Columnist Paula DelGiudice: Plan ahead for trophy animals

Paula DelGiudice

Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears Wednesday. Reach her at PDelGiudice@compuserve.com.

LAKE MEAD: Fishing has been fairly good recently with anglers reporting to the Nevada Division of Wildlife that they have been catching channel catfish, rainbow trout and striped bass.

Stripers have taken to deep water and boaters are catching the fish at depths of up to 120 feet. Some surface action for stripers has been taking place following NDOW's weekly trout plants. Other areas where there has been recent success for stripers are Black Island and the Meat Hole.

Boaters who have been fishing near the 33 Hole have had good luck for catfish by fishing with blood bait. Trout are being caught after the plants.

LAKE MOHAVE: Cold weather has been keeping all but the most dedicated anglers away from the lake. Those who have taken to the water have found fair action for striped bass by fishing in front of Cottonwood Cove and at Owl's Point.

Big game hunting seasons are almost finished in Nevada for the year. If you've been lucky enough to take a nice animal and think you want to have it scored for one of the trophy record book programs, just what do you do? It's often easier to plan this out before your hunt.

Ideally, you'd want to contact a taxidermist before your hunt and ask him how to take care of your animal between the time you harvest it and the time he takes possession of it. The taxidermist can tell you how to take care of the cape and where to cut the cape to make the kind of mount you'd like.

If you're past all that now and have an animal that you think might make the record books, you might first want to talk to someone with experience who can estimate whether your trophy would impress the record book recorders. If your animal might make one of the books, then there are some steps you should take. All animals must go through a 60-day waiting period before they can be officially scored. The 60-day period commences with the date of the kill.

In order to be scored officially for Boone & Crockett, Pope and Young or the Nevada Trophy Record Book, the skull cap with the horns or antlers attached must be sawed away from the remainder of the skull. When sawing the skull cap away, be extremely careful not to break or crack the skull cap. Horns or antlers with a broken or cracked skull cap will be ineligible to be scored.

All the remaining tissue should be removed from the skull cap. Then the antlers and the skull cap should be covered with a cloth and placed in a cool, dry location, preferably in a cloth bag to keep insects away during the drying period. A cool location is important for horns because horn material can spoil.

Some hunters think they can lessen the effects of the drying period by freezing their horns or antlers. They should know that freezing might make the horns or antlers ineligible for scoring.

During the 60-day drying period, make contact with an official scorer for the record book or books in which you are interested. You can call official scorer Mike Wickersham at the Nevada Division of Wildlife, 486-5127, ext. 3100. If you have other information on the record books programs, check out the great website Boone & Crockett has up and running at www.boone-crockett.org or call them at (406) 542-1888. Pope and Young Club can be contacted at pyclub@isl.net or by calling (507) 867-4144.

In recent weeks, several hunters have been cited by game wardens for illegally harvesting white geese in these two areas. Key Pittman Wildlife Management Area, Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge and Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area are included within the closures.

Ruby Valley in White Pine and Elko counties is also closed to the harvest of snow and Ross' geese. This includes Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

Last year the agency launched an aggressive range reseeding program in response to the loss of more than 1.8 million acres that were swept by fire. NDOW biologists estimate that 40 percent of the areas that have burned over the past two years provide critical or important habitats for more than 40 percent of Nevada's wildlife.

"It is difficult to even contemplate the time, complexity and costs associated with the rehabilitation of well over two million acres, but that's our ultimate goal," said Doug Hunt, NDOW's chief of habitat. "Last year the Bureau of Land Management was able to seed just over 500,000 acres and NDOW was able to re-seed over 17,000 acres, so we have a long way to go."

He said that there are 69 separate fire rehabilitation plans in place with a number of others pending. These plans call for the rehabilitation of approximately 210,000 acres through either aerial or drill (ground) seeding. The fires have brought with them a major hike in the cost of seed. Most years pure sagebrush seed sells for around $30 per pound, but is now selling for as much as $100 per pound.

The two most preferred plant seeds in rehabilitation work are bitterbrush and sagebrush. In order to help cut down the cost of seed, NDOW has been using volunteers for seed collection. Besides the efforts of NDOW volunteers, additional seed is being purchased for cooperative rehabilitation efforts by the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, Nevada Division of Forestry and a number of Nevada outdoor sports organizations and private businesses.