Mule deer teach hunters lessons as season opens

Opening weekend of the Nevada mule deer hunt was a good one for Bennie Garcia, not because he bagged an old buck sporting antlers that measured 28 inches wide and carried five points on one side and three on the other, but because he had the opportunity to be with his grandkids when they filled their tags.

"To be with your grandkids and share that experience is really special," Garcia said. "A grown man does cry when he sees them do something like that."

Though Garcia had never hunted Area 13 before, the family found success right away when 17-year-old Tara LeBaron shot her first buck, a fat forked horn. A short while later, Grandma LeBaron put some more meat in the freezer when she added a forked horn of her own, but the family wasn't done. Tara's 13-year-old brother Talon followed up his successful first antelope hunt by bagging a 24-inch four-point.

It took 18-year-old Tyler LeBaron a second trip north to bag his deer, but his efforts paid off with a four-point buck of his own. Garcia credited the family's success with getting away from the road and covering some country on foot. "A lot of guys were road hunting up there, but you're not going to find what you are looking for from the road," he said.

While I agree with Garcia about getting away from the road, there are those who like to break the rules. Last year, my friend shot a 30-inch muley on his way back to camp after driving out to the highway to call his wife. Where's the fairness in that?

If there is one thing I have learned from mule deer, it is that nothing is certain, especially when it comes to hunting them. Just when you think you have deer figured out, they do something to let you know you are not as smart as you think you are.

Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned is that mule deer are where you find them and not necessarily where you think they should be. Some years ago, my friends and I drew tags for Area 16 and chose to hunt in the northern end of the unit. We spent the first three days of our hunt in the high country, but didn't see a single deer.

Out of frustration, we began working our way down in elevation. When we finally found the deer, they were in the pinyon and juniper trees near the toe of the mountains, but the weather was clear and the daytime temperatures warm enough for us to lose our coats.

This was completely contradictory to the generally accepted doctrine that mule deer bucks remain high until the snow flies.

I first began to question the bucks-and-snow theory after visiting with a sheepherder during a rather frustrating deer hunt in Utah. After days of hunting with nothing to show for our efforts, my friends and I stopped by the shepherd's camp and asked if he had seen any deer in the area. This man of few words said the bucks had moved out of the area in September, weeks before the rifle season began. What the shepherd couldn't tell us was why the deer had moved so early.

Since then, I have witnessed groups of deer steadily moving south as early as the second week of Nevada's rifle season and with warm temperatures still the order of the day. Of course, that could change by the time I draw another deer tag, because the only thing certain about mule deer hunting is that mule deer are where you find them.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.