In Nevada everything begins with drawing a tag. When I applied for tags this spring all I could do is hope for the best. Any tag is a prize. 12 June I received an email from Nevada Department of Wildlife informing me that I was unsuccessful for all my applications except for an Antelope tag. The tag would be mailed separately. When I received the tag it indicated I would be able to hunt area 33 late season. Area 33 is the Sheldon Reserve located in the north west corner of the state. Late season is 29 August through 7 September. This is a highly sought after tag as the Sheldon is noted for it’s large healthy Antelope population. Most years there are one or two Boone & Crockett quality animals are taken.
After receiving the tag I immediately thought of Outfitter Tony Dibold. Tony has been guiding that portion of the state for many years and is about as knowledgable as anyone regarding the land and the animals contained therein. Tony also owns a remote ranch that adjoins the south border of the Sheldon. I emailed him requesting he contact me regarding the hunt. I followed that up with a phone call and left a similar message with Tony’s wife.
Tony Dibold
Nevada Trophy Hunts
220 Elm St
Gerlach, NV 89412
775.557.2238
Scouting being important, I next set about researching the area to be hunted. The Sheldon has an informative website. There are many special regulations on the Sheldon. Camping is limited to a very few specific locations. Vehicle travel is restricted to existing roadways. During the hunt dates there was a list of equipment and water that was required in each vehicle using the reserve. I called the reserve and left a message requesting a call from a biologist or ranger that could assist me with information. Denio substation; 775.941.0199. While it took about a week for them to call the supervisor there was very helpful. He indicated that the best location for a foot hunt was the Fish Springs area in the western end of the reserve. Maps of the reserve are available from a variety of sources including the reserve itself.
Tony called me after returning home from another field trip. Tony could not guide me on this hunt as he had booked a sheep hunter for the same dates and would be in another hunting area. He did agree to assist me with scouting the reserve as he had a trophy deer hunter booked in that area for a later date. We had a good conversation and made plans to scout the reserve a few weeks prior to the early season. We would use his ranch as a base of operations. I recontacted him around the first part of August to find he had just spent a week at the ranch scouting the area for Antelope and Mule Deer. We agreed to meet at the ranch on the 17th. The route he advised me to travel was road 200 through Soldier Meadows. This proved to be one rough road. While I did not require 4 wheel drive the route is a challenge for two wheel drive vehicles. This road begins a few miles north of Gerlach about the location of the Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert. On my way up to the ranch I noted that construction crews were already on the site of the Burning Man event beginning construction of the facility there. The start date of the event and my hunt are the same weekend so I must plan a different approach to the hunting area. Tony’s 160 acre ranch proved to be off the grid and adjoins the Sheldon reserve. It has buildings to include a bunk house, dining house with kitchen, and separate private quarters for him and his wife. There is a nice year round spring and small lake, now more like a pond with the drought. The lake has been planted with large mouth bass. Tony was in the process of selling the ranch when I was there. A very nice place with good water something of a rarity in the high desert. That afternoon Tony guided me to several areas where there were antelope herds. He advised that he had spent three days looking over the better areas of the reserve and did not see any B&C quality animals. He attributes this to the drought and the resulting poor quality feed available. The next morning we went to an area in the south east corner of the reserve known as Onion Lake. Tony showed me a potential camp site just outside the reserve on the two track into Onion Lake. It is flat so I decide to use this spot as my camp during the hunt. It will be a dry camp so I must bring all the needed water with me. We spent the morning sitting just below the crest of a ridge overlooking onion lake. There are a lot of Antelope visible here. The buck to doe ratio is high so there is no lack of potential trophies. A number of the bucks have tall bases but the tops appear to be short. I am not god at judging Antelope as there is not a lot of difference from a nice representative animal and a high quality trophy. Tony said the bases should always be taller than the ears and the next thing to look for is mass. Mass over length produces better scores. The Onion lakes are in a bowl surrounded by a mountainous rim on all but a couple of small outlets on the west end. Tony suggested I set up a ground blind at the east end just under a rock rim. He had noticed that a group of Antelope used this spot as their exit when going to water each day. That group held two or three nice bucks. Driving the surrounding area I was able to orient myself and note specific landmarks that would allow me to easily relocate the campsite. Tony drew up an exit and re-entry route that would allow me to access the hunt without traveling in the vicinity of the Burning Man event.
