I watched the commission meeting online as they set the deer and elk quotas. The Citizen Advisory Boards (CAB) have a huge influence in the actual tags that get approved. You could sense the frustration of the Department. Their deer management plan calls for buck:doe ratios of 30:100 in most units and 35:100 in a few "alternative units." They are currently exceeding that in just about every unit, thus their recommendation for higher tag numbers over the last two years. Yet, every year they get cut, which makes it nearly impossible to keep at their targets in the adopted deer management plan.
At first I wondered why that was such a big deal; more bucks is better. Then I replayed the presentation of the biologists and their explanation of competition for forage in such a dry environment, especially on winter ranges that have been torched by fires, denuded by horses, and encroached by P-J. They also explained the difficulty in "stock piling" bucks in a state with such climate extremes where both drought (long-term herd impacts) and hard winters (short-term herd impacts) can hammer the adult buck population.
In the end, the CABs carried the day in most instances where they wanted fewer buck tags than recommended by Department bios. Nevada has buck:doe ratios that are the envy of the west, even if total herd numbers continue to stay at all-time lows. With conservative tag numbers again this year, the buck:ratios will likely get even higher. I hope they can avoid more drought/bad winters and they have some rewards for the sacrifices they are making today for more/older bucks in the coming years.
Also listened to the Desert Sheep biologist, Mike Cox, present the current state of sheep in Nevada. He's been there since statehood, or it seems like that long. He's an institution of knowledge when it comes to Nevada's desert bighorn efforts. Nevada is almost a victim of their own success. They repopulated almost all available habitat and established "connectivity" among many of their herds. Since I went to college there in the mid-80's, they've went from less than 4,000 sheep, to over 12,000, and now under 7,000 due to disease that has been spreading via the "connectivity" that was deemed beneficial for genetic diversity among island populations.
His presentation illustrated just how difficult it is to manage sheep in the current conditions. They don't have the hard winter problems of northern sheep herds, rather the drought that eliminates water, increases congregations that increase predation, and forage responses that cannot adequately lactation for ewes. And, they have disease issues, just like every other western state.
I thought if I hunt in there long enough, someday I'd draw a Nevada desert bighorn tag. Given I didn't draw from 2014-2018, before the population started declining, the odds of me drawing now are far less.
They are at all-time highs in pronghorn and they have elk numbers in excess of their management objectives. Kind of amazing when you consider the marginal habitat they have and the complications of feral horses, cheatgrass fire cycles that have destroyed a lot of habitat, and P-J encroachment.
I watch the NV tag setting process, when I can. It is interesting to see the process and the results of an agency structured as they are, with virtually no political interference and huge local input from the Citizen Advisory Boards. I think a lot of states could benefit from the example you see in Nevada.
At first I wondered why that was such a big deal; more bucks is better. Then I replayed the presentation of the biologists and their explanation of competition for forage in such a dry environment, especially on winter ranges that have been torched by fires, denuded by horses, and encroached by P-J. They also explained the difficulty in "stock piling" bucks in a state with such climate extremes where both drought (long-term herd impacts) and hard winters (short-term herd impacts) can hammer the adult buck population.
In the end, the CABs carried the day in most instances where they wanted fewer buck tags than recommended by Department bios. Nevada has buck:doe ratios that are the envy of the west, even if total herd numbers continue to stay at all-time lows. With conservative tag numbers again this year, the buck:ratios will likely get even higher. I hope they can avoid more drought/bad winters and they have some rewards for the sacrifices they are making today for more/older bucks in the coming years.
Also listened to the Desert Sheep biologist, Mike Cox, present the current state of sheep in Nevada. He's been there since statehood, or it seems like that long. He's an institution of knowledge when it comes to Nevada's desert bighorn efforts. Nevada is almost a victim of their own success. They repopulated almost all available habitat and established "connectivity" among many of their herds. Since I went to college there in the mid-80's, they've went from less than 4,000 sheep, to over 12,000, and now under 7,000 due to disease that has been spreading via the "connectivity" that was deemed beneficial for genetic diversity among island populations.
His presentation illustrated just how difficult it is to manage sheep in the current conditions. They don't have the hard winter problems of northern sheep herds, rather the drought that eliminates water, increases congregations that increase predation, and forage responses that cannot adequately lactation for ewes. And, they have disease issues, just like every other western state.
I thought if I hunt in there long enough, someday I'd draw a Nevada desert bighorn tag. Given I didn't draw from 2014-2018, before the population started declining, the odds of me drawing now are far less.
They are at all-time highs in pronghorn and they have elk numbers in excess of their management objectives. Kind of amazing when you consider the marginal habitat they have and the complications of feral horses, cheatgrass fire cycles that have destroyed a lot of habitat, and P-J encroachment.
I watch the NV tag setting process, when I can. It is interesting to see the process and the results of an agency structured as they are, with virtually no political interference and huge local input from the Citizen Advisory Boards. I think a lot of states could benefit from the example you see in Nevada.
