Columnist Paula Del Giudice: Hunters prepare for coming season

PAULA DEL GIUDICE has been an outdoors freelance writer, author and photographer for 13 years. Her column appears Wednesdays.

WITH HUNTING seasons just around the corner, Southern Nevada wildlife management areas are gearing up to accomodate hunters.

Reservations will be taken on Sept. 28 for the opening weekends of goose and duck season at Key Pittman Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Interested hunters should be at the Nevada Division of Wildlife office at 4747 W. Vegas Drive at 8 a.m. on Sept. 28 for the reservations drawing.

There will be spots for 55 hunters on the WMA at one time. In all but the Moapa Valley portion of the Overton WMA, the duck season will run Oct. 3-Jan. 16, the longest season length allowed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Conditions are excellent at Key Pittman going into waterfowl season," said Roy Horsley, manager of the Eastern Complex, the group of three WMAs including Key Pittman, Wayne Kirch and Overton WMAs.

"Though there's not as much smart weed, the aquatics look good. The water level at Frenchy's is very good, it's usually dry by waterfowl season."

Conditions there are a little different than normal. In typical years when the ponds dry up, the smart weed grows on the bottom of the ponds. Then when water is diverted to fill the ponds prior to the waterfowl season, there's a lot of smart weed. The ducks love the seeds of this plant.

There also is a different strategy at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge. They've planted feed for the ducks, so the ducks may hold tight in the part of the refuge that is closed to hunting when all the shooting starts.

Reservations will be taken Nov. 2 for the waterfowl season at Overton WMA. The season begins Nov. 7.

Conditions are also good at Overton.

"The food plots and fields are very good," Horsley said. "Water has inundated much of the B5 field, but it's still huntable. We lost the alkali bulrush ponds and blinds numbered 26, 27, 28 and 29, and we could possibly lose 20 and 21, if the lake level comes up any higher.

"The food looks good, now we're just at the mercy of the fall migrations."

Overall, Horsley predicts a good waterfowl season. Duck numbers are high and limits are generous, though the pintail limit was decreased from two to one bird this year.

The area also is at the mercy for goose migrations, and Horsley said Canada geese have changed their migration patterns in the last five years, due in part, perhaps, perhaps because some habitat that might hold them is inundated by high lake levels.

Prior to the opening of waterfowl season, there is a four- day pheasant hunt at Overton WMA Oct. 10-13, also conducted by reservation. Hunters will need to draw for reservations on at 8 a.m. Oct. 5 at NDOW's Las Vegas office. A total of 55 hunters can be accommodated on each day of the pheasant hunt.

Except for a few turkey hunters that visit Overton during October, quail will be available for hunters.

"There's a lot of cover for the quail out here, so even though we have a lot of quail, harvest levels are usually quite low," Horsle said. "By the time dove hunters have tromped through the area for a month, the quail are very wary. You have to be fast, but a few hunters have learned how to hunt them."

A youth waterfowl hunt for those 15-under also will be held this year. In all but Clark and Lincoln, the special hunt will occur on Saturday, Sept. 26. In Clark and Lincoln the youth hunt will take place Jan. 23, 1999. Special regulations applicable to this hunt are contained in the waterfowl seasons brochure.

* HUNTING FOR BIRDIES: One of golf's shining stars will serve as the honorary chairman of National Hunting and Fishing Day for 1998. Tom Lehman joins a long and prestigious list of celebrities who have served as NHF Day chairs, including President George Bush, country entertainers Hank Williams, Jr. and Louise Mandrell and other pro athletes such as Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Terry Bradshaw. Slated for Saturday, Sept. 26, NHF Day celebrates the sportsman's role in conservation as it seeks to encourage Americans to enjoy the outdoor traditions of hunting and fishing.

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