LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Nevada wildlife officials are looking at options to limit some popular hunting technologies, while others in the sport are calling for a focus on bad actors who break the law.
Summer brings the start of “big game” hunting season across Nevada, from elk, deer and bighorn sheep. More than 106,000 people are licensed to hunt in Nevada, according to U.S. Fish & Wildlife records.
NDOW officials are looking at various technology regulations: a proposal “would prohibit the use of any thermal imaging devices from July 1- December 31 for any wildlife,” according to NDOW documents.
The proposal also limits use of trail cameras during the same time period, documents state.
Some states already limit hunters’ use of thermal technologies over “unfair advantage”: ethical hunting practices seek to maintain a “fair chase.”
Hunters cannot target “big game” or game birds at night. “Predator” hunters may target animals such as coyotes, which are an “unprotected” species. Hunters can target coyotes around the clock in Clark County, according to NDOW.
According to an April 28 meeting, the chief game warden expressed concerns over “predator” hunters using a loophole: “individuals may claim to be predator hunting” but are actually targeting “big game” instead “to gain an unfair advantage,” as stated in meeting minutes.
George Forbush of the Nevada Predators Hunting Association was at the meeting, and called for harsher punishment of bad actors, increased enforcement by game wardens, and better equipment for wardens to spot illegal activity.
Forbush explained how thermal imaging helps hunters ethically target predators like coyotes.
“You will make the most effective kill without wounding or losing that animal with thermal. If you’re night hunting off of lights, you have the opportunity of misidentifying an animal, shooting the wrong animal– whether it be the rancher’s dog, a fox instead of a coyote, or hitting the animal in a bad spot– and then that animal takes off and runs away,” Forbush tells FOX5.
There are several pertinent meetings on the topic, next week:
- June 9, NDOW Emerging Technologies Committee: Details and online link
- June 10. 5:30 p.m., Clark County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife: “The Clark County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife will review, discuss, and make recommendations to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners” at the Clark County Government Building. Meeting link
- June 13-14, Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners Meeting in Elko: Online meeting link
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