sick of not drawing!

arrowdem

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so after seeing about what my chances for drawing a whitetail in 2c are im throwing in the towel, a buddy of mine want to go out west and chase mule deer now that the tides are turning, we both have 3 pref points, which i know isnt a lot but im trying to figure out what unit to go after that has a pretty decent chance of drawing, and its looking like 3b2, 3b3, and 4f are my best odds of drawing, im not after it to shoot a giant by any means, what im looking for from the guys who have been there done that, is there big expanses of public land, we were talking about getting way back there and tenting it if there is enough ground to hunt and is this public land actually holding a decent herd of mule deer, and before i get the guys that say dont apply in areas you dont know then, you can go right on ahead and tittysprinkle yourself cause im gonna anyway! so any info on that stuff would be awesome!
 


espringers

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well this should be fun. fwiw... yes. there are huge swaths of public land in those western units. and yes. they hold deer. at least thats what i've heard.
 

Tymurrey

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Well I hunt 3b3, have family land there, it's a tough unit on the east side of river if you don't own land or know someone who will let you hunt. Not much public. West side of the river I don't have much experience on except a few small areas of private I had permission to bowhunt on but if I remember from the plat book not a whole lot of public ground over there either. Not many mule deer tags in 3b3, took me 5 years to draw any antlered and never did fill it, that's about all the help I can give for the units you listed.
 

Trip McNeely

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my crystal ball says the deer hunting scene in nd is going to get alot muddier than before. along with every other type of hunting. im glad i went as hard as i could have in my youthful days because the good ol days of nd are gone and will never be back. had a buddy back then that missed alot of our hunts to "further his profitability' in the future. meanwhile we spent countless days afield making landowner relationships and take advantage of every opportunity we could while we could. im glad i got to enjoy it when nd was pure. i glad i wont have to pay for a membership to a duck club or hunt club cuz thats where itll go next.
 

Enslow

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I havent had a rifle tag in 7 years. May this be the year i draw my muley tag.
 


arrowdem

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my crystal ball says the deer hunting scene in nd is going to get alot muddier than before. along with every other type of hunting. im glad i went as hard as i could have in my youthful days because the good ol days of nd are gone and will never be back. had a buddy back then that missed alot of our hunts to "further his profitability' in the future. meanwhile we spent countless days afield making landowner relationships and take advantage of every opportunity we could while we could. im glad i got to enjoy it when nd was pure. i glad i wont have to pay for a membership to a duck club or hunt club cuz thats where itll go next.

man I hope you are wrong about going toward clubs.

Thanks for for your info guys and for not jumping down my throat. I get its a touchy subject. But I'm sick of not drawing a buck tag. And especially on this year when I can't go on any out of state hunts since most all my vacation is going to my wedding in July.
 

Petras

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not sure on this, but aren't your preference points only good if you keep applying for the same unit? Like I said, I'm not sure on this so please correct me if I'm wrong... and just an fyi, it took me 5 years to draw the buck tag I got in 3B1 this year.
 

espringers

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marrying the girl in your avatar i hope! ;)

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no. you can switch units. just ask that jenner person.
 

Enslow

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man I hope you are wrong about going toward clubs.

Thanks for for your info guys and for not jumping down my throat. I get its a touchy subject. But I'm sick of not drawing a buck tag. And especially on this year when I can't go on any out of state hunts since most all my vacation is going to my wedding in July.

Get used to not drawing a rifle tag but once every 3 years for whitetails. I remember being absolutely lambasted on FBO when i said deer hunting would come to this in ND. Now it is a reality that wont change for a long time. At least our ability to bowhunt statewide wasnt taken away also like the NDGF attemtped to do.
 


SDMF

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man I hope you are wrong about going toward clubs.

He's not wrong.

especially on this year when I can't go on any out of state hunts since most all my vacation is going to my wedding in July

Give this serious SERIOUS thought. That you're giving up a 3mo season for 1 day just doesn't seem right.

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Get used to not drawing a rifle tag but once every 3 years for whitetails.

Thank god for OTC WI tags.
 

arrowdem

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4F is your best play unless your willing to pay a few hundred dollars for a tag.

i was looking at 4f pretty closely looks like big expanses of public ground and almost guaranteed to draw with 3 pref points, but was talking to a guy who said dont waste your time the public land out there is a lot of grass lands not much for decent mulie ground? any truth to this, he said its good antelope country but its more so on the fringe of mulie country?

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Give this serious SERIOUS thought. That you're giving up a 3mo season for 1 day just doesn't seem right.



haha i have... im ready to pull the trigger on this gal. the biggest thing is we are heading to her parents lake place for a week after out wedding so thats gonna eat up most all of my vacation, but ill be out fishing most of the week anyway so i cant complain just gonna take a hit on my hunting!
 

arrowdem

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You need to wrap your mind around "fringe" hunting is all you're going to get w/3 points.


and im 100% ok with that as long as some of the public land actually has some mulie ground you can see public land on the maps all you want but until you are standing right in front of it its pretty hard to see whats actually there, i have no issues getting way back in there off the road and camping out and chasing mule deer, i would actually prefer to do it now while im physically able so if there is good ground out in the middle of those huge tracks of public land im all for it, i just havent been to most of those areas the only area im kinda familiar with is north of killdeer where i used to chase mulies with the bow
 

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Saw this guy in 4f in 2013 the weekend after deer season closed:
mule deer.jpg
 


Enslow

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You wont be drawing muley tags every 3 years for rifle in any unit. More like every 5 to 7 years. I am saying to expect not to draw an antlered rifle tag but every 3 in any unit statewide.
 

Bowhunter_24

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and im 100% ok with that as long as some of the public land actually has some mulie ground you can see public land on the maps all you want but until you are standing right in front of it its pretty hard to see whats actually there, i have no issues getting way back in there off the road and camping out and chasing mule deer, i would actually prefer to do it now while im physically able so if there is good ground out in the middle of those huge tracks of public land im all for it, i just havent been to most of those areas the only area im kinda familiar with is north of killdeer where i used to chase mulies with the bow


There is no place in ND where it is necessary to get way in and camp. Especially in a "fringe" unit. That is kind of the issue. Everything is very accessible.
 

dean nelson

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i was looking at 4f pretty closely looks like big expanses of public ground and almost guaranteed to draw with 3 pref points, but was talking to a guy who said dont waste your time the public land out there is a lot of grass lands not much for decent mulie ground? any truth to this, he said its good antelope country but its more so on the fringe of mulie country?
7
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Give this serious SERIOUS thought. That you're giving up a 3mo season for 1 day just doesn't seem right.



haha i have... im ready to pull the trigger on this gal. the biggest thing is we are heading to her parents lake place for a week after out wedding so thats gonna eat up most all of my vacation, but ill be out fishing most of the week anyway so i cant complain just gonna take a hit on my hunting!

Yeah its got the lest amount of public ground and the least steep ground. That said there is still allot of public ground and a fair bit of it is good ground. Everything in this pic is public.1456169429905.jpg
 

Taylorman55

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My last rifle tag for a buck was 2010. Haven't drawn since, and its a predom. whitetail unit. Will also be changing units this year.
 

all4eyes

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Been going to Montana the last couple years. If you do your research it's not bad hunting. It is a little speedy for a tag but I hunt hard for 4 or 5 days and then am home instead of every weekend and every night after work for 2 weeks. I think the tag price is a was with my fuel usage.
 


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