Im already scheming and dreaming for next falls adventure and have my interest directed toward the west. I have deer hunted Wyoming multiple times but the tags and access are no bargain. It was a dream come true but I still like a bargain.

  NR tags look to be about $250ish with no draw for the archery tag. This is all good. I know of the quality of deer from ND but not so much about regional variations.

  Im not nearly set on North Dakota and this is a very preliminary inquiry but I may have found an interesting hunt.

   Any and all info would be appreciated. Thanks, Izzy

Email me at savage99t@aol.com.

From my experience prairie deer are tough. especially for bow hunters. So I would opt for the western or northern part of the state.

The herd is way down! They used to give out over 125,000 tags. Been going down for years. This year they are only giving out about 42,000. might want to look elsewhere-Hap

Izzy, are you looking for whitetails exclusively?  where we hunted in NE this year, there was a  good number of Muleys and a  few whitetails.  Their tag is also 250.  Its a whole different Ball Game but its a Ton of Fun.  We were out for antelope but all members of our group were in range of mule deer several times.  There were some nice bucks too. I would call them bug but the locals said they were small.

Also whip and his crew from Wisconsin Hunted ND a few times. I think Smoke, Joe Bzura and GREATBROWNKNOCKMEDOWN down did threads on here about it a  few years ago.  Definitely a great read if I can find it, will send you the link.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=146;t=000179;p=1#000000

still looking for the thread

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=096592;p=1#000000

enjoy

Thanks fellas, and I remember that thread now. Thanks for bringing it up.

ND has reduced number of permits, but where I hunt it seems to be paying off.  I saw a lot more deer this fall than the previous two or three years.

The downside is where I hunt it is hard to find land to hunt on; Eastern North Dakota.

Izzy  joe skipp and I hunted here in 2001
archery only  and real reasonable!!

 http://www.lowmanslodge.com/index.html

Thanks Mike, that looks real good. Im gonna look into them. Thanks for all of the help fellas. Its my understanding that the herd in on the rebound if only slightly and another mild winter will help tremendously.

I think so.  I have had three nights on stand with sightings of multiple deer; twice I decided to shoot a particular buck but the shot I was willing to take did not present itself.

I am hunting property in MN  on and off for the next couple of weeks.  So far, very poor.  A few does and fawns with no shot opportunities.  We did see a bear Sunday.

I believe N and S Dakota get hit hard by the weather at times, meaning some years the herd is thin.  I'll tell ya, having chased them in SD several times, I am thinking that some sort of ground hide or ghillie suit might be a good investment.  

I have used a ghillie there numerous times and have had deer right up close.  Where I hunted ( western central) the trees were in the gulleys or drainages, with very few on top.  It just limits you a bit if you are into the tree thing.
Good luck
ChuckC

I agree Chuck, Ive hunted the on the far western edge of SD in Wyoming and the terrain was as you say. Lots of ag in the Belle Fourche river valley and there , I believe it helped the deer winter over.

Our deer herd is way down we have reduced number of rifle tags the last several years but it doesn't seem to be helping much yet. I live in some of the best hunting in ND, at one time I could drive around in the evening for a short time and spot over a thousand deer now you may see 3 or 4 and whats left has become very nocturnal. I blame this on road hunting by the gun hunters.