Help On North Dakota Mule Deer Hunt
Contributors to this thread:Mule Deer
From: Triax
21-Jan-23
Hi, Just need some advice on a North Dakota Mule deer hunt I might go on this year if I am drawn. 1. Would it be ok to do the hunt the first week of season. ( yes it's on Private land ) the ranch has plenty of water and some hay fields. 2. He says the herd is doing ok and he has plenty of Mule deer and whitetails. I just afraid Blue tongue ? cwd hit the area bad. 3. Any Advice would be appreciated. Thanks Mike
From: Tony
21-Jan-23
I can't speak for ND but I do hunt southern SK which is very close. I usually do October. The one year I went the start of September was really difficult. I was hunting cattle country and they seemed to more be out in the grain fields still. Last year we went 1st week of Oct and were right down by the border. Numbers were great and I took a 174in and my buddy put an arrow just over a 170 class. CWD did not appear to be a problem like it is on the west side of the province
From: Michael
21-Jan-23
I know SW ND was hit very hard with EHD last year. It affects whitetails worse than Mule deer. Haven’t heard of any Blue Tonge out there.
From: INbowdude
21-Jan-23
From: Triax
22-Jan-23
Thanks for all the help! Mike
From: Z Barebow
22-Jan-23
If you are after mulies, I wouldn't worry about any disease. Depending which part of state and the rest of winter could have have some impact on population. I would rather hunt the MD rut, around Thanksgiving to 1st week in December. Mulies don't have any problems finding water, even in dry years.
From: midwest
22-Jan-23
Z, brrrrrrrrr!
From: Powder
23-Jan-23
Bow or rifle?
From: Triax
24-Jan-23
We would be going with Bow.
From: No Mercy
25-Jan-23
Blue Tongue(EHD) has a different affect on mule deer than whitetails. There was no outbreak in 2022 of Blue Tongue(EHD) to my knowledge, so unless we have a super dry summer, I wouldn't expect it to be back. CWD hasn't killed one deer here yet, so you're safe there too. Early season is great on food sources or water and a velvet deer is a possibility then.
From: Michael
25-Jan-23
When I said last year in my earlier post I should have said 2021.
The reports I seen SW ND got hit pretty hard that year from EHD.
From what I have seen after the Ne EHD outbreaks. Whitetail numbers can bounce back pretty quickly, but bigger bucks in the herd numbers take awhile.
