My father and I are planing a mule deer/whitetail hunt around fort Robinson in NW Nebraska for the rifle season this year. This will be our first western hunt but are willing to cover a lot of ground that week. I would like to scout the land before the season but since it’s 1400 miles from home so we are unable to. I’m not trying to find out secret information from anyone, I’m just trying to not be so overwhelmed when I get there. We are planning on arriving 2 days before to scout (I’ll be scouting but have my bow with me). Any friendly tips are greatly appreciated.
Northwest Nebraska
- Thread starter Jwhigg18
- Start date
Coop
Well-known member
Good luck. Buddy of mine went up for the entire rifle season this year covering 10+ miles a day and saw one buck bigger than a spike. Not saying you can't find a good buck in there or that he hunted it like I would've; but if you are driving that far, I can think of a lot of other places to hunt before I would hunt Fort Rob.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Welcome to HT
Husker hunter
Active member
I'm a Nebraska native and resident. When I want to hunt public land deer I go west of Nebraska. Our winter was bad in the NW along with Wyoming & Montana, some winter kill.
Tell us a little more about yourself and your expectations.
I have hunted Nebraska all but one of the last 9 years, but I'm not about to give up all my info to somebody that just has their first post on the forum.
Also, I noticed you said "I’ll be scouting but have my bow with me" --- note that the archery tag is completely separate from the rifle tag. You can use the archery tag during the rifle hunt dates, but you still have to use a bow as well as wear orange. If you want to rifle hunt, you have to have a rifle tag and it is only good for the rifle hunt dates.
I have hunted Nebraska all but one of the last 9 years, but I'm not about to give up all my info to somebody that just has their first post on the forum.
Also, I noticed you said "I’ll be scouting but have my bow with me" --- note that the archery tag is completely separate from the rifle tag. You can use the archery tag during the rifle hunt dates, but you still have to use a bow as well as wear orange. If you want to rifle hunt, you have to have a rifle tag and it is only good for the rifle hunt dates.
I hope I’m not coming across as trying to find out other hunters secrets. To be honest I would rather try to learn them myself through experience. But right now I’m very experienced in eastern hunting but know very little about open country.
Thank you for pointing out the archery license, I don’t know how I missed that. Like I said I’m just used to hunting Georgia and the surrounding states. I’ll be leaving my bow home now.
My father and I are mostly looking for the adventure side. He hunts very little but is trying to learn more since I enjoy it so much. So I would like to try to have a successful hunt in Nebraska so it would become a yearly tradition for us. Our goal would be to try and harvest a 3+ year old mule deer or Whitetail. But we are mainly going after mule deer (we have never even seen a mule deer). My goal the next 6 months is to learn information that is probably obvious to the experienced western hunter. For example, I’m planning on being at the hunting location 1-2 hours before shooting light and walking miles in the dark to the location I would have scouted before. That’s how we hunt in Georgia but I don’t know if that’s beneficial in that area or it would spook deer since it’s so open in that area. I take pride in hunter etiquette and don’t want to be the jack ass spooking deer. So in summary I’m wanting to know the obvious do’s and dont’s and I’d rather not learn them during the hunt. Thanks for any information
Thank you for pointing out the archery license, I don’t know how I missed that. Like I said I’m just used to hunting Georgia and the surrounding states. I’ll be leaving my bow home now.
My father and I are mostly looking for the adventure side. He hunts very little but is trying to learn more since I enjoy it so much. So I would like to try to have a successful hunt in Nebraska so it would become a yearly tradition for us. Our goal would be to try and harvest a 3+ year old mule deer or Whitetail. But we are mainly going after mule deer (we have never even seen a mule deer). My goal the next 6 months is to learn information that is probably obvious to the experienced western hunter. For example, I’m planning on being at the hunting location 1-2 hours before shooting light and walking miles in the dark to the location I would have scouted before. That’s how we hunt in Georgia but I don’t know if that’s beneficial in that area or it would spook deer since it’s so open in that area. I take pride in hunter etiquette and don’t want to be the jack ass spooking deer. So in summary I’m wanting to know the obvious do’s and dont’s and I’d rather not learn them during the hunt. Thanks for any information
jbowlin
Member
I would definitely check with the game and parks about deer numbers, by my understanding there was quite a bit of winter kill. I was just at Ft Rob this weekend and saw very few deer. I have never hunted that area during rifle season, but my understanding is there is an army of Orange for those nine days (I live an hour plus south and the army is here as well). With all of that being said, you may look at the Chadron area, which isn't that far from the fort ( less than an hour).
jbowlin
Member
While tags are available over the counter in Nebraska for deer, I'd agree with madtom on the Wyoming access. I think you will also have a higher likelihood of that 3+ y/o deer in Wyoming. My public land hunting in Nebraska has yielded very few opportunities on that age class (though I have only archery and muzzleloader hunted here).
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
I have hunted that region for almost 10 years now, lived in Chadron for 6. Last year was the worst hunting I have ever seen in that area. I hunted harder than I ever have around there and saw 1 buck bigger than a spike and many more hunters than usual.
Hunting back in the late 00's was awesome. Then I believe it was about 2011 when the population was wiped out. Was just starting to recover in 2016-17 and then the numbers dropped and they cut tags back again in 2018. Even that was still not enough.
