Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Nevada Units 071, 072, 073 elk hunt

Eight years of buying a Nevada hunting license and applying for various deer and elk tags paid off for good friend Jim last year as he scored a muzzleloader deer tag in Central Nevada. I went with him to help glass and hopefully pack meat as we hiked to over 11,000 feet in search of a good buck. While there, we also called and photographed some good bulls and wished we could have been elk hunting as well! He ended up tagging a nice 4x3 buck with his Traditions rifle, but the thought of those Nevada bulls played in my dreams for months. My screensaver forever reminds me of the great time and beautiful elk country.

Here's our spike camp last year at 9000'. Really nice elk country.



One of the bulls that went unhunted last year.



The bulls were hot in this area last year.



Jim's respectable buck was taken in a freak blizzard.





Fast-forward to this year, Jim contacts me to ask me if I can go on a rifle elk hunt with him in units 071, 072, and 073. I don't think he even finished asking and I was blurting out, "Heck yeah!".

Not having time to scout this year, Jim did his homework from home, calling and asking around until he settled on the Jarbidge wilderness area as the first place to set eyeball to.

Jim retired this year, but as is usually the case, my work kept us from leaving until right before the season opener. We used my enclosed work trailer for hauling gear so Jim, another of Jim's retired friends Dick, and I left for Elko, Nevada the 4th of Nov., with season starting the 6th. We pulled in late and got a room for the night of the 4th. The day of the 5th we left the trailer secured at the motel and after eating a good breakfast headed north to Jarbidge, NV to scout it out. Since the Jarbidge area is 60-80 miles from Elko, we figured on one more night in Elko leaving us travelling back with the trailer to set up camp on opening day. An unfortunate timing snafu to be sure, but Jim's real laid back and deliberate, and being a day late didn't even ruffle a feather.

The elevations in this area were several thousand feet lower than what we hunted last year, and at the lower elevations we could see for miles, open grassland and sage country. As we approached the "mining/ghost town" of Jarbridge, we decided to get a burger and fuel up before continuing on into the higher wilderness access areas.

We found the townspeople very friendly as they rode up on atv's to strike up conversation with these out of towners in the shiny new truck. We learned from Chuck and Lloyd where we might begin looking for elk. They told us to run north a few miles to Murphy hot springs and look for the small two track leading up the hill over the bridge. That would take us up above the lowlands and to the wilderness edge. After thanking them and some friendly back and forth kidding, they told us that the only place open for food was the Red Dog Saloon.



As we approached, the two gals on the front porch met us with a smile and welcomed us in to the little old building that was the hub of activity for the area. More joking and carrying on and after a good meal we headed out. Chuck and Lloyd had mentioned a Jeep trail heading uphill out of Jarbidge that would connect with the Murphy hot springs road, but we elected to take the county road to Murphy instead since Jim's retirement truck still had a shine on it. They were the first of several people on this trip to mention that last year at this time there was over 20" of snow on the ground. We had a hard to imagining it with temps in the 60's and 70's in the canyon and us being clad in t-shirts. Jarbidge is an old mining town, like others I have seen, just a few old buildings and a handful of hearty souls that call it home.

The little old Jarbidge crawler had been used until the tracks were almost smooth.

As we headed north out of Jarbidge, NV towards Murphy hot springs and the wilderness road, we were glad we had decided to leave the supply trailer back in town. Chuck and Lloyd had warned us that the roads on top were rough and S-L-O-W going. And if we wanted to take the Jeep trail back down to Jarbidge, it was 4x4 only.

We found Murphy were it should be, which is always nice right? The two track road was exactly as described, rough and S-L-O-W going, but it seemed to be leading us right to the north edge of the wilderness so on we went. As we crossed the open grass and sage land, we commented on how the wilderness ahead had timber and maybe some snow. We bumped along for a while and finally noticed 4 trucks in a line ascending the trail ahead of us. Not ideal, but Jim remained optimistic. I began to waver a little on our committment to check this area out as I knew Jim well from hunting together for 25 years off and on. I knew that the most important thing to him would be the quality of the hunt, and that included as few people as possible. As we approached the trees and began scouting for suitable campsites, the overall lay of the land and those four trucks above us got us rethinking the whole wilderness idea. Pack trains and guided hunters by the truck load really began to eat away at our idea of a Nevada wilderness experience.