25 August I drove to the Sheldon through Winnemucca, then north Hy 95 to state route 140 north-west, then Leonard Creek Rd into the south west corner of the reserve. Weather there was windy but dry. I cold camped that night sitting under the stars while enjoying dinner. The radio in my truck picked up a station that broadcast the SF Giants game so I stayed up until the game was over.
26 August Early to rise, grabbed a quick bite in the dark then drove up to the ridge overlooking Onion Lake. I sat on that ridge all day watching the Antelope. The bucks were starting to push the does and challenge each other. It was very interesting to watch the maneuvering. Challenges were largely show with some bucks establishing dominance within a group of does. Some of the less dominate bucks hung around the edges while other joined small separate groups. A number of Antelope came past me on their way out of the bowl. I check this route later in the day and found well worn trails leading in and out of the lakes. At various times of the morning I had bucks within shooting range, some too small to be shooters. The closest passed me at about 65 yards wary but not overly concerned. During the middle of the day I took time to scout on foot along the rims west of my lookout. There are a scattering of stunted dead trees along these rims and slopes. I thought they might hold some mule deer and Tony wanted any information I could provide on the deer. What I was to find were small groups of Antelope and singles often bucks that were bedded on the rims. I also saw a rather acrobatic air battle or courtship of some Kestrels in the area. No deer were discovered. 1700hrs a white Ford pickup drove up to my position. There were three men who stayed about 35 yards behind me and glassed for a short time. About 30 minutes later one doe with one buck trailing walked up to my position to investigate the strange new shape on the ridge. The two eventually came to within 5 yards of me before working on up to the rim south west of my location. The fellows in the other truck are from Reno. One of them has an Antelope tag and just wants to shoot a Buck. They had a friend who spent the first season in the Sheldon looking for a B&C trophy. Their friend went home without taking and Antelope as he could not find anything that met his requirements in the entire reserve. He had advised these men that Onion lake had the best population of undisturbed animals in the reserve.
The Antelope movement pattern is not the same as it was when Tony and I spent the morning here. Bands were moving to water in several different directions and some stayed in the bowl the entire day. One particular band held two decent bucks and seemed to hold in the brush to the east of my location. I decided to set up where I could cover the trails into this location near the road.
Another night of cold camping. Wind has been heavy all day with dark storm clouds moving in from the west as the day progressed. Overcast sky blocking the full moon tonight. Do not know what the weather will bring tomorrow. My tent has been moved even with the weights I have placed inside to anchor it. Wind during the night blew the tent enough the top bent down to touch me in the sleeping bag.
27 August Up before dawn. a quick bite then up the road to Onion Lakes. Moon light enough to walk. Can not see well enough to glass. I walked east of the road and set up a ground blind in the sage between the road and the trails. I was tempted to hike through to a knoll with large rocks that overlooks the are where the one band feeds and beds for the middle of the day. As the dawn proceeded to light the area I observed the band of target Antelope was bedded east of my position on the low facing slope. After good light many of the animals got up to feed. Mostly does that now worked their way toward the bowl. One of the bucks ran in and out attempting to keep the does grouped on the slope. Eventual they worked down into the bowl feeding at the edge of the bottom near the edge of the sage. A new buck came over to challenge the bucks in this band. He was run out by the dominate buck. One of the bucks from this band was missing this morning. His horns lay flatter that the dominate buck. I glassed this group all morning until they finally bedded in a position that appeared to be under the rock group previously described. While I was watching this group bed down I noticed another buck and doe feeding of the back side of the knoll with the rocks. I could not get a good look at the buck but knew they were there.
After all the Antelope appeared to bed for the morning. I planned a stalk to the knoll. This entailed exiting the bowl, hiking the back side of the rim to the east then circling into the knoll using the rocks and surrounding brush as a screen. During my first attempt around the back I found that I had left my binoculars so I had to retrace my path to retrieve them. The second stalk went much better. Nearing my objective cover I noticed some of the bedded antelope had broken from their beds and were running for the lake. Examination of the knoll showed the bedded animals to be further west than I had believed. I knew the other buck was bedded on the east side of the knoll so continued the last distance to the point. As I approached the point I spotted a doe standing looking west. I now used the brush to screen me while searching the are around here for other Antelope. I spotted the buck to her front. He was standing watching to the west. The shot was about 50 yards. It took him in the left shoulder exiting through the right at the rear of the rib cage. He dropped instantly. This is very likely the missing buck from the band I had been watching. It was 1130 am opening day of season.
