Nevada Area 6, Early Rifle Mule Deer

Drew my first Nevada mule deer tag! Pretty excited about the opportunity to explore some new country. I live in southern Idaho so I'm only a couple hours from the unit(s). I plan to get at least 2, 3-day scouting trips in and hopefully a third in September prior to the October 5th opening. But I am busy most of August since I'll be in AK on a DIY caribou trip.

My plan is stay mobile and just tent camp from the truck/quad. From the e-scouting I've done it appears I may have a difficult time staying away from SxS roads. They appear to be all over the darn place. I have a bunch of pins dropped on areas to check out during scouting (glassing knobs, water, drainages with cover, etc) and hope to narrow them down as I get closer to the opener.

My plan is to hunt the opening 5 days of the season, due to an overlap with the deer/elk opener in Idaho on Oct. 10th. I'm a diehard mule deer fanatic and my goal is to find a buck with age. The last three bucks I've harvested all tooth aged at a lab at 6.5 years of age. Finding a mature buck is my first priority and score comes second.

I'm a little nervous about several things.

#1) The amount of roads. I would rather find less deer in areas with less people. I prefer to hike in and bivy out if I can find remote areas. But most great areas I've dropped pins on OnX have skid roads close by on Google Earth.

#2) October mule deer. Need I say more? Hunting mule deer in October is really tough! Sometimes they're visible for 2 min at first light and 2 min at last light. I'll be on the ridgetops at daylight and last light, but I know the big smart bucks don't hang in the open for long. Hoping I can catch one slipping.

#3) October weather. I will obviously have a better idea when I get closer. But planning for 70 degrees or snow is always tough. I enjoy hunting in pleasant weather but hope it gets cold to keep the deer on their feet and feeding longer.

Looking forward to exploring Nevada and trying to find that little hidey hole a decent buck may be hiding. If you have any places I should most defintely avoid or have intel on the unit due to experience feel free to DM me.

Clint

i have the same tag this year. i have hunted elk there but not deer. i have no idea what we are up against as far as people go. that is a big unit. im planning about the same as you and hoping for the best

Not as good as it once was..like everything Nevada Muledeer..drought and fires but less people due to tag cuts!

Sounds to me like you know what it takes to be successful. Good luck !

Duckhunter14 said:

Drew my first Nevada mule deer tag! Pretty excited about the opportunity to explore some new country. I live in southern Idaho so I'm only a couple hours from the unit(s). I plan to get at least 2, 3-day scouting trips in and hopefully a third in September prior to the October 5th opening. But I am busy most of August since I'll be in AK on a DIY caribou trip.

My plan is stay mobile and just tent camp from the truck/quad. From the e-scouting I've done it appears I may have a difficult time staying away from SxS roads. They appear to be all over the darn place. I have a bunch of pins dropped on areas to check out during scouting (glassing knobs, water, drainages with cover, etc) and hope to narrow them down as I get closer to the opener.

My plan is to hunt the opening 5 days of the season, due to an overlap with the deer/elk opener in Idaho on Oct. 10th. I'm a diehard mule deer fanatic and my goal is to find a buck with age. The last three bucks I've harvested all tooth aged at a lab at 6.5 years of age. Finding a mature buck is my first priority and score comes second.

I'm a little nervous about several things.

#1) The amount of roads. I would rather find less deer in areas with less people. I prefer to hike in and bivy out if I can find remote areas. But most great areas I've dropped pins on OnX have skid roads close by on Google Earth.

#2) October mule deer. Need I say more? Hunting mule deer in October is really tough! Sometimes they're visible for 2 min at first light and 2 min at last light. I'll be on the ridgetops at daylight and last light, but I know the big smart bucks don't hang in the open for long. Hoping I can catch one slipping.

#3) October weather. I will obviously have a better idea when I get closer. But planning for 70 degrees or snow is always tough. I enjoy hunting in pleasant weather but hope it gets cold to keep the deer on their feet and feeding longer.

Looking forward to exploring Nevada and trying to find that little hidey hole a decent buck may be hiding. If you have any places I should most defintely avoid or have intel on the unit due to experience feel free to DM me.

Clint

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Sounds like you have a great plan, I just sent you a PM

I will keep my eyes open for Bulls if anyone has the ALW bull tag this year. I saw some smokers last year

Started the year off right with an amazing trip to AK! My buddy and I both harvested caribou and he also harvested a black wolf. Now on to Mule deer and Elk! Excited to get back to Nevada for another scouting trip! Hope the archery hunters are finding some success!

