I'm looking to make a DIY mule deer hunt this fall--can someone give me pointers on which states sell tags over the counter, and have a reasonable amount of public hunting land?
Would like to keep it within about 20 hours driving time from Louisiana, and want to shoot a buck and doe. Not necessarily looking for record book bucks.

Thanks.

AFIK, all public land mule deer licenses in western states are distributed via random drawings. I am not aware of any that are available OTC anymore. Your best bet would be a private land hunt in New Mexico. If you can get permission to hunt from a landowner, the private land tags are OTC. However, New Mexico does not offer doe permits. Applications for public land deer hunts in NM are open until March 28th.

There may be other western states that give landowners transferable authorizations for mule deer licenses, but I am not familiar with them.

Go to http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/ for the New Mexico regulations. Hope this helps...

Thanks.

Anyone know the story on Nebraska?

mdv, Neb. is hampered by huge amounts of private land..like 2 percent of the state is public land..South Dak. may offer something, but if I were you, I would check Idaho..tags are on a first come first served deal..the very best area I think may be se Idaho and it is a draw..but you can just buy a deer license over the counter til they are gone..but I would get mine before I left..check the Idaho Game and Fish web site..

thanks, Wyo

South Dakota is by drawing as well. There would be some hunting in the Sandhills of Nebraska but it gets hunted hard. Wyoming may be your best bet with left over tags but know that most of the areas that are left are mainly private land.


ddj

I can hook you up with a rancher in the panhandle of Texas that has some real good Mule deer on his place but not DIY

Some of you Wyoming guys please chime in on this...............
The last time I hunted deer in Wyoming was about six years ago and I had a nonresident "General Area" license that was good in several contiguous game management units. I think I remember buying it OTC. Am I getting so old that my memory is failing?

There are no OTC deer licenses offered in Colorado.

KC

I believe WY is draw only now for nonres. Although some units, not known for trophies, have very high draw rates for non res. I could be wrong.


Some units in ID still OTC for non res. It really pays to get out and scout though before season. Big country and low deer pops. I have seen some really nice deer in ID in unpopular units. Can buy an OTC gen deer tag in WA. There are some nice bucks, not a lot, in WA. Would have to come out and scout and get into the back country

I would go to ID. I think ND and SD are possible too for non res. pretty easy to draw a deer tag there

Why do you limit yourself to OTC? Why not, perhaps, find a draw with good odds?
You could go OTC if a couple of draws fail to hit.
And some areas have tags left over after the draw.

Most states have full statistics on their sites.

Idaho general tags are OTC and since the price jump a few years ago they have not come anywhere near selling out...You can also order them online...

Love the fact that you are not necc looking for record book deer and an OTC tag.

Those years are long gone. LONG gone. Sad to say.

It's not too late to apply to Montana, Wyoming or Colorado, all of which have good mule deer hunting in spots and tags aren't that hard to draw.
But yeah Nebraska is the first place that comes to mind for over the counter (with cap) tags for nonresidents. The Pine Ridge area has a fair bit of public land. They get picked over pretty well, but finding a 2 or 3 year old isn't impossible. Last I looked I think there's only 1 B&C entrant, but my book is kind of old.

First post here.

I know it probably depends on the state ( up here its the provinces) but are most big game animals on draw? Sounds like its tough to pull a tag in some areas.

Up here in Alberta (-40 here today) all moose are on draw and depending on where you go mules will be draw, but whites are wide open, general tag province wide.

Where I am crown land is everywhere (private land as well), but finding down south private land isn't as much as a problem as is too many hunters for the amount of land available in a certain radius.

For reference, I'm about 17 hours north of the Canada / U.S. border.

Nothing but drawings in Oregon. One can go over the counter in Idaho, but it's quite expensive.

Exbiologist: The Deer license in Montana for non-residents runs at about a 28% success rate currently!
And, its well OVER $500.00 now!
And, Montana is having just a killer of a winter in much of the states better Mule Deer range!
And, this killer winter comes AFTER Mule Deer numbers were way down from the norm in 2,010!
I would NOT apply as a hopeful non-resident Mule Deer Hunter in Montana for 2,011!
Best of luck to the original poster on his upcoming Mule Deer quest.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yes they are all dead in Montana, weather got them all. The ones that survived are likely to be forked horns this season.

And, if the weather didn't get them then the trains did...oucha

Dober

That's what I heard in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah too. All dead. Winter killed a bunch, then wolverines, lynx and weasels and chupacabras ate the remainder.

the mule deer in good habitat are fine,,eeven with the dam deep snow,,, shot 6 coyotes in the last 3 days, been watching several 165-175 class bucks besides numerous smaller bucks waiting for the horns to drop,,i hope it hurrys and warms up,,,,

It is not true. The wolves got them all, the winter got the rest, and like Mark said, a train hit them too. You can take what Varmint Guy says to the bank - he should have been in the hunting consulting business.

There is only one deer left in NE MT and it's not even a mule deer.

You mean "Fork-ed" horns......laffin!

Sam, Come on, we all know that deer is frozen solid and not really alive...

Not a mule deer? What other kind of deer are there? mtmuley