After a few rudimentary photos I skinned and boned the Antelope. Selfies are a learned process that I have not mastered with my small “dumb” phone. There will not be a lot of pictures from this hunt. That proved to be further complicated by the fact that my phone’s computer degraded during the next week and most of the pictures I took were lost when the phone crashed.
The boned antelope filled my back pack with meat. I had forgotten to bring a rifle sling so needed to carry my rifle in one hand. I took the head in the other. The stalk had been a circuitous one of more than 2 miles according to the map. The pack out to the road was about one mile in a straight line, then over the top of the ridge to the place I had parked the truck. About the time I had shot my buck the sun came out and the sky cleared. I was now significantly warmer than it had been all morning. The Reno group had come up to the lakes after sunrise. They parked on the lake side of the ridge for the day in plain view of the antelope. After I shot mine they drove down and across the dry lakes then left the area before I could pack all the way out. On my way back to camp I drove upon a buck Antelope standing along the road. He moved off to a position about 75 yards away and watched me as I stopped and took several photos with my cell phone. This buck was about a twin for the one I had taken earlier this morning. So goes hunting. I am surprised the Reno hunter didn’t shoot him on their way out although there was another route out which they had used the previous day.
When I returned to camp I found my pop up dome tent had been blown into the reserve boundary fence. It still contained the full ice chest, two large rocks as well as my sleeping bag and pad. The barbed wire fence did not do anything for the tent fabric or waterproof floor. Fortunately for me the fence was close by. I do not know what distance I would have had to search to find it without the fence being there. The folding chair didn’t fare much better. It was quite a chore to rescue, fold, and put away all the gear. I am not certain what steps one needs to take to overcome the wind hazard here. The dust that is blowing had me sneezing uncontrollably. This would last for a couple of hours while I drove out of the area.
Tony Dibold
Nevada Trophy Hunts
220 Elm St
Gerlach, NV 89412
775.557.2238
Scouting being important, I next set about researching the area to be hunted. The Sheldon has an informative website. There are many special regulations on the Sheldon. Camping is limited to a very few specific locations. Vehicle travel is restricted to existing roadways. During the hunt dates there was a list of equipment and water that was required in each vehicle using the reserve. I called the reserve and left a message requesting a call from a biologist or ranger that could assist me with information. Denio substation; 775.941.0199. While it took about a week for them to call the supervisor there was very helpful. He indicated that the best location for a foot hunt was the Fish Springs area in the western end of the reserve. Maps of the reserve are available from a variety of sources including the reserve itself.
