Outdoors with Don Q: A short but interesting visit to Elko

Elaine and I recently returned from an interesting, three-day, two-night visit to Elko, way over in Northeastern Nevada. We are both members of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Operation Game Thief (OGT) Citizens Board.

That OGT Citizens Board has been in existence since 1987, and it is the small, private group that pays rewards for information that leads to the conviction of poachers of Nevada's wildlife.

Elaine and I had volunteered to travel to Elko to man the OGT exhibition trailer that features a number of taxidermy mounts of poached wildlife (antelope, mule deer, mountain lion, Rocky Mountain goat, bighorn sheep, etc.), where the poachers were caught and convicted with information provided by members of the general public.

As we have done in the past at other locations, while manning this trailer, you also have the opportunity to inform people about OGT, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), the OGT Citizen's Board, and to pass out information (hunting regulations, fishing regulations, state road maps, other brochures and OGT decals), plus miscellaneous souvenirs.

We were scheduled to be at the trailer on Friday-Saturday-Sunday, October 04-05-06.
That display trailer was parked in the huge parking lot at Elko's Wal-Mart, and it was a very interesting time for the two of us for Friday-Saturday, but not on Sunday due to a change of plans.
As a special note: Saturday, October 05 was the opening day for mule deer hunting in that general area, and especially in Game Management Unit Numbers 061 and 062.

Early Friday morning, October 04:
Before manning the trailer, we drove to Lamoille to get some photos of the countryside, the fall colors and the spectacular Ruby Mountains.

Then, we returned to the Wal-Mart parking lot, parked next to the OGT trailer, set up our two chairs and had a ton of fun for most of the rest of the day, visiting with all kinds of hunters, non-hunters, children, tourists, etc.
The trailer was parked on the far end of that huge lot, and that area was jammed packed with hunting vehicles (pickup trucks, jeeps, camper trucks, trucks with trailers (some with an ATV trailer behind the trailer), motor homes and fifth-wheelers).

It was amazing! It seemed as if everyone in the world was parked at Wal-Mart and buying groceries and supplies before going deer hunting.

Many of the hunters were accompanied by their wives or wives and children or relatives, neighbors and friends, and perhaps most interesting, a lot of those hunters also had their pet dogs with them. Why? I'll never know!
One group of three vehicles (one large motor home and two vehicles with camping trailers and ATVs) had six young children and five barking dogs.

Geez, how would like to have that group pull up and camp right next to you, right in the middle of nowhere, at your favorite camping spot?

Most of the vehicles had ATV's in the bed of their pickups or on trailers behind vehicles or in the "Toy Hauler" versions of the motor homes.

And in talking to many of those hunters, the large majority of them were leaving Wal-Mart to go deer hunting in Units 061 and 062.

I would have loved to see the sheer numbers of those hunters and their ATVs buzzing all over the countryside early on Saturday Morning in those two management areas. It had to be absolute chaos everywhere and a madhouse of hordes of hunters on their ATVs seeking their prey.
If I were a mule deer in those two management units, I would have been hiding in a big, dark cave to avoid that crowd.

Friday afternoon, October 04:
Then by about 2:30-2:45 p.m., the OGT trailer and our pickup were the only two vehicles remaining in that part of the Wal-Mart parking lot.
All of the hunters had left for their camping spots and we were all alone!
It was lonely out there in that huge empty expanse.
Finally, at about 4:45-5:00 p.m., we called it quits for the day, locked up the trailer and returned to our hotel for the evening.

Saturday morning, October 05:
After an early breakfast of coffee and pastries, we drove to Wal-Mart to man the trailer, but surprise, surprise!
All the hunters were long gone, they were all out deer hunting.

The area where our OGT trailer was parked was completely empty of all vehicles, except for the trailer and our pickup, and there were just a few regular shoppers parked way up by the front of the store.
We stayed at the trailer until almost 11:00 a.m., and during that time, no one walked over to see the exhibits and no one drove past us.

Finally, we wisely gave up and decided to close the exhibit, to check out of our hotel and to return home to Carson City before dark.
We arrived in Carson City, safe and sound, later that afternoon. All in all, we had a great time on that Elko visit, even though it was short.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you what Elaine liked the most about our photography trip on Friday morning.
If he grins and says, "She particularly liked the small, white church at the end of the pavement in Lamoille," he has seen her photos of that church.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.