Nevada On My Own Adventure

[Antcap]

Good luck out there and enjoy the most beautiful country that I've ever seen in Nevada. Pm sent.

 

[HalfAce]

You archery guys sure are making October feel a looong ways away seeing pics like these. Goodluck, be safe, and shoot a big buck!

 

[jdf]

Best of Luck.. Can't wait to see..

 

[WBouldin]

Any status update?

 

[Kiwi]

Awesome pics, looking forward to more.

 

[worm]

Good Luck!!

 

[Baerman]

Should be back by now. I hope all went well. Looking forward to the report. My hunting partner drew 065 and I've been looking for general reports in all northern units.

 

[BlakeA]

Hey guys, I apologize for not updating throughout the hunt. Turns out shortly after I crossed the Idaho border I had ZERO cell reception for the remainder of my hunt. Thanks to my inReach satellite gps I was able to stay in touch with my family and friends but unable to post updates. I have been busy the last few days at work trying to get caught up but I will put up a few pics and tell a little bit about my adventure.

I did this hunt solo and it ended up taking me about 19 hours from my hometown to get to the area I planned on hunting. After driving a few hours on gravel roads in the middle of nowhere I finally arrived at where my #1 spot to hunt was going to be. It was about 4:30 when I arrived so I decided to hike out onto a ridge and do some glassing before backpacking in the following morning. I just wanted to get a feel for what I was up against and finally lay eyes on the country I had been studying on google earth all summer. There was only one problem, and it was a big one.....smoke from fires out west were heading my direction and were pretty thick. I spotted a decent buck feeding in the shade within 10 minutes of hiking and he was in the direction of where I planned on being in the a.m. so I was pretty excited right away. I also spotted several cow elk in the bottom canyons towards evening. The Jarbidge Wilderness is the wildest place I've personally ever hunted. Just an incredible place.

 

[BlakeA]

I woke up the following morning well before sunrise and hiked into the area I had spotted the buck from the previous night. The sunrise in Nevada is every bit as advertised. Just AWESOME. The smoke was now all over the place so it made for some cool pictures and views from up high. Just made spotting deer a lot harder. I planned on long range glassing from a certain ridge that gave me views of a ton a country.

The first buck I found was an absolute giant. The biggest mule deer buck I've ever laid eyes on in the wild without a doubt. I was in awe... he was with 4 other bucks and one of them was easily a 160 and this guy absolutely just dwarfed him. They bedded in an extremely rocky drainage a long ways a way from me. I didn't feel comfortable with where they bedded for a successful stalk so I decided to be patient and see if they did something different the next day. If I was to go after them, it would be an all day hike just to get over to them. A lot of elevation drop and gain in the process. I tried getting pics with my phoneskope but it was too hazy when zoomed past 30. Just seeing a mule deer like that in the wild had already made my trip! I walked to a few other ridges that day and glassed but only turned up does with fawns and a pile of elk. I mean a PILE of elk.

 

[BlakeA]

Even with the smoke I was blown away at the stars that you are able to see at night. the colors in the sky morning and evening were amazing but the stars at night was probably my favorite. It's one of those things that you just sit and take in. I thought about friends and family and how I wish they could see what I was seeing...I think a lot of us do that on our hunts. Hunters get to experience some amazing places here that most people don't even know about.

The next day was very similar to the first day. Lots of elk, and a few bucks but couldn't find the big one. Going into this hunt I told myself I would hold off on anything below a 150 the first few days because I kind of had the attitude of go big or go home. <<<<This is where I'm kicking myself.

I had a nice 3x4 bedded alone only a thousand yards away in a VERY stalkable situation but I decided to not go after him. I think seeing the monster on the first full day of hunting made me think I could at least get one stalk on a mature buck. The smoke seemed to get worse towards the evening and glassing anything past 1000 yards was getting really tough. I decided I would get up early, hunt, and if nothing happened head to Plan B.

 

[BlakeA]

Plan B ended up being even worse for smoke so on my 3rd hunting day I was already onto plan C. Such is life for the DIY public land hunters. I would be lying if I said I spent "enough" time studying and researching this area. Probably because I figured I would have more than I could chew at Plan A. I thought for sure I would be able to spend the majority of my hunt in that area but it didn't work out that way. Now I was headed to lower elevation and to an area I truthfully only knew a 2-3 creeks and draws to try and find some deer in. The country is SO vast and SO spread out with extremely limited roads or trails so long range glassing was key.

 

[BlakeA]

By the time I reached the Plan C area I had to hurry and get my stuff ready for an evening glassing/hunt session. I just wanted to at least find some deer and then focus on that area at first light.

