Excited to explore some new country. Cashed in some points with my last choice for an early rifle Area 6 mule deer tag. My first Nevada tag and luckily I’m only a couple hours away since I moved to Idaho. I went from really excited to somewhat less excited about a Nevada charge on my bank account when I realized it was my last choice, but the excitement has returned since doing some more research and talking to a couple guys who have had the tag.
Been doing a lot research online, studying maps, dropping pins on water and glassing points and reaching out to people who know the area. Still plan on calling the regional bio and am spending 2, possibly 3 weekends scouting prior to the October 5th hunt opener.
I have several concerns so far in my research:
1) A ton of roads. Seems like there are quad/SxS roads all over the units all the way to the ridge tops. I’m finding it difficult to find remote areas of the unit to explore that I can’t drive close to. Obviously I’ve found some roadless areas I plan to scout, but the amount of roads has me nervous.
2.) Hunting mature bucks in October. Due to conflicting hunts I had planned I can only hunt the first week of the hunt and will be hunting during early October. The mule deer no man’s land when the bucks are hiding out and waiting for the rut to kick off and spending little to no time in the open.
3) Amount of tags given, and finding mature deer. It appears they give out a liberal amount of tags. My goal is to harvest a mature deer. The last three deer I’ve harvested have all lab aged 6.5 years old. My goal is to find a mature buck in the 4-1/2+ age class, score is secondary.
My question to anyone who has ever had this tag. Did you find the roads to be a help or a hinderance? By hiking away from the road were you able to avoid the crowds? And were you able to find mature deer in stalk-able/killable areas before they bedded for the entirety of the day in the thickets?
If you would rather private message me that’s fine. I’d be more than willing to exchange info I may have on a number of WA, ID, WY or MT units I’ve hunted.
Thanks for any input.
Clint
