Nevada mammals

Mule Deer in Nevada

Odocoileus hemionus

Native to Nevada S5 Secure in Nevada

Not listed as nonindigenous in Nevada by USGS NAS; native to its Nevada range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Mule Deer in Nevada, by the numbers

Common in Nevada 7th most recorded of 142 mammals logged in Nevada

1,488 occurrence records
1,362 with iNaturalist photos
Jul 6, 2026 Last seen in Nevada

Records from 2000–2026.

1,488 total records count every Nevada occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 1,484 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Mule Deer in Nevada

Most sightings fall in May to July.

1,484 Nevada occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Nevada records (table)
MonthRecords
January60
February37
March85
April85
May131
June211
July199
August126
September147
October189
November120
December94

Monthly mule deer occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Nevada, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Nevada, with recorded sightings peaking in May–July, with a smaller rise in September–October.

Occurrence map

Where Mule Deer has been recorded in Nevada

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Nevada records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Toiyabe National Forest 230
Great Basin National Park 193
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area 17
Mt. Charleston Wilderness 10
Basin and Range National Monument 10
Humboldt National Forest 6
Gold Butte National Monument 6
Berlin-ichthyosaur State Park 5

Protected places with the most mule deer sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Nevada

CountyRecords
White Pine County 363
Washoe County 261
Elko County 206
Clark County 175
Douglas County 77
Nye County 68
Carson City County 61
Lincoln County 59
Lander County 55
Humboldt County 37
Storey County 34
Churchill County 24
5 other counties 68

The complete county distribution, spread across 17 Nevada counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Nevada records for the mule deer are anchored by Great Basin National Park and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. They show where people have reported it, not how many animals live there.

The Nevada records bridge the state’s southern desert country and its higher central or northern ranges. That broad spread matters more than any single hotspot. The strongest reporting falls in summer, when Nevada’s high country is easiest to reach but low deserts are hottest. That may shape where observers submit records.

The file combines 1,362 research-grade iNaturalist records and 1,231 GBIF records. Those 2,593 records measure documented encounters, not Nevada’s population size. It’s native to Nevada. Nevada doesn’t specifically list it under the state’s conservation framework, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Mule Deer in other states

View all states →

More mammals in Nevada in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"