All I was able to turn up were does and fawns. On one hand I was happy I was actually seeing deer because out there you wonder if there is ANYTHING alive haha. On the other hand I knew I needed to check out some other spots because I didn't want to be around does and fawns.

 

[BlakeA]

The next morning I spotted a group of antelope way up towards to the top of a ridge. As I was looking at a couple of nice bucks in the group, I spotted a group of spikes and a small 3x4. They fed until about 8 and then bedded in a rock cliff on the side of the mountain. I decided I was going to go after the 3x4 (he was barely a 3x4) as I was now in fill a tag mode. I was having such a fun hunt and such a great experience that I no longer cared about trying to get a mature buck. I realized that I was probably in an area with lower deer numbers than plan A and plan B so I needed to just enjoy the hunt and give it my best.

The wind was non existent that morning which was weird because it had been blowing steady the entire trip. At about noon-1 p.m. it started to pick up and it was a perfect wind for a stalk. The bucks in the mean time had moved into the shady part of the cliff right underneath and it was a perfect setup for me to come in right above them for what looked like a 30-40 yard shot.

After I put my spotter away and was about 10 minutes into my stalk I noticed movement in the area of the bucks. I looked up and here an antelope buck and fed over the ridge and right into them startling them. The antelope took off one direction and the bucks took off the other....all while I am standing in the desert sun sweating and watching another stalk opportunity fade away. Back to the drawing board.

 

[BlakeA]

That evening ended up being like all of the other evenings so far. No buck movement. I did have a doe with fawns (you can see her head peeking up to the right of the bush in the middle of the pic below) and a spike at 30 yards but at this point I was starting to get frustrated. How have I gone 4 days without ONE stalk so far? I've hunted mule deer my whole life and have never gone this long without a stalk. I just kept reminding myself to be patient and to stick to the basics and let the optics do there job. Even though it had been a tough hunt so far and I was a little frustrated, it was impossible to not be happy and just enjoy where I was at. Back home I sit in front of a computer all day in a sheetrock office dealing with people. Out there I had NO phone service, NO internet, NO traffic, NO city lights, and NO worries other than what flavor mountain house meal I was going to eat that night and which mountain I should hike up the next morning to glass for mule deer while enjoying another Nevada sunrise. Life was simple and life was good.

 

[BlakeA]

As the sun was rising the next day, I spotted two small bucks. I didn't care. I was jacked! I watched as they fed along the hill side towards their first bed. They laid in their first bed for about 45 mins before heading to the main bed at the very top of the mountain for the day. I watched them for a few hours making sure they were there for good. At about noon I hiked back down the mountain I was on and headed to the backside of the mountain they were on. I was going to come right up over and on top of them as they were bedded underneath a very visible tree that stuck out like a sore thumb. I had them pin pointed.

The hike was a little over an hour to get towards the top. Once I was about 150 yards from the tree I was extremely cautious and took my time. There was no way they could see me coming from the angle I hiked up and came in on. Apparently, the smaller of the two bucks moved to the back side after I left my original spot that I located them from. As I peaked over the rock I could see the bigger buck facing away from me roughly 35 yards with a STRONG wind in my face. However, the smaller buck was standing up looking at me for 3 seconds before he bolted down the mountain taking the other buck with him. Tough break.

 

[Gr8bawana]

We hunted in the Jarbidge Wilderness the year Yellowstone was burning and the smoke was not quite as bad as this. There was enough smoke that it was difficult to glass far away.

 

[Baerman]

this is a great start!

 

[ihuntelk]

Great pics and report so far. Thanks!
-Cade

 

[HSi-ESi]

Looking forward to hitting the refresh button.

 

[BlakeA]

The next two days I spotted quite a few deer and had two more stalks but ended up getting busted by other deer on both right before getting into the red zone. It sucked still having my tag in my pocket on my way home but the experience and memories alone were worth every bit of it. I had never hunted Nevada before and really didn't have any idea of what it would be like. That alone was awesome! Being somewhere new and completely foreign and doing it alone is something I will never forget. What an incredible place. I have never been somewhere that isolated before...I mean there is NOTHING out there and there are no towns for miles. I know what I would maybe do a little different and I learned a lot on this hunt. That's what it's all about. I have zero regrets and know that I gave it my all from sun up to sun down each and every day which is good enough for me. Sometimes you get a break and sometimes you don't I feel extremely fortunate to have the health to be able to do a hunt like this...I never take that for granted. Hunting mule deer with a bow in the high desert is such a great way to start off the hunting season! One thing is for sure, I will definitely be back!!