best state for muley hunt
 

my grandpa and i want to go on a muley hunt this year. we want to go someplace on public land where we will see lots of muleys and some pretty decent bucks.I will walk far to get to the deer if i need to. we are considering wyoming, south dakota black hills, montana. Im leaning towards going on blm land near Cody wyoming or the black hills national forest. we also want to go someplace with high odds of drawing a tag. what would be the best state as far as seeing decent bucks? what would be a good unit in that state? thank you

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

Wyoming is a great place to hunt mule deer and there is a ton of public land here, but the non-resident draw is already over for this year, and your only hope of getting tags this year would be the left-over draw, but I'm not sure when that is.

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

oh no the wyoming deer draw is march 15 so you have time but you better hurry!

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

WOOPS! Disregard my previous comment I just double checked the non-resident application booklet and I was thinking of the non-res elk draw! Manboy is right, the deadline for deer is March 15. And March 15 is the date the aps have to be at the G&F office by 5pm, not the date they have to be postmarked. Your best chance for a crack at a good buck will be in areas 128/129 late season, but I've never even drawn that tag as a resident. Most of the rest of the areas in the state have pretty good bucks in some spots if you can find them, and I'd say Cody is a good spot to go.

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

Even if you don't draw- at least buy a point in Wyo. This is the first year for Wyo. doing points for non-res, so to get into it this year is huge! It's $40 for a deer point, but will pay off down the road if you don't draw this year. Next year 75% of tags will go to those with points, 25% in the general draw.

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

forget about the 128/ type 1 tag. it has been a 2%-3%;) draw for nonresidents!!
just go with another region that has a good % like region A or B. because you can't kill a nice muley if you don't draw a tag first!

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

Montana applications are due by March 15th too! Got to make some fast decisions! I would also look at Colorado. Apps have to be in by April 4th.

I hunted near Cody Wyoming a while back. Fairly easy draw and lots of decent deer. Not a real trophy area, but nice bucks. Just remember that you can only hunt in NON wilderness areas. You would need a guide or Wyoming resident to hunt in the wilderness.

Good luck

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

Given your criteria, I too would have to agree that Wyoming would be the place to go. Either And as my colegues have mentioned, March 15th is coming up fast. You can save time by printing the aps off the G&F website. Make sure to check the box called "Party Application Block". It ensures that if one hunter draws, you both draw. Example: you would mark yours "1 of 2" and your G'pa would be "2 of 2".
If you are interested in the Cody area just because there is a lot of BLM, there are lots of other public land hunting opportunities in Wyoming. State lands, Nat'l Forrests, private lands called "Walk-In Areas" and "Hunter Management Areas". There are also some G&F properties that you can hunt around the state. The G&F website lists all these under the link "Public Access". If your wanting to stick to the northern part of the state, I might suggest Regtions C or even A.
I believe trophy's are everywhere. Just a lot harder to find. Certainly, more trophy's will be more denseley concentrated in areas that are not hunted as much.
If March 15 comes and goes unsuccessfully, G&F also has a drawing in July called "leftover" licences. Keep in touch with the G&F website for more details.
Good luck . . . and enjoy~!

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

what is a good unit near cody? we tried C last year but didnt see many deer at all.

RE: best state for muley hunt
 

I would say Idaho is a god bet!!! But those damn Wolves have been on a killing spree!!!!!!