It keeps getting worse for Nevada deer hunters. Of course, the Wildlife commissioners are oblivious to this problem. They could care less about our declining deer numbers. That is a fact.

In the April-June, 2006 NBU (Nevada Bighorns Unlimited) newsletter, Larry Johnson wrote an article entitled "NDOW-An Agency in Crisis".   HUNTER’S ALERT and Nevada Hunters Association have stated this for seventeen years. If it takes a person seventeen years to figure this out, that person is not very smart about wildlife issues. That is why it is time for Larry to go. Below are excerpts from Larry’s article and HUNTER’S ALERT’S response.

SPORTSMEN WIN! 

Representatives from the Dean Heller camp recently contacted HUNTER’S ALERT. They stated that Dean Heller is a hunter and drew a cow elk and a mule deer tag this season. Unfortunately, the rigors of campaigning will not permit him the time to utilize the tags. As a hunter, Dean Heller knows that ravens are a problem and is committed to work with HUNTER’S ALERT about this problem when elected. His main concern about ravens is that they do not continue to have a serious impact on our sage grouse population. His opponent isn’t going to do anything about ravens.

In addition, Dean Heller has always supported the HUNTER’S ALERT banquets. Now here is a chance to return the support. Vote for Dean Heller for Nevada’s 2^nd Congressional District!

HUNTER’S ALERT did endorse Dawn Gibbons for the second Congressional District seat in the primary election. Dawn had met with Wildlife Services and discovered Nevada hunters have a serious problem with ravens. However, Dawn Gibbons was defeated in the primary election. Dean Heller is committed to take the same approach as Dawn had promised so let’s get out the vote for Dean Heller.

http://www.deanheller.com/

DEER INCREASE: Yes, Nevada’s deer herd, rock bottom for years now, has increased—drum roll, please—a whopping 3%, from 105,000 in 2005 to 107,000 in 2006.

Kind of a letdown. 3% rate of growth? Even with back to back years of good/excellent habitat conditions? Even inbred crummy wild horses, animals we don’t want to see increase, manage 10 to 20% a year. With deer, the rate of growth can be explosive. In 1984, NDOW estimated 129,500 deer were here; by 1988, that number had almost doubled to 240,000. And that had occurred in the very heart of a terrible drought to boot.

So, what’s going on? A little over a year ago, NDOW released with much fanfare, a much awaited explanation of why Nevada’s deer herd, from 1992 to present, has failed to bounce back, despite yearly predictions for significant rates of growth. Their “Mule Deer Population Dynamics” had all sorts of interesting data and covered many angles, but, disappointingly, conveniently ignored the reason of reasons—Mountain Lions.

In the 2001 legislative session, Assembly Bill 291 became law. The bill was sponsored by HUNTER’S ALERT and Nevada Hunters Association. Not another so-called sportsmen’s organization was there to support this bill. A.B. 291 enacted a $3.00 fee on all tag applications. This money was to be dedicated exclusively for wildlife damage control (wdc) formerly called predator control. This money has amounted to over $300,000 a year for wildlife damage control. Wdc is something that neither NDOW nor any of the Wildlife commissioners wanted. However, by law, they were in charge of how the money was to be spent.

SPORTSMEN WIN! 

The good news for Nevada sportsmen is that as of July, Tommy Ford is no longer a Wildlife commissioner. The bad news is he left his baggage (Clint Bentley) behind. You see it was because of Tommy Ford that Clint Bentley was appointed to the Wildlife Commission.

On September 4, 2006, Hagan Thompson passed away in Las Vegas at age 70. Hagan was a most knowledgeable and experienced hunter. He knew not only Nevada hunting but hunting just about anywhere else in the world as well. He traveled to Canada, Alaska and to five African countries with 25 safaris over a period of 30 years. He was an artist in taxidermy, turning trophies into lifetime memories for his clients. As a taxidermist for over 45 years, he mounted everything from chipmunks to African elephants. His sage advice on the best places to hunt enabled many novice hunters to achieve success in the field.

At various times over the past twenty years, I was a member of a county game board to manage wildlife. When I was not a member, I attended these meetings on a regular basis. At these meetings, it was always Nevada Department of Wildlife’s (NDOW) position that no one from a county game board, ranch, farm or a hunter knew anything about fish and game matters. This was in spite of the age of the individual or how many years experience they had pertaining to wildlife matters.

For a hunter or gun owner in our state, no election has been as important as this year’s gubernatorial race. For the last eighteen years, Nevada sportsmen have been A.W.O.L. (absent without leave) when it comes to having a governor who cares about sportsmen’s issues. For ten years, Bob Miller and for eight years, Kenny Guinn totally neglected sportsmen’s issues. As bad as they were, by electing Dina Titus it will get a lot worse.

Did you know that last year 34,944 Nevada residents applied for a deer tag? However, only 14,304 were successful in the tag draw. This means almost 20,000 (60%) of Nevada hunters were unsuccessful in the draw. (read more "Wildlife Opinion Poll" in Not in Newsletters)