Ammo shoppers drawing a blank

It's the last week of May, and Nevada hunters soon will grow anxious awaiting the results of the big game tag draw. Those results should be available before long, but knowing whether you received a tag won't do you any good if you don't have ammo for your favorite hunting rifle.

"Yesterday I ordered two boxes of Remington Express shells in .243 caliber," one concerned reader recently wrote by e-mail. "Cabela's says maybe they will be available by late May. You could do hunters a real service by warning them of the ammo and component shortages. I am afraid if someone waits until the last minute they won't be able to make purchases in time."

My guess is the writer meant those who procrastinate buying ammunition could find themselves out of luck in the fall. I understand his concerns, and so should anyone who has shopped for ammo or reloading components lately. The wait in a Colorado firearms store my brother frequents is often several hours, and that's just to ask the guy behind the counter whether he has a certain caliber in stock. Many times the answer is no. Of course, he'll gladly put your name on a waiting list.

There is no waiting list, however, if you are interested in buying a military surplus rifle with a hard-to-pronounce name and Eastern European origins. For these he has plenty of ammo.

Here in town, a large department store near my home reportedly has limited the amount of ammunition a single buyer can purchase on a given day. But according to a friend who sometimes buys his ammo there, by noon there's not much left.

For those who doubt the validity of the ammunition shortage or think the supply is being manipulated simply for higher profits, a posting on the National Shooting Sports Foundation Web site reads, "The shortage of ammunition is real and is caused by several factors."

The factors include demand by consumers, law enforcement agencies and the Department of Defense. Another significant factor is the high price of commodities needed to manufacture ammunition.

After interviewing representatives from U.S. ammunition manufacturers, the NSSF said: "The high demand for ammunition extends across caliber lines. The increase can be seen in most handgun, rifle and rimfire ammunition and on certain shot shell products such as buckshot. In order to help keep up with demand for ammunition, manufacturers are working at full capacity. It is believed that any ammunition shortage is likely a temporary issue; however, it will take time for supply to catch up with demand."

How long will that take?

"While it is believed that supply will be increasing, the great unknown is what demand will be later in the year. ... It is impossible for manufacturers to forecast the timeline for when the current backlog will begin to improve."

Given the news this week that President Obama has nominated federal appellate judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the upcoming vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the unprecedented demand for ammunition just might continue. She was a member of a three-judge panel that ruled in Maloney vs. Cuomo this year that Second Amendment protections of your right to keep and bear firearms apply "only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose on this right" and not to efforts by state governments to limit firearm ownership by individuals. This ruling came despite the Supreme Court's ruling in District of Columbia vs. Heller in which the court ruled that firearms ownership is an individual right.

Meanwhile, when the tag draw computer starts turning away applicants, each of us might stand a better chance of drawing a tag, depending on which areas we selected on our applications. At its May meeting in Reno, the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners approved the allocation of 22,500 big game tags. That's only a 1 percent increase over last year, but it is an increase.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.