unlimited or easy draw archery mule deer areas

I am interested in doing a DIY mule deer hunt and am looking for some areas that offer over-the-counter licenses or licenses that can be obtained with very few preference points. I would like to do a spot-and-stalk type hunt in open country. Does anybody know any reasonable areas for doing this that have a reasonable amount of public land and relatively little hunting pressure during the archery season? I am just doing some initial looking, so I am just looking for general areas (GMUs) and not necessarily any specific spots. Any state would be of interest to me.
5,052
Default Avatar
Eastmans Bowhunter Magazine puts out an
issue every year that breaks down the western states,how to,where to, things like that. You might find what your looking for in there. Good luck.
0
Default Avatar
There are several good areas in Wyoming and Colorado that are easy to draw. And from what I know, they are not as crowded as Utah or parts of Arizona. And Idaho has OTC licenses for lots of areas. It just depends upon whether you want to hunt above timberline or in the brush. I like the way you are thinking; hunting that sort of country is my favorite as well. Good luck.
0
NotEnufTags
"maintguy47" wrote:Eastmans Bowhunter Magazine puts out an
issue every year that breaks down the western states,how to,where to, things like that. You might find what your looking for in there. Good luck.
The over-the-counter Eastmans magazine won't have the info maintguy47 mentioned. It's the MRS section or members research section available only to subscribers. They include it in the back of each issue. It's very well thought out. They time the reasearch so your reading about odds and drawing dates ect. a little before you have to act to put in for the tags. The section gives hunter success rates, a percentage of public vs private land, typical number of points required to draw the area, record book potential and so on. They do this research for all of the western states. I think Maintguy's suggestion is spot on. Subscribe to Eastmans and you'll get a ton of info that your after.
0
TommyColey
tons of info in the eastmans mags but you will need to be a subscriber.
General tags are not very hard to draw. this will be my 2nd year hunting out west and I have 2 deer tags 1 in WY and 1 in MT.
drew one in WY last year but ended up after 9 days eating that one.

I plan on doing better this year.

GOOD LUCK.
:thumb
0
waynedevore
Montana is one of the harder draws. NR's need to have one of the Combination licenses. If you want to hunt antlerless White tail and in some cases antlerless Mule Deer the draw is quite easy and you need to apply by June 1st. Wy has some areas where the draw is 100% or near for either sex either species.
0
BOHNTR
Coming from MN......if you want over-the-counter archery deer, open-country to stalking, and fair numbers with a chance at a mature buck.........I would look at South Dakota (N/W portion) near the Black Hills.
0
southendguy
Nearly all areas in Oregon are over the counter. Lots of public land to hunt on.
0
killerbee
"southendguy" wrote:Nearly all areas in Oregon are over the counter. Lots of public land to hunt on.
only if your hunting archery. if it's rifle you'll have to hunt the west side of the state. there are VERY few O.T.C hunts for rifle on the eastern/ mule deer side of the state.
0
Bowhuntrben
Thanks for the tips everybody!!!
0
southendguy
Killerbee, The topic was Unlimited or easy draw archery mule deer areas, that was what I was refering to. Sorry if there was a misunderstanding.
0
killerbee
ah crud...


no, my bad on that one!


i some how skipped over the "ARCHERY" part of the thread ](*,)
your totally correct.
again, i appologize my stupidity ](*,)
0