Unit 173 (Toiyabe Range, Toiyabe Dome and Seyler Peak)

Ophir Canyon to Seyler Peak

NDOW's sheet for Unit 173 North puts most of the Toiyabe Range's sheep on the east side of the range, between Ophir Canyon on the north and Seyler Peak on the south. Within that stretch, the highest densities are usually around Seyler Peak and Toiyabe Dome, and that holds especially true when conditions stay warm and dry.

Fewer sheep in Peavine Canyon

The sheet flags one change. In recent years Peavine Canyon has held fewer sheep than it used to, so don't build the hunt around old reports from there.

High sheep, early in the season

Timing shapes where the sheep are. NDOW notes that sheep living at high elevation keep to the high country until weather pushes them down, and early in the season nothing has done that yet. While they're up there, this is a very strenuous hunt. Arc Dome and Toiyabe Dome are the tallest named summits inside the unit, and reaching the sheep around Toiyabe Dome usually means a backpack trip. Mahogany Mountain and the San Antonio Mountains are also inside the unit line, though the sheet doesn't mention them.

The ground NDOW draws for this tag

A bighorn sheep tag for this group is good in unit 173, about 1,559 square miles measured on NDOW's own boundary, in Nye County and Lander County. The one named range inside the line is San Antonio Mountains. The highest named points are Arc Dome (11,738 ft), Toiyabe Dome (11,345 ft) and Toiyabe Dome Southeast Summit (11,290 ft), and the lowest named ground sits near 5,050 feet. We don't print a land-status split for Nevada groups, because the figures we held didn't come from BLM's surface-management data; check BLM's current map for private parcels before you cross a fence or a cattle guard. GNIS names 28 springs inside it, Fourmile Spring, Coyote Hole Spring, Keough Spring and Skunk Cabbage Spring among them.

From Big Smoky Valley up the east-side drainages

NDOW describes US 50 on the north, State Route 376 on the east and State Route 89 on the southwest as the ways into this unit group, with major roads running north and south alongside the ranges. Roads reach the Toiyabe Range from every side. Since the sheep habitat lies along the east side, the best access is from Big Smoky Valley, where many drainages lead up the mountain on foot or horseback.

The Arc Dome Wilderness boundary

The Arc Dome Wilderness, on U.S. Forest Service land, runs along the east side of the Toiyabe Range from Hercules Creek and South Toiyabe Peak on the north to Pablo Canyon on the south. Check where its boundary falls against the drainages you plan to use.

For a backpack hunt into the Toiyabe Dome country, NDOW says to go prepared, with plenty of supplies and gear that can handle harsh mountain conditions. Most hunters backpack or camp primitive at designated trailheads, and there's a Forest Service campground in Peavine Canyon. Full services are only in Austin, Carvers/Round Mountain and Tonopah.

The 2025 season in NDOW's own numbers

NDOW's 2025 Big Game Hunt Data is the hunter survey behind these figures: who drew, who went, who filled a tag. Success there is NDOW's own figure, successful hunters over hunters afield.

• Mgmt ram, any legal weapon (173 North), Aug 15 - Jan 01: 2 resident tags. 2 hunters went afield and 2 filled their tag (100%). Hunters reported 13.0 days afield on average.
• Any ram, any legal weapon (173N), Aug 15 - Jan 01: 1 resident tag. 1 hunter went afield and 1 filled the tag (100%). Hunters reported 21.0 days afield on average.

Roads in and the nearest towns

The longest named roads through the group are NV 376, State Route 21, Gabbs Pole Line Road and South Newe Road 22. Our road inventory counts roughly 68 miles of pavement, 56 of gravel and 149 of high-clearance or four-wheel-drive track. The nearest towns are Carvers (6 mi), Round Mountain (8 mi) and Kingston (32 mi), measured from the centre of the closest unit in the group.