Tony called me after returning home from another field trip. Tony could not guide me on this hunt as he had booked a sheep hunter for the same dates and would be in another hunting area. He did agree to assist me with scouting the reserve as he had a trophy deer hunter booked in that area for a later date. We had a good conversation and made plans to scout the reserve a few weeks prior to the early season. We would use his ranch as a base of operations. I recontacted him around the first part of August to find he had just spent a week at the ranch scouting the area for Antelope and Mule Deer. We agreed to meet at the ranch on the 17th. The route he advised me to travel was road 200 through Soldier Meadows. This proved to be one rough road. While I did not require 4 wheel drive the route is a challenge for two wheel drive vehicles. This road begins a few miles north of Gerlach about the location of the Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert. On my way up to the ranch I noted that construction crews were already on the site of the Burning Man event beginning construction of the facility there. The start date of the event and my hunt are the same weekend so I must plan a different approach to the hunting area. Tony’s 160 acre ranch proved to be off the grid and adjoins the Sheldon reserve. It has buildings to include a bunk house, dining house with kitchen, and separate private quarters for him and his wife. There is a nice year round spring and small lake, now more like a pond with the drought. The lake has been planted with large mouth bass. Tony was in the process of selling the ranch when I was there. A very nice place with good water something of a rarity in the high desert. That afternoon Tony guided me to several areas where there were antelope herds. He advised that he had spent three days looking over the better areas of the reserve and did not see any B&C quality animals. He attributes this to the drought and the resulting poor quality feed available. The next morning we went to an area in the south east corner of the reserve known as Onion Lake. Tony showed me a potential camp site just outside the reserve on the two track into Onion Lake. It is flat so I decide to use this spot as my camp during the hunt. It will be a dry camp so I must bring all the needed water with me. We spent the morning sitting just below the crest of a ridge overlooking onion lake. There are a lot of Antelope visible here. The buck to doe ratio is high so there is no lack of potential trophies. A number of the bucks have tall bases but the tops appear to be short. I am not god at judging Antelope as there is not a lot of difference from a nice representative animal and a high quality trophy. Tony said the bases should always be taller than the ears and the next thing to look for is mass. Mass over length produces better scores. The Onion lakes are in a bowl surrounded by a mountainous rim on all but a couple of small outlets on the west end. Tony suggested I set up a ground blind at the east end just under a rock rim. He had noticed that a group of Antelope used this spot as their exit when going to water each day. That group held two or three nice bucks. Driving the surrounding area I was able to orient myself and note specific landmarks that would allow me to easily relocate the campsite. Tony drew up an exit and re-entry route that would allow me to access the hunt without traveling in the vicinity of the Burning Man event.
25 August I drove to the Sheldon through Winnemucca, then north Hy 95 to state route 140 north-west, then Leonard Creek Rd into the south west corner of the reserve. Weather there was windy but dry. I cold camped that night sitting under the stars while enjoying dinner. The radio in my truck picked up a station that broadcast the SF Giants game so I stayed up until the game was over.
26 August Early to rise, grabbed a quick bite in the dark then drove up to the ridge overlooking Onion Lake. I sat on that ridge all day watching the Antelope. The bucks were starting to push the does and challenge each other. It was very interesting to watch the maneuvering. Challenges were largely show with some bucks establishing dominance within a group of does. Some of the less dominate bucks hung around the edges while other joined small separate groups. A number of Antelope came past me on their way out of the bowl. I check this route later in the day and found well worn trails leading in and out of the lakes. At various times of the morning I had bucks within shooting range, some too small to be shooters. The closest passed me at about 65 yards wary but not overly concerned. During the middle of the day I took time to scout on foot along the rims west of my lookout. There are a scattering of stunted dead trees along these rims and slopes. I thought they might hold some mule deer and Tony wanted any information I could provide on the deer. What I was to find were small groups of Antelope and singles often bucks that were bedded on the rims. I also saw a rather acrobatic air battle or courtship of some Kestrels in the area. No deer were discovered. 1700hrs a white Ford pickup drove up to my position. There were three men who stayed about 35 yards behind me and glassed for a short time. About 30 minutes later one doe with one buck trailing walked up to my position to investigate the strange new shape on the ridge. The two eventually came to within 5 yards of me before working on up to the rim south west of my location. The fellows in the other truck are from Reno. One of them has an Antelope tag and just wants to shoot a Buck. They had a friend who spent the first season in the Sheldon looking for a B&C trophy. Their friend went home without taking and Antelope as he could not find anything that met his requirements in the entire reserve. He had advised these men that Onion lake had the best population of undisturbed animals in the reserve.
The Antelope movement pattern is not the same as it was when Tony and I spent the morning here. Bands were moving to water in several different directions and some stayed in the bowl the entire day. One particular band held two decent bucks and seemed to hold in the brush to the east of my location. I decided to set up where I could cover the trails into this location near the road.
Another night of cold camping. Wind has been heavy all day with dark storm clouds moving in from the west as the day progressed. Overcast sky blocking the full moon tonight. Do not know what the weather will bring tomorrow. My tent has been moved even with the weights I have placed inside to anchor it. Wind during the night blew the tent enough the top bent down to touch me in the sleeping bag.
