New to hunting Nevada

NEKHunter · Oct 23, 2012

I have been in Vegas for 3 years and always fly back home to Vermont for deer season. Every year I say that I am going to look at hunting here and never get around to it. I am active duty Air Force and have about 2-3 years left out here, so I figured I better start now before I regret it later.

I have been reading the state website to get an idea about what to do. I'm looking for some general advice about the tag/drawing process and on where to go. I would like to start off with Elk or Mule deer.

Any pointers will be helpful.

Thanks,

Pyle

nvhunter · Oct 23, 2012

Tag applications are somewhere in march i think. Simple, pick out up to 5 areas you want to hunt and the weapon you want to hunt with. Draw is a couple of months later.
Areas are a person choice, some look at the harvest data and make choices on success rates, % of 4 point or better, dates of hunts, odds of drawing, etc. If your coming from vegas and want to stay closer to home one of the better units is 231, but also harder to draw.
Pretty much any area can be a good area especially if you dont mind getting away from the road. there are ALOT of people that do nothing but road hunt.
Good luck, you will enjoy NV for sure!

Z · Oct 23, 2012

There are few of us AD AF guys on here.

PM me with any questions you got and I will be more than glad to help you out. What is your weapon of choice? This will dictate your draw odds.

NEKHunter · Oct 24, 2012

Thanks for the info, this will certainly put me in the right direction.

Where I hunt in Vermont requires a lot of ground pounding, but I have been hunting those areas for years so know them pretty well. What do you suggest for maps of these areas?

NEKHunter · Oct 24, 2012

>There are few of us AD
>AF guys on here.
>
>
>PM me with any questions you
>got and I will be
>more than glad to help
>you out. What is your
>weapon of choice? This will
>dictate your draw odds.

I will shoot you a message, thanks for the help. I use a Remington 700 30.06 right now but have been in the market for something newer and not as heavy. Not sure of what caliber yet.

sagebrush · Oct 24, 2012

I would apply for all species. You never know what you might draw in NV, but you can start accumulating points you may cash in years from now. If you like hunting out west, you will want to draw in NV at some point in time. If you should be so lucky to draw in the next 3 years, I know many on here will be willing to help you out. I have been the recipient of much good information from MM members and have enjoyed helping others to be successful.

The nice thing about applying in NV is you can draw a premium tag with zero points. The best strategy for someone that just wants to hunt is to choose the best hunts for your first two or three choices and pick an opportunity hunt for the remaining choices.

You are given one random number for your application and one random number for the square of your points. The lowest number is used to assign your order in the draw. As a first time applicant you wil have only one random number. The second year, if you were unsuccessful, you will have one point so one random number for your application and one random number for the square of your points. In the second year, your chances of being assigned a low random number are doubled. In year three, you will have five random numbers, one for your application and four for the square of your two points. The longer you go without being succesful in the draw, the greater your chance of being succesful, exponentially. However, you always have a chance of drawing in any year. I think it is by far the best draw system in the west.

Do some research on the unit groups at www.ndow.org and get an idea of where you may want to apply. Then ask your questions on the NV forum here, make a decision by the deadline next year, which is usually April 15, then go on www.huntnevada.com and submit your application. If you were born in 1960 or later, you will need a hunter education certificate before you can apply.

NEKHunter · Oct 24, 2012

Thanks Sagebrush. I'm sure I can look this up but do you know if NV takes another states hunter education card?

PCPython · Oct 24, 2012

Yes, they accept other states hunter education certificates but you'll need to contact NDOW ahead of time and have proof on record before applying online. Best of luck, Nevada has some great hunting.

Z · Oct 24, 2012

Its all random though....so you could draw a bighorn tag your first year or in 20 lol!

My first year, I drew nothing.

Second year, a Mt Charleston muzzleloader deer tag and archery Ely pronghorn tag.

This year, I picked up a Elko muzzleloader deer tag in the second draw.

My wife drew nothing her first year (all premium units) and drew a late season Elko deer tag this year (we leave next week).

If you only want meat, you could have drawn a antlerless tag easy this year as we had hundreds left over. Cow elk seems to be a "every other year" tag for rifle and a little better for archery.

Archery tags will be your best bet! Some pretty good areas are almost 100% draw odds and they produce some bruisers every year.

You will have to put in your work, period. I packed in about 4 miles before I set up spike camp...but was able to find a good buck and shot it less than a 1/4 mile from there.