Nevada's shed rules cover public land in six counties — Elko, Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Nye, and White Pine: fully closed Jan 1 through Apr 30, and from May 1 through Jun 30 you need NDOW's free online responsible-collection certificate (required at age 12+). In the other 11 counties and on private land, no license, permit, or fee is required to pick up sheds — a 2025 state law confirms no tag is needed for naturally shed antlers, dry skulls, or bones.
LAST CHECKED August 29, 2026 · RULES CHANGE — CONFIRM WITH NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE (NDOW) BEFORE YOU HEAD OUT.
Set by: Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, codified at NAC 503.172 under NRS 503.655
Would define specific closed-season violations (searching by vehicle, drone, or dogs; stockpiling or marking sheds), make the course once-in-a-lifetime for residents but annual for nonresidents, and create a free statewide skull tag with GPS/photo documentation and a 5-day reporting window.
Harvest = sum of successful hunters across every hunt (one tag, one animal). Tags issued summed the same way. NDOW published no workbook for 2024, so that season is absent; unique statewide hunter counts are not summable across hunts and are not shown.
SOURCE: NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE — BIG GAME HUNT DATA WORKBOOKS (2022, 2023, 2025)
As of May 2026, USGS lists no documented CWD detection in free-ranging deer or elk here. That reflects documented findings, not proof of absence.
SOURCE: USGS NATIONAL WILDLIFE HEALTH CENTER — CWD DISTRIBUTION BY STATE AND COUNTY, VER. 4.0 (AUG 2026).
4 elk · 11 mule deer · 3 pronghorn — migration corridors, stopovers, and winter ranges mapped from GPS-collared animals and published by the USGS Corridor Mapping Team with the state agency. 8 of these herds cross a state line and are counted for each state they use.
SOURCE: USGS — UNGULATE MIGRATIONS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, VOLS. 1–6
Every state reports these numbers to the federal government on the same terms, so they compare cleanly across states. A license holder is a person — one hunter can buy several licenses or tags in a season.
SOURCE: U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE — HUNTING LICENSE CERTIFICATIONS. FEDERAL DATA RUNS TWO YEARS BEHIND; 2024 IS THE MOST RECENT SALES YEAR PUBLISHED.
WHETHER THE CGR 518 AMENDMENT HAS BEEN FINALLY ADOPTED COULD NOT BE CONFIRMED — CHECK NDOW BEFORE RELYING ON COURSE FREQUENCY RULES.