Nevada Wild Podcast
Nevada Wild is the official podcast of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, bringing you inside the Silver State’s incredible wildlife, habitats, and outdoor adventures. Join biologists, conservation experts, and outdoor enthusiasts as they talk hunting, fishing, wildlife management, and the conservation efforts shaping Nevada’s wild places.
Nevada Wild Podcast
Nevada Mule Deer and Antelope Hot Spots - Cody Schroeder
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Nevada big game hunters, this one’s for you.
This week on the Nevada Wild podcast, Aaron Keller and Bobby Jones sit down with NDOW Big Game Staff Specialist Cody Schroeder to talk all things Mule Deer and Pronghorn across the Silver State. From strong overwinter survival and rebounding deer herds in the Rubies to antelope numbers nearing all-time highs, there’s a lot to be excited about heading into this season.
Plus, Cody breaks down key updates to junior tags and even shares a few areas to keep in mind when you’re putting in your application.
Welcome to Nevada Wild, brought to you by the Nevada Department of Wildlife. I'm your host, Aaron Keller, joined by Outdoor Connection Coordinator Bobby Jones. And we have a special guest in the room. He is our staff specialist over Mule Deer and Pronghorn Antelope. Cody Schroeder. Thanks for coming in. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, so we've been chit-chatting a little bit about certain things, some kind of directions we want to take the podcast today. You've been in the room setting the quota recommendations and kind of chopping up the sausage. And uh so we definitely want to get into that. Last night um Cody helped host one of our big game application seminars here in Reno. And uh I went to that and was kind of getting the the questions from the crowd, and so let's start with um what? Let's start with Mule Deer. I will and then we'll try and do kind of like half and half of the podcast. We'll go half Mule Deer, half pronghorn, and uh and see where where we end up at the end. Let's do it. Yeah, so tell us a little bit about Mule Deer and State.
SPEAKER_04I mean, overall, I think things look really good right now. Um you know, we had a pretty mild winter. Um our fawn ratios are kind of coming in like where they have been the past, they're actually above average, the five-year average, so we did a little bit better on recruitment. Our actual statewide population inched up slightly. Um I think probably the the bigger news is we're carrying like a lot of bucks on the landscape. Um, so our buck ratios are actually higher than they have been in years past. Um, and there's I think tremendous potential out there for opportunity and and quality across the state, really. So yeah, just grand view, things are looking good. We're asking for uh about a 5% increase on our quota recommendations. Of course, those have to go through the Nevada Department of Wildlife Commission to get the final approval. Um, but yeah, we're we're asking for uh a slight increase in mule deer tags across the state.
SPEAKER_03That's positive.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Um so yeah, 34 bucks per hundred dose is our state was what we come came in at statewide. Of course, that varies uh by unit, but some of our units are well above our objectives, so we're trying to you know provide some more tags and as max as much opportunity as we can for sportsmen to kind of help drive back towards our management guidelines for those buck ratios.
SPEAKER_03That's exciting because that hasn't always been the case.
SPEAKER_04Yes, so 2022-23, we had the big winter, that's kind of our most recent reference point. Uh deer herds, you know, were probably at their low points at that point in time. We cut tags fairly significantly um during after that winter. But we've been you know trying to inch them back up as the populations are rebuilding, and so yeah, just trying to catch up to that. Um didn't quite get as many tags as we would have hoped for last year in some areas, and so we're trying to make up some some ground on that. Um, but yeah, I think there's the age quality or the age structure is you know a little bit younger in some of the herds, but overall, uh statewide, I think we're in a really good spot.
SPEAKER_03And what are some of the factors that go into kind of that overall population on the rise?
SPEAKER_04You know, mostly it's it's survival rates from juveniles. Um, you know, what you're recruiting into the population, that's the primary driver, and then and you know, uh some of it has to do with adult survival too. But we we saw a pretty high adult survival with that mild winter we experienced. It's just some of the does came in a little bit probably in a little bit poorer condition. Uh we saw that with our fall productivity numbers just being down a little bit, but then we kind of made up for it with the spring um having the mild winter, so we didn't actually lose as many over winter like we have in years past.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it could have been really bad if we had a hard winter after that. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Yep, so we avoided that. So um things are looking a little, you know, drought droughty uh starting to creep in. Um, not to get too much down that road. But I think you know, it does have implications for this fall, uh hunting. Uh things could be dry out there, so maybe you want to change your hunt tactics, hunt you know, water a little bit more. Animals might not be quite as widely scattered, they might be a little more concentrated this year, both antelope and mule deer. So that's what I'd be thinking about. But I think you know, antler growth is still gonna be good for mule deer and horn horn length for for prong horn, and we've we've actually seen increases in success rates, four-pointer better for mule deer and then antelope. Our our metric there is 15-inch uh horn length, and that's been steadily increasing since 2021. That's that's and and we're above objective on antelope too.
