You hear the new breed of
today's mountain lion hunter's in Nevada
whining that there are no lions left to catch and they need a good snow cover
to find a track. This is a poor hunter's
excuse as to why they cannot catch a lion.
No snow and no tracks.
In the days of old, before
snow machines, 4-wheelers, and two-way radios, there were men like Wiley
Carroll who took to the Nevada
mountains with his horse, dogs, and a warm coat. I happen to know this because I was there.
Wiley Carroll started out
his mountain lion hunting career along the
Deschutes River in Central Oregon.
Wiley caught his first lion with his dogs when he was a teenager. He spent his early years learning his trade
and then he was drafted into the Army.
Wiley spent his military time with the Army's 85th Infantry
Regiments 10th Mountain Division. The unit's specialty involved
fighting effectively in harsh conditions and they were one of the first U. S. military units to enter Germany in
World War II. Wiley was a packer and
worked with Army mules.
After his military tour, he
went to work for the famous lion hunters of Arizona- the Lee Brothers. He also hunted jaguar and trapped Mexican
wolves in Old Mexico with the Lee Brothers.
After his tour with the
Lees, Wiley set out to establish his own reputation as a lion hunter. In 1951, the Nevada Fish and Game Department
offered Wiley a fulltime job catching lions.
Wiley and his hounds caught lions on dry ground from the southern
deserts of Nevada
to the high Mountains of Northeastern Nevada.
Terrain or ground conditions made no difference to Wiley and his
dogs. If the lions were there, Wiley
could catch them.
Wiley held his position with
Nevada Fish and Game for the next twenty years.
During this time, Wiley ran up a record of lions caught with his dogs
that has stood for many years. Wiley
hauled his horse and dogs in a flatbed pickup with horse rack and did all his
hunting by horseback or on foot. He
camped out on the sheep and cattle ranges of Nevada with sheepherders and cowboys and
laid out many nights under a tree with his dogs for warmth on an old lion track
in order to be able to start out early the next day, trailing this cat. Like the majority of the old-time lion
hunters, Wiley stuck on a track like glue until the job was done. No one I know today lays out on a lion track
anymore. Most of today's hunters give
up, go home to their warm beds, and look for another fresh track the following
day. Wiley Carroll was a true Nevada legend.
The lions are still
here. You just have to have hunters who
have the knowledge and tenacity to catch them.
Good
news for Nevada sportsmen! HUNTER'S ALERT has been waiting to write a report
like this for over 20 years. Sportsmen now have 5 (the majority) good Wildlife
commissioners on the Board. A very nasty Wildlife Commission meeting was held
on August 14 and 15 in Elko. The bighorn sheep people did everything they could
to see that Gerald Lent was not re-elected as chairman. Thankfully, the sheep
people were defeated.
Gerald
Lent is in the process of forming a Mule Deer Task Force committee. The intent
of this committee is to facilitate input from concerned deer hunters. For that
reason, we are requesting that everyone with an idea or suggestion to bring
back our deer to submit it to the committee chair, Scott Raine. He can be
reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or PO Box 812, Eureka,
NV 89316. All ideas will be considered
and I can assure you that some will be presented to the Wildlife Commission for
implementation.
Past
and current directors and NDOW biologists have done nothing to bring back our
deer so it is going to be up to this Wildlife Commission to implement some
changes. At last the general public is going to have some direct input. Please
pass this information on to your fellow hunters as the committee wants as many
suggestions as possible.
Thank
you for your support of HUNTER'S ALERT. We are working for ALL of the sportsmen
of Nevada to preserve and protect our hunting heritage.
Listed
below are recommendations sent to Commissioner Raine by HUNTER'S ALERT.
Dear
Commissioner Raine:
HUNTER'S ALERT is pleased
that someone with some authority has finally realized that we have lost our
deer and actually wants to do something to address this loss. For that reason,
HUNTER'S ALERT is listing five suggestions which we hope you will consider.
1.
Replace the
current director with someone who wants to bring back our deer.
2.
Managing mountain
lions is a state right. The mountain lion should be returned to predator status
without any federal repercussions. The threat of withholding P-R money goes
against the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution. P-R money should be given to
states with no strings attached.
3.
If number 2 is
unattainable, insure the objective harvest of mountain lions is accomplished
every year.
4.
No killing of
does until deer numbers are at 200,000 statewide.
