhills region. However, what information I have found has been conflicting and vague.

What I want to know is if anyone here has any actual hunting experience, or is acquainted with anyone who has actual experience, in hunting the Mule Deer of Western Nebraska.
Let me say up front that I am only interested in public land hunting and information pertaining to it. I am not interested in paying an outfitter or guide, nor am I interested in paying a trespass fee.

So, for those of you who have hunted the public land of western Nebraska for Mule Deer (yes, I am aware of the amount of public land that is actually out there), what (in your experience) can one realistically expect from a hunt in that area?
Did you see fair numbers of deer?
Did you see any really good bucks? If so, how big?
How was the hunting pressure, and did you hunt early or late in the season? Midweek or weekends?
Sorry for all the questions, but I want to be thorough before I commit to an area / state to hunt.

Thanks!
Jeremy

I think there are a lot of other areas that produce bigger bucks.

If you change your mind about hiring an outfitter Alberta and BC are producing decent bucks.

Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho always produce good bucks, and in trophy areas they can produce bucks as big as the Kaibab and Paunsaugnant.

Of course a tag in the Arizona strip, Kaibab or Paunsaugnaunt isnt' exactly a sure thing, but they have good deer there. So do the indians on the Jicarilla.

I have hunted the Pine Ridge area for the past 5 years. There are both Whitetails and Mule Deer in this area. The Mulies are mostley out in the surrounding farm lands, but are seen in the pine Ridge itself but more Whitetails. Deer are not what I would call trophy size, The last few Bucks I took were around 150# field dressed. All were Whitetails. The Mulies I have taken were on private land. Most of the hunting for Mulies that I know of in this area is private, and would require land owner permission. The Mulies I have taken were does around 130# field dressed. There are bigger ones but not that I had the chance at. The first few days are the best, then hunting pressure gets them spooked. We usually leave the Pine Ridge forest mid week and hunt Mulies on private land till the tags are filled.

quote:

Originally posted by smithrjd:
I have hunted the Pine Ridge area for the past 5 years. There are both Whitetails and Mule Deer in this area. The Mulies are mostley out in the surrounding farm lands, but are seen in the pine Ridge itself but more Whitetails. Deer are not what I would call trophy size, The last few Bucks I took were around 150# field dressed. All were Whitetails. The Mulies I have taken were on private land. Most of the hunting for Mulies that I know of in this area is private, and would require land owner permission. The Mulies I have taken were does around 130# field dressed. There are bigger ones but not that I had the chance at. The first few days are the best, then hunting pressure gets them spooked. We usually leave the Pine Ridge forest mid week and hunt Mulies on private land till the tags are filled.

I concur. I went to college at Chadron State. I hunted the Pine Ridge a lot from 2001-2005. Hunting pressure is...insane. Since public land is rare in NE, there are a lot of people that travel to that area to hunt. The Nov rifle season is pretty short so the pressure stays fairly consistent.

I shot a small Whitetail Buck in 2001 with my muzzleloader. I never really saw anything that I would call big or trophy in the Pine Ridge on public land.

Hunting pressure is very intense up there. 5 of us hunted the area last year. We killed 4 Mule Deer. 3 were off private ground and I killed mine in the Gilber Baker WMA. Mine was the biggest at 26" and scoring 165". We saw another larger deer using the Gilbert Baker but never could close the deal. Private land was hard to come by.

Thanks Lee, good to hear a firsthand experience from someone who's been there really recently. Helps to give a full picture in conjunction with the other reports.
Much appreciated!
Jeremy

The Sandhills does have some nice deer, both mule deer and whitetails.



This was my son's first deer, taken in the Nebraska Sandhills.

One of the above posters mentioned shooting mule deer does, be very careful, many years they are off limits in some of the areas.

Things have changed this year in the Sand Hills. No more vehicles in the national forest allowed on unmarked roadways. No ATV or trucks.

Access will be limited to impossible. Now the crowds will be bunched up within walking range I predict.

Arthur, that could actually be a good thing for those who are willing to hike a bit...
That might actually make me more interested in the area.
Thanks for the info!
Jeremy

I do not recommend the sandhills area, unless you know someone. It is vast country!! Very hard to hunt, a person most likely won't just start wandering and do very good. Sand dunes covered with grass. It's hard to hunt.

duckster, Exceptional brow tines for a muley by the way.

The pine ride area, where I happen to live is probably more hunter friendly. That's not to say that it's great hunting. It's public ground so it gets hunted hard. I think a great deal of deer get pushed to private land. Midweek is definitely lower pressure. I have a friend that comes out to hunt every year and he goes to some public land mid week while I am at work and he reports not seeing many hunters.

If you want a relatively inexpensive mule deer hunt the pine ridge is not a bad place. If you want to see some beautiful country absolutely do not want to pay and outfitter, it's as good as any other mule deer hunt.

I think there are off the beaten path public areas that don't get hit as hard as others, pm me and I'll I fill you in.

Slim,

Thanks. It certainly was a nice mule deer for a 13 y/o first deer! I think that the taxidermist had it at 183.

There is some public ground areas around our ranch as well that some decent to really nice deer come off of every year. We are not too far east of Valentine.

Nebraska Game & Parks statement for 2010 says that mule deer have been rapidly declining in numbers. 2010 has greater restrictions on mule deer hunting; not so for white tails. Success rate on public land is low, and private land access is very hard to obtain. I tried for 10 years to gain access to a large ranch where hunting was not allowed (the bucks I saw were enormous!) Finally got permission. Upon my arrival, permission was withdrawn. Some poacher had killed two very large mule deer, chopped out the antlers, and left the rest to rot. There went 30,000+ acres of possible hunting into the never-to-be hunted column.
WYLD

My friends parents just moved to Harrison, and have been poking us to go out there next year for Mulies. Most of the reports are about what others are saying.