SPEAKER_03So interesting. Yeah, my my question, my follow-up question was to be how does drought affect like population over overall? Um I think you answered that, and then same with antler growth can be a little bit um impacted, but it sounds like there's gonna be enough.
SPEAKER_04I think so because of the spring.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, I'm more looking, you know, long long term for that for that drought to set in. Like, you know, we don't I don't want to forecast too much in the future, but uh yeah, I don't see any major, you know, alarms or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00So then the hope and the dream being that we don't see another year of being too dry.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, and then worse worst case scenario for us is always having a really hard winter out, you know, after a drought, and that's kind of what we're seeing in that 22-23 time period, and that really sets us down. Yeah, boom and bust, right? Right. Even keel is definitely better overall. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um what are some of the bright spots that you've seen like as far as state, like around the state?
SPEAKER_04Um, yeah, so in terms of like the number of bucks on the landscape, um, you know, age class increasing, um, it's really almost all over the state, really. I it's hard to even narrow in on a specific area. Um, you know, we're above objective in central Nevada, a good part of Elko County units, even White Pine County. Um, and so those are the areas that we are asking for increases in.
SPEAKER_03Is there any unit that you were surprised that it's on the rise or that you were kind of excited that it's coming back?
SPEAKER_04Or yeah, I mean, I think the rubies is one of our biggest, you know, premier herds in the state, and that one was one of the most impacted by that 22, 23 um winter, so that'd be you know units 101 to 109, and so that's that's one of the areas we're seeing a lot of recovery, a pretty fast recovery in terms of fonts and you know, good building that aid structure back to. And so yeah, that's that would definitely probably be the bright spot, and it's one of our biggest herds.
SPEAKER_00So now is that faster recovery? Is that a product of just the rubies are so productive in general that you can bounce back faster with the precip, or what would you say that has to do with?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think so. You know, it's a it's a big mountain range, tall, high elevation. It's got a lot of diversity of of you know, slope and aspect and shrub cover, so yeah, there's really good intact habitat there, um, especially in the upper elevations and things like that. Um it's a migratory herd, so they have plenty of room to spread out, and then you know, in my those mild winters, they've been just able to access forage. They uh a good chunk of their herd will migrate, you know, quite a ways south, like up to 80 miles, almost a hundred miles. When they're on their spring migration, one of the benefits of that is they can hit the green, the green up along the way, so they can really start building those resources. They got a long linear, so they can put on, you know, put on weight early. Yep. Body condition, good body condition, and and uh for bucks, you know, that'd be body weight and and also antler growth. So that's one of the reasons it's kind of more resilient, I think, and it's less impacted by things like drought, because it is a big mountain range that gets tends to get more moisture.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Getting up pretty high top of the rubies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um, and then uh question from last night. Um, what are some uh well the straight up question was like where should I apply this year? Yeah, a lot of people have that question. That's a hard one to answer, though.
SPEAKER_00Where where are the secret places to shoot the big deer? Do you have any of those?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, where's the biggest buck gonna get killed this year? Those are always so yeah, are there anything or any um it's a lot of people this time year are looking are putting in their application, right? Big game applications are open. Um just go to endileyson.com and you can apply. You can see last year's quota up on the screen, all that stuff. Um what are some some units that we might want to throw out there for some people? You don't have to really want to sp you don't have to give them all your hotspots, but uh no, I'm just kidding. We were joking that we were gonna give Bobby's application.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we don't want to give away the secrets. Um, I mean the big units are area six, area seven, area ten. That's where you know a huge par portion of our deer herd is, and those those herds are coming back. So those are great areas to put in for because we have so many tags they're on the up. So if you're looking to get just any deer tag, I'd be looking at those areas in Elko County. Yeah if you're willing to travel that far. And I'm I mean the herd the quality's there, it's a it'd be a great place to hunt. So that's immediately where I'd go to. Um terms of you know more specific areas, it it really is dependent on um what you know, what you like, kind of the style you like to hunt, you know. Do you want to backpack hunt in the wilderness or do you want to have more low country style hunting? You know, um Washoe County is looking really good too for for folks around the Reno area, you know, yeah. Um running really high buck ratios in some of those units, and we're we're asking for increases up there. Um, you know, the granites 014 near Gurloch it is it was was down for quite a few years. Um we've been doing a lot of different types of work in there and seems to be producing some some good bucks again. So nice. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, we didn't talk about it, but we've got the uh two types of mule deer tags for juniors now. Yeah. And uh we had some left over last year. Are we gonna make any adjustments or have you have you ironed out what that might look like of uh that's a good question?
