We’ve seen a lot of birds this season so far. But I’m curious to know what y’all think about this photo, posted on the Nevada Chukar Hunters’ Facebook page of some Nevada men on Brownlee Reservoir in Idaho recently (click the photo to go to the post).
WTF is up with Nevada’s licensing?
I’ve never hunted chukar in Nevada, but have wanted to for a long time now. A few years ago, we met some nice folks from Nevada who’d kindly agreed to meet us for dinner in Winnemucca and maybe point us in the right direction. I posted about it last November, although the events in question occurred in 2022.
The upshot is that when we got down there, after having purchased upland game licenses in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming that fall, I (stupidly) assumed I could waltz into Wal-Mart in Winnemucca and buy one from Nevada. Even if the manager had been able to remember his login credentials for his licensing system, he would have turned me away empty-handed.
Unlike the other five states I’ve been licensed in, Nevada has a non-resident requirement for all hunters born after 1960 to provide evidence of having completed a “hunter safety course.” I’d lost my card from the hunter safety course I’d taken after moving to Idaho in 2000, but I was able to go online to ilostmycard.com and (after paying $10 or $20) — wow — get a duplicate of my certificate from Idaho Fish & Game. The course I’d taken was targeted at bow hunters, but covered all of the material for the rifle/general hunter safety courses offered in Idaho, plus extra stuff specifically relating to bow hunting.
We weren’t able to plan a trip to Nevada last year, but I was excited to plan something this season. So I logged onto my Nevada Department of Wildlife account and tried to purchase a license. A popup window told me that I needed to have my hunter’s safety course added to my record, and then I’d be able to purchase a license. The information included an email address to which I was to send my proof.
So I did that. A couple hours later, I received an email that read, “Unfortunately, we cannot accept a Bowhunter Education Certification as proof of Hunter Education. If you have taken a Hunter Safety specific course, please provide a copy of that so we can add it to your account.”
I responded, but was shot down by someone named Harmony. Apparently, Nevada will only accept (but they don’t tell you this anywhere) hunter safety courses taken from their approved vendor (hunter-ed.com). I’ve spoken to several other non-resident hunters, including some born before and some born after the magical 1960 date. They all informed me that they were easily able to purchase licenses online for Nevada without the hunter ed requirement.
So I ask you, those of you from outside NV who’ve hunted in NV, what’s been your experience getting a license to hunt there? Asking for a friend.
After all the pretty contrast of life and death
Proves that these opposite things partake of one…
–Wallace Stevens, from “Connoisseur of Chaos”
Well now I have a book about chukar hunting to offer. I published it myself (through my little press). It’s being handled, for now, by a print-on-demand business (Lulu.com), which prints and ships the book when someone orders it, although you still order it through Chukar Culture here (or you can just click the photo above and it’ll take you to the ordering page). It might take a week or so for orders to arrive. If it takes longer, or there are problems, then I’ll change things up.
In the meantime, I’ll tell you I’m fairly happy with it. It’s largely composed of edited versions of many of the blog posts I’ve published here for the past fifteen years. There are some unpublished longer pieces, too, which I like as well as any of the already-seen things.
The one thing missing, of course, is what I’ve liked best about keeping this blog going, which is the dialog from readers. The book would be twice as long (and twice as good) if I’d been smart enough to figure out how to include comments. Next time?
This is for those with their heads in the sand, which is a pretty comfortable place to be usually. But when hunting season comes, and you need to get out if only for your dogs, you might not be able to go anywhere.
Regardless of your political persuasion, if you use public land in any way (running cattle on it, hiking, fishing, boating, camping, hunting, biking, ATV-ing, or just setting foot on it because you can), you’re about to lose that right, which Americans have had for generations. This is real.
“Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill requires the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of publicly owned land, an amendment authorizes the sale of 258 million acres more over the next five years. The amendment comes from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and was written by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Steve Daines (R-MT).
It includes Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands in 11 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. As Siler notes, while the measure does not currently include national monument lands, the Department of Justice under Trump is arguing that the president can revoke national monument protections. If it did so, that would make another 13.5 million acres available for purchase.
Siler notes the process for selling those lands calls for an enormous rush on sales, “all without hearings, debate, or public input opportunities.” (From HCR, June 17, 2025)
Here’s a map of the land in question (click on the image to bring up an interactive map; link is also below the image):
If you haven’t already, call your Republican congresspeople and tell them that Public Land is not for sale. Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
Peat was ten years old yesterday. Aside from upping his counter-surfing game, he hasn’t changed much from Day One. Instead, we have. It might explain why we have no friends, but I’ll take that trade any day (now). As some of you probably remember, it wasn’t like this at first. I still think of the four-inch hole I put in the bedroom door in Cambridge from throwing a bone at him in madness and hitting the door instead. I came very close to re-homing him. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway because I love him so much: I’m glad I didn’t.
Happy birthday Crazy Eyes, Peat, my baby.
Here are a few photos and a video I made of him a while back.
