Hello all,
Working on a DIY public ground mule deer hunt for this fall. Plan right now is down to early archery late Sep.-mid Oct. looking primarily at NW SD possibly further south or NW NE. Like the looks of the NW SD area for spot and stalk, backpack and camp (pretty set on this location unless something compelling for another area comes up). This will be my first trip further west, currently live in Iowa, been checking out the site for awhile, have read quite a few threads (thanks to everybody for all the good info.) including the one started last year by moral hunter and manboy's 2011 AT whitetail/muley DIY SD hunt thread (really good equipment lists and such on that one). Won't be solo, one other guy is going along, our archery setups are for whitetail and I have done some backpacking/camping so should be pretty prepared for that side of things, probably most lacking in equip is my optics, looking at vortex for some decent binos. I have located and am going to put the map files from the SD game and fish website on my Garmin, hopefully get out that way this summer for a few days to put some miles in and look around/try out the equip. Looking to get in some deer, hopefully put on some stalks and gain good experience/learn (mule deer behavior, terrain for stalking, glassing techniques, etc.) for future trips.
Questions
-Any obvious holes/things I may not be thinking of given it's my first attempt at this?
-Any better mapping resources anyone might suggest?
-Any things to consider for setting up the archery equip?
As I said, this site has already been a great wealth of information and any advise is most appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
cjc
Working on a DIY public ground mule deer hunt for this fall. Plan right now is down to early archery late Sep.-mid Oct. looking primarily at NW SD possibly further south or NW NE. Like the looks of the NW SD area for spot and stalk, backpack and camp (pretty set on this location unless something compelling for another area comes up). This will be my first trip further west, currently live in Iowa, been checking out the site for awhile, have read quite a few threads (thanks to everybody for all the good info.) including the one started last year by moral hunter and manboy's 2011 AT whitetail/muley DIY SD hunt thread (really good equipment lists and such on that one). Won't be solo, one other guy is going along, our archery setups are for whitetail and I have done some backpacking/camping so should be pretty prepared for that side of things, probably most lacking in equip is my optics, looking at vortex for some decent binos. I have located and am going to put the map files from the SD game and fish website on my Garmin, hopefully get out that way this summer for a few days to put some miles in and look around/try out the equip. Looking to get in some deer, hopefully put on some stalks and gain good experience/learn (mule deer behavior, terrain for stalking, glassing techniques, etc.) for future trips.
Questions
-Any obvious holes/things I may not be thinking of given it's my first attempt at this?
-Any better mapping resources anyone might suggest?
-Any things to consider for setting up the archery equip?
As I said, this site has already been a great wealth of information and any advise is most appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
cjc
