Established trails in the badlands

[fly2cast]

So my brother and I kind of decided that we would take our boys out to the badlands for the youth whitetail hunt and hunt river bottom areas, probably around the Little Missouri bottoms.

I have never hunted in the badlands and don't know the areas that well. When looking at google earth for roads in the badlands, I see where google has "roads" or trails marked like the picture below:



When zoomed in it looks like this:



So are these considered "established trails" that we can drive on? This isn't a section line and I've read the arguments about section lines on this site. This would be on federal national grasslands.

 

[Bri-guy]

If you're in the national grasslands, all roads are marked with little brown signs. Get a grasslands map from the forest service. It's a great map and shows all of the roads.

 

[duckman1302]

Most of the trails have a forest service sign by the main road saying no motorized vehicles. There are a select few around that are not marked as such so they are travelable, but unfortunately you probably will not be able to tell which ones they are from an overhead view like this.

 

[sweeney]

Do they have doe tags?

 

[fly2cast]

One has doe only tag and other has either buck or doe.

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Most of the trails have a forest service sign by the main road saying no motorized vehicles. There are a select few around that are not marked as such so they are travelable, but unfortunately you probably will not be able to tell which ones they are from an overhead view like this.

So if I see a trail on public land that looks like it was there last year and will be there next year and doesn't have a sign saying I can't travel it, I can travel on it? We don't mind walking, I just don't want to get in any trouble, especially with the kids along.

 

[sweeney]

If you aren't to picky there are plenty of places to hunt whitetails that have main roads that go right up to them, biggest thing is if it looks like nobody has driven it in a year it is probably closed. either the sign is gone(someone stole it or cows knocked it over) or it is closed from a main trailhead and you got onto a spur of an old trail. Stick to main roads and ones that are obviously well traveled most 2 tracks have been shut down as well as some of the main roads.

 

[Bri-guy]

Here are the rules for the National Grasslands:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/dpg/recreation/hunting

If you get a forest service map, all approved trails are clearly marked and they will have little brown signs along them.

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The Killdeer WMA is absolutely loaded with Whitetail. You need a stick to keep all of the does away. Awesome chunk of land.

 

[labhunter66]

Here are the rules for the National Grasslands:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/dpg/recreation/hunting

If you get a forest service map, all approved trails are clearly marked and they will have little brown signs along them.

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The Killdeer WMA is absolutely loaded with Whitetail. You need a stick to keep all of the does away. Awesome chunk of land.

Get the map but also be aware that just because there is a brown sign alongside the trail doesn't mean it's open. The forest service marks almost all the roads and trails whether they are actually open or not.

 

[Retired Educator]

Don't claim to be an expert and have hunted the badlands many times in the past 50 years. Things have changed but have never had a problem driving on a trail. I don't use a liberal definition of a trail and don't try to cheat or get away with anything. In my experience not all legal trails are marked so I use my best judgement. If it appears that the trail is used by other vehicles then I"m comfortable. If it looks like 2 dips in the grass then maybe you shouldn't drive on it. Have been checked by wardens (state) and they have never suggested that I'm pushing the envelope on driving where I'm at. Never been checked by a federal warden.

Another thing to consider. If you find a good spot it's often times not a good idea to advertise where you're at by creating a trail into the area. A little extra walking might help in keeping the area to yourself. Over the years I have occasionally found a large population of deer less than 1/2 mile from a main road and no other hunters. Lots of people will tell you they walked 3 miles into an area while my experience is that if you're more than 1/2 mile from vehicle access you will see very few other hunters. Most hunters aren't very good at judging how far they've walked.

Have fun with your boys and remember that the hunt is most important. When you have drug or hauled a deer for a true 2-3 miles I assure you that you will remember that hunt much longer than being able to drive right to the animal. Just something about being dead tired when you get back to the vehicle that makes everything so sweet.

 

[jdinny]

If you're in the national grasslands, all roads are marked with little brown signs. Get a grasslands map from the forest service. It's a great map and shows all of the roads.

yep. it has the roads color coded in the most recent version. one is roads open to travel the others are not.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

I'd be happy to direct you to a spot where I sat last year with my doe tag and had a really, really nice whitetail buck feeding broadside for almost an hour. Saw plenty (lots) of does and smaller bucks around on every parcel we hunted. Unit 4F, not quite the badlands though

 

[fly2cast]

Thanks. You guys have been very helpful. We are really looking forward to hunting in the badlands. We thought it would be a great experience for our boys to hunt out there since we probably won't hunt out there again after their youth tags. When they get older, they will join us old farts and hunt around grandpas homestead where the deer aren't abundant but family is.

 

[LBrandt]

Have fun. It will be a great trip for you and the boys.

 

[fly2cast]

I should mention that if any of you have daughters that show little interest in hunting, try to encourage them to go hunting. Last year I made all of my kids take hunters safety so that they could go hunting in the future if they wanted to. They really thought the class was boring but I made them stick it out. One of my daughters showed very little interest in hunting and even said that she would have a hard time shooting a deer. I got her a youth license and we did some short hunts during youth season. We didn't see many that we could shoot at, but every time we saw a deer, she got more and more excited. She didn't get any shots during youth season but became very excited to go out during regular season. On the first day of regular season she finally got a shot. It was long but it was standing and she was able to rest on a tree. One shot through the heart. I don't know if she will ever go hunting after she leaves the house but she really likes to hunt now. When we see deer or pheasants now, instead of saying "look at that cute deer" she says "I wish it was hunting season."

 

[Retired Educator]

I should mention that if any of you have daughters that show little interest in hunting, try to encourage them to go hunting. Last year I made all of my kids take hunters safety so that they could go hunting in the future if they wanted to. They really thought the class was boring but I made them stick it out. One of my daughters showed very little interest in hunting and even said that she would have a hard time shooting a deer. I got her a youth license and we did some short hunts during youth season. We didn't see many that we could shoot at, but every time we saw a deer, she got more and more excited. She didn't get any shots during youth season but became very excited to go out during regular season. On the first day of regular season she finally got a shot. It was long but it was standing and she was able to rest on a tree. One shot through the heart. I don't know if she will ever go hunting after she leaves the house but she really likes to hunt now. When we see deer or pheasants now, instead of saying "look at that cute deer" she says "I wish it was hunting season."

Fully agree. Get all your kids hunting not just the boys. Hunting is often thought of as a male sport but I have been fortunate to hunt with a few females and they do add something to the hunt. It will be different, you might have to be a little more careful where you relieve yourself and other minor changes you will find. Females,from my experience, really seem more concerned with the hunt and aren't so worried about shooting the biggest or best of anything. I don't have a problem with anyone who hunts for trophies but often the hunt is the trophy.

Take a daughter, granddaughter, daughter in law, or the daughter of a friend and add another hunter to our midst.