Sandhills hunt

[Deertick]

The truck is loaded and we are headed to Nebraska Sandhills for the last four days of the rifle deer season. Scott, my neighbor, is looking for a mature whitetail. I\'m after a mule deer. We will have limited reception so there may not be updates until next week.

Unless we come home early!

 

[cnelk]

Good luck out there~
Conditions should be good!

 

[cohunter14]

Good luck and safe travels John :upthumb:

 

[iccyman001]

Good luck, John!

 

[mainebrdr]

Good luck John and have a great time!

 

[david.denham.39]

Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Deertick]

Well, it was a bust.

The Sandhills of Nebraska are a great place, and the private property holds big mulies and whitetail ... but we were hunting public property. Even with horses to cover ground -- lots of ground -- we came up short on deer sightings. In 4 days we saw a total of 5 deer (though the buck we saw, a whitetail, was very respectable).

They were very jumpy, and hunting pressure was high.

 

[Deertick]

Here\'s some typical country. Believe it or not, there are whitetails out there. In fact, in 2008 I shot a nice 5x5 here. Another large one was taken by another camp, and they also had a nice 4x5 mule deer.

So, they\'re here -- but where?

The sandhills are like being at sea with tall waves. You can\'t see out of the \"dip\" you are in, or, if you get on \"top of the wave\" you can\'t see into the dips. If you ironed-out the Sandhills, you\'d probably triple the size of Nebraska.

 

[Deertick]

More of the landscape.

 

[Deertick]

The Alaknak tent came in very handy ... it was cold out there, and very windy. Some snow, but not enough to find tracks, etc.

The sheepherder stove got a workout, too. Freezing outside, but cozy inside.

 

[Deertick]

The Sandhills are a great place. Really special. If you get access to private property up there, go. Public land is tough everywhere, and tougher when the weather doesn\'t cooperate.

This is one of those spots I just love, and I return there now and then to hunt even though the hunting isn\'t all that great (at least this year).

The lesson of 2015 for me has been that I need to separate the nostalgia that I have for \"great old places\" and strike out in new directions to find both elk and deer. I will take that advice, but ... I do love some of my old spots, even though they didn\'t produce for me in 2015 like they have in the past.

 

[cohunter14]

Sorry you weren\'t able to punch your tag John, but it sure looks like a good time in some pretty country.

 

[otcWill]

Looks like fun! Did ya see many upland birds, John?

 

[Deertick]

Sharptail numbers were higher than I\'ve ever seen, Will. Saw a prairie chicken, too, which is odd for this spot. I don\'t think I\'ve ever seen them before up there. I don\'t think we ever left camp without seeing sharptails, though.

And after being hunted since 9/1, they were spooky as heck! I don\'t think I would\'ve been able to scratch one down the whole time I was there -- flushing wildly 200 yards out.

 

[cnelk]

Did you find any arrowheads?
Or tipi rings?

Those are always fun to find

 

[Deertick]

Nope on the artifacts.

The sand had likely shifted over a lot of what previous civilizations have left behind. Blowouts, I hear, sometimes release some artifacts, but I\'ve never found any up there.

I did manage to LEAVE an artifact ... my left lens from my glasses popped out in waist-high grass. Someday, they\'ll say \"Gee, those poor suckers had to put glass on their faces just to see.\"

 

[Jaquomo]

Just curious, when you asked permission, how was the response? was most of the land leased to outfitters, held for family-friends, or just not allowing hunting?

Everything in my area on the CO plains is now leased if it holds deer of any kind. Even many the family-friends ranches are leasing for part of the season (ie.. outfitter gets rifle season, while they bowhunt, or vice-versa).

 

[iccyman001]

The Alaknak tent came in very handy ... it was cold out there, and very windy. Some snow, but not enough to find tracks, etc.

The sheepherder stove got a workout, too. Freezing outside, but cozy inside.

What an awesome picture :upthumb:

 

[Deertick]

Just curious, when you asked permission, how was the response? was most of the land leased to outfitters, held for family-friends, or just not allowing hunting?

Everything in my area on the CO plains is now leased if it holds deer of any kind. Even many the family-friends ranches are leasing for part of the season (ie.. outfitter gets rifle season, while they bowhunt, or vice-versa).

We didn\'t ask permission. We just went to public land. I\'d had luck there before, and so why not?

The Sandhills are almost entirely private. We discussed that, and I don\'t know the origin of the large ranches without public land leases like west of Nebraska. Nonetheless, I don\'t know anyone to ask out there, and I don\'t have your (Lou) confidence, I guess. I just hate interrupting someone who is working on repairing a tractor or fixing a fence to request permission to hold my vacation on his property.

That said, I think there are options for those who will knock on doors our there, particularly in archery season.

There are leases around, particularly, I suppose, in the Sandhills Unit, which is managed for mulies >3.5 years old, and the Pine Ridge Unit, which is popular due to its landscape and public land. Nebraska is like any other state in that way. It\'s really a shame, as the land is really too large for even a busy outfitter to take advantage of.

I\'d like to see a \"Certified Hunter\" Program, where the state would vouch for a particular hunter who has gone through extensive training and background checks. I think it might be a good way for the public land hunter to get access to private property with no or little expense.

 

[Jaquomo]

\"Can I give you a hand with that?\" has worked well for me many times to gain permission from ranchers fixing fence or working on tractors. Just saying\' That\'s how I got on the 40,000 acres where I hunt now. Ranchers appreciate an offer of help instead of just asking for free hunting.