Unit 051 covers a big slice of north-central Nevada north of I-80 between Winnemucca and Battle Mountain—the Sonoma Range, the Edna Mountains, and the country running up to the Owyhee Desert fringe. Elevations span from about 4,200 feet in the Humboldt River bottoms to 9,396 feet on Sonoma Peak. The Sonomas are a classic Nevada island range: dramatic east face, gentler west slope, with Buffalo Canyon, Cottonwood Canyon, and a half-dozen other drainages cutting deep into the timber. Vegetation runs the standard Great Basin progression—sage and bitterbrush in the basins, pinyon-juniper benches, mountain mahogany on the rocky shoulders, and limber pine and aspen on the highest slopes. The aspen draws on the Sonomas hold deer well into October and turn gold the second week if the storms hold off. BLM owns most of the country with Humboldt-Toiyabe NF over the Sonoma high country. I-80 frames the south, Highway 305 runs Battle Mountain to Austin on the east, and a network of graded gravel and ranch roads thread the canyons. Winnemucca and Battle Mountain handle gas and groceries; both are mining towns with surprisingly decent food if you know where to look. Cell service is on I-80 and gone five miles off it. Mule deer are the headline and the Sonoma Range bucks have a quiet reputation among locals because the range is overshadowed by the Rubies to the east and the Pine Forest to the north. Pronghorn use the basin sage. Watch the weather—a storm front off the Sierras turns the Buffalo Canyon road into a clay slip-and-slide that you do not get out of without a winch.