NV new guy

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Adtr14

FNG
Joined
May 25, 2025
Messages
14
My name is Matt and I’m from Carson. New to the forum and new to hunting. I got extremely lucky and drew a couple archery tags this year, now I’m scrambling to learn as much as I can before the season starts.
 
Welcome Matt, I'm Vlad I live close by in Gardnerville, I'm down to help if you wanna meet up one day.
 
As the self-appointed chairman of the welcoming committee, it is my privilege to extend a laurel, and hearty handshake (virtual, of course) to our new NV member, Matt.


Eddie
 
Adtr14 said:
I got lucky and was awarded a bull elk and mule deer tag. Now to buy and learn how to shoot a bow. Should be easy 😂
Click to expand...

You might feel overwhelmed but you are in a great position to learn a lot, which is what the game is all about. You'll do just fine.
 
Adtr14 said:
I got lucky and was awarded a bull elk and mule deer tag. Now to buy and learn how to shoot a bow. Should be easy 😂
Click to expand...

If you're hunting bow on both of them, the best advice I can offer is to have 20 stalks within bow range (honest bow range) on buck mule deer between now and the season opener. That'll take you through a huge amount of the train-up and experiential learning you'll need to get it done, including glassing, stalking, reading wind, etc.

When are your two seasons? And, without getting specific to zone, what regions?
 
RockAndSage said:
If you're hunting bow on both of them, the best advice I can offer is to have 20 stalks within bow range (honest bow range) on buck mule deer between now and the season opener. That'll take you through a huge amount of the train-up and experiential learning you'll need to get it done, including glassing, stalking, reading wind, etc.

When are your two seasons? And, without getting specific to zone, what regions?
Click to expand...
I didn’t even consider getting some practice stalks in, but I will for sure be doing that now!

Mule deer is a local zone near Carson 8/10 - 9/9. Elk is the north eastern region of the state 8/25 - 9/16. Excited to check that area out, since I’ve only been as far east as Elko on a few fishing trips.
 
Adtr14 said:
I didn’t even consider getting some practice stalks in, but I will for sure be doing that now!

Mule deer is a local zone near Carson 8/10 - 9/9. Elk is the north eastern region of the state 8/25 - 9/16. Excited to check that area out, since I’ve only been as far east as Elko on a few fishing trips.
Click to expand...

Man...you hit the lottery, but given everything you've said about being new, and those seasons overlapping, that's a hell of a dilemma. It would be extremely hard to do justice to both of those tags for a new DIY hunter.

Best advice I could offer would be to put all the time in you can on your local mule deer zone and get all you can out of DIY there, but to hire a guide for the elk. Even with a guide, it would still be a hard hunt, especially right on the tail of your first hunt for muleys, especially archery.

With all the work you would need to put in for the muleys though, that elk tag is just way too far out on the other side of the state to really scout right with both hunts having essentially the same hunt days. If it was a December season or something late in the year it would be different. But with both being in late August/early September, in all honesty, someone could do one or the other, but doing both, even with rifle, would be a pretty heavy lift.

The good thing about hiring a guide for the elk hunt is that putting in all that work in on your mule deer would have you at the top of your game for that elk hunt (though a 4 week grind could also have you exhausted). Having a guide on the elk would dramatically enhance your ability to get some stalks in - but it's also a partner to help you pack out. DIY elk could easily be 3 or 4 trips back and forth to the kill site, quartering it out and hauling it by yourself. Add into that the extreme heat, and just preserving the meat can be a challenge.

All this should be carefully considered. It could be years before you draw either of these tags again, even if you turned one in and just got your points back. Ask yourself what would be the best experience for you, with the time and other resources you have at your disposal, and go from there.
 
RockAndSage said:
Man...you hit the lottery, but given everything you've said about being new, and those seasons overlapping, that's a hell of a dilemma. It would be extremely hard to do justice to both of those tags for a new DIY hunter.

Best advice I could offer would be to put all the time in you can on your local mule deer zone and get all you can out of DIY there, but to hire a guide for the elk. Even with a guide, it would still be a hard hunt, especially right on the tail of your first hunt for muleys, especially archery.

