Switchbkshooter

Hey all. A buddy and I are looking to go muzzleloader hunt Nebraska this year for mule deer in December. We figured we'd skip the rifle and go with the muzzleloader to avoid the majority of the crowd. Plus tags are easy to get. I was curious as to if anyone has hunted this area and whether or not anyone has any suggestions of where to go. I've been hearing a lot about the northwest corner near Chadron/Ft. Robinson and the North Central area by Samuel McKelvie NF. Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

BPeterson

Sticky situation you got there.....unfortunately Nebraska doesn't have A LOT of public ground and the ground that is public has tons of guys like yourself trying to hunt it, so it can get a little crowded.

If I were you I would look into Ogallala national grasslands, Red Willow WMA which is north of McCook in the SW corner of the state, Halsey National Forest, those are the ones that I've heard have good mullies....I'm in eastern NE, so I'm a whitetailer

Also take a look at this guid:
http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/hunting/pdf/huntguide.pdf

I GOT THE ITCH!!!!!!!!!!
BPete

bchunts

I'm sorry I have to disagree with you there. Out west there is alot of public ground and if you stop by game and fish office outside Chadron and buy a map there is even more land that's not listed on map of games and park website. You can run into lots of hunters if you road hunt, if you are willing to hike back a mile or 2 you can get away from most hunters and get into some nice mule deer and whitetail. The grasslands gets hit pretty hard and deer move out pretty early in the gun season. Come on out, you will have a great time. Good luck to you.

JBudd34

I agree with bchunts.. up here is a great place for mule deer. About everywhere you go your going to have crowding problems on public land thats just how it is but if you get back to where no one else really wants to thats where the big boys are! Good luck!

Switchbkshooter

Hey everyone. Thanks for all the replies. We have decided that we are definitely heading up to the Chadron area. We are both in good physical condition and definitely willing to hike back a mile or two to get to where the deer are at. We figured there would be a crowding issue, so that is why we're heading up during the muzzleloader season. I would assume there will be a significantly less number of hunters than during the rifle season. We were debating on pulling my pop up camper up there for lodging. Will the weather be too harsh for this during that time of year up there? If anyone else has any advice that can help us on our hunt, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks again for all the help.

map1

I've hunted Chadron area public. What are your expectations for mule deer? Not to say you won't do well but not a lot of nice mule deer come from public in that area, you would be hard preesed to find a 20" buck. Chadron is a college town and a lot of students hunt the area. Beautiful country, I would try Wyoming, much more land to hunt.

bchunts

Again, I would disagree with this statement, I have seen hunters bring in some giants from this area, there are 10's of thousands of acres of public land. I know 2 that are over 50,000 acres alone. It all depends on how hard you want to hunt, if you stay on the roads then you will only see the 20" bucks. As far as weather goes it can get quite cold, last year was mild but previous years was very cold. Hope that helps.
Thanks!

mtmmike1987

dont listen to them if you want a good 22 wide deer with thick beams
get up early and walk for 2 hours no lights you will see 1 to 3 150 class deer a day.

mike mc kean mountainmikes hunts

big game hunter 94

chadron is a good place to go