Good morning. My name is Cecil Fredi. I am president of HUNTER'S ALERT. What has caused all the furor over the mountain lion? To answer this question, we must start with the very basic question, what is hunting? Hunting exists for one reason: It is the humane way to harvest surplus game birds and animals. If there were no surplus, do we need hunters and hunting? The answer is absolutely not. If you were an anti-hunter, how would you insure that there is no surplus? You would protect predators and let them remove the surplus. That's exactly what the antis are doing to eliminate hunting. Mountain lion protection is a pure and simple anti-hunting measure.

In October, 1991,1 testified at the Legislative Committee Interim Study to Evaluate and Recommend Potential Funding for NDOW. I stated then that if we reduced lion numbers NDOW would have more deer which would produce more revenue. Administrator Molini stated that we were just lucky to be able to hunt mountain lion in our state as California had banned lion hunting. It is quite apparent he was more concerned about the antis than he was about hunters, revenues, and big game animals in his own state. And Nevada Division of Wildlife continues this trend today.

Why hasn't NDOW done recent studies and have the data available about mountain lion predation on deer and sheep in our state? It surely wasn't because they didn't have the money. They bought $20,000.00 worth of books from antihunting Defenders of Wildlife, the same group that helped stop mountain lion hunting in California and parts of Arizona. NDOW's direction today is going to take us to the courtroom or the ballot box, in which case sportsmen will be the ultimate losers. It would not be a losing situation for the sportsmen if Nevada Division of Wildlife had done their job. I want to make it perfectly clear and this was stated in the first issue of the HUNTER'S ALERT newsletter, that we are not against the NDOW employees. We are against the philosophy and current direction of NDOW.

Sportsmen are already the losers in our state because of the Nevada Division of Wildlife. We used to allow 34 sheep permits in the Sheep Mountain Range. We now allow 4. Again in the first HUNTER'S ALERT newsletter, NDOW was told about the mountain lion problem in the Sheep Mountain Range. What did they do about it? Absolutely nothing. Well, almost. They did cut the number of tags issued to sheep hunters. We have lost 70% of our deer herds and we are going into the second decade of using the standard old drought excuse. The truth about this loss is attributable to predators, with the chief one being the mountain lion. The statistics will tell you the truth when NDOW will not.

) At the November 28, 1995 meeting of the Clark County Game Advisory Board, a representative of Nevada Division of Wildlife stated that there had to be a minimum of 3200 lions in the State and maybe even

5000. In addition, he stated that a lion kills a deer every fourteen days. Using Nevada Division of Wildlife's minimum estimates, the lions kill 83,200 deer a year. In

1994, the hunter harvested 6,700 deer. In other words, the lion kills 12 times more deer than the hunters. Being more realistic, if there are 3200 lions in our state and they kill a deer a week (which game biologists have stated for years), the lion kill would be 166,400 deer per year. Is it any wonder our deer hunting has gone to hell! You can go ahead and snicker and sneer at these statistics. But let me read from the January, 1996 "Safari Times" newsletter. "It is estimated mountain lions, at their present numbers, are eating 500,000 deer per year in California."

We can all learn from what has happened regarding the mountain lion in the past history of other states. I would like to share with you a few excerpts from publications with a few of my comments pertaining to them. The July, 1993 "Field & Stream" had this to say, The greatest threat to the future of hunting with dogs comes not from the vocal anti-hunters, but from the very wildlife officials whose salaries sportsmen pay." Although this issue today is not about the use of dogs, it is clear with NDOWs current direction about lions, it is indeed a serious threat to hunting.

From the Idaho Gazette Record, December 27,

1995, "Now, Oregon is having serious problems. (They lost all cougar and bear hunting with hounds at the ballot box in November, 1994.)...They could not legally give voters the correct information on the need for large predator control, to protect the deer, elk, and livestock." This is exactly where the Nevada Division of Wildlife is today. NDOW issued a booklet, "Comprehensive Mountain Lion Management Plan". But they can't answer the most obvious question, that being, How many lions are there in the state? It is hard to manage something when you don't know how many you have!

From the January 1996 "Safari Times" once again, "The animal rights movement clearly places more value on the life of mountain lions than on people, pets, livestock, or even some endangered species being eaten by these dangerous predators." It was just a few months ago a lion came right into a park in Boulder City, killed a six year old desert bighorn sheep and devoured it. This could just as easily been a sixyear old child. Again, from the "Safari Times", "It is time to finally protect the deer, the elk, and the endangered bighorn sheep." If we don't start doing something about the lion in Nevada, our sheep will be the ones to be endangered. Also from the "Safari Times", "Because the lion is such a dangerous predator, advocates feel it is time to allow sensible management of its skyrocketing population." In Nevada, when you have thousands of lions, and only harvest 197 of them a year, it isn't very sensible management. And finally, again from the "SafariTimes",

The mountain lion has severely reduced the deer and elk populations." We have never heard the Nevada Division of Wildlife state *^-f lions have reduced deer and ^ / r> populations in our state. NDOW must think Nevada lions are vegetarian!

Apparently, the lions are not eating our deer and sheep. I guess they must be eating dolphin-free tuna fish sandwiches.

From the "American Hunter" magazine, February, 1996: "Californians banned mountain lion hunting in 1990. Since then, lion attacks on livestock, family pets, adults, children have increased. The National Rifle Association predicted that the ban would be detrimental to wildlife and costly to the state, downright dangerous for both hunter and non-hunter alike. And the NRA was right." That's exactly what has happened in our state. Because NDOW has allowed the lion population to explode, we have lost the majority of our deer herds and sheep populations have also suffered. In doing so, it has been costly to the state. How much revenue has been lost because of NDOWs refusal to do something -ibr>ut the mountain lion?

What we have had for years is a Mason-Dixon Line. Let me draw the line here so we all understand. Behind this line we have the sportsmen of our state who are disgusted with the direction of the Nevada Division of Wildlife. For years, they have stated the problems with the lions and have offered solutions to those problems. In front of the Mason-Dixon Line we have people who could have solved the problem but either didn't know how or didn't care. Of course only people in front of this line have valid suggestions or solutions. People behind the line are seldom heard. Now who is responsible for stirring up this mountain lion issue? It is certainly not the people behind me.

Hopefully, this commission realizes that we have serious problems regarding the mountain lion. We do have a solution to this problem. Some people would like serious reduction in lion numbers while others would prefer more protection. HUNTER'S ALERT proposes

that each county should decide what they want. If Clark County wants to return to the 1965 lion classification to protect the bighorn sheep from decimation by the lions, it should be that way. If Elko County wants to bring back their once famous deer herds and return to the 1965 classification, let them do it. And if Lincoln County wants to protect the lions, let them do it. We regulate deer, sheep, and antelope by different areas and the same can be done with mountain lions. NDOW will give you a dozen feeble excuses as to why we can't do this. Don't listen to them anymore for they are the ones who have created this dismal mess.

Mr. Chairman, would you ask for a show of hands of those in attendance who would like to follow the county advisory board recommendations on the mountain lion issue?

In closing, HUNTER'S ALERT is appealing to the five sportsman representatives in front of this Mason-Dixon Line. Do what you were appointed to do—represent the sportsmen. Listen to the sportsmen behind the line, represent them and not the people in the front of the line. Let's go back to government for the people, by the people. Listen to the people who spoke at the Advisory Board meetings. Thank you for your time.

Ed. Note: Chairman Brown would not ask for a show of hands. We wonder why.

(This article was OCR'd and may contain typos)