Zone D17, California

Desert terrain ranging from sandy, flat valley floors to steep, rocky mountains. Deer are found in mountainous areas from 4,000 to 8,000 feet elevation but are not typically concentrated in any one location; the CDFW sheet advises scouting within the 4,000-8,000-foot band near the tops of the Clark and Kingston Mountains. Source: CDFW Zone D-17 2025 General Deer Hunting Information sheet.

Zone D-17 is overwhelmingly public land — nearly all of the deer-occupied area lies within Mojave National Preserve (NPS) or BLM lands (Barstow and Needles field offices manage the northern Clark Mountains and Kingston Range). The unit has no entrance fee and no hunting permit beyond the standard CDFW tags. Primary highway entry is via Interstate 15 (exits at Baker for Kelbaker Road, Cima Road, and Nipton Road) and Interstate 40 (exits at Kelbaker Road and Essex Road). Six named paved secondary roads fan out from those interstates into the preserve interior: Kelbaker Road (paved, connects I-15 at Baker south to I-40), Cima Road (paved, I-15 exit into the Joshua tree/Cima Dome corridor), Nipton Road to Ivanpah Road (paved transitioning to gravel/hard-packed sand, northeast entry through Ivanpah Valley), Essex Road (paved to Black Canyon Road junction, then unpaved/washboarded north to Hole-in-the-Wall), Goffs Road to Lanfair Road (paved final section, east-side entry), and Excelsior Mine Road (dirt/gravel off Cima Road, primary access to the BLM Kingston Range). Once inside, many county, NPS, and BLM dirt roads provide final access to hunting areas, including Black Canyon Road, Wild Horse Canyon Road, Cedar Canyon Road, and Yates Well Road — most are unpaved single-lane washboard and high-clearance is advisable, though 4WD is not universally required on the main routes. The two NPS campgrounds — Mid Hills (Wild Horse Canyon Road off Cedar Canyon Road, ~4,500 ft, pinyon-juniper, pit toilets/water) and Hole-in-the-Wall (Black Canyon Road off Essex Road, lower desert, 35 sites) — serve as the main base camps and staging areas for hunters. Black Canyon Equestrian and Group Campground at Hole-in-the-Wall accommodates horses and organized parties by reservation. Only California street-legal vehicles (licensed, EPA-certified, DOT tires) are permitted on Preserve roads; green-sticker OHVs, ATVs, and side-by-sides are prohibited. Firearms discharge is prohibited within 0.5 mile of developed campgrounds, visitor centers, and named facilities. The Kingston Range Wilderness (BLM, ~252,000 acres) and several other congressionally designated wilderness units within the Preserve are closed to motorized travel; hunters access those areas on foot, horseback, or with pack animals only. Some roads closed under the 1994 California Desert Protection Act wilderness designations remain gated year-round. No seasonal snow closures are typical at valley-floor elevations, but higher dirt roads (Mid Hills area, ~4,500 ft) can become impassable after winter storms. No SHARE or private-land access programs apply — the zone is essentially all public land with only minor private inholdings.

Deer forage and vegetation preferences vary, and deer can be found from desert wash up through pinyon and juniper tree habitats. Distribution of deer in D-17 is usually associated with bitterbrush. The higher-elevation Mid Hills area is pinyon/juniper. Source: CDFW Zone D-17 information sheet.

Deer in Zone D-17 are resident (non-migratory); their movement is up and down the slopes and they do not make long seasonal migrations. The subspecies is a mixture of Rocky Mountain mule deer, California mule deer, and Southern mule deer translocated into the Providence Mountains area from 1945 through 1948. The population is considered stable, with short-term fluctuations attributed to weather events affecting forage production and water availability. Deer occur in scattered populations at extremely low densities, generally associated with permanent water sources, and may disperse following significant rainfall that flushes vegetation. Source: CDFW Zone D-17 information sheet.