Units 211–213 Mule Deer Hunting, Nevada
Nevada hunt units drawn together · 3,489 sq mi
Draw hunts — squared bonus points
Every hunt here is a draw hunt, named by its weapon, what may be taken and its dates. In Nevada's draw an application is given one random number plus extra random numbers equal to its bonus points squared, and tags go to the lowest numbers first, so more bonus points always improve a hunter's chance but never guarantee a tag. Residents and nonresidents have separate quotas.
What hunting Units 211–213 is like
Units 211–213 are drawn together as one region, and the hunts across them share the same country: rolling ground with some steeper breaks, running from about 3,700 feet up to about 13,100 feet. At lower and middle elevations the cover is dominated by shrub and brush, with mid-elevation ground running almost entirely to that cover type; higher up, shrub and brush still dominates with conifer and pinyon-juniper alongside it. Nearly all the ground is gentle to moderate.
Public land covers almost all of the region, about 99 percent, managed by BLM and the Forest Service. But ownership is not the same as a clean walk-in: pockets of private land, only about 1.2 percent of the region, can sit across routes to otherwise public ground, so a hunter should expect to sort out legal access rather than assume it.
All three hunts below — archery, muzzleloader, and any-legal-weapon — are draw hunts covering Units 211–213 together, with bucks as the only legal mule deer across every season.
Mule deer hunts in Units 211–213 (2026-27)
Each row is a hunt, told apart by its weapon, what may be taken and its dates. Draw difficulty is in words from the 2025 draw results: good, fair, long or very long odds, read for a hunter with no bonus points and for one holding 5 bonus points, in each pool. A hunt that covers only part of a unit says so under its name.
| Hunt | Dates | Legal deer | Resident | Nonresident | Rut phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | August 10 – September 9 | Antlered mule deer (bucks) | No points: Fair odds 5 points: Good odds | Nonresidents can apply No draw odds shown | Summer Range / Bachelor Pattern, Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition |
| Muzzleloader | September 10 – October 10 | Antlered mule deer (bucks) | No points: Very long odds 5 points: Fair odds | Nonresidents can apply No draw odds shown | Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition, Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase |
| Any legal weapon | November 5 – November 30 | Antlered mule deer (bucks) | No points: Very long odds 5 points: Fair odds | No points: Very long odds 5 points: Very long odds | Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging, Primary Rut, Late Rut / Winter Consolidation |
"No nonresident tags" means a nonresident cannot draw that hunt. "No draw odds shown" means that pool has tags for the hunt but too little draw history to put its odds in words. Odds are per application, never a promise, and a hunter with no bonus points can draw. A hunter needs no particular number of points for any hunt.
Archery · Antlered mule deer (bucks) · August 10 – September 9
Archery hunters work this region while bucks are still in velvet and bachelored up in small groups through summer, sliding into the velvet shed and early fall transition by the tail end of the season. Summer scouting and glassing matter more than anything else here — deer need very little water, so a small seep or a passing rainstorm can hold a buck nearby. The pattern is simple and repeats daily: glass at first light to find a buck and mark where he beds in shade or on a north-facing slope, then close the distance at midday while he's down, or watch him into dark and come back the next morning. A buck that seems to vanish is often still tucked into a nearby crevice or draw. Resident odds run Fair odds at zero bonus points and improve to Good odds with 5 bonus points.
Muzzleloader · Antlered mule deer (bucks) · September 10 – October 10
By the time the muzzleloader season opens, bucks have shed velvet and are finishing the early fall transition before sliding into the early migration and nocturnal phase through October. The daily bedding pattern still holds early in the season — feed into the morning, bed in shade through midday, with evening glassing used either to set up a stalk or simply to pattern a buck for the next day — but as October wears on, bucks grow increasingly nocturnal and harder to catch moving in daylight. Most are still found near the same ground they held through summer, so sticking with known areas pays off even as movement windows shrink. Resident odds are Very long odds at zero bonus points, improving to Fair odds with 5 bonus points.
Any legal weapon · Antlered mule deer (bucks) · November 5 – November 30
The any-legal-weapon hunt opens during the staging into the rut and runs through the primary rut and into late rut and winter consolidation, so buck behavior shifts from migration to active rutting over the course of the season. Early on, deer may be moving from summer range toward rutting ground, making the country between the two worth glassing; once the rut is underway, finding does is the more reliable approach since bucks will most likely be with them or nearby. Weather can matter here — a push of snow or a cold front can push deer out of the high country onto more glassable ground, and fresh snow is a good time to cut fresh buck tracks. Resident odds run Very long odds at zero bonus points and Fair odds with 5 bonus points, while nonresident odds are Very long odds at both zero and 5 bonus points.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 3,700–13,100 ft, typically around 5,500 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 69% gentle · 23% moderate · 7% steep · 0% rugged
- Public land by ownership
- ~3,448 sq mi
Habitat & cover
What grows here, by elevation. Each band adds to 100% on its own — these are shares of that band, not of the region.
