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.

Former governor Miller used the good old boy system to make his appointments to the Wildlife Commission. This included his friends, (who had never attended a Wildlife Commission or a county advisory board meeting before their appointments) or anyone who would give him a big political donation. Because his appointees didn't know anything about wildlife issues, they were taught by Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW). The end result was that the commissioners did whatever NDOW wanted them to do. This is exactly backwards as it is the duty of the Wildlife Commission to set policy for NDOW.

How did this backward system ever get established? As stated, most of Bob Miller's appointees never attended the meetings to gain the knowledge to be a good commissioner. So basically they knew nothing about wildlife matters in our state. This is where NDOW steps in. They congratulate the new appointees, shake their hands, welcome them aboard and then lure them in with the following perks. NDOW has helicopters for their use, private hunting and fishing places and many other perks. When a new wildlife commissioner falls for this, he basically has become a prostitute by selling out the people they are supposed to represent.

The two new wildlife commissioners refused these perks because they did not want to prostitute themselves as Bob Miller's appointees had done. In doing so, they are able to make the best decisions for the natural resource and sportsmen, not necessarily what NDOW wants.

Of course, NDOW doesn't like it when they don't have control over the Wildlife Commission. They are not used to this so they decided to take matters into their own hands. They tried to get enough dirt on one of the new wildlife commissioners so that the governor would rescind his appointment. This sleazy tactic backfired and now NDOW has egg on its face attempting to make Governor Guinn look bad. It is really not smart for a state agency to make the governor look bad. Of course, no one ever accused NDOW of being really smart!

By the new wildlife commissioners not accepting NDOW's perks, they were able to vote against one of NDOW's favorite proposals, the killing of does. For years, county advisory boards have stated that deer numbers are low and that they don't want any does killed. Most sportsmen will agree that the killing of does is a management tool and that at times it is necessary. However, most sportsmen believe that our deer herds are at a dangerously low number and there is no excess of does to be killed off. At the February meeting, NDOW proposed more massive doe killing. Other than the areas which had fire, this proposal was rejected by the wildlife commissioners.

Already we can see that with new wildlife commissioners who have knowledge of wildlife matters, can make the difference. Thanks to Governor Guinn for appointing people with some knowledge and also thanks to the wildlife commissioners for representing the sportsmen. NDOW will now have to figure out another way to extort money from the hunters other than killing off our does.

By Cecil Fredi, President HUNTER'S ALERT