Bad lands/breaks country mule deer

[slick]

Grew up archery and rifle hunting a few of the “4x” units in the badlands before moving to MT. Unfortunately never drew a buck tag, but have been with for a few. The ND badlands/little Missouri are a special place. Have friends who ranch out that way and I always stop in and say hi going back to my parents. I just wish it wasn’t so impossible for me to come home and hunt mule deer (even NR archery tags are a pain). Glad to see people on here taking advantage of it.

 

[slick]

Grew up archery and rifle hunting a few of the “4x” units in the badlands before moving to MT. Unfortunately never drew a buck tag, but have been with for a few. The ND badlands/little Missouri are a special place. Have friends who ranch out that way and I always stop in and say hi going back to my parents. I just wish it wasn’t so impossible for me to come home and hunt mule deer (even NR archery tags are a pain). Glad to see people on here taking advantage of it.

Also, if anyone wants to shoot me a PM I’m happy to share the areas I know used to hold bucks in a couple of those units. None of my family or friends hunt it anymore.

 

[nodakian]

Love all the ND people in the thread!

How rough is rifle deer nowadays? Anyone else draw? I have 1 tag in 8 years for drawing WHITETAIL! Bought my Tikka 8 years ago when I worked at Gander MTN. Used it once in my own state.

I got rejected on a unit this year with a 90% draw chance last year.

I might be making a trip to SD or MT for archery deer or antelope to drown out my sorrows..

Just a mulie doe. I've drawn whitetail doe tags the last 3 years. I moved here from MT years ago, and it's still hard to wrap my mind around having to draw for a single doe tag. On the bright side, I haven't had to butcher several critters per year lately.

 

[BrentLaBere]

I'm sure that would be a hard adjustment, moving from Montana to North Dakota and the tags available.
Made it out for a little hike Saturday morning and most of the success was exercise. Not many deer turned up. Didn't see many in the AG fields either, weird morning as far as that goes. Time to check out some more areas.
Next Friday night, full draw film tour is stopping in Belfield. Might check that out and have more time Saturday for scouting. Didn't get to set my trail cameras like I wanted to

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Would alot of the advice offered here, be true for say southeastern or eastern Montana as well?

 

[NDGuy]

Would alot of the advice offered here, be true for say southeastern or eastern Montana as well?

Yes for sure. Eastern and SD Montana are pretty locked up with private and public gets pounded from my experience.

One BIG difference with MT vs ND is that in MT the bucks are smaller overall since there are so many more tags given out. ND only gives out a few hundred tags a year.

 

[strand]

I've hunted the badlands in ND a lot and my experience has been similar to what is already mentioned. I've spotted big solo bucks in mid-August and by September 1st they have been 4-5 miles away. I only re-located them due to persistence and a lot of luck. Of course during the rut all bets are off. I think scouting is still worth your time as it will give you a general idea of where to look and what type of bucks are in the area. If you've scouted and have your sights set on a certain age class or size of deer and all you've seen are smaller bucks, look somewhere else. My advice is don't be opposed to using your vehicle to cover country. Unfortunately there are a lot of roads in that area, but use them to move from place to place if you're not seeing anything. Come November I think people are moving those animals around more than anything.

I wanted to add in 2014 I had a tag and I spent nearly the whole 16 day rifle season out there glassing and looking for one deer. Rumors surfaced that the outfitter adjacent to where I was hunting put down a real bruiser. I never saw pictures but based on the description I think it was the same buck. Anyways, I had a nice "last day buck" glassed up on the first day of the hunt and he never moved from the same little 20 acre brush choked meadow in a 1 acre strip of trees. It was one of those classic protected little meadows down there in the badlands with the bottom full of trees, and that deer would be standing in the trees feeding every single day, almost all day long. You wouldn't have found him unless you knew he was there or you were really really glassing that patch of trees. I caught him outside his area one morning while he chased and bred a doe, but he was only ever a few hundred yards from his patch of trees. I had glassed him maybe a 1/2 mile from that little spot in September, so as far as I know he lived nearly the entire season in a very small home range. The big one I was after was killed probably 5-6 miles from where I first spotted him in August.

