Rob in VT

Within the next 6 years my wife and I will be moving from Vermont to Colorado. We already have a house and land in southern Colorado and have been successful on numerous elk and Mule Deer hunts. I am looking forward to more of them!

But I will truly miss whitetail hunting. Vermont isn't know for good deer hunting, but there are enough to keep me interested and having fun. I have enjoyed improving my back 40 and being able to "go out back" when ever I wanted to. I have hunted the mid west on several occasions for whitetail but would like to be able to do diy hunts without having to pay a lease or outfitter. Would also like to be within a day's drive of southern Colorado.

Have considered Nebraska but need to look more into what public land is available. Eastern Colorado and western Kansas seems to be mostly private where whitetails live. Maybe WY or OK? Anyone willing to suggest states/regions where public land holds whitetails and DIY is possible?

Thanks for any input, Rob

Rob in VT

Oh, I should have added OTC tags or drawing with zero points.

younggun308

Nebraska is pretty good if you find land with varied topography. My family has a homestead near Chadron, in the panhandle. The area used to be booming with outfitters ten years ago, but the economic crisis combined with a blue tongue epidemic did most of those operations in. Today, I imagine the deer populations have re-stabilized (but the outfitters mostly still gone), and you might consider calling some ranchers to see if they'd let you hunt for a couple hundred dollars.

One of the nice things about the northern part of the panhandle is the overlapping territory between mule deer and whitetails. I tend to find the whitetails prefer creek bottoms and cover, whereas the muleys don't seem to have qualms about going out into the open. The two species are crazy territorial, and wooded cover seems to be a porous dividing line between their ranges. I just can't speak to the quality of public land, but there seems to be plenty in the far northwest of the state:
https://maps.outdoornebraska.gov/PublicAccessAtlas/

flags

CO offers a pretty good number of whitetail only tags and some of them are good for public land but most are private land tags but many landowners will let you hunt. They also offer season choice tags that are only valid for whitetails and can be used in any season. The buck tags can be hard to get but you can get does tags in the season choice units with zero points for the most part and for some you can even draw them as a leftover.

In the areas around Wray, CO you can get the season choice tags pretty easy and there is something like 30,000 acres of school trust land and WMA lands (all public) that you can hunt and whitetails exist on nearly all of it. Whitetail hunting is different there due to the wide open spaces but it is still pretty good.

mrbb

look into Indian reservation hunts, in SD, tags are on a first come first go, but if you apply when they open for sale, your pretty sure you'll get one on day one!
you then can also TRY and draw a state tag, and make the trip into a two buck(deer) hunt, many reservations you can add a pronghorn as well,

I've done a few reservation hunts and did them on a DIY deal, as I Have done ALL my deer hunts in the USA!
I am guessing you want Rifle hunts too!

as most states out from you are Over the counter on bow tags for whitetails
ND/SD, have a TON of public lands too, and many deer too boot
have hunted both and done very well every trip
33 hrs of driving for me however being here in PA , LOL

Bocajnala

Check out South Dakota. Lots of OTC tags, they do sell out though, so you gotta get them early. Mind if I ask... are you retiring, relocating with the same job, new job? And how do I convince my wife to do the same...... I'd be in colorado next week if she'd give the go ahead.

-Jake

Rob in VT

Thanks everyone for the info. SD keeps coming up so I will definitely check it out.

Jake, my wife is retiring at the end of this year and I will be in a few as well. I took her out there 12 years ago and she loved it as much as I did. Plus the cost of living is so much cheaper than it is here in Vermont. It was an easy sell!

Champlain Islander

I thought you were already retired.

Rob in VT

I am CI, but don't tell my Boss!

mthusker

I would take a hard look at muzzle loader only Nebraska season in December, there are public lands, but after the rifle season in November, I believe if you take the time to knock on a few doors and do some trying, private land could be had. I have never hunted the SW corner, but I hear good things about that area. I am familiar with NW corner and the sandhills, both areas have public land, but I am sure it get's it share of hunters. I would think any state with whitetails including Colorado would offer extra doe tags, and a lot of landowners would be happy to have does taken off of their place, might be a good way to get into a good piece of ground for buck hunting later....