Where's the trees!

This year I was fortunate to hunt mule deer in Nevada. I've never hunted Nevada but had fairly realistic expectations when it came to buck quality and what the terrain looked like...unlike the fellow I had met while bouncing along in my pick-up on the LONG ride towards camp pulling my UTV trailer. "Where's the F#@$! trees?" The belligerent man screamed. His eyes and red face showed days of weather and frustration. I questioned whether he was truly sane. "I waited 6 years to draw this deer tag and the only thing I've seen less of than trees....are deer!".

He motored on by in his decked-out pickup. I could only shake my head and laugh. I knew the terrain was wide-open, especially after the big burn. I also knew that a big buck doesn't need trees if it has feed, water, and plenty of open space. This unit was thriving with those three elements...but I'll confess, a couple of trees would've been nice to remind me I wasn't on another planet.

I took my Honda Pioneer UTV along on this trip. For the first three days, it would be just me and my buggy, with my 7 rem mag and backpack riding shotgun. We bounced over hill, over dell, and hit the dusty trails glassing each likely spot for deer. At first, I ignored glassing the wide, open cheat-grass rock talus slopes and focused more in good forage and thicker brush...until I saw deer on the dry arid slopes. The discovery of deer randomly using the dry, arid grass slopes opened up a lot of new country to glass. Most of it empty of deer but full of chukars.

Day one was much like day two. Lots of motoring around, hiking off long ridges, and lots of time behind glass looking at massive country. Each group of does was watched over by a mature buck which made the hunt that much more exciting! However, there really wasn't lots of doe...or buck sightings but enough to keep the enthusiasm up in hopes that a 30+" heavy buck will pop up on the next ridge.

Well, he did...on day 2. He wasn't quite the buck I was ready to pull the trigger on but big enough to think twice. He was 30+", but only a heavy 2x3. I found it amazing that every year while buck hunting I find myself saying "In another year, he'd be big enough to be in trouble!" What happened to the bucks last year and the year before that supposedly were to be in their prime this year!?

Here a few of the bucks I took some pictures of with through my binoculars.

First day buck. There were 5 bucks in this herd and 8-10 does. 

The 2x3 bedded on a north face slope in the morning.

I found the same buck later in the day. He's even wider than he looks here. When you got the full Head-On view of him, I don't dare guess how wide he was...

I had walked up a canyon to glass into some hidden pockets that looked like good bedding area. I had seen decent deer sign, but no sightings so I sat down and gave a couple blows on the distress call. These does came running in from behind a knoll with him in tow. 

This buck spied me from 80 yards. He had to make a choice, escape and leave his does...or stay, guard his harem and take the chance that the two-legger will kill him. He gambled by choosing option 2...but he won as I continued my hike without pulling the trigger.

I searched high and low for a big buck. I talked to some nice locals who had been hunting for two weeks straight and had not seen a "big" buck yet, but filled me in on the great potential of the area. I hoped I would be lucky/persistent enough to come across a Nevada monster.

After 3 days of hunting hard solo, my good friends Jared and Justin showed up in camp to help with the glassing and share a fire. Their help was appreciated.  The first evening, Justin jumped in the buggy with me and pretty quickly we glassed up a couple of bucks and a group of does. We spent the rest of the evening looking them over. They were both 4-points with one making my trigger finger a bit itchy!

The next morning in the upper elevations there was snow! Jared hopped in the machine with me and we motored up and up and up on small atv trails until we were in 5-6 inches of snow. We glassed up a extremely heavy, high-racked 2x3, as well as a nice 4x4 buck, but neither of them had any wow factor and we just enjoyed watching them chasing around the does. We turned the machine downhill and it was steep, but even worse the trail was slanted and as slimy as wet creamy peanut butter. Jared weighs 40 pounds more than I do and I could feel his weight on the downward side of the trail as I inched along.

We discussed whether he should walk a spot or two but we seemed to be motoring along just fine...until it happened. The machine began sliding directly sideways on a slanted trail towards the shoulder of the trail on the heavy passenger side, (Sidenote: I'm not calling Jared's "heavy", just heavier than me (:) Just as the machine picked up enough momentum to really worry, the rear passenger wheel smacked a 15" rock. Well, the momentum of the downward energy decided to keep the machine moving in that direction and it...we... tipped and slammed on the passenger side!

I tried like hell to keep my weight off Jared. Jared tried like hell to keep his arms and legs inside! Amazingly, we were a bit shaken up but fared pretty good. We climbed out the driver side and scratched our heads wondering how we were gonna tip her back on her feet without her taking off like a rogue stallion down the slimy, steep hill. We put on the emergency brake, swallowed hard, and lifted like hell! She slammed back on her tires and began skidding downhill for a moment before she decided to stop! Whew!

We decided no more wet, slimy, slanted roads until they dry out a bit. We headed into some rockier ground. I picked up 4 bucks bachelor-ed up from 1.5 miles away. We decided we better get a closer look. By this time it was afternoon. I knew of a small trail that would get us near enough. We motored over and stopped the machine and walked the last half-mile. We picked up the 4 bucks in the glasses, this time from much closer. I knew there was a heavy one in the crew but now noticed it was a cactus buck, still clad in velvet and broken abnormal points on an ugly frame. Must've been the alternative-style buck herd...if you know what I mean. There wasn't a doe anywhere near and they seemed to be quite content.

Jared headed off a hillside to glass a barren, grassy canyon while I headed back to grab the machine. I almost got back to the trail where Jared headed off to the north when I happened to look down the canyon to the south. "UGHHH!" there were over 15 deer total looking up at me from 300 yards away. My first reflex was to pull my glasses up and see what kind of buck I just screwed up on!  I quickly found two large-racked bucks...so I did the only thing I knew to do...keep driving out of sight and hope you didn't just totally mess up my chance to at least get a good enough look at them to decide whether it was a shooter!

I parked the machine and snuck back and slowly peeked over the edge with binoculars in hand. My presence still had the attention of several does, but the two lovestruck bucks were busy showing each other why they thought they were the rooster in this henhouse. One buck was pushing 28" and heavy, but on'y a gigantic forked-horn. He seemed to be the boss. The other, a 25-26" heavy 4x4 with exceptionally dark antlers.

I swiveled the tripod back and forth watching both bucks. The 4-point turned directly away and then turned his head my way. His cape, his good forks, and heavy bases were enough for me to realize I'm looking at one of the best bucks I've seen yet on the hunt. A flood of excitement went through me as I decided I might shoot that buck. I frantically jumped up and ran over the north edge where I had last seen Jared. I could see him slowly working his way back to me. I threw my arms up, waving them crazily like like a  monkey swatting a swarm of flies from above his head.

He got the message and picked up the pace. He laid over the south edge and said, "That's a good buck Mike". Jared could've told me not to shoot, but my decision had already been made and was hardened like cement. Jared said he would hold back and watch from afar as to not spook the deer. I told him it would mean a lot if he'd stay alongside. We worked our way to 260 yards before some of the deer ripped their heads our way. Maybe they heard my loud goretex bibs swishing with each step, or maybe the thumping of my heart, or just the fact that the country is wide-open grass and two bi-pedal monkeys within rifle distance was easy for them to pick up visually. It didn't matter all I knew was I needed to get shooting right now. I laid down on my side and propped the bipod down, but my breaths were heavy and I had a bit of the shakes. "let me see your pack!" I told Jared. I slid my elbow under the pack and felt better about the shot, as he stood broadside ready to bolt! The shot rung out and he got hit hard! He tried to stay on his feet but tipped over on the steep slope.
  

It was great to share that moment with Jared. We quartered out the carcass and Jared caped it out with hopes of trying a little taxidermy himself on one of his bigger bucks that needs a cape. We hauled the deer off the mountain and met up with Justin back at camp. Justin had hot sausage, bacon, and steaks ready for us which was a treat. We shared a campfire and listened to stories and coyotes till bedtime.

Although I didn't kill a monster buck I'm plenty pleased with my first Nevada buck I ended up taking. The overall hunt was exciting knowing there was potential for older-age class bucks. The terrain was different than most areas I deer hunt as it was so wide-open. It truly was a spotter's paradise. I told myself before the hunt started I wouldn't put in for Nevada anymore as I'm trying to reign in my non-resident applications to save some money...but, of course, I already long to be up there again and the wonderment of what buck will be checkingout those does next time is more than I can handle.