SPEAKER_04We did have a few uh left over. Um so that we were kind of directed by the commission to, you know, basically maximize opportunity for junior. That was one of the ways we did it is offering those primitive weapon tags. And you know, it was kind of a guess on what would actually get picked up because we knew that not all kids might be, you know, wanting to hunt with a bow or a muzzle loader. There's some investment there with equipment and you know, learning how to use them and things like that. So we they the commission directed us to really not change anything. Um now they could change their minds at this upcoming meeting, you never know. Um, so yeah, we're just gonna let it ride for now. So there should be ample opportunity out there for those primitive weapon hunters. Um it's good to have it. Even if they're left over in the they'll they'll they'll be available in the second draw. So if you didn't get your rifle tag, you might consider that as a junior for that second draw. And if if there's even some left over from that, they might even be on first come, first serve. Yep.
SPEAKER_00So which is excellent to set people up for it because we didn't know what to expect last year, and now you can tell parents and kids like, hey, maybe you didn't get to go last year. Yeah. Definitely consider you know, the muzzloter is kind of that in-between ground where it's not too too expensive to get started. Um, it's not too hard to get proficient, and you can be out there beautiful time of year.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and then there is another fairly important change for for juniors this year. So the way the junior mule deer and horn shorter than years antelope is gonna work. That's a new hunt we started last year, horn shorter than years specifically for junior. We're gonna offer those again this year. The difference being this year in the draw, you can put in for both, but you can only draw one. Um, and it's gonna be the the preference is gonna be to draw your mule deer tag first. So if a junior draws it, they pull a low number and they get a tag, their antelope uh application is gonna be nullified basically in the draw. So they won't be able to draw in the main draw.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so draw order, you apply for both junior mule deer and junior horn shorter. If you end up getting awarded your junior mule deer, you won't be getting the antelope, but you can get it through other means percent uh possibly, right? Or maybe you don't get the mule deer and you get the antelope and you can pick up a first come, first serve tag or a second draw. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, that's what I was gonna bring this back to. If there are some of those leftover primitive tags, you know, after the second draw, and juniors want to go hunt, even if they have an antelope tag, they can pick those up so they could go hunt deer and antelope in the same year. So you with one of those.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you can get two, you just can't get two in the in the draw.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Just kind of meant to spread it out, spread the wealth, you know.
SPEAKER_00Truth be told, I wasn't excited when it happened, but I'm coming around to it.
SPEAKER_04Okay, good.
SPEAKER_00I'm coming around. I think a lot of kids are gonna get a tag this year, and that I can get excited about.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I'm I'm not really opposed to like keeping the quotas similar to what they were last year, because the first year you do anything, it's like a learning curve to now everybody knows what's coming.
SPEAKER_04So that was yeah, that's exactly the frame of mind the commission had too is like, hey, you've only had one year to even evaluate. Maybe they don't even know about it yet. Yeah. Kids are more in maybe they become more interested in picking up that archery or muzzle loader and maybe taking a year to hone their skills before they actually pick up the tag or something like that.
SPEAKER_03So and we can create a trend and see if it's similar, then we can adjust. But yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, and especially if you're a parent who's never had kids applying for junior tags, that changes all pretty fast. Absolutely. I mean, my dad put me in for it as an adult the first year, so I didn't draw, but he didn't know. Didn't know there's a junior tag program.
SPEAKER_03Right. So let's um since we're talking about horn shortening ears, let's let's kind of pivot over to Pronghorn. Um I mean, is it like Ditto? Is it that easy?
