State policy mulled for hunters on private lands

Wednesday, July 28, 1999 | 2:48 a.m.

ELKO, Nev. - Complaints about hunters crossing through private land on their way to hunt has prompted the head of the Nevada Division of Wildlife to suggest the state develop a policy regulating access.

Terry Crawford has no current policy partly because 87 percent of its land is managed by the federal government, he said. He suggested the proposal to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners subcommittee on access earlier this week after hearing complaints from ranchers in northeast Nevada.

Land owners have complained for years about hunters passing through their ranches to hunt on national forest land, especially in the Ruby Mountains, Crawforth said.

Humboldt County rancher Irv Brown said when he bought the 7,652-acre Paiute Meadows Ranch in the late 1940s it was a dream come true. But he said in recent years he has had gasoline stolen, irrigation equipment damaged, corral gates torn and vehicles driving across seeded fields.

"When I posted my lands, they tore up the signs," he said. "They drive across my fence line waiting for a chance to shoot a deer in my fields."

When he approaches hunters, Brown said their response is, "I've been coming here for 20 years, nobody's going to stop me now!"

Brown said he has complained to the Humboldt County Sheriff's office, the Humboldt district attorney, Nevada Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management but only two hunters have been prosecuted for trespassing.

"That's why I now carry a weapon for my protection," he said. "My confrontations have occurred on private land. All they have to do is get off my land."

Ruby Valley rancher Cliff Gardner said he believes hunters should have to pay to hunt on private land.

"They camp at my water holes, and when they camp on my streams and creeks they litter.

"People who want to use the land must pay for that privilege," he said.

Wildlife Commission Chairman Bill Bradley said Brown's property is on the Paiute Creek-Soldiers Meadow Road and the Leonard Creek Road, both of which access the Pine Forest Ranges in northern Humboldt County, which have abundant wildlife.

Bradley said the subcommittee would investigate Brown's complaint.

"Everyone's afraid someone's going to get shot or they're going to get hurt out there," Bradley said.

Deputy Attorney General David Creekman said if the roads going through Brown's ranch were built when the property was public land, they are considered public roads.