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I pulled a late season mule deer tag in NV unit 021, right outside of Reno, where I live. Season runs Dec 21 through Jan 1 and in between weather and the holiday, I made it out for the first time yesterday afternoon, just in time to see a storm come rolling in over the Peterson range. I was going to Seven Lakes mountain.  East end of Seven Lakes. Seven Lakes runs East - West, the Petersons run N-S.  Took my truck  This is why the range is called Seven Lakes. There's seven seasonal lakes on the range, all dried.  Looking East towards the Petersons. It was cold and windy on top of the mountain. In the valleys it was pushing 60F.  Small game guzzler, mostly supports chukar.  Someone set up a shooting range.  Another one of the dried lakes  The range burned in 2016. It's very noticeable on the east end.   Coming off the mountain into sage flats. The Fort Sage range is in the distance, also part of my unit but access is limited. The center of the valley is all private.  From here I got onto a road and crossed a private gate that was unlocked. I was hopeful, but once I got to the last gate, it was locked. I was about 50' from the main freeway which would take me back into Reno. I called a local rancher buddy to see if he knew the landowner so I could get out but he did not so I ended up having to turn around and drive back over the mountain in the dark. I managed to take one wrong turn and ended up in some mud, but four low got me out. I'm really glad I put on new tires over the summer.  I saw zero deer. I'm going to go run the truck through a car wash and head out to the Sand Hill range via Bedell flat. It's been so warm and we haven't really had snow below 8000 ft there's been no reason for the deer to come down to the valleys but I figured I'd check out the flat. WA-065 is the only big game guzzler in the unit so might as well go see it. If I have time I'm going to check out the north end of Fred's Mountain, too.  I was out earlier this year with my friend Jim, just driving around in unit 196 which is even closer to Reno. A group of does crossed the road in front of us and this buck was following. Ended up being a 32 yard shot, and Jim had brought along his 28 Nosler. The shot was a little too close for the caliber: the front quarters were pretty bloodshot, but it was easy enough to gut and get into the truck. We didn't even quarter out, just dropped the gut pile and took the carcass to his house to skin. 
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Dec 28, 2023 19:06
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| # ? May 21, 2024 05:35 |
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skrapp mettle posted:I pulled a late season mule deer tag in NV unit 021, right outside of Reno, where I live. Season runs Dec 21 through Jan 1 and in between weather and the holiday, I made it out for the first time yesterday afternoon, just in time to see a storm come rolling in over the Peterson range. I was going to Seven Lakes mountain. This is awesome. Thanks for sharing it! I made my first trip to New Mexico earlier this year and I suspect Im falling in love with the region. Looks like I need to add Nevada to my bucket list too.
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Dec 29, 2023 18:18
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Went to NW Nebraska looking for turkeys. Unfortunately the population seems to be way, way down from when we were there in 2017 last. Talked to a conservation officer and he said there was 7ft of snow in the area over the winter, plus added pressure from 2020/2021 COVID-fueled hunter increases. Ended up bumping one bird off the roost on the first morning then had a hen circling around and responding to calls. Flatland and I split up midday and covered some different areas, both unsuccessfully. Ended up with 7.5-8.5 miles of hiking each on day 1 and I got absolutely wiped not bringing enough water with me. Drove around a bit in the afternoon/evening trying to glass up and roost some birds but didn't find any that weren't on private. I slept in the next morning as I was still drained and dehydrated so Flatland and his dad hit a different spot. Saw a few jakes on and off private and one very sick Tom that they were able to walk right up to. Really weird and sad sight apparently. Second afternoon we hiked a wilderness area and saw and heard absolutely nothing. Talking to a few other hunters we ran into the experience was all the same. Pulled the plug a little early and headed home rather than hunting one more morning. Being late in the season, sunrise was like 5:20am and sunset like 8:30pm. SUPER long days and hard to really pound the hills all day long and get back for maybe 5 hours of sleep after a quick dinner. Still better than sitting in front of a computer, though.             
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May 20, 2024 18:34
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