2015 Mule Deer Hunt

[Siwulat]

It's never too early to start planning next years (or 2016 or 2017) adventure and I'm thinking about a mule deer hunt in either SoDak or NoDak. I haven't done any research yet, but am curious to hear what others have to say. I'd be looking for a public land DIY archery hunt. Anybody have experience in either locale?

[sportfish]

The population is down in both states , tags are easy in SD and alittle harder to get in ND

[Siwulat]

Like I said I haven't done much research, but I did see that there is no lottery for the statewide archery tag in SD. It looks like you simply submit an app and you get the license. And it's good for both muleys and whitetails.

Is the muley population just in the Dow side of a cycle or is it down due to drought/EHD/other disease?

[Archerysniper]

Their are some giants in north east Wyoming and south east Montana also. EHD has put a hurting on a lot of western states and the bigger bucks were some of the hardest hit because of their reclusive habits.

[Archerysniper]

Also check into some of the native american reservations for hunting opportunities.

[Siwulat]

So I had some down time today and was able to spend a bit of time pouring through both G&F websites. After looking through both, I am leaning more towards SD.

I like that you can purchase a statewide "any" tag without having to go through a lottery. I am sure that I will have only one long trip to muley country, and the fact that the tag is also good for whitetails would certainly help my chances of filling the tag. Although I would absolutely be targeting muleys. I also like that SD has the option to download their public land map overlay directly to your GPS. That's sweet!

About the only thing that I liked about the ND deer hunting was the super early start to the season (this year it begins at 12n on 8/29).

So a couple of questions...first, did I miss anything about ND? As a nonresident, is it worth putting in for the limited draw "any" archery tag? There were only 172 available this year and I am struggling to find the draw stats? I am also not finding anything about pref points, so is it a simple random draw system?

For SD, is the statewide "any" archery tag valid in the Black Hills unit? Archery is one of the few sections that doesn't show the valid areas so I'm assuming the answer is yes.

I realize that most of these questions can be answered by asking the respective G&F depts, but I figured I'll start hear.

Thanks for the help!

[NoWiser]

An option I would be looking at, if I were in your shoes, would be to put in for a Montana Deer/Elk tag. Try for one of the hard to get Limited Entry elk areas and then choose the option to get a refund for the elk portion if you don't draw the limited entry elk area.

If you somehow win the lottery and get the elk tag, you will be in for a really, really fun hunt. If you don't, you can "settle" for some great muley hunting in SE Montana. When I was out there two years ago there were some great deer and plenty of public land to hunt.

Just one more option that may be worth looking into...

[DonBo]

Yes, SoDak archery "statewide" tag is good for any deer anywhere in the state, including the Black Hills. There's plenty of good public land that hold decent numbers of mulies.

NoDak (from my understanding) is tough because of the oil boom. Lots of land in use by this industry and plenty of oil workers poaching anything that walks. Good luck there.

[Siwulat]

Good point DonBo. There didn't seem to be as much public land in ND as SD. I didn't even think that it might have to do with the oil fields.

[Siwulat]

Sniper, I started looking into the reservation hunts and the best option that I found was Lower Brule. All the other reservations were either a) very restrictive (requiring guides) or very expensive. I'm still leaning towards the state tag as it gives me the most options. Do you have any experience with reservation hunts?

NoWiser, thanks for the advice. I checked out the MT combo option and the price is a bit prohibitive. Even if I don't draw the elk tag, loaning out 1000 just isn't possible right now. Elk may be in the cards eventually, but probably not 2015. I'm still just getting my feet wet in the western hunting world.