Destinations For Public Land Deer Hunt Out West

[cherokee75]

I live in IL and have always wanted to go out West and hunt Mule Deer or even Whitetails.  I was just looking for suggestions for a public land rifle hunt.  It will probably be me and a few buddies and we would camp.  I have not done much looking at any state in particular but for rifle hunting it would have to be a state where you can apply for tags as a group or one that sells tags over the counter, if there is such a place.  I have always liked watching hunts from South Dakota and Montana but I am open to any suggestions.  Also, any info. on accessibility, hunting pressure, deer population (I am not a trophy hunter) or any other information you feel might be pertinent would be appreciated.  I am looking at possibly going in 2008.

[crow_feather]

I used to hunt the Jordan area in Montana.  It was full of deer and nice people.  Like "if you need gas and I'm not open, just call me on the phone and I'll come down and fill you up" friendly.  There are some fantastic deer out there if you want to get out and walk a bit.  They also have the BLOCK MANAGEMENT UNITS which let you hunt a large area of land without other hunters in the area.  Some of my best huntin memories are of that area and people.

C F

[freddogs]

 :)Wyoming has plenty of public land. Some of the good areas are hard to get tags for but many of the region tags have decent deer on public land. Call wildlife biologists in areas you are interested in. Check out Wyoming's fish and game website.

[superdown]

 I would suggest the clearwater area of idaho i used to live in kamiah and less than an hours drive east there is a 1million acre plot that is off limits to motor vehicles or anything gas powered and logging the hunting is very good one of the three places i lived was on main street and my front yard was literally 20ft x 8ft and their was often two to four deer in my yard at least 3 times a week  and if you want to hunt open style land their quit a few really large abandoned  tracts of "private land" because the logging industry fell on its butt and whole lotta people have left me being one of them so  if you  talk to the local real estate offices  they sometimes will help. its about 60 miles from clarkston to kamiah and in a one day round trip total count on all deer mule/whitetail bucks/does was about 275 deer! and that was with four people counting .

[NONYA]

The Jordan area has tons of walk in public access,plenty of deer to but the trophy quality has gone down with the influx of outfitters and non resident pressure,i would consider the area just south of Jordan rather than the CMR area,way less pressure and plenty of access that doesnt reqire as much foot travel.