The majority of the antelope rifle (any legal weapon) hunts will run August 25 - September 3. At the request of County Wildlife Advisory Boards (CWAB), however, a number of hunt units in Elko, White Pine and Eureka counties will extend their season September 1 - 9. The archery antelope hunt in most units will run August 4 - 19.

The state's elk rifle hunt will run November 17 - December 2 in six of the 11 hunt units open this year, with various opening and closing dates proposed for the remaining five hunts. One new area, unit 075 of north-central Elko County, will be open for the first time this year.

The majority of the muzzleloader elk hunts will run November 3 - 16, and most archery hunts will extend August 18 - September 14 or 16. Season dates vary for other elk seasons, including separate hunts for rifle, muzzleloader and archery anterless.

Most desert bighorn sheep hunts will extend November 10 - December 9, the same as in recent years, with most of the California (subspecies) bighorn sheep seasons running September 1 - 30. Hunt units 014 and 022 of Washoe County were closed on the recommendation of NDOW due to low sheep population levels.

A new California sheep area, unit 041 of western Pershing County, was opened for the first time; however, NDOW is not sure which species of sheep are living in this remote area. Game Bureau Chief, Gregg Tanner, reported that this hunt unit is an area that the Division has not released sheep into, but all the same is home to a population that has migrated into that location in recent years.

"They could be desert bighorns from other areas of Pershing County, or the California subspecies from northwestern Nevada. The two sheep are identical in appearance and there is no way to tell which, or possibly both, are inhabiting this hunt unit," Tanner said.

There will only be one management unit open to the hunting of Nevada's third species of bighorn sheep, the Rocky Mountain, found in northeastern Nevada. The season in unit 101 of Elko County will extend August 25 - October 28. Unit 074 will be closed this and next year due to a disease-related loss of many sheep in that area.

The mountain goat hunting season in three hunt units of the Ruby and East Humboldt mountain ranges will run August 25 - October 28.

Most rifle deer hunting seasons will extend October 6 - November 4. The separate muzzleloader deer season will run September 8 - 23, with the archery season, in nearly all hunt units, extending August 11 - September 7.

With few exceptions, NDOW proposed anterless or doe mule deer hunts in most hunt units throughout the state, a reflection of the continuing recovery of state herds from the weather-related very low population levels in the early 1990s, and all were adopted. Season dates vary, with most opening October 6.

Acting on CWAB recommendations, the mountain lion hunting season will be open throughout the year, in all units open to hunting, beginning August 1. NDOW recommended an August 1, 2001 - April 30, 2002 season in most open management units as in the past.

Tag quota recommendations for the various hunts will be developed by NDOW in early April after ground and aerial surveys are completed. The Commission will consider and establish these quotas at its May 5 meeting in Reno.