With all the work you would need to put in for the muleys though, that elk tag is just way too far out on the other side of the state to really scout right with both hunts having essentially the same hunt days. If it was a December season or something late in the year it would be different. But with both being in late August/early September, in all honesty, someone could do one or the other, but doing both, even with rifle, would be a pretty heavy lift.

The good thing about hiring a guide for the elk hunt is that putting in all that work in on your mule deer would have you at the top of your game for that elk hunt (though a 4 week grind could also have you exhausted). Having a guide on the elk would dramatically enhance your ability to get some stalks in - but it's also a partner to help you pack out. DIY elk could easily be 3 or 4 trips back and forth to the kill site, quartering it out and hauling it by yourself. Add into that the extreme heat, and just preserving the meat can be a challenge.

All this should be carefully considered. It could be years before you draw either of these tags again, even if you turned one in and just got your points back. Ask yourself what would be the best experience for you, with the time and other resources you have at your disposal, and go from there.
Click to expand...
Should I add that baby #2 is due 8/18 😂 Luckily we have family close by and I have an easy going wife. I will also have time off that covers both seasons, so I do have that going for me.

Really appreciate you taking the time to give your advice. Basically answered the main questions I have at this point. I was somewhat considering returning the tags, but also felt the opportunity couldn’t be passed up, since like you said it may be a very long time before I get tags like this.
 
Adtr14 said:
Should I add that baby #2 is due 8/18 😂 Luckily we have family close by and I have an easy going wife. I will also have time off that covers both seasons, so I do have that going for me.

Really appreciate you taking the time to give your advice. Basically answered the main questions I have at this point. I was somewhat considering returning the tags, but also felt the opportunity couldn’t be passed up, since like you said it may be a very long time before I get tags like this.
Click to expand...

Hey, congrats on the baby too. That's going to be quite a busy August for you.

If getting a guide (and maybe an additional freezer) for the elk isn't very viable, then that's the tag I'd return. No shame in that at all. You'll get a lot more development out of a good, consistent summer of scouting and stalking muleys close to home, without risking burnout, and be much better positioned for success with future tags.

Keep us posted on your hunts, there are a lot of people who are happy to share tips and pointers along the way. Some world-class mule deer hunters have posted quite a bit on here, including in the Mule Deer section, and you could spend days reading through what everyone's posted in those threads.
 
RockAndSage said:
Hey, congrats on the baby too. That's going to be quite a busy August for you.

If getting a guide (and maybe an additional freezer) for the elk isn't very viable, then that's the tag I'd return. No shame in that at all. You'll get a lot more development out of a good, consistent summer of scouting and stalking muleys close to home, without risking burnout, and be much better positioned for success with future tags.

Keep us posted on your hunts, there are a lot of people who are happy to share tips and pointers along the way. Some world-class mule deer hunters have posted quite a bit on here, including in the Mule Deer section, and you could spend days reading through what everyone's posted in those threads.
Click to expand...
Thanks man!

A guide isn’t out of the question, but first I’m going to see if I can round up some friends and family to head east. I need to learn about the units, since I really don’t know what’s good or bad. That will be one of the main factors to determine if I make the trip. Going to try and reach out to some guides, but expect them to be guarded with info unless I book with them. I know NDOW has been helpful in my fishing adventures, so plan to talk to them as well.

I’m currently reading through a couple archery elk tip threads and taking notes. Muleys are next.
 
I’m also brand new to the forum, but I’ve been hunting in Nevada my whole life. Those are two really fun tags. Hopefully the archery elk tag is one of the seasons that extends through September 16th. It sure makes life a lot easier than the ones that end on August 31st. Best of luck to you!
 
toiyabe_tim said:
I’m also brand new to the forum, but I’ve been hunting in Nevada my whole life. Those are two really fun tags. Hopefully the archery elk tag is one of the seasons that extends through September 16th. It sure makes life a lot easier than the ones that end on August 31st. Best of luck to you!
Click to expand...

Hey, welcome to you as well!
 
Welcome! Can't help you to much with know the unit but both areas turn out some great animals. Shoot every day with that bow and remember that if you do hit a critter to back off and let him expire. My grandpa hit some nice bucks after rifle hunting his whole life and ended up losing them due to pushing them too soon. The excitement can get to you pretty easily
 
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