SPEAKER_04It's not, you know, not exactly, but it's similar. Um again, uh pronghorn are doing really well uh across the state. We're basically at all all-time highs population-wise. Um we're asking for another increase of about five percent in in tags this year. That's mostly gonna be horns longer than years tags, the increase. So we're gonna keep the horns shorter about the same. At least that's what we're recommending again for the commission. Um that's you know, mainly due to just the bucks. It's it's all about the buck to dough ratio. So we we're running a little high in some areas, and we've had some growth in the past, so we're just trying to keep those within our sideboards of our management guidelines on the bucks. But um like I said, the trend in horn length is is going up. Success rates were were high last year. Um, the horn short of the nears junior hunt was really successful, they had high success too. And so, yeah, we have I think all things look good on that avenue. Again, with that dryness kind of setting in, you know, if you do pick up a tag, I think you know, I'd want to be out early scouting, um, looking at water sources and things like that, especially as that August time period rolls around, that's when it gets about the driest. So antelope might be more concentrated then and closer to water. They're very tied to water already, but it they could be even more so during that time of year. So that's a good strategy to have if you're if you're out there if you do have a tag.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I would say the Horn Short and Ears antelope tag for juniors last year was probably the most positive press that the department's received in a long time. We saw photos coming in almost daily of kids shooting their first antelope with big smiles, and it was definitely a success, I would say.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, I mean antelope hunting is so fun in general, you know, because you just you see a lot more, they're so visible, they're out in the open, they tend to be in the valleys and things like that. So I think kids, you know. Whereas, you know, mule deer can be a little bit tougher to find, and sometimes you have to hike to the top of the mountain to find them and things like that. So you know, for kids it's that antelope hunt is uh is an exciting time, I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And then horn length for uh you know bucks has been fi it seems like it's going up and up and up to me.
SPEAKER_04It is, it's on an upward trend uh again back to 2021. Um I think we're up about 10% on our statewide, just on the 15 inch or longer. And 15 inches is a very high benchmark, by the way. That's I mean you can actually there's 80 inch antelope that make book that aren't even 15 inches on Hornland, because it's not that's not the only thing that goes into the score, but that that's the metric we use.
SPEAKER_03So that is a fairly lofty metric to meet, but it is going up, so yeah, a guy I know um killed a giant buck last year, and uh I think it was like the third biggest killed in the year, and uh I was like, there's no way that thing's getting beat, but it came in third, so wow. Yeah, so there's some big bucks being killed. They're spread out all over too. Yeah, they're not it's not any certain unit that's like popping off.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think that's that's true. Um, you know, traditionally that northeast corner 076 uh 251, even Sheldon used to traditionally kick out like the top end. Um it's way more spread out now. So yeah, I think there's like gems to be found. Uh see some of those units that have a lot of tags, I would not shy away from them in terms of like quality and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, one thing that you said last night that really stuck out to me is if you do draw an antelope tag, is be patient. A lot of the hunts or a lot of the guys punch their tag fur like at the very beginning of the hunt, and you really need to be patient, and you could find a bigger buck. I think people get excited to to kill, and if you let that hunt kind of play out a little bit more, you probably find a bigger buck.
SPEAKER_04I think so, yeah. Yeah, our average days hunted on Pronglehorn antelope is very low. Right. You know, it's like two days. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you said uh you were alluding to more good bucks being spread out in different units. What do you think that is? Is it just antelope are using more of different habitat types, or what do you think is uh just good conditions across the city?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we've had we've had so since that hard winter, you know, we've had really good moisture. And even though this last winter was kind of a well, we have deemed it a snow drought because we didn't get the the total snowfall, but we had actually above average on precip throughout the year. So we actually got a fair amount of rain in some some areas, and they're responding really well to some of the changes, uh, like past habitat changes, fires and stuff like that, especially where we've been really successful in restoration efforts. Um you know, Bobby, you've been a part of that up in uh I think it was the Martin fire that you helped uh seed after that big fire. Those places are doing really well, and it's the antelope are just they're just doing really well in some of those habitats and combined with the with the moisture and the mild winters, I think, is what's driving some of that. But yeah, they're expanding too. We're seeing a lot of movement. We've been collaring a lot of antelope, which is exciting. We translocated 150 last year. I mean, like I said, we're at an all-time high, so we're actually looking for places to expand or augment areas. We got a new augmentation plan this year, so we're probably gonna be translocating some more this year. Um, so I'm excited about that prospect.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Bobby and I were both on that prong run capture last year. That was tons of fun. Yeah. Yeah, exciting to be a part of that for sure.
