Nevada mule deer in the rut, followed by late rifle elk in Arizona

[Beastmonger1987]

Heading out Wednesday to unit 192 to hunt the rut with Nevada Guide Service. Hunting the 16th-20th. First mule deer hunt, first time flying for a hunt. Outfitter called me on Thursday to let me the know the rut is in full swing! So excited for the opportunity after drawing this tag with 3 points! Was hoping for snow, but got the moon on our side. Low temps in the teens, highs in the 50s.

Pictures and summary to follow.

Flying down to Arizona on the 24th for late rifle elk, hunting Nov 25th thru Dec 1st with Exclusive Pursuit Outfitters. First Rocky Mountain elk hunt, hoping to have to invest in a new freezer for Christmas!

[bornhunter]

Sounds like a great time coming up for you. Good luck and hope you score some big critters and make some good memories.

[bearpaw]

Sounds like some great hunts, good luck to you. Remember, lots of pictures! 

[Skyvalhunter]

Good luck, but the main thing is to have fun!!

[Beastmonger1987]

Spoiler alert: I did not harvest on either hunt.

I will be posting a review and photos over the next few days. Lots of photos, beautiful landscapes in both locations. Had good help by both outfitters, I would recommend them to anyone. We did everything we could control to find success, animals and weather just were not on the same page as we were. I learned so much from the men that helped me on this hunt, and for that I am grateful.

I pushed myself beyond what I thought was capable of physically in Nevada, and realized the hard way that some of my gear was insufficient. Steep means steep there. Doing both hunts back to back was definitely a grind, 12 days in the field sandwiched by 4 days in the airport, not sure I will be doing that again.

I did get to film my first "legit" mule deer bucks in both locations, also javelinas, coyotes, and antelope in AZ.

Wouldn't necessarily recommend the two units that I hunted if you had a chunk of points, I now know the meaning of "very low density". However, I only burned 3 points in NV and 2 in AZ, so I will be back in the same drawing pool in a couple years.

I would absolutely recommend the unit I was hunting in AZ for mule deer!

Cannot wait for next season to continue the crash course of hunting the Western way.

Still have a late muzzleloader tag for deer and elk, and a cougar tag here in Western WA, so not quite finished.

I now understand how people can get so wrapped up in this Western hunting game, consider me a convert.

[Beastmonger1987]

Promised photos late first Nevada

[Beastmonger1987]

Arizona 2023 late rifle elk