Nebraska Muley Muzzleloader

[huntaholic123]

Looking at picking up a statewide Nebraska muzzleloader tag this coming year. Anyone have any experience with the Sandhills for muzzleloader in December? How are deer numbers after getting pressured all season by archery and rifle hunters? Looking at the Northwest part of the state due to public land availability. DIY hunt and targeting mule deer. Just looking for some generic information and personal experiences. Thanks for any input.

Justin

 

[Skyhigh]

I have hunted a lot in Western NE, feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

[huntaholic123]

Anyone have some herd objectives in the Sandhills area? Mule deer numbers up or down the past year or two? Plan on contacting the local biologist and game warden but sometimes I find what they say varies from what hunters are seeing in the field.

 

[Shawn Hultquist]

not sure I'm about an hour and a half south of there we have some good deer in our areas

 

[Bearded Bowhunter]

I will send you a pm

 

[Hunting716]

I hunted two years ago during Muzzleloader season. Be prepared it will be COLD, besides that we had a tough time getting on Mule Deer around the Sand hill area, however we seen some huge whitetails! We ended up having to leave early due to them preparing to shutdown I 80 when we were out there. Very affordable hunt!

 

[huntaholic123]

The cold is unfortunately all to familiar to me being from just north of Nebraska. What are the whitetail to mule deer ratio? I was under the impression that mule deer populations were a bit higher in the area but hey, I'm not one to complain about seeing big whitetail. Appreciate the responses and PM's everyone. Excited to give it a go this winter as long as I don't burn to much leave the rest of the season. Any more input is always appreciated.

 

[rwurdeman]

To answer your question as the season goes on the deer do become more pressured. However, since it is so freaking cold at times they are a slave to their bellies. If you find some public ground that borders some ag field (harvested corn or winter wheat) your chances increase significantly. They have to eat and eat a lot to stay warm.

As far as numbers there are a ton of whitetail. I do not know exact numbers but I have seen more whitetail while in the field then muleys. Whitetail are also more aggressive and will run of mule deer if not kept in check.

All that being said it is still an awesome place to hunt. Being a bow hunter I really enjoy Nebraska's longer season (Sept 1-Dec 31). A muzzleloader hunt is definitely a doable hunt, you may have to work for it, but it is really a great experience.

 

[morgan1h]

I agree with rwurdeman on mule deer vs. whitetail. Both are around in places, but it seems whitetail are pushing further into md territories. Conventional wisdom is that whitetails prefer river bottom and the marshy areas around the sandhills lakes, while Mule Deer stick more to the hills. I think this is true, but I see mostly whitetails in more places than that suggests.

Just anecdotal, I haven't seen any study numbers recently. G&P does publish harvest numbers broken down by county on their website.

Be prepared to cover some miles. Its not the Rockies, but the up and downs or walking on sandy trails will grind on a person over miles. There aren't so many deer you can get them easily, they need earned. Private ranches can be made to be a different experience.

 

[huntaholic123]

Appreciate the responses. I have hunted around the badlands of South Dakota for mule deer so know the pain of having to cover a lot of ground for a deer. Also hunting public all the time definitely gives a guy perspective on earning a harvested deer. Do you know are the muzzleloader tags for any antlered deer or mule deer/whitetail specific? Obviously my goal is to harvest a mule deer but if a nice whitetail presents itself I'm not above changing gears. Also need to check if scopes are allowed. South Dakota muzzleloader doesn't allow scopes but would be nice to get some glass on if Nebraska is different. Will get on google earth and start studying food sources and hopefully make a quick trip down this fall and get a feel for the land and see what crops are in for the year. I can't express my gratitude for everyone's input. Rokslide is invaluable resource when it comes to planning a hunt in a new area. Thank you all.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Also need to check if scopes are allowed.

Have you seen the recently posted video of Kristy Titus and Jordan Budd's NE December muzzy hunt? Looks like scopes are allowed.

Misery Loves Company - YouTube

 

[Kramer588]

I did the rifle season last year in the Pine ridge and national grasslands area, we didnt see many deer and only ended up with one 100" muley for the group of 4. It was also later in the rifle season and quite hot, so that could have been a big factor.

 

[Bearded Bowhunter]

Muzzleloader tags are good for antlered mule deer/ either sex whitetail. No species specific tags.

 

[Shmedium5835]

what about it being after the rifle season and all the pressure

 

[Lytro]

If you're familiar with Western SD, you could expect about the same in the area you're looking at in NE. From my experience hunting Western NE the past 5 years, you'll likely see more whitetails and most hunters hit the mule deer pretty hard. I still don't understand why people go after undersized mulies and pass up nice whitetails, but I definitely don't mind them leaving the big whitetails for me! Public land deer get pressured extremely hard in NE and a lot tend to disappear to private land after the rifle season, but populations are fairly dense and you'll still have opportunity if you can find public access close to feed.

The statewide muzzleloader tag is good for any deer outside of the mule deer conservation area. Inside the MDCA, you can only kill a whitetail with that tag. That won't be an issue if you plan on staying North though.

Edit: NE doesn't have any optic/powder/bullet restriction on ML's. Scopes, pelletized powder, and sabots are all legal.