Zone D-17 located in portions of Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Warm days and cool nights are typical during the Zone D-17 hunt season. However, hot days are always a possibility and wind conditions can change quickly. Hunters are advised to dress in layered clothing and always be prepared for possible desert showers creating flash floods and impassable roadways.

The terrain in this zone is your typical desert. Flat rolling valley floors with drainages cut out from erosion and a few scattered hills, mountains and buttes.

Primary approach to Zone D-17 hunt areas is via Interstate Highways 15 and 40 from Barstow. Secondary access roads leading from those highways are Kelbaker, Cima, Nipton to Ivanpah, Essex, Goffs to Landfair, Excelsior Mine and Yates Well roads. Many County, NPS, BLM and other dirt roads, including Black Mountain, Wildhorse Canyon, Cedar Canyon, and Green Wells roads, provide final access to hunting areas. With passage of the 1994 Desert Protection Act, some existing roads were and are closed to accommodate wilderness area designation as demanded by the new law. Although some access availability is hampered by the act, admittance generally remains fair to good at most locations. Hunters need to be aware of safety closure areas surrounding two NPS campgrounds.

Zone D-17 is primarily public land with the exception of a few, small private property in-holdings within the Mojave National Preserve. Deer are known to occur only in that portion of Zone D-17 situated within eastern San Bernardino County.

Almost the entire area where deer can be found in Zone D-17 was designated by Congress in 1994 as the Mojave National Preserve, administered by the National Park Service (NPS). The northern portions of the Clark Mountains and the Kingston Range are administered by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The vegetation in Zone D-17 is comprised of numerous desert plant communities ranging from desert dunes and desert scrub to riparian forests and Joshua tree woodlands. Deer are usually dispersed throughout the zone, but are most commonly found in washes that contain iron wood and palo verde vegetation.

There are two designated NPS campgrounds within Zone D-17, a primitive site at Mid Hills that provides water and pit toilets and a slightly more improved facility at Hole-In-The-Wall. Mid Hills is located at a higher elevation, within pinyon and juniper treed areas; Hole-In-The-Wall is located in the lower desert area. Camping outside designated camping areas is permitted in BLM and NPS areas, as long as the site has been previously used as a camping area. Firewood is scarce throughout the Zone D-17 desert, and firewood collecting is prohibited within the Mojave National Preserve. Hunters must supply campfire material.