resident tag availability

missalot · Sep 6, 2016

I'm having a discussion with a buddy about how often a Nevada resident can draw a decent tag in Nevada, essentially deer, elk and antelope. Do you guys compete with the NRs or do you have a separate drawing?

mevertsen · Sep 7, 2016

LAST EDITED ON Sep-07-16 AT 06:41AM (MST)[p]NR/residents have separate quotas for each species. Waiting periods apply for everything but deer, cow elk and doe antelope. A "decent" deer tag might come every 5 years. Last year's basic draw odds for antelope showing just the first choice applicants was something like 7 to 1. We have 5 choices on an application. Bull elk 5 to 1 maybe on a low quality archery hunt to a lifetime for the best rifle hunts. Go to Ndow.org and look under the hunting page at the hunter resources. A guy can maybe expect 2 bull tags in his life if not crazy picky, I just helped an 80 year old gentleman kill his fourth or fifth antelope buck the other day.

Sergio4195 · Sep 7, 2016

My dad has drawn about 3 deer tags in the last 5 years but he always applies for Area 10 which have the best odds in the state when it comes to deer. This was my first year applying for deer and I didnt draw, so it depends what you like. If you want to hunt every year just go for those easy units, if you're a trophy hunter then you might wait 5 years in between sometimes even more.

missalot · Sep 7, 2016

So, in my interpretation, a guy would have better odds applying as a non-resident in Wyoming, than a resident of Nevada would have applying in his home state?

missalot · Sep 7, 2016

Ok, so there are tags that you can draw and hunt almost every year if you want to just shoot a buck. My confusion comes from the five choice app and draw odds which doesn't really doesn't indicate the true opportunity to just have somewhere to hunt.

GeoHunter · Sep 7, 2016

If you just want to hunt, you can get a tag almost every year. I have gotten buck and cow elk tags 3 years in a row. Those were two 6 early and one 10 early for the bucks, and two 6 early and one 6 cow/buck combo for the elk. If you want to be sure to draw a cow every year, just put 072 Wilderness Only somewhere on your application. They never seem to sell out first draw.

Bull elk is another story. If you're looking for one of the general tags, expect it to tag anywhere from 5-10 points. That being said, one of my buddies drew a 6 rifle bull tag with 1 point this year. I also work with someone who only wanted the Pilot Peak tag, and finally got it this year with 17 points.