Badlands mule deer

[Skeeter]

a few small badlands mule deer

 

[sweeney]

a few small badlands mule deer

home field advantage

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Apparently 150-160 is shooter quality to you too , I mean , pictures don’t lie . Your 2005 thin horned buck isn’t 170-180 . Your 2016 buck isn’t a record breaker . In all your dead deer photos I never saw a 180” . So maybe you need to look in the mirror

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Having said that , you have shot some nice deer , and it don’t matter to me , just don’t point the finger and then not point it at yourself too

You can come score any of them, I never claimed they were 180" and I have only shot 3 on 4 tags in 20 years two were 170 + and in 2000 I shot a little 100" 2x4 the last day of the season for jerky. mass and mb fooled me in 05 a little, and 16 is a 3x4. In 16 also passed some main frame 4x4 that were 170-180 class early in the season and a 182" that someone shot the next day. I didn't fill my 2010 tag and passed up some nice deer, spent 6 days playing hide and seek with a 190 palmed horned buck that was smarter than me and up against land I couldn't hunt. As far as bow deer I have only shot two in the badlands/public land one a mid 150s with an extra main beam and trash that was 169" when it was 20 below, I honestly seen the extra main and that was it, definitely a mistake because he could have been really nice, the other was a small 2x3 velvet buck for meat. Like I said I don't care what people shoot but I target 175+" deer when I go out on public land do I always shoot them no, do I usually see them yes not near as many in the last 5 years, but that is what I am going after a few inches of mass either way takes a guessed 180" to a 170" or a 190". Shoot what you want as long as you are happy about it but if you are targeting 140-160" typical deer as mature bucks to me they are young.

 

[ND58201]

a few small badlands mule deer

Nice.. yes.. big?? Maybe 1 or 2.. for private land I’m not that impressed. Don’t mean to be a dick like most badlands landowners just expected more is all.. ��

 

[Kentucky Windage]

The best days of the badlands are gone, there's just to much pressure on those public lands. I score allot of the biggest deer in the state each year and the vast majority of the best muleys come off private lands, its not even close. They can control what is being harvested and now days on allot of ranches if its not 180 gross its not getting shot, at least by the adults. And I think the oil field has really put the hurt on the muleys as well, from both poaching and getting hit on the roads. Can't imagine how many get smoked by trucks every week.
And you will also start to see more and more leasing and outfitters as the years go on state wide.
Hate to say it but social media is the demise of good hunting across the country. Information is way to readily available these days with the click of a button
And with things like ND bucks and bulls it just adds fuel to that fire for our state.

Loose lips sink ships...

Oh and having rifle season smack dab during the rut is a shame...sorry but it is. Nothing easier to kill than a buck muley in November.

This is why I trash talk every idiot looking for recognition on the internet from a bunch of fake friends. It doesn’t matter if it’s fish, fur or game. Kill stuff, be personally proud, and shut your mouth. Think mafia. Just keep your mouth shut. Stop wrecking our state.

 

[8andcounting]

home field advantage

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You can come score any of them, I never claimed they were 180" and I have only shot 3 on 4 tags in 20 years two were 170 + and in 2000 I shot a little 100" 2x4 the last day of the season for jerky. mass and mb fooled me in 05 a little, and 16 is a 3x4. In 16 also passed some main frame 4x4 that were 170-180 class early in the season and a 182" that someone shot the next day. I didn't fill my 2010 tag and passed up some nice deer, spent 6 days playing hide and seek with a 190 palmed horned buck that was smarter than me and up against land I couldn't hunt. As far as bow deer I have only shot two in the badlands/public land one a mid 150s with an extra main beam and trash that was 169" when it was 20 below, I honestly seen the extra main and that was it, definitely a mistake because he could have been really nice, the other was a small 2x3 velvet buck for meat. Like I said I don't care what people shoot but I target 175+" deer when I go out on public land do I always shoot them no, do I usually see them yes not near as many in the last 5 years, but that is what I am going after a few inches of mass either way takes a guessed 180" to a 170" or a 190". Shoot what you want as long as you are happy about it but if you are targeting 140-160" typical deer as mature bucks to me they are young.

I actually agree with you and good job on your hunts and good luck going forward

 

[sweeney]

Same

 

[HtMakoSica]

Gonna reply to this very old post. I hunt the Badlands religiously every year. 30 days minimum I spend bow hunting every year, I only go after Big mature bucks only there. I’ll just say this in my honest opinion, the badlands quality for mule deer gets worse every single year. I’ve gotten political with it little more as I get older because I care about the place so much. I’ve heard lots of opinions from everybody who shares the badlands, generally speaking i think its a general consensus for the majority of people that quality as gone downhill. I think it’s a combination of many things… I don’t know if I could ever give up my OTC archery tag it’s still a great opportunity and I look forward to it every year. I absolutely love it out there even tho the hunting has gone downhill. It’s just so rewarding to see the same bucks every year as they grow bigger but I can honestly say with out exaggeration I’ve seen one and only one buck that realistically would’ve scored 190 plus, and I seen it completely on accident well eating lunch on the side of the road when I jumped it out of its bed on public. I’ve seen maybe realistically 5 or 6 175-185 class deer. I see a few of 145-150 class bucks every year but it’s like you don’t seen many deer that make it to that 160 jump and up because they usually don’t make it through rifle season. I hunt all 4 units wouldn’t say one’s any better than the other. But that’s just what I’ve seen. People take nice bucks every year and if you get on private you might be golden with enough time. It’s crazy seeing a few old timers back in the heydays of the ND badlands with just these gnarly bucks hanging in there garage and every year they’d always bring a good buck home from public land

 

[Ruttin]

E posting is the biggest culprit in the added pressure on public land. Not many folks are going to make the trip west and eat tag soup.

 

[shorthairsrus]

dont blame it on people ndgf ---- if you step outside and dont look around at my brothers lake cabin --- you might just have a big muley face you for a little spar. Dog deer muleys are worse then white tail as far hanging around his lake neighbor hood.

 

[bucksnbears]

dont blame it on people ndgf ---- if you step outside and dont look around at my brothers lake cabin --- you might just have a big muley face you for a little spar. Dog deer muleys are worse then white tail as far hanging around his lake neighbor hood.

??

You been hanging with 7mag?

 

[Reprobait]

E posting is the biggest culprit in the added pressure on public land. Not many folks are going to make the trip west and eat tag soup.

That is part of it. Also, fewer and fewer people have connections to landowners as time goes on and more consolidation with fewer active farmers. Someone that may have grown up hunting their uncle's land, but now that uncle passed, and that land is now under control of a guy farming 30,000 acres (all e-posted) and he neither has time or interest to even talk to that guy. He also took out the old farm place, the tree rows, and the brushy pasture on that land.

 

[Jiffy]

That is happening at an alarming rate all over the state.

 

[measure-it]

Won't be long and they'll be converting cemetaries into plowed acreage to get another couple more bushels of grain. Greedology is rampert!

 

[Ruttin]

I understand taking out tree rows that are dying off from the 1950s...its just dang near zero of them are being replaced. Some are healthy and still being removed