Reader, NDOW expert spar over reasons for declining deer numbers
The two most controversial subjects in the world of hunting in Nevada have got to be deer management and predator control.
Thinking back over my 30-year career with Nevada Department of Wildlife, I can’t recall any subjects that caused more people to call, write or attend Wildlife Commission meetings — and even contact their elected officials on a state and national level.
Most recently, I wrote two columns about why there aren’t more deer-hunting tags available and what NDOW is doing to increase deer numbers in Nevada. I expect that every longtime Nevada deer hunter would be willing to give his or her opinion on what is causing deer numbers to remain relatively low, much lower than record population levels in 1988. But I decided to go to the expert, NDOW big game staff specialist Mike Cox, who thinks the major problem with low deer numbers in many areas of the state is due to the poor condition of their habitat.
This did not set too well with a reader from Fallon, who wrote a lengthy e-mail, saying Cox was “…creating ’smoke and mirrors’ for NDOW.” Based on knowledge he obtained running the “…operational Predatory Animal Control program throughout the state for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Program,” the e-mailer thinks predators are totally responsible for the condition of state deer herds.
“Today, the Nevada landscape is filled up with coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions with some prowling the alleys of towns and cities. Predators have a ‘free roll’ statewide,” he said… [more]
There are currently a number of names in Nevada wildlife management that are less than honorable and claim to represent hunters and mule deer recovery who are outright liars. They are all pro-predator protectionists in sheep’s clothing and and some of their names appear in this article including the author Dave Rice. The supporting comment following Rice’s article was by none other than NV Game Chief Russ Mason. who is also a bogus so called expert from Washington DC in disguise. These guys’ agendas are all combined to promote Biodiversity, Wildlife Action Plans, and the Wildlands Project designed years ago to control people and all lands by govt agencies and powerful corrupt NGOs by using animals to accomplish it. BEWARE!
To be more than fair, here are Russ Mason’s comments following the Rice article:
I appreciate this most recent column on deer management in Nevada. Habitat loss is a terribly important issue in our state. However, the column paints a too stark contrast. There is no argument that predation management is an important tool, and no difference of opinion at NDOW on this point. Predators vs. Habitat is a false dicotomy, and Mike Cox, myself, and other management biologists here in Nevada and elsewhere around the country are in agreement. Raven suppression around sage grouse leks, mountain lion, bobcat, and coyote removals to protect bighorn, coyote removals to protect pronghorn, and coyote and lion management to protect deer are all useful when the right circumstances are present. If any readers are interested in the ‘when’ and ‘where’ of predation management, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.
Russ Mason, Chief, Game Division, Nevada Department of Wildlife
Massive wildfires (megafires) in the last two years have destroyed hundreds of sage grouse leks in Nevada and Idaho, as well as browse for ungulates. NDOW has had to mount humanitarian hunts of deer, sheep, and antelope before winter starvation sets in.
It’s not the cattle that are destroying sage grouse habitat. Cattle don’t eat sagebrush. Nor does moderate cattle grazing destroy all the browse. It’s the fires that are killing off the wildlife.
If NDOW really wants to protect wildlife habitat, they would stage controlled burns in the fall to prevent megafires. Just like the original residents did for thousands of years.
And they must control the predators that eat the fawns and lambs. Ungulates must reproduce 30+ yearlings per 100 does every year to maintain population levels. Unchecked predation will otherwise shrink herds to extinction. Which is what is happening now.
Careful reading of the Rice article reveals this:
NDOW continues to look at a few isolated spots in the eastern part of the state, specifically in management areas 23 and 10, and also in areas of northern Washoe Co. Studies in these areas are aimed at trying to determine if there is a particular time of year or a control technique that might be successful if a herd is typically low in numbers.
“We are trying to find a (predator control) prescription that works, and if we can find that, we will use it in other parts of the state,” Cox said. “So far we have not found anything that is going to work or that we won’t need to spend a half-million dollars for a small increase in the number of tags for that expenditure. In my book that is not an economically viable management tool.”
That conflicts with the statement of Mr. Mason. He says “predation management is an important tool” for NDOW. In contrast Mr. Rice implies, and Mr. Cox is quoted as saying, that NDOW is not doing predator management except in a few select areas, and then only experimentally.
There is a credibility gap. What NDOW’s Chief says and what NDOW is apparently doing are two different things.
For a fine rebuttal of this article see [here]