After looking at some nice country, and weighing it all out, we decided to head back towards Jarbidge and ultimately Elko for the night. Ol' Chuck and Lloyd were right about the Jeep trail, 4x4 only! Holy smokes was that touch and go, but we crawled back to Jarbidge to the county road and headed back towards Elko.

We checked out several other spots that day, and the elk country had great promise, to spite the warm temps, and we were determined that on opening day, the 6th, we WOULD be setting up elk camp in Nevada!

That night while looking over the maps back at the motel, I found a valley on the map near a mountain that Jim had been told would hold elk. It was south of Jarbidge in another unit. After really contemplating our options, and studying the map for terrain and access, we decided the best route in and left the morning of the 6th to get a visual on the potential camp spot. Picking our way slowly in from the main county dirt road we crossed several gullies, traversed steep side-hills, and descended rugged gulches with our little train to arrive at the promised valley. We found a beautiful campsite surrounded by mountains, some heavy with aspen groves, void by now of any remaining leaves. From there small two track roads headed in 5 directions, giving us many options for hunting as we learned the area better.

We unloaded the quad, firewood, and set up the wall tent and stocked it with all the gear necessary for a two week hunt. Daytime temps were in the 50's-60's by now, but nighttime temps dropped into the 20's, which was great for preserving the ice we had in the coolers.

Here's Dick relaxing a bit at our new home.



One of the larger mountains in the area in the background here. Most of the peaks in this open land topped out at 7000' in elevation. Keep in mind, at this time last year there was nearly two feet of snow here. We kept a very close eye on the weather forecast so if there was any threat of moisture, we could pull stakes and get out of the country before getting trapped back in there. We were later told stories by the locals we ran into of hunters hiring bulldozers and helicopters to get rescued from this desert country last year.



Another shot of the mountain we planned on starting our hunt at. Dick in front, me behind.

We just got home from Elko on Friday
after 2 weeks of amazing weather. I have been in those areas many times in the last 40 years and have never seen as many people as this year. My worst pack out was 3 days solo following a fresh snow, when I arrived in the Town of Jarbridge in time for breakfast I thought I was in heaven.

You guys did well, congrats.


mike r

Will continue posting when I get time...

Looking forward to the "rest of the story".

This didn't look like any elk country I'd been in before.



For an Oregon boy, I was thinking, "Where do they hide?".

We hiked the canyons and the mountaintops and found sign here and there.

I ran into a local that told me of a bull that the ranchers and deer hunters had seen in the area that was estimated to go between 380-400". Holy smokes, that's world class, in our little area? That got me fired up!

We spent a lot of time behind binoculars looking, and checking canyons for him. Walked a few miles a day on average. We kept asking ourselves, "where could a bull like that hide?" There wasn't even much tall sagebrush overall. The aspen thickets were leafless, but he could have kegged up there.



After a few days, we decided he had either left the entire area, or laid low on a chunk of private land adjacent to out hunting unit. Of course he could be there somewhere and we missed him, but we checked pretty well for a couple old guys. Since I didn't have the pressure of having to fill a tag, I wanted Jim to hold out and keep after Mr. Big. Easy for me to say.

You always see some cool things hunting, regardless of the game found.

Day two was our first full day here. I dropped Jim off on the mountain behind camp and he planned on spending the first half of the day working his way down the ridge glassing in all directions to get a feel for the land and any sign.

After dropping him off, I traversed a bunch of promising ground on the atv, more to learn the road system and overall picture than with any plans of finding elk. As I played with some sage grouse in one spot I heard squeaking behind me. Turning around I spotted elk sneaking around a hill about 125 yards out. I learned later that the lack of cover requires these elk to use the terrain as cover. They are masters at sneaking behind you using the hills and canyons to stay hidden! I also met another hunter later that told me he had seen me down below him and that just a few minutes before spotting this group, a herd of about 200 had passed behind me while I rode by on the atv.

Following up on the group of sneakers, I found there were about a dozen bulls in the group of 80 elk. That included two 6 points, a club horned freak, and the requisite rags and spikes. None of the bulls had any size to them, all under 300. They worked their way uphill and topped out over a rise and disappeared in a hidden bowl.

