Let's go play golf or tennis! When you have completed your favorite pastime, was there any chance of being cited, fined, or your property seized? Of course not.

Now let's go hunting and fishing and ask ourselves these same questions. The answer is-absolutely yes! There are over 130 ways to receive a citation. Hunting and fishing are some of the most regulated sports we have.

This brings us to the 1993 Legislative Session. Let's look at some of the bills Nevada Department of Wildlife presented and wanted passed.

• SB118 - Further amending the existing statute providing for a penalty of a violation if any Regulation Nevada Department of Wildlife passes in addition to a State statute. It also provides that if a person is convicted of more than one violation, the commission is authorized to revoke or suspend the license.

• SB119 - Amends existing statute wherein the commission shall establish policies for the revocation of licenses and permits issued to any person who is convicted of a fish and game violation.

• SB122 - Increases fee for duplicate hunting, fishing, or trapping license.

• SB136- Authorizes director to enter into co-operative or reciprocal agreements with states not adjoining Nevada. (Look out, here comes the great Texas sheep give-away program back.)

• SB123 - Provided a duplicate lag may not be issued without repayment of the original fee and then the department MAY issue a duplicate tag. (They don't have to.) Also provided a diseased deer and one unfit for human consumption may be inspected by a game warden and the hunter may get another tag.

The Nevada Hunters Association lobbied very hard to get this bill changed (and was successful). Nevada Department of Wildlife did not want to automatically give a hunter who obtained a diseased deer, another tag. They wanted the word MAY in the bill. NHA lobbied to put SHALL in the bill! Nevada Department of Wildlife also wanted a hunter to pay the full original tag fee if he misplaced this tag even though it was not his fault. This part of the bill was taken out. This bill as it was originally written was unfair to all sportsmen.

The Nevada Hunters Association lobbied to add to this bill that in the case of a hunter shooting a diseased animal on the last day of the season, he will be entitled to a new tag for the next season. The Nevada Hunters Association also lobbied that a diseased animal should be checked by a veterinarian in lieu of a game warden who is not trained in animal diseases. I do not know why the Department of Wildlife continues to make this State agency not user friendly for hunters and fishermen who fund approximately 93% of Nevada Department of Wildlife's operations.

• SB114-This Nevada Department of Wildlife sponsored bill prohibited any persons to possess, cultivate, or propagate any live wildlife unless he is licensed by the department. It also forbids anyone to capture wildlife in this state to stock a commercial or noncommercial facility. The Commission in

November 1992, December 1992, and February 1993 spent a tremendous amount of time and substantial cost trying to adopt CGR209 dealing with captive wildlife, wildlife prohibited for introduction or possession, and permit requirements. This 30 page regulation didn't make much sense and so a subcommittee was appointed in February 1993 which only had one meeting and never accomplished a single thing. This was a waste of time and sportsmen's dollars by the Department of Wildlife, and the legislature had to finally step in and authorize the State Board of Agriculture to adopt regulations. How much of the Nevada Department of Wildlife's time and money spent on this single hem could have been towards more game projects?

• SB115-This Nevada Department of Wildlife sponsored bill made it unlawful to bunt any game bird or game mammal that is held in or released from captivity for the purpose of hunting. They cannot provide more game and don't want anyone else to do it.

• SB132 - This bill makes it unlawful to import game birds, mammals, or amphibians if not raised by a commercial breeder outside the state and may not be sold in the state of origin. (This outlaws all the private sportsmen in the past who have raised chukar, quail, etc. for propagation back into Nevada and all bird hunting clubs in the state.)

• SB133 - Provides that no person may possess, cultivate, or cause the propagation of any live wildlife unless he is licensed by the department. It also provided that a person may maintain a noncommercial collection of live wildlife if the collection is not maintained for public display.

Nevada Department of Wildlife did not have a single bill to help hunters and fishermen. None of these bills produced more game. Nevada Department of Wildlife's total emphasis was on more restrictive methods that they

could impose on sportsmen. Nothing they proposed made more game Every bill was a regulation bill to restrict sportsmen - nothing to help sportsmen. Hang'em, yes! Help'em, no!

What a shame and waste. The Department of Wildlife stated that approximately 55,000 people participate in hunting in Nevada annually, investing an estimated S22 million in the State's economy, yet they continually choose to waste sportsmen's dollars and continue to ignore the wishes of Nevada sportsmen who just want more game programs initiated in this state.