Unit 068

The Tuscarora and Santa Renia Mountains provide the primary terrain anchors, with Emigrant Pass Ridge offering high-elevation vantage points for glassing. Schroeder Mountain, Black Mountain, and Round Mountain serve as navigation references across the flats. Key drainages include Sheep Creek, Willow Creek, and Spring Creek, which concentrate water and wildlife movement.

Izzenhood Reservoir, Box Canyon Reservoir, and Six Mile Reservoir are critical focal points in this water-limited country. The scattered flat areas—Santa Renia Fields, Ivanhoe Flat, and Boulder Flat—are open travel corridors but offer minimal cover.

The unit transitions from lower sagebrush basins around 4,300 feet to alpine-adjacent peaks near 8,800 feet, with most terrain sitting in the mid-elevation 5,400-foot range. Low-elevation country is predominantly open sagebrush with minimal tree cover, interrupted by scattered juniper and pinyon at mid-elevations. The Santa Renia and Tuscarora Mountains hold denser ponderosa and Douglas-fir on north-facing slopes, creating distinct habitat corridors.

The sparseness of forest coverage means most hunting happens in open country where visibility is extensive but protection and cover are limited.

The unit has a limited road network—588 miles total but low density across the vast area—creating both isolation and challenge for hunters. Most access routes are ranch roads, range roads, and rougher two-track routes; pavement is minimal. The combination of sparse roads and challenging terrain means moderate to low hunting pressure overall, but popular reservoir and spring areas can see concentration.

Dunphy, Palisade, and smaller communities provide staging points. Success requires patience with rough roads and willingness to hike significant distances from established routes to find game in the broader basins and ranges.

Unit 68 encompasses portions of Elko, Eureka, and Lander Counties in northeastern Nevada, bounded by State Routes 766, 226, and 278 on the east, the railroad and Palisade Road on the south, the Humboldt County line on the west, and the Midas-Willow Creek-Tuscarora Road on the north. This vast territory spans from the Humboldt River drainage east through multiple isolated mountain ranges separated by broad basin country. The unit's eastern and western boundaries are defined by natural corridors and established transportation routes, anchoring what is otherwise open, dispersed high-desert landscape.

Water scarcity is the defining challenge of this unit. Reliable sources include Box Canyon, Rock Creek, Six Mile, and Izzenhood Reservoirs, plus springs scattered throughout: Chicken Springs, Sagebrush Spring, Izzenhood Spring, and Horseshoe Ranch Springs. Perennial streams are limited; Sheep Creek, Willow Creek, and Spring Creek are most dependable but may run low mid-season.

Seasonal springs and stock ponds supplement available water, but hunting success often hinges on locating and predicting wildlife movement around these concentrated sources, particularly during dry periods when animals must travel to reach water.

Unit 68 supports elk, mule deer, moose, pronghorn, bear, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, desert sheep, and mountain lion across its varied elevations. Early season elk hunt high-elevation ponderosa slopes in the mountain ranges, then migrate to mid-elevation basins as temperatures drop. Mule deer utilize the transition zones between basin and timber.

Pronghorn concentrate in the open flat country and rolling sagebrush. Moose are present but less predictable. Success requires identifying water sources and understanding how terrain funnels animals between high-elevation summer range and lower winter basins.

The complexity of the terrain and limited water make this a challenging unit that demands solid glassing skills, good map reading, and the ability to navigate without roads.