Friday, June 18, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.
Barb Henderson is an outdoors enthusiast, freelance writer and producer/host of outdoors radio television programming. Her column appears Friday in the Sun.
Nevada big-game hunters will flock to their mailboxes, computers and to Nevada Department of Wildlife offices in Elko, Ely, Fallon, Henderson, Las Vegas, Reno and Winnemucca today to find out if they were successful in the Nevada computerized draw system. It was back in the mid-1970s when the NDOW adopted a big-game drawing system.
"A program that allocates tags in a manner that helps maintain the various herds at desired management levels," said NDOW public information officer Geoff Schneider. "We're trying to give maximum hunting opportunities while maintaining the population and composition of herds."
Hunting plays an important role in proper game management. Here's a brief overview of the process:
First, wildlife biologists conduct aerial and ground surveys to gather information about the status of big-game herds. In addition, they gather vital information from the harvest return cards that have been submitted by last year's hunters.
This valuable information determines the allowable harvest that meets the guidelines, including maintaining the desired buck-to-doe ratios.
The next step is that licensed hunters must fill out an application and have it submitted by the deadline. This year's deadline was April 19. Next, wildlife biologists report their survey data to the 17 county advisory boards, and that is followed by public hearings. The County Advisory Boards to Manage Wildlife will submit their recommendations to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, who set the limits and determine the hunting seasons. Finally, big-game hunting tags are allocated through a random computerized tag draw system in early June. After the completion of the draw, notification of the tag drawing is mailed to applicants and posted on the huntnevada.com Web site.
Nevada wildlife commissioners approved an increase in the numbers of hunting tags for this year's big-game hunting seasons. Interested hunters can purchase a 2003-04 Nevada Big Game Status Book. The book provides information compiled by NDOW biologists on the populations and status of the state's big-game herds. The cost is $10 and it available at NDOW offices.
The Big Game Hunt Statistics and Draw Odds Section provides statistical data for mule deer, elk, antelope, bighorn sheep and mountain goat, including the total number of tags, the draw odds, the percentage of hunters who drew a tag and were successful in harvesting an animal along with other interesting information.
There will be a second hunt drawing for tags in the hunting areas for all remaining quotas for deer, antelope, elk, mountain goat and subspecies of bighorn sheep. The second draw deadline is Monday, July 6. Results will be available July 16. For more information, click on the Internet at: www.huntnevada.com or www.ndow.org.
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