ND Public Land Whitetails???

[uptracker]

Looking to make the 15-16 hour ride to bowhunt whitetails on public land/PLOTS in ND. Anybody ever try it or do any good? Wanna point me in a general direction to look at?...so I don't waste my time!

[Stratosman]

Not sure where you're looking, but W. ND's herd has takin a huge hit from the few rough winters....We have been wanting to do a Nat. Grasslands early bowhunt for a couple years, thinking I will wait a few more...

Not sure about the Eastern portion though.

[Scoot]

Strat, I think your planning is smart. In spite of that I'm headed West next week to give it a go for three days. A quick trip, but it's the best I can do. Reports range from not very good to really, really bad out there this year. Some people I know who hunted out there this year went multiple days between deer sightings. Most of these people have hunted out there for a long time, so they aren't exactly rookies...

Honestly, many of the reports in Eastern and Central ND aren't too much better. Some people in some pockets had pretty good seasons (TylerS sounds like he saw plenty of deer), but most of us have struggled this year. It might not be a terrible idea to give it a year or two before you give this idea a shot.

The Sheyenne National Grasslands have some very good public land hunting, particularly for those who are willing to hoof it a mile or more off the roads. There's lots of good areas where you can't drive a vehicle, so thi produces some areas of low hunter volume, particularly during the bow season.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Looking to make the 15-16 hour ride to bowhunt whitetails on public land/PLOTS in ND. Anybody ever try it or do any good? Wanna point me in a general direction to look at?...so I don't waste my time!

What are you chasing? Whitetails? If so, I'd stay in eastern ND. If you are coming from the U.P. of MI, I'd stick to NE ND. If you haven't yet made final plans (which it doesn't sound like you have based on your questions of where to go), I'd consider saving my money this year and doing more research for future years. Being unprepared on an out of state hunt can be very frustrating, and this can be exagerated if you end up in a pocket where there low deer numbers.

[surewood]

I had planned on going to the Sheyenne a couple years ago, but didn'nt make it yet. I still plan on going so any reports if someone has or is going would be great for me too. Probably going to Iowa next year so I have time to think about it.

[harvey lee]

I have hunted the Sheyenne river and Sheyenne nat Grasslands for the past 25 years as an outstate hunter. We hunt land that abuts the Grasslands and we are in the so called Sheyenne river bottoms.

In those past 25 years, we have had very good archery and rifle hunting with some nice trophies taken.

In the past 3 years, the winters have been bad and last springs wet weather did maybe the worst damage to the whitetasil so the CO in our area explained to me.

So, I was serioulsy stay clear of the SE part of the state for a few years yet. The GnF has thier meetings going on now on what to do with this issue.

Personally myself, I am not going back next year as it is that poor.

[Recon]

Just got back from 3 days of pheasant hunting in central ND. Hunted hard with 12 birds for 3 guys. Only saw 6 hens in all of our walks, but still had a great time, lets hope there is not another hard winter. But we did see a couple of awesome bucks. Cattails, cattails, cattails. I'd still hunt cattail sloughs or set up in connecting tree lines or strips of red brush. We got within 30 yards of the 2 biggest and both were with a doe and looked to be rutting. Thinking about it myself! Good luck!!!

[harvey lee]

I can believe that for sure. I am sure there are some dandies still running in areas of ND but the deer population is done from what it was 3 years ago quite a bit. Eeven down alot from last season.

[fishmounter]

I'm from the Devils Lake region and go back alot due to my folks and relatives for hunting and fishing. Deer hunting was hard this fall the count is down statewide we hunted hard opening weekend got our two bucks but hit key areas. Normally there's deer everywhere but the only way to find them was to walk those key areas.

[jeff127]

+1 on scoots post deer are definately down. Cross reference areas on plots/public land with satalite images(G-Earth) to give you an idea of what you will be hunting the 2D area has lots of heavy woods on public land if thats the type of area you want to hunt.

good luck