Mule Deer Hunting the Nevada Mountains

Introduction: The following story is the second in a series of informative articles Blacktail Bow Company will be posting during the year 2017. Whether hunting adventures, 'how to topics', tips & observations, or points of view, we hope these varied articles will be both entertaining and educational for the reader throughout the coming year.

Successful Nevada Mule Deer Hunt - taken by author.

Silver Anniversary Buck
by Norm Johnson (Founder, Blacktail Bow Company, LLC)

The summer 2010 was a busy one for the Johnson household. Because of family commitments, my wife and I were not able to take time out and celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on the 27th of July. So, we decided we would have to celebrate during our time away from home —on a high mountain pack-in mule deer hunt in Nevada. With season opener on August 1st, we left our home on the Oregon coast July 30th, driving 15 hours deep into the heart of Nevada. Passing through central Oregon, we would meet up with longtime friend and hunting partner Buck Davis. At the end of a long day's drive, we arrived in the late evening at a trailhead leading into the rugged mountains. There we would spend the next week in pursuit of early season mule deer.  It is a trip we have done many times over the past 15 years —when of course, we were lucky enough to draw tags. This would be my wife’s third trip into the mountains and although she does not bow hunt, she absolutely loves the scenery of the high mountain backcountry and the journey. For Buck, it would be his first return trip since 2006. He had gone through total hip replacement in 2007 and after the surgery, he had reservations about ever being able to pack into the backcountry again. Thankfully, with advancements in modern medicine, conditioning, and determination — he was back.

​This type of hunt involves many weeks of conditioning as well as careful planning. Our packs would need to hold enough food and gear to spend a full week in the backcountry as well as the provisions needed to take care of a harvested deer. For me, this means a pack-in weight of no more than 70 pounds; for my wife it meant 40 pounds. Lists are made and carefully gone over, as a return trip to fetch a forgotten item is simply not doable.

​The trailhead has a starting elevation of 7,700 feet. Leaving at first light the next morning, we would be packing into the backcountry about 5 miles with our final destination and campsite at 8,700 feet. The horse trail leading into the backcountry sidehills its way through a deep canyon filled with aspen, mountain mahogany, and steep rim rock outcrops. The gorgeous scenery makes the work involved for a hunt like this all worth the effort.  We left the horse trail about 3 miles in and began the final steep climb to our campsite. The final climb is a trail that Buck established many years ago on his first trip into the mountains. It is tucked away in Aspens at the low end of a high mountain basin out of sight of the bucks that are summering between 9,000 and 11,000 feet. More importantly it kept our scent out of the areas we would be hunting. It also has a creek nearby for a constant supply of water. We arrived at our camp in early afternoon. Just like in the past, it felt good to get the weight of the pack off of our backs, set up camp, and take a long needed nap as we got our bodies adjusted to the high altitude. 

​The next morning Buck and I would leave camp an hour before daylight. We had decided to hunt the next basin to the east of us. It requires about 1 ½ mile hike and climb of about 500 feet in elevation to get to an area where we can set up and glass the entire basin during the morning feeding hours. As the morning sun began to light up the basin, we began to see deer. We are often glassing distances of more than a mile. But with the greenery of the mountains in August and help from the morning sun, the deer’s summer coats really light up.  By late morning we had spotted a number of mature bucks. The bucks we were focused on fed their way up to the head of the basin following the shade line, as the sun climbed higher in the sky. By 10:00 am they had reached 10,000 feet and began to bed along a snowbank shaded by a big rock rim. Buck and I decided to leave these bucks for today and return at a later day in hopes that they had chosen more stalkable bedding areas. Being patient is a key when hunting mature bucks. Once they get bumped (because of a blown stalk, or bad wind), they generally leave your hunting area never to be seen again. 

​We decided to climb back over the ridge (dividing the basin we were hunting from the one we were camped in) to see what we were able to find in that basin. Glassing at midday is much different than glassing at first light. We would now be looking for bedded bucks. It is a slower more methodical type of glassing looking in those areas where bucks like to bed. One of the advantages with hunting the same area over the last 15 years is knowing those areas where bucks like to bed. Often times, only their velvet antlers or parts of antlers are the only visible body part. We found some minimal shade under some of the high mountain pine that grows on some of the north facing slopes. There, we took time for a bite of lunch and a drink of water before beginning to glass again. Over the next half hour we found a number of bucks bedded, but nothing that got us too excited. I then moved my searching from the head of the basin to straight across on the opposing ridge.  

A quick sweep with my binoculars at mid elevation and I spotted a monster buck up and feeding in the heat of the midday sun. He was located on a small bench at about the 9,500 foot level. As Buck and I watched him in our spotting scopes we realized just what a special deer this was. After being up for only a few minutes, he bedded on the bench. The tall Sage swallowed him up leaving just the top half of his massive antlers exposed. It was a great setup for a stalk with the buck’s ideal location and the fact he was alone (with no other ‘spoiler’ bucks around him). I told Buck that it was his deer to stalk. With the effort it took to put himself back into the shape needed to do this type of hunt, I could not think of a more deserving guy to make the stalk.

