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What kind of sportsman are you? Are you the type that stands up for what your believe in? Do you do your part and contribute? Or are you the type who does nothing except bitch about things when it's too late?

...Isn't the director of NDOW doing something about the serious predator problem in our state? ..Are ducks still on the decline? Steel shot which hunters have been using for years, was supposed to be the cure for the dwindling duck population? ...Did Nevada Bighorns Unlimited offer a $2000 reward for those responsible for the illegal killing of one elk, but donated nothing as a reward in the massacre of 13 bighorn sheep?

For those of you who believe all politicians are no good, you are wrong. With that said, let’s pat some good ones on the back and expose a couple who have proven that they could care less about sportsmen’s concerns. In the last legislative session, Assemblymen Jerry Claborn and John Carpenter were instrumental in getting HUNTER’S ALERT bill AB259 passed. They are the true champions of sportsmen!

The results below of the HUNTER'S ALERT survey indicate that we have some serious problems with our state game management. Obviously, under the present leadership, governor, wildlife commissioners, and director of the Department of Wildlife, the situation will not improve. A copy of this newsletter will be sent to all state legislators with the goal of accomplishing future changes.

Findings:

To determine causes for heavy mortality of mule deer fawns on the Steens Mountains, fawns were captured at 1 to 14 days of age and again at 6 months of age, outfitted with transmitter collars, and monitored at 3 to 5 day intervals. Predators, primarily coyotes, were found to be the primary cause of mortality.

In the 2001 Legislative session, HUNTER’S ALERT, working with Nevada Hunters Association and Assemblyman Jerry Claborn were successful in passing Assembly Bill 291. This bill enacted a $3.00 predator fee for every big game tag that hunters applied for. It should be noted that no other so-called sportsmen’s organization helped in the passage of this bill which was desperately needed to restore our deer.

This bill provides over $300,000 a year for predator control. The original intent of the bill was to do predator control to bring back our deer. However, former governor Kenny Guinn’s appointments to the Wildlife Commission, Tommy Ford, John Moran, Clint Bentley, Jack Robb and Jim Jeffress decided to do more sheep projects than deer projects. The reason for this is that the Wildlife Commission was stacked with sheep club members. It shows that they could care less about people who want to hunt deer.

To them, it was more important for 150 people to hunt sheep than the 35,000 hunters who want to hunt deer. I guess nobody in the sheep club hunts deer. Nothing like being a selfish bunch! NDOW has refused to do any predator control on its own. So with the money provided by sportsmen, they farm it out to Wildlife Services.

JUNE 19, 2002

I am proposing that when a person buys a hunting license, there will be a punch-out spot on the license to validate that a mountain lion has been harvested. Currently when a person harvests a mountain lion, he must report it to NDOW within 72 hours. This would remain in effect and at that time, the person harvesting the mountain lion must pay the lion harvest fee.

At last some new appointments to the Wildlife Commission who have some idea of what's going on! During Bob Miller's ten years of miserable leadership, he did not appoint knowledgeable people to the Wildlife Commission. Because of this, we have lost the majority of our deer, are about to have the sage hen go on the threatened or endangered list and have many areas where our state animal, the desert bighorn sheep are declining.

At the August 6, 1996 Clark County Wildlife Advisory Board meeting, HUNTER'S ALERT president Cecil Fredi asked why some of the Wildlife Commissioners have to lie so often. Overheard in the audience was the comment, "Because they are attorneys."

Presented to the Clark County Wildlife Advisory Board, January 7, 1998

Let's look at the Nevada Deer Hunt Plan Task Force. Their purpose is to examine alternate harvest strategies, hoping to facilitate increases in hunter recruitment and opportunity while preserving the quality features of the Nevada deer hunting system. I agree that we need more hunters. That makes us stronger. And obviously, hunters would like more tags available. Let's examine the harvest management issues. The first is Unit Simplification. Does this increase our deer numbers? Absolutely not! The next would be unlimited archery tags. Does this increase our deer number? Again, no! The third is a resident youth hunt which I personally agree with. However, this does not increase the number of people who can hunt deer. The other three issues are anterless hunts, season opening dates and lengths, and a twenty three day plus season option. None of these harvest management issues helps restore Nevada deer herds.