Archery Hunting North Dakota?

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

Hello all,
This year I am going to try my real first attempt at archery hunting (tried bow hunting turkey once to no avail). I decided because I am going to school in ND, I should try to get out bowhunting for white tail deer and hopefully get my first decent buck. I am used to hunting in a tree stand in heavy timber, but due to the flat, open nature of ND I will be out of my comfort zone. Does anyone have any tips on how to be successful with an on the ground stalk for whitetail in open country?
I have done some e-scouting and found some spots that look promising, I am focusing on finding permanent water, as ND is experiencing a extreme drought. But If you have any more tips for me, I sure would love some advice!
Thanks

 

[BourbonTrail]

Best I’ve got: Learn how to draw and shoot from sitting (on the ground legs out) or kneeling positions first thing in the morning. Learn how to crawl without jacking up your bow. Your shots will probably be longer than you are used to in timber. Learn how to drive tacks at 60+ yards in the wind.

 

[flatwater bill]

I have only hunted ND twice, so no specific advice there, but access was an issue for us. The ND website says that only 5% of the State is public land. We were able to find good places, but it took some prep. Best of luck............FWB

 

[BnC 04]

Born and raised in Western ND. What part of the state are you planning on hunting? Might be able to lend a hand if its in our area.

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

Born and raised in Western ND. What part of the state are you planning on hunting? Might be able to lend a hand if its in our area.

I go to school at NDSU so I will be hunting more in the East side sadly. I might make it over there for a weekend but I will mostly be hunting the east.

 

[Rimshot]

Do you hunt waterfowl? That area of the state (especially north-west of you) has world class waterfowl hunting, and also a few decent areas of upland bird hunting.

I've never deer hunted there but I've seen them of course while I was bird hunting. IMO the deer hunting opportunities might be disappointing compared to other areas of the country. There isn't much public land, and a lot of the farmers go nuts for deer (modern firearm) season and post all of the cover pretty tight. Most of them don't waterfowl hunt because they are too busy getting the crops off during that time.

I've seen some good little patches of public ground that feature dense shelter belt habitat between open fields that had lots of sign. I bet you could do well with tree stand style hunting there. Also willow thickets in low spots were prime bedding areas.

Most of the area I hunt is 150 miles NW of where you are though, so I don't know how much that helps.

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

Do you hunt waterfowl? That area of the state (especially north-west of you) has world class waterfowl hunting, and also a few decent areas of upland bird hunting.

I've never deer hunted there but I've seen them of course while I was bird hunting. IMO the deer hunting opportunities might be disappointing compared to other areas of the country. There isn't much public land, and a lot of the farmers go nuts for deer (modern firearm) season and post all of the cover pretty tight. Most of them don't waterfowl hunt because they are too busy getting the crops off during that time.

I've seen some good little patches of public ground that feature dense shelter belt habitat between open fields that had lots of sign. I bet you could do well with tree stand style hunting there. Also willow thickets in low spots were prime bedding areas.

Most of the area I hunt is 150 miles NW of where you are though, so I don't know how much that helps.

I do hunt waterfowl and was actually out scouting yesterday. Not a many geese as I was hoping but good number of ducks. I hunt upland game too. I scouted a spot to hunt for deer as well yesterday and there was a lot of old sign but I decided it would be too open to be able to get on a deer.

 

[calling4life]

Calling could be huge for terrain like that.

Stalking up to deer will be extraordinarily difficult and wind will be insanely important, like being 100 yards from a deer to then turn around and walk 3 miles around that hill to make sure it's perfect type of important.

But one play would be to spot, stalk some of the way, get set up well for wind, then call and/or rattle the buck into range. Back when I hunted whitetail I had tremendous success calling and rattling, 11 bucks in one day was my best, all public land in MN.

So calling may be a great way to find success because stalking to within good archery range will take masterful skill, which usually takes decades of experience to achieve.

 

[375er]

Born and raised in Western ND. What part of the state are you planning on hunting? Might be able to lend a hand if its in our area.

BNC,

I have always wanted to hunt out there Are you in the south-west area?

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

Calling could be huge for terrain like that.

Stalking up to deer will be extraordinarily difficult and wind will be insanely important, like being 100 yards from a deer to then turn around and walk 3 miles around that hill to make sure it's perfect type of important.

But one play would be to spot, stalk some of the way, get set up well for wind, then call and/or rattle the buck into range. Back when I hunted whitetail I had tremendous success calling and rattling, 11 bucks in one day was my best, all public land in MN.

So calling may be a great way to find success because stalking to within good archery range will take masterful skill, which usually takes decades of experience to achieve.

Thanks so much for the tips, I have changed up my game plan a bit. I will just find a spot to sit and wait for deer to pass for the early season. Once it gets closer to the rut i'll start trying to do more rattling and calling.