-Clint

Duckhunter14 said:

Started the year off right with an amazing trip to AK! My buddy and I both harvested caribou and he also harvested a black wolf. Now on to Mule deer and Elk! Excited to get back to Nevada for another scouting trip! Hope the archery hunters are finding some success!

-Clint

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Sweet one!! Good luck in Nevada.

Let us know how Nevada goes numbers for slim when I was out there.

Take a look around Midas. Just go up top. Hunted many times. Roads get rough, so that deters some. Not a lot of deer, but when you see one, usually a big buck. Sheep up there two. One year we watched a guy get one. 10 years later, his wife drew a sheep tag. We found hers for her. Pretty cool.

Wanted to hop on a give an update from my hunt. I know I’m late, but fall seemed to be a giant blur that transitioned directly into the holidays and I feel like I’m just coming up for air.

I got two scouting trips in over the summer prior to the hunt and covered some gorgeous country. This was my first time exploring Nevada and I really fell in love with it. I found lots of deer and lots of bucks, but was unable to turn up anything with the age I was looking for.

The hunt dates approached and a friend of mine agreed to tag along for the hunt. All loaded down in my Jeep wrangler he met me at my place and we headed down the day prior to the opener to get camp set up and scout the evening prior to opening day. We spent six days glassing and moving a ton between two units trying to turn up anything bigger than 140” and could never find anything decent. We saw lots and lots of deer and dozens of bucks. The biggest bucks we ended up seeing were 2 points, one of which was probably 25-26” wide and one old buck that was a heavy old knarly based 2x2 that lived in a remote pocket that had zero pressure. The entire hunt we thought at any moment we could find a big buck, and unfortunately it just never happened. In the great expanse of country in that area I know that the buck I was looking for was there, we just couldn’t find him this trip. Even though we had two 95mm Swaros and a BTX covering it! The last evening of our last day as daylight faded we were trying to find the old 2x2 and I shot a basket 4x4 that was hanging in his spot, to fill the freezer and we headed home.

We had the opportunity to talk in depth with the biologist for the unit who swung by our camp to see if we had been successful. He informed us that we had the tag in a difficult year. He explained the three year drought, the fire years ago that really hurt the winter range forage and consequent carrying capacity for the area and then the affects of the harsh winter last year affecting antler growth this year. He did say we were not alone in our struggle to find quality bucks, but to continue our search because although few and far between than some years they were there.

We did see multiple moose, elk, antelope and lots of mule deer. I had a great time in some beautiful country, I hope next time I’m able to find the caliber of buck that I am after.

Crazy that it’s already application season once again! Started planning for AK DIY moose and planning my application strategy for 2024. Hoping to have enough points for a late AZ elk tag and possibly a MT antelope tag.

Happy New Year and good luck to everyone this year! Maybe I’ll see you at the Hunt Expo or the Boise Sheep Show.

**Thank you again to the folks who reached out with replies or private messages with info about the area or just encouraging words. Much appreciated and the reason why I love this community of like minded outdoorsmen.

Clint

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Right on, thanks for a great follow up report,

Mark,

newguy said:

Right on, thanks for a great follow up report,

Mark,

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Yeah no problem. I feel like that’s one of the things I’ve noticed is people coming to the forums and getting some advice or guidance and then never giving updates.

It was a very difficult hunt for sure. We talked to several groups who had not even seen a buck. It definitely took a lot of patience behind the glass.

Also got the chance to meet a nice fellow who had messaged me on here by happenstance. He stopped me in the road and recognized me and we swapped numbers. Super nice guy! Shout out to Dan!

Seems Like yesterday They Were Pulling Good Bucks Out Of 6!

But It's been a few Years ago,Time Flies!

Just Like Everywhere-else I Guess!

You Tried Your Best!

That's All We Can Do!

Thanks for the report back and I'm glad that you could grind it out and still have fun and success in big 6 during a down cycle. It's been down for a few years now and many, including the guides, have struggled to find anything with age.----SS

It's been a tough year most everywhere this year because of everything nature has thrown to most of our deer herds.if your a trophy Hunter about all you can do is hunt hard and enjoy the experience which it sounds like you did..congrats on your buck too

Thanks for reporting back congratulations on your buck. Too bad you didn’t find the old 2x2 those are always awesome and would love to shoot one like you described one day.

BradA said:

Thanks for reporting back congratulations on your buck. Too bad you didn’t find the old 2x2 those are always awesome and would love to shoot one like you described one day.

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Yeah I was bummed we couldn’t find him. He was our fall back plan. Then like old cagey bucks do, he had a 6th sense and never came back out on the evening we tried to kill him. I believe he was the only deer we saw that was older than 4 years old.