Lower elevations
- Shrub and brush61%
- Other cover38%
Mid elevations
- Shrub and brush93%
- Other cover7%
Higher elevations
- Shrub and brush76%
- Conifer and pinyon-juniper21%
- Other cover3%
Cover classes from the USGS National Land Cover Database. “Other cover” is the remainder — bare ground, water, agriculture and developed land.
Land & access
About 99% of Units 211–213 is public land by ownership — BLM and National Forest. Ownership is not the same as legal access: public land can be reachable only across private ground, and some parcels are closed or restricted.
- BLM95%
- National Forest4%
- Private1%
Private land: permission is the hunter's to get.
Fall weather
- August — highs around 90°F, lows around 59°F
- September — highs around 82°F, lows around 52°F
- October — highs around 70°F, lows around 41°F
- November — highs around 56°F, lows around 30°F, about 0.1 in of snowfall
- December — highs around 47°F, lows around 23°F, about 0.4 in of snowfall
Units 211–213 mule deer hunting FAQ
Can a hunter get a mule deer tag in Units 211–213?
A hunter applies through Nevada's draw for one of the hunts covering Units 211–213 together — archery, muzzleloader, or any-legal-weapon, all for antlered bucks. There is no over-the-counter option; every mule deer tag in this region is awarded through the draw.
How hard are these hunts to draw, and does it differ for residents and nonresidents?
Draw difficulty varies a lot by hunt and by pool. Archery is Fair odds at zero bonus points for residents and improves to Good odds with 5 bonus points, while muzzleloader and the any-legal-weapon hunt both run Very long odds at zero bonus points for residents, improving to Fair odds with 5 bonus points. For nonresidents, the any-legal-weapon hunt sits at Very long odds at both zero and 5 bonus points.
Can a nonresident hunt here?
A nonresident can apply for the any-legal-weapon November hunt in Units 211–213, though the odds run Very long at both zero and 5 bonus points. Nonresidents can also apply for the archery hunt (August 10 to September 9) and the muzzleloader hunt (September 10 to October 10); no draw odds are shown for them. Nonresidents and residents draw from separate quotas, so one pool's odds say nothing about the other.
Does Nevada have bonus points, and how do they work here?
Nevada uses bonus points rather than preference points, and mule deer points are tracked separately from points in any other hunt category. In Nevada's draw an application is given one random number plus extra random numbers equal to its bonus points squared, and tags go to the lowest numbers first, so more bonus points always improve a hunter's chance but never guarantee a tag. A hunter keeps earning points by applying, but loses them if they miss two consecutive years of applying in this category, and a point only counts if the hunter holds an active hunting or combination license at the time of the draw.
Which of these seasons falls in the rut, and how much of the region is public land?
Only the any-legal-weapon hunt, running November 5 through November 30, overlaps the rut, spanning staging, primary rut, and late rut phases; the archery and muzzleloader hunts both fall outside the rut. About 99 percent of Units 211–213 is public land under BLM and Forest Service management, with roughly 1.2 percent in private hands — but public ownership doesn't guarantee an easy walk-in, since some public ground can only be reached across private land.
Data sources & methodology
- Nevada Department of Wildlife — 2026 Big Game Application FAQ — how the draw works, how bonus points are earned, squared and lost, and how many hunt choices an application takes
- Nevada Department of Wildlife — 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 big game hunting seasons (Commission Regulation 25-07) — season dates, weapons and legal animals for each group of units
- Nevada Department of Wildlife — Bonus point and application choice trends — the draw results behind the draw-difficulty words
- USGS / MRLC — National Land Cover Database — habitat and cover classes by elevation band
- USGS PAD-US — Protected Areas Database of the United States — land ownership and access
- PRISM Climate Group — 1991–2020 normals — fall weather
- National Interagency Fire Center — wildfire perimeters — recent fires, their size and where they burned
Draw difficulty is a qualitative reading of the modelled chance from the 2025 draw results for each pool, not published odds. Rut phases are borrowed regional timing, not Nevada-specific dates. Land shares are separate, non-overlapping categories. Confirm every rule with the Nevada Department of Wildlife before you apply.