Anybody have deer hunting experiance in the Nebraska Sandhills?

[dannyb278]

I am looking at planning a rifle season deer hunt to the Nebraska Sandhills in 2018, should I fail to draw my Wyoming Elk tag. Does anybody have any experience hunting the public land (USFS, WMA's) in the area?

I've read conflicting reports on the pressure on these units, and would like to put the question out here on this forum, as from what I have seen the information provided is usually pretty spot on.

I would assume, the pressure is more than most are used to "in the west" but WAY less than whitetail hunters experience on public land in Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[vanish]

Are you looking for mule deer, whitetail or either?

Rifle hunting the open country is definitely NOT less pressure than "back east". Its probably the most popular hunt in the state.

 

[maxx]

I bow hunted it for goats. I had a deer tag. Saw a handful of muleys and whitetails. I saw a few small bucks one night but it was right as LST and not where I could go after them anyway.

If the pressure on goats was any indicators I would be thinking about doing a weekday hunt. It was pretty busy on the weekend.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Its sort of a weird middle ground because there are a lot of Midwest/Eastern whitetail guys out there and some western hunters which is why there are quite mixed reports. I have always seen quite a few hunters while out there, but its also not unusual to have 1-2 miles line of sight so its relative. I've hiked a ways in only to have people drive off cross country and pile out to shoot from next to vehicles. I have spotted deer because I glassed up another hunter pointing a rifle at me only to see bucks between us. Every year there seems to be a point where you are walking with another party in eye sight and you are trying to beat them somewhere or cut them off. The hunting is very random and chaotic the opening weekend, not really spot and stalk but rather find likely terrain and bump into things.

There are some huge areas out there that are nearly devoid of deer and the deer and hunters end up more concentrated than the total acreages would lead you to believe. Even trying to follow the MVUM can be confusing and difficult because there are so many ranching trails that are well worn. I'm surprised at how many deer you see being driven out whole from that area. I've witnessed guys wrestle game carts in the sand which is pretty funny when you are used to quartering deer, but I think a lot of guys just drive to their deer.

Its a pretty even split of whitetail deer and mule deer out there. You can put yourself into areas that favor one or the other species, but they are still fairly mixed up.

 

[vanish]

dannyb - By the way, I'm not trying to scare you off from going to Nebraska. In my opinion, its an underrated state. I just think that's the worst option for hunting there. Unless you have private land access, then the rifle tag is amazing.

 

[dannyb278]

NO worries Vanish, this is exactly the type of info I am looking for. thanks

Will maybe focus more on SE Montana for my deer hunt (I know Big Fin is a fan of the area) and turn Nebraska into a grouse hunt.

 

[utahminer]

I just got back a couple of weeks ago from a muzzy hunt. I think the info I found on the site in other threads was pretty accurate. I was surprised in the low deer densities. Its a different sytle of hunting that was a nice change in pace. I will go back whenever opportunity allows.

 

[Walkathon]

I've hunted several public land spots in Nebraska for deer and they all received quite a bit of pressure during rifle and muzzleloader. There just isn't much public land available so the available land gets hit pretty hard.