When it's good around there it's a lot of fun. Come back to the camp ground and there will be a couple hundred deer hanging in trees at Ft Rob including some good bucks. I will not hunt around there until probably 2021 or 22.
There are much better places to go on a hunt on public land in Nebraska right now than Ft Rob. Valentine, Scottsbluff, Halsey, to name a few.
My recommendation is if you want to go to Ft Rob take a family trip. They have all kinds of fun stuff for the kids from horse back riding, pool, canoe, fish, etc. plus the museum, Hudson Meng, Toadstool geologic park, etc... And it's never busy, even on holiday weekends.
But hunting I would look for a better spot. Nebraska is a "backup" type hunting state due to the essentially OTC tags that are dirt cheap and you can buy 2. Much like a OTC Colorado elk hunt it has drawbacks compared to other tags you can draw. Nebraska can be a better hunt during muzzleloader season as well due to the limited pressure. Don't overlook the small out of the way walk in, crp, ducks unlimited, etc. pieces of land. A lot of those do not get hunted much, especially if they are far from a paved road. All of the large pieces get hammered opening weekend.
Hunting back in the late 00's was awesome. Then I believe it was about 2011 when the population was wiped out. Was just starting to recover in 2016-17 and then the numbers dropped and they cut tags back again in 2018. Even that was still not enough.
When it's good around there it's a lot of fun. Come back to the camp ground and there will be a couple hundred deer hanging in trees at Ft Rob including some good bucks. I will not hunt around there until probably 2021 or 22.
There are much better places to go on a hunt on public land in Nebraska right now than Ft Rob. Valentine, Scottsbluff, Halsey, to name a few.
My recommendation is if you want to go to Ft Rob take a family trip. They have all kinds of fun stuff for the kids from horse back riding, pool, canoe, fish, etc. plus the museum, Hudson Meng, Toadstool geologic park, etc... And it's never busy, even on holiday weekends.
But hunting I would look for a better spot. Nebraska is a "backup" type hunting state due to the essentially OTC tags that are dirt cheap and you can buy 2. Much like a OTC Colorado elk hunt it has drawbacks compared to other tags you can draw. Nebraska can be a better hunt during muzzleloader season as well due to the limited pressure. Don't overlook the small out of the way walk in, crp, ducks unlimited, etc. pieces of land. A lot of those do not get hunted much, especially if they are far from a paved road. All of the large pieces get hammered opening weekend.
Thanks for the tips. Im Starting to look at the public land around Chadron more so now. If anything we are going to go this year to the area to hunt for the experience and meanwhile accumulate PP in another state. Thanks again
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
I would include the statements about ft Rob with the area around Chadron, they are all in the same as the pine ridge runs between Chadron and Crawford. They are the same unit.
Watch tag numbers closely as that will give you a good indicator of deer numbers. If you see another drop in tags issued for that unit I'd look for areas that have public land and have increased tag numbers. You will have a better hunt anywhere the herd is healthy/growing.
Took me a minute but here you go for 2018. Keep an eye out for this article when they set seasons for 2019. Stay away from places where tags are being removed, better hunting where tag numbers are being increased.
https://www.omaha.com/outdoors/nebr...cle_82b7be02-b06e-54a7-8245-29cbceef564b.html
Deer
1,550 buck permits added in the Calamus East, Frenchman, Keya Paha, Loup East, Loup West, Plains, Platte and Sandhills units.
700 buck permits removed from the Blue Northwest and Wahoo units.
750 any-deer permits removed and 550 whitetail permits added in the Pine Ridge Unit.
855 doe permits added in the Buffalo, Calamus East, Calamus West, Frenchman, Plains, Platte, Sandhills and Upper Platte units.
1,200 doe permits removed from the Blue Northwest, Elkhorn and Wahoo units.
https://www.omaha.com/outdoors/nebr...cle_848b4665-e658-5932-88a5-4c31c804572f.html
This appears to be the 2019 update. Does this mean there are no mule deer tags in pine ridge available?
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
I am not 100% sure as that his how it reads. They still show regular firearm tags but those may only be good for whitetail from the sound of things.
https://ngpc-permits.ne.gov/ps/faces/index.xhtml
If it got worse this winter/spring then the mule deer in the area are going to be in really bad shape.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Having an annual tradition in which you rifle hunt 3+ age class mulies in the same state every year on public ground is a very tall order, unless it's Alaska. I'd suggest Kansas. There is a lot of land open to public hunting in the Western part of the state, and you can hunt whitetails nearly every year (90% or better NR draw odds, depending on unit), and get a mule deer stamp every 4 years or so, which allows you to take a buck of either species.
I would second the advise to come further west and hunt Eastern Wyoming. You would perhaps have a chance at a whitetail or mule deer.
Playing the odds it is possible to hunt 3 + yr old deer every year.
You might look into some doe tags for Eastern Wyo just in case you don't fill your NE tag.
Playing the odds it is possible to hunt 3 + yr old deer every year.
You might look into some doe tags for Eastern Wyo just in case you don't fill your NE tag.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
Alaska for NR mule deer hunting?
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
My guess is Nebraska is just about it at this point as they have missed the draws for most states, but I completely agree. I'd rather have a regional tag for Eastern WY than any unit in Nebraska.
