I know we have a hunting and fishing forum, but I thought the Club guys would like to see a few fine examples of Nevada big game animals. First off, a little back ground. I have been applying for tags unsuccessfully for the last six years. This is mostly in part to my combination of selecting "Trophy" areas and my bad luck. I was even unsuccessful in archery antelope with BONUS points. I mean c'mon, really?
My luck turned around this year. I was able to draw a muzzle loader mule deer tag. This was in area 7, around Jarbidge. As luck would have it, my hunting partner and I drew a group tag and unknown to us at the time of the draw results, two of our other friends had also drawn the same muzzle loader deer tags. In addition to the mule deer tag, one member had drawn his second NV bull elk tag. This elk hunt was to be while the elk were in the rut and in the same area as our deer hunt. This was shaping up to be an epic hunt for sure. His elk season started about five days after our deer season.
We were able to get in a good three day scouting trip a few weeks before our season started. Even though the area was new to two of us, It was still a nice fast paced trip with promising results.
We returned a few weeks later and were fortunate to be able to set up camp at our first choice spot. One of the first chore's at our hunt camp is to build the flag pole. Two of the guys in the group go so far as to hang a Nevada flag under Old Glory while hunting in other states... Knowing how I feel about out of staters' hunting in NV this is a bold move. This year I added the ever popular Gadsen Flag.
You just gotta love Nevada, it snowed on us the first night we were there. We woke up to about three inches of fresh white love on the ground and pure fog. We were socked in at our elevation with visibility about 50 yards. We hunted low and again had some very promising leads.
We had spotted numerous bucks, but nothing we wanted to shoot. The third day into the hunt my buddy and I went back to an area we liked and after about ten minutes of glassing, we spotted a nice 4x4. We watched him for about 10 minutes before my buddy said, "I want him." Since he spotted him first, he got first choice. At that point we focused all of our attention on him. We watched him for about two hours and finally put him to bed.
A plan was made and a couple of hours later we were skinning and packing his deer off the mountain. Since I was spotting from our original vantage point and had to get the meat packs from camp, I got to the party late. They had already skinned him, so no trophy shots for this one. You can see his left rear tine that broke off as he cart wheeled three times down the steep rocky mountain before coming to a rest. This shot was taken back at camp after he was caped out.
The following day, our other friend was out late and didn't make it back to camp until after 930ish. He comes stumbling into camp with a huge grin on his face saying he shot a "Nice one." He had prepped it and left it on the hillside for us to retrieve in the morning. He seemed very pleased with his success and wouldn't give anymore details other than it was a "Nice one." This only added to our anticipation more.
The next morning we were greeted by this beautiful guy.
This left two of us. Myself and (John) the guy with the elk/deer combo. John wasn't even looking at deer. He had focused his entire energy on bull elk and quite honestly has harvested a couple 30" bucks already. He had set his goal on a record book elk and had a few in his "Pocket" as we call it.
The next morning was opener for elk. At the end of the day it was elk 1, hunters 0. By now, we have mule deer hunters in the area, we have cow elk hunters in the area and we have 9 other lucky blokes that drew the bull elk rut hunt. Not to mention all of the elk hunters had their entourage (As we did too) of helpers. Including one old timer that had 10 friends, yes 10! out helping him due to the fact that he had suffered a stroke earlier in the year and was limited in his physical abilities. I thought that man must have been a hell of a guy to convince 10 of his buddies to come help him. I don't think I could get 10 guys willing to burn time, energy and money to come help me. That's pretty cool.
By 0800 the second day, we had a nice bull on the ground. Yours truly playing little joe the wrangler with a rude pack horse. John's father had brought in his horses to help with the elk hunt.
This left me... literally and figuratively. As I had said earlier, I had set my goals for the hunt before ever getting in the field. It was going to be a record book buck, or I was coming home with tag soup. I saw many nice bucks, but only one shooter. He was a gorgeous, really dark horned 4x5 whose rack made the most squared "Basket" I have ever seen. I could not believe how squared his rack was. We hunted a total of 12 days and it's with slight joy a little admiration and a little frustration that I say...he's still out there.
