Early stages of DIY Whitetail Hunt - What State?

[Southwind]

If I were in your shoes I would hop across the border to Kansas and hunt Walk in.

 

[Steiny]

Over the counter tags in Missouri and Nebraska.
I'd spend some $$ and lease a piece of private ground.

 

[BOWUNTR]

Colorado has good public land access to river bottoms in Eastern Colorado. When the corn is cut... they head for the river bottoms. Do some research and you'll figure it out. Ed F

 

[MoGreen]

I might be late to the dance but Northern Idaho on the St. Joe Nat Forest offers phenominal deer hunting in late November if you can get some rain. It seems you need rain to really get them running around. Private me if you want to know more. Also - Wyoming has good whitetail numbers especially around Sheridan. I have never hunted there but it sounds to be the case. You would have to research WY on your own. But Northern Idaho I have experience.

 

[3855WIN]

Rifle - Idaho, Wyoming
Bow - Kansas - early November in Kansas is hard to beat. Bucks respond to calls.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Wait... You live in Colorado, and can't find a place to hunt trophy white tail????
I thought there were hundreds of thousands of public access areas in Colorado....
Time to get some game cameras, and put some miles on the boots...

Colorado is mostly mule deer where most of us hunt. Eastern Colorado has whitetails, but I wasn't aware it was all private land. I like the mountains and the east part of Colorado is open country like Kansas.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

You can get an Illinois archery tag over the counter. That's the best time to hunt it anyway.

Public hunting in Illinois north of I-70 is horribly overcrowded regardless of the rut. Region 5 in Illinois is really the only place that bucks the trend of population to public land with Shawnee national forest and the surrounding DNR and Corp of Engineer properties. Illinois is not a true OTC state for non-resident archery as there is a lottery then the leftovers go to first come first served. Illinois as a state is only around 2% public land and has twice the population of most of the surrounding states. IL DNR is broke and funded at 40% the level it was 10 years ago so there has been very limited improvements going on to habitat. Illinois is a horrible state to hunt if you aren't on private and that nets the highest lease rates in the country.

Missouri has the mark twain national forest south of where I live it is 1,491,840 acres, and has i belive 8 wilderness areas. Within 30 miles of my house are 3 different state owned conservation areas open to public hunting that total about 10 thousand acres. Tags are available over the counter for $225 for an either sex tag, you can also buy a antlerless tag for $25. Food for thought. Denver is a ten hour drive from my house.

Mark Twain national forest during Missouri Firearm season is the biggest, most unsafe mess I have every seen in my life. Every turn around off a road has RV's, old school buses and tents set up a week in advance. On the other hand bow season you can hunt every day and not even see another hunter at a parking area, let alone while hunting. During archery season its just locals driving by on ATV's. The hunt is very low visibility and is very much its own thing which you won't learn overnight like a narrow strip of cover in a river bottom in Kansas or similar. Unfortunately the "wilderness areas" are not much bigger than 10,000 acres and are nothing that really restricts hunter movement to a notable degree. I love Mark Twain national forest in certain ways, but its by no means a place to drop in for a week of hunting as a nonresident and expecting success.

 

[buckbull]

Public hunting in Illinois north of I-70 is horribly overcrowded regardless of the rut. Region 5 in Illinois is really the only place that bucks the trend of population to public land with Shawnee national forest and the surrounding DNR and Corp of Engineer properties. Illinois is not a true OTC state for non-resident archery as there is a lottery then the leftovers go to first come first served. Illinois as a state is only around 2% public land and has twice the population of most of the surrounding states. IL DNR is broke and funded at 40% the level it was 10 years ago so there has been very limited improvements going on to habitat. Illinois is a horrible state to hunt if you aren't on private and that nets the highest lease rates in the country.

Spot on concerning Illinois. The only decent way to hunt Illinois is by lease. West-Central Illinois has typically been the hotspot for large bucks. There is some ground next to me that leases for $40 per acre, just stupid crazy. We haven't recovered from the EHD breakouts of 2012 and 2013 where death rates in my area were around 70%.

 

[Steiny]

I own a farm and lease another farm in Illinois. I am there for the whitetail hunting, which is considerably better than my home state, been hunting IL for 20 years.
Licenses are by draw, but I have never not be drawn. They are expensive for non res, approx. $425 for archery, $335 for firearms and you need a $65 regular hunting license.
I lease a real nice farm for less than what a one week guided trip to hunt deer somewhere would cost. Although I don't hunt public ground, I know some folks that do, and they do OK, so that is definitely an option.
Have not had an EHD problem in my area either. It aint all doom & gloom in IL.

 

[TrickyTross]

Nebraska would be awesome! Buddies and I are actually looking there for a trip next year. Good luck!

 

[TrickyTross]

Yep. My Uncle has hunted there for 30+ years. I have been able to go and purchase the permit everytime I've wanted to go. Never had to enter a lottery. A colleague of mine was up there on public land just a few miles from where I was hunting with my Uncle. Killed a 155" 4.5 year old stud. Reckon it's what you put into it.

That being said, I really wanna go to Nebraska....