Tags for big-game hunting is luck of the draw

About this time every year, hunters across Nevada begin to grow a little anxious. So to do sportsmen and women from other states who have a desire to hunt the Silver State. Their anxiety stems from a unique combination of the hoped for and the unknown.

The hope began in mid-April when hunters submitted their applications for one of Nevada’s big game tags. With each click of the mouse they hoped for a successful draw and that the mailman would one day bring them at least one of the tags for which they applied. Whether they hope to hunt mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, pronghorn antelope, black bear, mountain goats or one of Nevada’s three bighorn sheep species, they must have a tag in order to do so.

The unknown stems from the tag draw itself. There is no way of knowing what the results are going to be until the draw is complete. In some ways it is like pulling the handle on one of those old-style slot machines and watching the reels spin. Until they stop turning the outcome remains unknown with no way of predicting who will be a winner and who won’t. But that doesn’t stop one from hunting.

When it comes to the tag draw, there are no spinning reels nor pull handles. Instead there is a computer, a database, tag numbers, software and a button. Okay, that is a layman’s simple view, but it makes the point. The database holds profile information for each hunter along with the choices we submitted for the hunt opportunities we desire along with our choice of hunt areas. When the day for the actual tag draw process finally arrives, someone from Wildlife Administrative Services in Fallon – the company that runs the tag draw — pushes the button on the computer and the process begins.

Until the process is over, the outcome remains unknown with no way of predicting who will receive a tag and who won’t. But that doesn’t stop one from hoping.

The information stored in the database is run through a complex software program that analyzes each hunter’s or party of hunters’ tag requests and compares them with tag availability for the specific hunts requested and determines whether the hunter or hunters will receive a tag in the mail. Or not.

As of this writing, all but one piece of the draw equation is in place. That piece is the number of tags that will be available for each hunt included in the draw. Referred to as the tag quota, those numbers are finalized each year at the May meeting of the Nevada State Board of Wildlife Commissioners. During that meeting, biologists from the Nevada Department of Wildlife present their tag recommendations to the Commission, which also considers public input on those recommendations. That is the place where hunters and other interested folks can participate in the process.

After considering the biologist’s recommendations and input from the public, Commission members vote to accept or amend those recommendations. The resulting tag quotas are then input into the computer program by staff at Wildlife Administrative Services so the draw can be completed and tags awarded.

The past few years we have known the draw results by Memorial Weekend. Hopefully that will be the case this year. I can use some relief from tag anxiety.

Though the Commission Meeting will take place Friday and Saturday in Reno, people in Southern Nevada can participate via videoconference. That will be available at the Las Vegas campus of the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension located at 8050 Paradise Road, Room A. Tag quotas are agenda item 25 and will be heard Saturday. The meeting will get underway at 8 a.m. with agenda item 19.

You can get a copy of the meeting agenda and tag recommendations online at www.ndow.org/Public_Meetings/Commission/Agenda/. Look on the list of support material for the tag recommendations.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column, published Thursday, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com