Well, it s been a little over a year since my appointment as a wildlife commissioner and it has been eye-opening and interesting to say the least. When I first started, 1 took a sit-back, watch, learn and listen approach. Even though 1 had been on the county advisory board and have been involved in hunting and fishing for thirty plus years, I felt that 1 could learn a lot about what was going on, ongoing, upcoming, and the way the commission and the NDOW agency conducted business. In the past year, 1 have learned a lot.

I am learning what we can and cannot do. We as a commission set broad policy for NDOW. We can make rules and change

rules as long as we stay within certain parameters. There are proper steps to policy changes and rule making. There are meetings, petitions, game boards, agenda, meetings and back to game boards before something is finalized.

We do have power but that power only comes with a majority vote. I cannot speak for other commissioners but I know that I have several agendas that I would like to see accomplished while I am on the commission. First and foremost is to address the predator problem that I believe we have in this state. When I say predators, 1 mean all predators, not just coyotes and mountain lions but ravens and other avian predators.

They are taking our game, deer, sheep, chukar, sage grouse and other game species and our revenue that comes with it. Understand that a well organized predator program needs several things, one is funding and the other is scientific facts as well as a good plan that will get results and is cost efficient.

There is a move within the commission to establish a predator committee. This committee will be ongoing and work closely with the agency, the local game boards and wildlife services. They will also work with private groups to secure additional funding.

I believe that we need to address our deer herds. This is our cash cow, the most popular animal to hunt, our most abundant big game animal. This is our largest revenue producer in the Game Division. We had better take care of this resource.

Along with predator control, I believe we need to cut back on anterless tag quotas and this could be a good start. We also could look at cutting tags if need be. Also an idea that I have been looking at is that if you draw a tag this year, you are not eligible next year but you could send in and buy a bonus point. This would also make up for the loss in application revenue.

I believe that once established, this would almost guarantee a hunter a tag every other year and the hard draws, a tag every two years or three at the most, with buying your bonus point. What the sportsmen need to realize is that we must give up something to get something. Whether it

is tags or your hard earned dollars, there a fewer deer and lots more people putting in for the same number of tags or even fewer tags in some cases.

1 am also looking at putting a predator check box on all big game applications just like Operation Game Thief. You can check this box and have any amount or all of your return money to go strictly into predator control. These monies would be controlled by the newly formed predator committee.

These are just some of the items I would like to see addressed. Lastly, the sportsmen need to get involved. If you have an idea, a bitch, a complaint or an agenda, go to your County Game Board meetings, come to a Wildlife Commission meeting. Call me or another commissioner. We serve the people of the state of Nevada.

Thank you.

By Brad Quilici, Commissioner Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners