I’ve been a resident of the west for three years, yet I’m still drawn to whitetail deer while living in the heart of elk country. Although the mountains are now what I call home, my Michigan roots keep my mind wandering to whitetails, especially when the November rut rolls around. Outside of my formal stomping grounds, I’ve had my fair share of whitetail hunts around the country in various states including; Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, and Oklahoma. On many of these trips I’ve returned home “deer-less” but the experiences I’ve had and the memories made are nothing short of spectacular. If you’re an avid whitetail hunter (like myself) you should highly consider an out of state hunting trip.

The Unknown

The thing that reels me in the most to DIY whitetail trips is the adventure aspect, hands down. There’s just something about diving head first into parts unknown that draws the true adventurer out of me and the anticipation of new landscapes brings heightened energy like no other. Who doesn’t love a road trip with a good buddy and getting to step foot into unseen whitetail habitat?

Seeing new parts of the country and getting to hunt deer in different landscapes also brings new challenges. It takes hunting back to the basics where you have to figure out travel corridors, locate bedding areas, and put the entire puzzle together piece by piece. The adventure is so much more than miles traveled, it’s the experience of hunting in its purest form.

Large Tracts Of Public Land

100 acres was considered a big chunk of property where I grew up in Southern Michigan and up until I was 23 years old, I never knew what it was like to hunt thousands of acres of woods or crop fields. Large tracts of public land were few and far between so I was left to play within the lines of small private parcels, which I usually shared with multiple other hunters.

Many states have endless amounts of public land that are open to premier whitetail deer hunting, some of which are over the counter (OTC) tags. On public lands, you can literally play outside the lines and confines that you are normally subject to on private land. How often do you get to travel a mile into a stand location or cover square miles of acreage in a single day?

Camping and Lodging

The fun part about on an out of state hunting trip is getting to experience something new in a lodging situation. I’ve set up tents on public land, rented cabins at state parks and most recently on my hunt to Oklahoma, I slept in the bed of my truck with an air mattress and a SoftTopper. I’ve also stayed in hotels but I don’t recommend it because it kills part of the adventure on the trip, at least for me. A hotel doesn’t have the rustic hunting camp feel and even the shittiest motel can rack up a credit card bill pretty damn quick. I suggest finding a cabin, bringing a camper, or roughing it in the back of your truck; it will only make the experience better.

Creativity

The beauty part of a whitetail trip is the amount of creativity you can use for strategy, land access, and locating deer. There is no right or wrong way to approach or execute a hunt and you are only limited by your imagination. Who says you have to hunt exclusively on public land? I’ve gained free access to hunt private farms simply by door knocking, thus playing outside of the lines that I thought I was confined to. On my recent 2018 Whitetail Hunt to Oklahoma, I utilized quail hunters to help locate deer by exchanging numbers on the first day with the agreement to let each other know of sightings of the quarry we were chasing. After having a slow couple of days, I followed up with one of the bird hunters and he disclosed the area they were seeing the most deer while hunting for quails. Later that day I hung a stand and killed a doe and buck that same week. There’s no single path to get you from A to Z and that’s part of what makes these out of state trips so cool.

Have Fun!

Above all else, it’s important to remember why we deer hunt to begin with and that’s to have fun. If you’ve lost your itch or are looking to find a new passion, getting out of the same routine and mixing it up in another state can help rekindle the flame or start a fire that will burn for the rest of your life. Sometimes a spontaneous trip can help recharge the batteries for your daily life, regardless of whether or not you return with meat for the freezer.

With the start of 2019 upon us, where will you hunt this year? Will you return to the same back-forty that you know like the back of your hand, or will you experience someplace new? Life is short. Plan the trip, buy the tag, and go hunting!

Just when you think you have it all figured out, plans change due to unforeseen circumstances. Long story short, I was not drawn for a Kansas whitetail tag for the upcoming 2016 archery season and I’m bummed, to say the least. Well, I guess I can say not getting drawn was not unforeseen but it was certainly something that was out of my control. Kansas has been my “go to” state for the last two seasons and ever since that first hunt almost three years ago, I’ve been in love. Although my number one focus in 2016 is the September archery elk season in Colorado, I can’t imagine not hunting whitetails come late October when the rut starts kicking in.

Last Summer I spent a few days knocking on doors in Western Kansas and picked up two good farms to hunt for 2015. After learning the properties and understanding the general deer movement from the first season, I was hoping to put that intel to good use for this coming Fall. I will miss that I’m not going to be able to build a history with the deer I encountered from the year before. I will sincerely miss hanging trail cameras, scouting, and hanging tree stands for the upcoming season. And above all, I will miss the relationships I’ve developed with the landowners who were so great to me, welcomed me openly into their homes, and made me feel like a part of their family.

Ok enough with the pity party… shit happens and life goes on! I’ve come up with a few options to consider for the 2016 deer season:

Purchase a Left Over Kansas Tag

This seems like the ideal scenario on paper but the problem is that it would require an eight-hour drive as compared to my five-hour drive last season, making the weekend hunts tough to manage due to a full-time job. The units that I want to hunt have zero leftover tags and I will have little time to scout due to the upcoming elk season.

I also have to consider the monetary costs of this tag in addition to the time spent traveling. This tag costs $550 which is a lot of money to spend for just a few opportunities to hunt.

It will be a tough to decision not to hunt in Kansas considering I shot a great buck in 2015!

Read more about my successful 2015 Hunting Season in Kansas.

Purchase a Nebraska OTC Tag

The area I have been scouting via Google Earth in Nebraska is roughly a six-hour drive from where I live, which means it will be manageable for weekend hunts. Nebraska also holds a good amount of public land and is known for great deer hunting. The downfall is that hunting pressure will be higher and private land would be harder to gain access.

Another thing to consider is that the Nebraska rifle season falls right in the middle of November, giving me a small window to hunt before the orange army moves in. A positive is that a non-resident tag only costs around $300, which is a pretty good deal in my mind.

Hunt an OTC Unit in Colorado

Colorado implemented an OTC whitetail tag for select units on the front range a few years back and it would only be a three-hour drive to the areas I am looking at. The downfall to this is that the season only runs December 1 – December 31, meaning I would miss the rut. Also, the whitetail densities in these units are low so my whitetail sightings would be few and far between.

The good thing is that the price for a resident tag would be a very low cost of around 25 dollars!

Hunt IL On Highly Managed Private Land

I have access to hunt a number of farms in West Central Illinois where the deer hunting is unreal and the stands are already set. Literally, all I have to do is purchase a tag and show up! The negative to this scenario is that I would not be able to hunt multiple outings because I live so far away, meaning I would only have 1 week to whitetail hunt this year. Also, I really enjoy the challenge and take pride in the work that goes into hunting new farms and/or public land.

Decisions, Decisions

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what I’m going to do for this Fall and I’m hoping that by writing this article it will help me make my decision. The good thing is that I have a few months to decide. In fantasy land, I would hunt 10 states and take off three months of work to do so, but the reality is that I have limited time and resources so I am forced to choose.

I love this view!

I’m also considering doing the IL hunt in November and then trying my luck with the OTC tag in Colorado where I can hunt the post-rut during December. In this scenario, I would get an awesome week of the whitetail rut and have a closer drive and cheaper tag for late season Colorado.

What are your thoughts? Leave me some words of advice in the comments section below!