Applications for the 2010 Special Sage-Grouse Hunt at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) are now available on the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) website at ndow.org/hunt/apps/.

The Sheldon hunt will be open for two weekends Sept. 18-19 and Sept. 25-26. This is a permitted hunt, with 75 permits awarded by random draw available for each hunt by reservation only. The hunt is open to both residents and nonresidents. The daily limit is two and the possession limit is four for sage grouse.

Permit applications are available in PDF via the NDOW website (www.ndow.org). Applications must be received by mail or in person by 5 p.m. on August 6 at the NDOW headquarters office (1100 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512).

“The Sheldon Sage-Grouse Hunt is a popular hunt with only 75 reservations available for an early and late season. Last year the Department received 389 applications for the 150 available reservations,” said NDOW game biologist Shawn Espinosa.

Both residents and nonresidents must have an upland game stamp and either a hunting license or short term permit to hunt while hunting upland game in Nevada.

The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge is in northwest Nevada on the Oregon border.

Although the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced in March that it would place greater sage-grouse on the list of “candidate species” across its range in the 11 western states and two provinces, Espinosa reports that sage-grouse populations in the Sheldon NWR do support a hunt season.

“Sage-grouse lek count data collected from the Sheldon NWR sage-grouse population has shown an increasing trend from 1999-2009,” he reports. “We are very concerned with sage-grouse populations in general and if we determined that sage-grouse hunting was having a detrimental or additive impact on that particular sage-grouse population, we would recommend closing the season as we have for many other hunt units in the state.”

NDOW also reminds hunters to remove one wing from each sage-grouse taken as part of a long-term study of the state’s sage-grouse populations.

“We are interested in collecting data from wings collected during the two 2-day seasons,” said Espinosa. “This information provides us with recruitment and nest success data. In addition, we also were able to collect a substantial amount of blood samples last year that were submitted to the USGS Wildlife Health Center. These samples were used to analyze the effects of west Nile virus in 2009. From 2005-2009 the Nevada Department of Wildlife has collected and average of 122 wings annually.”

The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) protects, restores and manages fish and wildlife, and promotes fishing, hunting, and boating safety. NDOW’s wildlife and habitat conservation efforts are primarily funded by sportsmen’s license and conservation fees and a federal surcharge on hunting and fishing gear. Support wildlife and habitat conservation in Nevada by purchasing a hunting, fishing, or combination license. For more information, visit www.ndow.org.

Erin, my oldest daughter, is the fifth generation of Martin’s in the Two Rock Valley. With that comes the tradition of hunting and shooting. In 2009 she shot her first turkey, and was keen to start hunting other upland birds with her Remington 870 in 20 gauge.

Erin’s First Pheasant Hunt

It took place the day after Halloween. We met up with a good friend Leigh Meyer, and my cousin Corky and his Lab, “Doc” for a quick hunt in a brushy section of Black Point Gamebird club, on the edge of San Pablo Bay. The brush, and dry conditions made it tough to find the birds. Many flushed wild ahead of us, and Erin had two shots she missed. Leigh kindly took some photos as we held the sole pheasant he was skilled enough to hit.

Erin and I hold Leigh Meyer's kill as we cool off with Corky and Doc.

Erin’s Second Chance, Carsons first Pheasant hunt.

Erin wasn’t able to join us on the next two hunts due to conflicting 4-H and Basketball schedules. But when the first Saturday of January rolled around, She was an early riser since my Brother in law and nephew would be joining my father, his pointer Gator and I in a cut grainfield at the same place. Just as with ther turkey hunt, not being the only kid on the trip, helped make it more exciting to go afield.

Erin was the gunner while her grandfather handled Gator. With Gator's youthful exuberance it took all of Dad's attention.

Shortly after turning the second corner, we flushed a rooster from right to left and Erin made feathers fly with her solo shot from the 870 in 20 gauge. The bird lit running and Gator ran him down with Erin not far behind. She had hit the first bird of the day. We loaded it in her game bag and continued the hunt.

Erin with a couple pheasants in her game bag.

Mike kicked one up and made a long Hail Mary shot. The bird landed in a neighboring field, and the farm employee picked it up and delivered it to Mike. Carson ran over to carry the bird in his new (Christmas) bird vest as proud as punch to be part of the team.

As we continued to hunt we had roosters flushing wild well ahead of us. A few flew in from neighboring fields. Gator put on a beautiful point on a rooster near the road, but we held our fire when it flushed and flew over the passing vehicles. Gator was quite disgusted with us. He had done everything right and we didn’t knock it out of the sky or even try…I could see he was plotting revenge.

Gator after retrieving Erin's Pheasant as Mike and Carson look on.

Mike kicked up another pheasant and connected with a load of sixes. Carson’s game bag got heavier and his smile grew wider.

A bird flew in from a neighboring field and Gator took note. Dad loosened the check line and Gator worked down the airborne scent stream and locked into a beautiful point. Rather than fly, the rooster tried to run, and Gator snatched him up and retrieved him with style. One less shell burned, and Gator had his revenge!

As we walked along, laughing about the shotless bird in the bag , Mike kicked up a pair of pheasants and dropped one but the other sailed away. After Gator mouthed that one and made a pretty good retrieve we decided to call it a day. Besides, Child Services probably would have had our head if we had let a six-year-old boy pack more than three rooster pheasants that morning!

Back when I was a teenager, my cousins and I always made arrangements to hunt ducks on the day after Thanksgiving, and the day after Christmas. These hunts continued as we entered college, and came home for holidays. Once we all got out of school and had to start working for a living, the day after hunts went by the wayside as we all had inlaws to visit, and during the week, work to attend to.

With Christmas falling on a Friday this year, that meant a weekend for hunting was available. I made plans with a high school friend Loren, my father and uncle for Saturday and Sunday morning.

Saturday morning we met Loren Poncia and his two dogs Sienna and Molly. We must have set a speed record as we had 5 birds in the bag in 45 minutes.

Loren had cows and lambs to check that day so he headed out to his Marin County ranch to do that. You can follow his Stemple Creek Ranch Blog and see daily changes in the stock, and the surroundings of the Sonoma and Marin county agricultural community. He also has some great recipes for beef and lamb that transition well to venison.

SUNDAY

My dad returned and Sunday morning we awoke to wet conditions after the misty drizzly night. Dad loaded Gator, an up and coming English Pointer and we hunted a cut grainfield along some railroad tracks.

Now Gator is an exuberant, high energy dog with a lot of hunting drive. To keep him from ranging too far, Dad hunted him with a 50 ft check cord. The first bird to raise was a surprse to all of us, dog included. He escaped unscathed. Then we started spotting roosters running in the wheeltracks through the stubble. We hustled to get Gator in the Scent stream and he put a bird up over my head. The #6 shot pattern put him on the ground, but he started sprinting. Gator ran him down and held him down until we could get there to praise him.

From that point on, Gator became more focused and you could see his demeanor change from running to hunting. Each point became more rigid and by the fifth bird he was like a magazine picture. He even retrieved the bird with minimal coaxing.

It was a good weekend with time spent afield with family and friends. Much like the holiday hunts from my youth.