 

[wrkn2hunt]

I was just out in the Badlands a few days ago and turned up a buck we watched last fall and man he is looking awesome this year! He is in the exact same place he was this time last year. I am hoping to spend 4 days out there for opening archery. I would say he is a solid 180" 4x4 with brows and matching kickers.

 

[NDGuy]

I was just out in the Badlands a few days ago and turned up a buck we watched last fall and man he is looking awesome this year! He is in the exact same place he was this time last year. I am hoping to spend 4 days out there for opening archery. I would say he is a solid 180" 4x4 with brows and matching kickers.

Good luck man!

 

[BrentLaBere]

Good luck out there. Heading out this weekend again to a new spot.

 

[Shotstring]

Great hearing all the posts from the ND guys. I finally drew my mule buck tag in the ND Badlands after 8 years of applying. It's going to be a great time. Good luck boys!

 

[Boxerboxer]

Man I can't wait to get out to ND! This thread popped up right as I found out my dad would be in the states next September (2019), and my CO elk trip turned into badlands archery muleys. Who knows if I'll draw, but dad is a resident so either way we'll try to get him on one.

 

[dirtytough]

Wife and I both have muley buck tags this year. Hopefully I can find a mature buck for her early in the hunt and spend the rest of the hunt looking for something I like the looks of. Good luck to all the tag holders.

 

[wrkn2hunt]

Wife and I both have muley buck tags this year. Hopefully I can find a mature buck for her early in the hunt and spend the rest of the hunt looking for something I like the looks of. Good luck to all the tag holders.

A buddy, my wife, and myself all had tags in 2016. We all shot nice deer, mine and my buddy both shot extremely nice bucks and the wife shot a damn decent one for only having one day to hunt. We did find a 190" typical but didn't close the deal.

 

[OFFHNTN]

I may need to adjust my boots. Tried some new ones and had been breaking them in around my place. Turns our putting 9 miles on them shows their true colors (fit). View attachment 75401

Looks like the work of a Kenetrek. ?

 

[BrentLaBere]

Looks like the work of a Kenetrek. ?

Haha no, my buddy had that happen with some kenetreks that he ended up getting rid of. Lathrop Mountain Hunter Elites. I feel like im invested in the pair so I had them sent off to get a heel lift. Its what they suggested with the high heel blister. I hope it works. But if not ill be going back to the solomon 4d gtx boots.
Might be having a lightly worn in pair of boots for sale

 

[OFFHNTN]

Haha no, my buddy had that happen with some kenetreks that he ended up getting rid of. Lathrop Mountain Hunter Elites. I feel like im invested in the pair so I had them sent off to get a heel lift. Its what they suggested with the high heel blister. I hope it works. But if not ill be going back to the solomon 4d gtx boots.
Might be having a lightly worn in pair of boots for sale

Sounds good. Good luck!

 

[BrentLaBere]

Got a chance to wear the boots again and had one little hot spot but nothing tape wont fix. Im going to run some tape on my heels right out of the gate. Well see how they work out. Solomon will be waiting for me if I need them.
Havent found any really big bucks yet. Just curious what you guys think this deer would go. Have a few different opinions on him so far. Wanting to see if Im off base on my judgment. View attachment 77142View attachment 77143View attachment 77144

 

[OFFHNTN]

Got a chance to wear the boots again and had one little hot spot but nothing tape wont fix. Im going to run some tape on my heels right out of the gate. Well see how they work out. Solomon will be waiting for me if I need them.
Havent found any really big bucks yet. Just curious what you guys think this deer would go. Have a few different opinions on him so far. Wanting to see if Im off base on my judgment. View attachment 77142View attachment 77143View attachment 77144View attachment 77148

Honestly, it's too hard to even guess with those pictures. I can't even tell if it's a 3x3, 4x4, 3x4, etc. Back forks look decent, but can't see the fronts at all.

 

[BrentLaBere]

Honestly, it's too hard to even guess with those pictures. I can't even tell if it's a 3x3, 4x4, 3x4, etc. Back forks look decent, but can't see the fronts at all.

good point. pictures arent great. he is a 4 point.