The most common deer in the Great Plains, whitetails mostly inhabit timbered river or creek-bottom habitat. Archers will profit by hunting those areas. Photo by Marc Murrell.

Deer hunters all across the Great Plains are anxiously awaiting the coming of fall. Bowhunters are busy shooting and readying equipment, and evening scouting trips combine with placing a few tree stands to line up the ingredients necessary for starting the archery deer season.

Here, then -- complete with a few tips, pointers and tidbits of wisdom from those most closely tied to deer management in each Great Plains state -- is some prime info with which to get your deer season off on the right foot.

NORTH DAKOTA
How’s the deer population in the northernmost state in our region?

“Good,” asserted Bill Jensen, big-game biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. “Whitetails are found all across the state, but tend to have the highest numbers in the north and eastern portion.”

Residents of North Dakota may obtain one any-deer bowhunting tag; non-residents can get one either-sex whitetail tag or, possibly, draw one of a limited number of any-deer tags -- highly coveted and issued by lottery -- that permit taking a mule deer.

“Then we have a lottery system for firearms,” Jensen said. “And after it’s done, archery hunters can use leftover licenses to take deer during the archery season with their bow. For all practical purposes, they’re whitetail doe licenses.”

Permits can be bought over the counter or via the Internet. Residents pay $20 for their permits, non-residents $200. Both will need a general game habitat license for $13 and a hunting, fishing and furbearer certificate, which are $1 and $2, respectively. North Dakota archery season dates generally run from the beginning of September, starting at noon, to the first part of January.

Archery success will vary throughout any given season. Over the years, Jensen has observed persistent seasonal trends and patterns in harvest. “There’s a gradual progression through the season,” he remarked, “but, frankly, a lot of our deer are harvested the last week of the season. People are holding out for a big buck, and then at the end of December you see a big surge in the kill as people realize it’s their last chance to kill a deer and they arrow something.”

Success at getting permission to hunt private property -- 95 percent of the land in North Dakota -- can be easy or difficult to achieve.

“Like every place else, you have to ask,” said Jensen. “And if you want to shoot a doe, you’ll have real good success -- but if you’re just wanting to shoot a big buck, you’re less likely to get it.”

Public-land prospects are available for the bowhunter, too. “There’s the Sheyenne National Grasslands in the southeast,” offered Jensen. “The Little Missouri National Grasslands in the west. And if they get on our Web site, they can access our PLOTS (Private Land Open to Sportsmen) maps for the entire state.”

Archers in North Dakota number about 15,000 to 16,000, about 2,000 of those non-resident. Bowhunters in the state typically kill about 6,000 to 7,000 deer a year -- a success rate of about 40 percent.

The only changes that Jensen looks for this fall concern the banning of a new mechanical broadhead. “You can’t use the mechanical broadheads where the blades stay open,” he explained. “It opens up and forms a barb and locks.”