SPEAKER_00Well and also just on the expanding pieces, I grew up in Winnamuck and where we were at is not too far away, and that place when I was a kid didn't have antelope. And now there's so many there that were translocated. Oh really? I didn't know that. Not many. Yeah. That was like the not antelope land.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, interesting.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so yeah, we are we really are seeing expansion in the new year's. I mean, they're they're doing it on their own in some cases, you know, pioneering or just infilling where there was kind of lower densities before. Um but we can help speed that along um where we can. So this upcoming year, um, I think all of our trans locations will be in state somewhere. So we're still working out the details where those areas might be. But um, yeah, hopefully and we're building guzzlers too. Like we've been we've been doing a lot of work on improving guzzlers, converting them, um rebuilding them, b building brand new units specifically for antelope. And so that's gonna allow us to expand, hopefully, our populations too, and make them a little more drought resilient too, hopefully.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was gonna ask, is that um I mean obviously in the desert water is one of the limiting factors. Is that the that's true for the pioneering herds or the kind of the expansion?
SPEAKER_04That is one of the limiting factors, yeah. If you can have decent habitat But if you don't have like water availability, i that can limit. So that's where the the um guzzlers and water developments help out.
SPEAKER_03Makes sense. That seemed like a dumb question after as soon as I got done saying it.
SPEAKER_04Well, but the i you know, what we've seen is in the past is contractions. So these water like water tables, high high water uh plies and stuff like that that used to hold water almost year round when we were in those drought periods, they dried up, so antelope moved off or shrunk their contracted their range. We've seen that kind of expand now. Yeah. But if we can provide provision water, then we can make a little more resilient for future future droughts and things like that. Um yeah, I'm I'm really excited about that. The prospect of antelope, uh more opportunity, hopefully getting, you know, more people out in the field. And then this new junior program I think is really gonna get people excited to start antelope hunting. They don't get as much respect of of all the big game species. Yeah, underrated. But it's such a fun hunt. Both both bucks and uh and does, you know, really. You see them you see them all together when you're out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I just I the hunting's underrated, eating antelope's underrated, they're just yeah, they're the uh the obvious almost like forgotten one of the of the big animals. Yeah. Somebody's out there cussing me out right now saying that antelope's the best, and don't tell anybody. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03It's it's up there, man. It's they're fun to see, fun to pursue, taste great, you know.
SPEAKER_04The other the other kind of cool thing that we're doing right now, we're doing this for mule deer and for antelope, but it's um we've got some new solar ear tags, so people might start seeing those, and we've we've been putting them on antelope. Um, trying to track migration corridors, um, just get a better better handle on habitat use and distribution. So if folks are out there in the field and they see funny looking ear tags on Antelope, um they have a little GPS collar unit on their ear with a solar panel on it. So we put out I think over 75 of those last year, maybe closer to 100 actually.
SPEAKER_00Um so have you pulled anything off that data yet? Anything interesting?
SPEAKER_04I mean, there are certainly movements that we didn't know about. Um they are so much more nomadic and span across different hunt units and things like that that than we knew. I mean, we suspected that, that's why we wanted to put the the marks on to begin with. But yeah, they're utilizing a lot of different habitat types too. Kind of seen them up higher elevations than we'd expect, not just valleys, but and and that's a tip too. If you do have an antelope tag in your pocket, don't just even though antelope traditionally are in valleys and in you know green pastures, don't hesitate to look at the the mountaintops if you got one because that and I'm not pointing to a specific area, just in general, they're um they're we're seeing them at you know tops of mountains these days.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I remember but I mean that's not n new. I I remember like like 20 years ago seeing antelope going through the PJ and I was like, what are they doing up there?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I mean I've seen them in the top of the granites before, I've seen them up on you know the tops of the Simpson Park mountains and things like that. So those are some of the the good areas to hunt, and yeah, I wouldn't be afraid to look up instead of just outside.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that it's like that and and bigorn sheep, when you see 'em in trees like that, it's just it's just weird. Yeah. Like you don't I don't think of them to be in the in the junipers like that.
SPEAKER_04Or burns if it's a if it's a PJ. Yeah. You know, fairly steep slope, but it's burned off. They love those old burns. Yeah. Um, they just they were utilizing that the new grasses, the forbs that are in there, that's super.
SPEAKER_03Is that the same with uh chainings?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Same. Yes, oh yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03So like White Pine County, all those chainings.
SPEAKER_04Phenomenal for for antelope for sure. New growth. Because they like the open, you know, they like the openness. Yep. The visual part of it, so they love to be out in the open. So yeah, they use those chainings and hot tip. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Thinking about your hunters, right? Is it's a lot of groups, I think they start out and they've ran into antelope before they've even made it to the mountain. They never make it there. Yeah. Shoot one and then that's the trip.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. On your way from camp to where you're hunting. Yeah. True. So have you applied, Cody?
