HA Newsletter 31

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.

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.

In our last newsletter, HUNTER’S ALERT stated the mountain lion was not a big game animal. Our proof was that the mountain lion’s reclassification on May 22, 1965 was rendered invalid by Deputy Attorney General Peter Breen on December 12, 1967, case number 472. Their opinion was very clear on this issue.

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.

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.

Normally, HUNTER’S ALERT does not get involved with the selection of Supreme Court justices. However, this one is very different. Judge Nancy Saitta is running against Nancy Becker who is seeking reelection, and who defied the wishes of Nevada voters while trashing the constitution of our state at the same time.

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.

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.

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.

HUNTER’S ALERT has been critical of the Wildlife Commission and for good reasons. However, a little praise could be in order for one of the current members. Commissioner Jim Jeffress is working on a proposal to shift NDOW’s law enforcement to the Department of Public Safety. Here are some of Commissioner Jeffress’ findings: