NV 131-134 Early Rifle...

ruttinelk393 · Apr 6, 2021

Hi there. My dad and I Drew what should be a good unit for an opportunity at an upper end buck. I understand its a better archery hunt, But Wanted to see if anyone had some recent (last 3 yrs) experience within these units. Not looking for inside info, just overall impression of deer quality, terrain, whether you hunted it early in season or later and such. Thanks so much~R

JakeInLasVegas · Apr 6, 2021

I have hunted this unit annually for the last five years with family or friends. The important thing to remember for this unit is that the herd will migrate during your hunt. You can go to an area one week and see deer everywhere and then return to the exact same place one week later and see nothing. If you aren't glassing anything then keep moving farther South until you locate animals. A lot of the springs in the unit dry up by mid to late October so pay attention to that as well. I have attached pictures from our hunts last year in this unit. My son's buck was harvested during rifle season and my daughter's first deer was harvested with a muzzloader.

buckhorn · Apr 6, 2021

Wouldn’t you be able to trust your guide with those questions

maddog58 · Apr 6, 2021

Yeah I would think your guide would have the best intel

Sallaberry · Apr 6, 2021

Good tag probably a bad year the big boys hit the trees early after shedding velvet. You have guides so they will be camping on decent bucks.

ruttinelk393 · Apr 7, 2021

Yes, I will trust my guide, but I like doing my own homework to gather other opinions and recent hunt experiences so I have accurate expectations for the unit. Thanks.

fullcry · Apr 7, 2021

Didn’t someone famous say
“TRUST BUT VERIFY”

buckhorn · Apr 7, 2021

ruttinelk393 said:
Yes, I will trust my guide, but I like doing my own homework to gather other opinions and recent hunt experiences so I have accurate expectations for the unit. Thanks.

May I ask which guide service you signed up with? Thanks

doz · Apr 7, 2021

Look at hunt stats. Last year was pretty rough. I think early rifle was like 32% success rate with only like 25% or so being 4 pt or better.

I never saw a 4 pt other than one on a private land field in about 6 days. Best I saw was a big 3x3 with about 26-28" spread and that was after I had tagged out.

peez3006 · Apr 7, 2021

I hunted it prob 5 years ago, with my muzzle loader, and killed a good buck. And saw a few decent bucks while scouting. There were bucks everywhere.

I hunted it again a couple of years ago, early rifle. There were lots of bucks around, but never saw a big buck. Didn't really see any decent bucks other than my buddy's buck. I think we hunted 11 or 12 days. My buddy killed the best buck that we saw, and I killed a small 4X3, still in velvet, on the last day. Either the quality was down that year, or they're just tougher to find during early rifle. But it was a fun hunt, and I'd love to have the tag again.
Don P.

ruttinelk393 · Apr 8, 2021

Thanks so much for the input and pics! Sounds consistent with everything I have heard. Wish I was archery hunting it but my dad and partner are rifle hunters so we will just have work hard to dig one up.