SPEAKER_04I have not. Oh man. Yeah, I mean, one of those that's waiting till the very last. Procrastinator. Yeah, don't be me. Um we were talking about that last night at the tag seminar. Yeah. Some of them had applied already, had done everything because they wanted to get it in ahead of time, and a lot of them were kind of waiting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we had a few that were, you know, they were in the first couple days, and then they said that they just like to tinker with it a little bit, and then a lot of people hadn't applied yet.
SPEAKER_04So Yeah, I wouldn't wait. I we already talked about I missed Utah's deadline myself yesterday, so now I gotta just buy bonus points if I can.
SPEAKER_03So at least get some of them in and then you can work off of that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's the positive here, right? Is if you apply early, you can tinker the whole time. Right. You know, put your choices in, adjust them on your times, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_04Don't overthink it though.
SPEAKER_00Don't overthink it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Did we get to kind of hot tip for uh pronghorn? Do you have anything? Uh well, certainly areas, you mean like there are any areas where it's like kind of Elko, like still and yeah, around Elko, Battle Mountain, Carlin, all those areas.
SPEAKER_04Area six um is doing really well, and so there should be plenty of tags. Um, you know, area 14 and 15, that's one of our booming herds, 141 to 155. I think it's a big unit group. Plenty of tags there. We split that season for the bucks, so it's gonna be there's an early and a mid just because we we were getting up there in the tag numbers, so we're trying to spread out the wealth there. Spread the people out, spread the people out, yeah. Of course. Um, there won't be a appreciable amount of tags. It's not like we're really cranking them up, it's just we're gonna split the season and roughly split the quota. Um 043046, that's the area where we were translocating from last year where you guys came out on. That's that's a growing herd too, and we're looking at increases there, so that'd be a fantastic area. And honestly, one of the biggest bucks that I saw last year was driving on I-80 near Lovelock in that unigroup in the Antelope was like right next to the road, and he was he was a dandy. Yeah. And it was right after the hunting season, too. So nice.
SPEAKER_03So we know he lived, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, at least yeah, till then. So those are you know, those are the good areas. I mean, there's plenty of other areas that are, you know, very would be top quality to put in for. Um the the traditional ones, the the top quality units, you know, the two fifty ones, the 076, still good. White Pine County, I wouldn't overlook that, Area 13. You know, for Mule Deer and and Antelope. I just burned you guys' secret spots. So there you go.
SPEAKER_03We both just rolled our eyes. No.
SPEAKER_00It's interesting. I just it's I get a sense it's another, you know, good year to be out there, right? Yeah. Even if we're a little dry, things haven't really came into effect from that yet that are too bad. Still increases in tags. Go deer hunting, go antelope hunting. I don't know. Always a good year to burn your points.
SPEAKER_03I don't I hope I I was joking about it. I hope I never get another bonus point. Yeah. Right? Um Thanks, Cody. If you guys anybody's listening wants to look up this info, um, it's all on our website. Just go to nda.org and then click on um hover on the hunting and top ten big game resources, you can put that in the search bar. Um this a lot of this information is also on the um Wildlife Commission support material, so you can Yeah, every everything all of our new stuff is up.
SPEAKER_04So what we're proposing this year should be live as we speak in terms of like what quotas we're asking for this year and stuff like that. And all the justification and the quota recommendation forms are all on there.
SPEAKER_00So Well and you mentioned some good stuff that people can look for, right? You can go into the hunt stats and you can pull up four-pointer better tables for mule deer. You can pull up data on what's the percentage of 15 inch or better antelope, you can look at hunter satisfaction rates, harvest rates. There's tons of data in there for people to pour through. And just kind of if if you heard anything that you want to do a deeper dive on that Cody said, there's definitely the resources there to do your own homework.
SPEAKER_04Or call us too. Put a put a call in to the front desk and they'll they'll usually direct them to one of us. If if you're just totally overwhelmed and you just want to know a couple good areas to put in for, then you can go that route too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. We uh we were Bobby and I were talking about yesterday morning, and a lot of the stuff we talk about on the podcast or that we talk about with people is it's all very public knowledge if you know where to find it, and so we're trying to do a better job of kind of getting that info out there to people and um just helping them find the info that they're looking for. So um any any little bit helps, I think. So thanks again, Cody. Thanks, Bobby. Um always appreciate it, and uh that does it for this week's November Wild.