Growing big game animals means increased number of hunting tags

Friday, April 30, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

The Nevada Division of Wildlife is recommending increases in the number of tags issued for most big game species for the 1999 hunting season. The Wildlife Commission will pass final judgment at its May 8 meeting in Reno.

"The recommended increases for deer reflect the upward trend that our populations have been following since the disastrous winter of 1992-93," Greg Tanner, the division's chief of game, said.

"Since that winter, we have experienced favorable climatic conditions which have allowed the herds to begin a recovery."

The division is recommending 29,212 resident tags and 2,901 nonresident tags, an increase of 8 percent.

Antelope tags are up 17 percent at 1,427 resident and 62 nonresident. Division biologists recommend 1,212 resident and 26 nonresident elk tags, an increase of 25 percent.

Sheep tag recommendations aren't affected by the April 20 listing of at least five herds of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep as endangered species. They are confined to California and no tags are issued for them in Nevada.

"Our desert sheep are doing very well," wildlife spokesman Chris Healy said. "We have worked hard on a massive reintroduction program over the past 20 years to bring our herds to their current levels."

He estimated their population at about 8,000.

The division is recommending 127 desert bighorn tags for residents and 14 for nonresidents, a 26 percent increase. California bighorn tags would increase 18 percent to 42 for residents and five for nonresidents.

There would be no increase in the number of Rocky Mountain sheep tags -- five for residents and none for nonresidents. Rocky Mountain goat tags would decline 9 percent for residents and none for nonresidents.