A number of hunting seasons that might be of interest to you

By Don Quilici

Last week, I alerted you to a number of fishing seasons that are either opening or closing in this general area at this time of the year.

This week, I am switching hats and am going to alert you to a number of hunting seasons that are opening or closing.

Here they are:

• Opening:

Chukar and Hungarian Partridge:

The 2004-2005 Nevada Chukar and Hungarian Partridge hunting season opens on Oct. 9 in all 17 Counties.

This season will close on Jan. 31, 2005.

The daily limit is six and the possession limit is 12.

Shooting hours are sunrise to sunset.

Open to non-residents.

California, Gambel's, Scaled and Mountain Quail:

1. The 2004-2005 Nevada quail hunting season opens on Oct. 9 in Carson City, Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing (except for fenced and cultivated lands of Lovelock Valley), Storey and Washoe Counties.

This season will close on Jan. 31, 2005.

There is a daily limit of 10 and a possession limit of 20.

Shooting hours are sunrise to sunset.

Open to non-residents.

2. The 2004-2005 Nevada quail hunting season opens on Oct. 9 in Elko, Eureka, Lander and White Pine Counties.

This season will close on Jan. 31, 2005.

There is a daily limit of 5 and a possession limit of 10.

Shooting hours are sunrise to sunset.

Open to non-residents.

3. The 2004-2005 Nevada quail hunting season opens on Nov. 6 in the fenced and cultivated areas of Lovelock Valley in Pershing County.

This season will close on Jan. 31, 2005.

There is a daily limit of 10 and a possession limit of 20.

Shooting hours are sunrise to sunset.

Open to non-residents.

Special Note No. 1: Limits can not include more than two mountain quail daily or four in possession.

Cottontail Rabbits, Pygmy Rabbits and White-Tailed Rabbits:

The 2004-2005 Nevada Cottontail, Pygmy and White-Tailed Rabbit hunting seasons will open, statewide, on Oct. 9.

There is a daily limit of 10 and a possession limit is 20.

This season will close Feb. 28, 2005.

Shooting hours are sunrise to sunset.

Open to non-residents.

Sage Grouse (Sagehen):

The 2004 Nevada Sage Grouse (sagehen) hunting seasons are as follows:

Oct. 9-Oct. 17: Open only in: Elko, Eureka, Lander (except Units 151, 183 & 184), Nye, Washoe (except Unit 033, 021,022, 194 and 196), Humboldt (except Units 033, 042, 044, 046 and 151) and White Pine Counties.

The daily limit is 2 and the possession limit is 4.

Closed to non-residents.

Special Note:

Hunters who harvest sage-grouse this hunting season are being asked to please take the time to fill out a short questionnaire regarding their hunt (i.e. number of birds harvested, banded birds harvested, location of harvest, etc.).

The questionnaire is affixed to large envelopes that will be available at wing barrels found throughout traditional sage-grouse hunting grounds.

Please place one wing from each bird harvested into the envelope and deposit them into the wing barrel.

This information will help the Nevada Department of Wildlife more accurately determine harvest levels, production, and nest success within certain areas.

Rifle Mule Deer:

The 2004, "any legal weapon," buck and antlerless mule deer hunting seasons will open on Saturday morning, Oct. 2 for many of the big game management areas in the State of Nevada.

Those areas will close on Oct. 31.

However, big game management areas in the western portion of the state will not open until Oct. 30.

They will close on Nov. 28.

Those late-opening, western areas include big game management area Nos. 192, 195, 194-196 and 291, which surround Carson City.

Only those hunters with deer hunting tags received through the computerized drawing process, earlier this year, are permitted to hunt.

Special Note for Nevada Upland Game hunters:

Nevada residents aged 12 or older, and all nonresidents need to have a valid Nevada hunting license to hunt upland game birds and rabbits in the State of Nevada.

An upland game bird stamp is required of any person 12 or older who is hunting any upland game bird except dove, turkey and crow, effective March 1, 2004.

• Closing:

Mourning and White Wing Dove:

The 2004 Nevada Mourning and White-Wing Dove hunting season will close today at sunset.

There is a limit of 10 daily and 20 in possession.

The White-Wing dove season is closed in all Nevada counties except Clark and Nye Counties.

If you do go hunting, remember the dove is a migratory bird and comes under federal regulations, which means shotguns must be plugged to limit the overall shotgun capacity to three shells.

Also, all hunters, 12 years and older, will need a Harvest Information Program (HIP) validation number.

Open to non-residents.

For information:

Call the Nevada Department of Wildlife in Reno at 688-1500 during business hours, or go to their website at www.ndow.org, where you will find the hunting rules and regulations posted.

• Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you where the best Chukar hunting is located in the State of Nevada.

If he is a serious Chukar hunter, he will get a big grin and give you some sort of vague answer such as, "North of Gerlach," "North of Winnemucca" or "North of Battle Mountain."

Serious Chukar hunters will never, never, never tell you exactly where their hot spots are located.