Sand Hills Nebraska Rifle Hunt

[Cali Buck Slayer]

Hello,

I am considering a hunt in the sandhills unit in November. I would like peoples input for this hunt. Is there a lot of area to hunt, lots of deer? How do you recommend to hunt in this area. I will have a 15 year old boy and this is his first time to hunt out of state. Would really like to get him a nice buck. Also would is there lots of area to put ups some tents in this area? Thanks in advance for any advise or help.

 

[Lukem]

Nebraska is only 2.5% public land, so every bit of public gets hunted during the Firearm season. If you hunt the weekends, it'll be crowded. If you hunt during the week, much less so. In the Sandhills unit you're basically looking at McKelvie NF, Valentine NWR and a handful of WMAs if you're limited to public land. There's a lot of private to hunt, but a lot of it is outfitted or in accessible without some coin. The best source for public land info is http://outdoornebraska.gov/publicaccessatlas/ The hard copy should be available in the next few weeks. OnX is good, but they list school lands, which aren't open to public access in NE. For some specific agency questions (camping, etc), you'll need to look at their pages since not all those regs/details are listed in the Public Access Atlas: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nebraska/recarea/?recid=30324 and https://www.fws.gov/refuge/valentine/ The Big Game Guide for NE is another good resource http://outdoornebraska.gov/guides/

Good Luck!

 

[StetsonAnderson]

There is very little public ground here as stated above. The quality of bucks on that ground is okay at best with a better buck by luck. There are nice deer here on private ground. But you’re either going to pay a pretty penny or get told no on permission if they have quality deer. You also must keep in mind that we are large in agriculture here and that the deer love staying in the crops. So with that being said, once the combines roll thru and guns go off the hunting is going to get tough. The deer become extremely skiddish and either go nocturnal or completely leave the area. If you don’t get the job done the first weekend.... good luck.... This is my experience after hunting/living here my whole life. I primarily hunt bow/muzzleloader season for these reasons. But, they also have their challenges.

 

[vanish]

The single most asked about hunt on Rokslide.

( Ok, maybe CO OTC Elk beats it out, but its close! )

 

[William Sublette]

Not worth a 30hr drive, unless you want to teach your son about disappointment.

NE doesn't have otc tags because of overwhelming numbers of deer, and lots of public hunting.


It has unlimited otc tags, because the GnP is .gov beauracracy in constant need of new revenue.


As the tags pie continues to be sliced thinner, and thinner across the country, this causes folks to pile into areas where they can get a tag, any tag. Look at CO otc compared to 5 -10 years ago for instance.


NE GnP knows this, and are taking full advantage of it.


Hey, they're selling you an opportunity, no one said it had to be quality opportunity.




And, they just passed a law allowing land owners to hunt the weekend before rifle season starts.


So, now any adult deer that have seen this movie before, will be nocturnal by opening weekend.


(Unless their hormones get them in trouble)

 

[String&stick]

As a Nebraskan I would encourage you to pass on this hunt. . . Especially with a child. I have literally feared for my life while hunting public land opening day in Nebraska. I'm fortunate enough to now own a little ground and have permission through doing work on some more.

I hunted McKelvie national Forest (read sand hills grass land) about 12 years ago. . . Shot a coyote, had a bullet hole in our wall tent, wound up killing one 4x4 white tail (100 inch size deer) between 4 guys. It was an experience. . . Not worth the time or expense in my opinion.