hunting

Passionate outdoorsmen recently formed the newest Pheasants Forever chapter in Nevada, known as the Great Basin Pheasants Forever chapter. The group will focus its attention on habitat improvements, increasing pheasant populations, and youth outdoor participation in the Great Basin area.  

The Great Basin chapter was drawn to Pheasants Forever’s unique model, which empowers county and local chapters with the responsibility to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds will be spent.

This week's outdoor article is about two special friends in the Far North, Barry and Susan Drury who live in Watson Lake in the Yukon.

Elaine and I first met them a number of years ago in downtown Anchorage, Alaska as a result of Barry and I both being active members of an outdoor website, Modernsportsman.

Since that initial, get-acquainted, Anchorage lunch, Barry has visited us at our home in Carson City and at our cabin near Davis Lake, Calif.

This is a reminder that if you're one of many tens of thousands of big game hunters interested in drawing a 2014 hunting tag for Pronghorn Antelope, Black Bear, Mule Deer, California Bighorn Sheep, Desert (Nelson) Bighorn Sheep, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Rocky Mountain Elk and Rocky Mountain Goat in the State of Nevada, be advised it is now time to submit your application(s) to hunt one or more of the big game species.

Sportsmen who want to learn more about Nevada’s big game management programs and the annual tag application process can attend a free informational workshop hosted by the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Information on big game management, tag quotas and allocations, draw odds, harvest data, bonus points, common application errors and the computerized draw will be presented. New procedures for this year’s drawing will also be discussed.

No offense, but if you don’t put in for a Silver State Tag when the big game application period opens on Monday, you must not like hunting very much.

The Silver State Tag already allows hunters the chance to hunt one of four premier big game species (mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, Nelson (desert) bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope) anywhere in the state, but now you also have the chance to win thousands of dollars of hunting gear as well.

Where were you on Saturday? Did you wake up and go to breakfast at one of our many great restaurants, like Grandma Hattie’s, Red Hut, Adele’s, or at the café in Gold Dust West? Did you stay at one of our lovely hotels or bed and breakfast Inns?

If you’re a fisherman or fisherwoman, it’s that time of the year to remind you to purchase your Nevada 2014-2015 fishing license. That new fishing license year begins on March 1 and will run through the last day in February, 2015.

As a special tip you would be well advised to purchase that new license ASAP, because if you forget, go fishing after March 1 and get checked by “The Friendly Old Game Warden,” he isn’t going to be happy nor will you.

A Las Vegas man was convicted of possession of a big game animal without a valid tag, a gross misdemeanor, in the Seventh Judicial District Court Feb. 14.

Nerces Sarkis Himidian, 68, was ordered upon conviction to pay a $1,000 fine and $2,500 in civil penalties to the Operation Game Thief program.

If you were able to stop by the Nevada Department of Wildlife headquarters office in Reno in the early morning hours before the doors open to the public at 8 a.m. you would most likely find Shawn Espinosa, wildlife staff specialist responsible for the Upland Game Program, at his desk.

The same would be true if you poked your head in his door well after closing. After a while you would have to wonder, “Does this guy ever go home?”

The Nevada Department of Wildlife has announced the full implementation of the Aquatic Invasive Species Watercraft Decal Program, developed more than a year ago to fund prevention efforts against aggressive invasive species, such as quagga and zebra mussels.

When the Nevada State Board of Wildlife Commissioners met recently in Las Vegas, its members tackled an agenda that included the establishment of big game hunting seasons for 2014 into 2015, including several “antlerless elk management” hunts that allow for combination deer and cow elk tags, combination bull elk and cow elk tags, spike elk hunts and Nevada’s fourth bear hunt.

Also on the agenda was the removal of fishing tackle restrictions on certain spans of the Truckee River.

Nevada’s third black bear hunting season is in the books. The Department of Wildlife says 14 bears were killed by hunters, with the last one killed on Nov. 23.

For years now, the Nevada Department of Wildlife has been telling the public to not feed wildlife. While there are many reasons why you should never feed wildlife, NDOW would like to point out the newest addition to the list: feeding big game mammals is now against the law.

As I have done for many years, my last article of the year is to present the Annual Q Awards for a number of different reasons. Those reasons include such assorted things as: Outstanding, memorable, good, not so good, questionable, bad, serious, funny, dumb, head-scratching, are-you-kidding, etc.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reminds veterans that service-related injuries need not keep them from enjoying wildlife and the great outdoors. America’s disabled veterans get a break on the price of sport fishing and hunting licenses and are provided some special opportunities.

CDFW offers reduced-fee hunting and fishing licenses to both resident and nonresident disabled veterans.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Oct. 23-30.

Elaine and I recently returned from an interesting, three-day, two-night visit to Elko, way over in Northeastern Nevada. We are both members of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Operation Game Thief (OGT) Citizens Board.