​With the afternoon thermals steadily rising, the normal stalk would be to cross the basin far below our present location, then climb well above the buck and descend from the rim above him.  The buck had bedded slightly facing the uphill side, so the stalk would have to be an approach from behind. The other problem we had was time. Getting such a late start on a bedded buck (across the basin) was going to take several hours to make the two-mile hike and get in position above the deer. It was going to push into the evening hours at which time the buck would likely be up to feed for the evening. A feeding deer is extremely difficult to stalk and on a buck of this caliber, it was not a risk worth taking.

​We both headed for the bottom of the basin. I setup in a spot on the edge of a small patch of shrubby Aspens. From this location I would easily be able to give Buck hand signals throughout his stalk. Buck climbed the steep wall of the basin to an area 100 yards behind the deer. Once there, he removed his pack and boots for the final stalk. It took him about 45 minutes to close the gap down to 20 yards. With his approach coming from behind (and not above the deer) and with the height of the Sage, he was not able to see the deer once in close. He was relying on my hand signals to let him know what the deer was doing. As Buck inched closer, the deer got up and began feeding away from him. I gave Buck the hand signal for “deer feeding” and another arm motion on direction. Buck then tiptoed uphill and toward the deer. As he stepped up on the same elevation plane as the deer, he now had him in full view — but no shot.

​The deer was feeding straight away at 15 yards. Over the next few seconds, the deer turned while still feeding and gave Buck a 20-yard quartering away shot. I was able to watch him draw his longbow and release. The shot looked good from my view but, as I found out later, it was a clean miss just in front of the deer’s chest. Buck retrieved his arrow, boots, and pack, and then met me back in the bottom of the basin. I could see the disappointment on his face. I could certainly understand his disappointment, as it truly was a trophy of a lifetime. However, it was a great effort too and he made a tremendous stalk to close the gap to 15 yards. I have learned a lot about hunting this high country from Buck. He is one of the best there is at finding mature bucks and knowing how to get close.

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DAY #2:
​We left camp a little before daylight and headed west of camp to a glassing area that would allow us to see most of the basin above camp. My wife would be joining us on the hunt today. The climb would take us up another 400 feet in elevation where we would break out onto a flat bench, at the edge of the Aspen thicket that exposes the more alpine areas of the upper basin. We used the edge of the Aspens as our backdrop to sit with our binoculars and spotting scopes. These high mountain basins rise well above the upper limits of trees.  Most of this area is covered in mountain brush or a sparse cover of low sagebrush. Large boulders litter the lower portions of the alpine, after centuries of breaking loose from the rugged rims that make up the perimeter of the basins. As we approached the final 100 yards of our climb toward our glassing area, the aspens dramatically thin out and become much shorter in height. I was in the lead, with Buck 20 yards behind me. My wife followed closely behind Buck.

​I had walked into a couple of beef cows feeding in the aspens. There are some beef cattle in the high country but encounters are rare, as they tend to stay at the lower elevations out of the alpine. I was lucky that they neither saw nor smelled me. I eased back a few steps and whispered to Buck that we had cows ahead of us. Not wanting to spook them, Buck advised we wait them out and let them feed out of our sight before we continued to move ahead. So, we stood whispering for a few minutes as the cows moved on. I walked quietly ahead to see if they had cleared out and ran into a calf that we had not seen earlier. I turned to look back at Buck and my wife (who were 15 yards behind me) and I immediately saw my wife giving me hand signals that there was a deer to my left.

I stepped back to open up my view and was dumbfounded to see a mature buck feeding straight away at no more than 30 yards. As we had very slowly eased our way through the aspens (giving time for the beef cows to feed out ahead), the buck had not detected our approach. It became quickly apparent the sounds of the cattle feeding through the area had masked the sound of our movements. As I stood quietly looking at the deer, I had no shot. I looked back at Buck and he had an arrow nocked (slightly crouching), trying to find a good opening through some low hanging aspen limbs. I could tell from his body language he just did not have a shot. He looked over at me. I then mouthed the words “do you want me to shoot”? Buck shook his head “yes”.

I turned to look back at the deer. He was still heading downhill but was now broadside to me. I don’t normally practice shooting with my pack on, but I knew the movement (and noise) of trying to remove my pack would get his attention. So, I picked a spot, raised my bow and drew slowly. He never detected the movement and the arrow was on its way.

 It was a complete pass through tucked tight behind the front shoulder. The deer kicked his hind legs and was out of sight in the blink of an eye. I looked over to see Buck with a big grin and my wife with big eyes and mouth wide open. In all my years of bowhunting, she had never witnessed me shooting an animal with my bow.  It was a great experience, (made extra special) simply by having my wife and good friend along to share in the experience.

​We gave the deer some time before following a short 90-yard blood trail to his final resting place. After congrats and pictures, I began to realize --there was no prettier place nor a better way to spend our 25th anniversary. ​