I came home empty, the other guys will all make the Nevada record book.
It was a great trip, we got to see and photograph a bull MOOSE in Nevada. We ate well, drank even better and got to see beautiful parts of Nevada.
My luck turned around this year. I was able to draw a muzzle loader mule deer tag. This was in area 7, around Jarbidge. As luck would have it, my hunting partner and I drew a group tag and unknown to us at the time of the draw results, two of our other friends had also drawn the same muzzle loader deer tags. In addition to the mule deer tag, one member had drawn his second NV bull elk tag. This elk hunt was to be while the elk were in the rut and in the same area as our deer hunt. This was shaping up to be an epic hunt for sure. His elk season started about five days after our deer season.
We were able to get in a good three day scouting trip a few weeks before our season started. Even though the area was new to two of us, It was still a nice fast paced trip with promising results.
We returned a few weeks later and were fortunate to be able to set up camp at our first choice spot. One of the first chore's at our hunt camp is to build the flag pole. Two of the guys in the group go so far as to hang a Nevada flag under Old Glory while hunting in other states... Knowing how I feel about out of staters' hunting in NV this is a bold move. This year I added the ever popular Gadsen Flag.
You just gotta love Nevada, it snowed on us the first night we were there. We woke up to about three inches of fresh white love on the ground and pure fog. We were socked in at our elevation with visibility about 50 yards. We hunted low and again had some very promising leads.
We had spotted numerous bucks, but nothing we wanted to shoot. The third day into the hunt my buddy and I went back to an area we liked and after about ten minutes of glassing, we spotted a nice 4x4. We watched him for about 10 minutes before my buddy said, "I want him." Since he spotted him first, he got first choice. At that point we focused all of our attention on him. We watched him for about two hours and finally put him to bed.
A plan was made and a couple of hours later we were skinning and packing his deer off the mountain. Since I was spotting from our original vantage point and had to get the meat packs from camp, I got to the party late. They had already skinned him, so no trophy shots for this one. You can see his left rear tine that broke off as he cart wheeled three times down the steep rocky mountain before coming to a rest. This shot was taken back at camp after he was caped out.
The following day, our other friend was out late and didn't make it back to camp until after 930ish. He comes stumbling into camp with a huge grin on his face saying he shot a "Nice one." He had prepped it and left it on the hillside for us to retrieve in the morning. He seemed very pleased with his success and wouldn't give anymore details other than it was a "Nice one." This only added to our anticipation more.
The next morning we were greeted by this beautiful guy.
This left two of us. Myself and (John) the guy with the elk/deer combo. John wasn't even looking at deer. He had focused his entire energy on bull elk and quite honestly has harvested a couple 30" bucks already. He had set his goal on a record book elk and had a few in his "Pocket" as we call it.
The next morning was opener for elk. At the end of the day it was elk 1, hunters 0. By now, we have mule deer hunters in the area, we have cow elk hunters in the area and we have 9 other lucky blokes that drew the bull elk rut hunt. Not to mention all of the elk hunters had their entourage (As we did too) of helpers. Including one old timer that had 10 friends, yes 10! out helping him due to the fact that he had suffered a stroke earlier in the year and was limited in his physical abilities. I thought that man must have been a hell of a guy to convince 10 of his buddies to come help him. I don't think I could get 10 guys willing to burn time, energy and money to come help me. That's pretty cool.
By 0800 the second day, we had a nice bull on the ground. Yours truly playing little joe the wrangler with a rude pack horse. John's father had brought in his horses to help with the elk hunt.
This left me... literally and figuratively. As I had said earlier, I had set my goals for the hunt before ever getting in the field. It was going to be a record book buck, or I was coming home with tag soup. I saw many nice bucks, but only one shooter. He was a gorgeous, really dark horned 4x5 whose rack made the most squared "Basket" I have ever seen. I could not believe how squared his rack was. We hunted a total of 12 days and it's with slight joy a little admiration and a little frustration that I say...he's still out there.
I came home empty, the other guys will all make the Nevada record book.
It was a great trip, we got to see and photograph a bull MOOSE in Nevada. We ate well, drank even better and got to see beautiful parts of Nevada.