That OGT Citizens Board has been in existence since 1987, and it is the small, private group that pays rewards for information that leads to the conviction of poachers of Nevada's wildlife.

As Washington, D.C. faces another government shutdown, hunters, anglers and trappers across the country are facing a shutdown of their own. From Alaska to Florida, sportsmen and women are finding that the budgetary standoff in Congress is having a direct impact on their hunting or fishing season.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is reminding big game hunters sooner is better than later when it comes to completing and submitting their Big Game Hunt Questionnaires.

The important hunting and harvest data gathered from the questionnaires helps guide game management, including tag quotas, in future hunting seasons.

All 23 Nevada State Parks are not affected by the government shutdown and remain open for all scheduled events.

"Autumn is awesome in Nevada's state parks for viewing fall colors, fishing, camping or setting up a hunting base camp," says Deputy Administrator Eric Johnson.

Nevada's third bear hunting season began on Sunday, and once again, it's being met with some controversy.

Nevada Wildlife Commissioners approved the state's first bear hunt in 2010, and since then, groups like No Bear Hunt NV have been fighting with the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) to end the practice.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Sept. 11.

Dear Outdoor Enthusiast, many of you are planning to be here next weekend, Sept. 14-15, for our NRA-Waterfowl Weekend.

If you haven’t put it on your calendar, you might want to add it based on what’s going on, highlighted below.
Lots of cool stuff for those interested in firearms safety and personal protection, waterfowl hunting seminars on a variety of topics, and several duck and goose calling contests plus kids’ activities and historical information.
Hope to see you here at Cabela’s next weekend.

Elaine and I just returned from a memorable visit to a very special place: It was our second visit to that remote, far-north locale. The first time was about 15 years ago, when Elaine and her late husband Jim McGee and I went there to film Canadian fishing experiences for our weekly TV show.

Have you ever thought about giving hunting a try? Well in the past if you wanted to try your hand at hunting you were required to take an eight hour hunter education course; purchase a hunting license and whatever stamps were necessary; figure out the correct gear you need for your hunt and then find someone to show you the ropes. It’s how hunting works in Nevada, but it does tend to scare off the casual observer who is not totally convinced that hunting is for them. That’s where the Apprentice Hunting License comes in.

Hunters who did not draw a mule deer tag in Nevada’s recently completed second draw still have a chance to go hunting this fall.

Results of the second draw were provided Friday, July 19, along with information on remaining tags. All remaining tags will be sold on a first come, first served basis, beginning Friday, July 26.

Mule deer hunters will find tags remaining in several hunt categories and units.

65 tags are available for the Resident Mule Deer Antlerless Any Legal Weapon Hunt (Hunt 1181) in hunt units 101, 102, 109.

Thank you Mark Robison for your Reno Gazette Journal July 7th Fact checker article concerning the lack of truthfulness (4 of 10) of a letter to the editor by Mr. Fred Voltz about Nevada's bear hunting program.

Although my opinion on Nevada's bear hunting program has not been finalized, my opinion on Voltz’s candor and misrepresentation of the facts is confirmed.

It’s now official: Systems Consultants, the private computer firm in Fallon that conducts the annual computerized drawings for Nevada’s big game hunting tags, has posted the results of the 2013 drawings at Internet website www.huntnevada.com for the whole world to see.

There were a whole bunch of winners and a heck of a lot more losers in this year’s drawings for tags for Pronghorn Antelope, Black Bear, Mule Deer, Rocky Mt. Elk, California Bighorn Sheep, Desert Bighorn Sheep, Rocky Mt. Bighorn Sheep and Rocky Mt. Goat.

The Nevada legislature's Assembly Committee on the Judiciary is set to meet tomorrow, Saturday June 1 at 8AM to discuss and possibly vote on Senate Bill 221. Please call and write to express your opposition to this bill.

The full text of the bill can be found on
https://nelis.leg.state.nv.us/77th2013/App#/77th2013/Bill/Overview/SB221

Assembly Judiciary Committee:
Jason.Frierson@asm.state.nv.us 775-684-8537
James.Ohrenschall@asm.state.nv.us
Richard.Carrillo@asm.state.nv.us
Lesley.Cohen@asm.state.nv.us
Olivia.Diaz@asm.state.nv.us
Marilyn.DonderoLoop@asm.state.nv.us

CARSON CITY — The Assembly has passed a bill that will require a three-year suspension on black bear hunting in Nevada while the Department of Wildlife conducts a scientific study to determine if a healthy population of the animals can be sustained in the event that a sanctioned bear-hunting season is re-instituted permanently.

SB82 was originally aimed at banning bear hunting indefinitely but has since been amended several times. Only two Assembly members spoke prior to the vote during today’s Assembly Floor Session.