Jim and I followed up on them that afternoon so he could see his first elk in this new area and see if they picked up anything bigger since I'd seen them in the morning. After following them uphill for a couple miles we heard a shot just a few minutes ahead of us. When we arrived at the top of the mountain we found a man with his two or three year old daughter sitting on a rock looking over the other side, while mom chased the herd. Apparently she had missed a 6. I had found a small souvenir on the trip up the mountain.



After chatting for a while and meeting her upon her return, they offered us a ride back down the mountain in their Razor. On the way down, two 6 point bulls ran across the two track in front of us. She gave chase and came back later to tell us there were four bulls in the group but she didn't shoot. It was great to see the wife hunting and the cute little blond haired button all bundled up and riding along with mom and dad. Nice family for sure.

Since I hadn't seen the herd of two hundred myself, I don't know what size bulls might have been in the group.

Over the next two days Jim and I saw a few herds of elk from 30 to about 200 animals each. Still no shooting, Jim was waiting for the right hunt and the right bull. We were having a great time with beautiful weather so why rush it? The only hitch was, Dick was back in camp each day and he was getting antsy. He'd been busted up in a work accident and was in a lot of pain and was pretty homesick. I think this was starting to become a little bit of a factor in how things would play out.

Jim and I were not seeing any single bulls, big old bulls that were done with the herds and the breeding and were laying low recovering from the rut. We both held out hope that we would eventually bump one and Jim would get a chance at a real keeper. We had a 14 day season, good weather, great glassing, and all the supplies we needed. I think the odds were decent we would have found one, if we just kept doing what we were doing. We hiked to places we could glass vast areas and we did alot of glassing.

We found a pair of coyotes lounging in the sun while glassing from one spot and Jim says "Why don't you call 'em over here?". They were across a large canyon and I really didn't think they'd cross it to come to a call. I was wrong. We didn't want to disturb the area by shooting so we just played with them a bit. As I looked around while dinking with them, I spotted a BIG bobcat that had also answered the call. That was quite a cat, a very big cat. These are the things that make hunting so much more than "I killed a 350" bull." Every hunter knows what I'm talking about.

When the predator games were all over we got up and hunted around some more checking out three canyons, since we were seeing sign of a good sized herd in the area, but no sightings. Up to this point we had yet to spot a deer. With all the glassing and favorable lighting and cover situation, you'd think they'd be easy to find. When I found this little sagebrush "buck nest", I figured out why they're hard to find! It would be nearly impossible to find this buck with glass. You'd have to kick him out manually.



Although we didn't ever spot a big buck, and believe you me I tried, the young couple found two, a big 30" 4x4 and an even bigger non-typical, I think Jim said it was an 8x13. Would have loved to see them, but the closest I came was a bed.

Day 5 Jim went out alone for his morning hunt. As he was glassing from a vantage point, he heard cows squeaking. He looked around the butte thinking they were just out of sight and was surprised to find them down a canyon 1/2 mile or so.
The sun was just peeking over the top and the elk were lit up like lightbulbs. At the top of the herd, two bulls were having a shoving match, going at it pretty hard. A club horned bull ran amongst the cows and was busy checking them all, while satellite groups wandered here and there all across the mountainside. In all Jim estimated 150-200 elk in the group.

Diving off the hilltop he put the stalk on them and when he ran out of cover on an exposed hillside the closest bull was at 350, with the two bigger bulls considerable further up the mountain. they'd been pushing each other around for a good while now. There were so many eyes and ears he just sat and watched the spectacle for a bit, rather than move any further on them.

Groups of elk filtered in and out of view as they fed and moved around the mountain. The morning sun was still lighting them up when Jim decided to take the closest bull rather than go for any bigger, or hold out any longer.

He had hunted for a few days now, we had seen some fantastic sights, and here was an opportunity at a good bull. This was the hunt he'd come to Nevada for, if not the biggest bull, but he was content to have such a great morning elk hunt and end it with a fine young bull.

We came home the next day after cleaning and cooling the meat overnight. Jim corrected me on the unit numbers- 072, 073, 074.

We saw a few hundred elk, all resident, not migrating animals as we had no weather at all.

Jim shoots a Sako SS 300 RUM.

Nice write up and great pics.

Thanks!