2017 SD bowhunt
Wisconsin
My son and I are going to SD for an early season bowhunt. We will be hunting near Medora SD. Badlands area on the western side of the state. We will be applying for mule deer draw and planning our hunt with the expectation that one of us will draw the either or tag. Has anyone ever hunted out that way and do you have any advice that might be useful for us. This will be our first out of state hunt and a precursor to our 2018 elk trip. Any and all advice is welcome.
On the same note, we will have two extra seats in the truck if anyone is interested in tagging along. I have a very comfy camper secured for use for the trip. We will be leaving Hixton, wi at 4 am on Friday sep. 1st and returning on Sunday sep. 9. This is opening week of the ND bow season so we will have a chance at velvet bucks. We've chosen this time of year to go out there because 1-velvet bucks and 2-we will be there and back before our season even starts. The cost of the non res liscense is $272 whether you draw the mulie whitetail combo tag or just otc whitetail.(so there's really no reason not to apply for either or tag). All costs will be split equally and I will cover my sons share. Cost should be fairly low since we will just be camping, our biggest expense will be gas. If I remember correctly we apply for the mule draw in Jan. The first two guys to fully commit will get the spots.
Warning-I'm rather opinionated when it comes to the crossbow debate but other than that I'm very easy to get along with and I have no problem with agreeing to disagree. Also, I usually drink copious amounts of beer on a trip like this. Not enough to get stupid or not wake up in the morning but definitely enough to fall asleep easily at night.
All tips or advice should be posted on this thread. Not via pm. All interested in going on this trip can reach me via pm. Thanks in advance and we look forward to hunting with a couple fellow bowsiters.
SORRY, I meant North Dakota. Not South Dakota. I don't know how I screwed that up but the trip is to NORTH DAKOTA.
I hunted out there this year, I drew the any deer tag.It sure has changed,Mendora was a sleepy little town in the early 90's when I hunted it three years in a row.Still had a good hunt have fun .
The draw to ND is the early season and price of non res liscense. I have to pay for my sons too so at $544 total it's a lot more affordable than many other states. Plus, a mule deer is on my bucket list and I hear deer are fairly plentiful out that way.
Drummer boy, what tactics did you use? Did you hunt north or south of 94? What kind of whitetail numbers did you see? Where there a lot of other hunters to compete with? Our initial thought is south of medora along the little Missouri River. Thinking this will put us in the area of both species at the same time. Am I on the right track?
It would be east or west of 94,I hunted west of Medora close to the little Missouri.Early in the year most of the whitetails will be by the river.I mostly hunted for mulies glassing and then getting infront . I also would sit in the morning when I saw movement the day before, sit in places that you can adjust mulies do not hold to trails like whitetails MOST of the time.I saw some drives we used to do a little of that can be fun for smaller deer but I went out ther alone this time.
Sounds like a great trip. I just did a street view from I94 and that is some beautiful country! I wish you guys well and hope your son knows what an awesome privilege this is going to be.
Yes it is a great area to hunt, you do have to get in a little bit,but that is true almost any other area in the west.You also better be able to shoot farther then here in the east.That being said I shot a Goat and to buck mulies with a Rocky mountain recurve all less then 20yrds and the goat was less the 20ft!That was in the 90's before I got old.
Hahah. I was scratching my head with your first post as to South Dakota thinking, "Did Medora move?" Great trip and you should see velvet for the first few days at least. The bucks are very much patternable and will be in small bachelor groups yet. Only drawback can be extremely hot yet, but that is part of the hunt. Update us and stay out of SD!! :)
94 runs East and West, so if your off of the Highway you would either be on the North side or the South side of 94 or am I missing something?
Sounds like a good time, If it was a couple years from now I'd strongly consider it and it sounds like you could use a land surveyor with so you make sure you're in the right state. LOL!
Gps, good binoculars, comfy boots, bring lots of extra arrows/heads, pack your own beer (flavor seems different out west and In Canada)
I hunted south of Watford city for years. The ranch was great the first couple years but then came the oil wells... The rancher stopped planting Alfalfa so the deer did not move out of the canyons like they had. In it's hay day it was great. You could glass in the morning and see 50 or more deer coming off the fields. They had an epidemic of blue tongue if I recall right. That was worst of all. That die off really affected the herd.
I went one year further south, so south of 94 and they had the Blue tongue even worse, all week I think I saw one whitetail doe and 3 Mulie bucks....
I have not been back in about 4 years. I hope things have bounced back.
By the way, if you pass Trappers Cabin restaurant in Dickenson you owe it to yourself to stop by. Best breakfast by far and the place is flat out cool.
Enjoy and keep us updated!
Bill
Never been out there but I did do a velvet whitetail hunt in eastern Wyoming some years ago. Only thing I would consider is to get out there a few days before season opens to try and pattern some bucks. I would take a day scouting over a day hunting that time of year.
I have been out there 5 times. It's an awesome hunt if the weather cooperates. I drew an any deer tag twice and purchased Whitetail tags the other times. That was before the big die off and harsh winters. We hunted North of Hwy 94 all the way up to Grassy Butte. I didn't kill a Mule Deer but I did kill a few whitetail does to fill tags late in the week. Saw a lot of nice deer.
I would invest in a good topo map before heading out there and get familiar with the public land. If you find a ranch that has good deere populations along the Little Missouri River, it might be worth your while to ask about a trespass fee to gain access.
It was always a good hunt, but also a hard hunt too.
Huntcell you are right I had a brain fart.As far as hunting out there get your selve a grass lands map, shows all the walk in areas and public and private land.Also Dwight Schuh's book open country mule deer hunting is a great book to help a new mule deer hunter.That book got me so wound up about hunting mule deer that I ended up hunting in five western states,Montana I hunted 10 times.If you like open country it will be mutch more then a bucket list deer.