27 August Up before dawn. a quick bite then up the road to Onion Lakes. Moon light enough to walk. Can not see well enough to glass. I walked east of the road and set up a ground blind in the sage between the road and the trails. I was tempted to hike through to a knoll with large rocks that overlooks the are where the one band feeds and beds for the middle of the day. As the dawn proceeded to light the area I observed the band of target Antelope was bedded east of my position on the low facing slope. After good light many of the animals got up to feed. Mostly does that now worked their way toward the bowl. One of the bucks ran in and out attempting to keep the does grouped on the slope. Eventual they worked down into the bowl feeding at the edge of the bottom near the edge of the sage. A new buck came over to challenge the bucks in this band. He was run out by the dominate buck. One of the bucks from this band was missing this morning. His horns lay flatter that the dominate buck. I glassed this group all morning until they finally bedded in a position that appeared to be under the rock group previously described. While I was watching this group bed down I noticed another buck and doe feeding of the back side of the knoll with the rocks. I could not get a good look at the buck but knew they were there.
After all the Antelope appeared to bed for the morning. I planned a stalk to the knoll. This entailed exiting the bowl, hiking the back side of the rim to the east then circling into the knoll using the rocks and surrounding brush as a screen. During my first attempt around the back I found that I had left my binoculars so I had to retrace my path to retrieve them. The second stalk went much better. Nearing my objective cover I noticed some of the bedded antelope had broken from their beds and were running for the lake. Examination of the knoll showed the bedded animals to be further west than I had believed. I knew the other buck was bedded on the east side of the knoll so continued the last distance to the point. As I approached the point I spotted a doe standing looking west. I now used the brush to screen me while searching the are around here for other Antelope. I spotted the buck to her front. He was standing watching to the west. The shot was about 50 yards. It took him in the left shoulder exiting through the right at the rear of the rib cage. He dropped instantly. This is very likely the missing buck from the band I had been watching. It was 1130 am opening day of season.
After a few rudimentary photos I skinned and boned the Antelope. Selfies are a learned process that I have not mastered with my small “dumb” phone. There will not be a lot of pictures from this hunt. That proved to be further complicated by the fact that my phone’s computer degraded during the next week and most of the pictures I took were lost when the phone crashed.
The boned antelope filled my back pack with meat. I had forgotten to bring a rifle sling so needed to carry my rifle in one hand. I took the head in the other. The stalk had been a circuitous one of more than 2 miles according to the map. The pack out to the road was about one mile in a straight line, then over the top of the ridge to the place I had parked the truck. About the time I had shot my buck the sun came out and the sky cleared. I was now significantly warmer than it had been all morning. The Reno group had come up to the lakes after sunrise. They parked on the lake side of the ridge for the day in plain view of the antelope. After I shot mine they drove down and across the dry lakes then left the area before I could pack all the way out. On my way back to camp I drove upon a buck Antelope standing along the road. He moved off to a position about 75 yards away and watched me as I stopped and took several photos with my cell phone. This buck was about a twin for the one I had taken earlier this morning. So goes hunting. I am surprised the Reno hunter didn’t shoot him on their way out although there was another route out which they had used the previous day.
When I returned to camp I found my pop up dome tent had been blown into the reserve boundary fence. It still contained the full ice chest, two large rocks as well as my sleeping bag and pad. The barbed wire fence did not do anything for the tent fabric or waterproof floor. Fortunately for me the fence was close by. I do not know what distance I would have had to search to find it without the fence being there. The folding chair didn’t fare much better. It was quite a chore to rescue, fold, and put away all the gear. I am not certain what steps one needs to take to overcome the wind hazard here. The dust that is blowing had me sneezing uncontrollably. This would last for a couple of hours while I drove out of the area.
| Rifle: Mauser Mark X barreled 6.5-06 Remington cases formed from 25-06. Federal 210 primers IMR 4350 powder Remington Core-Loct 140 grain Spire Point bullet | Crooked Horn Backpack Pentax 10x50 Binoculars Swazi layered clothing | Ron Biggs Wildlife West Taxidermy 5030 Reno Highway Fallon, Nevada 89406 |
Trophy; I took the skinned head to Ron Biggs, who has a contact that does beetle cleaning of skulls for European mounts. I have had both a cougar and a bear skull cleaned through Ron. Both of these turned out very nice.
November 2015 I have now received the antelope head from the taxidermist. The black horns on the stark white cleaned skull is spectacular.
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