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Nevada 111-115

Hawk Tuah

Hawk Tuah

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I got some good and quite unexpected news tonight. I pulled a late rifle tag in 111-115. I drew with only 13 points somehow.

I will plan on hunting the entire season if needed. I was already off Thanksgiving from my job and that is why I picked the late season as my first choice.

From what I gathered before I put in, the bulls are high but usually glassed from the bottom, then pursued. That is where my knowledge ends. Will hit the maps and satellite starting tomorrow.

If you know the unit and would like to share info here or pm I would be grateful.

I have killed a dozen or so elk, the biggest only being under 280 inches, so I may have to see if one of my buddies can come along to hold my bullets so I don't shoot the first decent bull I see.
 
I have hunted 111 on a cow muzzle loader tag and it was fantastic. Last month I was hunting turkeys in 115 and found a valley and a ridge i really would like a bull tag to go in there. Sign everywhere. I got lots of photos. These bulls would walk this valley to the water destroying every tree in their path then walk the ridge line back raking a lot of those trees as well. We found more than 20 deer carcasses/bones of varying age in this very small valley. Take a cat tag with you as you might get a chance to use it. The one bad part is you can drive right to the main water hole but I'm not sure that it would matter as its way back there. I'm jealous of your tag. My daughter and a nephew have late (December) spike tags for 111-112 area so PM me. We can trade info as we get it.
 
psycho said:
I have hunted 111 on a cow muzzle loader tag and it was fantastic. Last month I was hunting turkeys in 115 and found a valley and a ridge i really would like a bull tag to go in there. Sign everywhere. I got lots of photos. These bulls would walk this valley to the water destroying every tree in their path then walk the ridge line back raking a lot of those trees as well. We found more than 20 deer carcasses/bones of varying age in this very small valley. Take a cat tag with you as you might get a chance to use it. The one bad part is you can drive right to the main water hole but I'm not sure that it would matter as its way back there. I'm jealous of your tag. My daughter and a nephew have late (December) spike tags for 111-112 area so PM me. We can trade info as we get it.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I shot you a pm. I'd love some pointers, but either way let's touch base after I hunt and I'll let you know what I see for your daughter and nephews cow tags
 
During the late hunt the elk will have moved down for the most part. I know a few areas

Unit 111

If you are wanting more road access, success loop has plenty of elk, but also plenty of people. The bigger elk, and less pressure, seems to be on the the east side like McCoy Creek, and Cleve Creek.

Unit 115

You have to make sure you are out of the park, but most the elk will be moved out by then. Above the fields seem to be very productive for elk. Murphy Wash Rd and Big Spring Wash are also very good areas on the South side of the range.

If you are planning on hunting the entire 2 week season, take your time and look over the elk. They don’t move much. For the most part they will be in the same spot from day to day. So once you see some bulls be sure to mark them. There’s a high chance they will be there later.
 
backcountry_sassn said:
During the late hunt the elk will have moved down for the most part. I know a few areas

Unit 111

If you are wanting more road access, success loop has plenty of elk, but also plenty of people. The bigger elk, and less pressure, seems to be on the the east side like McCoy Creek, and Cleve Creek.

Unit 115

You have to make sure you are out of the park, but most the elk will be moved out by then. Above the fields seem to be very productive for elk. Murphy Wash Rd and Big Spring Wash are also very good areas on the South side of the range.

If you are planning on hunting the entire 2 week season, take your time and look over the elk. They don’t move much. For the most part they will be in the same spot from day to day. So once you see some bulls be sure to mark them. There’s a high chance they will be there later.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that info. I really appreciate it.
 
I might see you hunting up there!! I also got a bull late rifle tag for area 11. Only my 4th year applying and I managed to pull it. Buddies have never hunted that area so it'll be an adventure.

Since I'm a late onset adult hunter I have been trying to do as much research as I can into this tag to better help my chances of a decent bull and a random search on google pulled this post up.
 
I wanted to follow up on this tag as several Hunt-Talkers were kind enough to share information. I tried to reach out individually to those who I was able to chat with about the hunt. Thank you again.

This is a good tag but it is not an easy tag. The trophy quality is there, the concentrations are unreal, but the country is big and the pinon/juniper makes for challenging hunting and long-range shooting. A lot of people do not end up killing and not all the bulls that are killed are mature. There is a lot of competition because almost no one hunts this alone.

If getting the maximum trophy potential in inches for this tag is important to you, hire an outfitter or bring 6-8 friends with their own rigs who are good on the glass and good at scoring elk. NV residents bring their friends and family and spread them all over the place looking for bulls. It is an effective way to hunt, but I don't have that many friends who will freeze their butt off for a week or two to maybe get a chance to pack a bull off the mountain. I may not even have that many friends period :) I have one friend who will and he joined me. My goal was a mature bull that looked good to me.

On our hunt my friend and I saw 70 bulls. Interestingly, quite a few bulls were still bugling in late November. Weird. I usually hear one or two bugles a week when I hunt Colorado 3rd season elk, usually in the dark, but this was nuts. On the opener we made a several-hour climb in the dark and 10 minutes before light a herd with 60 elk and 9 bulls started sounding off every 15-30 seconds for the next 30 minutes. The biggest ones were small sixes but it was neat watching them run around screaming a couple hundred yards away. We only saw one mature bull with cows. The older bulls were alone or in small groups.

We saw a giant on opening evening. We could have gotten into range we think, especially because we were above him when we saw him and needed to go less than a mile all downhill from where we would shoot, but he was in legit mountain goat country and inaccessible if I had dropped him. We looked the ridge he was on over multiple times and without ropes and a pair bigger than mine, getting to the elk was not safe. That was new for me, for elk.

I've been blessed and have managed to draw a deer, antelope and elk tag in NV in 14 years of apps. Not everyone who puts in will. When I started putting in, I almost didn't get elk points because I thought the tag was too expensive. I originally put in with a focus on drawing a sheep tag in the next 50 years. I am happy I put in for elk too.

My elk was a busted up bull missing pieces on 7 of his 12 antler points. I could not be happier with him.
IMG_20211125_201759_102~2.jpg
 
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Sounds like you had a great, but challenging hunt, great bull, congrats!
 
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